Black Dragon of Amber Book Two: The Road to Amber

  “Why?” He was dressing faster than I could blink.

  “Because I promised them a Realm of their own and I need the Princess to help me create it. She is the Lost Star of the riddle and without her, I cannot fulfill my vow to the Dragon Horde. You want 10,000 ravenous dragons loose in the Golden Circle?”

  “I see your point. Can one of us come by Trump?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “Where we go will never have a Trump, will never see the footfall of men. I promised them this, they have been waiting patiently. I could have Moon Dancer bring you from Khafra but once there, I could not carry you both back and the Trumps will not work. It will be too far from the Pattern, even farther than the Court’s influence.”

  “I understand. Raven, be careful,” he sounded suspiciously tremulous.

  “I plan to, Grandfather,” I whispered and changed to my Dragon form. Once again I wore my blue eye and Linz climbed on my back. I leaped from Castle Amber, turned to face Kolvir and flew up towards the top of her peak. Inside the great mountain that was Kolvir lay the Primal Pattern and with it in mind, I willed myself to Khafra. We flew out into green skies over the palace of the King.

  I could see the great Dragons flying above me, swooping, diving and patrolling the land. Many were over the harbor and fishing, pulling up the giant eels that gave shipping so much trouble. It was like watching birds pulling worms out of the soil.

  I started to sing and my song called them all. Swirling above and around me in a swarm like a shoal of fish, they sang with me in delight that I was fulfilling my promise. As one mass, we rose and banked heading out to the ocean. I sang goodbyes to the people of Topaz and we heard them weeping for they had seen legends come to life and now, must bid them farewell.

  I led them over golden kissed seas and Lyndseye’s voice joined mine, singing of the land beyond the waves where the mountains were covered with Douglas firs and ponderosa pines. Where the skies were blood red and the sun’s aurora borealis made ethereal Dragons dance in the heavens. Where the lands were teaming with wildlife and had never known the footsteps of man.

  We flew for days, for centuries, across a hundred thousand light years of time until we approached the golden ball of the Realm that had no name. I could not enter for if I approached this heaven in my dragon form, I would never want to leave. Only one dragon looked back and that was Moon Dancer.

  Live well, Great Dragon, Blackbird, he said. You have honored your promise and know---that between your clan and mine, there will always be a bridge. Should you lie at death’s door and need me, call my name and I will come to your aid.

  Live and be happy, Light That Dances Across the Night Sky Before the Dark of the Moon, I returned.

  I turned around, the Princess and I made the journey homeward but not before we blighted the uninhabited worlds around Dragon Lair so that no one could every return to their new home. Linz and I return to ours, slipping silently into the castle where we sat on the roof and watched the sunrise over Amber.

  The End.