Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (30 page)

Sarah was amazed. The king not only knew of them but also knew what their jhoruns were? Maybe there weren’t that many people here in this kingdom after all.

“
Do you know them personally?” Steve wanted to know.

“
I do not, but I do make it my business to be apprised of all types of jhorun in Lentari.” The king walked over to a map that was stretched across his desk. Steve joined him a few moments later.

Staring down at the map, the king tapped his fingers on a dot. Was that a village? Curious Steve leaned over to see for himself.
“
This is Avin,” the king explained. “A small village nestled in the southern region of Bohrra Forest. I believe your friends live maybe a day’s journey east.” The king looked up then. “Is this where ye first came into our kingdom?”

“
Ummm, I think it was further west. The portal dropped us in the middle of the forest, and if I remember right
, we walked for half an hour
before
we found this really big waterfall.”

The king studied the map. “I know the one. It is here,”
indicating an area close to the village. “
Had ye walked west, ye would have encountered the village in less than a day.”

“
Figures,” Steve muttered. “I choose a direction to go, and naturally if we would have gone the other way, we would have found help sooner.” He sighed. “Oh well, I’m glad we went the way that we did.”

“
As are we,” the king was tapping his fingers on his desk. “Steve, Sarah, may I make a request?”

Both Nohrin nodded their heads. “Sure,”
Sarah
said. “What can we do for you?”

“
Allow me to hold on to the jorii. It is highly coveted here. I will rest easier knowing that it is properly secured.”

“
With pleasure.” Sarah held out her right hand. The sphere materialized on her open palm. She passed it to the king. “It’s all yours. Is that why there’s a whole sack full of these things in the safe on our world? So no one here would be tempted to steal them?”

“
Aye, it is,” the king agreed. “I have enough to deal with right now, and the last thing I need is for word to go out that an unprotected jorii exists here in the castle.”

Inspired by this recent explanation, Steve asked Sarah to retrieve the crystal disc for him. Sarah pulled it out of thin air and handed the crystal nonagon to her husband. Holding the sparkling disc, Steve turned to the king.

“
Okay, what’s this, then? There’s a small sack of these in their safe as well.”

The king smiled, taking the proffered object. “This is called a mimet. Shardwyn gave a large number of these to the Scribes.” He smiled again, as he recalled the memory of Steve’s grandparents being given the crystals by the canny wizard. “Using this disc, ye can store yer jhorun to be used at a later time.” Seeing Steve’s quizzical expression, the king explained even further. “Jhorun will regenerate once it is used. As an example, assume ye are preparing to go on a journey. Ye start storing jhorun in these discs. Yer jhorun regenerates. By the time ye go on yer journey, ye have several times more jhorun at yer disposal.”

The king returned the disc to Steve, who turned it this way and that, admiring the workmanship. “How does it work? How do I put jhorun into it and how do I pull it back out?”

“
I will show ye. Hold the disc in yer hand. Now, focus yer jhorun, yer energy, on the disc. In yer case, try to make it burn.”

Looking down at the disc, Steve ignited his left hand. The disc was now warm to the touch. Curious to know if the disc’s power level was related to the warmth it exuded, Steve sent a brutal blast of power down to the crystal. Nope, the degree of heat that the disc was generating remained the same.

“
Handy!” He extinguished his hand and held the crystal up to the light.

“
I have a question,” Sarah began. “If Steve charges that thing up, can anyone use the stored jhorun in it or is it accessible only to him?”

“
Only those who store jhorun in it are able to draw from it.”

Sarah smiled sheepishly. “It was worth a shot.”

“
So how do you get the jhorun back once it’s in there?” Steve wanted to know.

“
Go over to the hearth and try it out.”

Steve grumbled all the way. “Everyone instantly assumes I’m gonna burn the place down. Great, just great.”

Sarah decided that the painting closest to her was fascinating and pointedly stared at it, lips quivering as she fought desperately not to laugh. The queen also looked away as she stifled a bad case of the giggles.

Grasping the crystal disc tightly in his hand, Steve sent his jhorun down to investigate. He discovered a large quantity of his jhorun, all bottled up, clamoring to be released. So how does he tap into the stored jhorun?

Steve turned the disc over and over in his hands, his jhorun mentally probing the disc. He could feel the extra power, but it felt like it was locked in another room. What’s containing it?

Growing tired of mentally probing the disc, Steve finally decided to pull the energy he felt within the disc inward, as though he was extinguishing a campfire. Without any restraints in place, all the jhorun decided to come out and say hello at the same time.

The fireball blasted Steve onto his butt, catching him completely unaware and consequently burning a large hole in his shirt. Fortunately, the fireball burned itself out before it hit the ceiling. Deep rumblings reverberated throughout the floor.

“
Omigod!” Sarah rushed forward. “Are you okay?”

Steve sat up, looking down at his now exposed gut. Gingerly he felt his eyebrows. Good. Still there. He huffed out a muffled apology and just shook his head. Callé, taking her cue from Sarah, now pretended the tapestries on the walls held the Secret of Life and therefore studied them meticulously while she waited to see if Steve was injured or not.

Kri’Entu, already noting the lack of damage to the Antechamber, had laughter dancing behind his eyes. Doing his best to not smirk too much, he leaned down and gave Steve an arm up. “Are ye well?”

Looking down at his chest, with his white belly on display to the world, Steve couldn’t help but laugh. “Learn something new everyday, dontcha?”

With tears streaming down her eyes, Sarah was able to compose herself long enough to ask if he was burned.

“
No, not really. I don’t feel any pain.”
Puzzled
, he looked at his wife. Eyes narrowing as she laughed inwardly, he frowned. “Why did my shirt burn? I just figured my clothes would be immune to my jhorun.”

“
There are probably limits,” the king suggested. “Caught unaware, ye were, and the mimet had a bit of a charge, adding its energy to yer existing jhorun.”

“
Everything happened so fast you did not have time to react,” Callé reasoned. “It could have been worse, ye know.”

Steve’s ears turned bright red as he blushed crimson at the thought.

A guard stepped out of the shadows and offered him a green tunic. Skeptical on whether it would fit, Steve pulled the soft shirt over his head, smoothing the edges, tugging here and there to assure himself of a comfortable fit. Not bad, he mused, not bad at all. Nice, light material. Smiling, he turned to the soldier, who had melted back into the shadows.

Admiring his new shirt, Steve turned to the king. “How did that guy happen to have a shirt in my size available?”

The Kri’yans smiled. “Actually, that was Shardwyn’s doing. He advised us to have a spare tunic ready for this evening.”

“
He knew I was going to do that? That’s cool! I can’t wait to meet the guy!”

In high spirits, Steve wandered back to the map on Kri’Entu’s desk. Studying the parchment closely, he tried to memorize all the features, hoping to impress Sarah at a later date.

“
Allow me to show ye the lay of the land lest ye are not familiar with it.” Entu gestured to the country above his own. “The kingdom of Ylani lies directly to our north. So are the Bohanis. Those mountains are home to our allies, the dwarves. They are also home to the dragons.”

He pointed to the icon of a castle bordering a tremendous body of water.

“
Now, this is where we are, if ye were wondering. This,” he pointed to the mountain range bordering the northern boundaries of the kingdom, “are obviously the Bohanis. The dwarves have strongholds here, here, here, and here,” indicating various points along the mountain range. “Those are just the ones that we know about. There are two dwarven cities, and I have been to each, but I could not begin to tell you where they are in relation to this map as both are subterranean. I do not know which is Maelnar’s home. Now here,” he pointed to a lake at the very top of the map, “this is Lake Raehón. The majority of the dragon lairs can be found near this lake, but there are many that are scattered throughout the mountains as well.”

Steve pointed to a small dot southwest of the lake.

“
Is this a village? How do those people survive with dragons all around? I was told that they are very dangerous and aren’t to be messed with.”

“
There is a truce in effect with the villagers. I have spoken with the dragons in the area, and they have agreed to not prey upon the livestock they might find there provided the villagers stop harassing them.”

Steve couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. “How can someone possibly harass a dragon? Couldn’t the dragon, you know, eat the villager?”

The king nodded solemnly. “Aye, that they could. And they have. But get enough villagers together and they could drive off the prey the dragon feeds on. They have been trying to drive the dragons out of their territory, but the dragons are fiercely territorial. It has taken many months of negotiations, but I finally have managed to stop the villagers from bickering. Also, I am presently in negotiations with the lord of the dragons, hoping to forge an alliance with them.”

“
If he’s successful,” Ny’Callé added, “it’ll be the first time in our history when both men and dragons co-existed peacefully.”

“
Do dragons actually talk?” Steve asked incredulously.

“
Some do, aye. The problem is that the dragon’s instinct is to chomp first, see if anyone is still alive, then maybe ask a question or two. They have a deep seated mistrust in all humans.”

“
So your jhorun allows you to talk to a dragon and not get eaten?” Steve asked. “Did you find one that was willing to listen? I bet they aren’t a very patient species.”

Kri’Entu smiled. Steve’s enthusiasm was contagious. Here was someone he could converse with about his favorite subject: dragons. He would have to see about arranging a meeting with Kahvel, liaison to the dragon lord.

Kahvel was a full-grown golden dragon roughly thirty meters in length from nose to tail, with a wingspan of more than twenty meters. Due to his size, whenever Kahvel visited, he had to remain in the northern orchard for the duration of his stay. Kri’Entu had commissioned an underground cavern to be constructed solely for dragon use, a move unprecedented in R’Tal’s history. Never once has any human monarch ever made an effort to accommodate any dragon. It was a move that the king hoped would foster good will for future relations.

Kri’Entu thought for a moment. Kahvel has been absent for days now. He’s due for a visit soon. Steve, in the meantime, hadn’t stopped asking questions about dragons. Focusing his attention back on the conversation, he listened to the next set of questions.

“
Have there been any wars between dragons and men? What about riders? Has anyone ever ridden a dragon?”

The king laughed. “There have been several throughout the course of our history. None were very pleasant, I can assure ye. As for riders, there may have been,” to which Steve perked up, “but nothing is known for certain, as no one has ever returned to tell the tale. I only heard of one villager from Capily who said he was going to be the first to tame and ride a dragon. I am told he was successful in getting onto the dragon’s back, however, the dragon noticed half a moment later.”