by Marc Secchia
Under her direction, the troops formed a shield-wall across the gate, which opened briefly to let the Armourers in with a wounded Azar soldier slung over Yadron’s shoulder.
Xan stirred in Rhyme’s arms. She immediately checked him over. The King grumbled about having nothing but a headache and could she put him down now? To his evident consternation, the Princess Blue just laughed at him, and issued a few more orders, making sure that the Azar wounded received immediate treatment, no-one was left outside the city, that the rear gate was also guarded and the feisty canodraconids brought to heel.
Whisper found Xan grinning up at her. He shrugged, “Dignity, eh?”
She patted Drex’s shoulder. “Do you like my new transportation? Far better than actually walking about myself.”
“Rhyme?” said the Grey King.
“I’m busy.” She despatched runners along the battlements to ensure and report back that there had been no breaches of the city’s defences. Outside, the feeding frenzy proceeded unabated.
He reached up, and stroked her cheek. “You’re so beautiful. When you charged my entire army to come to my aid –”
The Princess looked down, startled and clearly nonplussed by the intimate gesture. “You were only pretending to be unconscious?”
“The way you bellowed like a Dragon and swung your axes like a romantic blossom-trimmer –”
“Xan!”
“I’ve missed you sorely, my dearest little Blue.”
“I’m never letting you go,” she said softly, with a catch in her voice, and squeezed her King against her chest until he wriggled and complained of a lack of breath.
Chapter 27: Whisper of Dawn
KING RHUZIME RAPPED on the doorpost, peering out onto Princess Rhyme’s balcony, where a jovial breakfast was underway. “No naughtiness before nuptials, my mother always taught me.”
“Naughtiness?” Rhyme said innocently. “All the naughtiness around here is sitting right over there.”
She pointed at Whisper, who idly popped another margunana into her mouth. The royal life. The fruit practically peeled itself in this Palace.
“Father – thank you, Xan,” said the Princess, as Xan easily beat the servants to holding a chair for the monarch of Arbor.
“You’re up on your feet, sir?” asked the Grey King.
“Sir?” Rhuzime chuckled, shuffling forward as he leaned heavily on two canes. “Don’t make me feel old, boy. The Mage-Healer said I could try walking, slowly, with a stick.”
“You should try walking with axes, sir,” said Xan. “You’ll be carving up Dragons in no time.”
“You should try being that nice,” Whisper suggested aside to Rhyme.
“Who told me to let her axes do the talking?” sniffed the Princess, but Whisper knew something else. She wore a soft turquoise dress this morning – lined with hidden armour in the torso, in case anyone should get any ideas – and had asked Whisper to apply makeup and style her hair for breakfast. Shimmering aquamarine crystal eye shadow, a dusting of colour here and there, and a gorgeous headdress and matching necklace, upper-arm bands and bracelets of the blue lapis lazuli of Arbor, and King Xan had walked straight into the doorpost when he saw her. Result!
A small, tight longing lodged in her breast. Oh, to be loved the way Xan loved the Princess.
Now, Rhyme’s four blonde-haired brothers arrived in a riot of activity and laughter. Source kissed his sister’s cheek formally and greeted his father and Xan with formal forearm-shakes, ever so serious. Symax hung back shyly, while Emory just made a face at Rhyme and suggested he would rather kiss a dracosnake. He dived into the food immediately. River monopolised his sister’s lap, and reached out to tweak Whisper’s whiskers.
“Hands off or get hurt, scoundrel,” said Whisper, showing him her talons.
River’s eyes widened.
“So, when’s the wedding?” asked Emory, around a mouthful of sweet redberries.
“Are you going to find your sister, King Xan?” asked Source. “Will you take Rhyme with you? When will you leave? How can a Whisper track someone when we’ve no idea where she might be? Is your sister beautiful? Did I hear you might travel to Illuxor –”
“Slow down, son,” said Rhuzime. “Two axes at a time is plenty.”
Xan said, “Aye, aye, as soon as my leg’s better, by magic, aye, very beautiful, and we don’t know. Do you have that straight, Source?”
Source’s forehead wrinkled as he evidently tied himself up in mental knots. Into the ensuing silence, Symax whispered, “Will you be our brother, King Xan?”
Xan’s eyes softened. “If you’d kindly allow it, Prince Symax.”
“Aye, we need to talk about you pinching our sister,” Emory pouted, but then his lips curved into a cheeky grin. “Don’t think you can get away with any mischief, cunning Grey. We’re watching you.”
As everyone around the table roared with laughter, River piped up, “They’ve got to get nuptured first, Daddy-Axe, don’t they? Otherwise they can’t –” he counted carefully on his fingers “– one, two, three … well, make lots of Dragon eggs?”
King Rhuzime seemed to be fighting off an urge to howl with laughter.
Rhyme said, “Those are nuptials, darling. Aye. Since we’ve a few days until Xan can travel and the swarming needs to settle down, we thought we’d have one trysting party here, and one at Azarinthe if we travel that way.”
“What? You’re waiting? What for?” Emory sounded amazed.
“Uh … Azarinthine tradition is that we wait until the year’s trysting or courtship is up before we … you know,” said Xan, looking slightly steamed beneath the collar.
“Make Dragon eggs?” said Whisper, helpfully.
“Whisper!” Rhyme clipped her left ear. “Behave yourself.”
“Well, I know what we’re packing for the trip, in that case,” said Whisper, curling her lip in a way that reduced Rhyme to spluttering, blushing silence. Xan evidently found this reaction fascinating.
Obeying an instinct she did not entirely understand, Whisper slipped away from the garrulous table and hopped up onto the balcony’s railing, gazing out over the city to the crack of dawn visible beneath the buttress. The rebuilding effort was already starting for the day, with engineers nearby raising a broken gantry into place using a heavy crane and pulleys. Further on, a construction crew supplemented with soldiers tore down a collapsed house preparatory to the rebuilding that would be required. At the rear gate, engineers had already replaced the mechanism the traitor Ammox had smashed, and she saw a small caravan of Arborites returning to their villages further up-canyon.
It would be a small team – Rhyme, Xan, Drex, Inshari the Water Enchantress and Whisper, and then two surprises, Gemmini the Armourer’s Apprentice and a Grey Mage whom Whisper had not yet met, Shandu. Xan said he ‘dabbled in everything magical’, which in Xan double-speak, meant he regarded the man highly. Shivura’s resentful pouting had been even more instructive. They would number seven – according to Rhyme, an auspicious number. Drex had not wanted to take Gemmini, but the Princess had overruled him saying that they needed an armourer, cook and forager, and Gemmini could boil a Dragon’s talons for soup and make it taste exquisite. She supposed that was as good a qualification as any for this madcap quest, and if the girl learned to stop blushing every time Xan so much as breathed in her direction, and kept all of her fingers intact, including the magical blue ones, all might be well.
Would all be well?
I am melancholy!
She would find Xola out there. She would find her, and perhaps in finding the Grey Queen or Drex’s home city and the wife and children he had not seen for twelve long years, she would find herself. Or could she hope to find another Whisper-trace nipping along a canyon somewhere, perhaps a handsome boy-Whisper with a long, full tail and a winsome smile? Whisper hugged herself, and then startled as Rhyme’s arm slipped around her waist.
After a long moment, the girl breathed in her ear, “Do you dream of Whisp
ers?”
Whisper chuckled sadly. “I’m not alone.”
“But you long to be out there, running as if the dawn’s own fires breathed you into being.”
She had no words.
Rhyme kissed the top of Whisper’s head. “You are most certainly not alone. If I have the strength, Whisper, I will help you discover your true purpose. Shivura has no idea what that Talisman could be used for, or even what a Talisman is, but we both know it can’t be good if Warlock Sanfuri seeks these Talismans so industriously. Not good at all.”
Styxor the Arboreal Dragon had called her the mightiest Talisman under Ocean and Sky. Whatever could he have meant?
Now there was a thought to make her whiskers and tail shiver!
Rhyme prodded her in the ribs. “O faraway Whisper, do you think boy-Whispers are good kissers?”
“Kissers? Uh … no.”
“Do you know that your ears heat up when you’re embarrassed? What do boy-Whispers do, then?”
Her tail-memories stirred. “As I recall, Whispers twine tails and run and dance together. We hold hands and sing courtship songs in the crystal caves.” She paused, seeing in her mind’s eye a picture she might never enjoy. Aye, she was melancholy.
The Princess nodded. “Then we shall scour every canyon until we find a Whisper with the perfect tail for you. Promise. The requirements are, just as honourable and twice as rascally.”
“Is that what Xan sees in you?”
“He’s curable. You, on the other paw …”
“Talking about me?” King Xan’s long arms managed to encircle them both. “How many civilisations have you two just managed to rescue in the course of your conversation?”
“Just Yanzorda,” said Rhyme. “And all the Draco-Mages and Whispers. We fixed the Sunderings and saved all Human cities from swarms. What have you been doing meantime, brainy Grey?”
“Failing to convince your father to let me take you away.”
A slight bump on the top of her head told Whisper that Xan had just leaned his chin atop Rhyme’s head; the Princess’ rested upon hers. Humans were not so bad after all. Just a touch smelly, repetitive and occasionally slow to recognise what was right in front of their noses.
She was awfully fond of them.
Whitesun dawned upon cave and canyon, Mirror and mainland, Dragon and Human and Whisper alike. Sunstrike was a fiercer enemy than most, merciless and inescapable. The Dragons called the sun eylor-ûl-tanê, the Fires of First Life, and Xisharn, referring in some draconic way to Sundering. She imagined Sundering was like the whip strokes she had suffered at Sanfuri’s hand; that were she the world, a Sundering must carve bleeding canyons into her bulwark-and-canyon hide. Did a world suffer as a soul suffered? Did it cry out for cities left in a smoking ruin, for blood spilled into its rivers and oceans, and mourn souls untimely departed from its shores?
Her nostrils scented the cool dawn air, drawing deep into her lungs every precious scent and trace, even those of the two people right beside her. She tasted of the fates, and Whisper challenged the fear that tingled her spine with its delicate breath of ice. Sanfuri intended greater evil than anything they had imagined yet, her tail-sense told her, suddenly agitated. There was not a day to waste.
The times were indeed needful. For this reason, a Whisper had come alive.
Oh for wings to whisper into the dawn …
End of Book 1
Whisper Quick, the second book in the Whisper series, is coming soon.
About the Author
www.marcsecchia.com
Marc is the bestselling author of over twenty fantasy books and is published in three languages. Born in South Africa, he lives and works in Ethiopia with his wife and 4 children, 2 dogs, a rabbit, and a variable number of marabou storks that roost on the acacia trees out back. On a good night you can also hear hyenas prowling along the back fence.
When he’s not writing about Africa or dragons, Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there’s nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.
If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com. Every review matters and I read them all!
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Other Books by Marc Secchia
Shapeshifter Dragons: (Young Adult and older readers) Three allied series of bestselling Dragon adventures. Prepare to wing away to a unique world of mighty Dragons and volcanic Islands above the deadly Cloudlands!
In chronological order (Island-World timeline):
Dragonfriend series: Dragonfriend, Dragonlove, Dragonsoul and Dragonstar coming in 2017
Shapeshifter Dragon Legends series: The Pygmy Dragon and The Onyx Dragon
Shapeshifter Dragons series: Aranya, Shadow Dragon, Song of the Storm Dragon and Volume #4 coming in 2017
Standalone Book: Dragon Thief
Set in the same world as the Shapeshifter Dragons series, join Zhialeiana in an oceanic adventure with Whales and Sea-Dragons:
IsleSong series: The Girl who Sang with Whales, The Girl who Loved the Whales, Volume #3 coming soon
The Equinox Cycle: (Young Adult and older readers)
Trapped in a car wreck, crushed by a train. In seconds, Zaranna’s world is torn apart and she must start life anew, as a survivor. A double amputee. Yet why does this promising equestrienne remember a flash of sulphurous fire, and a crimson paw hurling her mother’s car onto the train tracks? Why does a tide of beguiling butterflies flood her increasingly chaotic dreams?
As Zaranna Inglewood adjusts to life minus legs, plus gorgeous Alex, the paramedic who cut her body from the wreckage, she learns the terror of being hunted. Relentless and inimical, the enemy lures her to a world where dreams shape reality. Equinox. A world of equinoctial storms; lashed by titanic forces of magic, dominated by the Pegasi and their centuries-old enmity with Human Wizards and the Dragons. This is a world where a girl can Dream her destiny. Where her soul can fly, or be chained forever.
She is Zaranna, the Horse Dreamer. Survivor. Fighter. A girl who doesn’t need legs to kick an evil fate in the teeth. All she needs is courage – the courage to Dream.
The Horse Dreamer (Equinox Cycle Book 1)
The Shioni of Sheba series: (Middle Grades and older readers) Unique African historical fantasy adventures set among the myths and legends of ancient Ethiopia.
Shioni of Sheba #1: The Enchanted Castle
Shioni of Sheba #2: The King's Horse
Shioni of Sheba #3: The Mad Giant
Shioni of Sheba #4: The Sacred Lake
Shioni of Sheba #5: The Fiuri Realms
Shioni of Sheba #6: The Night of the Hyenas
Shioni of Sheba Box Set – Books 1-5
Epic fantasy (New Adult and Adult readers) Epic length tales of unique worlds and powers.
Feynard
The Legend of El Shashi
Table of Contents
Whisper Alive
Dedication
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Whisper of Quickening
Chapter 2: Whisper of Death
Chapter 3: Whisper of Light
Chapter 4: Whisper Beacon
Chapter 5: Whisper of Doom
Chapter 6: Whisper Home
Chapter 7: Cartographical Whispers
Chapter 8: Whisper into Mission
Chapter 9: Whisper of Dragons
Chapter 10: Scented Whisper
Chapter 11: Grey Whispers
Chapter 12: Reasoning with Whispers
Chapter 13: Whisper Aloft
Chapter 14: Whisper of Olde
Chapter 15: Whisper Scout
Chapter 16: Whisper to War
Chapter 17: Whisper of Hope
Chapter 18: A Necessary Whisper
Chapter 19: Whispering to Kings
Chapter 20: Whisper Where?
Chapter 21: To Hear a Whisper
Chapter 22: Death’s Whisper
Chapter 23: A Panicked Whisper
Chapter 24: A Warlock’s Whisper
Chapter 25: Dashing Whisper
Chapter 26: Pestiferous Whispers
Chapter 27: Whisper of Dawn
About the Author
