Dragons, Power, Courts, And War (Book 2)

by Vic Broquard

  Never had water felt so good. She desperately needed the good, long drink, but her mind asked, Is this really water? A disembodied voice answered, “Can’t tell.” Is that my voice? She belched and felt hungry. Food. She licked at the stew and then waves of hunger took over. Chew your food. Yes, there she was three years old and her mother was telling her to chew her food. “Okay mommy.” Was that my voice?

  Time passed, though she could not tell that it had or could she? Adrianna decided that she couldn’t. She heard that disembodied voice again. What was it saying? Something about finding a pee bucket. Pee! She knew she had to go badly, but where was it? So confusing! Everything is so confusing. She nearly slipped wholly into the Shadows trying to find the bucket. Relieved, she heard that voice again, this time telling her to find her bed and take a nap. Lie down! Yes, that would be good, she thought.

  Adrianna again tried to walk, but once more felt herself turning upside down or was it spinning or perhaps she was just falling. Nausea came over her and she panicked as her arms failed to flail about her as she fought hard to keep her crumbling balance as she slipped slightly into the Shadows once more. She screamed involuntarily. “Help me! Help me!” An arm pulled on her body, pushing it down, down onto a bed? Yes a bed. Her mind screamed as the body pushed hers down onto the bed, while her arms did nothing at all.

  Zoran was walking to his study just after breakfast when waves of dizziness came over him again. “Help me! Help me!” Words screamed in his mind, his hands reached out and held on hard to the door frame as he steadied himself.

  Now awake, he knew. It was a woman’s voice, calling for help, but not just any woman. She was Duska-born, experiencing the disorientation and nausea upon first entering the Shadows while undergoing the Circle of Ascension ceremony which activated her special gland. He was somehow connected to this woman through the Shadows. He headed for his easy chair and sat down, collecting his wits.

  Just then, his daughter appeared, stepping out of her Mystical Door. Nadia looked trouble, he thought. “Dad, I am experiencing the strangest things this morning.”

  “Come sit. It helps. Are you hearing a woman calling out for help?”

  Nadia suddenly looked her dad straight in his eyes. “How did. . .” She didn’t finish her thought. No need to.

  “Yes, it is almost as if she is about to undergo the Ceremony of Ascension, but her priestess is failing to give her the proper instructions,” Zoran said.

  “Yes, dad! That’s it precisely! I don’t know why I didn’t realize this sooner!”

  “Well, I’ve been there before — with Akira and Chika.” He didn’t get to say more because another Mystical Door opened and then another. His son, Tomas, stepped out, looking quite upset. Verushka stepped out of her door, a perplexed look on her face as well.

  “Don’t tell me that you two have also heard this young woman calling for help? A young girl undergoing her Ceremony of Ascension but her priestess is failing to give her the proper instructions,” he repeated himself. Nadia smiled, how could she have missed this?

  Both Verushka and Tomas stared at him. “But how? Well, yes, that’s it exactly,” Tomas gushed, thoroughly impressed with his father.

  “Akira and Chika. I went through something quite like this some twenty plus years ago with those two.”

  “Dad, she needs our help,” Nadia declared.

  “Of course she does. Okay, you stand by. I am going to see if I can reach her and find out why her priestess is failing to assist her. I’ll strangle that priestess,” Zoran half-teased. Well he would certainly tell that priestess a thing or two. Zoran stepped into the Shadows and then reached out for the voice. Nothing. All traces of the woman were gone. Reluctantly, he returned to his study. “No luck. Nothing.”

  “Yes, dad. I sensed that too,” Nadia said. “Maybe the priestess finally got through to her.”

  “Yes, that must be it. Okay, everyone, we best get back to our duties,” Zoran declared, sending for a strong cup of black tea. The others left him and he pulled out his papers and began studying them again. So many women were being reported as missing from all over the Federation. Where were they being taken, he mused for the thousandth time. His tea came and he nearly gulped it down. “Thanks.”

  Am I sleeping? I must be, Adrianna thought. Well, I need it, don’t I? Such a weird, strange dream that I had. Soon, I will wake up and have to go scrub up Able’s dried puke on the pub’s floor. I know, I ought to have done it last night, but I was tired. Guess I will have to pay for that in the morning. I wish morning would come soon. This is such an awful nightmare that I’m having. Her mind drifted into sleep — a welcomed, refreshing, much needed sleep. Vaguely she’d heard that disembodied voice chanting something before she drifted into sleep.

  Zoran looked over Chika’s reports that had come in just after lunch. He smiled, she’d found three more high quality weapons that she though Karel might be able to enchant. One had been a family heirloom on Gonda. She’d paid a pretty steep price for it, but she thought it stood a very good chance of holding powerful enchantments. Good girl, he thought. He looked over the grain reports. Already his workers had built up a nice stockpile in the ever-growing subterranean city he was having constructed far below his Circle in the basement. This was encouraging. If need be, Brn could be evacuated and survive down below. At least he’d not let these people down, he thought.

  Now he went over Tomas’ report. Good, he could now support his entire group below ground. Baron Jan’s report was not so good. Well, Jan’s city was vastly larger by orders of magnitude. It had been the seat of power on Adapazan for centuries. He made a note of some suggestions for Jan to follow. Zoran finished the day wrapping up these administrative details. He smiled; he hated these duties and had long ago worked out this system whereby he did the whole week’s administrative duties in one long boring day. Satisfied that he now had six days of freedom from these mundane tasks, he headed off to the Great Hall, where everyone was congregating for dinner. He smiled as he thought of all the excited chat the many students would be doing, going over all their new spells that they had worked on today. It brought back fond memories of his days in training here with Zdenka and the others. “Having us all together for dinner has been one of my brighter ideas!” he said as he rose and headed down the hall, stretching his legs.

  “Productive day,” Zdenka told him as she sat down beside him and the two looked out over the many tables at everyone. The seventeen mages had Morphed themselves and were using their hands to help all of the others. Her Adepts were assisting the six blind women as well. Conversations were bubbling and cheerful, great morale and spirits, he thought. All is well with the world.

  “I can’t thank you enough for your training of these many women, dear. You are giving them their lives back.”

  “Yes, that I am. So rewarding and fulfilling. That’s why I do it.”

  A Mystical Door opened and Miroslav and Jarmila stepped out. Both were covered in dust, but highly animated. “Zoran, we’ve found them! Bandar’s missing journals!” Miroslav called out. They’d just Shadow Walked from the old fortress in Sholov Province, where they were on site as the construction crews continued to both restore the old fortress as a museum and build Tomas’ subterranean city retreat.

  “Dad, the construction crews found another long hidden chamber. Found a few gems, but we found the missing journals! We are going to stay here and see if we can translate them, starting tomorrow. Maybe we can learn more about where Bandar came from and what the worms actually were. Do you suppose the worms really were dragons like the ones we have here?” she asked. Now they had a new topic of discussion over dinner.

  Afterwards, the three headed down to his Circle of Ascension where the Jiri’s kept their secret, prized journals, one of which gave the detailed instructions on how to build a Circle of Ascension. The three poured over the journals all that night. He enjoyed this diversion, besides he was keenly interested now in the Federation’s most ancient history
.

  “Listen to this, dad,” Jarmila said excitedly, she read:

  Today, old Vladislov discovered my secret. I had little choice to but to confirm it. Any human between puberty and twenty-one can undergo our Ceremony of Ascension and become a Duska themselves. Yes, it is not limited to the ruling class. I was forced to tell old Vladislov that he was right. However, I pointed out to him in no uncertain terms that this must remain a secret. I appealed to his vanity. “Look, if anyone can become a Duska, how will you ever be able to hand down your throne to your sons? Our natural procedure for inheritance will become a chaos of infighting. May the most skilled Duska win.” He agreed with me. If word of this got out, we’d have Duskas everywhere and that would bring down our monarchies. We all agreed on establishing individual monarchies on these new worlds. We all agreed that would be the best, most stable form of government. Democracy broke down completely on Home World and that led to all the problems in the first place. He has agreed to keep this to himself.

  “Dad, isn’t that just incredible?” Jarmila asked.

  “Explains a lot, dear. I wonder if he makes any more references to Home World? Where is it? What was this Democracy that broke down? What problems did they face that so drove them to abandon their Home World?” Zoran asked. All three shrugged their shoulders and continued reading the journals, hoping to discover more data.

  The hour drew late and at last they abandoned the project for the night. A bit later, he crawled into bed and told Zdenka what they’d learned. She was impressed and asked the same questions that he had. He smiled; they were so attuned to each other. He gave her a passionate kiss.

  “Time to wake up and eat again.” There was that same disembodied voice. Adrianna complained to herself. It must be morning now. Why is it still black outside? Where’s my lantern? Oh I do wish this night would end! I am so tired of this awful nightmare anyway. Why am I so hungry? Have I missed breakfast? Couldn’t of, it’s still pitch black outside. Best get up and light my lantern. She felt her body struggle to get up. My arms aren’t there? Suddenly, it all came back — the dragons, her abduction, her rape, her blindness, her vanished arms, the mysterious shadow images! She was trying to get to the table or was it to light her lantern? The grey swirls offered illumination, unlike the total blackness around her. Confusion. Panic. Chaos.

  Focus! She told herself mentally. I will light my lantern. That should pull me out of this nightmare dream. Yes, that’s the ticket, Adrianna, that’s just the thing to do to end this terrible nightmare dream! Light my lantern. Ouch! She had banged into the side of her bed. Her lantern table had been moved somehow. She tried to feel her way over to her table and lantern, but her arms did not seem to be there at all. As she moved, however, she found herself more readily moving into the semi-visible grey Shadows, which were more inviting than the total darkness around her. Yet, when she did that, her whole world turned upside down. Waves of nausea swept over her, she was falling and yet not falling. Her arms didn’t work to help her regain her balance. Terror and panic won. She screamed and screamed. “Help me! Help me! Please, someone help me!”

  Zoran awoke in a cold sweat. This time, he knew what was going on! He focused his Duska senses. Yes, I have her now. He reached out and found her mind. Hello. I am here. I am Baron Zoran Vladislov. I have come to help you. It will be all right. You are partially in the Shadows. Where is your High Priestess who is performing your Ceremony of Ascension?

  Huh? Who is this? Baron? Where am I? Shadows? Ceremony? Priestess? No! Dragons have me. I can’t see anything but these grey images. It’s better than the utter blackness. My arms are gone, I think. Maybe this is all a bad dream and I somehow can’t wake up. I can’t seem to pinch myself awake or find my lantern. Where has it gone to now? I keep banging into things. There are a whole bunch of us or maybe they are just a part of this awful dream too. I don’t know. Nothing is real anymore, except that I am falling and very sick at my stomach. Help me!

  Zoran flew through the Shadows. Now he realized fully what was going on. The dragons had made a huge mistake this time. They’d accidentally abducted a woman who was Duska born! That is, at least one of her parents was a full Duska, probably a baron or baroness at least. The native power in her was strong. Long ago she should have been given the Ceremony of Ascension, if only to preserve her sanity. She could see the Shadows even without the proper indoctrination! Criminal, he thought, as he flew through the Shadows, homing in on her, just as he’d done with Akira so many years ago. Out right criminal of them, he swore under his breath. I’m coming to you. Relax if you can. Help is on the way. Won’t be but a moment. What is your name? He tried to get her mind focused on something other than the swirling, disorienting Shadows. Where the devil is she? He just left all the known Shadows behind!

  Adrianna Whitehall. I live with mom. We run an inn in Westfarthington, Terra. Yes, now I remember. I was sleeping and some dragons came and took me away in the middle of the night! Oh god! They’ve done terrible things to me. I can’t see and my arms are gone I think. They raped me, I know it. I am to die, they said so. Something about a baby dragon living on for me. I don’t understand it. Help me. I am falling and falling and falling! Please hurry.

  Zoran spotted the naked woman with raven hair. She still had her arms, but her eyes were cloudy. He recognized the Blind spell immediately. He touched her arms, but she didn’t feel it and he suspected that whatever the reds had done to the seventeen, they also had done to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. I am here with you. There, that’s better. Now you are not falling. You are halfway into the Shadow Lands.

  Thank you. I am not falling anymore. Please, don’t let go of me. I am really, really scared.

  I will not let go of you. Let me see what is going on here and where we are at.

  Okay. How are we talking without using our mouths? I don’t understand.

  It is something we Duska can do. You are Duska born and should have long ago been given your birthright. I will see that you get it. Give me a few minutes, please, Adrianna.

  Zoran peered out into the unfamiliar cavern. It was russet colored. He spotted sixteen women in the room lying on their beds. Adrianna’s body appeared quite thin as she was partially in the Shadows. One female black dragon was cleaning up the messy table and periodically casting a Sleep spell on those women who seemed disturbed. She then left the room. I am going to bring you back to your bed. Please lie still for just a while. I need to see where we are located. So many other women need help too. Can you be patient a while longer, Adrianna?

  Yes, this is much better, but I don’t like the utter blackness. I can’t see anything.

  I know. Relax. I’ll be right back.

  Zoran remained in the Shadows partially and moved out of this cavern room. He saw that the walls were radiating heat, so evidently the reds were here too. He found five other chambers, each held sixteen women. Some were being watched over by reds, others by blacks. He moved on and discovered these chambers led to a single huge one. Here dozens of dragons lay snoozing on the floor, guards evidently. He moved on, looking for the entrance. His Duska senses tingled and he checked for traps. Half of the entrance way flashed. They had a half dozen different traps set. These, he avoided by remaining in the Shadows, moving on down the entrance tunnel. At last he left the tunnel and looked at the world before him. He’d never seen this planet before. Everything looked strange. Oranges and reds predominated in the rocks of the mountains. They were at a relatively high elevation. He’d seen enough that he knew he could find this place again and he appeared back above Adrianna. Now how to rescue all these women?

  There were too many dragons and traps guarding the cavern. We dare not attack them, he thought. Then, he had an idea. Why should we give away the fact that we now know of this secret hiding place? He chuckled at his own deviousness. He focused and began making a large Mind Link.

  One by one, he joined with Verushka, Tomas, Nadia, Jarmila, Miroslav, Dusan, Chika, Akira, Jan, and R
eina. He was short five and so he added Rayna, Lida, Leo, Stefan, and his half-sister Zusa to the huge Mind Link. Okay. I’ve just located all our abducted women. I have no idea what world they are on, but I can now get you all here with us. He explained all that had happened and what the situation here actually was. Now here is the plan. Under no circumstances do we want to alert the dragons that it is we who are doing this. We need complete secrecy. Keep the dragons in a total mystery.

  One by one, they all stepped into the Shadows and homed in on Zoran, arriving in the Shadows beside him. He gave them all time to familiarize themselves with the scene. Where is this place? It is so strange, Jarmila sent. No one had that answer.

  Zoran waited patiently. The care-giving black finally left to fix the women their next meal, but not before she looked each one over, satisfying herself that they were all asleep. Remember, their arms do not work and they cannot feel them, so put your arms securely around their shoulders when you lead them back through the Shadows. Now, everyone and be quick about it.