DRAGONTIARNA: KNIGHTS – Two Short Excerpts

Work on DRAGONTIARNA: KNIGHTS is going well, so we have two short excerpts from the book today.

In first, Ridmark Arban’s two-year-old daughter is learning how to speak.

In the second excerpt, (which takes place about twenty years before the first) Aeliana Carhaine speaks to her father.

EXCERPT ONE:

He led the way into the castra’s courtyard, Kharlacht and Caius following him. Vegetius and three men-at-arms waited near the gate to the forum, holding horses ready. Ridmark started towards them, intending to have Vegetius get two more horses for Caius and Kharlacht.

“Papa!”

Startled, Ridmark turned and saw Rhoanna running towards him, a smile on her face. For someone who had only learned to walk not all that long ago and still tended to waddle, she could move fast when she set her mind to it. Her nurse Lucilla, a stout woman towards the later end of middle age, jogged after her, puffing and wheezing a little bit.

Ridmark picked up Rhoanna, and she laughed in delight.

“I’m sorry, my lord, I’m sorry,” said Lucilla, coming to a stop, still wheezing. Lucilla had raised three daughters of her own, all of them now married, but evidently, none of them had liked to run quite as much as Rhoanna. “She was so restless and crabby, so I took her out to the courtyard for a walk. She seemed to like that and was watching all the folk go out to the market. Then she saw you, and…”

“It’s all right,” said Ridmark. The poor woman all but wilted with relief. Ridmark’s fearsome reputation sometimes meant people were more frightened of him than necessary. “No harm done. But let’s not mention this to her mother, hmm?”

“Thank you, my lord,” said Lucilla, getting her breath back.

“Well, young lady,” said Caius, his voice grave. “It seems you like to run quite fast.”

Rhoanna gazed at him. “Friar!” She looked around, as if expecting Joachim to spell out the word, and then pouted in disappointment when he failed to appear.

“Bishop, actually,” said Kharlacht.

Rhoanna tilted back her head to look at him. “Orc!”

Kharlacht snorted in amusement. “I’d noticed, yes.”

“I can take her, my lord, if you have business,” said Lucilla.

“I do,” said Ridmark. Hesitation gripped him. He did have business, but he wasn’t looking forward to any of it. The temptation to simply ignore everything and spend the day with his wife and children surged through him. But, as Calliande had just told him, duties never ended. “Thank you. We…”

“Dragon,” said Rhoanna, pointing at the keep.

“Dragon?” said Ridmark, looking at the sky as she shifted Rhoanna to one arm, his other hand reaching for Oathshield’s hilt. He remembered the Confessor’s mighty golden dragon soaring over the army of Owyllain, breathing its terrible fire, hundreds of men screaming as their flesh ignited like kindling. God and the saints, the smell had been hideous…

The sky was empty of everything except clouds.

At once, Ridmark felt ridiculous. He was jumping out of his skin at the word of a two-year-old girl who tended to babble words at random without regard to their meaning. Nevertheless, he still took a quick scan of the sky and the town.

Nothing seemed amiss. There was no sign of anything wrong, let alone any dragons.

EXCERPT TWO:

“Take her outside, Sir Paul,” said Tarrabus. “Her presence offends me.”

Sir Paul dragged her mother out of the room, ignoring the woman’s wails. Aeliana stood where she was, uncertain of what to do, but disgusted with her mother’s pleading. Tarrabus remained where he was, his eyes distant, his expression lost in thought.

“My lord,” said the dark-haired knight. “What should we do with the child?”

“Hmm?” said Tarrabus. “Ah, yes, of course.” His cold eyes fixed on Aeliana, and he smiled. “Well, girl, what’s your name?”

“Aeliana,” she said, and then added, “my lord.”

Tarrabus snorted. “Brighter than her mother, isn’t she, Sir Claudius?” Sir Claudius grunted. “But what shall we do with you, Aeliana?”

Aeliana thought it over. She was frightened and awed by the man in the chair, and she didn’t want to show any fear to him.

“You should kill me,” said Aeliana.

Sir Claudius looked taken aback, perhaps even disturbed.

“Should I?” said Tarrabus. “Just why is that?”

“Because if you hurt me and leave me alive,” said Aeliana, glowering at her father, “then someday I will have revenge and kill you.”

Sir Claudius looked even more disturbed, and his hand moved to his sword hilt.

But Tarrabus threw back his head and roared with laughter, and Aeliana felt a flush of pride. Suddenly she realized that she craved this man’s approval, more than she had ever desired the approval of her weak and simpering mother.

“You are a fierce little thing, aren’t you?” said Tarrabus. “I might have a use for you after all. Great days are coming, and I need helpers.” He smiled. “You want to please me, don’t you, Aeliana?”

“Yes, my lord,” said Aeliana.

“Perhaps you have more of me in you than your mother,” said Tarrabus. “I hope so, for your sake. The world is most unforgiving of weakness.”

“Begging your pardon, my lord,” said Sir Claudius, “but what are you going to do with her?”

“I’ve needed closer ties with the Red Family of Cintarra for quite some time now,” said Tarrabus. “What better way than by providing the Matriarch with a new disciple? Perhaps I have found a perfect candidate for the training of the Red Family.”

Sir Claudius grunted. “Ah. She might not be so fierce in front of the Matriarch.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” said Tarrabus.

-JM