Units of Measure

These measures do not relate to anything in our world. I just felt that the use of US Customary or Metric units of measurement did not fit well into the story so developed my own. I related them to known lengths to make it easier to visualize.

Stone = 20 pounds or 9.1kg

Span = 9 inches or 22.86 cm

Length = 4 spans (1 yard or 36 inches or just under a meter)

League = 7,040 spans or 1,760 lengths (1 mile or 1.6km)

Prologue

One Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty Seven years earlier…

“Dragon’s Teeth Alexander!” Geoffrey exclaimed vehemently, “You can’t make that decision! Who are you to decide that it needs to be done?”

The old mage waited patiently as the younger mage voiced his disagreement with the plans of his master.

“I can because I have been appointed to the role of High Mage and Protector of the Kingdom. I also have centuries of experience in my own right and millennia of experience through my bond with Dalia.” Alexander responded forcefully. “It must be done. These so-called “Chosen” forced our hand when they decided that they should rule instead of the King because they have power that no one else does and no one else can stop them. Now their army is at our border and war is imminent. The incantation is only temporary and will only be in the area around the Chosen’s war camp. Those outside the area when the incantation is cast will be unaffected.”

“How is what they are doing any different than how the King rules? Is what they are planning not the same as your plans?” Geoffrey asked angrily. “The King rules only because he has the largest army of all of the surrounding nations and none could remove him. You plan to cast the incantation because you have the power to do so. They desire to rule because they are the most powerful.”

“If you think that makes these Chosen the same as the King or I, then you are misinformed. Yes the King has the largest army and yes it is because of it that he need not fear the surrounding nations, but the surrounding nations also need not fear him because even with his power he shows restraint. He does not seek to control others just because he has the force to do so. The Chosen seek to rule everything because no one else can stop them. The King cares for his people and their well-being, while these Chosen merely see them as pawns or tools to be used and cast aside when they are broken or of no further use. As for myself, I was elected by the High Council and they agreed with me on the need for the incantation to be cast”, Alexander responded.

Alexander held his hand up palm out to signal to Geoffrey that the conversation was over for now. “Enough for now, we can discuss this more later. I have some items to prepare and then I need to speak to the council once more before we leave for the capitol. I will complete the spell there in the High Mages tower.”

Geoffrey bit back his retort and moved to obey his master. He did not agree with the High Mage. The old man was probably mentally unstable, he thought. Anyone who had lived over five centuries had to have a few marbles loose upstairs. He really needed to speak to Master Irwin, he would know what to do. With that thought though he shuddered. He remembered his last encounter with Master Irwin. The man was vicious. Geoffrey had seen him whipping a young apprentice mage brutally for spilling wax on the floor. The boy had ended up in the infirmary for several days while he recovered.

Alexander stepped into his study and began gathering his things for the trip. Dalia? Alexander called out mentally to the silver demi-dragon he had bonded to so many centuries ago.

Mages and demi-dragons were able to form such a bond when the mage assisted the dragon in hatching from its egg. The mage’s Ard combined with the young demi-dragon’s Ard in transforming the egg from a stasis state and in doing so formed a connection with the young demi-dragon. Demi-dragons were smaller versions of dragons, that when full grown might get to be as large as a full grown alley cat, while dragons might become as large as a small cottage. One difference is that dragons had only control of Ard in the form of a single family of incantations and a single element, which they focused out of their mouth. Another key difference was that dragons usually had a low intelligence and demi-dragons were highly intelligent. They could use any incantation and had a color specific innate ability.

Dragon races were separated by the coloring of the scales and the incantation they used. The red dragons used fire incantations, blue/water, white/cold and ice, yellow/electrical, and black/acid. The older the dragon the more potent its incantations became. While a bond could be created with a dragon, it was banned as the dragon’s temperament and low intelligence could overwhelm, or heavily influence the person bonded to them, and cause them to become extremely violent and mentally unstable. That coupled with the increase in strength and ability to use the family of incantations the dragon specialized in made the pair extremely dangerous to those around them.

The coloring of the three races of Demi-dragons followed that of the metals of the earth: one common, one uncommon, and one extremely rare. Bronze being the most common and their innate ability allowed them to control plants and animals. The uncommon are the golden, they can control the earth and raw metals. Last and rarest was the silver. There are usually only one or two silver demis alive at any time and they are the most powerful and viewed as near royalty by the bronze and golden demi-dragons. The silver demi can control sound, light, and darkness. This included the use of illusions and invisibility.

Yes my love, his beloved demi responded. How can I help you?

I was wanting to see how you are. I know the time must be near for you to lay your egg. He answered, pushing feelings of concern and love through his bond to the demi-dragon. She was down in the basement below, waiting in comfort while her body prepared her offspring to be born. The process of egg laying was closely controlled. For if any mage was present during the birth then the young demi-dragon would immediately bond with the mage closest to them. To prevent such contact the mother can either use an incantation to isolate her and her egg or she could be placed into an enchanted room that suppresses the amount of Ard available to use thereby keeping the bond from forming. Once the mother lays the egg she passes on the memories of its ancestors to the unhatched demi. At this point in the wild the mother would let the egg mature and hatch naturally. If the mother wished for the egg to bond though, she would use her Ard and that of the unhatched demi to transform the egg into stasis. The Ard transforms the egg into solid metal matching the coloring of the unhatched demi. The stasis state can be used also to lock the egg to only hatch if certain criteria are met, these are set by the mother at the time of the egg going into stasis. It is at this point that the doors would be opened and the mother could return to her bonded. It then becomes the job of the demi-dragon’s bonded to find a suitable mage for the youngling to bond with so that it could then hatch.

I am fine. It should be anytime now. You should know that I can now tell the color this one will be. Dalia shared. She will be a Silver. She could almost feel Alexander holding his breath as the news sunk in.

Are you sure? He asked, more to gain time to think than because he doubted her.

Yes, I am. She smiled at what she could picture his face to be.

Then we must make plans. You must go tonight. As soon as the egg is in stasis and the stasis criteria are set. I will return as soon as I complete the incantation. Then we will find a bonded more suitable than Geoffrey. Oh the years I have wasted on him. I am an old fool! Alexander responded. I should have seen that his mind was weak and easily swayed.

Oh Alexander, do be careful. If they discover the truth behind the incantation they will most assuredly kill you before you can cast it. It will ruin all of their plans. Dalia warned. I will not be there to watch your back.

I know Dalia, but for now they merely think it is a spell that will temporarily block Ard usage within the boundaries I set. They would never think that I mean to change Ard forever. If it works though, it will definitely change the balance of power. Ard will no longer be in the control of one man or woman. It will require two with a bond made between them to cast all but the simplest of incantations. I wonder how long it will take them to figure out about the bond and the requirements of one acting as a conduit and one as a caster. Alexander chuckled to himself. Then, confident that Dalia was doing alright, he returned to his preparations for departure.

Alexander and Geoffrey left later that evening for Grensmar, the capital of Chavira. The trip would take two weeks by carriage and that was only stopping to eat and for calls of nature. They would be changing teams along the way to allow for the rapid pace and sleeping in the carriage.

Dalia was worried, her egg had been laid the day after Alexander had left. She had passed on to the young demi-dragon her memories and those of her ancestors as well as her own thoughts and concerns about the future. After that the egg had gone into stasis and the entire egg hardened solid all the way through. Now she was trying to slip out of the Hatchery with her egg. It was a silver demi-dragon, the rarest and strongest of the race. Alexander had set up a nest in the forest on the edge of the mountains that formed the western border of Chavira. There she could safely stay until he returned and they were able to find a Bonded suitable for her daughter.

After two long and grueling weeks and one good night’s rest, Alexander stood in the casting chamber of the High Mage’s tower. Runes were engraved in the walls of the room to amplify and strengthen any incantations cast while standing in the center of the room.

The floor of the room was covered in tiles made of soft wood. Additional runes specific to the incantation were carved into them to provide focus and strength to incantation. The used tiles could easily be pulled up and replaced with new ones after each incantation. Geoffrey did not pay much attention as Alexander went about painstakingly etching the additional runes around the casting circle. He glanced at the runes Alexander had carved and recognized one or two common ones and several that he could infer the meaning of based on the surrounding runes.

“Geoffrey,” Alexander called out. “I am about to begin. Are you staying in the room or leaving it?”

“I want no part in what you are about to do so I will take my leave.” Geoffrey responded angrily. They had debated the issue the entire two weeks that the trip had taken and neither had yet to convince the other of the rightness or wrongness of their side of the argument. So Geoffrey stepped out of the room in an effort to express his disagreement with the old mage.

Dalia? Are you safe? Alexander reached out through his bond.

Yes Love. I finally made it to the nest. It was difficult to fly and carry the egg, but I am safe. I have secured the storage room and placed an incantation over the entire space securing it from all except those bonded to a silver demi-dragon. The items you requested were summoned as well from the tower and placed into the room.

Good. Shining Moon on Glittering Scales, Alexander called her by her full dragon name, I love you with all my heart. I am about to begin the incantation and I will need your strength my love. I hope we have enough together. I have placed the incantation on the items that I have on me as well, so that in the event that I perish they will be transported to the storage room as well. We cannot let them fall into the wrong hands.

Geoffrey could hear Alexander as he began to chant and decided that he might as well take a nap and settled down on the divan in the antechamber. The muttering in the other room lulled him slowly to sleep.

The next thing he knew he was being thrown from the divan by the shockwave of a blast that came from the adjoining chamber. Recovering from the fog of sleep and the shock of the blast, he discovered the door to the chamber hanging by one hinge and smoke drifting out the doorway. Moving to the doorway he saw Alexander’s body crumpled on the floor, his clothes were scorched and his body battered. He rushed over to the body and knelt down and noticed the old man’s silver eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. He checked for a pulse and there was none.

He chuckled and thought to himself, the old fool killed himself trying to cast too powerful an incantation. Master Irwin will be pleased. He moved over to a mirror and began an Incantation of Sending that would turn the mirror into a portal of sorts that allowed for communication across vast distances.

As he started to cast, he could feel the Ard but could not seem to direct it where it needed to go. Whereas before, the words and concentration on the desired outcome caused the Ard to flow. Now it was there, but would not budge. He was frustratingly close, but was unable to get it to flow.

Glancing down at the remains of the runes on the floor, he attempted to decipher those that were left. As he walked around the runes and made note of their meaning and relation to one another he began to suspect that the old mage had cast an incantation other than the one that was planned. For the runes were not ones that would have been used to block Ard usage. They were runes that when powered by the proper incantation would change the very nature of Ard itself.

“Dragon’s Teeth! What has that fool done?!” he screamed. He began to copy the runes down. He had to get them to Master Irwin back at the Ard Academy. He would know what to do. If only he had not left the room during the incantation he might have stopped the old fool or at least known the incantation so they could reverse it. He cursed his stupidity. He rushed down the stairs and out into the courtyard after making notes about the runes.

As he came out of the tower he felt the Ard shielding the tower flow through him and realized he should have taken the ring that allowed the wearer access to the Tower of the High Mage. He turned around to go back in just as the door clicked shut. He could see the incantations glow dimly, as the barrier blocking unauthorized entrance into the tower reactivated.

Screaming in frustration at letting access to the tower slip through his fingers, he ran for the stables. The Ard Academy was just outside of town and a horse would be much faster than walking. Master Irwin had to be told what had occurred, not that he knew exactly what had happened himself. Hopefully the Master would know what the runes meant and could tell him why his incantations would not work. This was one report he was not looking forward to delivering in person.