Dragon Defense (Heirs to the Throne Book 3) (38 page)

Drako is a planet suitable for human colonization, but a society of telepathic wolves already occupies the world.  When a colonist ship lands, the wolves fail to communicate with the “two-legs” and conclude the creatures are not intelligent.  They keep watch as humans develop Drako into a recreation planet for wealthy tourists.  Settlers became feudal lords, desert sheiks, oriental Samurai, and ordinary peasants depending on their level of investment.  Eventually the population revolts against technology and closes Drako to offworld visitors.  Distaste for technology mutates into superstitious hatred. 

In civilized space a team of scientists invents Transfer, a process controlled by the Institute.  Jarrack is given secret assassination orders to kill the scientists, who learn about their peril and flee.  Jarrack infiltrated the crew of the Zebulon intent on murder just before their exodus. 

Faced with superstitious hatred for spacers, the Zebulon’s crew must adapt to a feudal society without using modern tools or weapons.  Fortunately Transfer increased their natural talents to give them an advantage.  Donovan learns he is the king’s heir and competes for the crown to protect his crew.  He meets, Kriegen, a wolf-pack leader who helps him avoid a lethal trap set by Jarrack.  Kriegen is assigned to guard Donovan’s pack and gather evidence about human intelligence. 

When Donovan is crowned king, he marries Krystal, but the lords insist on an heir.  Krystal can’t get pregnant.  Dr. Alexander implants “cloned” embryos to help her give birth to three girls the same day an Institute battle drone attacks Drako.  The antique planetary defense system destroys the ship, but Donovan worries that another ship might find them.  Left with a damaged defense system, Jarrack’s army at the border, and difficult hereditary lords, King Donovan reluctantly governs the backward planet. 

Chaos erupts in the kingdom, Jarrack captures Donovan, and Havenshire falls under his control.  Queen Krystal must safeguard her precious daughters and devise a plan to recue her beloved husband.  She starts an underground resistance and initiates a black market to finance her ragtag army of Samurai women, peasants, and renegades among the gentry.   Blocking the memories of her five-year-old girls, Krystal sends them to live separately with trusted friends.  Hiding in the safety of the Fire Temple, Krystal waits for her daughters to mature.  As the girls near their seventeenth birthday, dreams stimulate repressed memories, and they feel compelled to find each other. 

It’s a dangerous world for teenage girls.  Desert riders roam the countryside capturing women for Jarrack’s breeding program, and Krystal’s daughters are high on their list of candidates.  As memories emerge, the girls join forces and learn to use their special abilities.  They need help to defeat Jarrack in the upcoming battle.  Descending upon the wolves’ Council of Elders in the company of a young dragon, a panther, and a hawk, the daughters petition the wolves to join their war against evil. 

A cunning schemer and determined general, Krystal leads her army in a surprise attack against Havenshire, the enemy stronghold.  As Donovan escapes from stasis, he joins a raging battle.  The army surrounds the king’s tower and Donovan faces Jarrack, surrounded by his mind-controlled sons, in a final sword fight.  Just as the telepaths are ready to control Jarrack’s mind, an enraged woman kills Jarrack.  In death his mind escapes into one of his many sons. 

Diane Rapp became an entrepreneur when she started her own dog grooming salon in Santa Barbara, California.  She spent the next thirty years as a small business owner; she sold real estate, started an office supply/copy center, and performed free-lance advertising design.  During all those years Diane wrote stories as a cure for insomnia.  She wrote short stories about dogs for a local German Shepherd Dog Club newsletter, and then expanded to full length novels.  Diane and her daughter Laura co-authored a travel guidebook entitled
Cruising the Eastern Caribbean

After the guide book experience, Laura gave Diane the idea of writing a mystery set on cruise ships in the Caribbean. 
Murder Caribbean-Style
,
Murder on a Ghost Ship
, and
Murder for Glacier Blue
are all complete as part of her High Seas Mystery series.

Is this the end of the Heirs to the Throne series?  The trilogy is finished, but the characters have more stories to tell and they’re bombarding Diane with ideas.  Watch for more from the planet Drako.

Visit Diane’s website
QuickSilver Novels
to learn more about the characters in her books.  Send messages through the e-mail feature, “like” Diane’s
QuickSilver Novels Facebook
page or follow her on Twitter @DianeRapp.