The Draykon Series (1-3)

Lokant: Chapter Eleven

'It's good to have you home, love,' said Ynara later, over cups of Llandry's favourite white alberry and freyshur tea. Sigwide lay curled contentedly in Llandry's lap, having exhausted himself with ecstatic greetings as she arrived. 'I visited your home while you were away,' continued Ynara. 'It's clean and waiting for you.' Her eyes flicked to Pensould, and Llandry read her thoughts clearly enough. Would Llandry's strange new friend be moving in there with her?

Llandry winced inwardly, because her news was worse than that. 'We aren't staying, Ma. At least not yet. See, Pensould believes there are more draykons to be discovered. There are certainly more bones, and if we could find and reconstruct them we could wake up more like him. Like us, I mean. And...' she took a deep breath, for this was the part that truly inspired her. 'He says there may be more like me.'

Ynara took a long breath too; Llandry knew she was trying to control her instinct to object to anything that took Llandry away. 'Like you in what way exactly?' was all that she said.

'Draykons who were born human. I can't be the only one.'

Pensould nodded firmly. 'I can tell, and I will teach you to recognise the draykon energy as well.'

Llandry looked back at her mother, knowing that her eyes were shining with delight at the idea. 'Don't you see, Ma? This has changed my life. If there are others, they have to know what they are.'

'I can see that it has changed you,' Ynara said thoughtfully. She sighed, and for a moment her face was so sad that Llandry's resolve wavered. But she hid the expression behind a smile. 'How do you plan to proceed, love? It's a big world.'

'Pensould says he sensed a draykon grave not long after he woke, so we're going to start at his old resting place. The place where I changed. He'll teach me to seek them out even on the wing. Between us I'm sure we'll find it fast enough.'

'Then what? How did you wake, Pensould?'

Pensould's thick brows knit together. 'Regenerative ability is something all draykons possess. We need the help of a fellow to rebuild body structure, and then a stimulus, and above all a reason to wake.'

'A reason?'

Pensould nodded emphatically. 'Draykons are long-lived and slow to fade, hence we may be re-awakened if we choose. But many do not choose to be drawn out of slumber.'

Llandry frowned as well. 'Why wouldn't you? Nobody wants to die.'

Pensould lifted a brow at her. 'No? If you think about it you will see that this is not true. Imagine that you have been alive for many, many long years and you are very weary. Would you not choose to rest at last?'

The thought made her obscurely sad, but she could see the sense of it. 'Is that what happened with you?'

'Yes. That was a very long time ago, I think. I find that nothing is the same now that I am awake again.'

'Then why did you choose to return?'

Pensould thought for a moment. 'The agent of my recovery was quite insistent. I was drawn halfway out of slumber by sheer irritation.' Llandry remembered the way he had lashed out against the summoner who had awoken him. The white-haired awakener had escaped the punishment, but only because her husband had taken the blow instead. He had not survived Pensould's wrath.

'But that's not all. I could have returned to sleep, but I did not. That is because I sensed you near to me.' Pensould beamed at her, and Llandry's cheeks warmed.

'Oh...'

Ynara cleared her throat. 'When are you two planning to leave?'

'Soon, Ma. I'm sorry. But we'll come back when we can.'