Dragonsteel 3.2

This book has 56 chapters, which means just 10 more chapters and an interlude to go!

On another run, Jerick and a fellow bridgeman named Ham discuss the elite force of Ki Tzern’s army, a clan of tan-armored warriors who can jump chasms and other magical feats. They see them fighting nearby and talk about how Ki Tzern’s a better general than Demetris. Sho Del appear riding giant lizard horses, something no one’s seen before. Suddenly, some Sho Del start attacking the bridge crews. Some bridgemen try to hide behind the only cover out on the plains: large boulders that are scattered on every plateau. Jerick fights with a Sho Del and wins its sword, but the rest of Bridge Four is slaughtered. The tan-armored warriors drive off the Sho Del, and Gaz promotes Jerick to bridge leader.

Chapter 31

Jerick tries to be a valiant leader of the bridgecrew, but they ostracize him and no one will listen. On a bridge run, Jerick takes Dente’s place at the front center of the bridge, claiming it was his duty as bridgeleader to be there. Dente, confused, aggres, knowing it’s the most dangerous spot on the bridge.

On the run as they approach the Sho Del, an arrow approaches Jerick. Jerick manages to switch to microkinetic vision, and wills the Axi of the arrow to dissipate, which they do, saving Jerick’s life. Jerick somehow knows he won’t be able to do that again. They only lose one bridgeman that run, while the other bridges lose three or four each.

That night around the fire Dente thanks Jerick for saving his life. Jerick tells the men stories of some legends, such as one about how the trickster god deceives his brothers. The other one he tells is of a humble table-maker who, due to his diligence and dedication to his craft, became king. Jerick praises bridgemen, saying they have the least armor and are the first into every battle. He encourages them to be the best bridgemen they can be, and they shout their agreement.

Chapter 32

In the kingdom, Hsor takes over the investigation for the lost prince. It’s been ten months since his disappearance. Topaz visits the city, and Ryalla is able to sneak up on him, something he swore wasn’t possible. Ryalla urges Topaz to find Yoharn, but he curses and says he as too many other important things he has to do, but he suggests that Ryalla can find him.

Topaz gets Ryalla to confront the possibility that she can do magic. He shows his topaz ring and makes a rainbow appear briefly on the wall, but says he can only scatter light briefly, he can’t bend light like Ryalla can. He encourages Ryalla to play around with bending light and to practice. Ryalla agrees to try and find the prince and Topaz says he’s leaving for a while.

Chapter 33

Jerick and his crew search the chasms for Sho Del bones. They find a corpse that has composed, and Dente collects the bones into a sack. Above the chasms, Dente sneaks the sack past the guards, and a smaller bridge man, Kep, is accosted by the guards. Members of Bridge Four, including a large man named Gathban, nicknamed Rock, come to his aid. 

That night, Gathban makes soup for the crew and the men talk about why they came to war. They talk about Jerick’s past, how he had been part of the king’s bet and how he can read and write. Jerick says he’ll teach anyone who wants to learn how to read.

About two weeks later on a bridge run they get a chance to use the bones. They had them constructed into shields, which are ideal shields because they are light and, as Topaz told Jerick, had Dragonsteel in them. The use the shields in their approach, while making sure they didn’t mess up the timing of the assault. Jerick gives Gaz a shield in exchange for him putting more men on his crew. 

On the plateau, Jerick realizes that during the battle while the bridgemen just sit there is a great time for Bridge Four to learn how to fight and practice with the sword. Jerick senses something and the crew sees a large figure in intimidating armor join the Sho Del ranks, whom Gathban calls the Lord of War.

Chapter 34

Bat’Chor travels through Tzendor and marvels how agriculture has sprung up where they used to be a wasteland. He visits his seveth cousins, who, due to the nature of close family ties to Ke’Chan, is still close family. They eat lunch together and Bat’Chor is introduced to the odd invention known as a clock.

Bat’Chor makes it to the house of Lord Ki Avel, who owns a Dragonsteel necklace Bat’Chor came to see. Ki Avel is rude to Bat’Chor and tells him that no one can see the necklace, to which Bat’Chor knocks him out cold. Ki Avel’s wife lets him see the necklace, but Bat’Chor informs her that it is not Dragonsteel at all, but silver. Lady Ki smiles at the new power this knowledge gives her.

Chapter 35

Bridge Four practices their fighting and are getting better. That night at soup, Jerick commends Dente on how his reading and writing are improving. Gathban praises Jerick as a leader, because he cares about his men. Jerick thinks back to his life in the palace, and though he can remember Ryalla well he can’t really remember what Courteth was like. He thinks about how he tried to find Frost in camp but couldn’t locate him. Other bridgemen wish to join Bridge Four’s soup circle, and they let them. Gaz comes with a message for Jerick, that Demetris has heard about what Jerick’s been doing and is going to be there in person to watch on the next bridge run.

On the next run, the soldiers arrive a little before the Sho Del, but Demetris orders them to stop and wait for the Sho Del to set up their arrows before they continue. The shields work great and the battle is an easy one. On a nearby plateau, the well has turned black, which means it will give out Dragonsteel shortly. Demetris thinks about taking it even though it’s in Ki Tzern’s district, but a Ki Tzern scout appears, followed by Ki Tzern’s army.

Ki Tzern’s army uses mechanical bridges, but the Sho Del soon topple these into the chasms, leaving his army surrounded and trapped on the plateau. Demetris chuckles and orders his army to leave Ki Tzern to his fate, but Jerick and Bridge Four all know what they have to do. Against orders they run to the plateau and set up their bridge to rescue Ki Tzern, fighting Sho Del the whole time. An illusion appears but Jerick jumps through it and fights with a Sho Del on a lizard beast. Jerick shifts his vision to microkinetic view, and somehow is able to shoot out lighting from his body, which hits the Sho Del’s metal armor and kills the Sho Del. Bridge Four manages to rescue Ki Tzern’s army, but the Lord of War appears, seems puzzled by the electrocuted Sho Del, and orders the army to attack. Ki Tzern’s army is saved when a dragon descends from the sky, and the Sho Del bow down to it, then retreat. Jerick gets a closer look and realizes how Dragonsteel got its name: dragons grew it on their bodies.

Ki Tzern commends Bridge Four for their bravery, and offers them to leave Demetris and join his army. He says that he will make Jerick more than just a bridgeman. The tan-armored warriors then arrive and apologize for not being able to come sooner.

Chapter 36

Cathis the Horwatcher sits in a building in Jarg on a recruiting trip. He hopes to become an elder Horwatcher, known as the Drath, but to do so he needs to recruit people who need to recruit people who need to recruit people. He and a person he recruited ten years previous, Endelo, finish giving a test to a boy, who leaves. 

As the two Horwatchers discuss who to recruit, they are interrupted by a peasant who wants to see Horwatcher magic. Endelo grants his request by passed a Tamu Kek bone over a candle to light it. It takes him only six passes over the candle, which is very talented, as the lowest number ever done was three passes. Endelo puts the bone down and talks with Cathis, and the peasant picks it up. The Horwatchers are horrified and the peasant quickly moves to put the bone back, but when he does so it passes over an unlit candle and it burst into flame.

The Horwatchers are stupefied and have the peaseant do it again, which he does so with only one pass. The Horwatchers are eleated and believe that finding and recruiting this man could get them into the Drath. They tell the man, who claims his name is Jerick, that he will be coming with them and made a Horwatcher. Both of them are so excited they don’t notice the small smile creep onto the hawkish features of the man’s face, or a glove on his hand covering up a large ring.

Chapter 37

Ki Tzern’s camp is much more organized and disciplined than Demetris’s was. Bridge Four is sent on leave, and Ki Tzern asks questions about Jerick’s backstory. It seems unbelievable to Ki Tzern, but then Frost appears and confirms everything Jerick said. Ki Tzern asks how Jerick was able to shoot lightning, when it is a tool of not Oreon, but his brother Xeth the Black. 

Jerick is asked how he was able to jump through an illusion, and Frost explains that Sho Del illusions are not illusions of light, but are a cognitive magic that causes a person’s brain to fill in details itself. Hence, people can be and have been hurt and killed by illusions, and explains how they still give off Axi patterns when looked at microkineticly. Ki Tzern tells Jerick he has some options for the future, including becoming a member of his tan-armored elite force, known as the Tzai. They watch two Tzai fight, and it seems as if they can slow down time and move faster than possible.

Later Frost and Jerick talk and Frost explains that he checked in on Jerick from time to time. Frost explains that the three realms, physical, cognitive, and spiritual, exist but aren’t as people describe them: everything exists in all three realms, and the Sho Del are using the cognitive aspect to make illusions. The Tzai manipulate the spiritual aspect: they can shatter swords with their bare hands by changing its spiritual nature, which has violent repercussions in the physical world. Ki Tzern tells Jerick that the Tzai have also learned how to get rid of their nightmares, and Jerick decides to join their ranks. 

Chapter 38

Ryalla and some maids watch as a messenger arrives at the throne room with a letter for the king, which is rumored to be a ransom note. Ryalla tries to consciously affect light and manages to be able to see individual light rays, and is then able to force them to bend around her, making her invisible. She finally admits to herself that she’s been able to do that for quite some time.

Ryalla goes to the door and wills the light bouncing off it to move forward a bit, making the door appear closer. She sneaks behind the illusion and gets in the throne room, then shifts the light rays of the door back onto the door. The king, Hsor, Scathe, and Martis are there discussing the random note, which asks for fifty thousand to return the prince. Hsor and Scathe leave and Martis talks to the king about moving up his and Courteth’s marriage, and him becoming heir, which the king agrees to. Ryalla then notices the ransom note has the same violet seal on it that she saw earlier at Martis’s place.

Chapter 39

Topaz and Cathis make it to the Horwatcher’s fortress, the Ekrobila. The three months they spent traveling have given Cathis plenty of time to show off Topaz as a powerful undiscovered Horwatcher. They enter and the Drath decide that Topaz is too powerful to be trained by anyone but a Drath, so he will not count as Cathis’s recruit, to Cathis’s utter dismay. Topaz is led to a room to meditate.

Topaz sneaks out instead and pokes around the fortress. In a scene of dramatic irony, he almost opens the door to where Prince Yoharn is being kept prisoner, but voices in the hall cause him to stop picking the lock. Topaz looks into a room to see some Drath dancing naked around an altar, and a being of power appears. Topaz starts to head back when he hears a voice calling him Cellin, a name which he has not heard in a long time. 

The voice belongs to the being who calls himself Oreon the White, and he appears to Topaz, bombarding him with his awesome power. Topaz is thrown to the floor and can barely contain his muscles, so powerful is the god before him. Oreon commands Topaz to worship Him and give himself to Him, and Topaz is about to do so when he looks at Oreon microkineticly. Microkineticly the god appears as a void, sucking in light and life, and Topaz refuses to succumb. Oreon leaves, and as Topaz falls into unconsciousness he has the thought that he needs to figure out what that was, no matter how long it would take.

Chapter 40

In his months of training as a Tzai, Jerick practices the arts of Gvel Mou, Gvel Tzou, and Gvel Too. Gvel Mou is tensed relaxation, being able to completely relax all of one’s muscles while at the same time becoming completely aware of one’s surroundings and able to respond quickly at a moment’s notice. Gvel Too is contemplating a single idea for extended periods of time. Jerick ponders over the concept of beauty for an entire day and night.

Gvel Tzou is contemplating a single object for an extended period of time. Jerick is given a wooden jewelry box, which he studies and ponders over for weeks. He’s told if he can open it using just one finger he can start going on Dragonsteel runs. One day as he ponders it, in a state of Gvel Mou he jets his finger forward, puncturing the side of the box. His mentor Tzai named Sharn comes in and sees this, and grabs Ki Tzern. Ki Tzern says Jerick is full of surprises and that the exercise was meant to be futile to teach patience, but that to keep his promise Jerick will start going on night Dragonsteel runs with Sharn. Jerick will also start learning Gvel Dar: maintiaining Gvel Mou while fighting. 

Frost contemplates his position in a game of Dek when he receives a telepathic mind-thought from Topaz, who is using Tamu Keks to do so. Frost mind-thinks back, which Topaz uses as proof that Frost is more than what he says he is, but Frost’s denies it, saying that there are so many Tamu Keks where Topaz is he could communicate with a dead ox that way. Frost gives an update on Jercik, and Topaz wonders why Jerick is not more willing to use his powers, and what is holding him back. Frost tells Topaz how Jerick has joined the Tzai and that he once shot out lightning during a battle.

Chapter 41

Bat’Chor visits a museum in Tzendor that Emperor Aronack established. He moves with the crowd to see a shield that has Dragonsteel in its center. Bat’Chor is the last one there, and the Dragonsteel there did come from the altar of five gods, but it’s of a god Frost already gave them. As he turns to go he notices that he’s surrounded by guards sent from Emperor Aronack himself, who claim that Bat’Chor fits the description if the man who attacked Lord Ki a few months ago, and that he’s been taken in to appear before Emperor Aronack for judgement. 

Chapter 42

Over a year since the kidnapping, Ryalla sits in a temple and offers burnt sacrifice and prayer for Jerick. She exits the Temple and uses her ability to bend light around herself to sneak into one of Martis’s secret meetings. He and five noblemen discuss how the king has agreed to pay the ransom, but Martis talks about how the Sho Del probably kidnapped him and how they are known to replace children with changelings, and how even if Yoharn came back they wouldn’t be able to trust him.

Ryalla attempts to bend light into an image she created, something she hasn’t tried before. She creates the image of a scroll with a violet seal and projects it three times so only Martis can see it. Martis freaks out and has everyone leave, then goes to a secret compartment and gets out his letter to make sure it’s still there. It says that Martis can pay money to ensure the prince is never seen again, so now Ryalla knows that Martis wasn’t the kidnapper.

Martis and Courteth’s wedding is performed. Ryalla is troubled and considers the Horwatchers as the next best possibility of being the kidnappers. She also worries about the king’s safety now that Martis is just one step away from the throne.

Chapter 43

Jerick and Sharn sit on a shattered plains, their only company the large boulders on the plateaus. When Dragonsteel first emerges from the wells, it emits a flash of light, which the Tzai look for. Jerick and Sharn see a flash and head towards that plateau. They use the Gvel Dar to leap across the chasms. When the reach the final plateau, they sense something is wrong. The Sho Del ambush them a moment later.

Jerick is almost killed, but Sharn rescues him. They notice the Sho Del have painted their faces so that they could sneak up on them. Sharn gathers the liquid Dragonsteel. Jerick realizes that if he looks microkineticly, he can easily tell where the chasms are and is thus able to leap across them with greater ease.

Two weeks later, Frost and General Tzern are playing a game of Dek. Negotiations are sometimes played over a game of Dek as its pieces can be used for nuances of conversation, such as attacking, uncertainty, or suspicion. Tzern tells Frost how the Sho Del have tripled their numbers recently somehow, and how Jerick is doing so well as a Tzai, which makes him suspicious. Frost plays an attacker, informing Tzern that Frost will vouch for Jerick. 

Jerick comes in, carrying four full Dragonsteel vials. Tzern agrees to switch him to day runs. Taern mentions he misses one of his advisors, called Dellanios, which through questioning turns out to be Topaz under another pseudonym. Jerick tells frost that the combination of the Gvel Dar and microkinesis allows him to sense where Dragonsteel will appear hours before it does, and Frost warns him to show restraint showing off his powers, as it could make others jealous. 

Chapter 44

Bat’Chor doesn’t do well in prison, as Ke’Chan do not do well in captivity, being free spirits. All escape attempts fail. In the middle of his second month of imprisonment he hears troops outside, and for the next month watches through his window as an army gathers. Bat’Chor believes that Emperor Aronack is planning on invading the Sho Del homeland, U Poni She Del.

One day a tall officer comes in and demands that Bat’Chor tell him where the necklace is, to Bat’Chor’s confusion. The man says that Ki’s wife was found dead and the necklace gone, and Bat’Chor realizes that Ki Avel probably woke up to find his wife run away with the necklace, and assumed it was Bat’Chor. The tall man says that Emperor Aronack will judge Bat’Chor himself, and leaves.

Chapter 45 

Four months after the wedding, Ryalla, invisible, overhears the Old Kalord talking to his son Martis. The Old Kalord calls Marits evil, that while the Old Kalord hurt people for rage, Martis hurt people for pleasure. They leave and Ryalla, visible, runs into Courteth, sleep deprived and with a huge welt on her face. Courteth asks where Martis is, saying he gets mad when he needs her and she’s not there, and asks Ryalla to talk with her that night.

Later that day Ryalla takes up her usual post of spying on Scathe, but nothing interesting happens again. This time, however, Scathe picks up a Tamu Kek mumbles something, as if communicating to someone telepathically. He then is able to sense Ryalla there even though she’s invisible, and she leaves. That night Ryalla goes to comfort Courteth, who admits being cruel to Ryalla. Courteth asks if she’s still beautiful, even covered in bruises. They hear Martis coming and Courteth urges Ryalla to go before he comes in.

Chapter 46

On a day run, Jerick notices something odd: this battle doesn’t have the illusions they usually do. Him and the other Tzai engage in the battle, and Jerick fights and takes down a Sho Del on a lizard-horse, then notices the Lord of War. The Lord of War and Jerick fight each other, the Lord of War using Gvel Dar and a sword made of Dragonsteel, which can cut through anything. Jerick bashes in the Lord of War’s helmet, forcing him to remove it. Doing so reveals that the Lord of War is actually human, and he retreats, although Jerick isn’t sure if it’s because he doesn’t want the humans or the Sho Del to see that he’s human.

Jerick notices that the Sho Del forces have somehow suddenly multiplied ten-fold. He and the other Tzai race to General Tzern, but Jerick is wounded. Bridge Four comes to his rescue and protects him. They are soon overwhelmed, and Jerick notices a dead body on the ground with large cuts, but with no blood. His mind begins to put pieces together, and realizes there weren’t any illusions this battle because the Sho Del were focusing their cognitive strength on something else. He notices the large boulders and remembers how everyone he talks to about them have described them differently, and how Frost said that the Sho Del illusions aren't illusions of light, but an imprint that causes a person’s brain to fill in details itself. The reason everyone sees the boulders differently--is because they are also a Sho Del illusion. 

Jerick stabs his sword into a nearby boulder, and it disappears, revealing a Sho Del in red hidden in it, now writing at the end of Jerick’s sword. It dies, and as it does, all the Sho Del within a 20-foot radius disappear, along with all the wounds that Jerick and Bridge Four have. Jerick tells other Tzai to start attacking the boulders, and as they do huge portions of the Sho Del army disappear. Only about two dozen of the fifty thousand Sho Del actually happen to be real.

In the aftermath General Tzern and Jerick look over the scene of corpses, each one without a single wound mark on them. They discuss that the Sho Del have been using this tactic for quite some time, and probably have scouts near their camps to maintain the illusion of wounds. Their false illusions were used to fool the Tzai and others into thinking they could see through the illusions, when the fact was that most of their army was an illusion to begin with, which also explains the lack of Sho Del corpses in the chasms. Tzern apologizes that he was suspicious of Jerick.