Doom of the Dragon

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by Margaret Weis


  Skylan jumped down off the rocks onto the narrow strip of shore. Farinn followed more slowly.

  “How is your history of our people coming?” Skylan asked, starting to burrow through a pile of what appeared to be refuse left behind by a flood: driftwood, broken branches, brush.

  “Very well,” said Farinn, cheering at the thought.

  He had undertaken to write down all the old songs and stories of the Vindrasi so that they would not be forgotten. He also was writing a true account of their adventures during their quest for the spiritbones, an account that was not “gilded by poetry.”

  Farinn had asked Skylan if he wanted him to read it to him. Skylan had refused. He could not quite get over his belief that reducing a story to lines and setting it down on paper sucked the life out of it.

  Farinn helped him remove the pile of branches and brush and, slowly, they uncovered the old Venejekar, lying on its side on the beach. Skylan grabbed hold of the dragonhead prow and Farinn took the stern and between them they tilted the dragonship upright. They were about to carry it into the shallow water when a pile of fishnet on the shore began to move.

  “Skylan!” Farinn hissed in alarm. “Someone is hiding in there.”

  Skylan, looking grim, walked over to the pile of net and gave it a kick.

  “Come out,” he ordered.

  A boy of about eleven stood up and threw off the netting and yawned. The boy was dressed in ragged clothes that were too big for him. His hair fell over his face and he glared through the tangle at Skylan.

  “Where have you been? I thought you were never coming!”

  “Is that … Wulfe?” Farinn asked, astonished.

  “Is that … Farinn?” said Wulfe, mimicking him. He frowned. “You’re like Skylan. You got old.”

  “Happens to all of us,” said Skylan. He eyed Wulfe. “Well, at least most of us.”

  “I tried being old once,” said Wulfe, adding with a shrug, “I didn’t like it.”

  He scampered on board the dragonship and, leaning over the hull, began to talk to several oceanids and a couple of dryads who had wandered out of the forest to see what was going on.

  Skylan boarded the Venejekar and began inspecting it, regarding his work with pride. The dragonship looked very much as it looked fifty years ago. He had spent a long time repairing the old ship, making it like new again.

  “What is Wulfe doing here?” Farinn asked in a low voice as he helped Skylan haul his sea chest on board.

  “He is sailing with me,” said Skylan.

  He opened the sea chest and took out the spiritbone of the Dragon Kahg. Walking over to the prow, Skylan hung the the bone, still in its leather thong, on the nail.

  “How did the boy know you were leaving?” Farinn asked, trailing after Skylan.

  “The fae,” said Skylan. “You know what gossips they are. The oceanids have been watching me work on the ship.”

  Skylan rested his hand on the spiritbone. Memories came alive at his touch, causing him to look up at the head of the Dragon Kahg. The eyes glowed fierce, fiery red.

  “The dragon…” Farinn stared, awed.

  “He left his spiritbone with me,” said Skylan. “He knew one day I would make this voyage and that he would come with me.”

  “Kahg says he’s ready to leave,” Wulfe announced.

  Skylan turned to Farinn. “You should go now, my friend. I need to set sail before they miss me.”

  “What do I tell your children?” Farinn asked unhappily. “Your people?”

  “They must not grieve for me. My song has not ended. It has just begun.”

  Skylan stood at the prow, his hands gripping the rail, his legs braced. The seawater broke over him, cooled him. He tasted the salt on his lips. He touched the amulet.

  “Torval, let Aylaen know I am coming to her. Wherever she is, I will find her.”

  Farinn waded back to the shore alone and stood watching as the Venejekar glided out of the shadows of the alcove and sailed onto the bright, silver-gilded sea.

  The final voyage of Skylan Ivorson, the last and greatest Chief of Chiefs.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The description of Raegar’s war galley is taken from an actual ship known as The Forty, built for Ptolemy IV in the third century. The Forty is described by Plutarch in his Life of Demetrios:

  Ptolemy Philopator built [a ship] of forty banks of oars, which had a length of two hundred and eighty cubits, and a height, to the top of her stern, of forty-eight; she was manned by four hundred sailors, who did no rowing, and by four thousand rowers, and besides these she had room, on her gangways and decks, for nearly three thousand men-at-arms.

  Lionel Casson, in his book Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Princeton University Press, 1971), theorizes that The Forty was a giant catamaran, consisting of two galleys connected by a level platform on which catapults could be mounted.

  —M.W.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have been the all-time bestselling fantasy collaborators for more than thirty years. Coauthors of dozens of novels, games, and other fantasy media, they first gained fame in 1984 with the first novel in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Their books have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. Doom of the Dragon is the fourth and final book in the Dragonships of Vindras series. Margaret Weis lives in Wisconsin; Tracy Hickman lives in Utah.

  You can sign up for email updates on Margaret Weis here.

  You can sign up for email updates on Tracy Hickman here.

  Tor Books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

  DRAGONSHIPS OF VINDRAS

  Bones of the Dragon

  Secret of the Dragon

  Rage of the Dragon

  Doom of the Dragon

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Map

  Prologue

  Book 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Book 2

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Book 3

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  Tor Books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

  Copyright


  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

  DOOM OF THE DRAGON

  Copyright © 2015 by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by James Frenkel

  Cover art by Michael Komarck

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Weis, Margaret.

  Doom of the dragon / Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.—First Edition.

  p. cm.

  “A Tom Doherty Associates Book”

  ISBN 978-0-7653-1976-0 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4668-8122-8 (e-book)

  I. Hickman, Tracy. II. Title.

  PS3573.E3978D65 2016

  813'.54—dc23

  2015031486

  e-ISBN 9781466881228

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  First Edition: January 2016

 

 

 


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