The Draykon Series (1-3)

Orlind: Chapter Two

Trapped somewhere under the weight of her dreams, Llandry Sanfaer was unable to wake. Her conscious mind had been thoroughly subdued and her dream-self refused to release it.

This fact did not trouble Llandry overmuch. In fact, she had never felt less troubled in her life. It seemed to her that she occupied a perfect world, her dreams so full of tranquil colour that she never wished to leave. Her mamma was there, healed and well and restored to her usual beloved self. Papa was with her as well, and Sigwide of course. Their house had become an island, floating high over the glittering glissenwol forests of her home, the realm of Glinnery. Up there the weather was always beautiful and the air sweet, and no hint of trouble could reach them.

Some small part of her knew that her mind lied. She felt the perilous weight of care and trouble and harm that hung poised over her life, felt it as a distant shadow that threatened her perfect happiness. All her strength of will was gone, drained away while she lay insensate day after day. There was only the weak and frightened part of her soul, and that part of her only fled harder from the threat of disaster.

And so she floated quietly along in her beautiful dream and time wandered past. She felt that she had a guardian, some silent but immoveable presence that watched over her idyllic existence and kept all dangers far from her. This presence had never said a word, and she had never seen the particular form that it took; but she knew that it - he - was always there.

Only one day the presence developed a voice. It whispered her name, over and over again until she wanted to scream. The voice grew steadily louder and more insistent, shattering her peace. Then her guardian began to pull at her, tugging with invisible hands, bruising her skin in his eagerness to tear her away from her parents. She felt he would cast her over the edge of her island paradise and she would fall so many miles to the ground. There, of course, she would die. Hurt and bewildered and frightened by her guardian's betrayal, she fought.

But he was much stronger than she. She had known it all along: therein lay the reason for her profound feeling of safety. As long as her guardian watched over her, all would be well. But when his strength and power were turned against her, she could not long resist. She tried to cling to the soft summer sun that shone on her little island, the clear skies and gentle breeze, her smiling parents and Sigwide asleep in her lap. She screamed her fury as she was dragged inexorably backwards, away from the parents who continued to smile, oblivious, as she was brought to the edge of the precipice and then cast, still screaming, over the side.

She fell, a long, long way. Her precious island receded rapidly until it dwindled to a mere speck in the endless skies. She continued to fall for so long she began to wonder if she would do so forever; perhaps there was no ground in this strange place. And so the impact, when it finally came, took her by surprise.

Agony flared, for a brief, searing instant, and then all awareness faded.

When she opened her eyes once more, she had the sensation that eternity had passed. Relief flooded her at finding herself alive; but that feeling faded when she realised that her perfect world was gone. No soft sunshine met her frightened gaze. The warmth and fragrance of summer was absent. Worse, no Mamma waited to greet her.

Instead, she was in a small, unfamiliar room. She lay in bed, virtually smothered under the weight of several heavy blankets. Armchairs and bookcases and cupboards met her wandering gaze: all mundane, and frighteningly alien. This was not her island, nor was it her home.

Growing frightened, she tried to sit up, but she was swaddled so tightly in her blankets that she could barely move. She tried to speak, but nothing emerged from her raw throat save a faint, and to her ears pathetic, whimper.