by K. G. Wilkie
Hawthorne looked up at the prince, and looked above him to see that the rest of the Blue Crows at least had finally come down from the second story to fight with their prince. Not only had fighting become difficult, but now it had become a losing battle. As a daemon, his transportation spells were very limited compared to a dragon's ability to float in and out of existence at any spot they liked, but there was still at least one realm he'd always have the power to return to in an emergency. Aeron saw his shadow flames start to envelop him to take him away. He stood up from his fighting stance now, while he still had a chance, and asked the man, "Why did you do it? You have been loyal to my father for centuries. You helped him gain the throne. You helped raise me. Why did you betray us in this way?"
The retreating daemon shook his head at him. "I have been, and will always be, loyal to the throne. I've always been loyal to you, my prince," he said. He was now completely insubstantial, and his voice was starting to grow faint. "I will not stand by and support that impostor after all this time though. I regret that you were involved in any of this. I will always be loyally yours even if you no longer trust me with this," he said. The last of his shadow faded out of sight.
The forces of the crown were slowly succeeding in pushing the invaders outside of the palace. Those who were still straggling inside the halls and chamber itself were shoved into the transportation room, where a portal destination was set as one of the previous monarch's strongholds to be imprisoned and dealt with in the future. Richard came down to meet with his brother, a palace physician left behind to tend to the king and put him in the untouched medical wing. They both looked on as the palace guard dealt with the invasion. Richard stepped closer to his brother. "All of this, it was just so unexpected," he whispered.
Aeron looked at him. "Really? It has been brought to my attention that you, dear brother, were the force behind these attacks," he said.
Richard's eyes widened. "Me!" He turned his head to look away. "I suppose it doesn't help matters any, but I swear Aeron, I had no idea. We had meetings and we talked together, but no one ever mentioned regicide was part of the plan. I just wanted to gain power, maybe annoy you a little or a lot if that happened. I never meant for either of you to be killed," he said.
Aeron just sighed. "You put your strength behind rebels who hated dragons. What made you think that they only hated some of us, that they wanted to be nice and kind to the people you wanted them to be kind to? You're too young and delusional to be playing these games of court intrigue yet, brother mine."
The younger dragon bristled at the description but he knew it would be the wrong time to say any different about the matter. It was true he'd made a mistake; that was obvious now. In the future he'd have to make sure his plotting was more thoroughly planned out by himself directly instead of depending on dissidents to do the job the way he wanted it done.
Aeron looked over to see the wheels turning in his head and rolled his eyes. The numbskull will take awhile to learn his lesson, he thought.
Now wasn't the time to deal with his sibling's stupidity, however. "Is Dad going to make it," he asked instead.
Richard nodded. "There's a good chance of it. The healers tell me that brain stabbings tend to heal without a hitch even with the Mundane's rustic attempts at healing, so there's a really good chance he'll stay with us for the long haul as long as they keep that healed. The necrosis on his human form is irreparable, though, so they'll have to remove the rotten limbs so that his draconoid form can stay healthy and avoid getting infected and having parts of his main form die off as well," he said.
Aeron nodded. The damage was still a problem they needed to work on, but the most important thing was making sure at least one of his forms was healthy and whole. It was really the best way this could have gone down, as it would have been impossible for the man to continue to rule if it had been the full dragon form that had rotted. How could he fight usurpers and participate in royal ceremonies without his wings or claws? It was still too bad though. "It will be a shame, though; Dad always liked his human form best," he said aloud.
Both princes attended the trial of those who had fought in the great hall together. They stood side by side so the gossips could see that for now they were working as a unified force. Word quickly spread through the land that whatever prince one followed, for now it was best to avoid angering either of them and risk having the prince you were loyal to hate you for your efforts on his behalf. They stood in front of their thrones which flanked the empty king's throne on the middle of the dias at the head of every court in the realm.
The magistrate lit the urn of the flames of justice. "Today we are gathered to try those involved with an attempt of regicide," he announced to the expectant crowd. "Those men before us here today were part of a plot to kill His Majesty Vovin two weeks hence. We will now commence."
Each of the shifters and giants and a few other types of people that had been there during the fight in the delegate's hall took their turns to stand and speak to the urn of justice. Most of those who had been their proudly proclaimed their guilt when their turn came and the urn of justice burned brightly in response. A few of the younger ones and the trickier ones tried to speak half truths, but still the urn knew they were not full truths and its flame would darken for each one. The crowd held its judgement in silence during each individual's turn. Then the last person had gone up, and all was still silent.
"King Vovin unified our world at a time of chaos. He brought us peace and prosperity. Those who aim to threaten his life, or his legacy, must pay the price justice demands of them," the magistrate said. The urn spit out a final verdict on a piece of paper. "The urn has spoken." The magistrate lifted the paper up to squint at the words. "Kraelek has been found to have only partial guilt. The rest are sentenced to death." A few cheers broke out in the crowd, but most were still silent.
Both princes ignored the rest of the proceedings and returned to the castle. Most of the halls and rooms were still in perfect condition and even the meeting room was still intact, but no one quite knew how so many enemies had managed to get through so many layers of security, so for now the royal family had moved their personal quarters to the Summer Palace.
Richard kicked at a piece of plaster that had fallen outside of the meeting room entrance. Aeron just stepped over it. "What are we going to do," the younger said.
Aeron summoned Wengyar from the spirit dimension. The spectral creature jumped on him and smothered him in slobber and doggie kisses until he sniffed out a smell he didn't like and pointed at the ceiling. Aeron gave him a nod and he bounded up. The two princes followed the creature up through the still gaping hole in the ceiling to visit the scene of the stabbing. Wengyar pawed at the ground where specks of red blood still remained. "Yes, my father was attacked. I know where he is." The canine whimpered. He gave it a soothing pet. "No need to worry, he's doing fine. I need your help finding someone else. Can you do that?" The pup shook his tail and wiggled in place and added a sharp bark to let them know he was on the job. He pressed his nose down to cast around for scents, all the scents of everyone who had ever been in that room from the freshest to the most stale. He sat up again and barked to let them know he was done.
"You've got him? You know what Hawthorne smells like here?" Another bark of assent. Aeron led his hound down to the bottom floor again, and they walked over to the spot he'd fought the daemon in. "Catch that scent again, boy, and catch where it changes," he said. The hound sniffed some more and quickly gave another bark. "I want you to find him, boy. Can you follow where he's gone?" Rather than answer Wengyar disappeared.
"Wait, what happened? Can he do it?" Richard asked.
Aeron shrugged. "He's going to try at least. I figured since he had to pass from this dimension to get here that he might be able to travel to the daemon realm, and it looks like that was a safe bet to make."
Richard started towards the exit to head over to the Summer Palace. He stopped when Aeron went in the other direction. "W
hat are you going to do now in the mess? Until the builders deal with the palace it's not fit for habitation at this point," Richard said.
Aeron shrugged. "I've got some loose ends to clean up."
Richard frowned. "So what are you going to do now?"
Aeron bared his fangs in a feral grin. "I'm going to fight."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Backmatter
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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Family in Flames
Book One
Family Inflamed
Shadeworld Series
Book One
PS The Dragon Bites
Book Three
PS The Dragon Sleights
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Preview of Book 3
Want to know what happens next? Do you want to see how the wizards will react now that their pawns have been bested? Are you eager to follow Alyss as she discovers her past? PS The Dragon Sleights is even bigger than the first two books! Continue reading to catch a glimpse into some of the action waiting for you in the next installment.
The scenes appeared on the fiery projection. Her youth passed by for all to see. There she was as a little baby, barely old enough to crawl around, dancing in a forest as a woman dressed in stars and fire smiled behind her. There she was as a toddler, trying out her new wings and spreading them to soar off the end of a tower balcony as Aeron wrung his hands behind her. Then she was a little older, showing him how to flex his own wings, until finally he jumped off himself as well.
Then more time had passed and they were together, playing in a clearing. They laughed and sang a children's song.
Then again, playing red light green light and tripping over a stump. "I remember that," she whispered, "I had a dream of that just a few nights ago. It felt so real... I guess this means it really was."
Then again there was the two of them playing a children's game. One of the palace servants came in to the room with cookies and fireberry juice, and they both practiced their new magical skills and set the liquid to actually come on fire. And what a scolding they got from the grown ups for scaring the footman like that! They had to practice their new writing skills that day as well to write an apology letter.
There were so many memories of her youth, her childhood, that had been locked away from her. All she'd remembered of being young, for so many years, was living under those neglectful creatures she'd called parents for so long, always longing for some love or companionship until she'd finally stumbled upon Darien and latched on to him- but then they hadn't really been her parents, had they? Her parents had sent her away, locked up her memories some how, and even now her memory of her real parents was blurry- but not because it was locked from her still, but simply because she had so little memory of them. It was a terrifying thought- did this mean her real parent was as distant and uncaring as the ones she'd lived under on Earth? But how could they be anything but neglectful when they had abandoned her to such unsuitable caretakers?
And what kind of caretakers had they chosen, anyways? Her eyes widened as she tallied up little inconsistencies she'd faced growing up and realized her parents were probably golemss, just like those thoughtless sleeping magical robots she'd seen in that awful closet- what kind of real parent would send their daughter off to be raised in a world their kind had spent years creating the Shadeworld to escape from, and done it with only preprogramed robots to care for and protect her? Sure, it had turned out that the Original- it was so hard to get used to calling the world she'd grown up in by a new name, but then it turns out she hadn't really grown there anyways- but she knew from living there it wasn't such an evil place as the stories here made it out to be. But did her real parents know that, or had they just abandoned her for convenience's sake?
It was a hard question to face. Some part of her, somewhere in her mind, had always dreamed that maybe someday she'd find her real parents, parents who were better than the ones she'd spent her human life knowing of. Parents who would care about her, take her on movie dates, go to the circus together, spend time shepherding her around a playground. As she'd grown older she'd dreamed of parents who would be excited by her first homecoming date, and would grill her prom date with a solid inquisition of his entire life story, and would need a box of tissues all by themselves at her wedding, and would cheer the loudest in the audience at her graduation, and buy a cake and make a huge fuss over her every time she had a promotion. It had never come to that for her, though. Now her dreams of becoming close like an adoptive daughter to some elderly neighbors on Earth had been destroyed, and her little girl aspirations of someday being loved by her parents were ruined, and her silly distant dreams she'd never really allowed herself to fully get immersed in of being loved and wanted by some other option, some parents who weren't hers, was within her grasp but her newly discovered real parents had thrown her out of her world. And for what? What purpose could there have been in banishing a little girl to the Original?
She'd committed no crimes. She remembered now that she'd been cast out with very little explanation of why it was needed, just that it was necessary for her to be gone, and like a child she'd blindly believed in them, blindly trusted that the adults were telling the truth because of course they always tell the truth. But it was a lie. It was a lie, it had always been a lie, and now here she was at the end of the line with nothing better for her future in sight.
The fiery projection burned out, and the leafs her memories had been stored on turned to dust. She didn't need them anymore, every memory was now burned inside of her brain like it had never even left- even the snippets that hadn't been projected were seared into her memories once again.
She looked at the others. Their mouths were open, agape in shock. She couldn't really blame them. She felt bulldozed as well. Everything she had spent the majority of her life believing was a lie. Everything she remembered, she now realized, was a lie as well. She had become a character in a tragedy, unloved and with no direction.
She closed her eyes and ran out of the clearing, tears blurring her vision so she stumbled on little roots and grass clumps, but still she kept going. She couldn't face herself yet, and she certainly couldn't face all the friends standing there for her, least of all because she'd met them so recently and they had only her escape to connect them as "friends", and little else.
It was a terrible thing to realize that with her entire life a lie, everything she knew- everyone she knew- might as well be a lie now.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Character Glossary
This glossary contains the named characters of this book
Vovin:
The true name of the King. He is a dragon who rules all of the Shadeworld. He has two sons, Aeron and Richard. He takes the hands off parenting approach and lets his sons battle each other rather than intervene and unify his court.
Aeron:
Crown prince of the Shadeworld. Teen dragon who can take the form of a dragon, giant, or human. He infiltrated Tybolt Hall in order to facilitate a connection with Alyss, his childhood fr
iend. His spells take the form of colorful fires.
Richard:
The second son of the king, he chafes at having less power than his brother. His people have been stirring against his brother, and he definitely approves. One can't really know which palace officials are his men, or his brother's.
Alyss:
Suffering from amnesia, she once lived in the Shadeworld but has no memories of her time there aside from scattered dreams. She grew up in Florida and suffered from poor health there, she moved to Wisconsin and her health improved. She does not like Aeron from meeting him at the school. Her full name is Alyssandra.
Darien:
Alyss's adoptive brother. He appeared in her life under mysterious circumstances, but she embraces her new sibling relationship with him wholeheartedly, and the affection has worn off on him in turn. He is secretly a member of the Domed City.
Jackie:
A nymph that works as Aeron's underling, her primary concern is first and foremost her sister Priscilla's welfare. This causes her to have divided loyalties between Aeron and Richard.
