Dragon Chosen: The Dragon Riders of Eryieth

by Kristin Secorsky

Islwyn was trying to decipher the runes on the stones. His face was scrunched up in concentration. “It is a warning and spells for protection.” He pointed to a few symbols and looked up. “We need to get to the altar.”

  “What? What does it say?” Evie asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Islwyn replied hastily.

  They walked up to the pillars and stood at a large rectangular stone between them.

  “Nothing, Evie. I’m sorry,” Islwyn said.

  She shook her head. “No. It has to be here. Look again.”

  Evie and Zeb circled the rocks again.

  “Did you hear that?” Islwyn asked, sounding alarmed.

  Zeb and Evie shook their heads and continued touching the pillars and looking for anything.

  “I’m going to look around,” Islwyn said.

  “All right,” Evie murmured. She stared at the runes on the altar and thought for a moment. Then she had a flash back to the mage. He had handed her a dagger as a gift before he left her chambers. She remembered admiring the runes, and then the mage said, “All that is concealed shall be revealed.”

  She stood in stunned silence. He wanted her to use the dagger. Why didn’t he just tell me? She feared that this was a setup as Islwyn had suspected. If the mage knew the location and had the dagger, why didn’t he just come get the amulet himself?

  She held the dagger over the altar and spoke. “All that is concealed shall be revealed.”

  Nothing happened. Maybe she was wrong.

  All of a sudden, Islwyn came up beside her and grabbed the dagger out of her hands. Then he grabbed her right wrist.

  “What are you doing?” Evie said, feeling frightened by his strong grip on her.

  “Open your fingers,” he commanded.

  Evie did as she was told and opened her fingers hesitantly. He cut a line across her unsuspecting palm quickly. Evie cried out in pain.

  “Wyn!” she screamed angrily and in pain. “Why did you do that?”

  “Say it again,” he said, ignoring her question and smearing her dripping blood over the runes on the dagger.

  “All that is concealed shall be revealed,” Evie repeated. They watched as a hidden door revealed itself in the front of the altar and opened. Zeb joined them at the altar, and the three of them peered into the darkness.

  “Zeb,” Islwyn said. “You stand guard. Evie and I will go check it out.”

  Zeb nodded and stood by the entrance, bow in hand. Islwyn pulled out a small pouch and stuck his fingers inside. He scooped up some magic healing salve. Then he took Evie’s hand, gentler than he had before, and applied some salve to the cut he had made in her palm. After, he wrapped a cloth bandage around it and tied it securely.

  “That should do it,” he said after tending to her wound.

  “Thank you,” Evie said gratefully.

  Islwyn pulled out a small magic pouch and shook the contents into his hand. He tossed it into the dark opening. Suddenly the cavern was illuminated, revealing a short set of stairs leading below. Evie followed Islwyn down the stairs. Her short sword was drawn and in her hand.

  She looked around at the chamber below the hill. The walls were made of stones and the ceiling of wood. Runes she couldn’t read adorned the walls. A table held various gold items from cups to bowls and platters. Across the room sat an altar. Next to it was a long bed with the decayed remains of a person laying on top.

  “It’s a burial mound!” Evie exclaimed.

  Islwyn looked at her with excitement. “Not just any burial mound, Evie. This is the burial mound of someone of great importance.”

  They walked to the skeletal remains to examine them for clues. It was a man by the looks of the clothing he was buried in. Possibly a mage or a wizard. Evie reached down, put two fingers around the golden chain encircling his neck, and pulled it up slowly and carefully until she uncovered the amulet that was tucked into the rotten cloth at the bottom.

  “Look, Islwyn,” Evie said as she held the amulet in the palm of her hand. The amulet was a bright-red, round stone with a black oval in the center, resembling an eye. Islwyn turned from his examination of the runes on the altar beside the remains and looked at Evie’s hand.

  “The Eye of Yng!” Islwyn exclaimed. He walked over and fingered the amulet reverently. “I always thought it was just a myth. The Eye of Yng and the Eye of Gyr were gifts to the elves and men. They were lost after the second uprising. Some say they never really existed.”

  “So they want the Eye of Yng to bring back Gwythr from the spirit realm. What about the Eye of Gyr?” Evie asked.

  “I would imagine they are searching for it as well. Either amulet alone is powerful enough to bring him back from the magic realm, but both amulets together would make Gwythr unstoppable,” Islwyn said.

  “We need to find it first then,” Evie said.

  Zeb paced back and forth in front of the secret door in the altar. His eyes scanned the valley nervously. Something about this place was unnerving. Zeb stopped as he caught sight of the river. He watched with curiosity as the thick fog withdrew from the ground around him and toward the river as if it were being sucked into the water. He looked around in horror at the numerous mounds covering the valley grounds that the fog had hidden. Zeb realized they needed to get out of the valley now. He poked his head just through the doorway so he would be heard better.

  “Back to the dragons now!” Zeb yelled.

  Islwyn reached over and helped her remove the amulet from the neck of the remains. Evie put it in the pouch attached to her belt.

  “Let’s go!” Islwyn said, grabbing Evie’s arm and rushing her out of the burial mound. “What is it?” he asked Zeb upon exiting the mound.

  Evie stepped out behind him, up onto the hill. “What? What is it?” she asked fearfully.

  “Dragyrs,” Islwyn said full of dread, looking around at the glowing mounds.

  “We need to go before they rise,” Zeb said.

  They walked in between the scattered and unnaturally glowing mounds that covered the valley floor. Evie remembered tripping over one earlier, but it hadn’t been glowing then.

  “Dragyrs?” Evie said shakily. “As in the undead, flesh-eating, blood-drinking monsters? I heard tales about them as a child and thought they were just stories to scare children.”

  “It’s true that they haven’t been seen outside of the Forbidden Lands in a long time and have been reduced to bedtime stories, but they are very real,” Islwyn said.

  Suddenly, the fog came back out from the river and encircled them. It rose above Evie’s head, and she couldn’t see a thing.

  “Islwyn! Zeb!” she shouted in a panicked voice. “I can’t see you. I can’t see anything!”

  “Keep walking in the direction you were, Evie,” Zeb instructed. “I was right behind you.”

  Evie breathed shallow breaths in fear. She felt disoriented from the unnatural fog. She tripped over a mound and fell to the ground hard, crying out in pain as she landed with a loud thump.

  “Wyn!” she shouted in pain.

  “I’m coming back for you, Evie,” Islwyn called out. “Just keep talking, and I will follow the sound of your voice.”

  “I fell over a mound,” she explained.

  “Are you hurt?” Islwyn asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “I am almost to you both,” Zeb said.

  Evie smelled it coming before she saw it. It reeked of decay. She saw a pair of legs before her and looked up in horror. The dragyr stood unmoving, like an ugly statue as she struggled to stand up. The pallid gray-skinned monster before her looked skeletal, and its eyes glowed red. Its long, dead, white hair hung limply around its shoulders. Its mouth was open in a deathly grin with razor-sharp, pointed teeth jutting out of its fleshless jawbone. It was more gruesome than the tales described.

  Evie held up her short sword. Her arm shook with fear. She heard a buzz and watched as a flaming arrow struck the dragyr in the back and stuck out of its chest. The dragyr growled angrily and p
ulled the arrow from its chest.

  Zeb ran up to her and grabbed her arm, quickly lifting her to her feet. “Let’s go!” he said breathlessly. They ran past the wrathful dragyr and caught up with Islwyn.

  “Run to the dragons,” Islwyn commanded. “I will hold it off.”

  “I’m staying with you,” Zeb said. “Evie, go. We will need your dragon to burn them. Fire is the only thing that will kill a dragyr. Our arrows will only hold them off.” Zeb reached into his pouch and pulled out fire magic. He lit a handful of arrows and loosed them expertly, one by one.

  The dragyr seemed to grow larger and larger as it chased them. Evie ran toward her dragon as fast as she could. The supernatural fog disappeared again. She reached Emrys and climbed on his back quickly. She looked back at the dragyr running toward Islwyn and Zeb. Several other dragyrs appeared suddenly beside their mounds. They too grew larger and larger.

  “Evie,” called Islwyn, firing arrow after arrow at the dragyrs who moved closer despite the barrage of arrows. “Burn them now!”

  Evie commanded her dragon into the air. He flew straight for the dragyrs and let out a long stream of fire. She felt the heat from the blast and shielded her eyes with her arm. Some of the dragyrs fell to the ground in flames. Emrys circled around, blowing fire and taking out several more dragyrs. Evie looked back. Islwyn and Zeb had escaped unharmed and were mounting their dragons.

  She watched from her position as her dragon took out dragyr after dragyr until the remaining monsters retreated into their mounds. Then she commanded Emrys to fly out of the valley. Zeb and Islwyn were right behind her as she ascended out of the valley, through the crevice, and up above the plateau. She breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they were all safely out of the valley.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked her fellow riders.

  “No,” they replied in unison.

  “We were lucky, though,” Islwyn said. “That was close.”

  “Too close,” Zeb said in agreement.

  Evie’s heart slowed its pounding in her chest. She remembered the amulet in her pouch.

  “Let’s get out of the Forbidden Lands to somewhere safe and check out this amulet,” she said. She followed her rider friends out of the mountain pass and over the border of the Forbidden Lands as they headed to the safety of the elven forest where they could regroup and discuss the amulet.

  CHAPTER 27

  Evie looked down at the piece of parchment in her trembling hands. The dragon-master council wanted to see her. She knew they were in trouble for going on the secret quest. She didn’t know what they would do to her. She straightened her rider uniform and her hair, tucking a loose strand of hair back into her braid. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the council room.

  The door opened, revealing a large room with a long table filled with many dragon-rider masters that made up the council. Islwyn and Zeb were standing before them already. Evie nervously took her place beside them. A dragon master shut the door and returned to his seat, facing her. Evie looked at the high dragon master as he spoke. His white hair contrasted starkly with his dark skin. His warm brown eyes seemed kind but stern.

  “Do you have any idea how many rules you three have broken?” he asked. His voice was hoarse, sounding as if he were ill. Evie remembered hearing a story about the high dragon master in one of her classes. He had sustained severe injuries to his throat on a quest before his retirement. That would explain the damage to his vocal cords.

  Islwyn began to speak, but Evie interrupted him. “Dragon masters, high dragon master, I would like to apologize for my actions. I alone am responsible. I was sent on a quest by the high mage to the king. I snuck out. Islwyn and Zeb realized and merely followed me. They went after me to bring me back, not to assist me on the quest. Please don’t punish them. I alone am at fault.”

  The council was silent. The high dragon master spoke to Islwyn and Zeb. “Is this the truth of the matter?”

  Islwyn looked over at her. Evie nodded.

  “Yes,” Zeb lied in agreement. “We became aware that the initiate had left the school and followed her to bring her back for disciplinary action.”

  Evie knew Islwyn would not lie to the council. Zeb was trying to help save them from a lot of trouble.

  “Yes,” said the high mage as he stepped out of the shadows of the corner of the room. Evie had no idea he was there. “As I have told you all before, I sent the initiate out on the quest. I will speak to the council alone now to explain my reasoning.”

  “Evalina Voll,” the high dragon master said calmly, “the council will hear out the high mage and discuss your punishment. Please wait for our decision before returning to training. As for you two,” he said, looking at Islwyn and Zeb, “good work bringing back the initiate unharmed. You may resume your instruction.”

  The three riders left the council room. Evie didn’t believe for one second that the high dragon master was convinced. Hopefully, the high mage would speak to the council on her behalf. They had to know the importance of the amulets.

  Islwyn and Zeb went out to resume training instruction, promising to see her at dinner and discuss the outcome of the council meeting. They tried to assure her that everything would be all right.

  Evalina sat in a cozy chair by the hearth in the great room of the dragon institute. Before the council meeting, she had sent word to High Mage Myrddin that she had found the amulet, which turned out to be the mythical Eye of Yng. The mage promptly sent a reply that he would come to her. As she waited for him to finish speaking to the council, she read accounts of past dragon trials. The dragon trials were coming up at the end of the training year. She had been training hard for them.

  “Evalina,” a voice said.

  Evie turned her head to see who had spoken. She looked up and saw the high mage smiling at her. She began to stand up to greet him, but he stopped her.

  “Please remain seated,” he ordered, taking a seat next to her. “Show me what you found.”

  “But the council,” she urged. “Am I kicked out of the institute?”

  “No,” he replied. “I have handled the matter.”

  “But how?” she asked.

  “I need to show them the amulet,” he said calmly. “I explained my findings and my predictions. They cannot deny the quest now that it has been proven purposeful; however, they would not like you to attempt another quest until you have proven yourself in the dragon trials and make apprenticeship. Then and only then you may go on quests with the accompaniment of qualified dragon riders.”

  Evalina handed him a soft leather pouch. The high mage opened the strings and removed the amulet, which Evie had wrapped in a cloth to protect it. He eagerly unwrapped it. A big smile crossed his face as he held the amulet in his hand.

  “The Eye of Yng! It really does exist,” he exclaimed. He turned the amulet over and over, studying it. “I can feel its power reaching out to my own.”

  “What now?” Evie asked.

  “I will destroy it as we planned,” the high mage replied, sounding distracted as he stared at the amulet. “Now you must seek out the Eye of Gyr. For if the Eye of Yng exists, then the Eye of Gyr must as well. If Gwythr’s followers get a hold of one or both of the amulets, it will spell disaster for the entire kingdom. They will resurrect him, and he will bring a terrible army upon our kingdom and slaughter everyone and everything until he sits on the throne.”

  “But the council said no more quests until after I pass the dragon trials,” Evie objected. “You just said so yourself.”

  “Yes of course,” the high mage agreed. “The games are approaching soon. We won’t have long to wait. In the meantime, train hard.”

  “I will find it,” Evie promised. “Do you have any clues as to where it is, like you did for this amulet?”

  “I have a piece of a map. The amulet resides in a cave; however, which cave system is unbeknownst to me,” the mage replied. He handed her an old piece of parchment with markings of a faded map on it.

>   “It is so faded,” Evie said. She felt discouraged as she tried to make out the markings.

  “It is old and slightly damaged, as you can see,” the high mage said apologetically.

  “There are so many cave systems in Eryieth,” Evie remarked as she remembered her cave lessons from geography. “And probably so many unknown.” She let out a frustrated breath.

  “Then I must leave you now to begin your research,” the high mage said, standing up as he placed the Eye of Yng back inside the pouch. He tucked the pouch into a pocket of his cloak and bowed his head to her respectfully. “Send word to me of your progress. In the meantime, I must try to destroy the amulet. You are the only one I trust to keep this a secret. Remember there are those among us who would seek the amulet’s power for their own.”

  “I will find the Eye of Gyr,” Evie promised.

  “I know you will. Good day, Evalina,” the high mage said. He walked away quickly.

  Evie looked back down at the map. She would need Islwyn’s help again. She set off to seek him out. She would find the Eye of Gyr and see it destroyed so that the evil wizard Gwythr’s soul could not be brought back from the magic spirit realm. Then she could forget about the prophecy that made her such a target once and for all.

  Book Two of The Dragon Riders of Eryieth series coming soon…

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to thank my two imaginative daughters, Iliana and Elisabeth, for helping me come up with and voting for the best character and dragon names. I would like to thank my nephew, Cody, for listening to me plot out the book series and give input on my ideas, helping this world grow and expand. I would like to thank Mauro Woitschach for believing in my writing and investing in the publication. I would like to thank Brianne Secorsky, Alice Secorsky, Jeff Secorsky, Cristina Savala, Frances Baker, Iris McKairin, Rosanna Gossett, Kristin Michelle Adams, Sean Landrey, and Aaron Wilcox for listening to my ideas, my endless rambling of my book over the months, and for supporting my endeavors. To my friend, Zeb, I hope you enjoy the character I created using your name. I would like to thank my cartographer, Beee, for taking my sketch and creating a beautifully illustrated map. I would like to thank the talented artists who created just the right logo for the series and made me a beautiful book cover. I would also like to thank all my fans and friends who constantly encourage me to continue writing. I hope you enjoy this new series.