A to Z Blog Challenge -- D is for Dragonsfyre series

As I mentioned during my intro on Day 1, I'm an indie author with two books released.

Day 2 was B for my Brotherhood of Blood series, a dark ages vampire tale set in Wales.

Today on Day 4, D is for my Dragonsfyre dark fantasy series.

What is dragonsfyre, you may ask?

In the Eighth Dominion, where magic is outlawed and where nobles fear their power-hungry family as much as any enemy, dragonsfyre has two meanings, each equally apt to put a chill in the heart.

The first is fairly straightforward.

The population of the Eighth Dominion lives in fear of dragon sightings. In this realm, a solitary dragon may make its lair in their kingdom, and will emerge from its den to feed from time to time. However, though many have tried to predict the timelines of the dragon, no one has been able to accurately do so since magic was outlawed many generations ago.

Because of this, the nobles and servants alike live in dread of the scorched lands left behind by actual dragon's fire.

Dragonsfyre, however, is a powdered substance made from the crushed orange-colored fungus that grows in the mountainous regions inhabited by the shadowy Sibiu people. Hard to obtain, it is used exclusively by an order of monks during an ordeal ceremony.

In this ceremony, a monk inhales the dragonfyre powder, which causes the initiate to experience two things: first, his psyche will suddenly be confronted with those times in his life which carry the most guilt. Second, he will experience excruciating, burning nerve pain throughout his physical body.

If the initiate has achieved his full training, he will no longer be disturbed by guilt, and his body will not burn with dragonsfyre.

Because the Eighth Dominion is a cruel land, this powder -- which is never supposed to be in the hands of anyone except for monks at the completion of their training -- has become an interrogation tool amongst the nobility. Men commonly spill their secrets even without inhaling the dreaded powder, even if it is merely whispered that they might be subjected to it.

I'm currently at work on this series, with book 1 released as Bound by Dragonsfyre.

Here is an excerpt of what I'm currently working on.

Elysienne, daughter of Lord Visigard, House of Pruzhnino – age 3

Her tummy burned for something to eat. She turned to locate Nurse, hoping it was time to leave the garden to go back inside for tea.

Nurse already stood from the bench, her stitching dropped from her lap onto the gravel path, her neck craned to look up.

Elysienne followed her gaze. A dark bird loomed in the distance, flapping such big, big wings.

            The guards watching over them bolted towards the manor house, scooping up the children as they ran. Nurse gasped in terror, frozen for a moment on the gravel path.

            Elysienne reached up and took Nurse’s hand, tugging as she headed in the same direction as the guards. Thankfully, that action seemed to snap Nurse from her reverie.

            An eerie sensation raised the hairs on the back of Elysienne’s neck. In the distance, a horrid sound of swooshing wings made her wish she’d never heard anything so large and terrifying. Her little legs ran as fast as they could, but the flap-flap of the enormous being dwarfed the efforts of all of them.

            Nurse and the guards had only managed to herd the children as far as the little roofed garden house with no walls that Elysienne liked to pretend was a palace. There were still the lawns and the flower gardens to pass through before they got to the safety of the double doors that led to the breakfast room.

            The massive flying thing hung in the air overhead, casting them all into shadow. Nurse and Elysienne stopped running, since it made no difference now. They could never hope to get away from it.

            Instead, they stood and stared up at the scaly body, the frightening stretch of the leathery wings and the clawed feet gliding above them. Elysienne heard other children screaming and some of the guards shouting orders, but she and Nurse were silent as they stood hand in hand, looking up.

            The giant mouth opened and the massive eye stared.

            Another flap-flap, and the thing had flown past their manor house, on its way over the forest lands. As it headed over the treetops, that open mouth screeched out a sound that Elysienne could never have imagined existed in the world.

© 2015 Julia Phillips Smith

5 on Friday - Set 170

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

As I keep my head down and work hard on finishing the first round of revisions for the second book in my Dragonsfyre series, here are five pieces of music that could belong to a soundtrack for this story.

For a sneak peek at a scene from this story, click HERE.

1 - Wardruna - Sowelu

This piece is sung in a mix of Norwegian and Old Norse, and features scenes from the History Channel's Vikings.

2 - River of Collections from the Everything is Illuminated soundtrack - composed by Paul Cantelon 

3 - In Trutina from Carmina Burana - composed by Carl Orff

4 -Lento E Largo from Symphony No. 3, Opus 36 - composed by Henryk Gorecki

5 - Mars: Bringer of War from The Planets - composed by Gustav Holst

A to Z Blog Challenge - Z

*tooting little horn*  Welcome to Day 26 of the A to Z Blog Challenge. My third completed challenge--thanks to everyone who dropped by. Today:

Z

is for

Zealots

In the sequel to my dark fantasy novel, BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE, releasing later this summer, the sect of monks who stamped out the use of magick are the zealots to whom I refer. 

In the world of Dragonsfyre, called the Eighth Dominion, dragons plague the people in bursts of destructive sightings, rather like the tornadoes of this world. Generations back, a sect of monks linked the dragon sightings to the use of magick, and since that time magick has been outlawed in the Eighth Dominion. Of course, the monks then replaced the seers as imperial consultants.

To wrap up this year's A to Z Blog Challenge, here is a sneak peek at Book 2 in my Dragonsfyre series:

Dragon signs were everywhere.

          Xaviero kept this to himself as he scanned the sky for confirmation that the inevitable drew nearer. No one must even suspect that he could foretell the future.

          Instead, he sat in the cadet’s hall staring down at his plate of food, listening past the low hum of the other boys’ conversations. 

Seers were blessed by the gods, it was said. Yet the monks who served these gods rejected visions as proof of magick.

Best to sit here ignoring the ominous sound of many little animals rushing away at once. It would take only a few moments more, and surely the cadets on watch would see the movement along the ground.

His pulse raced, though he sat as still as he could, his fork poised above the chunks of meat in thin gravy. How oblivious they were, the other boys and the older officers both. Eat quickly, he wanted to urge them.

Taking his own advice, he grabbed one last mouthful as the hall darkened, frantic flapping overhead announcing birds in mixed flocks in the air above their academy.

          Conversation ceased. Heads turned.

          A sharp bugle call warned of danger.

          Cadets and officers called orders as boys ran according to drill and shutters slammed. Xaviero blocked all of it out as he bolted for the middle of the yard, free to turn his head to the sky as the chaos provided cover at last.

          There it was, a large black form far off in the late afternoon sky, sunlight glinting off scales as the dragon approached with impossible speed. Xaviero’s thrill at finally seeing a dragon with his own eyes splintered into cold fear.

          The wings flapped once, twice, then held straight as it glided in eerie silence directly towards the academy. Xaviero made out spiky horns along its head and spine, its mouth opening to reveal teeth as big as swords.

          The dragon’s cry rent the air as Xaviero was lifted bodily, carried at a run by one of the commanding officers towards the barracks. Taking the few steps in one leap, the officer dove with Xaviero through the door, landing hard on the wooden slats just as the heat of the dragon’s fire burst in yellow and orange plumes to blot out the sky.

          A hot blast of wind slammed the door shut as the searing flames poured over and around the stone barracks. Xaviero and the officer hid their faces from the heat, but when they could no longer hold their breath, they lifted their heads to find smoke filling the barracks. The officer pulled Xaviero to his feet, already turning to head for the door.

          That’s when Xaviero was struck with a vision.

          The grip of the officer’s hand upon him as he made to leave was all it took. In that split second Xaviero knew he must not let the officer open that door.

          Dragging back upon the man’s arm with all his weight, Xaviero cried, “No, Sir! No!”

          The officer stopped and looked down at Xaviero, eyes filled with disbelief that fear had got the best of a top cadet. “We’re getting out of here,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument.

          Again, he made for the door. Yet Xaviero knew without a shred of doubt that it would be the last thing the officer would ever do.

          Grabbing the man’s arm and pulling so hard the fabric ripped, Xaviero said, “Sir!” with the authority of a commander. “You’ll be burnt up!”

          Stopping in his tracks, the officer turned to gaze at Xaviero with a hint of dread in his face. He stopped pulling against Xaviero and listened. The crackling sound of flames could now be heard just outside the door.

          With the heavy energy of the dragon’s flight still swirling in the air, the officer seemed to shake off the notion that Xaviero had divined the future in time to save his life. If that were the case, it would mean that a boy in their academy was an adept at magicke.

          It was easier just to leave the barracks by climbing through the window on the other side of the common room, easier never to mention an incident forbidden by imperial decree to his superiors once the reports were finally given.

          At least, Xaviero was never called to headquarters to explain himself, though the officer in question gave him wide berth from that day forth.

Copyright - Julia Phillips Smith - 2013

A to Z Blog Challenge - U

Welcome to Day 21 of the  A to Z Blog Challenge. Today:

U

is for

Underground Magick

For those of you who have been following my challenge all month, you'll know that the first half was also a blog tour for my dark fantasy, BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE.

In my interviews I was asked about my next project, which is the sequel to Scorpius' story. For today's 'U' post, I'll give a little preview of the second book in the Dragonsfyre series.

These books take place in a land called the Eighth Dominion, one of twelve provinces ruled over by the emperor. In this land's history, magick was once practised openly, until a religious order rose to power and linked the devastating dragon attacks to the practise of magick.

At that time, the monks were installed as imperial advisors, while anyone unfortunate enough to be known as an adept at magick was hunted down and weeded out. Those who continued to be born with the gifts of sight and who wielded control of magick were forced at an early age to keep these aspects of themselves a closely-guarded secret.

Two major characters in the new book, which will be releasing later this summer, have made their way through the world by keeping their magick a secret. Yet both of them feel the time may be right for magick to emerge from its underground status--especially since the use of it may be the only thing that will save the Eighth Dominion from the destruction of the dragon.

Here's a brief preview excerpt from Dragonsfyre Book 2:

Lying angry and awake in the dark once again, listening to the sleeping sounds of the other cadets, Xaviero put two and two together as his Beloved came to him, gliding silently like a phantom.

Only now did he realize that she came to him in times of despair. His heart seized with dread as she neared him. He couldn’t bear to see more of his future self, chained to the dragon in that wooded ruin, not after the day he’d had. Yet he craved her presence with a force that left him trembling. Again she sat on his cot, reaching forward to brush a strand of hair from his eyes.

Between heart beats, he became that naked future version of himself, kneeling at the base of the statue, his arms pulled behind him, his wrists chained to the stone with cold cruelty.

He felt the gravel digging into his legs as he knelt in this ancient forest clearing, felt the coolness of the stone dragon against his shivering flesh. When he looked up into her gaze that saw him more truly than anyone else, he knew once again that she was meant for him. The realization that he must wait for her burst through his body like a geyser.

Xaviero heard himself moan in the midst of his vision, and he twisted his head back and forth, trying to wake himself out of it. Yet he came to at the feet of his commanding officer and the dormitory steward, both staring at him in the chill light of dawn.

Marched to the commander’s barracks, Xaviero stood and answered questions until his officer tired of his lies.

Xaviero heard the orders to report to their hand-to-hand combat master, his wounded pride forcing his feet to take the steps that would bring him to a rare penalty drill. An exacting cadet with a sense of impatience with the youthful high jinks of his peers, he’d helped to send a few of his fellows to a similar fate without so much as a moment’s hesitation, certain they’d deserved it.

As the sweat stung his eyes, his body rebelling with the effort to obey the master’s relentless commands, Xaviero wished he knew what to do with his magicke instead of spending so much time hiding it. Tumbling to the ground with a flattening blow, he picked himself up to face more, wishing he had a friend to stand in the shadows awaiting him once this was over, as all the other cadets had.

Thus far he was on his own, both with his visions and his years at the academy. He’d never encountered anyone who may have also had visions, though for magicke to be outlawed, at one time in the dominions there must have been practising adepts.

The very next night his Beloved walked towards him in the gloom. Xaviero lay on his side, his back to the other cadets, staring into the dark as his muscles and joints flared with pain.

When she appeared, Xaviero almost spoke aloud. No, he said in his mind. I can’t take any more of this.

Hush, my love, she answered him.

Xaviero pushed himself up with a wince, glancing around him in a panic. None of the other boys stirred.

His Beloved sat upon his cot as she always did. She reached up and wiped the trickling sweat from his face.

You will be asked to suffer for me, she said, hugging his head to her breast. Will you be brave for me? No matter what is asked of you?

Xaviero nodded, unable to speak, not even in his mind.

There’s something I need you to do, she said.

Nodding again, he gazed into her eyes that seemed to see into all his hidden desires.

When we meet, we must embark upon a course of action which the dominions have forbidden. Do you know of what I speak?

Yes, my lady, he finally managed.

Then find a teacher who will prepare us for that which awaits.

Xaviero came to, clutching his crumpled pillow as the cool dawn sent the shadows scurrying. At first stretching stiffly, he froze as his muscles seized in protest.

He remembered what his Beloved had asked of him. Gritting his teeth, Xaviero forced himself to move through the pain as though hacking his way through impassable hedgerows. It wasn’t easy, but through sheer force of will he got through the day with only the barest of signs that he suffered.

He saw the bent heads, noticed his fellow cadets whispering. He even saw the officers taking note of how quickly he’d apparently recovered from that which they knew their drill master could dish out.

You will be asked to suffer for me, his Beloved had warned.

All he’d done was to recover from a penalty drill more quickly than expected. Yet it was a simple thing to go from that to rumors of how he’d recovered, and then to accusations of unnatural means, especially when he had no friends at the academy to set the record straight at mess and during drill practise.

The only person to whom he’d ever felt truly close was his mother. At this late stage of the game, all the alliances had been forged amongst a group of boys who’d studied and trained together for years.

On a wearying day when those same two hostile cadets and one of the officers he admired most seemed to have joined forces to make him crack, an approaching carriage churning up dust in the road outside their gates made Xaviero look up from the demeaning work detail to which he’d been assigned.

Along with everyone else unlucky enough to be clearing the yard of manure in the chilly afternoon, Xaviero stopped to watch a green recruit disembark and gaze longingly after the carriage as it made its way back onto the road.

A calculating idea struck him as the boy looked around for some sort of welcome or direction. This boy was unclaimed by anyone, and Xaviero needed an ally. Dropping his shovel on the ground, he ambled over to the new arrival with as much of a smile as he could conjure up, not having much experience with this sort of thing.

“Looking for the officer on watch?” he asked.

The new boy nodded warily. He seemed a reasonable sort. For all Xaviero knew, he was a complete ass or an idiot, but he no longer had the luxury of picking a good match for himself. He needed a friend, and this boy would be it.

Copyright - Julia Phillips Smith - 2013

A to Z Blog Challenge - N

Welcome to Day 14 of the  A to Z Blog Challenge. Today:

N

is for

New project - Dragonsfyre Book 2

For those of you who have followed my book tour during the first half of the A to Z Challenge, you've heard me mention that I'm currently working on Book 2 of my dark fantasy series.

What does that mean, exactly?

When I say I'm in revisions, what are revisions?

Some writers refer to this stage as edits, or the editing process. Process is a perfect word for this stage, as it describes both the journey embarked upon by the writer, and the changes made in the manuscript that needs fine tuning to truly shine.

The manuscript I'm working on now is once again a hybrid between two separate NaNoWriMo writing marathons. My first novel SAINT SANGUINUS began the same way, as two NaNoWriMo novels each written from deep within the singular POV of the two main characters.

I had a very tough time marrying these two manuscripts into one cohesive novel. One of my biggest blocks was the problem with timing. When I wrote with only one character to consider, some larger sequences wouldn't fit properly with the alternating POV when I switched back and forth between the hero and heroine.

While I struggled with that, I wondered 'why am I doing this to myself?'

I'd pretty much vowed never to write in two split-up POVs again.

Then the next NaNoWriMo rolled around, and I remembered all of the surprising-even-to-me places to which that style of writing had led me. 'It's worth it,' I said to myself.

So here I am again, carefully easing pieces of scenes out here, fitting other pieces back in here. All with an eye to keeping my story's core solid, ensuring the framework remains strong yet flexible, like a suspension bridge.

Thursday Thirteen - 256 - 13 Snippets From This Year's NaNoWriMo Work in Progress

As you can see by the badge in my sidebar, I crossed the 50,000-word finish line for this year's NaNoWriMo writing marathon last Friday.

At 7:00 pm. With 5 hours to spare.

Compare that to the first year that I did it, with 15 minutes to spare, chasing midnight!

Congratulations to my fellow NaNoWrimers, wherever you may be.

This week, I'd like to share a bit of what I was working on during that writing frenzy. This is straight from the NaNoWriMo unpolished manuscript, not counting a few alterations made to avoid spoilers.



From Book 2 of my Dragonsfyre series


Cast of characters -

Xaviero - we first meet him as a military cadet, then rejoin him as the captain of the guard for Lord Visigard and his family

Elysande - cousin to Scorpius' master, Lord Thibault, daughter of Lord Visigard. We meet her first as a vision appearing to Xaviero, then as a little girl at the Nursery which raises noble children, and later still as the highly-sought-after daughter of Lord Visigard

Scorpius - former falconer's apprentice, now lord's man for Thibault of the House of Pruzhnino

Thibault - second son of the Duke of Pruzhnino, noble family of the Eighth Dominion



1 - The officer pulled Xaviero to his feet, already turning to head for the door.

That’s when Xaviero was struck with a vision.

He always required touch to gain the sight, to see that which was hidden from most. The grip of his hand upon the officer as the man made to leave was enough to warn Xaviero that he must not let the officer open that door.

Dragging back upon the man’s arm with all his weight, Xaviero cried, “No, Sir! No!”

2 - He could feel the gravel digging into his legs as he knelt in this ancient forest clearing, could feel the coolness of the stone dragon against his shivering flesh. When he looked up into her gaze that looked at and through him, he knew once again that she was meant for him. The realization that he must wait for her burst through his body like a geyser.
 
Xaviero heard himself moan in the midst of his vision, and he twisted his head back and forth, trying to wake himself out of it. Yet he came to at the feet of his commanding officer and the dormitory steward, both staring at him in the chill light of dawn.

3 - Xaviero watched this odd toadying behavior from the officer and realized this new boy must be the son of a high-ranking noble. Heavy disappointment settled in his chest.

As the son of a decorated officer from a military family, Xaviero had a respected pedigree here at the officer’s training school, but he was outranked by any nobility from the start. His brief sense of finally having the chance at a friend and ally vanished among the greetings offered by the nearly-blushing officer.

Just who was this fellow, anyway? Keeping his head high and his gaze trained ahead of him in proper military form, Xaviero stole looks from the corner of his eye at his would-be friend.

4 - An eerie sensation raised the hairs on the back of Elysande’s neck. In the distance, a horrid sound of swooshing wings made her wish she’d never heard anything so large and terrifying. Her little legs ran as fast as they could, but the flap-flap of the enormous being dwarfed the efforts of all of them.

Nurse and the guards had only managed to herd the children as far as the little roofed garden house with no walls that Elysande liked to pretend was a palace. There was still all the lawns and the flower gardens to pass through before they got to the safety of the double doors that led to the breakfast room.

The massive flying thing hung in the air overhead, casting them all into shadow. Nurse and Elysande stopped running, since it made no difference now. They could never hope to get away from it.

5 - “You should have read the dragon signs.”

“There were none, my lord! It came from nowhere.”

“Dragons don’t come without signs!” Papa said, kicking the guard in the ribs, lifting him up with the blow to roll across the carpet of the drawing room.

Nurse pulled at Papa’s hand. “Please, my lord! It was I who should have seen the signs. I have more experience with them.”

Papa turned and flattened Nurse with one sweeping blow. He stood over her, shaking in outrage. “We are the closest parents here to the Nursery,” he said. “But we will not be the only ones here come to see whether we needed to collect the remains of our sons and daughters. If I were you, I would not be here to greet them.”

6 - “Who sent the messenger we intercepted?” Xaviero asked.

The man shook his head no, starting to whimper in expectation of the next cut. Instead, Xaviero stood and laid on a series of hard slaps across the man’s face.

With his second sight, Xaviero could see inside the man’s thoughts as long as he could focus intently on the person’s eyes while touching some part of the body. Reaching down to wrap his hand around the man’s throat, he waited for the prisoner’s eyes to open in terror.

Once he could see inside the fellow, Xaviero relaxed within himself even while maintaining his iron grip upon the man’s throat. He followed the trail of the prisoner’s mental barriers to locate the crack he needed.

He could see clearly what the man’s worst fears were. Easily done. So very easily.

Xaviero released the man’s throat and gave him a few moments to choke and gasp and fight for breath. Circling him slowly, Xaviero said nothing, every now and then stopping to bend his mouth close to his ear, but this time inhaling deeply as if the prisoner was a fragrant blossom.

The man recoiled from him, jerking in his bonds to try to keep Xaviero in his sights. Xaviero therefore kept one step ahead of his sightline.

“Who sent the message we intercepted?” he kept asking.

7 - He came to her in a surly mood, so that she was obliged to order him to her room later that night. It saddened him, but it was all worth it. He was very close to getting what he needed from the prisoner. He would do whatever it took to get the name of whoever sent that messenger they’d intercepted.

Whatever it took.

The look on his lady’s face when he arrived a good deal later than their agreed meeting hour was priceless.Taking a deep breath, Xaviero continued on into her chamber with his customary swagger. Yet his skin now washed over with cold bumps.

“You forget that we arranged an earlier meeting, Captain?” she said.

He bowed his head in acknowledgement but said nothing.

“If there was something of far more importance, then of course I must wait. But if you must know, waiting has put me out of sorts.”

He bowed at the waist like a servant. “Apologies, my lady.”

“I will accept your apology after you have paid for your insolence,” she said, turning on her heel and walking away from him. He knelt then, figuring it would be the best place for him to be once she turned back to regard him.

As though she knew he needed marks on his body in order to convince the prisoner to confide in him, Lady Elysande walked towards him to strike him backhanded across the cheek.

He straightened as much as he could on his knees, lowering his gaze yet keeping his head held high. No need to feign wounded pride. He was, after all, working to preserve her family’s place in the Eighth Dominion’s hierarchy.
 
8 - The torment was so extreme that often just the mention of dragonsfyre to a prisoner would yield results without even bringing the hard-to-get powder out of its holding box.

Her guard captain passed her the belt from around his waist, knowing the powder was in one of those pouches, and knowing that he was destined to inhale it only a few moments from now.

Perhaps they shouldn’t go through with this. Maybe there was another way…

Xaviero placed his hands over hers and nodded once. She crouched and opened the pouches, laying out the silk cloths, the vials on top of the silk, the siphons beside those.

Her captain walked the last steps to the dragon statue. He turned with his back to the stone form, beginning to undress with trembling fingers. Walking to join him, Elysande gently brushed aside his hands and finished undressing him, pulling and tugging and slipping his cape, his doublet, his tunic and leggings free.

There he stood, breathtaking in the moonlight. He knelt with his back to the statue at the base of the carved rock. Taking one wrist in hers, she encased it in the manacle chained to the statue.

Repeating the action with the other hand, she secured her captain to the base of the dragon statue, face out for the ordeal. He knelt in the moonlight, his eyes in shadow.

Turning away, she returned to where she’d placed the vials and siphons. She took up the first of many, as this ordeal wouldn’t be over for some time, once begun. When she turned back to her captain, the moonlight shone down on him as he waited bravely for her. The sight of so much courage humbled her.

If he had the courage, surely she did, too. Elysande took each step that brought her closer to her captain as if it were her last in this world. In her hands was the box containing the orange dragonsfyre powder, and once she blew that into her captain’s face, his excruciating ordeal began.

9 - The weight of the magicke circle deepened, and for a moment she was certain she could no longer stand. The sound that deafened her silenced.

Gazing across the invisible circle into the purple-blue eyes of her captain, it seemed to Elysande that she had always been here, in this timeless moment. She had always worn this gown, had always been this age, had always raised and opened her arms wide to embrace the magicke that was hers to command.

Yet something made her turn her head to her right. Looking for something that was not there, Elysande felt a great sadness.

In that moment she knew she’d always been waiting for the thing that was missing.

10 - She held her arms wide as Xaviero did opposite her, creating a circle of power she could feel but not see, not the way she saw her ribbons of pain. Her hair whipped back and forth as though she stood in a windstorm. The force of the magicke tried to push her down into the dust, but she held firm, stumbling at times but keeping her feet.

For a moment fear broke through, grasping at her like someone drowning.

She searched for Xaviero’s gaze, but his head was tipped towards the sky, his mouth moving with the words of the spell he intoned.

This was it. This was what they’d both been working towards for so many years. She would not let him down, not her dear captain. She wouldn’t let any of them down, not her estate, not the Eighth Dominion.

It appeared that Xaviero struggled against the same force as he reached for the pouch that held the vials of pain essence hooked to the belt running across his chest. His movements slowed as though he trudged through a deep river.

Elysande’s arms pushed down too low to keep the circle going. The pressure on both of them lifted as the energy faltered. Xaviero quickly grabbed the pouch but looked in alarm across the space between them.

She used every ounce of her strength to straighten her arms into the position he needed. Immediately the whirlwind that buffeted her returned. Xaviero withdrew the first vial. Elysande’s heart beat quickened as the moment they’d been working towards for so long drew close.

11 - It seemed to take an eternity, but finally the guard pulled his head free of the tub. As he knelt there fighting for breath and dripping over himself and the stained floor, his master refused to answer their questions. A tone of pleading laced Lord Thibault’s voice, which sent a spear of terror through Scorpius’ chest.

If he were the one putting his master to the question, he would clearly see there was a chink in Lord Thibault’s armour. Scorpius fought to stop the protest from rising in his throat, but the sounds came anyway before the guard dunked and held him again.

This continued for longer than Scorpius could hold his breath. His body snaked and surged against the guard but he would not let him go. A dim sense of shouting joined his own underwater cries before some of the water seeped into his lungs.

Then he slammed onto the stone floor, coughing and seeing stars.

Lord Thibault shouted and struggled against arms that held him back. The cell door opened and a figure entered.

“You,” his master said, all the fight going out of him.

12 - Lord Thibault kicked hard and threw the noble to the floor. The guards surged forward, taking hold of Scorpius’ master once more. Lord Thibault fought against them as though he had not been coming to this cell for weeks of torment, watching Scorpius suffer and growing more pale and lined by the day.

He fought as though he’d just arrived here, a wild beast of outrage even though he was outnumbered four to one, and now facing an attacker who could actually inflict harm. Scorpius watched his master in detached fascination, as though his lungs didn’t burn and his knees and shoulders didn’t ache.

The noble closed in on Lord Thibault, backhanding him so hard his master’s teeth glistened with blood as he smiled.

“That the best you can do?” his master said, eyes gleaming with fury.

“No,” the noble said, giving him a series of brutal punches to the gut that lifted Scorpius’ master off his feet.

13 - “I’m certain I shall.” Lord Thibault’s grin faded, his eyes shadowing with the truth neither of them spoke aloud.

Well, Scorpius would have no regrets. Not now.

“I want to thank you, my lord.”

His master shook his head, no.

“If Richolf were here, I would thank him, too.”

“He deserves your thanks, but not me.”

“I thank him with all my heart for fetching me to live at the falconer’s cottage, and I thank you, my lord, for giving me the life I dreamed of living.”

“But you dreamed of returning home, of being claimed. I know you did.”

“I dreamed it when I didn’t know who would have come for me. You know I never would have gone with him.”

“If you had told them back there in the cell--”

“We’ve been over all this, master. I would take it all again rather than align myself with that man."

“All of that hitting about your head must have loosened something inside of it.”

“I’m telling you I’m grateful. Now are you going to lay there among the grazer shit and take it like a man, or aren’t you?”

© 2012 - Julia Phillips Smith