Draggah

by Toby Neighbors

  Draggah

  © 2014 Toby Neighbors

  Published by Mythic Adventure Publishing

  Idaho, USA

  All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any print or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Copy Editing by Martin Coffee

  Books By Toby Neighbors

  Avondale Series

  Avondale

  Draggah

  Five Kingdoms Series

  Wizard Rising

  Magic Awakening

  Hidden Fire

  Fierce Loyalty

  Crying Havoc

  Evil Tide

  Wizard Falling

  Lorik Trilogy

  Lorik

  Lorik the Defender

  Lorik the Protector

  Other Novels

  Third Prince

  Royal Destiny

  The Other Side

  The New World

  Short Stories

  Dark Origin

  Dedication

  For Camille, with all my love.

  You are my inspiration and my place of rest.

  I love you.

  Prologue

  Lexi

  Riding Shadow slowly through the oppressive darkness was difficult. She was angry at what Tiberius had done to her. He had made her care, a feat she hadn’t thought was possible, and she could feel the deep emotional wounds of her past ripped open by his betrayal. Her anger and fatigue as she rode through the night made every swaying motion of the horse seem exaggerated. Irrational fears kept looming up in her mind. She imagined the horse walking off a cliff, even though she was in the middle of a wide open prairie that stretched from horizon to horizon when there was light enough to see it. She feared that they would stumble into a pack of Graypees and she listened hard for their fierce growls.

  Her fears made her resent Tiberius even more. She couldn’t understand why he didn’t come for her as soon as he won the Tuscogee. He and Rafe had fought the hideous chieftain of the Hoskali tribe that had captured them. Now it appeared that Tiberius was the Earl after all, only instead of a mountaintop city like Avondale, he had a nomadic tribe of followers in the blighted lowlands. She couldn’t help but see in her mind’s eye the group of women crawling into the dome shaped shelter that Tiberius had been led to. It didn’t take a sage to understand that the women were the chief’s harem. Why would Tiberius need her if he had a whole harem of women to meet his every need? She couldn’t help but imagine what had gone on inside the primitive shelter. The Hoskali may have adapted to a simple way of living on the wide plains below Avondale, but Lexi knew they weren’t stupid. The women in the shelter would give themselves freely, perhaps eagerly to their new chief. Tiberius would be a hero among the Hoskali, and Lexi would be nothing. So she had left, riding out into the darkness on Shadow and taking Tiberius’ horse Star with her.

  When the sun finally came up, it took her a while to recognize it. The blighted lands were covered with a thick cloud bank that made sunrise completely different from anything she had experienced in Avondale. And she was so exhausted that her mind was numb. The sky began to glow, pink at first, then pearlescent, and finally a bright amber. The world around her came into sharp focus. She had meant to ride toward Avondale, but she had no sense of direction in the oppressive darkness of the night, where the thick layer of cloud blocked out all light. When she finally came to her senses with the dawn, she saw that she was actually riding away from the towering mountain that had once been her home.

  Shadow was making his own way slowly across the prairie, plodding on the soft turf of bright green moss. There was no sign of the tribe she’d left behind, or of any of the terrible monsters that sometimes climbed up the mountain and lumbered through the mist to attack the high walls of Avondale. Of course Lexi had never seen those types of creatures—only the most wealthy were privileged enough to have a view over the city’s high walls—but she had heard the stories just like everyone else. She hadn’t seen the Graypees either, at least not alive. She saw the corpses of the two slain creatures that Rafe had killed when the pack attacked their camp at night, but she didn’t go too close to the reptilian beasts. They stank and other than their sharp claws and massive mouths full of pointy teeth, they weren’t much to look at.

  She did notice a dark smudge on the horizon. It was more than just a creature, and more than just a few creatures, like the bovines that Tiberius had spotted as they came down the mountain only a few days before. This was obviously a huge herd of animals, and Lexi couldn’t tell whether they moving closer or further away.

  She opened the tow sack she had stolen from the camp. She resented losing her Wangorian dagger. She had killed two men in Avondale to keep it, but she had no idea where to look for it in the sprawling Hoskali camp, so she had left it behind. Still, she had food and water, enough for several days at least, and blankets to keep her warm at night until she could find more suitable shelter. She considered her situation in the blighted lands as she ate some of the soft flat bread from her pack. The blighted lands weren’t the barren lifeless wastelands she had been led to believe they were, but they weren’t safe either, not for a person traveling alone. She needed shelter and she needed to find other people if she was going to stay in the lands below the mists. She found it strange that she was even considering staying in the lowlands, but she hadn’t turned her horses around and headed toward the mountain where Avondale sat nestled in the cone of the extinct volcano above the layer of mist that shrouded the blighted lands. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t turning back immediately because she needed to avoid being recaptured by what was now Tiberius’ tribe, but she knew she wasn’t being honest.

  Avondale was an amazing place, but not so much for a person like Lexi. She had no home, no family to return to. She knew how to survive in the shady lower levels of the mountaintop city, but if she was being honest, it wasn’t a life she was anxious to resume. She had grown up in the narrow alleys and crowded streets of Avondale’s lower levels. The city was built around the circular crown of the mountain, with the wealthiest citizens living in posh houses along the wide main avenue that ran around the mountaintop beside the massive wall that protected the city. Below that were a series of smaller streets, each one circling the walls, so that the city moved down in concentric circles. As the levels moved downward, the number of people grew and on the lowest levels, the citizens were poor, shiftless, and sometimes even criminal.

  For all her life, Lexi had only known life moving among the narrow streets of Avondale. She had never ventured down the terraced fields where Avondale’s food was grown, or out across the wide grassy plain that led to the thick evergreen forest or the cold water lake at the center of the mountain’s concave top. Of course that wide open space seemed liked nothing compared to where she was now.

  Lexi felt a sense of freedom in the blighted lands. She wasn’t just a poor homeless thief anymore, eking out a living from the scraps tossed down to the lower levels by the ultra rich who barely noticed those in need. Beneath the amber cloud bank, in the so-called blighted lands that were lush with life, she could be anything she wanted, if only she could survive long enough to become that something. So she let Shadow go where he wanted, and she dozed in the saddle, her head drooping down and bobbing as she rode along.

  A few times she felt herself falling out of the saddle, and she contemplated tying herself in, but she was afraid that she might need to get off the horse quickly, and didn’t like the idea of being tied down to anything. In her experience, the ability to make a fast getaway was invaluable.

  When she simply couldn’t
keep riding, she dismounted. She was so tired that she didn’t even bother getting the blankets out of the pack. She just tied the horses’ reins to the tow sack, and then used the rough textured pack as a pillow. It felt so good to simply lie down. The ground was soft, and her eyes were so dry they stung when she closed them. She couldn’t help but think of Tiberius’ velvet cloak. It was trimmed in fur and smelled like him; she missed it so much. He had used it to keep her warm, but now it was gone and she tried not to cry, but the tears came anyway; the pain in her heart was just too harsh to ignore. She hadn’t trusted anyone in years, but she had trusted Tiberius and he had betrayed her.

  Chapter 1

  Leonosis

  The celebrations had lasted an entire week. The King, in Leonosis’ opinion, was a bore. He did nothing but sit and drink all day, disinterested in the finest entertainment. Not even women, of which Leonosis made sure King Aethel had the most beautiful in all of Avondale at his beck and call, moved the somber sovereign. He was even more disinterested in Avondale. They went out to the lake and spent two whole days in the lavish estate reserved for the Earl’s family on the shore of the beautiful blue water that sprang up from deep within the mountain. It was the only structure allowed around the pristine lake, but the King saw no beauty in it. Nor was he interested in hunting in the forest that surrounded the lake, or fishing, or even sailing. He lounged, he drank, and he slept—that was all he did.

  His daughter, on the other hand, was a completely different creature. She was beautiful, attentive, endlessly curious, but completely unimpressed with Leonosis, or anyone in the Earl’s family except for Tiberius, who was no longer part of the noble family after having been banished only days before. Princess Ariel toured the city walls, taking special note of the battlements. She explored the city, always with her own guards, and rarely taking anyone from Avondale with her. When they went to the country, she asked questions. She wanted to know about the game and how the Earl protected the wildlife from being hunted to extinction. She wanted to know about the lake, how deep it was and how they moved water up into the city. More often than not, Leonosis couldn’t answer her questions, nor could anyone in the Earl’s family. They had to go to the city administrators or servants whose tasks involved keeping up with the very things the Princess wanted to know.

  While the city reveled that their King deemed Avondale worthy of a visit, the Earl’s family chaffed at the dreary King’s presence and his nosy daughter’s haughty attitude. Leonosis found himself wondering about Tiberius. He had watched his brother from the walls of the city. He’d seen Tiberius and Rafe make camp the first night. He’d seen the girl arrive with horses, which was a surprise to Leonosis. He had no idea how such a feat had been accomplished. He had plans to interrogate the palace servants in an effort to find out, but that would have to wait until the King’s visit ended. He would start with Robere, the aging servant who had served his brothers for years. The old man was sentimental. Leonosis guessed that Robere had found a way to help Tiberius, but it would take more than horses and a meager lot of supplies for Tiberius to survive in the blighted lands.

  Leonosis had watched his brother disappear into the mist the following morning, and like all the people who had been banished before him, he had not returned. But of course that wasn’t exactly true. Leonosis couldn’t watch his brother the entire time, but he’d instructed capable men in the war band to do exactly that. They reported that Tiberius and the girl with the horses had traveled into the mists and returned the same day. Then the following morning, the entire little band of banished rebels had gone down the mountain. Leonosis believed that they were dead—there was no reason to believe otherwise—and yet a nagging doubt lingered in Leonosis’ mind.

  Never in his entire life had Leonosis cared about what lay beyond the mists, but now he did. It was like a pebble in his boot. He couldn’t ignore it, but he couldn’t see to it while the King and Princess Ariel lingered in the city.

  Leonosis had done his best to woo the insatiable Princess, but she never seemed interested, at least until the last day of their visit. Leonosis was in the banquet room where he waited with a host of servants ready to spring into action if the King should need anything at all. It had been a dreary assignment, but with the city celebrating, there was no need for Leonosis to be elsewhere and his father had fallen ill. That meant it was up to Leonosis to manage anything the King and his daughter might need, and Leonosis refused to delegate such an important task.

  “You look like a brood hen,” the Princess said as she swept into the room. “Guarding your chicks.”

  Leonosis had been lost in thought about Tiberius. He didn’t care for his brother, nor did he regret banishing him from the city. But he couldn’t deny that he worried about Tiberius. Brutas had no ambitions, nor enough cunning to try and usurp Leonosis’ rightful place as Earl of Avondale, but Tiberius had gone away much too easily to suit Leonosis. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would choose to be banished, no matter who they thought they were helping in the process. And unanswered questions bothered Leonosis. Everyone had a reason for what they did, but he couldn’t figure out what Tiberius’ reasons were.

  “What?” he asked, standing up quickly and giving Princess Ariel his full attention.

  “I said you are brooding. What heavy matters weigh you down, Lord Leonosis?”

  He couldn’t tell whether she meant what she was saying, or if she was mocking him. He smiled, doing his best to seem unaffected by her.

  “I was thinking of my brother,” he said truthfully. “But he’s of no importance now.”

  “Brutas? He seems perfectly suited as the Earl’s second son,” she said. “He has just enough power to keep his slow mind entertained, which is all he really cares about. I hope I’m not being too forward.”

  She was being more than forward; she was being rude, but she was also right. She always had a playful tone to her voice, and Leonosis couldn’t decide whether it was flirtatious or mocking.

  “You are right, of course,” he said.

  “Take me someplace private,” she said. “I think we have much to talk about.”

  “Of course,” Leonosis said in surprise.

  He was used to women flirting with him, and he had taken many a young maiden to the private places within the palace. He knew every nook and cranny of the ancient mansion, and there were several places he knew they could go without fear of being disturbed. But Leonosis doubted that Princess Ariel was looking for a lover. She’d had plenty of opportunities before this, and Leonosis had done his best to spark her interest, but she had always seemed disinterested. He decided to take her to the Earl’s audience hall. It was one of the more impressive rooms in the palace, designed to give the Earl an almost kingly stature to anyone seeking a boon or judgment from the noble family.

  The audience hall was a long room, with no furnishings or tapestries. There was a single, throne-like chair sitting prominently on a raised dais at one end and the walls to either side were carved with a stunning relief depicting a great battle. They entered though the Earl’s private door behind the throne. Princess Ariel walked to the far end of the room and back, inspecting the relief, presumably to ensure that no one else was actually in the room. She came back to where Leonosis stood beside the throne. He wasn’t yet Earl, despite the fact that he held almost all the responsibilities of the Earl since his father was sickly. But he refused to sit in the Earl’s chair until he had actually risen up and taken his father’s place. It was a small reward he was waiting to savor, but the Princess did not share his feelings about the chair. She slid into the throne and threw her legs over the intricately carved arm.

  “So,” she said, “we’re alone at last.”

  “Yes,” Leonosis said, hoping his disdain of the Princess’ lack of respect wasn’t noticeable.

  “Tell me about your brother?” she said.

  “Brutas?” Leonosis said in surprise. He didn’t think that Ariel had shown any more interest in Brutas than she had in
him, and she had even insulted Brutas earlier. “What do you want to know?”

  “I don’t care about Brutas,” she said. “I want to know about Tiberius. He’s the interesting one. I think that’s who you were worrying about when I found you in the banquet room. He’s the cause of your brooding.”

  “Tiberius is no longer my brother,” Leonosis said. “He threw his life away. He’s banished and I don’t bother thinking about him at all.”

  The Princess laughed.

  “Men are all the same. You think I don’t see through your lies, but you’re wrong. I know you, Leonosis. You’re like me, a lot like me. We get bored easily. Managing a city is too small for you, but managing nine cities would quickly bore you as well.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Leonosis said.

  “I’m sure you do,” she almost purred. “You know my brother is ill. You have been trying to garner my attention all week. I doubt I’m that beautiful.”

  “You are beautiful.”

  “Of course I am, I’m the Princess of Valana, but let’s be honest, Lord Leonosis. You are surrounded by beautiful women. I’m not an innocent child, so let’s not pretend that you don’t bed every woman who catches your attention.”

  She smiled; there was no judgment in the look on her face. In fact, if Leonosis was right, he saw a look of approval.

  “No,” she continued, “let’s talk about the brother that is troubling you.”

  “Tiberius doesn’t trouble me,” he said. “But I find his motivation for throwing his life away to be curious.”

  “It’s not that hard to understand,” she said. “People like Tiberius are really rather simple. They believe that their actions matter. They’re loyal, trustworthy, and in many ways naive. He went with Rafe because he was being loyal.”

  “No,” Tiberius said. “There must be something else. Normally I would agree with you completely, but not this time. Ti had a reason, a good reason, not to feel loyal to Rafe. There has to be something else I’m missing.”