The Draykon Series (1-3)

Lokant: Chapter Two

Eva winced inwardly. Now came the most difficult part of this conversation.

'It's hard to know how to explain this to you when I barely understand it myself,' Eva began. 'But I think you may have seen Llandry more recently than I have.' She recounted the finale to her tale. She and Tren had been in the night-shrouded Lower Realm, but when Eva had been in physical contact with the waking draykon, she'd seen straight through the fabric of the worlds: into the Middle realms where most of humankind lived, and further, all the way into the sun-drenched Uppers. She'd realised that the separations between those realms were far flimsier than was readily supposed. She'd seen Llandry Sanfaer kneeling in the moss of the Upper Realm, sunlight glinting off her deep black hair.

Moments later, Llandry had been pulled bodily through the layers into the Lower Realms. The experience had obviously been painful for her: watching Ynara's quiet daughter screaming in pain had been deeply distressing.

Then she had changed. Her small, winged human body had stretched, expanded and ultimately transformed; when the process was complete, a second, smaller draykon had joined the first. Eva had only been able to watch as they flew into the skies and then, abruptly, vanished.

Silence fell as Eva finished her story. Ynara appeared to be unable to speak at all. At last she managed, 'How is that possible?'

'I don't know,' Eva said honestly.

'Was she - was she changed by those two...?'

'No. It was certainly no part of their plan. If Ana had been able to effect such a transformation, she would have turned herself into a draykon. Her plan was actually to dominate it, to make it her companion. She, and her husband Griel, were obviously as astonished as we were. Personally I do not believe it was effected from outside at all. It had more to do with Llandry herself.'

'You think she did that to herself?'

'Not exactly. Not consciously anyway. I think it was inherent within her and brought forward because of her proximity to the other draykon. Otherwise why was she alone metamorphosed? Why not me? Why not Ana?'

Ynara nodded, more out of habit than real understanding as her face revealed a profound confusion. 'Her proximity? But she was in the Uppers, wasn't she? That is a completely different world.'

'I don't think that it is. Our three "worlds" are much closer to each other than we ever realised. They're virtually sharing the same space. I think she felt the draykon waking from the Uppers, and she was drawn to it. And she herself may have inadvertently aided the process by her presence.' Eva shrugged. 'Without speaking to Llandry herself, though, I can't be sure about any of this.'

'Several days ago Aysun and I heard a terrific cry from somewhere overhead,' Ynara said slowly. 'It was like nothing I'd heard before. We ran outside, but there was nothing to be seen. Except for Dev, lying injured outside my house.'

'Dev?'

'I mentioned him to you before, though not by name. He is an old friend of mine. Llandry went with him to Nimdre, though without his knowledge. He says they were attacked, and he was wounded trying to defend Llandry. Since he arrived - or I should say, appeared - he has been raving about beasts the size of houses and being carried here by one of them. I thought he was delirious. But I cannot disbelieve you.' Ynara sighed, her head drooping with tiredness. 'So Llan found Devary and brought him here. Then - what? She vanished again.'

'I don't believe anybody knows where Llandry is now. I'm sorry. I wish I had more information to give you on that point.'

Ynara gripped her hand. 'Don't apologise. You can't know how much I appreciate your coming here to tell me these things. Though I don't deny they are hard to hear. How can I even begin to believe that my daughter is not - not human?'