Found (24 page)

Benet’s scarf has keyholes at both ends and a checkered pattern in the middle.

Materials:

Gauge:
approx 20 sts = 10cm (4 in) in main pattern

Terms

Keyhole Panel

You will be working both sides with separate balls of yarn.

Main checkered pattern

End panel

Tassels:

1. Cut 60 strands of yarn 30 cm (12 in) long
   
2. With three strands fold in half
   
3. Pull loop end through a stitch at end of scarf
   
4. Pull cut ends through loop
   
5. Repeat for ten tassels at each scarf end
   

The scarf can be fastened by looping one end through one of the keyholes.

Use gold or silver yarn to embroider the runes for your name at one end.

Thick pattern at each end of the scarf is perfect for concealing lockpick wires.

by

Arista Spyke

Senior Magistress

Torrent City

Peninsular Duchies

After consulting the historical grimoires (found in the great library of Free Ennis), and after translating and transcribing the notes of the wind-mages of the far south, it is possible to draw some conclusions about the creatures known in other parts of the world as

Firedrakes

Wingéd-lizards

Wyrmes

Dragonets (or Dragonettes)

and

Serpentes da magi

And to us as

Dragons.

It is well-known that dragons have been extinct for hundreds of years. According to the crumbling tomes unearthed in forgotten shelves of the library, written a thousand years ago by nameless scribes, dragons were once common in the Peninsula and coexisted peacefully with humans. If these tomes are to be believed, dragons ranged in size from small (the size of a rat or a cat) to quite alarmingly large (the size of a building, or larger). Their colors varied significantly, one dragon displaying scales the deep blue of the ocean, the next as gold as the lost city of Tar-Mentir, the next greener than the finest adamant stone.

One historical source, a scroll faded with age, asserts that dragons’ scales were made of some substance impenetrable to conventional weapons (swords, axes, arrows). (If, as another source claims, dragons and humans lived at peace with each other, it is not known how this conclusion could have been reached.)

Dragon lore tells us that dragons were known to be fire-breathers, but no commentary on this ability was found in the sources consulted. One source, a barely legible pamphlet by a writer with the initials L.A.W., notes that “firedrakes” (as she calls them) were often associated with fire, sparks, smoke, and even explosions. It is not noted whether the dragons themselves caused these explosions, or were simply attracted to them.

The dragons’ means of reproduction remain unknown. No mention of dragon eggs or offspring has been found. Footnotes in a wind-mage journal mention that dragons were solitary and did not live in family groups.

According to the one drawing of a dragon found—a poor sketch made in the margins of an ancient book—the dragons did fly, yet they were not aerodynamical. If their wings were actually able to lift them into the sky, said wings would require a musculature anchored to a keelbone far larger than that which the sketch indicates. It is possible that dragons fly through the operations of magic, though it is impossible to guess how. It is not possible to conclude that dragons themselves were creatures of magic.

One finding is perplexing. An ancient map of the Peninsula was examined, marked with places called
Dragonlairs
. Strangely, these Dragonlairs correspond exactly to the places where cities exist now.

I can draw no conclusion from this strange finding.

The usual dear friends, with love: Jenn Reese, Greg van Eekhout, Sandra McDonald.

My steadfast agent, Caitlin Blasdell.

To my editor, Antonia Markiet. Thanks, Toni. You’re the best!

The great team at HarperCollins Publishers, including associate editor Alyson Day, copy editor Kathryn Silsand, editorial director Phoebe Yeh, publisher Susan Katz, assistant editor Jayne Carapezzi, associate art director Sasha Illingworth, production supervisor Ray Colon, Tony Hirt, publicist Marisa Wetzel, artist Antonio Javier Caparo.

For their support, friendship, and advice during this crazy publishing ride, Deb Coates, Melanie Donovan, Kristin Cashore, Dori Hillestad Butler, Wendy Henrichs, Ellie Ditzel, Bev Ehresman, Lori Dawson, Jonni Hecker, Britt Deerberg, Katherine House, Lisa Bradley, Laurel Snyder, Dorothy Winsor, Steph Burgis, Tim Pratt, Heather Shaw, and Shawna Elder. And, most particularly, Ingrid Law (three years until our lunch date!).

To the lovely people at Quercus, most especially Roisin Heycock, Nicci Praça, and Parul Bavishi.

Lisa Will for helping me put the sun and moon in their proper places.

Dima Nikolayenko for the explosive chemistry experiment.

Jennifer Adam, who made sure the horses were behaving as horses do.

To the Blue Heaven crew, especially C. C. Finlay.

To Lauren “Deadly Knitshade” for the wonderful “Lockpick Scarf” pattern.

Finally, to all my dear families, especially Theo, Maud, John, Anne and Ward Bing, Pat and Frank Hankins, and that Grrrrrr, Anne Hankins.

Jacket art © 2010 by Antonio Javier Caparo

Jacket design by Sasha Illingworth