Within moments the manor’s two master bedroom doors fused together and they were looking at a forest path.
“Brings back memories, doesn’t it?” Steve remarked.
“It sure does,” Sarah agreed. She nudged her husband in the ribs. “Come on, let’s go.”
Steve felt mildly ridiculous as he picked up their suitcase and stepped through the portal. Both of them turned to look at the rectangular opening showing them an image of their house back in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Within moments the portal had vanished and they were alone in the middle of a forest. Sarah took his hand. The forest winked out and was immediately replaced by a quiet, dark living room in a small two bedroom house.
Humming merrily, Sarah walked around the house and verified all was well. Steve wheeled the heavy suitcase into the larger of the two bedrooms and set their luggage up on the bed. He walked over to a large wardrobe and opened it to reveal a selection of tunics, trousers, gowns, footwear, and essentially anything else it would take for the two of them to blend in with the rest of the villagers.
“Tell me again why you had to pack so much when all of our Lentarian clothes are still here?”
Sarah smiled. She reached into the open suitcase and pulled out a small bag. She held it up so that Steve could see it.
“See any electrical outlets around here? I’m not going anywhere without my curling iron. Do you know how difficult it was to find one that runs on batteries?”
Steve chuckled and wisely decided to keep his comments to himself.
Once they were properly attired, Steve strapped Mythrin, his special green-bladed broadsword, to his hip.
“You’d think there’d be a better way to communicate than having to have this thing strapped to your belt,” Steve complained. “If Rhenyon or Breslin don’t have their weapons handy, then they wouldn’t even know if we encountered trouble.”
“You love having that thing on your hip and you know it,” Sarah countered.
Steve grinned. “True.”
Steve? Is that you? Are you really back in Lentari?
Steve jumped and dropped a bottle of water he had been about to open. Alarmed, Sarah rushed to his side.
“What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”
“It’s Pryllan. Hang on; let me see what she wants.”
Hi, Pryllan. It’s me. Is everything okay?
Is Sarah with you? Will you meet me at the valley?
The valley south of Lake Raehón? Sure. When?
Now.
Okay, I’ll have Sarah take us there. Do you know where those large boulders are near the southern edge of the valley?
I do.
One of them is a dwarf door. We’ll meet you there.
I have often wondered if that group of boulders concealed an entrance to their realm down below. Now I know.
Whoops. Don’t tell them I told you that.
Agreed.
“We need to head north. I don’t know what the problem is, but Pryllan sounded worried. Remember that large boulder that was a dwarf door in disguise? That’s where she’s going to meet us.”
Sarah nodded. “No problem. Ready?”
Steve tossed his water bottle back on the bed.
“Ready.”
In the blink of an eye the stuffy air of their cottage in the Lentarian capital of R’Tal was replaced with a cool mountain breeze wafting gently from the north. They could smell the nearby pine trees; they could detect traces of moisture coming from the large freshwater lake sitting off in the distance as well as pick up the fragrant scent of numerous wildflowers all scattered about. They both inhaled deeply. Even though the two of them lived in the northern Idaho panhandle, and Coeur d’Alene sat in the middle of a forest bearing its name, the scents assailing them now were nothing like what they could smell from their property back home. Perhaps it was the lack of industrialization.
“I’ll never grow tired of this,” Sarah observed as she shielded her eyes and looked around at the quiet, serene valley. “So where is she?”
“I’m here,” a voice said from directly behind them.
Steve and Sarah both jumped and whirled around. Pryllan was there. How dragons could move with such stealth Steve would never know. He was glad, though, to see his friend.
“Pryllan! It’s good to see you again!”
“And you.”
“Is everything alright?” Sarah asked, concerned. “Steve seemed to think you sounded worried.”
“I am worried.”
Steve shared a look with Sarah. What could possibly worry a dragon?
“Can you tell us what’s going on?”
Pryllan cast a nervous look around the valley.
“Not here.” Pryllan opened one of her mighty claws. “If you will allow me.”
Not showing the slightest bit of hesitation, Both Steve and his wife sat companionably down into the open palm.
Pryllan gently cupped her two claws together. Both humans felt the huge dragon bunch her muscles and then they were launched straight up. Extending her wings as soon as she hit the peak of her jump, Pryllan banked to the right. Once the western Bohanis were before them she leveled off and started flapping her wings to gain altitude. Higher and higher she rose as they flew out over the western shores of Lake Raehón.
The valley fell behind them, replaced by numerous mountains, some covered with nothing but rock and others having every square inch covered by trees. One barren peak, completely devoid of any type of greenery, appeared farther west. Pryllan dipped her wings and angled herself toward the mountain.
As they neared the mountain they could see a black dot high up the southeastern side, facing the distant valley. Also visible was enough room just outside the cave entrance for a dragon to bask in the sun. This is what it looked like Kahvel, Pryllan’s mate, was doing. The gold dragon’s head jerked up and he watched them approach.
Landing softly next to her mate, Pryllan waited for the two humans to reach the ground before straightening back up.
“Hello, Kahvel.” Sarah smiled up at the imposing figure of the golden dragon. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Kahvel nodded at her. “Sarah.” His golden eyes fixed on Steve. “Good day to you, Steve.”
Steve was silent as he studied Kahvel. He was the first dragon he had ever met and as such, he was still the largest, provided he didn’t include the king of sourpusses, Rinbok Intherer, Dragon Lord. Granted it had been a while since he had spent any time amongst the wyverians, but he could still see that something was bothering the powerful dragon.
“What’s gotten into you?” Steve inquired. He ignited his hand and generated a chaser, which he spun on his index finger. “Who’s ticked you off? Let’s go kick their butt together. What do you say?”
The tiniest trace of a smile appeared on Kahvel’s reptilian face before the dragon was able to compose himself.
“If only it were that simple,” Kahvel’s deep voice rumbled.
“What’s going on? Why have you brought us here?”
Kahvel shook his head.
“I did not bring you here.” The golden dragon nodded his head toward his mate. “She did.”
“How did you manage to give us both the same dream?” Sarah wanted to know. “That was both creepy and impressive at the same time.”
Pryllan smiled cryptically, but remained silent.
“So what’s going on?” Steve asked again.
Kahvel finally stirred. He lifted his neck up and swung his head to the left to look east.
“I believe we are under an attack.”
“Excuse me?” Steve stammered.
He stared in shock at the gold dragon. Steve and Sarah eyed each other nervously. What creature in their right mind would dare to take on the dragons? Steve noticed that Pryllan had bared her fangs. Clearly this must be a sore subject for her.
“You don’t know that for certain,” Pryllan all but growled.
“How many have we lost now?”
“Excuse me?” S
teve repeated, raising a hand. “Lost? You lost some dragons? As in some dragons have lost their lives?”
Sarah clapped her hands over her mouth in horror.
“They have not succumbed,” Pryllan told Steve, glancing briefly down at the human. “Not yet.”
“But they will,” Kahvel spat. “You have not seen what they’ve become. Listless. Lifeless. They wait to die.”
“This is more serious than we thought,” Steve whispered to Sarah.
“I will NOT allow Pravara to suffer the same fate!” Kahvel all but roared. Steve and Sarah inadvertently took several steps back. “This must be stopped and must be done so NOW! We need to act before it’s too late!”
“Um, who’s Pravara?” Sarah asked in a quiet voice.
Pryllan stared at Kahvel a few moments longer, as if daring him to lose his temper once more. When Kahvel finally looked away Pryllan’s demeanor softened. She nodded towards the cave.
“She’s there. She was sleeping, but I’m sure she’s awake now.”
Sure enough they could hear something stirring in the far recesses of the dark cave. The noises grew louder as whatever was in the cave headed towards them. They heard a soft rasping sound and then the creature moved into the sunlight.
Sarah went all mushy.
It was a baby dragon.
The story continues in Something Wyverian This Way Comes (Tales of Lentari #2), now available!
Author’s Note
Here we are again! I knew I was going to write a fourth book, but I wouldn’t have imagined it would be set in Lentari. I can thank you, the fans, for that. If not for your encouragement, and your dedicated loyalty, Lost City would be, well, it would have remained lost.
Lost City is the first story set in my new Tales of Lentari series. Each book will be designed to be standalone stories, where it isn’t necessary to read the other books to be able to follow along. Encouraged, yes, but not required.
One of my favorite things to do is to chat with the fans. I absolutely love the fact that I can pose a question to the fans and within minutes, MINUTES, I have a response on Facebook, or I can pose questions on the blog and I’ll get people giving me their opinions. I love knowing that if I ever get stumped for character names, or if I need some ideas for jhorun, or even dragon colors, I can ask and get a dozen different ideas in less than ten minutes.
So, the question I’m often asked now is, what’s next? What’s next for Lentari? Well, I can safely tell you guys that I’ve already started on the next story. The plot has already been mapped out and I’ve already broken it into chapters. I’ll even tell you that the writing has already begun. Want to know what it’s about? Well, I won’t give any spoilers away, but what I will tell you is that my favorite mythological creatures are going to be prominently featured. In fact, they will be protagonists in the next book. Dragons! This story is going to feature the dragons and our favorite wyverian couple, Pryllan and Kahvel!
I’ve only barely started working on this one but I can tell you that I’m enjoying it immensely so far. Dragons are huge. Dragons are powerful. The all powerful Dragon Lord, Rinbok Intherer, is going to have to ask for help. Mwahahaha… LOL!
As I’ve said many times before, and will say again, I encourage any reader of my stories to leave reviews wherever they purchased the book(s). Good review, bad review, it doesn’t matter. I know not everyone will enjoy the stories, but if you do like the book, please help me out and leave a review and let others know what you liked, or didn’t like, if it comes to that. You won’t ever hurt my feelings. I can take critique, both good and bad. How are you expected to grow, as a writer, if you ignore advice that your readers give you? So don’t worry about what I think. The fact that you took a chance on this book speaks volumes!
Care to follow me online? This is where you can find me!
Official website/blog: www.Lentari.com
Facebook: /BakkianChronicles
Feel free to stop by the blog and say hello! I usually have some type of contest running where you can win print copies of the books. I also enjoy helping out aspiring authors, so if you have any questions about possibly publishing a book yourself, feel free to ask as I am what’s called an Indie author. I’ve helped others format their work to submit it to Amazon, or Smashwords, so if you need a hand, I’ll be more than happy to help out!
Thank you again for reading my book. Stay tuned! More adventures are on the way!
Jeffrey M. Poole
July, 2013
Fan Submissions
Thanks to all of you who submitted your suggestions when naming a fictional character. I had way more submissions than I did the first time I asked for help, so for that, thank you very much! Not all made it into the book, but I did use quite a few of them. Here are the ones I used:
Rhamalli – April Enos
Trindolyn, Jocastin, Rohath – TinaSings
Kovabel, Plukren – Scott Poe
Alpin, Kemxandra, Tristofer – Charlotte Dixon
Creedyn – Sallrw
Cantreya, Jurin, Prixus – Clawra
Samara, Timeki – Debbie Poole
Sabriella – Liz Moss
Bykram – Mark Berry
Elva – Christina P.
Rahygren, Krisken – Raymond Baker
Graemlin – Andrew Dyer
Zincoff, Neika – Nicki Jones
Oricfed Galfodin – Freddy Gandolfi
Bastion Delvehearth – Laura Matthews
Waxrobbe – Bob Terry
Trinidra – Brett Gable
For those that submitted some names which weren’t used, rest assured they are still on my list of possible names which may show up in a future story! Thanks again for all the submissions!!
Lost City Page 37
