“Come with me,” Njar said. “Not many humans are ever invited to Viverandon. However, I will take you there and show you the Pools of Fate so that you might understand the danger you are playing with.” When Kyra didn’t move, the satyr glanced to the rock then back to her. “I should explain, there is no magic you possess that can free the egg. If you do not come with me, there is no hope that you can ever save it.”
“And if I do go with you,” Kyra started, “what guarantee do I have that you will free the egg?”
The satyr studied her for a moment. It was hard for her to read the expression on his face. It was human enough, but there was a small snout and the nose was more animal-like than human. Still, she found herself locking onto his eyes trying to search for any sign of hope in those golden orbs.
“I am not one to lie,” the satyr said. “I genuinely doubt there is any possibility you could convince me to release the egg. My gesture is solely to help you understand why this must be.”
“Why not destroy the egg and then leave before I could find you?” Kyra asked.
“Because Kyra, I know you.”
Kyra blanched, she had not told him her name and she was quite certain she had never seen him at any point before in her life. If her mother had known him, she certainly would have mentioned it before. This creature was using magic to uncover things about her that she had not shared.
“You have grown fond of this dragon, but your affection is misguided and will only result in your sorrow. This egg does not contain the magnificent creature that you read about in the Chronicles of the Dragons of Kendualdern. The creature in this egg will either be born a monster, or he will die piece by piece until nothing remains of his soul and he is overcome by a terrible bloodlust like a rabid dog, or more appropriately like a crazed demon.”
Kyra shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
The satyr nodded his head. “I knew you would not, and that is why I offer you the chance to come with me. If you worry for your safety you need not, the daughter of Lady Zana Caspen has no enemies in the home of the satyr clan. If you need further enticement, I also have a library that contains a book you may be interested in. Beyond that perhaps I can tell you about your future husband.”
“That has already been decided,” Kyra said dismissively.
“No,” the satyr said with a chuckle. “I do not speak of the man your father arranged for you to marry. I mean to tell you of the man you will marry.”
Kyra watched as the satyr disappeared through the portal. It didn’t take her long before she followed him. When she stepped through there was a warm breeze that seemed to pull her into the satyr’s village. As the portal closed behind her she looked around and saw that they were on the edge of the village. Njar motioned for her to follow him. She was confused at first as they walked away from the village, but as a large pool of water came into view she understood where they were going.
Njar instructed her to sit on a large stump near the bank of the green pool. He moved toward the water and touched it with the bottom of his staff. Ripples radiated out from that point, disrupting the smooth surface. A silvery fog began to rise from the water as if the staff had heated the entire pool to the evaporation point.
An image began to form in the mist. Great wings stretched out over the pool connected to a thick, muscular back supporting a long serpentine neck that held up a massive, horned head.
“Do not fear this,” the satyr instructed. “This is one of the ways in which I can peer into the threads of fate.”
“So this is the future?” Kyra asked.
The satyr shook his head. “No. I am going to show you the past. This is a friend of mine, or at least she was before she died. What do you know of Nagar’s Blight?”
“I heard that it was a powerful spell once use to try and control man and beast within the Middle Kingdom,” Kyra answered. “It led to the battle of Hamath Valley. There was a great war between man and dragon with legions of each on either side of the battle. A great wizard was able to counter Nagar’s Blight and the evil dragons and men were destroyed.”
“Not quite,” Njar said. “In reality, the curse lives on and it corrupts every dragon that lives within the Middle Kingdom. Some the curse corrupts sooner, and others are stronger and can resist its powers for many years, but eventually they all succumb to it. Perhaps it would be easier for you to watch.”
Kyra sat quietly as the dragon form in the mist in front of her flew through the air and landed in a town of humans and seemed to be living among them. Out of the mist formed houses and people and shops. Kyra watched intently as the dragon spent day after day, even months with the humans. She watched as the dragon used its power to help the people in the village, finding lost animals for shepherds and protecting flocks from predators. One time the dragon even repelled a group of marauders that came to the town. Kyra was about to ask what the point of all this was, but then she noticed a change in the dragon. A dark tendril reached out through the sky, stretched into the dragon’s heart, and then coiled around it. The dragon became sick and angry, occasionally snapping and flaring its fire at those around it. Knowing that it was sick, the dragon flew away and left the humans alone. It went into the mountains and deposited a single egg and nest of rocks in a small depression upon a hill nestled between two mountains. Kyra then realized that the egg she had found had been laid by this dragon that she was watching now. The dragon tried to stay with the egg, but its illness addled its mind and turned it feryl. The beast flew back to the south and laid waste to the town that it had once lived in. Every building was burnt to the ground, and every living soul, both human and animal, was killed. The dragon then continued south into the borderlands, killing orc and human alike as it continued its way along its bloody path.
The next scene showed several groups of dragon slayers attacking the crazed beast. She fought well, killing three of the dragon slayers before her wing was damaged so that she could no longer fly. The dragon slayers overwhelmed her, and continued to hack her down bit by bit until she succumbed to her wounds and died.
Njar waved his hand and the mist dissipated, sinking back into the green pool. “If there were any in the Middle Kingdom who wish to see the egg you found thrive, it would be me. However, I know the truth of the curse. Liloriel was one of the strongest dragons to ever live in the Middle Kingdom. She was the last to succumb to the curse. She lived long before the battle at Hamath Valley, and fought alongside Allun Rha, the great human wizard you spoke of. As other dragons with lesser willpower succumbed to Nagar’s Blight, she helped to bring down each and every maddened dragon. Sadly this included her mate, Pendriad. He was not shown in this, because it was not necessary.” The satyr went to wipe a tear from his left eye and sniffled as he looked down to the ground. “Pendriad hatched here in Viverandon some two thousand years ago. He taught my great-grandfather how to use the Pools of Fate. Afterward he taught my grandfather, my father, and then me.
“I pleaded with him not to leave. There is a special grove here that filters the curse out. He would not heed my warning. He said it was better for him to live on the mainland, at the southern border of the Middle Kingdom. He took his mate, and they had one final egg. Shortly thereafter, Pendriad succumbed to the curse and went mad. It was Liloriel and I who killed him. I trust you will forgive me if I do not show you that part of my life in the Pools of Fate. I hope it will suffice to show you what I have already shown.”
“But how can I be sure what you show me is not a trick?” Kyra asked.
Njar sighed deeply and shook his head. “If you wish to see, then I will show you, but I will not watch it with you.” The satyr walked toward her and gently placed his palm upon her forehead.
Instantly she was snatched from the plane of the living to some sort of astral realm. It was dark all about her and she saw nothing but blackness. Suddenly a light formed around her and she found herself in the satyr’s village, but not in the current time. She watched as the male dragon the sa
tyr had spoken of hatched in the village. His arrival was marked with a great celebration and feasting that lasted for days. She watched the dragon grow and wisen as years, decades, centuries, and finally eons passed. She felt the bond between Pendriad and the satyrs of the village. Next she watched the battle at Hamath Valley. Dragons and men whirled about her as blood and fire flowed over the ground. It was a brief glimpse at the horrendous slaughter, as if she was living the entire episode in only a matter of moments, but she could still feel emphatic cheers of victory when Nagar fell and Tu’luh the Red, a great and terrible dragon, was destroyed.
That feeling of joy and excitement was ripped from her when the first of the good dragons fell victim to the curse. The realization that Nagar’s Blight lived on swept through the land like a disease. Many dragons fled, flying to the north never to be seen again. Lesser dragons fell to the curse rapidly, as if some horrible plague spread through the dragon kind. Greater dragons helped the soldiers of men put down the crazed, demented beasts. A few wizards gave the mad dragons a new name, to separate them from their wiser kin. They called them nightwings. Kyra watched in horror as dragons fell victim to the curse by the dozens. Some nightwings escaped far to the south, but most were killed by the greater dragons.
Then, as the stronger dragons began to fall victim to the curse as well, the armies of men formed a corps of specialized fighters, the dragon slayers. These men were exceptional fighters, and they wore ridged and spiked armor made of Telarian steel, a black metal strong enough to survive the dragon’s flame. The battles were fierce and the dragons were hunted nearly to extinction.
Kyra cried as she watched the dragon folk destroyed at the hands of men. The final two dragons were Pendriad and Liloriel. She watched, hoping that somehow their fates would change. She watched as the pair of dragons tried to outrun the curse. They moved from city to city, always going farther to the south. Finally the male succumbed to the horrible magic. Liloriel defended the village from her mate. As Njar had said, he was there too, along with many other satyr warriors. Several of them were killed by the demented male dragon, but in the end, Njar and Liloriel killed Pendriad. Afterward, Liloriel moved as far south as she could without being discovered by the dragon slayer camps near Ten Forts.
Kyra had already watched the rest in the pools of fate, but she relived the experience now with more detail and a more intimate understanding. When the female dragon, in her desperate, half-crazed state laid the egg in the nest, Kyra did not feel threatened by the new dragon. Instead, she felt only more sure that she was doing the right thing. She moved forward in the astral plane and stretched out her hand toward the female dragon.
“I will protect him,” Kyra said.
Liloriel turned and looked right at Kyra. The dragon stretched forth her neck so that her snout just grazed Kyra’s fingertips. Kyra’s breath caught in her throat. She had moved and spoken as a result of the strong connection she felt with the egg, but she had not expected that she could actually interact with the vision in any way. As the dragon touched her, Kyra felt a surge of power run through her. The female dragon turned her head so that her right eye stared directly into Kyra’s face.
“Save us,” the dragon pleaded. Then she flew off. Kyra expected to finish the history, but instead she found herself standing in the rocky nest where the egg lay. She watched the sun rise and set over the rocky nest. After a while the small lizard that she had named Guardian came out from its tunnel and began its watch over the egg. She smiled at seeing him again. His little, agile body leaping over the rocks and hunting crickets.
A sadness came over her then as she realized that she would not see Guardian again, for she had buried him after that peculiar creature had attacked the egg.
Kyra felt herself pulled backward, almost as if she was falling over a precipice. Within an instant she was standing before the satyr again and all around her was as it was before he had given her the vision.
“How did you do that?” the satyr asked.
“How did I do what?” Kyra replied.
The satyr shook his head, rubbing the space between his horns with his left hand and scratching his right ear with the tip of his staff. “You reached through the vision, and talked with Liloriel. You even touched her. How did you do that?”
“I’m not sure, am I not supposed to be able to do that?”
Njar reached out with his left hand and grabbed her shoulder. “Of course not! You reached through a vision and changed the past. She never saw anyone after she laid the egg. And I have never seen you interact with her before. What you just did is impossible.” Njar released her and turned to the Pools of Fate. “I need some time to figure this out.”
Kyra stepped beside him. “Let me keep the egg.”
The satyr looked at her and shook his head emphatically. “Out of the question.”
Kyra stepped in front of the creature and folded her arms across her chest. “If I have changed the past, then we can change the future. This egg is the offspring of the two dragons that were the strongest against the curse. She asked me to save them. That is exactly what I am going to do.”
“How do you propose to do that?”
Kyra shook her head. “There must be a way. If there was no way, then how could I have reached into the past?”
Njar nodded and opened a portal. This time he was not nice nor well mannered about it. He grabbed Kyra’s hand and pulled her through as the two of them rushed back to the egg. She protested, asking what he intended to do, but he did not answer her. He tapped the rock several times with his staff and the boulder encasing the egg hovered above the ground, spinning slowly and humming in a low tone. The satyr then turned and opened another portal. This one opened to a view of land covered in snow with a grove of white trees all around.
The satyr directed the boulder through the portal. Not two seconds after the boulder had passed through, he pulled Kyra through with him as well. Kyra’s stomach flipped and lurched. Njar was quick to steady her and hold her upright.
“This is not far from where we just were,” the satyr said. “I used a portal in order to save time and ensure the safety of the egg.”
Kyra looked up at him hopefully and smiled, “Is this the grove you spoke of?”
Njar shook his head. “No, that grove has died, the last of its trees was uprooted and it rotted on the ground.”
Kyra wanted to ask what had happened, but the satyr’s tone prevented her from feeling comfortable enough to do so.
Njar quickly spun around and shook his staff at the trees around them. “This one is similar though,” he said.
“You will let him live?” Kyra asked.
Njar shrugged. “I am willing to wait until I have more answers,” he replied. He directed the boulder to the center of the grove and placed it securely between the trees. He whirled his staff in the air and caused a great warmth to come from the ground below the boulder. The great rock melted away as if it were nothing more than ice, leaving the egg open to the air and vulnerable.
“We have to hide it better than this,” Kyra said. “There are dragon slayers nearby, and any predator could see the egg out in the open.”
The satyr shook his head and pointed to the trees. “This is not an ordinary grove of aspen trees. These are the oldest trees in all of the world. You see, each one is actually a clone of the other. It is not really that you see a grove of many trees, but rather you see many versions of the same tree. As such it has the collective wisdom of the entire world, and it is the purest of all places any mortal can get to with the exception of the hallowed ground that houses the sacred seed. This grove can filter energy in the air and delay the curse’s effect on the egg. I will agree to let the egg live a while longer while I search for answers, so long as you agree to let the egg remain here where I can watch it.”
Kyra nodded. She was so happy, she jumped forward and gave the large satyr a hug, pulling his furry chest in toward her face and squeezing his torso tightly.
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Njar told Kyra how to create a magic portal from her dorm directly to the glade of aspens where the dragon egg was hidden. This afforded her much more time with the egg, as she no longer needed to travel by foot. At first, the young apprentice sorceress had taken it as a sign that the satyr trusted her, but as time went along she realized that the portal also served the satyr, for it prevented Kyra from knowing exactly where the egg was hidden since she had never traveled there by foot, nor had she seen a map marking its location, nor would Njar describe in more detail where it was. After seeing the vision he had shown her, she could understand his trepidation and wariness, so she did not let it bother her. Instead, she chose to be happy with the fact that the egg was still alive and she was allowed to come and read to it whenever she wished.
Often, when she did come to visit, the satyr was already there. Sometimes he was sitting nearby, and other times he was more actively checking the egg, ensuring the ground was warm, and sometimes gauging the purity of the glade itself. He said it had something to do with making sure the energies were in balance, whatever that meant. She was happy for his presence, because Kathair had been sent away to train more with the dragon slayers.
As the days turned to weeks, the satyr would come not only to check the egg but also to listen to Kyra as she read the stories. On occasion the two of them also discussed magic, though the satyr was hesitant to show her any additional spells beyond the portal. He was kind and friendly, but there was always a barrier between them. There was an ever present scrutiny in his eyes whenever he was around, as if he had not yet made up his mind about the egg, or even Kyra herself.
The weeks rolled by and slowly the snow began to melt. Small green buds appeared on the aspen trees, unfurling into fresh, vibrant leaves. Flowers began to push forth from the soil and stretch their leaves and petals toward the sun. The air began to warm and the night skies cleared of any clouds harboring snow. Thanks to the portal, Kyra was able to stay beyond sundown, and she did so nearly every night.
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