Dragonmaster Read Free

sunlight that fell through the window. “I felt his absence the moment I awoke. I looked for him in my seeing bowl and saw him in the forest, already far out of the safety of the Domain. He has gone to Caulda. I must stop him, but the Elders and the Protector will not allow it.”
    “They are right, Catryn. You cannot interfere. Come, sit by me,” he entreated.
    Reluctantly, Catryn stopped her pacing and threw herself down onto the couch beside Dahl. He let his hand rest briefly on her head, smoothing her hair, trying with the gesture to soothe her heart. There was much love between them. An impossible love. Dahl was King of Taun, but Catryn was Seer. Immortal. Not for her the love of a mortal man.
    When Dahl ws a babe, the evil mage Launan had killed Dahl’s parents, the rightful King and Queen of Taun, and placed the newborn Usurper in Dahl’s place. Dahl was hidden by the Elders on a distant world, living in an inn, until he was old enough to return to battle the Usurper for his rightful legacy. The Usurper, guided by Launan, had developed into a cruel king who dominated Taun and ruled with a merciless hand, while Dahl had come into his manhood abused and neglected by the innkeeper, who had not known his true identity.
    Catryn, the kitchen maid, had been the only person who was kind to him. When the Protector had told him it was time to return to Taun, Catryn had refused to let him go alone. Despite the Protector’s anger at her interference, she had clung to him and followed him into his world, and Taun had become her world, too. Without her help, he could not have overcome the Usurper. Her reward had been the gift of magic. It was a gift that she had desired, the whisperings of magic had always been strong within her, but it was double-edged. With it had come immortality—a barrier between Dahl and herself that could not be crossed, no matter how much they loved each other.
    Catryn turned to Dahl now. “Caulda will kill him, Dahl. Every fibre of my being wants to follow him. To protect him.”
    “That would be wrong,” Dahl answered, “and you know it. Else you would have gone already, even without the permission of the Elders and the Protector. You have never been one to obey where you felt you need not,” he added with a small smile. The smile faded as he went on. “Norl is a child no longer, Catryn. It is up to him to find his own fate.”
    “But I have failed him,” Catryn cried. “I know there is magic within him, but I could not find the way to bring it out.”
    “Perhaps it is up to Norl to find the way himself,” Dahl said. “You must leave him alone, Catryn.”
    Catryn dropped her head, allowed it to rest briefly on Dahl’s shoulder. “Am I always to lose those whom I love?” she whispered.
    “You have not lost me. I am here. I will always be here for you,” Dahl answered, but his eyes were troubled.
    Norl dozed fitfully. With the first light of dawn he was wide awake again and now he was hungry. He ate some of the cheese and bread, took a few swallows of the strong ale and then shouldered his sack and left the shelter. The rain had stopped, the woods were bright with sunlight and birds filled the air with their song. Norl found himself enjoying the dark, rich smell of the earth underfoot and the windsighing in the tree branches above. Small animals darted out of his way and squirrels chittered at him indignantly. In the Domain of the Elders, where summer ruled everlastingly, flowers bloomed and the river ran smooth and pure, but the flowers gave forth no scent and no birds sang. No bitter winds blew, no icy rain fell. Here, in Taun itself, the world was imperfect. It was cold and often dangerous, but it was alive, full of life. Perhaps this was where he belonged after all. With ordinary people. Away from magic.
    But hard upon that thought came another.
    It will not be for long.
    He began to walk. By late afternoon he had reached a village and he paused to take stock. A house on the edge