Kraw's Secret (The Dragons of Incendium Short Stories Book 3) Read online

  Kraw’s Secret

  The Dragons of Incendium 3.5

  Deborah Cooke

  Deborah A. Cooke

  Contents

  Kraw’s Secret

  The Dragons of Incendium

  Dear Reader

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Wyvern’s Outlaw

  About the Author

  More Books by the Author

  Kraw’s Secret

  The Dragons of Incendium #3.5

  By Deborah Cooke

  Viceroy Kraw is invited to witness whatever prediction the ShadowCaster has brought to Incendium, along with King Ouros and Queen Ignita. Although the royal couple can make little sense of the vision shown by the strange creature, Kraw knows his family’s ancient betrayal has to finally be revealed to the dragon kings. Will the fury of Ouros be as fierce as Kraw fears? What will be the future of the viceroy?

  By Deborah Cooke

  Cover by Frauke Spanuth of CrocoDesigns

  Copyright © 2017 by Deborah A. Cooke

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright preserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  ISBN: 978-1-988479-16-3

  Created with Vellum

  The Dragons of Incendium

  Paranormal romances featuring dragon shifters in space.

  1 - Wyvern’s Mate

  1.5 - Nero’s Dream

  2 - Wyvern’s Prince

  2.5 - Arista’s Legacy

  3 - Wyvern’s Warrior

  3.5 - Kraw’s Secret

  Dear Reader

  This short story falls between Wyvern’s Warrior and Wyvern’s Outlaw and reveals the prophecy offered to King Ouros by the ShadowCaster. You probably remember that Acion was given the task of delivering the ShadowCaster in Wyvern’s Warrior. This story also reveals a secret that Kraw and the line of viceroys in service to the dragon kings of Incendium have been keeping for quite a while, for fear of the king’s reaction. You’ll meet another of Ouros and Ignita’s daughters in this story, as well as catch a glimpse of her story.

  We’ll pick up the story of story of Anguissa next, in Wyvern’s Outlaw. When last we saw the rebellious daughter who commands her own ship, she had teleported aboard the Armada Seven, a freighter commanded by Captain Hellemut and in the service of the Gloria Furore. Anguissa has run afoul of Hellemut in the past, and both have surprises planned for each other—the greater surprise for both will be the choices of Ryke, a man compelled to serve the intergalactic league of pirates and thieves who wants to get home at any price—even aiding a dragon shifter princess to kill his superior.

  Kraw’s Secret is available in a digital edition on its own and is included in the mini-book print edition of Wyvern’s Warrior. It is also included in The Dragons of Incendium: The First Collection, scheduled for release in both trade paperback and digital editions in May 2017.

  Remember that the Dragons of Incendium have their own website, which has a glossary as well as the list of books and characters. The resources there keep growing as I write more books in the series! You can find the website here:

  www.dragonsofincendium.com

  I’ve also been collecting images for inspiration on a Pinterest board, which you can view right here.

  Until next time, I hope you have lots of good books to read.

  All my best—

  Deborah

  http://deborahcooke.com

  http://dragonsofincendium.com

  One

  Kraw had the dream for the first time shortly after the wedding of Princess Gemma was celebrated. It came to him on the third night after the couple had left Incendium for Regalia.

  He had experienced it almost every night since. It haunted him. It tormented him. It interrupted his sleep, and he knew that his performance as viceroy suffered.

  Kraw was not a whimsical man, nor was he inclined to sleep poorly. He could not recall the last time he had even remembered a dream, and he knew he had never before had a recurring dream. This one was as relentless as it was mystifying.

  It had to stop.

  He only wished he could figure out how.

  He wasn’t reassured that the only irrational thing that had ever happened to him had been a sign of his own appointment as apprentice to the viceroy. Was the dream a warning that his own term of office was coming to an end?

  Kraw wasn’t ready to retire, but the dream persisted all the same.

  The dream began with the the insignia of Incendium, the emblem of the dragon kings burning red on what could have been a white banner. The white background moved then, shifting and thinning until Kraw realized it was only a bank of thick fog. The curious thing was that the fog dissipated while the red insignia remained just as clear as before.

  It burned, alight with flame.

  Kraw was puzzled by this, for it seemed the insignia should fade with the banner, but it did not. If anything, it was brighter. The fog thinned to mist then cleared, blown away by a sudden wind. The insignia floated before him, crackling and shooting sparks, yet never consumed. In his dream, he walked toward it, and then around it. He discovered that it was emblazoned on a clear spike of ice. He reached for that spike, but it disappeared just as his fingers brushed its cold surface.

  Kraw always blinked at this point in the dream and when his eyes opened again, there was no sign of the floating insignia.

  Instead, he was in Incendium village, as the sun rose and the mist drifted from the river. Something about the vista made him think it was early on a summer morning. Kraw knew it wasn’t the present time, because there were buildings missing, ones that had yet to be constructed in the time of his dream. His dream showed him a past, one beyond his own recollection.

  That troubled Kraw.

  He might have been another person, he must have been another person, for he had the view of someone rushing down the main avenue from the palace. This person panted. His heart raced. Kraw could smell his fear. This person turned down a narrow alleyway that was familiar despite the changes to the names of the shops, took a detour down to the river, and glanced back over his shoulder repeatedly.

  He became anxious at this point in his dream, sharing the trepidation of the person whose view he shared. Kraw’s palms sweated with the conviction that he was being followed—and the knowledge that the consequences would be dire, if he was caught. He undertook an evasive course with such speed that Kraw was left dizzy. He caught glimpses of parts of the city he had never before seen, and which might not still exist.

  Finally, he snuck into an old inn, raced down the stairs, and lifted a grate from the floor. He leaped into the dark shadows and smelled the dampness. He secured the grate above himself with shaking fingers and just in t
ime—footsteps sounded in pursuit. He held his breath, standing motionless in the sewer, certain that a deaf man couldn’t miss the pounding of his heart.

  Once the footsteps moved away, Kraw exhaled with relief. He pivoted, then proceeded quickly and confidently into the sewer, moving into its deepest darkness.

  Another man might have been surprised by this choice, but Kraw recognized the route through the sewers. It was one his father had taught him just before that man’s death. It was a family secret, as were the marks carved in the wall to offer navigation, which the fleeing man touched with his fingertips.

  Kraw knew then that he shared the view of one of his forebears. Only the viceroys of the King of Incendium knew this passage and its marks. At any point in time, a maximum of two men in all of Incendium held the secret of them—the current viceroy and his apprentice, if he’d chosen one.

  Kraw had chosen no apprentice, for he had no son. He knew he had to select one of his nephews, but he had yet to make the decision and embark upon the training. He’d thought he had time. He expected the same strange incident to occur to one of his nephews as had happened to him. That would tell him that it was time and who his apprentice should be, but thus far, none of his nephews had given any hint.

  It irked him that he was waiting for a sign or a portent, which was irrational in his view. It was also tradition, however.

  The dream ended in a familiar place, the location of another of the viceroy’s secrets.

  After the passage through the sewer, Kraw emerged in a cellar that he could not mistake for any other. It was below the storeroom in the house in which Kraw had been raised. His family had owned the house almost since the founding of Incendium city. It had been burned and rebuilt, expanded and renovated, repeatedly over the centuries, but the cellar never changed. As a boy, Kraw had wondered if it had always been the same and had spent some time seeking lost treasures beneath the dirt floor. His father had not been amused by this pursuit, which resulted in the only scolding Kraw had ever had.

  Of course, he had later learned why his curiosity had been discouraged.

  In the dream, he lit a candle—another sign that the dream took place in a historical period—and removed something from his chemise. It proved to be a small scroll, with the insignia of the Viceroy pressed into the wax seal. Was it stolen? He ran his fingertips over the seal, almost in reverence, then shoved a worktable aside with an effort. That worktable was still in the cellar of the house. There had always been fruit wine brewing on that table in Kraw’s life and it appeared that the table had the same purpose in the time of the dream, though the equipment was older.

  The man in the dream brushed dust aside to expose the outline of a panel in the wooden wall. Kraw had wondered as a child why there had been a wooden wall in the cellar, for that same wall was still there, but his father had said it had simply been left over from a change in the hall above and too good to cast aside. Kraw had later learned that this was a lie, a lie to defend a secret.

  His heart thumped, for he guessed what the man in the dream would do.

  Which meant that Kraw knew who he was.

  Narkam, the viceroy who had served King Flammos, the tyrant of the dragon kings who had plunged Incendium into a reign of darkness.

  Kraw watched Narkam’s nimble fingers tap out a combination on the inlay blocks in the wall. Did he whisper a word? It seemed to Kraw that he did, but he preferred to think that it was the sequence of taps that opened the door. A word of such power would have been a spell, and Kraw didn’t like to acknowledge the prospect of magic.

  A small door opened to reveal a hiding spot, one lined with metal to protect its contents from any damage. It was filled with a strange pale mist. This was where the scroll disappeared. The door was sealed and then footfalls sounded on the stairs.

  Narkam darted back into the hole in the floor, securing the grate from the underside and disappearing into the sewers well before anyone entered the cellar room. He made his way back through the passage, and Kraw knew he would emerge in another part of the city, then saunter home as if innocent.

  It was at this moment that Kraw awakened, every detail clear in his mind. He stifled an urge each time to race to the family home and check the cellar. He had no time for such an errand, and it would be futile. He knew the contents of the scroll, of course. It was the mark of each apprentice to spontaneously write a copy of that scroll’s contents. Kraw couldn’t explain the mechanism to his own satisfaction. He didn’t believe in magic, but given the confession in the scroll, that might have been what caused the automatic writing. He tried to avoid thinking about it, for the scroll’s message and the legacy defied everything Kraw believed to be true.

  Yet it was true, as well.

  Why did the dream come to him now? King Ouros didn’t invite an era of darkness with his reign—in fact, he couldn’t be more different than his forebear Flammos. Was it a warning that the ancient treason of the viceroy would have consequences? Was it simply guilt for the act of his forebear? Kraw tossed and turned, convinced that he was going to die. The dream seemed to warn him that the responsibility for the viceroy would pass and soon.

  He itched to check upon the scroll, but felt the dream was sufficient warning to leave it be. What if the dream had been inflicted upon him to compel him to reveal the scroll? Kraw would not do it.

  Besides, he couldn’t check on the scroll without arousing curiosity. He himself lived in the palace in his own apartments and had done so since becoming viceroy. Kraw’s younger brother and wife lived in the house with their children and grandchildren, as well as with a few cousins and more distant relations. Since he had come to the post young, he had not been married and had no children of his own. Once he had accepted the post, he had had no time for such matters. The administration of the palace had been his life.

  One of his brother’s sons should be Kraw’s heir, but he delayed the choice. Ranaj, the older boy, now a man, had a certain charm but showed little attention to detail. That trait would not serve him well in a household of dragon shifters. Saraw, the second, had high expectations of himself and was unlikely to work hard, another trait that would lead to failure. Kraw didn’t think either of them had any commitment to anyone beyond themselves and their own comfort. He wouldn’t have put them in charge of a chicken coop, let alone a royal palace.

  He had always liked Jarak’s third son, despite that boy’s rebellious youth. Arkan had appeared to have a gift for finding trouble or making it, but love had set him on the right path. Kraw thought it a sign that his nature was essentially good. Arkan’s wife had died in childbirth, though, leaving him with two young children. Arkan had sufficient responsibilities for a few years, managing his duties to the family business along with those energetic children.

  Could Kraw’s choice not wait?

  The dream’s persistence, though, made him fear the time had come.

  King Ouros should have been content.

  Instead, he was uneasy.

  As was his habit in such times, he reviewed his blessings. They were plentiful.

  His oldest daughter, Drakina, had not only married her Carrier of the Seed in an official ceremony but had born a son, Gravitas, who was both healthy and a dragon shifter. Against every expectation, his defiant daughter had fulfilled the traditional responsibility of the eldest child, and Ouros had an official heir.

  Drakina would not have been the daughter he knew and loved if she had not conceived the child before the wedding, but Ouros was past the moment of quibbling. Indeed, if the execution of her first betrothed and some early affection with her HeartKeeper was the sum of her rebellion, Ouros knew how lucky he was. For centuries, he had expected Drakina to challenge the law of succession and insist that a daughter should be as entitled to inherit as a son. He felt as if he had avoided a conflagration.

  His second daughter, Gemma, had secured an alliance with Regalia, the sister planet of Incendium, by marrying its king. Ouros supposed that he should have anticipated t
hat strategic marriage to proceed a little differently from his plans: Gemma had married Urbanus, the heir, but his twin brother, Venero, had proven to be her Carrier of the Seed.

  There was no denying the call of the Seed, Ouros knew that, so he had few regrets about the resolution. It could have been much worse. Over the course of the pair’s adventures upon Regalia, both Queen Arcana and Urbanus had died, so Venero had become king—both of Regalia and of Gemma’s heart. Ouros did not doubt that his daughter, trained by the Warrior Maidens of Cumae, would make an excellent wife for Venero, given the unrest between factions in his newfound kingdom. The situation, too, contented him as a suitable fate for his second daughter.

  The third daughter of the Incendium royal family was also married to her Carrier of the Seed and expecting a child. Ouros had not anticipated that Thalina would fall in love with an android, much less that she would aid Acion’s evolution to a biological organism, and that made him feel foolish. Thalina had always loved machines better than people. Their union was, he had to admit, a perfect match.

  Even if it had compelled him to overturn Scintillon’s Law.

  Ouros frowned. He didn’t like changing laws, especially old ones, even when he suspected it was the right thing to do. He had a healthy respect for tradition and always felt that change was occurring too quickly when it happened at all. And he had never expected Thalina to be the one to compel him to reconsider anything.

  She had her mother’s stubborn nature, though.

  Thalia was happy, which contented Ouros, too.