Authors: Sam Ferguson
“What of the dragon?” Cyrus asked. “I am not sure how, but he has grown and matured far beyond what he should have been able to do in these last few months. He is the size of a dragon that is twenty or thirty years old. His fighting is rudimentary, but he has tremendous power and he is fiercely loyal to her.”
The warlock dismissed the idea with a flick of his hand. “The dragon does not concern me. Given enough time, Nagar’s Blight will consume his soul. Just be sure not to make an enemy out of him and let the curse do what it will do on its own.”
Cyrus nodded and then turned to leave. “As soon as she is healed, I will resume training with her and we will find Severin.”
Kyra sat in a wide chair with her left foot propped up on a plush footstool. The headmaster sat behind his desk twiddling his thumbs, considering everything he had just heard. Three priests from the temple sat in chairs at the headmaster’s left. Kyra’s father sat in the chair next to her. The room was silent. The sconces flickered their light and the shadows danced around the room.
“Are you quite certain in what you see?” the headmaster asked one of the priests.
The priest nodded and continued looking at Kyra. The girl studied the priest, finding it rather unnerving that they asserted they could see anything of such a nature as they claimed. All three of them had eyes that were cloudy and gray, void of all color and motionless.
The priest on the far right stood and pointed at Kyra. “As you know headmaster, we do not see the way that others see. We see the aura of a person, or that of any living creature, including plants. This is how we found the students responsible for attacking the young first-year apprentice of the sword in his sleep. This is also how we convicted their instructor of instigating the attack.” The priest moved close and knelt next to Kyra. He wasn’t old by the look of him, perhaps twenty, and yet he appeared to be the ranking priest among the three despite the fact that the others both appeared older than he did with wrinkles on their faces and one had graying hair.
“I can see the confusion in your aura,” the priest told her. “You should know that your fiancé had nothing to do with the attack on your friend Kathair. We questioned him as well and found him to be entirely innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Now Kyra knew for certain that the priest had in fact been telling the truth. As hard as it was for her to comprehend what this meant, she understood that the priest would not lie. As she thought on what he had just told the room a few moments ago, she remembered something that the shade had said.
“The vampire that imprisoned my mother, what was his name?” Kyra asked.
The priest stepped back and let the headmaster answer the question.
The headmaster cleared his throat and then spoke the name, “Bhaltair.”
Kyra nodded and looked to the man that she had thought of as her father. It was a strange feeling. Just before encountering the shade, she had essentially begun distancing herself from her father, but now that she learned he was not her father, she wanted him back. Much better to be fathered by a coward than sired by a vampire.
Lord Caspen slapped his hands to his knees and rose to his feet. “You do what you want,” he said. “Whether she is expelled or not, is not of my concern anymore. That thing is not my daughter.” Lord Caspen turned abruptly and left the room before the headmaster had a chance to say anything in reply. The door slammed and Kyra startled in her chair.
The words ‘
that thing’
echoed over and over in her mind, threatening to tear her soul apart.
The young priest was quick to return to her side. He placed a hand upon her knee and the other upon her right forearm. “Young Kyra, look at me,” he pleaded. “It is better to know the truth, than to hide in shadow. Had we not informed you of your heritage, you would have a more difficult time later in your life. Because you share blood with the vampire, you will have impulses that are against the laws of nature. You will not thirst for blood, for that is separate and a special curse that one vampire must choose to give to another being. But, there will be other things that will trouble you, and if you at least know they are coming, then you can fight them and conquer those impulses before they become a problem.” He patted her leg and turned back to one of the older priests.
The older priest nodded his head in agreement and spoke. “We meant what we said. We have searched your aura and found no ill intent. There is nothing in your character that suggests you will ever be anything but an honorable person. Therefore, we are recommending that you be allowed to stay at Kuldiga Academy. If you can tame the unnatural impulses thrust upon you by your blood, then you will be a mighty asset to the Middle Kingdom. You will have abilities that no other sorcerer or sorceress will ever be able to control. At fourteen you have already fought a shade. That much tells us your heart is in the right place. We know the attack was motivated by vengeance. Our gift of sight is such that we can see through the platitudes and lies that Cyrus gave the other masters here at the Academy. However, we have no interest in speaking with him. We feel confident that his lies were invented only to protect you and your dragon.”
Kyra sucked in a breath and went rigid. They had not mentioned Leatherback before, and neither had she. Someone had broken the secret.
Before she could fret much more, the young priest patted her arm and spoke to her again. “No one has betrayed you,” he assured her. “In a person’s aura we can see their thoughts and emotions. It isn’t exactly reading a mind, but we can read the heart. We saw a few signs that led us to believe you have been harboring a dragon. Now, in the Middle Kingdom that is a grave offense. However, the priests of Valtuu Temple have a different opinion on the matter. You see, our order was founded by the Ancients, the Father of the Ancients to be precise. We know that dragons are not inherently evil, but that they suffer from a curse. We know that you are fighting this curse, and so far the dragon has shown no signs of the taint. If he did, we would be able to detect its presence even in your aura because of how close you are to him. You see, when a dragon bonds to a human, they exchange a portion of their energy with the human. It was very easy for us to see.”
The priest pursed his lips anxiously and glanced back to the others behind him. Kyra watched the exchange and wondered what it was he wanted to tell her. The two older priests sat stoic and reserved, while he fidgeted with his thumb, tapping it against Kyra’s forearm.
Finally he opened his mouth and shook his head as he spoke. “I have to tell you, that the sheer fact that there is a dragon in the Middle Kingdom that is not tainted by the curse is a miracle! We haven’t seen anything like this before, and so we have taken a special interest in both you and the dragon.”
One of the older priests cleared his throat, perhaps signaling the younger one to better control his tongue. The younger one paused for a moment, but then looked up and smiled at her. Even though she could not read any signs of emotion in the young man’s gray eyes, she sensed that his smile was warm and as genuine as any expression she had ever seen.
“We spoke with the headmaster. Everything will work out alright, you’ll see.”
Again the older priest with the gray hair cleared his throat. He then glanced to the headmaster anxiously.
The headmaster rapped his knuckles on his desk and stood slowly. The young priest moved back to his chair and sat down respectfully. “Kyra Caspen,” the headmaster began. “After discussing the matter with the priests over the last week, I have been persuaded by those with more experience and authority in these matters that it is in the best interest to help you continue to work with this dragon. Therefore, it is the decision of this tribunal that there is nothing in your conduct, except of course the unfortunate event with Lady Priscilla, that merits any sort of punishment. Furthermore, this tribunal has decided that in so much as the dragon acted only to destroy the shade, which is a much greater enemy to the Middle Kingdom than a hatchling, there is no need to expose the dragon’s existence at this point. If you will agree to allow the priests to visit with the dragon on a periodic basis to ensure that the taint has not found its way to his heart, he will never be spoken of again.
“Additionally, as your father has now abandoned you, you will be accepted as a ward of Kudliga Academy. This means that I will allow you to stay here full-time until your graduation. Master Orres will be made known of your half blood and given the opportunity to break the betrothal if he so wishes, but that is a matter between you and him now. That is all, you may go.”
Kyra nodded and then looked up to the headmaster. “I have a request of my own,” she said. The headmaster narrowed his eyes on her and folded his arms. “Lord Caspen is not my father. I no longer wish to hold his name. From this point on, my name is Kyra Dimwater. I will take my mother’s maiden name and carry that.”
The headmaster nodded his agreement. “Very well, Miss Dimwater, you are most welcome here at Kuldiga Academy. Just make sure not to fling any more people into walls, and if you ever find another shade or shadowfiend, please take at least two instructors with you before you hunt it down.”
Kyra smiled and nodded her head. “Of course.”
“Good. Then return to your room, the priests will assist you. Once you are healed you will resume your studies, and I am expecting great things from you in the future.” The headmaster then turned to the three priests at his left. “As for the three of you, I will hold you responsible for Miss Dimwater’s Dragon.”
The Netherworld Gate Series:
The King’s Ring
Son of the Dragon (Coming Soon)
Other Books by Sam Ferguson
Tales from Terramyr
(Short story anthology)
Return of the Dragon
Other novels:
Sam Ferguson is a fairly average guy.
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Well… the truth is that Sam is a very
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He spent nearly five years serving as a U.S. Diplomat and absolutely loved the experience, but decided to move back home. Outside of the U.S. he has lived in Latvia, Hungary, and Armenia. He speaks Russian, Hungarian, and Armenian. (He used to speak some Latvian too, but he has no one to practice with anymore…)
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His favorite superhero is Wolverine, but Batman is a close second.
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