This is a story aimed at young teens, in which Walter Raleigh went in search of El Dorado and found .... dragon eggs. It takes place in an alternate Merrie England, and opens in 1599 when eleven year old Bess Marlowe is encouraged by her guardian, Master Will Shakespeare, to see if she will be accepted into the School of Wyrm Lore and Draxterelry.
Naturally, England's enemy, Spain, is not happy that England might have a strategic advantage, and Bess and her friends must face danger as well as learning how to be Draxtereleers.
This is a work in progress and I'm posting it to make myself get my finger out to complete it.
Chapter 1
The large,
red-brick country house was just a few hundred paces from the gatehouse where
the hopeful candidates were gathering. All they had to do to take up a place at
the school was to walk up the drive.
The huge,
lavender-coloured dragon blocking their way was the only obstacle. Bess knew, because Master Shakespeare had
told her, that the lavender dragons were Lorewyrms, reckoned the cleverest of
all dragons.
“How can they
expect us to go past a dragon before
we’re trained to deal with them?” demanded a big, heavy-set boy. He was plainly a prosperous merchant’s son,
with good woollen broadcloth clothing, and embroidered bands.
“It’s not
fair. I’m not staying. I never thought
it would be like this,” the aristocratic girl in a brocade farthingale whined.
She was not
the only one to think that way; quite half the hopeful candidates for the School of Wyrm Lore and Draxterelry retreated,
though one boy was driven back by his father, who had brought him himself in
his heavy covered travelling waggon.
Bess
sighed. She had not intended to stand
out, or make a spectacle of herself; being the illegitimate daughter of a
playwright who had died in dubious circumstances was not something that made
one seek public notice, but if none of the other idiots were going to manage to
do it, one of them must show the way.
She turned to
the boy who had been shooed back by his father, an expensive looking youth, and
smiled; and smiled too at the tatterdemalian girl with bare feet. The faces of
both were expressive and intelligent; their background did not matter.
“Come with
me,” she said, holding out her hands.
“Yes, look
you, I will, right willingly,” the ragged girl took her hand. Several of the better dressed youngsters shuddered,
and one of the rich-looking girls shrieked.
“Be careful,
you might get plague from the Welsh doxy!”
“Doxy? She’s a little girl like us, thou, rudesby,”
said Bess, deliberately using the familiar form of speech. “And art too busy shrieking for me to wish to
ask you.” Master Will Shakespeare, her
patron, had warned her that in the school there would be no favour for the
wealthy, for the favour of the dragons counted more than material wealth, or
she might not have dared.
“Why do you
ask me?” the boy asked her haughtily, looking down his nose.
“Because
though your courage is hiding, you look to be a companion worth having, if you
will accept aid to find it,” said Bess.
Long moments
he hesitated, and Bess wondered if he would prove too proud to accept the hand
of friendship from someone of lower estate than himself. He wavered, but put his hand forward.
Together, with
Bess leading, they started up the drive.
“Is… is this
what we are supposed to do?” asked the boy.
“It’s the only
way to get to the school, and someone has to show the way,” said Bess. “A lorewyrm is hardly going to be there to
eat the candidates, but to test them.”
“I did not
like to be presumptuous,” said the Welsh girl.
“We have always honoured dragons in Wales. I may not look much, but my family claims
descent from Uther Pendragon. On the
wrong side of the blanket. My name is
Tangwystl Goch.”
“I’m born on
the wrong side of the blanket myself,” said Bess. “I’m Bess Marlowe. Our other friend, I fancy, is more regular in
his ancestors.”
“My father is
Lord Edward de Bercy,” said the boy, “and I’m his second son, Diccon, and he
wants me to be a Ruby Knight; but I am not of martial turn. I … if I was lucky enough to bond, I would
rather bond with a lorewyrm,” he added in a rush.
“We should
concentrate on our lessons first, I fancy,” said Bess. “Greetings, great one. We wish to go to the school,” she said as
they approached the big amethyst dragon. She dropped a deep curtsey. Tangwystl copied her, though not as
elegantly, and Diccon bowed.
The deep
violet eyes regarded them, thoughtfully, and for the first time they
experienced the heavy, pressing feeling of dragon thoughts in their heads.
“
Greetings, young ones. You are here to study dragons, and to hope to
be matched with one as you mature.
You have at least shown some
courage, as all Draxelteers require, which is especially sought by Ruby
dragons, the Warwyrms. Amethyst dragons seek wisdom; black Diamond dragons, or Spellwyrms seek intellect
and talent. The Beryl dragons,
the Speedwyrms wish for those who can take quick decisions. Topaz dragon, falsely called Common Wyrms
seek those who nurture. It is my task to observe you, that you are placed in
the correct House in the school to study towards your aims. It is not fixed nor
unchanging,” she – they could feel she was a she – reassured them.
“Will we be barred from learning magic if we choose any but the
Diamond House?” asked Bess.
A huffing
noise issued from the nose of the Amethyst Wyrm. Bess realised it was laughter.
“All will be taught magic,” said the
Wyrm. “How well you take to it determines much. You thirst for knowledge, as does
Diccon. The way of the LoreWyrm is
hardest, for you must understand all the ways.”
“I am not
afraid of hard work,” said Bess.
“If that is
the way, so be it,” said Tangwystl.
“I want to
learn, more than anything else,” said Diccon.
“Then you will be placed in a House
appropriately. Pass, scholars,” and the mind voice was withdrawn, and the
massive head lifted from the path for them to pass underneath it.
“That was … amazing,” said Diccon.
“Incredible,”
agreed Bess.
“All I had
imagined and more,” breathed Tangwstyl.
“Which house do you suppose we shall be in? I hope we are together.”
“I … I had the
feeling that our own choices might count for something,” said Bess. “We did all secretly hope for Amethyst, did
we not?”
“I certainly
did,” said Diccon.
“And I,” said
Tangwystl.
They came to
the door of the school, and Bess looked at the other two, shrugged, and turned
the handle. It opened silently, and the
three almost fell over in shock when a noise of cheering broke out.
The older
youths of previous years were sat at long tables; five tables, and on the dais,
adults, presumably the professors who would teach them. With a shock, Bess realised that they all,
men and women alike, wore galligaskins, much decorated and many of them in soft
leather. Over them they wore mannish doublets and jerkins, some of the men
bowing to fashion with the peasecod shape, some plainer. The women at least wore their breeches wider,
so they might almost pass as a knee-length skirt.
The central
figure, an elderly gentleman, came forward, and made a slight bow. Unlike the
rest of the staff, he wore a formal robe, and a scholar’s hat rather than the
flat cap most of the rest wore, with or without decoration.
“Congratulations
to our first arrivals this year,” he said.
He had an accent of the low countries and Bess gasped; this must be the
near-legendary Master Piet Van Huys, and
he must be the companion of the Lorewyrm who waited without! She could have kicked herself for not
realising sooner, for only Skyshadow could be an adult of such size, since
Lorewyrms never stopped growing, and Skyshadow had been bonded before, perhaps
many times, choosing to rebond with a shipwrecked Flemish merchant, Master, or
Mynheer, Van Huys. The tale was one told
by minstrels, up and down the land, and how Master Van Huys had met Raleigh on his second voyage to the island of the eggs,
and he and Skyshadow had agreed to return with him to England rather
than to give knowledge of Draxterelry to the hated foreign rulers of the
Spanish Netherlands.
Van Huys
smiled benignly on Bess and her companions.
“I see that
you have heard of me, of Piet Van Huys,” he said.
Bess and Tangwystl
curtseyed hastily, and Diccon bowed.
“Your honour’s
fame has spread the length of England. And Wales,” Diccon added hastily.
Van Huys
beamed.
“Ah, the joys
of notoriety,” he murmured. “I believe a
few more are coming; let us welcome them, and then when all are safely gathered
in, we may assign you to your houses.
Pray take a seat on the edge of the dais and await the newcomers.”
The three
youngsters did as they were bid, feeling very much under the eye of the
established scholars on their separate tables, one each around a square, and
one in the middle. The carven backs of
each chair was set with a painted plaque, picturing a dragon in the colour of
the House of each table. The central table was Amethyst; the furthest was
Beryl; the nearest, Black. On each side
were Ruby and Topaz. And the students
at each table wore doublets in the colours of their own House over their own
galligaskins, and loose scholar’s gowns over them. Those who wore flat caps
rather than just the usual simple linen cap also had them in the house
colours. One could not tell who was
wealthy and who was poor, even as Master Shakespeare had said. Bess squeezed Tangwystl’s hand, and the young
Welsh girl squeezed back to indicate that she had understood. It was interesting to notice, however, that
there were a few older ones whose hats had a jewelled pin in them, and some did
not.
“The ones with
jewels in their hats are bonded to dragons,” whispered Bess to her companions.
It showed how
few succeeded in bonding; there was only one youth on the amythest table with a
jewel in his hat, though there were a few more at each of the other tables.
Interestingly too, the side tables of Ruby and Topaz scholars were the largest,
with more scholars.
And then the
next scholar was coming in, and Master Van Huys waited for the two following
and then made his welcome speech again. The first boy was the big, heavy-set
lad with expensive clothes, and a cheerful countenance who had wondered how
they were to deal with a dragon before they were trained; he gave a rueful
smile at the three, acknowledging that they had shown the way as he introduced
himself as Lancelyn Webber. He was
followed by a boy who was dressed according to the fashions of the gentry, but with
neatly darned sleeves at the elbow, named John Seymour, and a girl who could
not keep the wonder from her face as she looked around, one Jane Evrard. Over the next half hour, six more made their
way in, including the girl with the farthingale who had been rude to Tangwystl,
who stared in horror at girls in galligaskins, and complacently tweaked at her
own skirts. Bess heard Tangwystl suppress a snigger. She would soon learn.
And then Piet
Van Huys made a curious gesture and the big double doors closed. Bess gasped as
she seemed to feel a rushing feeling in her head. Tangwystl held her ears, Diccon put his hand
to his head, as did another boy who had introduced himself as Aloysius Cobb. There were a few nods from those on the black
table of the diamond students.
“That is all,”
Van Huys said. “No-one else has found
their courage and it is too late for them this year.” He looked down at the
dozen children sitting on the edge of the dais. “And now, I will place you into
your houses, according to the findings of Skyshadow, who has spoken with all of
you. Rise, and when your name is called,
take a seat at the table you are sent to.” They stood, obediently.
