by R. D. Henham
Lazuli roared in rage and frustration, beating his wings furiously. For a moment, he clawed against the barrier in rage, refusing to admit he’d been defeated. At last the blue dragon slowed and then stopped, eyes flashing. He snarled at them one last time, then turned and flew away. The last Sandon saw of Lazuli was moonlight reflecting on sapphire wings, long after the shadow of the dragon had faded into the night.
cinyoshu gently settled down on the lip of the keep’s highest tower, lowering his curled claws to set Sandon down. Baron Camiel lay still on the stone tiles, his face pale. Umar, the apprentice wizard, knelt over him and held his limp hand. Vilfrand was there too, but he’d been tied up with something that Sandon could have sworn was a torn length of the apprentice’s red robe. The captain shot a nasty look at the dragon when it landed, poison all but spitting from his eyes. In his other hand, Umar held Kine’s sword, keeping the end pointed roughly in Vilfrand’s direction.
Sandon pushed through the dragon’s claws toward his father. The baron’s hair was matted with sweat, pressed against his forehead in damp waves. His eyes were closed, but as Sandon fell beside him, he could tell that the baron was still breathing. “Dad?”
Fighting to open his eyes, Baron Camiel looked up at his son. “Village … in danger …?”
“It’s all right, Dad.” Tears filled Sandon’s eyes. Umar moved aside, surrendering the baron’s hand to the boy. The two youths exchanged a look of sorrow, and Sandon lay his other hand on his father’s chest. The breathing was so shallow. The baron squeezed his hand around his son’s fingers with feeble strength. “The village is going to be fine,” Sandon assured him. “Lazuli is gone. He won’t be coming back.” The boy had to choke back a sob. It wouldn’t do for his father’s last memories to be of his son crying.
Golden glitter filled the air around them, causing Sandon to look over his shoulder as he wiped away the tears. One minute, Acinyoshu was resting on the lip of the tower, his shining scales bright in the moonlight. His amber eyes, like those of the construct but far deeper and impossibly more alive, shone down on them in gentle compassion. The next, the glitter swirled around him like a thick cloud of bees, dancing and drifting on the evening wind, then fading away to reveal a man.
“Kine?” Sandon gasped.
“Yeah.” The soldier glanced down, abashed. He still wore the dirty clothing of a long-suffering traveler, sandy blond hair falling into his eyes in an unruly mass.
“You’re the dragon?” He couldn’t keep his voice from breaking in surprise. “But how … when … hang on …” As it all fell into place, Sandon started to get angry. “How could you lie to me again?”
“I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t tell you—but I did tell you, when you found out about the sword, that there were things I couldn’t say!”
“Why not? Hang on, how did you get into the valley in the first place, if the spell was there?”
“You invited me. Well, you and your father, when you offered me succor on the road outside the valley. I told you, the horn was just to get my attention when I was in my cave on the cliff. All it really took was an invitation from a member of the baronial family.” Kine strode toward him, the soles of his marching boots thumping against the mosaic.
The soldier knelt beside Baron Camiel and laid one hand on the man’s shoulder. Camiel opened his eyes and Kine whispered softly, “It was a brave thing you did, telling me to save your son first.”
“My son … and my barony,” managed the baron. “And you saved them both, I see.”
“I did. I will save you, as well … if you wish it.”
The baron’s eyes widened, and he nodded. Kine bent over the baron’s form, laying one hand gently on the fallen man’s forehead. “When I came back to Hartfall, I was prepared to hate you. My dear friend, the Baroness Lehna, was dead. Murdered. You were giving tribute to an evil blue dragon, and everything I loved about this beautiful valley had changed. But the more I got to know Sandon, the more I realized you could not be an evil man. He has your virtue—and your stubbornness. I came here to test your honor, Camiel. I found that by believing in you when I could not, your son has tested mine.”
Kine lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Holy Paladine, father of all dragons, hear me now in our time of need. This man has suffered much in your service, and has fought the enemies of the light with all his power. Do not let him fall now, when his people—and his son, who has taught me so much—need him most.”
As Sandon watched, the color began to come back into his father’s face. Camiel’s breathing evened, and his hand gripped Sandon’s with more strength. A faint smile touched his features, and the baron’s eyes closed, his body falling into a deep, restful sleep.
“He’ll be fine.” Kine lifted his head. His gaze fell across the tower plaza to where Umar stood with sword in hand, keeping shaky watch over Vilfrand. Kine’s eyes, gentle and golden, turned hard and cold. Two guards had come running up the stairs to the tower, alerted by the gold dragon’s landing. They stared around them, approaching cautiously to help Umar guard the prisoner—their own captain—though it was clear they didn’t understand. Two more knelt beside the baron, wrapping their cloaks around him. They lifted Baron Camiel into their arms so that they could carry him down to his chambers. Sandon wanted to go after them, but he knew that his father would be fine. Besides, his work wasn’t done here, and he knew it.
“Sandon,” Kine—Acinyoshu—said. “While your father is sick, you’re acting baron. It’s up to you to decide what to do with Vilfrand. He’s betrayed your father and the barony, and threatened to kill you too when his plan was about to fail.” The gold dragon sighed and looked down at Sandon. “What would you have done with him?”
Releasing his father’s hand, Sandon rose and faced Vilfrand. “You killed my mother.”
“It was an accident,” Vilfrand said in a small voice. “I never meant to hurt her.”
Sandon clenched his fists. “I should kill you like you killed her, but I won’t because I’m better than you are. You said you did all this for money. A sword and shield, and a steed. Well, you can have all of those things, Uncle. But you can’t have anything else—including a home here in Hartfall.” Sandon glanced at Kine. “We’ll give him enough supplies for a week’s travel, weaponry, and a horse. I’ll give him the same sentence you gave to Lazuli. Exile. Under pain of death, Uncle Vilfrand, never show your face in Hartfall again.”
Kine placed his hand on Sandon’s shoulder with a little smile. “Your father will be very proud.”
The evening breeze floated across the tower as the soldiers lifted Vilfrand to his feet. They escorted the unprotesting guard captain down the stairs of the tower, taking him to spend the night in the prison before they fulfilled Sandon’s command. Umar approached cautiously, sword in his hand. “Here, sir.” He handed it, hilt first, to the soldier. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, young Umar. You’ll make a brave wizard one day, and if I’m any judge of character, Hartfall will be lucky to have you at the baron’s side.” Kine took the sword soberly and gazed at the sword, crown, rose, and kingfisher etched into the hilt of the blade.
Sandon thought of what the blue dragon had said just before he was shut out of the valley. “Kine? What happened to your knight?”
Taken aback, Kine blinked. With a long sigh, he sheathed the sword at his waist, patting the hilt like an old friend. “I left the valley of Hartfall to fight in the war against the evil dragons. Your mother begged to go with me, Sandon. She offered to be my knight, but I wouldn’t let her. She was too young, and besides, she was an only child and the heir to the barony. I should have known she’d do something crazy like create that construct.” He chuckled softly. “My knight was Sir Vik, a noble and brave man from a small village north of Palanthas. He was a good man. I’d hoped to bring him to Hartfall, perhaps introduce the two of them … I didn’t know your mother had gotten married.”
Kine sighed and paused. “In one of the last battles of th
e war, Lazuli tore him from my back. I combed the battlefields for three days before I found him, and brought Vik’s body home to his village so that he could be buried by his family. After that, I didn’t want to be a dragon anymore—I didn’t want to fly. I needed to walk the land that my rider knew, that he loved. The land that he fought and bled to save. So I walked here. That’s why it took me so long to come home to Hartfall.” His hand stayed on the hilt of the Solamnic sword.
“I’m glad you came home, Kine. We missed you.”
A broad smile spread across the soldier’s plain features, brightening his amber eyes to flame. “I missed it here too.” After a moment, he put his hand on Sandon’s shoulder and started walking toward the tower stairs. “You know, you did pretty well up there before the construct was destroyed. That was some pretty smart flying.
“So, you know, kid … you can be Baron of Hartfall and still become a knight.”
“Really?” Sandon’s eyes widened. “But …” His face fell. “I can’t travel to meet the Council of Knights. I can’t become a squire or serve at the keep. And I don’t have a knight to sponsor me. With my father sick, especially, I’m going to have to stay here. Without Vilfrand, he’s going to need me.”
“Yes, he is.” Smiling, Kine squeezed Sandon’s shoulder. “But you won’t have to go anywhere to train. Huma, the first knight of Solamnia, instructed us in the ways of war as well as his knights, and I know their methods. I’ll train you myself, kiddo. When you’re ready, and your father is well again, you and I will go to the knights together. I don’t think they’ll mind the unusual nature of the situation, given your history.” He winked. “You’ve certainly proved yourself brave enough—braver than some full-grown knights I’ve seen.”
Kine ruffled the boy’s hair with a gentle hand. It was almost too good to be true. Sandon nodded, the lump in his throat blocking any words he might have offered in thanks. It felt like he was riding in the construct once more, rising high above the clouds on wings of gold.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R.D. HENHAM is a scribe in the great library of Palanthas. In the course of transcribing stories of legendary dragons, the author felt a gap existed in the story of the everydragon: ordinary dragons who end up doing extraordinary things. With the help of fellow scribes, R.D. has filled that gap with this series of books based on Sindri Suncatcher’s remarkable A Practical Guide to Dragons.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR’S ASSISTANT
REE SOESBEE has assisted R.D. Henham with several books in the Dragon Codex series, including Black Dragon Codex and Silver Dragon Codex. She is the author of seven books in the Dragonlance: The New Adventures series, as well as several other books for children and young adults. She lives in Seattle with the Grand Adventuress of Cats and a healthy perspective of her place in the world. She studies aikido and Socrates, which leads to interesting internal conversations. You can find her website at www.learsfool.com.
Gold Dragon Codex
©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. The information in this book is based on the lore created for the Dungeons & Dragons® fantasy roleplaying game.
Published by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Mirrorstone, its logo and Dungeons & Dragons are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries.
All characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Text by R.D. Henham with assistance from Ree Soesbee
Interior art by Todd Lockwood
Cartography by Dennis Kauth
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Henham, R. D.
Gold dragon codex / R.D. Henham ; [interior art by Todd Lockwood].
p. cm.
“Mirrorstone.”
Summary: Determined to find a way to stop the evil blue dragon Lazuli from terrorizing and impoverishing their valley, Sandon, the son of the ruling family, searches for the ancient gold dragon that used to protect them and, in the process, discovers some important secrets.
eISBN: 978-0-7869-5653-1
[1. Dragons—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Knights and knighthood—Fiction. 4. Fantasy.]
I. Lockwood, Todd, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.H3884Gol 2010
[Fic]—dc22
2009023105
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