Orbs of Wisdom: An epic fantasy novel (Dragon Gate Book 6), page 1
ORBS OF WISDOM
DRAGON GATE, BOOK 6
LINDSAY BUROKER
Copyright © 2022 by Lindsay Buroker
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
Afterword
FOREWORD
The final book in the series is here!
Please let me thank all those who helped along the way: Shelley Holloway, my editor. Sarah Engelke and Cindy Wilkinson, my beta readers. Jeff Brown, my cover illustrator. Vivienne Leheny, my audiobook narrator. And finally, Willow and Cutter, the dog supervisors and support staff.
Thank you, dear reader, for following along with the books. This is a big one. I hope you enjoy it!
1
Shikari flew from the top of a fountain to the crown of a statue to the roof of an abandoned market stall, pausing to perch there and peer curiously around the sky city. More than a few mages and servants gaped at his passing, and alarmed squawks and gasps preceded Jakstor Freedar and Lord Malek as they strode through Utharika with the dragonling, heading for a part of the city that Jak hadn’t seen before.
A crafter carrying an armload of weapons spotted Shikari, yelled, and ran into a building. On a whisper of magic, the door slammed shut behind the man.
Among a population of mages, one might have expected bravery and composure in the face of such a young dragon—after all, when Shikari stood on all fours, his head wasn’t much higher than Jak’s—but the citizens didn’t want anything to do with him.
Given that it had only been a day since brown-and-gray mottled adult dragons had attempted to tear down the barrier and knock Utharika from its floating position a thousand feet above the ground, that was perhaps understandable. Still, blue-scaled Shikari was friendly and curious, and anyone with a hint of perception should have been able to see that.
A thwack came from behind Jak, followed by a clatter as a post broke and ceramic pots clunked onto the street. A terrene woman wearing a mageband screamed and ran into an alley.
Jak looked in time to see Shikari spring away from the crushed stall and broken pottery. He looked sheepishly at it.
I did not realize the roofs of human dwellings were so frail, Shikari spoke telepathically into Jak’s mind.
I didn’t realize you’d gotten so heavy, and that’s a vendor’s stall, not a dwelling. I don’t think the building codes for them are as strict. Jak eyed Malek, afraid he would call the dragonling a menace, though he’d barely seemed to notice. As a zidarr, supreme mage and warrior, Malek was usually the epitome of focus and alertness, but his eyes had been haunted and distracted since Mother had revealed that she and King Uthari were afflicted with the same parasite that had turned most of the dragons into aggressive, unbalanced monsters. Can you fix it with your magic, Shikari?
The last thing Jak wanted was to cause a terrene human difficulty in making ends meet. As if invading dragons weren’t bad enough, that woman—the artisan who’d crafted the pots?—already took a great risk selling her wares in a city of mages.
Certainly.
Shikari straightened, his wings spreading wide and his tail thrusting out behind him. His yellow reptilian eyes closed to slits as he regarded the mangled stall and shattered pottery. Jak sensed magical power emanating from the dragonling as broken ceramic and shards of wood lifted into the air.
The pieces of wood fitted themselves back together, re-forming the stall, with Shikari using magic to reinforce the posts and roof so it wouldn’t collapse again under the weight of future dragon visitors. He melted the ceramic in order to re-form it, but instead of recreating the original pots, dragon-shaped pitchers and drinkware, with curving tails creating handles, soon occupied the shelves.
With his handiwork complete, Shikari strutted toward Malek and Jak, his head held high.
“Uhm,” Jak said. “I don’t think those are going to sell right now. Half the kingdom is on fire, thanks to dragon attacks.”
Once we rid my kind of the parasite, dragons will help humans as they did long ago.
“At which point, it will be trendy to have dragon-shaped earthenware?” Jak asked.
Certainly.
“We’re almost to the street the Rivlen family lives on,” Malek said, continuing on. “We would have been there already if someone hadn’t scared away the magecart driver.”
“All Shikari did was hop on,” Jak said. “He didn’t roar or menace anyone.”
“After he hopped on, he started chewing on the upholstery and the driver’s clothing.”
“Well, if you’re going to wear something with beads dangling on fringes, you can’t be surprised if animals and curious dragons are attracted. I bet people’s house cats swat at those beads all the time.”
“Your dragon is slightly larger and more intimidating than a house cat.”
Shikari lifted his head even higher. It had taken his roar weeks to develop from a squeak to something substantial, so he had to be pleased to be called intimidating.
“We won’t be able to stay long,” Malek said, turning at a corner and walking under an ostentatious archway with towers to each side, the architectural details gilded. Even the cobblestones of the wide boulevard appeared gilded. They glinted in the morning sun. “The portal has been loaded onto the gateship, and as soon as our supplies are on board as well, Uthari wants us to leave.”
“Trust me, I’m eager to leave and find a way to fix Mother.” Jak didn’t mention Uthari, though he supposed he should hope for the king to be healed before he turned into more of an aggressive monster than he already was. It was possible the symptoms of the parasite would present differently in humans than dragons, but Jak couldn’t imagine any infestation would improve Uthari’s personality.
“Yes. Had the engineer not ordered parts that weren’t available in the city, we could already be flying south.” Malek gazed off in that direction.
“I wish we could check on Captain Rivlen before going through the portal, but the Glacier Islands aren’t remotely on the way to Zewnath.” As a cartography student, Jak well knew that they—and the huge dragon-steel fortress the dragons had reputedly built—were fifteen hundred miles south of their destination in the Zewnath jungle.
Malek slanted him a long look. “Neither she nor any of her fleet have been heard from since her brief report, in which she informed Uthari’s servant of the existence of the floating fortress. I don’t know what you’re planning on telling her parents, but it is possible that she and the other officers on those ships are dead.”
“She’s alive. I’m planning to tell her father that she’s an amazing officer, a powerful mage, and an honor to her family. Someone needs to say those things to him.” Jak admitted that a nineteen-year-old wild one, who’d only been a mage for a couple of months and who Uthari would prefer to be dead, might not be the best person to convince the senior Rivlen that his daughter was a boon to the family. But she’d been haunted by a lifetime of her father not believing her good enough. Jak didn’t know if he could change that, or make a difference in the way her father interacted with her, but since he was here in Utharika, he felt compelled to try.
Malek was polite enough not to point out that it was none of Jak’s business, but it had to have crossed his mind.
Would Rivlen’s father let Jak in to talk to him? He ought to be willing to invite in Uthari’s right-hand man, Lord Malek. That was the main reason Jak had asked Malek to come along. That and because he’d worried random mages in the street might try to flay him and Shikari if they didn’t have someone known and respected to vouch for them.
“This is it.” Malek stopped on the right side of the street in front of gilded doors that towered more than fifteen feet high in the middle of an equally tall stone wall. He rested his hand on a dome embedded in the framework. It glowed, buzzing a soft query. “Lord Malek and Jak Freedar to see Admiral Dayum and Meyari Rivlen.”
Jak blushed, embarrassed that Malek knew the names of Rivlen’s parents—or had thought to look them up—and he hadn’t. Admittedly, this was Malek’s city and Malek’s world. Jak was a guest. Technically, he was still a prisoner.
The doors swung open, and Shikari bounded ahead of them into a courtyard with a three-story fountain looming in the middle, encircled by a pool the size of some ponds back in Sprungtown. Large orange-and-white fish flitted around in the water. Koi. The pond on the university campus held a school of them.
Not surprisingly, they caught Shikari’s attention. He galloped across the flagstones and leaped into the pool as the front door of the house opened.
A stern-faced man with a trimmed gray beard and mustache scowled out at him. A buxom dark-haired woman at his side let out a startled shriek before he frowned at her, and she fell silent, though she did lift a hand to her mouth as she stared at the dragonling wading around in her fountain.
“There’s no need for histrionics, Meyari,” the man said. Was he Rivlen’s father? “It is but a young dragon, and I am certain Lord Malek has it under control.”
He would be less certain of that if he’d seen the incident with the vending stall.
As Malek strode forward, the man bowed toward him, and his wife pressed her hands together in front of her chest and bobbed her head.
“Lord Malek,” she said. “You honor us with your presence in our home.”
“Enough, Meyari,” the man said. “This will be a discussion between powerful men.” He tilted his head back toward the marble foyer visible in the shade behind them.
“Powerful men?” Jak mouthed.
Would that include him? He was the reason Malek had come.
Meyari hesitated, then bowed her head again and backed away, though Jak sensed her taking up a position behind a column in the foyer instead of disappearing into the house.
“How may I serve you and the king?” the man asked Malek, not glancing at Jak or acknowledging his existence in any way.
Already, Jak had no trouble imagining him neglecting his daughter. He peered back toward Meyari, worried she was treated just as badly. He sensed that she had power but not nearly as much as her husband, whose aura nearly rivaled Malek’s.
“Admiral Dayum Rivlen.” Malek inclined his head.
Dayum must have been retired, else he would have been preparing to leave with the fleet.
“I am not here to request your service,” Malek continued, “though it’s possible it will be needed if dragons return.”
“I assisted with the defense of the city yesterday.” Dayum glanced at Shikari, who was mucking around in the water and had already eaten two of the koi. Dayum was probably wondering if he needed to defend his fountain as well.
“Excellent. I accompanied young Jak, who requested to visit your home. He wishes a few words with you before we leave the city.” Malek extended a hand toward him.
Was that all the introduction Jak would get? Nothing about what a talented student and eager pupil he was or how he was distinguishing himself as a mage and a human being and would be a fine suitor for Dayum’s daughter?
Jak hadn’t intended to mention his relationship with Rivlen and told himself the introduction was fine. Malek had gotten him through the door. The rest was up to him.
Jak removed his hat and bowed to the man. “Admiral Rivlen, I’m Jak Freedar, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with your daughter of late.”
Dayum scowled at him. Jak didn’t know if he’d already managed to offend the man with his words, or if being so young and presuming to speak to a retired admiral was offensive in and of itself.
“Ask them if she’s all right,” came a soft call from the column.
Dayum turned his scowl over his shoulder toward his wife, but whatever response he gave was telepathic.
“What do you want?” he asked Jak aloud.
“Just to let you know that your daughter is an amazing officer. She’s extremely brave in battle, leading her people from the front, and she smites her enemies with her powerful magic. It’s all very impressive. You should be proud of her.”
Dayum’s scowl only deepened. “What are you, some infatuated servant?” He didn’t scowl at Malek, but he did look to Malek in confusion. For an explanation?
“No, Admiral. I’m a cartographer.” Until he earned his degree, Jak was a cartography student, but there was no need for extreme precision. “I’ve also studied dragons. King Uthari, uhm, picked me up to help the fleet in what has become a trying time.”
Jak dared not lie with Malek standing next to them, but Uthari’s people—specifically Malek—had picked him up. Admittedly, Uthari had been more interested in his mother than in Jak, but…
“Jak is an academic advisor,” Malek said when Dayum looked to him again.
Jak had to wrestle down the urge to hug Malek and thank him for not saying, Jak is our prisoner. One didn’t hug zidarr in public.
“He doesn’t look old enough to advise anyone on anything.”
“I’m older than I look.” Jak put his hat on and stood straight. “And I know that your daughter cares about your opinion and wants you to be proud of her.” He hoped Rivlen wouldn’t hear about this and consider it meddling instead of an earnest attempt to help her. “And you should be. If you’d seen her in battle, fighting dragons from the forecastle of her ship, you would know how heroic she is.”
“Uh huh,” was all Dayum said. “You’re not going to ask me for permission to marry her, are you? Whose family did you say you’re from?”
“No, my lord. Er, Admiral. My lord Admiral.”
The man sighed.
“I merely wanted to let you know that she’s a good mage and officer, and I’m sure that with her help, we’ll be able to rid Torvil of the dragon threat.”
Is she alive? Meyari asked into Jak’s mind.
He hesitated. I haven’t heard from her recently, but I believe in my heart that she is. She’s a very capable mage and warrior.
Worry emanated from Meyari, and he feared his answer hadn’t been as comforting as he’d wished.
Splashes came from the fountain behind Jak, and something splatted down on the flagstones.
There is much food here, Shikari informed him. Take this opportunity to gorge yourself.
When Dayum’s scowl deepened, Jak wasn’t surprised to glance back and find a koi flopping on the flagstones. He picked up his gift from Shikari and ran it back to the fountain.
Those are pets, Shikari. Please stop eating them.
Shikari lifted his head, another koi sticking out of his maw, its tail flapping wildly. Pet food?
No, just pets.
“Boy, you will rid my fountain of that oversized reptile,” Dayum said. “What is he doing to my fish?”
Dayum lifted his arm, and Shikari floated out of the fountain.
“He’s a growing dragon and gets hungry.” Jak stepped in front of his charge, hoping to keep Dayum from using more magic—and Shikari from retaliating. He rested a hand on the dragonling’s head, also hoping to keep him from jumping back in the water. The koi in Shikari’s mouth disappeared as he swallowed.
“Dayum,” came his wife’s plaintive call. “Please ask Lord Malek for details.”
Jak’s answer must not have been enough for her.
The admiral sighed again and looked at Malek, though he kept sending dark glances at Shikari. “We’ve heard about the fortress and that part of the fleet is missing, including our daughter’s ship. Are there any updates?”
“Not at this time,” Malek said. “The rest of the fleet is heading south to deal with the threat.”
Shikari stepped closer to the fountain, a longing look in his eyes, and Jak shifted to block him. “We’ll get you something from a market on the way back to the ship,” he whispered.
“I see,” Dayum replied to Malek. “We will look forward to updates.”
