DragonLight Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Cast of Characters

  Map

  Castle Passages

  A Friendly Visit

  A Vacation?

  Librettowit, the Librarian

  Surprises

  Stopover

  Making Connections

  Before the Ball

  Early Morning Conflict

  After the Ball

  The New Gateway

  Buzz

  A Poor Man’s Home

  Messages

  A Meeting in the Woods

  Reunion

  Fact or Fable?

  In Vendela

  A Secret Meeting

  No More Nonsense

  Go . . . Be Blessed

  Lessons for Survival

  Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall

  Campfire Tales

  One More to Quest

  Mysterious Toopka

  A Traveler’s Warning

  Shaken

  Go!

  Unhelpful Grawligs

  To the Rescue!

  Facts of Life

  Visiting Paladise

  The Bottom Drops Out

  Moving On

  The Fight’s On

  Enemies to the Right

  Missing Lights

  Enemies Within

  Enemies All Around

  Toopka’s Story

  Through a Dark Passage

  Midnight Discovery

  Confrontation

  Into This World

  War Council

  New Things

  Life and Death

  Words Unknown

  A Surprise

  The Price of Peace

  Visit with an Old Man

  A Definite Clue

  A Walk in the Dark

  Epilogue

  Coming Summer 2009 from Donita K. Paul

  Glossary

  Experience the Epic DragonKeeper Series from Adventurous. . .

  Praise for DragonLight

  Copyright

  Like sonar, I send out a signal, and when it bounces back, I know where I am. Thanks for being first readers.

  Jessica Agius

  Mary Darnell

  Jason Harris

  Hannah Johnson

  Alistair and Ian McNear

  Rachael Selk

  Rebecca Wilber

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  You make me think, and think, and think. Then you make me laugh! What friends you are, and how invaluable you are to my creative process.

  Nangie

  Mary Agius

  Evangeline Denmark

  Michelle Garland

  Dianna Gay

  Cecilia Gray

  Jack Hagar

  Jim Hart

  Shannon Hill

  Beth Jusino

  Krystine Kercher

  Shannon and Troy McNear

  Paul Moede

  Jill Elizabeth Nelson

  Robert C. Peterson

  Faye Spieker

  Darren Stautz

  Stuart Stockton

  Case Tompkins

  Peggy Wilber

  Elizabeth Wolford

  Kim Woodhouse

  Laura Wright

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Artross—light dragon in Kale’s keep

  Bardon—o’rant and emerlindian knight in service to Paladin, married to Kale

  Brunstetter—urohm, noble ruler of Ordray

  Wizard Burner Stox—evil female wizard, married to Crim Cropper

  Wizard Cam Ayronn—lake wizard from Trese

  Celisse—Kale’s black and white riding dragon

  Crain—young, pink minor dragon who studies with Librettowit

  Wizard Crim Cropper—evil male wizard, experiments with genetics, married to Burner Stox

  Crispin—young red minor dragon, breathes fire

  Sir Dar—doneel diplomat and statesman

  Dibl—yellow and orange minor dragon, reveals humor in situations, lightens the hearts of his companions

  Wizard Fenworth—deceased Bog Wizard from Wynd

  Filia—pink minor dragon, enthusiastic about all things, collects knowledge, some of it quite trivial

  Fly—hatchling minor dragon who rejects Kale

  Garmey—marione farmer who listens to the Followers

  Gilda—meech dragon, married to Regidor

  Glaringtonover—tumanhofer head of tunneling crew

  Granny Kye—Bardon’s emerlindian grandmother

  Granny Noon—emerlindian, friend of Kale, Bardon, Regidor, Gilda

  Greer—Bardon’s riding dragon, purple with cobalt wings

  Gymn—green minor dragon, heals

  Holt Hoddack—marione adventurer

  Lord Ire—another name used by Pretender

  Sir Joffa—Bardon’s father

  Kale Allerion—o’rant wizard and Dragon Keeper, married to Bardon

  Sir Kemry Allerion—Kale’s father, also a Dragon Keeper

  Kondiganpress—tumanhofer artist of murals

  Lee Ark—marione general in the service of Paladin

  Leetu Bends—emerlindian in the service of Paladin, recently undercover in Creemoor

  Librettowit—tumanhofer librarian in Kale and Bardon’s castle

  Lyll Allerion—Kale’s mother

  Merlander—Dar’s red and purple riding dragon

  Metta—purple minor dragon, sings

  Mikkai—Bardon’s blue and green minor dragon, strong in geography

  Mistress Meiger—woman who raised Kale

  Mistress Orcutt—Wizard Namee’s doneel housekeeper

  Mot Angra—legendary evil dragon

  Wizard Namee—Paladin’s right-hand man at court

  N’Rae—Bardon’s emerlindian cousin

  Old Woman of Wust—wise woman of another time and place

  Paladin—leader of Amara

  Pat—chubby brown minor dragon, fixes things

  Pretender—ruler of the evil populace of Amara

  Regidor—meech dragon, in search of a colony of lost meech dragons, likes fancy things, married to Gilda

  Wizard Risto—evil wizard killed by Fenworth

  Sachael Relk—meech dragon with many children and skilled as a midwife

  Seezle—female kimen

  Seslie—one of the meech leaders of Bility

  Sittiponder—blind tumanhofer child

  Taracinabloo—toddler child of Taylaminkadot and Librettowit

  Taylaminkadot—married to Librettowit, housekeeper for Kale and Bardon

  Tieto—a blue and green dragon, discerns the aura around people

  Toopka—doneel child, under guardianship of Kale and Sir Dar

  Tulanny—meech hostess to Kale and Bardon in Bility

  Woodkimkalajoss—old tumanhofer who had traveled in the Northern Reach as a young man

  Wulder—the creator and one true, living God of Amara

  1

  CASTLE PASSAGES

  Kale wrinkled her nose at the dank air drifting up from the stone staircase. Below, utter darkness created a formidable barrier.

  Toopka stood close to her knee. Sparks skittered across the doneel child’s furry hand where she clasped the flowing, soft material of Kale’s wizard robe. Kale frowned down at her ward. The little doneel spent too much time attached to her skirts to be captivated by the light show. Instead, Toopka glowered into the forbidding corridor. “What’s down there?”

  Kale sighed. “I’m not sure.”

  “Is it the dungeon?”

  “I don’t think we have a dungeon.”

  Toopka furrowed her brow in confusion. “Don’t you know? It’s your castle.”

  “A castle built by committee.” Kale
’s face grimaced at the memory of weeks of creative chaos. She put her hand on Toopka’s soft head.

  The doneel dragged her gaze away from the stairway, tilted her head back, and frowned at her guardian. “What’s ‘by committee’?”

  “You remember, don’t you? It was just five years ago.”

  “I remember the wizards coming and the pretty tents in the meadow.” Toopka pursed her lips. “And shouting. I remember shouting.”

  “They were shouting because no one was listening. Twenty-one wizards came for the castle raising. Each had their own idea about what we needed. So they each constructed their fragment of the castle structure according to their whims.”

  Toopka giggled.

  “I don’t think it’s funny. The chunks of castle were erected, juxtaposed with the others, but not as a whole unit. I thank Wulder that at least my parents had some sense. My mother and father connected the tads, bits, and smidgens together with steps and short halls. When nothing else would work, they formed gateways from one portion to another.”

  The little doneel laughed out loud and hid her face in Kale’s silky wizard’s robe. Miniature lightning flashes enveloped Toopka’s head and cascaded down her neck, over her back, and onto the floor like a waterfall of sparks.

  Kale cut off the flow of energy and placed a hand on the doneel’s shoulder. “Surely you remember this, Toopka.”

  She looked up, her face growing serious. “I was very young then.”

  Kale narrowed her eyes and examined the child’s innocent face. “As long as I have known you, you’ve appeared to be the same age. Are you ever going to grow up?”

  Toopka shrugged, then the typical smile of a doneel spread across her face. Her thin black lips stretched, almost reaching from ear to ear. “I’m growing up as fast as I can, but I don’t think I’m the one in charge. If I were in charge, I would be big enough to have my own dragon, instead of searching for yours.”

  The statement pulled Kale back to her original purpose. No doubt she had been manipulated yet again by the tiny doneel, but dropping the subject of Toopka’s age for the time being seemed prudent.

  Kale rubbed the top of Toopka’s head. The shorter fur between her ears felt softer than the hair on the child’s arms. Kale always found it soothing to stroke Toopka’s head, and the doneel liked it as well.

  Kale let her hand fall to her side and pursued their mission. “Gally and Mince have been missing for a day and a half. We must find them. Taylaminkadot said she heard an odd noise when she came down to the storeroom.” Kale squared her shoulders and took a step down into the dark, dank stairwell. “Gally and Mince may be down here, and they may be in trouble.”

  “How can you know who’s missing?” Toopka tugged on Kale’s robe, letting loose a spray of sparkles. “You have hundreds of minor dragons in the castle and more big dragons in the fields.”

  “I know.” Kale put her hand in front of her, and a globe of light appeared, resting on her palm. “I’m a Dragon Keeper. I know when any of my dragons have missed a meal or two.” She stepped through the doorway.

  Toopka tugged on Kale’s gown. “May I have a light too?”

  “Of course.” She handed the globe to the doneel. The light flickered. Kale tapped it, and the glow steadied. She produced another light to sit in her own hand and proceeded down the steps.

  Toopka followed, clutching the sparkling cloth of Kale’s robe in one hand and the light in the other. “I think we should take a dozen guards with us.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything scary down here, Toopka. After all, as you reminded me, this is our castle, and we certainly haven’t invited anything nasty to live with us.”

  “It’s the things that come uninvited that worry me.”

  “All right. Just a moment.” Kale turned to face the archway at the top of the stairs, a few steps up from where they stood.

  She reached with her mind to the nearest band of minor dragons. Soon chittering dragon voices, a rainbow vision of soft, flapping, leathery wings, and a ripple of excitement swept through her senses. She heard Artross, the leader of this watch, call for his band to mind their manners, listen to orders, and calm themselves.

  Kale smiled her greeting as they entered the stairway and circled above her. She turned to Toopka, pleased with her solution, but Toopka scowled. Obviously, the doneel was not impressed with the arrival of a courageous escort.

  Kale opened her mouth to inform Toopka that a watch of dragons provides sentries, scouts, and fighters. And Bardon had seen to their training. But the doneel child knew this.

  Each watch formed without a Dragon Keeper’s instigation. Usually eleven to fifteen minor dragons developed camaraderie, and a leader emerged. A social structure developed within each watch. Kale marveled at the process. Even though she didn’t always understand the choices, she did nothing to alter the natural way of establishing the hierarchy and respectfully worked with what was in place.

  Artross, a milky white dragon who glowed in the dark, had caught Kale’s affections. She sent a warm greeting to the serious-minded leader and received a curt acknowledgment. The straight-laced young dragon with his tiny, mottled white body tickled her. Although they didn’t look alike in the least, Artross’s behavior reminded Kale of her husband’s personality.

  Kale nodded at Toopka and winked. “Now we have defenders.”

  “I think,” said the doneel, letting go of Kale’s robe and stepping down a stair, “it would be better if they were bigger and carried swords.”

  Kale smiled as one of the younger dragons landed on her shoulder. He pushed his violet head against her chin, rubbing with soft scales circling between small bumps that looked like stunted horns. Toopka skipped ahead with the other minor dragons flying just above her head.

  “Hello, Crain,” said Kale, using a fingertip to stroke his pink belly. She’d been at his hatching a week before. The little dragon chirred his contentment. “With your love of learning, I’m surprised you’re not in the library with Librettowit.”

  A scene emerged in Kale’s mind from the small dragon’s thoughts. She hid a smile. “I’m sorry you got thrown out, but you must not bring your snacks into Librettowit’s reading rooms. A tumanhofer usually likes a morsel of food to tide him over, but not when the treat threatens to smudge the pages of his precious books.” She felt the small beast shudder at the memory of the librarian’s angry voice. “It’s all right, Crain. He’ll forgive you and let you come back into his bookish sanctum. And he’ll delight in helping you find all sorts of wonderful facts.”

  Toopka came scurrying back. She’d deserted her lead position in the company of intrepid dragons. The tiny doneel dodged behind Kale and once more clutched the sparkling robe. Kale shifted her attention to a commotion ahead and sought out the thoughts of the leader Artross.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Kale, but her answer came as she tuned in to the leader of the dragon watch.

  Artross trilled orders to his subordinates. Kale saw the enemy through the eyes of this friend.

  An anvilhead snake slid over the stone floor of a room stacked high with large kegs. His long black body stretched out from a nook between two barrels. With the tail of the serpent hidden, she had no way of knowing its size. These reptiles’ heads outweighed their bodies. The muscled section behind the base of the jaws could be as much as six inches wide. But the length of the snake could be from three feet to thirty.

  Kale shuddered but took another step down the passage.

  Artross looked around the room and spotted another section of ropelike body against the opposite wall. Kegs hid most of the snake.

  Kale grimaced. Another snake? Or the end of the one threatening my dragons?

  The viper’s heavy head advanced, and the distant portion moved with the same speed.

  One snake.

  “Toopka, stay here,” she ordered and ran down the remaining steps. She tossed the globe from her right hand to her left and pulled her sword from its hiding place beneath h
er robe. Nothing appeared to be in her hand, but Kale felt the leather-bound hilt secure in her grip. The old sword had been given to her by her mother, and Kale knew how to use the invisible blade with deadly precision.

  “Don’t let him get away,” she called as she increased her speed through the narrow corridor.

  The wizard robe dissolved as she rushed to join her guard. Her long dress of azure and plum reformed itself into leggings and a tunic. The color drained away and returned as a pink that would rival a stunning sunset. When she reached the cold, dark room, she cast her globe into the air. Floating in the middle of the room, it tripled in size and gave off a brighter light.

  The dragons circled above the snake, spitting their caustic saliva with great accuracy. Kale’s skin crawled at the sight of the coiling reptile. More and more of the serpentine body emerged from the shadowy protection of the stacked kegs. Obviously, the snake did not fear these intruders.

  Even covered with splotches of brightly colored spit, the creature looked like the loathsome killer it was. Kale’s two missing dragons could have been dinner for the serpent. She searched the room with the talent Wulder had bestowed upon her and concluded the little ones still lived.

  The reptile hissed at her, raised its massive head, and swayed in a threatening posture. The creature slithered toward her, propelled by the elongated body still on the floor. Just out of reach of Kale’s sword, the beast stopped, pulled its head back for the strike, and let out a slow, menacing hiss. The snake lunged, and Kale swung her invisible weapon. The severed head sailed across the room and slammed against the stone wall.

  Kale eyed the writhing body for a moment. “You won’t be eating any more small animals.” She turned her attention to the missing dragons and pointed her sword hand at a barrel at the top of one stack. “There. Gally and Mince are in that keg.”

  Several dragons landed on the wooden staves, and a brown dragon examined the cask to determine how best to open it. Toopka ran into the room and over to the barrel. “I’ll help.”

  Kale tilted her head. “There is also a nest of snake eggs.” She consulted the dragon most likely to know facts about anvilhead vipers. Crain landed on her shoulder and poured out all he knew in a combination of chittering and thoughts.

  The odd reptiles preferred eating young farm animals, grain, and feed. They did nothing to combat the population of rats, insects, and vermin. No farmer allowed the snakes on his property if he could help it. “Find the nest,” Kale ordered. “Destroy them all.”