Dragon Magic: Lyric's Curse 2 (Dragonblood Sagas Book 4)

by Robyn Wideman

  I think we are here, mindlinked Kemoth.

  Lyric looked down. He could see the outline of the buildings below. It was still too dark to make them out clearly, but the shape of the buildings was interesting. One large building in the center and a ring of buildings around it then an outer ring of smaller buildings. On one of the smaller outer buildings there was a torch, and a man sitting on top of the hut.

  Take us to the middle building, mindlinked Lyric.

  Kemoth flew down to the building, Leomaris and Ovalia quickly followed.

  When Leomaris landed on top of the building, Lyric discover that the roof of the huge dome wasn’t perfect. Half of the top of the dome was flat, creating a perfect landing spot for dragons. And the second half of the roof was open like a cave.

  Jumping from Leomaris back. Lyric rubbed the dragon’s neck. “Thank you Leomaris.”

  Celine slipped of the back of Ovalia and joined Lyric. “What an interesting building. It must have been designed for dragons,” she said as she looked around.

  Lyric nodded as he walked to the edge of the flat roof and looked down. He could see person on top of the hut had left the top of the building. Was it one of the Daxrah? Or had someone else claimed the mountain fortress for themselves?

  “Let’s go inside,” said Celine as she walked towards the covered half of the rooftop. She pulled out a feather from her bag and blew on it. The feather started to glow and floated out of her hand, it moved towards the opening as if a gentle breeze was pushing it through the air, as it entered the darkness of the opening it grew even brighter, illuminating the opening.

  The covered area was spacious, the top of the dome was twenty feet higher than the floor and it was completely empty except for a massive staircase that went down into the building. A staircase big enough for a dragon, thought Lyric.

  Of course, it is. What did you expect to find in a dragon home? A ladder? mindlinked Kemoth.

  Lyric chuckled. He didn’t know what to expect. “Very funny, Kemoth.”

  Celine raised an eyebrow.

  “Kemoth thinks I am silly for being surprised that a dome built for dragons would have a dragon sized staircase”

  Celine smiled as she started going down the stairs. “Well, what did you expect? Ladders?”

  Lyric shook his head. Sometimes there was no winning. He followed Celine as she went further down the stairs. Kemoth was right behind him, while Ovalia and Leomaris seemed content to wait on the roof.

  The stairs went down and opened into a large chamber. There were no windows, only one set of huge doors on one wall. Aside from the massive doors, the only other interesting feature to the large chamber was the floor. It was a stone floor except in the middle where was a two-foot-high ring of stones, at least twenty feet across, that was filled with sand.

  Kemoth jumped on the sand filled platform. “Someone had a comfy bed.”

  Lyric laughed. Of course, the chamber would have a dragon bed.

  Celine grabbed one of the door handles and started pulling on it. “Give me a hand. This sucker is heavy.”

  Lyric grabbed the handle and helped her pull open the fifteen-foot-high door. On the other side of the door stood four men holding torches.

  “Welcome to Fallstorm,” said one of the men. He looked at Lyric. “You must be the dragonblood, Lyric Finch.”

  Lyric nodded. “Yes, I am. This is Celine and that is Kemoth.”

  “I am Tripp Hayes, this is my brother, Jarvis, and these two are Carvel Stansfield and Marsden Wade. We are all from bloodlines who served the dragonblood who lived here before.”

  Lyric examined the men. They all had the look of men who’d seen battle, or were ready for it. However, they didn’t have that look of arrogance that some soldiers had around regular citizens. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Would you like to see your quarters? It is late, and it would be much easier to show you around during the daylight,” said Tripp.

  It was late, only a few hours until dawn, and it had been a long flight. As much as he wanted to talk to these men and to explore, sleep was a better idea. “That would be excellent.”

  I will tell Leomaris and Ovalia to come down, mindlinked Kemoth. They will sleep here in my room tonight and return to their mountain tomorrow night.

  Good idea. Lyric noted how quickly Kemoth had declared the dome his territory. The sand bed must have been to his liking. Lyric followed the four men as they led himself and Celine outside. They walked to the first building in the inner ring, and opened the door.

  “These are you quarter,” said Carvel Stansfield. “There was some disrepair among the buildings. We fixed this building first. It was Lord Fallstorm’s quarters. I’m afraid the rest of the buildings still need much repair and cleaning. I hope the quarters are to your satisfaction”

  “Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate your efforts. But you needn’t worry, I can assure you I’ve slept in worse places. This will be just fine.”

  “The kitchens are in the building on the north side of the dragon dome, when you wake we’ll have breakfast ready for you.” Carvel said before leaving.

  Lyric and Celine stood inside the building that was to be his new home. The men had done more than just repair it. The building was spotless. Celine’s magic feather floated into the middle of the building. There were two rooms. The first was a large sitting room with chairs and couches and a small dining table. The bedroom, with a large bed, complete with sheets and pillows. The building was a sparse design, obviously made with function in mind, but despite its age, the furniture was of excellent quality. The living space had a simple yet elegant feel to it.

  “Not bad,” said Celine. “When I was told about Fallstorm and how it was set up I imagined something far more military. Perhaps a cot in the corner of the room with a weapons rack for furniture. This has potential. It needs a woman’s touch, but it is clean. It is in impressive shape for not being used for over a hundred years. The men must’ve put considerable effort into repairing it.”

  Lyric looked around the building. The signs of repair were evident. The roof on one side had obviously been repaired, and several places stones and mortal had been added to cracks and holes in the walls. “I like it. It is nice.”

  Celine sat down on the bed. “Oh, that feels good. Dragon riding is hard on the muscles.”

  Lyric chuckled. He felt the same. His legs felt like he’d been running all night. Dragon magic might’ve enhanced his strength, but it didn’t make him immune to the pain and soreness that came long hours of riding on a dragon’s back. Space shifting would’ve been easier on his body, but the drain on his magic would’ve been more intense. “I agree. I am ready for bed as well.”

  A warm bed, a beautiful woman that he loved, a place to call his own. These were things that only a few short months ago he dreamed of, but never thought possible. Even now he felt like he was in a dream.

  You’re not dreaming, mindlinked Kemoth.

  A dragon who could read his mind, it was just one more of the things that he’d never imagined possible. It was strange to think that the catalyst for all the good that had happened to him all started with getting beat up by a bunch of highborn youths in Winport. If not for them, he might not have met Azina and started on the journey to becoming a dragonblood. Not that his new life was without adversity, he’d suffered through arduous hours of training, been attacked by vicious beasts, and was now an outlaw being hunted by the king’s army. But for the first time in his life he had friends, people who cared for him, and that made all the dangers worth it. Lyric undressed and slipped into the bed. The sheets were fresh and clean. He sighed contently.

  Celine snuggled up against him. “Hold me,” she instructed.

  Lyric gladly accepted her command. He placed his arm over top of her, closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes.

  …

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” said Celine as she gently nudged him.

  Lyric groaned. “Just another hour.”


  “Nope. Time to get up. Someone is cooking breakfast.”

  Removing his head from the pillow, Lyric inhaled deeply. The aroma of bacon brought him out of his slumber. “Yes, you are definitely correct. Time to wake up.” Lyric scurried out of bed, dressing as quickly as he could.

  Celine laughed at him. “Typical. A beautiful woman asks you to wake up and you want to sleep for another hour, but one whiff of bacon and you are wide awake.”

  Lyric smiled as he cinched his belt over his tunic. “I do believe it was a beautiful woman suggesting breakfast that what motivated me.”

  “Liar,” said Celine as she picked up a pillow and threw it at him.

  Slipping his boots on before Celine could find anything harder than a pillow to hurl at him, Lyric opened the bedroom. “After you, my dear.”

  Celine narrowed her eyes, stared at Lyric, then walked up and presented her arm for him to grab. “I’d be mad, but damn it all if that doesn’t smell delicious. Take me to breakfast.”

  Lyric escorted her out of his living quarters. He couldn’t remember which side Carvel had said the kitchens were on, not that he needed instructions to find them. His nose easily led the way. They entered the kitchens building and found Carvel inside. He was pulling fresh bread out of the large stone oven that marked the middle of the kitchen area. The building was one large room, one half was filled with tables and chairs, while the other was an open cooking area. The only thing separating the cooking area from the dining area was a long narrow island. Inside the cooking area was a large set of shelves on one wall, the stone oven on the middle wall and an iron cooking stove on the third wall. A small prep table was filled with bowls and a side of back bacon.

  “Good morning,” said Carvel Stansfield. “Breakfast is almost ready. You can eat here with the lads and I, or we can bring it to your private chambers.”

  “Here is fine,” said Lyric. “It smells delicious.”

  “Thank you, I used to work in a bakery, so the cooking duties have fallen to me.”

  “Thank the gods for that,” said Jarvis Hayes as he entered the room. “Morning Milord, Milady.”

  “Please, call me Lyric. I’ve earned no titles, and nor do I want one,” said Lyric.

  “Speak for yourself,” said Celine. “Milady has a nice ring to it.” She then winked at Jarvis.

  Jarvis laughed. “Lyric it is, and Milady.”

  “Celine will be fine. Flatter me with too many formalities and you’ll make Lyric jealous.”

  Lyric shook his head. There was no winning a war of wits with Celine so he just kept his mouth shut.

  “Are those two knuckleheads on their way? It is almost time to eat,” said Carvel.

  They will be here any minute. They were just doing a sweep for fresh tracks,” said Jarvis. He turned to Lyric. “We haven’t had an issue yet, but there are corca cats, wolves and at least two trolls on this mountain. We’ve been keeping an eye out for them but they’ve only been coming near the estate during night.”

  Corca cats, they would be a problem once they go his scent. “You know about corca cats dislike for dragonbloods?”

  Jarvis nodded. “It is common knowledge among the descendants of Sir Fallstorm. Every couple of years corca cats would attack Fallstorm. Pyphan, Sir Fallstorm’s dragon thought it was great fun. He was a massive gold and even a family of corca cats were no match for him. With your dragon being so young we’ll have to be on alert.”

  Lyric nodded. “We had trouble with them in the western mountains. They almost ate Celine and I.”

  “You’ve learned a few tricks since then,” said Celine.

  “Dragon magic?” asked Jarvis.

  Before Lyric could answer, Tripp and Marsden entered the dining room.

  “Morning, Milord,” said Marsden.

  Lyric shook his head. “Now that you are all in the same room, my name is Lyric, and this is Celine.”

  “As you wish, Milo… Lyric,” said Marsden.

  Carvel brought plates for Lyric and Celine, then handed them utensils. “Here ye go. Plenty more if you like.”

  Lyric looked at the plate. Thick slices of back bacon, three eggs, and thick slabs of fresh bread toasted to a golden brown. Lyric’s mouth watered as he looked at the meal. Lyric stabbed a piece of bacon and started eating. The meal was delicious.

  “Grab a plate boys, Lyric was just about to tell us about his dragon magic,” said Carvel. “As soon as you’re done eating that is.

  Lyric quickly finished his meal as the others filled their plates. When they were sitting and he was done his plate he looked around at the men, Lyric could see their faces were lit up in excitement. The topic of dragon magic certainly had their attention. “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything,” said Jarvis Hayes with a laugh. “We know a lot about being a Daxrah, but our knowledge of dragonbloods and dragons, aside from Sir Fallstorm, is somewhat limited.”

  Lyric nodded. That wasn’t a surprise, a hundred years was a long time and when stories were passed down generation to generation the chance of losing vital information increased with each new student. “I’m not sure how to tell this best, but since I don’t know any of you I will tell you my life story, maybe knowing all about me will change how you feel about being my Daxrah.” Lyric paused and took a deep breath. Parts of his life story he’d only found out about recently and he’d never shared all the facts before. He worried that they wouldn’t like him when they found out who he truly was.

  “My father was a merchant mage, he traveled to Droll often on business, and one time when he visited Winport he spent an evening with a lady of the night. My mother chose to keep me and leave her old profession. When my father found out he gave her money to life comfortably and raise me, but then she was murdered. Because I was a bastard and my father was married to a noble woman, they decided that the best option was to have me placed in the local orphanage. So that I might live safely and not be revealed as being a dragonblood I was fed broggins bark potion, which repressed my magic.

  “The orphanage was not a kind place. Because of my skin color I was marked as an outsider, and suffered many beatings at the hands of the other orphans. In fact, I ended up being crippled. One day I escaped the orphanage and started living on the streets. That wasn’t a pleasant life either, but I survived and other than a few beatings when I tried panhandling in the wrong territories I was mostly left alone. Until one day when I was caught by a group of highborn youths and beaten near to death. If it weren’t for Celine’s aunt, Azina, I would’ve died.

  “Azina took me in, fed me, had a healer fix my leg, and brought me to Middale. Azina, along with Valeria and Celine, trained me and tried to teach me magic. But we didn’t know about the broggins bark potion so we just thought I was strangely inept at magic for being a mage’s son. On our way from Winport to Middale we happened upon a robbery. I tried to help, and mostly by accident did. That is how I met Sibylle Lamar.

  “Sibylle and I became friends. When the king declared that Sibylle must be married, she convinced her father to make it a tournament. As you may know she arranged for an open tournament that wasn’t just inclusive of royals. Sibylle, seeing that Azina and Blair, a friend of their family, were training me to learn to fight, asked me to join the tournament. She figured every noble I could defeat would reduce the number she would have to worry about. I agreed to help her. Together, we trained even more. Between Blair and Sir Robert, her guardian, we became rather respectable fighters.

  “At that same time, a mage arrived in Middale searching for me. Salus, the mage, was from my father. He explained why my father left me in the orphanage and about the broggins bark. The tournament started and Sibylle secretly entered herself in the tournament. She arranged the tournament so that her and I were in separate brackets. We both did very well, and some of the foulest choices for a husband were removed, but I lost a match to Sir Chestmire and Talon Horne was still in the tournament.

  “The night before the last day of the t
ournament, dragons flew over the estate, and my bond with Kemoth was started. As you might’ve noticed my eye color changed, but I also became stronger and faster, and my senses were also enhanced. This change allowed me to win the tournament. That is the first of the dragon magic powers that I have. After the tournament, the king was angered that I messed up his plans for a noble marriage. One day one of the local lads who hated me spotted Celine and I walking together, that got twisted into me dishonoring my new bride Sibylle.”

  “And nothing happened, I might add,” said Celine, her head held high.

  “Yes, nothing happened, but the king had the marriage annulled and declared me an outlaw. So, I fled to the mountains. Celine joined me and helped me make my way west deep into the mountains in search of my dragon. Talon Horne, a noble’s son, who I defeated to win the tournament, started hunting us with wolfhounds. While we were in the mountains, Celine gave me the antidote for the broggins bark, but it had no immediate effect. A few days later, Celine and I were attacked by a pack of corca cats. I fought them off the best I could but eventually I grew weary. Just when I was used up, Kemoth appeared and saved us. Kemoth and his mates took us back to their mountain. Having Kemoth nearby finished the bond between us and triggered my ability to use magic.”

  Lyric paused. He hadn’t fully described his magic yet, but his backstory was complete. These men now knew he was a bastard, and had been a crippled street rat. He wasn’t royalty, or anyone special. Now he expected them to gracefully decline to be his Daxrah. Surely there were other dragonbloods out there, men more suitable to the honor.

  “Well, don’t stop there. Tell us about your dragon and your powers,” encouraged Jarvis Hayes.