The Dragonslayer's Fate
Page 17
Something outside the house made the incoming light shift, perhaps a bird flying overhead.
Drageen wept and stared at his hands as if they had blood on them.
Drageen sobbed because he couldn’t remember what his father or mother looked like, even though the shock that would have been in their eyes burned into his mind.
I had to do it.
Drageen felt as if a dragon had just ripped his heart open.
He hated himself.
A shaft of light shimmered against a large bottle resting on a bench next to the hearth.
Drageen walked toward it. He removed the stopper from the bottle and sniffed it.
Gloomer’s honey mead.
The stone walls of the house were enough to shut out any outside noise, but the opening in the roof was not.
Drageen winced at the distant sound of his sister’s frantic screams.
He needed something to soothe his pain. Something to block out the screams.
He drank without pause until the bottle stood empty.
The numbing sensation helped, but it didn’t make the screaming go away. When he tried to take a step, Drageen stumbled. The nearby bench caught him. Drageen found a way to sit on it and covered his ears with his hands.
He still heard the terrifying screams.
There must be more.
When Drageen tried to stand, the room appeared to turn and made him dizzy. He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled to the side of the room lined with the most benches. One by one, he raised the lids covering the benches to examine what Gloomer had stored inside them. He dug through strange containers smelling of must and wood and spices. Leaving those benches aside, he continued until he found one full of bottles of honey mead.
A moment of clarity struck Drageen. He looked back at the benches he’d already searched.
Those containers. They smell like the ones that Bee has. What would Gloomer be doing with the things an alchemist uses?
Puzzled, he grabbed a bottle of honey mead, sat on the floor with his back against the bench, and drank.
The golden honey mead felt sticky-sweet in his mouth and soothed his throat. It tasted like summer.
The honey mead!
Drageen stared at the bottle in his hand with alarm.
But in the very next moment, the liquid calmed his nerves and pacified his soul. Drageen’s thoughts drifted like wood at sea.
No longer alarmed, he drank bottle after bottle until he could stay awake no longer.
Later that day, a woman woke him up.
His head throbbed and his body ached from sleeping on the hard floor. Drageen tried to remember the woman’s name but failed. His memory felt detached and unreliable. He felt he should know the woman because she appeared to know him.
Finally, he realized what she was even though her name would escape him for the rest of his life.
“Alchemist,” Drageen said. “What do you want?”
* * *
A few years later, Drageen stood on top of Tower Island in the early morning hours. The cage remained nearby, and the young dragon slept inside.
The amount of time it had taken for the dragon to cover his sister with bites appalled him, as did the alchemist’s insistence that there must be as many as possible for there to be any hope that Astrid would produce what could save them all.
As he’d done so often before, Drageen wished he’d left Tower Island with Astrid when he had the chance.
I had to cage her with the dragon. I had no choice.
He stood at the edge of the tower looking out toward the dock, where a Northlander ship had arrived at his request a short time ago.
Once the ship departed, Drageen would put a new rule in place. In order to protect his people, Drageen would command that any outsider without explicit permission to set foot on Tower Island would be executed on sight.
Today he couldn’t take the risk of putting that rule in place. Drageen had to make sure the Northlander ship arrived and departed in safety.
From here, Drageen caught his first glimpse of Astrid since the moment he’d locked her inside the cage with the dragon.
She stood as a small figure next to one of their Scalding cousins. Drageen had never forgotten the horror in Astrid’s eyes the last time she looked at him, and he didn’t want to see it again.
Drageen expected to feel a sense of relief when Astrid boarded the Northlander ship with the child seller beckoned to Tower Island for the purpose of taking her away, but it didn’t happen.
I can’t go on living like this. I can’t let my feelings for her get in the way of what I must do.
Drageen had practiced steeling himself against such feelings for a long time. Finally, it felt as if that steeliness began to take hold.
I can’t be a boy anymore. It’s time to become a man. Like my father and his father before him.
For a moment, Drageen wavered. But then he focused on the most important reason to stick to his decision.
The alchemist had claimed to sense a new future: if Astrid remained on Tower Island, she would meet an early death. When Drageen questioned what the alchemist’s potions predicted, she had cast human bones to verify it.
Years ago, the only way to save Astrid’s life had been to cage her with a dragon. Now, the only way to save her life was to send Astrid out into the world.
Drageen’s stomach clenched at what the alchemist had said next.
And the only way to save the Northlands is to use Astrid when the right day comes.
Drageen allowed himself one last luxury. While dawn approached, he stood atop the tower and watched the ship cross the sea until it arrived at the Northlander shore.
She’ll be safe. She’s strong—stronger than me. She’ll find a way to stay alive. I can feel it.
Drageen’s eyes watered when he thought one last time of how things might have been. He imagined a life where he and Astrid had trained together as dragonslayers at Bellesguard, just as he’d planned when he was a little boy. He imagined how they’d now have their own routes in the Northlands but would meet at the end of each season. Maybe they’d even travel the winter route together.
Drageen wished he could have embraced Astrid one last time before she left Tower Island, but he’d been too afraid to face her.
The sun peeked above the horizon, promising to bring a beautiful day.
Knowing he’d committed all his beautiful days to the past, Drageen turned his back to the sight of the Northlander coast.
He entered the tower, prepared to do anything to save the Northlands from a dire future.
* * *
You have just completed the Dragon Seed series. The Dragon Cycle continues with Astrid’s story in the Dragonslayer series. You can get Book 1 for free. To download Book 1, The Dragonslayer’s Sword, click here or here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A766NB6/
To learn more about this series and how it fits into the Dragon Cycle, turn the page.
About the Dragon Cycle
The Dragon Cycle began with one short story that was published in the early 1990s. Because fan response was so strong, I decided to expand the story into a novel (The Dragonslayer’s Sword). But while I was writing that book, I realized the story and the world were much larger than I’d first imagined.
That’s why one short story grew into a total of 16 books – four series of four books each. When you read the Dragon Cycle from beginning to end, it tells one gigantic story. It’s an epic story of four generations that takes place in six countries, the mortal realm, and the realms of gods.
My goal is that if you want to read just one book or just one series, you’ll enjoy it. But my long-term goal has been to offer a gigantic story that will be satisfying for everyone who loves reading long series.
Recommended Reading Order
The reading order that I recommend depends on whether you like spoilers or surprises.
For people who like to be surprised, who like mysteries, or who like TV series like Lost, this is
the recommended reading order:
The Dragonslayer series:
Book 1: The Dragonslayer’s Sword
Book 2: The Iron Maiden
Book 3: The Stone of Darkness
Book 4: The Dragon’s Egg
The Dragonfly series:
Book 1: Dragonfly
Book 2: Dragonfly in the Land of Ice
Book 3: Dragonfly in the Land of Swamp Dragons
Book 4: Dragonfly in the Land of Sleeping Giants
The Dragon Gods series:
Book 1: Gate of Air
Book 2: Gate of Earth
Book 3: Gate of Fire
Book 4: Gate of Water
The Dragon Seed series:
Book 1: Berserk
Book 2: The Dragonslayer’s Heart
Book 3: The Dragonslayer’s Curse
Book 4: The Dragonslayer’s Fate
The Dragon Cycle is like the image of the dragon eating its own tail on the cover of The Dragonslayer’s Fate. By the time you finish this final book in the Dragon Cycle, you will gain a different perspective of all the characters in the previous books. You can then re-read the entire Dragon Cycle and have a different experience.
For people who like spoilers, this is the recommended reading order:
The Dragon Seed series:
Book 1: Berserk
Book 2: The Dragonslayer’s Heart
Book 3: The Dragonslayer’s Curse
Book 4: The Dragonslayer’s Fate
The Dragonslayer series:
Book 1: The Dragonslayer’s Sword
Book 2: The Iron Maiden
Book 3: The Stone of Darkness
Book 4: The Dragon’s Egg
The Dragonfly series:
Book 1: Dragonfly
Book 2: Dragonfly in the Land of Ice
Book 3: Dragonfly in the Land of Swamp Dragons
Book 4: Dragonfly in the Land of Sleeping Giants
The Dragon Gods series:
Book 1: Gate of Air
Book 2: Gate of Earth
Book 3: Gate of Fire
Book 4: Gate of Water
Here’s the reason for this reading order: The Dragon Seed series is the chronological beginning of the Dragon Cycle, and this series spells out what will come in future books.
Other Novels by Resa Nelson
All of Us Were Sophie
Our Lady of the Absolute
To learn more about Resa Nelson’s books, visit resanelson.com or her author’s page on Amazon.com.