Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [0]
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Map
Almost There
Into the Mountain
Blue Cavern
Friend or Foe?
New Friends, New Enemies
A Dozen Delays
Granny Noon
Explanations
Neither Here nor There
Through the Gateway
The Legend of Urohm
Shadow in The Bogs
Dangerous Shadows
In Wulder’s Presence
One Dragon
Finding the Trail
Looking for Trouble
The Dragon’s Lair
Healing
First Flight
A Hard Decision
Crossing the Valley
Into Darkness
Silence?
Escape!
Obstacles
Locked Doors
Leap of Faith
Paladin
The Battle
The Aftermath
Marching Orders
On the Way Again
Mislaid Castle
Wizard at Home
A New Start
Blimmets
Moving On
Mount Tourbanaut
Three Heads Are Not Better Than One
City of Dael
The Barrier
The Maze
In the Stronghold
The Voice of Evil
Some Things Can Be Moved, Some Can’t
Which Way Out?
Moving Heaven and Earth
Home
Standing Together
Epilogue: Almost There
Glossary
About the Author
Praise for Dragonspell
Copyright
God has blessed me by bringing young people into my life. This book is dedicated to my first readers. They kept me on my toes and the story progressing.
Mary and Michael Darnell
Regan Gibson
Alexandria Gray
Ryan Haas
Kristianna and Kaleigh Lynxwiler
Jason McDonald
Lynette Nelson
Robert Mikell Rogers
Allison Rozema
Stephanie Desha Veazey
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Where there is no guidance the people fall,
but in abundance of counselors there is victory.
PROVERBS 11:14, NASB
Each of these people at one time or another offered wisdom, encouragement, practical help, or inspiration to me in developing Dragonspell. Thank you.
Donna Abitz
Bonnie Aldrich
Amy Barr
Evangeline Denmark
Kory Denmark
Jan Dennis
Bonnie Doran
Sara Diane Doyle
Kathy Egeler
Barni Feuerhaken
Jane Gibson
Cecilia Gray
Rachel Hauck
Kay Holt
Diann Hunt
Sandra Moore
Scott Myers
Anne Napierkowski
Jill Nelson
Elnora Paul
Sarah Pottenger
Carol Reinsma
Helen Schnieder
Nan Seefluth
Heather Slater
Tom Snider
Armin Sommer
Faye Spieker
J. Case Tompkins
Vikki Walton
Peggy Wilber
1
ALMOST THERE
“Are ye sure ye won’t ride all the way into the city?”
Kale hardly heard the farmer’s question as she stood beside his wagonload of barley grain. Her eyes looked over the crude cart she’d traveled in and then turned to the dazzling metropolis across the wide valley. The sun sparkled on Vendela, a city of sheer white walls, shining blue roofs, and golden domes. Many spires and steeples and turrets towered above the city, but in a vast variety of shapes and colors. More than a dozen castles clustered outside the capital, and more palaces were scattered over the landscape across a wide river.
Seeing Vendela reminded Kale her life had changed forever. Her hand rose to her chest and rested on the small pouch hidden under her clothes.
I have a destiny. The thought scared her and pleased her too. After being a village slave all fourteen years of her life, she’d been freed.
Well, sort of free.
One week ago she’d left River Away, her village of two dozen homes, a shop, a tavern, and a meetinghouse. In maybe another week, she’d go through the tall gates of the most beautiful walled city in all of Amara, quite possibly in the entire civilized world. It would take a week to get used to the clamor. She could feel it from here.
I’d go mad in my head if I stepped into Vendela tonight.
The city pulsated with thoughts and feelings of more people than she could count. On market day in River Away, she endured thirty or forty people close enough for her to feel their lives bumping against the walls of her inner person. But Vendela…
I might smother. I’ll go slowly into that city. Nobody knows I’m coming. I don’t have to hurry. A mile or so a day. Slow, till it feels comfortable.
A lot of things worried her. It was easy to say you were glad not to be a slave any longer. It was hard to walk alone into a place you’d never been before. Nobody knew or cared about her in Vendela. In River Away, most everybody cared, even if the caring revolved around whether or not she worked