Dragon Fool

  Dragon Fool

  Written by

  Delaney Walnofer

  The Dragon Slave Trilogy

  Book One . . . Dragon Slave

  Book Two . . . Dragon Clutch

  Book Three . . . Dragon Fool

  Cover illustrated by Delaney Walnofer

  Cover formatted by Tony Huang

  Copyright ? 2016 by Delaney Walnofer

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1523208201

  ISBN-13: 978-1523208203

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoy this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their preferred authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

  For the Grove High School

  Prologue

  "Can I have a beetle from your beard?" young Rib asked Damon, scrambling onto the wizard's lap and placing both foreclaws upon his chest. On the old man's chin, an abundance of long, steely hairs grew, forming a mass so knotted and thick, no insect guest could escape it. Even now, Rib could see a bug with legs curled, collecting dust within the depths of its matted tomb.

  Rib stuck his snout in to sniff it.

  Two, three days old?

  The beetle's shell was still intact, but the scent of rotting insides was unmistakable. Rib wanted to disentangle the treat himself, but such a delicate operation as that required hands.

  Taking pointers from the pups he'd met under Tyrone's supper table, Rib lifted his head and gazed into the Wizard's eyes. The wagon they were in shook, but Rib's talons were fastened tight in the old man's tunic and he held his position adamantly.

  "I'm saving that one," the Wizard mumbled, nudging the little dragon off his legs onto the wooden seat beside him. "For a potion."

  "Aren't there any others?" Rib complained, sitting up as the bumpy ride jostled him. Damon always had at least two beetles on his person.

  "Ask me again when bog beetles are in season," the Wizard answered, snapping the reins to make the horse trot faster.

  Rib gave an unhappy puff of air through his nostrils before leaping over the backrest to join his sister. The cart jolted and Rib flailed his wings to keep from tumbling out the far end.

  His sister, however, inexperienced with flying as of yet, was left clinging to the edge, her eyes wide. Rib rushed to help her, but she fell and hit the puddled road with a splat.

  Nonetheless, she picked herself up and went bounding after them. One second she had her haunches gathered, and the next she was back in the cart, flecking Rib with mud as she landed in the bed.

  Rib laughed and batted her dirty, lavender-grey muzzle, inviting her to scuffle. They tussled about, nearly throwing each other off at times, until, tired, they dragged themselves over to Damon. Rib crouched on the crooked bench, smiling when his sister curled up with her head against his wing.

  Atop the Wizard's head, a female wyvern gave a short whistle. She was a small dragon-like creature with a long tail, two leathery wings and taloned hind legs, but no forelegs. She was, in essence, the reptilian version of a hunting falcon with the habit of parroting whatever she heard, keeping certain things in memory to repeat even years later.

  "Welcome to our castle, my bride," she said in the voice of Tyrone, followed by a woman's merry laugh.

  Rib looked at the marble-white wyvern, intrigued by how the light caught in her red eyes.

  "Why does Ivory imitate everyone all the time?" he asked as the wyvern took flight ahead of the cart.

  "It's what she does," Damon mumbled.

  They rode on over grassy slopes for a while in silence. At some point, Rib nosed a bag tied to the Wizard's waist, but was told to stop.

  He sighed. This is taking so long. How far back was it when we crossed the Swaine? A feeling of apprehension came over Rib and he looked at his sister, remembering their mentor's words, 'Don't wander into the kingdom alone.'

  "Tide wouldn't be mad at us for coming along with Damon, would he?" he whispered. "No one stopped us from getting into the cart?"

  His little sister just gazed back at him. Speaking was a skill she still hadn't mastered, but Tide said there was plenty of time for her to do that and choose a name for herself in the seasons to come. Rib cocked his head at her.

  What name will she choose? he wondered. Maybe she'll hear one she likes today!

  "Where are we going?" Rib asked the Wizard.

  "Cliffport."

  "What's that?"

  "A place where humans from all over the world go."

  That's sounds exciting!

  "Why are we going there?" Rib inquired further.

  "I need a special ingredient."

  A place where people all over the world go to buy ingredients?

  Rib stared up the road, excitement building as they neared the crest of a hill. A quiet sound met his ears, like a crash and a whoosh repeating, one after the other. In the distance, birds made a raucous.

  "Sister, look!" Rib exclaimed the moment he could see over the hill. Far off, green land led into a deep stripe of blue that stretched all the way into the sky. "The ocean!"

  At one spot where land met the sea, Rib saw a collection of houses. Small and crammed together, they reminded him of nothing like Tyrone's hunting lodge in the forest. Beyond them, a number of objects, large and small, floated in the ocean with bare tree trunks sticking high up.

  "What are those things swimming in the water?" Rib asked Damon.

  "Ships."

  Ships.

  Noises of people and activity grew ever louder as they drew near. Rib's claws dug up splinters in the wood as excitement came over him. By the time they entered town, he was clambering in circles, trying to see in every direction at once. Everything was so lively! Humans by the dozens streamed past, some of them starting in surprise when they noticed him springing about in the cart.

  Smells of meat and smoke and muck graced Rib's snout. The air of festivities got under his scales, thrilling him like the moment he'd snag a bird, or leap from a boulder.

  His sister flinched when he returned to her side, laughing breathlessly.

  A dog came barking alongside the cart and both of them retreated a little, peering down at the loud animal. His sister looked especially frightened and Rib nuzzled her with the crown of his head, reassuring.

  "Someday," he promised, "we'll be big and nothing will scare us."

  To his relief, the dog loped away at the sound of a man's whistle, disappearing into the crowds.

  Rib peered up at each face they passed.

  Everyone here looks so different from each other, he observed. Their manes, their mouths, the color of their hides?

  A group of dusky-skinned men caught his attention and he admired their black hair and muscular builds. Among them, a tall boy with shoulders so broad they made his hips look narrow in comparison looked right back at Rib, stepping out into the street to stare after him. Rib thought it an appropriate time to wave as humans did, if only he had the hands to do so.

  Reaching the heart of the town, Damon reined in the horse to bring the cart to a halt where people lined the street, holding up items and calling out offers.

  Rib watched attentively as the Wizard climbed down from the cart and pulled a rolled piece of parchment from his pocket to show a nearby merchant.

  "Do you sell these?"

  Rib saw something drawn on the unraveled scroll. Pictures often confused Rib, but this one he thought looked like a plant of sorts.

  The merchant gave it one look and sneered. "I'm no Huskhn. Go ask them."

  The next person Damon asked was little more help than the first. "That comes at a high price," she said. "Get c
rowned as King and then we'll talk."

  "He's leaving us!" Rib told his sister as the Wizard traveled further down the street, talking to one merchant after another. "Come on!"

  Standing up on the edge of the cart and spreading his bat-like wings, Rib stared after Damon and launched off. It took him a moment to get his wings beating hard enough, but he did so with determination.

  Is she coming?

  Looking back, Rib saw that his sister had made no move to join him, but was watching anxiously from the cart.

  "I'll be right back!" he called to her, then brought his eyes forward to see where he was going. People stopped and stared as he flew past low to the ground. Just when he came up to hover beside Damon, Ivory, the wyvern, came and alighted on the Wizard's arm.

  "Do you know that person, good sir?" she said in the voice of a young man. "Him, with the dragons?"

  Who's she mimicking now? Rib thought.

  Damon seemed to be wondering the same thing, for he peered at Ivory and then at the people all around. His eyes landed on someone and Rib followed his gaze to see the tall boy from earlier heading their way.

  What does he want? Rib became uneasy when he noticed three big men following behind the adolescent like personal guards. Landing on Damon's back, the little dragon peered over the Wizard's shoulder as the strangers stopped in front of them. The face of one of the guards, he noticed, drooped on one side, framed by black twisted locks of hair. Rib ran his wide eyes over both the other full grown men, unnerved by their brutish features.

  "What's this, old man?" the adolescent asked, taking the scroll from Damon's hands to see the drawing. "Looking to buy the Royal Well? Don't you know they're native to Husk?"

  Damon cleared his throat. "Yes, I know."

  The Wizard straighten up a bit, which reminded Rib of how his prey would try to make itself look bigger right before he pounced on it.

  The boy smiled. "They're rare, too. I should know." He stuck out his hand to the Wizard. "I'm Zheal, nephew of the Huskhn Chief and Heir to the Throne."

  Damon shook Zheal's hand silently. Rib took note of the boy's white, splotched leather gloves.

  What's the 'Huskhn Chief'? And why is his nephew so interested in Damon?

  "Well," said Zheal, still holding Damon's scroll as he stared him hard in the face, "I couldn't help but notice you have the Eyes of Kings. Of course, you can see I do too."

  Still, Damon said nothing. Rib was starting to get the feel that something was very wrong.

  Zheal didn't seem to mind the Wizard's silence. He just turned the scroll over in his hands, appearing taken aback when he saw the other side of blank parchment. At least, to Rib it looked blank.

  Why does he keep staring at it like that? he wondered. He can't be reading, can he? Didn't Tyrone say there have to be little marks on the page for that?

  "This?" Zheal murmured, scanning the parchment with increasing interest. He looked up. "This is how you get dragons to follow you?"

  Suddenly, the tall boy's eyes were fixed on Rib, whose scales raised in alarm. Damon flexed his shoulders slightly, prickled by the dragon's bristling hide.

  "What an interesting color that one is," said Zheal, a strange note in his voice. "I wonder, how big will he grow? No doubt he'll be strong someday."

  "Get Tyrone," the Wizard spoke low to Ivory, sending her off with a thrust of his arm.

  Zheal lifted his head to watch the wyvern fly away. "They obey you?" With a grin, he glanced down at the scroll once more before rolling it up and sticking it under his vest. Then he spoke to his guards, who stepped towards Damon.

  The Wizard backed away towards the cart.

  At this, Zheal gave a loud command in a language Rib didn't understand and a cry sounded behind them.

  What?! Rib swiveled his head around just in time to see his sister be snatched up from the cart by two men.

  Sister!

  He barely glimpsed her terrified face before she was shoved into a sack.

  "Fly home!" Damon wrenched Rib off his back and propelled him into the air, just as Zheal's guards lunged for him.

  "Damon!" Rib cried.

  Jumping back from the men, Damon threw something on the ground. With a crack like thunder, the object blinded Rib in a succession of flashes and he pointed his snout for home, flying away quick as he could.

  In a few moments, his sight had recovered and he looked back to see that Damon was gone and Zheal's men were chasing after him instead.

  The droopy faced one had just stolen a horse. He now galloped ahead of the group, gaining on Rib, who rose higher into the air to avoid collision with a house. It strained his wings to beat them so hard, but Rib pressed on faster still.

  What do I do? he panicked. They took my sister! Damon's gone!

  I need help!

  Speeding over pointed roofs and busy people in the streets, Rib soon escaped the town. Looking below, he saw no one except the horse thief still coming after him, racing across the green fields.

  The horse was swift and brought its rider directly underneath Rib at times. All Rib had to do was look down and there was the man, fifteen feet below him, dark locks jouncing about, determined eyes fixed on him. Though half of the Huskhn's face remained limp, the other half glowered up at the terrified dragon.

  Using his flight to his advantage, Rib took the direct route, over big hills and bouldered areas. In this way, he was able to get ahead, but his chest and wings ached so much he had to stop and rest, heaving for breath until the man on the horse came into view again.

  Almost there, Rib thought, his strength waning as he took to the air once more. He felt like he was going to be sick.

  At last, Swaine River appeared on the horizon and Rib fixed his wings for what he hoped to be the last stretch.

  He won't follow me over the bridge! Rib determined, soaring over the large obstacle. Strangers never cross it.

  But to his dismay, the rider pursued without pause, clattering over the stone structure in seconds. Rib stared wildly ahead of him at the fields and forests, searching for safety. He felt himself losing elevation as he headed for a tall tree in the distance.

  "Help," he cried. "Tide! Tyrone!"

  He could barely raise his wings for another beat, let alone bring them down with enough force to hold him up. He was just now spending the last of his energy and it was time to choose what to put it towards- another beat higher or another beat farther.

  But then, he noticed something.

  The ground?

  It looked strange. White and fluffy.

  What?!

  Right as the horse's hooves came battering over, a giant cloud of tiny bodies rose up, spooking the steed. Rearing, the horse threw off its rider and fled.

  Muffle moths!

  Rib recognized the living mass of powdery insects that engulfed him and the man. He clamped his mouth shut and tried to hold his breath, but the motion of his wings forced air in and out of his flaring nostrils as the moths flocked around him.

  Through the flux of insects, he saw the man try to get up, cough, and fall back to the ground.

  Oh no?

  Again and again Rib was forced to breathe in the thick, magical moth dust, growing all the while sluggish in his frenzy to get away. Eventually, the most he could do was fix his wings open to glide. But even in doing this, his muscles began to relax and his body went limp.

  The insects cleared and Rib watched the ground come up to meet him. He barely managed to tuck in his wings and turn his head to the side before impact.

  Grass, pebbles, and dirt all went flying as he crashed and tumbled to a stop. There he lay, utterly numb, his head having ended up tucked under his wing. All Rib could see was the soft turf before his eyes and sunlight bleeding through the leather of his wing.

  Am I hurt?

  He couldn't tell; there was no feeling in his body whatsoever. His neck strained as he tried to look himself over, but he didn't have the strength. He couldn't move. Even his h
eart was too languorous to race as fast as it had been moments before the moth's dust filled his lungs.

  Help, he cried inside as his eyes slid involuntarily closed. He imagined his sister, suffocating in the sack she'd been put in.

  The most he could do was inhale, exhale. Inhale, and exhale. Steady breaths that passed through his teeth and slightly parted lips.

  He kept this up until finally, "Little one?"

  A female spoke, sounding muffled as though Rib were submerged in water, but he recognized it was Tyrone's wife, Theora.

  "You're alright, you're alright."

  Am I? Rib had the distant sensation of being picked up?perhaps held close. He couldn't be sure. His heavy eyelids refused to lift, even as the woman asked him to respond.

  My sister! Rib wanted to tell her, but his tongue was dead in his mouth.

  They took her?

  Chapter 1