Stormdrake (Dragon Mage Chronicles Book I)

Jander Teregnan has succeeded in his ambition to become a mage-apprentice, but the troubles that face him are far from over. He and Andrei set out on their first mission together as mage and apprentice to investigate a mysterious series of dragon attacks near a provincial city at the edge of the kingdom, where Jander’s unique talents may particularly come into play. What they find there turns out to be far more devastating than a mere homicidal dragon, as they are caught up in a conspiracy that will threaten not only their own lives, but the lives of everyone in the kingdom they have sworn an oath to protect.

Read the prequel to THE DRAGON MAGE CHRONICLES:

The Magician’s Apprentice

THE DRAGON MAGE CHRONICLES

Stormdrake

Seadrake

Firedrake

Wardrake

The Dragon Mage Chronicles Book I:

Stormdrake

J.A. Jaken

White Owl Publishing

www.jajaken.com

Copyright 2020 J.A. Jaken

Smashwords Edition

DEDICATION

To all the fans of the Dragon Mage Chronicles series, then and now. You are an amazing group of people and I wouldn’t be where I am today as a writer without all of the support and encouragement that you’ve given me.

DISCLAIMER

This book is a work of fiction which contains explicit homoerotic content; it is intended for mature readers. Do not read this if it’s not legal for you.

All the characters, locations and events herein are fictional. While elements of existing locations or historical characters or events may be used fictitiously, any resemblance to actual people, places or events is coincidental.

Contents

Dedication

Disclaimer

1. Arrival

2. The Duke

3. Inquiry

4. Comfort

5. Investigation

6. An Unexpected Visitor

7. Research

8. Strategizing

9. The Drakkarim Temple

10. Exposure

11. Caught

12. An Uncertain Ally

13. Revenant

14. Liberation

15. Aftermath

16. Repose

17. Consolation

18. Onslaught

19. Into the Lair

20. Big Dark Coming

21. The Secret Revealed

22. Moving On

Art Gallery

Seadrake (Book II)

The Dragon Mage Chronicles

About the Author

Connect with J.A. Jaken

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Arrival

The city of Tempest was an anachronism. Situated high in the black cliffs of the Ravenscrag Mountains, its rain-washed streets were unpaved rivers of shifting mud, its buildings little more than hovels compared to the stately magnificence of Vallerin that Jander had grown accustomed to. Ducking his head against the relentlessly pounding rain, he tried to retreat further inside the hood of his robe and hunched his shoulders against the cold.

Gabrielle didn’t seem to mind the rain. In fact, the little kitling appeared to revel in it, spreading her wings to the wind and riding the uncertain gusts that chased them up the mountain. She was a flash of muted gold against the darkened backdrop of the clouds, keening her high, wild joy to the sky.

It was all a rather disgusting display, in Jander’s opinion. No one should be so unbearably cheerful in the middle of a rainstorm. Especially not one that was leaving him chilled and soaked to the bone.

Patience, Andrei chastised him, but there was an undercurrent of quiet amusement to the older man’s voice that made Jander’s lips curl in response.

It’s very wet, Jander returned, hunching down further inside the folds of his robe, which was doing little to shield him from the insistent pounding of the rain. And cold.

A hint of a smile touched the corner of Andrei’s lips; his brown eyes were bright inside the spreading shadow of his cowl. The grey mare he rode stumbled on a particularly muddy patch of ground, then steadied under his calming hand.

Just a while longer, he promised in a voice that sparked a swell of heat inside his shivering apprentice, and we’ll see what we can do about getting you warm. An answering smile spread across Jander’s face at the words.

It had been just over a year now since Jander had arrived in Vallerin, the capital city of Corascia, on a quest to find a master to train him in the ways of magic. He had always been gifted in sensing and manipulating the intricate web of arcane energy that existed in the world around him. Ever since he was a young child, he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to the path of becoming a mage and mastering those abilities...even after he learned that it was a much more difficult path to follow than he had originally assumed.

One of the first things he learned in Vallerin was that mages were far more than just practitioners of the magic. They were soldiers in the kingdom of Corascia, guardians of peace and justice, elite custodians of the realm beholden to the will of its king. Succeeding at last in his goal to become a mage-apprentice, Jander swore an oath to serve both his country and his king in addition to his master and the magic that guided him. It was a daunting responsibility which he was still discovering the depths of.

Jander’s eyes moved to take in his master’s cloaked and hooded form where the older man sat on the horse in front of him. Andrei Teresh was a master mage in the city of Vallerin and personal advisor to the king, a skillful and renowned practitioner of the Art with more than two decades of experience in the magic behind him. Jander had known from the moment he arrived in Vallerin that he wanted this man for his master and no other, even if Andrei hadn’t been particularly keen on the idea at the outset. It had taken quite a bit of convincing, but Jander had at last persuaded him—after much adventure and hardship—to accept him as an apprentice.

Over the past year, of course, their relationship had deepened beyond that of simply master and student. Andrei Teresh was a bright, strong, passionate, and noble soul whose presence warmed the deepest and most lonely corners of Jander’s heart, to the point where he found it difficult some days to imagine what it had been like not to have this warm and calming presence by his side. It was difficult at times for Jander to reconcile his roles as both student and lover to this man, but it was a challenge he felt was fully worth the effort he devoted to it. He wanted to learn from Andrei, it was true, but even more than that he wanted to be with him, as lover and confidante and partner and friend.

Accepting Jander as either apprentice or lover had not been an easy decision for Andrei to make. His prior apprentice, a troubled young man by the name of Kirin, had betrayed him several years previously and turned to the shadow paths of magic—that portion of the Art which sought to destroy rather than defend, to control rather than nurture, to consume rather than create. Andrei’s heart had never entirely healed from that wound, and it had taken him a long time to learn how to trust once again.

The previous autumn, Kirin launched an attack against the capital that very nearly succeeded in driving the city to its knees. With the might of a mercenary army behind him, and an alliance with an insane black dragon, he lashed out at everyone he believed had wronged him, taking his revenge on Andrei, on Vallerin, and on King Alluin, who had been the one to strip him of his rank and exile him after it became clear that he was turning to the Darkness and abandoning his oath.

It was during that horrific final battle that Jander discovered his own unique talent in the magic. He was a dragon mage—a magic-user who possessed a rare power that allowed him to communicate with and command the dragons. It still sounded unreal to him, even after all these months. He had considered dragon mages little more than a fairytale throughout his childhood, and the dragons themselves had long ago retreated from the realm of mankind to exist in isolation within the deeper mountains and wildlands, leaving the human race to its fate. It was only recently that they had emerged to once again touch on the lives of the flawed and feeble mortals with whom they shared the world.

As impossible as it sounded, Jander could not deny that he was in fact a dragon mage, however much the thought of it confused and disturbed him. He had succeeded in commanding Kirin’s black dragon the previous year and managed to keep it from destroying the city, and he had also forged a tentative alliance with Amirhal, the ancient and venerable red dragon who nested in the mountains north of Vallerin.

I would venture to guess, Amirhal had told him after the battle, that you have the power you do because the magic wishes you to have it. And that it will collect the price for it from you, someday.

Jander’s musings were cut short when a disquieting shiver passed down the back of his neck, drawing his gaze to the street around them. He glanced around suspiciously, uncertain what had caught his attention.

Andrei turned to look at him, his eyes narrowing. What is it? he asked, picking up on Jander’s disquiet immediately. Concern tightened the skin between his brows.

Frowning, Jander glanced over his shoulder at the road that lay empty behind them, cloaked in shadows that looked absurdly incongruous in the light of the afternoon. There weren’t any signs of life visible on the street, not even a passing mongrel. Apparently the citizens of Tempest had enough sense to stay in out of the rain.

The buildings of the city loomed like wraiths around them, dismal and somehow insubstantial in the nearly twilight-lit gloom. One particularly large building caught his eye, a squarish, multi-storied structure made entirely of brooding dark stone. The front doors were bronze and engraved with fanciful pictures of dragons. There were no windows in the building that he could see.

I’m not sure, he said. Taking a slow breath to focus his thoughts, he attempted to draw on his fledgling skills in the magic to sharpen his focus, without any noticeable success. A moment later, he shook his head. It’s probably nothing.

Andrei made no verbal reply, but Jander could feel him stretching out with his own senses through the magic. Jander’s power was not as refined as his master’s at this point in his training, but Andrei had enough respect for his student’s skills in the magic to be wary.

I sense nothing, Andrei said after several minutes had passed, aside from the general unrest of the situation that drew us here. But I do not have your talent for prescience. His eyes lingered on the stone building with the dragons on its doors as they passed it by.

While Andrei’s powers were rooted more in the physical world around them, Jander—perhaps as a result of his aptitude as a dragon mage—possessed an almost uncanny awareness of the less tangible patterns that existed in the world. Past meeting the future through the present, Andrei had once described it to him. The vast and momentous interconnectedness of all things. Jander still didn’t entirely understand this facet of his power, or feel particularly comfortable with it when these insights came to him.

Nothing further was said between them, and their horses carried them steadily nearer to the castle located at the far end of town. It was a forbidding grey structure situated at the apex of a cliff overlooking the city, hunched in on itself like a wounded animal. To Jander, it looked rather like a brooding vulture peering down at its prey. He had to suppress a shiver at the sight of it that had nothing whatsoever to do with the chill of the rain.

He could still remember the look on Alluin’s face when their king informed them about the problems brewing in Tempest. Dragon attacks on the open road, entire caravans waylaid and burned as the people were scattered into the mountains in fear. The Southron Road had been closed entirely now, with guards stationed at its nearer end to discourage violators of the king’s decree. Trade throughout the entire western province was suffering.

There hasn’t been an unprovoked dragon attack in this country for longer than my family has held the throne, Alluin had said during the last council meeting the mages attended before they left Vallerin, his expression shadowed. The young king looked especially harried these days, for reasons that Jander could not fathom. It grieved him to see his friend and liege in such poor spirits.

Let me guess, Jander had said, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation. You think that your resident dragon mage can be of some assistance. Despite his flippancy, his heart was racing with excitement. This would be the first mission he and Andrei had gone on since Jander was first taken on as the mage’s apprentice nearly a year ago.

Alluin smiled, but there was a wistfulness to the expression that dampened Jander’s enthusiasm somewhat. I want the two of you to investigate the matter, he said. There was a gentle note of command behind the words. This is a serious dilemma. Winter is coming within the next few months, and if the caravans can’t get through to supply the northern villages, there are going to be problems when the snow begins to fall.

Within the day, Jander and Andrei had departed from Vallerin. Remembering his initial enthusiasm about the mission, Jander huddled ruefully inside the meager shelter of his robe as his horse—an attractive roan mare with an exceedingly gentle disposition by the name of Sasha—carried him closer to the castle of Tempest. Somehow, adventures never seemed to turn out quite the way he expected them to. Certainly traveling for nearly half a month through relentless rains until even the memory of warmth seemed like a dream had never factored in to his expectations.

The soldier standing guard at the castle gate was a dour man with glittering dark eyes that reminded Jander of a crow’s. It seemed for a moment that he would not grant them entrance, but at Andrei’s impassive insistence that the duke was expecting them, he slowly pulled open the gate. It was fashioned of dark iron, and even in the rain it creaked abysmally. Jander winced, feeling uncomfortably exposed in the watery half-light of the street.

Gabrielle dipped down out of the air once they entered the courtyard, alighting gracefully on Jander’s shoulder. Jander felt marginally better now that she was with him again. Her long tail slid sinuously around his neck, balancing her effortlessly as she shook out her wings, sending a stinging spray of water droplets into his face. Jander ducked his head away and chuckled good-naturedly.

Hey, he protested, giving her a playful nudge before giving in to the temptation to scratch lightly along her side. I’m already wet enough, thank you very much.

Water wet, the kitling said, speaking the words directly into his mind. She didn’t sound at all put out by it. Her thoughts swirled with rainbow plumes of happiness.

Jander couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. Yes, he agreed, rather ruefully. It is.

Several years’ worth of moss and lichen clung to the walls of the courtyard, cracking the stone and leaving ghost-like stains on their surfaces. Little attention had been paid to saving the battlements from their fate, and they were choked with clinging vines of wisteria. The grass in the courtyard was withered and rotting. A dry fountain of grimy, white stone rested in the center of the enclosure, though it was so eaten away by time and weather that Jander could barely make out the shape of the sleeping dragon coiled at its heart.

Sharing a brief glance with Andrei, Jander slid out of his saddle, his boots squelching loudly in the mud. Reaching for the reins of his master’s large grey mare, he led both horses to the stable at the far end of the yard.

Andrei was staring contemplatively up at the castle windows when Jander returned. He cut a dramatic figure against the cloud-wracked sky, the wind pressing his robes tightly against his trimly muscular frame. Jander was reminded of the stern, uncommunicative mage he’d first met upon arriving in Vallerin all those months ago, before war and friendship had broken down the walls between them.

Shall we get in out of the rain now, Master? he said, only half-jokingly.

Andrei favored him with an indulgent half-smile before gathering his robes around himself with calm dignity and making his way up the cracked stone steps that led to the front doors of the castle. Belladonna clustered in thick tangles to either side of the steps, looking somehow unwholesome under the silvery slash of the rain. Jander couldn’t help but feel that this entire city was suffering under the weight of some obscure disease or pestilence; the thought did not improve his mood.

They were met at the door by a rotund little man dressed in the distinctive dark brown robes of a master mage. Ducking his head against the rain, he ushered them inside quickly. Jander was heartened by the joviality he saw sparking in the man’s myopic brown eyes; he had half-expected the door to be answered by some bizarre and uncouth doorman, perhaps a denizen of the castle’s nary-explored lower levels. He could see Andrei’s reproving glance out of the corner of his eye as the image flickered across his mind. The two of them shared a telepathic training bond to facilitate Jander’s instruction in the magic, and as a result Andrei would often pick up on his student’s less guarded thoughts if he didn’t make a conscious effort to shield them.

Jander hastily tramped down on such disrespectful imaginings, but he wasn’t quite quick enough to erase the flicker of a smile that crossed his face. Determinedly, he schooled his features into what he figured was a more appropriate expression of professional courtesy. They were emissaries from the capital, after all.

Welcome, welcome, the man who had let them in greeted, leaning heavily against the door to close it. The door groaned in protest at this action but submitted