The door crashed open behind Kambor, and Morgoran stepped through holding a staff with a good-sized, amber-colored gem fixed on top. He held it out in front of him.
“What have you got there,” Kambor asked, “a Lora Daine on a stick?”
“Crude description but accurate,” Morgoran said.
Kambor tried to use his dragon magic, and a small fireball issued forth and died out before it struck its target. Kambor gasped.
“What’s wrong, Kambor? Don’t like having your magic suppressed?” Morgoran said.
“That’s impossible. Only a dragon could enchant a dragon stone. Only dragons can enchant any gems,” Kambor said.
Shey stepped through the door.
He eyed her with burning hatred. “You fools, do you not realize that dragon magic keeps me in this form?” He fell to the floor and struggled as his arms began to turn black and then gold.
“Oops, he will be busting out of this room,” Morgoran said.
“Look sharp,” Ianthill said as he pushed his way into the room. He held the Lora Daine from Amadyre up to his lips and whispered something to it. “Here you go.” He tossed it to the transforming Kambor, and the Oracle instinctively caught it. Ianthill waved to him as Kambor’s face twisted with the realization of what was happening. A moment later and he was gone.
“Where did you send him?” Morgoran asked.
“Home to Draegodor. Let the king of the dragons deal with him.”
“I would have sent him somewhere a bit more creative, I think,” Morgoran said.
“Well, you didn’t say anything and I was in a hurry to get him out of here.”
Morgoran handed the short staff to Shey. “All right, time to undo this. We can’t have something like this lying about.” Shey took the staff.
“That reminds me,” Toborne said. “Here is the essence-suppression gem. We need to get rid of it too.”
“I thought Shey gave that to the sand elves to destroy,” Morgoran said.
Rikard stood up, rubbing his head. “Daethel Rast had me switch it. The great pryus has a fake gem.”
Toborne took the stone to Morgoran. “Sorry, Brother,” he said before he pushed him aside and grasped the dragon staff from Shey. He dropped the suppression stone and was gone.
Morgoran recovered. His face was red with anger. “TOBORNE!” He clinched his fists and turned to Ianthill. “We need to find or summon Sylvalora immediately.” He said a few choice curses. “I thought when Shey enchanted the stone, it would override the Lora Daine enchantment. I never guessed it would still work as a traveling stone.”
“It may not have. He could have had another Lora Daine.”
Marella entered the room with Ramzi, Gondrial, and Sanmir. “I’m not sure why you are worried. Shey’s enchantments never last.”
“That’s right!” Shey said. “The stone probably reverted back to its primary enchantment. Mine never last that long unless I really work at it.”
“We can’t afford to take any chances until we know for sure. Ianthill, can you find Sylvalora?” Morgoran asked.
“I will go set up a dragon beacon for her.” He left the room.
Gondrial bent down and picked up the suppression stone. “How do we get rid of this?”
“Someone will need to take it to Darovan as planned,” Morgoran said. “Marella, if you don’t mind, will you check out Rikard? Make sure there is no trace of that abomination.”
Marella looked to Rikard, and he nodded. “I will be gentle,” she said.
Chapter 18: Fire on the Horizon
“What is it, Ianthill? Is my daughter all right?” Sylvalora asked as she came through the doorway to where he had set up the dragon beacon.
“Shey is fine. It’s Toborne.”
“Toborne? You called me back for him?”
“It’s different this time. He has an enchanted Lora Daine. He might be able to use it to take advantage of you.”
“Not likely. He will never learn. Even if he was to somehow gain control over my gods-given power, it doesn’t mean he will be able to use them to control dragonkind. They have free will.”
“You know how he gets.”
“How did this enchanted Lora Daine come onto being?”
“We had to use it to thwart Kambor. There was no other way. He is much too powerful.”
“That is not what I asked you, Ianthill.”
“I thought you might want to know the why before the how.”
“Ianthill? What have you done?”
“I think you already know.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s in the main commons with her friends. The good news is her enchantments don’t last, according to her, and there may be no danger.”
“If you removed the block in her mind, that will not be the case. Her enchantments will be just as powerful as any dragonkind.” Sylvalora said.
“Morgoran didn’t remove the block on her enchantment abilities. Arbella just gave her back her early memories.”
“She knows? She knows about her siblings and that I . . .”
“Aye, she knows. She remembers it all.”
Sylvalora appeared worried.
Ianthill consoled her. “She seems okay with it all now. She is not one to hold a grudge. She takes after her father in that aspect.”
“Thank the gods for that. Does she know about him? Where he is?”
“If she does, she hasn’t mentioned it.”
“I will go to her. You say she is in the main commons?”
“Aye, with her friends.”
Sylvalora left the room and headed down the corridor. Ianthill followed. Abruptly, she turned to Ianthill and held up her hands palm first, as if to push Ianthill away from her. “Run!” she said.
Ianthill was taken aback. “What?”
Sylvalora’s face was contorting, a red ribbon of essence snaked over her shoulders. She was struggling against something trying to take her over, and then Ianthill saw him. Toborne was behind her, holding the suppression staff. Ianthill turned to run as the first fiery blast from Sylvalora just missed his head. Ianthill’s first thought was to get Morgoran. Morgoran could always talk sense into Toborne.
Gondrial was the first to hear it. Shey watched him as he stood up. Sanmir and Ramzi stood up close behind him. Rikard had been telling them what he remembered of being under Daethel Rast’s control. Shey froze. Gondrial’s face, which was jovial and happy a moment before, was concerned and ridged.
“What is it?” Shey asked.
“Someone is being attacked on the second tier. A female.”
Shey bolted for the stairs. Toborne never left the building, she thought. He stayed here knowing they would call my mother to come home! She ran up the stairs two at a time right behind Gondrial.
They met Ianthill on his way down. “No, don’t go up there.” He grabbed ahold of Shey. “Go back down. He has control of her. She is in the form of the Silver Drake. She will not know it’s you when she burns you into ash.”
Shey pushed him aside and continued up. Gondrial followed her up.
Rounding the corner, Shey watched helplessly as Toborne took the suppression staff and cast his essence through it. Sylvalora fought back, but the magic of the gem weakened her ability to resist. She was in the form of the Silver Drake. He grasped the statue by the bulk of the Silver Drake’s body and held her up above his head. Once he was certain the suppression gem’s control held, he turned the power of the drake onto Shey. She tried to position herself to get at the gem or knock it from Toborne’s hand or something, anything to get it from him. The Silver Drake prepared to attack.
Morgoran, coming from the side, knocked Toborne to the floor. The Silver Drake fell too. Morgoran grabbed Toborne by his head and spoke directly to him. “You fool. No one can control the Silver Drake!”
A blast of fire knocked Morgoran away. “I can now!” Toborne said. He picked up the Silver Drake and pointed her at Shey. “It’s nothing personal. I just can’t have you
enchanting anymore of these.”
Shey looked at the staff and focused her power. “I take it back! I unenchant it!”
Toborne laughed and then refocused the living statue. “No one can unenchant. It isn’t even a word! It’s never been done.”
The Silver Drake turned on him and scratched his hand with her talons. “No. It can’t be.” Toborne tried to refocus his power into the gem on the staff, but nothing happened. “You can’t take enchantments back!”
Morgoran got his footing and reentered the fight. The Silver Drake attacked Toborne, and Morgoran got in the way. She turned on him, and he grasped at his eyes, letting go of the drake. She turned on Toborne.
“No, Mother, don’t kill him!” Shey moved to help Toborne.
The Silver Drake let out her terrible dragon’s fire, and Toborne’s body burned away. The Silver Drake fell to the floor but remained a statue of a dragon frozen in flight. Morgoran stood up from his hunched position. “No, Shey, don’t marry him. There is still evil in him.” He opened his eyes, and they were completely clear. Shey was repulsed. She could see right through them into his head. “Dorenn Adair, you can’t see that Drasmyd Duil? It’s right in front of you!”
Ianthill joined Gondrial, who was staring at Morgoran dumbfounded. The remains of Toborne burned on the floor.
Ianthill went to Morgoran, trying to comfort him. “Morgoran. It’s me, it’s Ianthill.”
“Ianthill, look out for that other dragon. It’s circling back around. It’s going to incinerate you!”
“What’s wrong with him?” Gondrial asked.
“I don’t know. Help me get him to his chambers. The Silver Drake has done something to him for interfering with her trying to kill Toborne.”
Shey picked up the Silver Drake. “Mother, are you in there? Come back and heal Morgoran.” There was no response.
Shey and Marella stayed with the Silver Drake for three days without change. Morgoran had settled down but was in no better shape than he was when the incident happened. The corridor was cleaned, and Ianthill spread Toborne’s ashes over the grounds. Gondrial, Rikard, Sanmir, and Ramzi would check on the girls from time to time and bring them occasional meals. Shey kept the staff with the Lora Daine. Ianthill had agreed that she could have it. After all, it was safest in her hands.
On the fourth day after the incident, the Silver Drake began to move and Sylvalora took the form of an elven woman. Shey sent for some food and water after Sylvalora said the elvish word for hungry.
After a time, Sylvalora’s mind returned, and Shey asked her to help Morgoran. They went to his chamber where Ianthill sat with him. She tried several times but could not undo the damage.
“The curse is a thousand-season curse,” she said finally. “I just remembered what it was. It was a seeing curse. He will only be able to see possible futures for a thousand seasons. He will need around-the-clock care to feed him and care for him. Sometimes the memory of the Silver Drake eludes me. I’m not the same when I’m in that form. I remember thinking that he couldn’t see what was right before him.”
Shey had many questions about her early childhood but decided she would talk to her mother at a more appropriate time. Sylvalora didn’t seem much for talking to her, anyway.
The next morning, her mother was gone. A servant told Shey she left a message that she would return in a couple of months and she would talk to Shey about everything then.
Rikard sat on his bed in the Tower of Morgoran. In his hand was the ring he had made out of the amulet from Fariq. Aedreagnon was right—the suppression gem had led to the removal of two of the First Trine. Only, it was the gem Shey enchanted that convinced Toborne to strike and take the Silver Drake. Everything had not gone exactly to plan, but it worked out. He tucked the ring into a small pouch with the locket he had also made from the amulet, and tucked the pouch into his knapsack. Ianthill told them to prepare to travel back to Shezuris in Darovan. He had to take the sand elves home and give the great pryus the real essence-suppression gem for destruction. He wondered what they would find when they returned to the palace of the great pryus.
“What instructions do you have for me now, Master?”
Rikard closed his knapsack. “I had another vision last night from Aedreagnon. There is another essence-suppression gem below the tower tucked away in a book. Toborne hid it there. Find it and set it out where it will be easily discovered in the future, and cover your footsteps. No one will go down there for an age, but you cannot be too careful.” Rikard rubbed his chin. “Step out here where I can see you.”
Kymlie stepped out from the shadows. “I have been meaning to ask you. It was you who set out the amulet of Daethel Rast for me to find in the first place, wasn’t it?”
“Aye, as I was instructed, Master,” Kymlie said.
“Who instructed you?” Rikard asked.
“You already know the answer to that question.”
“Daethel Rast?” Rikard asked.
“If it pleases you, then aye, it was him,” Kymlie answered.
“Hmm.” He started for the door. “Do as I ask and meet me in Shezuris. We have much to do there. I’m certain the great pryus has discovered the fake suppression gem Shey gave him contained the Lich by now.”
“That was a clever move, my master. Daethel Rast lives, and Shey Namear delivered him to the great pryus.”
“Clever, aye, but not the end game . . . yet.” He opened the door and exited to rejoin the others.
Deep down in the dungeons of the White Tower of Enowene, Kymlie bounded from one table to the next. He was looking for something, something Morgoran had left down here before the Silver Drake cursed him. After a considerable amount of time searching, he finally looked into a book called the Art of Transmogrifying Stone, and there in a hollowed-out space was a blue gem, a second suppression stone. Kymlie’s eyes burned red with glee, and his sharp-toothed grin accented his now leathery face as his features changed. Three horns protruded from the top of his head.
“Ah, there you are, prized stone. We need to put you somewhere more accessible. Somewhere you will be found.” He carefully placed the stone precariously on a table where it might fall with a slight jolt. He happily danced around the table, singing, “Deeper down, deeper down, deeper down, your soul goes deeper down. Deeper down, deeper down, deeper down, where your essence cannot be found. Deeper down, deeper down, deeper down, where you will never be found! Deeper down, deeper down, where the Unseen are abound, to drag you down, down, down!” He transfigured into the dog-like body of the Unseen and vanished. Paw prints depressed into the dust as he trotted. He stopped, turned, and blew a puff of breath. The dust stirred, and all traces he had been there faded away.
The End of Wielder: Adept
Book 2 of the Wielder Cycle
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Dedications and Acknowledgements
For Aiden and Avery. May you inherit the legacy!
Glossary
Adracoria- Future Southernmost Trigothian kingdom. Ruled by the Adrac family.
Ageanna- God, creator of drakes and dragonkind.
Akros- Mysterious agent of Enowene’s spy ring. His loyalties are ambiguous.
Amalease Stone- Stone used to gain entry into the gates of Draegodor. It is located on Mount Urieus.
Amar- Race of high men from Lux Amarou. First creation of Fawlsbane Vex.
Anisport- Largest port city of Denogia, across the Great Sea.
Arasyth/Sythia- Future Trigothian kingdom between Adracoria and Ardenia, Host to the Great Sythian Forest. Ruled by the Arasyth family.
Arbella- Paternal grandmother of Sheyna Namear.
Ardenia- Future Northernmost Trigothian kingdom. Ruled by the Arden family.
Arillian Elves- High elves from the Isle of Arill. They migrated to the isle of Arillia
at the end of the first age after their forests became grasslands and the area now known as Ishrak had become cursed. They are the fairest of elves and most elegant.
Are’dune- Race of men who can trace their origins to Lux Amarou and the Amar but are not considered truly high men.
Ascendic Root- A potent root made into a tea and drank. It relieves pain depending on the dose. Higher dose causes euphoria. Weak tea relieves the minor pain of headaches, etc., while strong tea relieves severe pain.
Basillian- One of the great port cities in the kingdom of Symboria. Basillain is located in Northern Symboria, south of Seabrey. Due to disputes and treaties, Basillain is the port city in the north for trade with Adracoria. Seabrey is the northern port city for trade with both Ardenia and Sythia.
Bittering Tea- A strong brew made from the grinding of the bittering bean. It has a distinct aroma and is usually consumed in the morning as a stimulant.
Broodlord- Common name given to a dragon knight with high ranking. (A brood is a family of something. A broodlord would be a high member of a family or lord of the brood.)
Brynna- An Arillian, elf maiden, healer. She is the eldest daughter of Erinthill, and Ianthill’s niece. She resides on the Isle of Doom (Rugania).
By’temog- The largest city of Ishrak, the kingdom’s capital city.
Celestine- The only daughter of Enowene. The woman Sheyna knows in her memories as her mother.
Chamber of the Ancients- An ancient room in the citadel of Rugania (the Isle of Doom) where youthful wielders take part in magical trials. It is also a place to cure essence sickness if necessary.
Wielder: Adept: Book 2 of Lady Shey's Story (The Wielder Cycle) Page 15