I Read Books: Servant Of The Dragon

 

Servant Of The Dragon

At the end of Queen Of Demons our protagonists found themselves in Valles, capital of the island of Ornifal, and in theory of the whole Kingdom of the Isles. Garric is now Prince Garric, adopted son of the king and effective ruler. Obviously he has problems.

Two of the nobles on the royal council are in opposition, and it will inevitably end in feuds, murder etc which will require Garric to then act against the survivor. Also two powerful other islands have been making moves to either declare themselves independent or themselves Rulers Of The isles. In a neat move he makes Lord Tadai, the treasurer, ambassador to Sandrakkan, removing him from Valles and his rival, giving him an honourable and useful job. This also allows him to assist his friend Ilna, who wants to return to Sandrakkan to try and make amends for her time there (see Lord Of The Isles) so she can get a lift on his ship. He intends to send his sister Sharina to the other island as ambassador there.

Unfortunately while investigating a spooky, magic bridge that has been appearing down in the city Sharina is captured by a giant bird. This takes her through time, space and alternate dimensions, though mostly time. The dragon, a mummified lizard-mage, is being used by undead magicians to raise the drowned island of Yole and also the dead, the bridge will soon be complete. The dragon is not quite indifferent to that, though more annoyed about being trapped in their mummy and being used as a magic artefact.

Cashel sets off after Sharina, and the wizard Tenoctris sends him to another wizard, Landure, who can find her. Unfortunately Cashel meets and kills him over a misunderstanding and has to go through the underworld Landure guards to bring him back to life, meeting various unusual and horrific residents who try to get in his way.

Trying to find out where the bridge goes to, and who is conjuring it Garric, Tenoctris and Garric’s ladyfriend Liane use various magical means, trying to get hold of a scrying object from a wizard who has retired to the end of time. It’s been stolen. Instead events point to a different wizard, the supreme one from the time of Tenoctris, a thousand years ago. Ansalem, who ruled the city of Klestis. His innocence prevented him from being corrupted by the many artefacts he collected. Garric meets him in some dreams; as Garric is accompanied by the ghost of King Carus, also from a thousand years ago, he’s able to compare notes and do more than just be carried along.

Meanwhile Ilna’s voyage goes wrong. She spots a potential mutiny brewing but the nobles do not believe her. She has taken a liking to a ward of Lord Tadai, Merota, brought along as Tadai thinks she might be engaged to a noble there – Tadai also solving more than one problem at a time. When the sailors take the ship, they have Merota aboard so Ilna joins her. They’ve been enticed to go to a mysterious island where there is a rumour of treasure. Ilna joins forces with Chalcus, also a sailor, notable as the chanteyman, the one who leads the chants and keeps time, the only one with any sense amongst them. Also the most dangerous of them. As might be expected this is connected with the wizards who are raising Yole.

The various and varied adventures of the different characters, all split up as is always the case with these books, influence, or at least effect each other rather than simply coming together at the end. For example, a character that escapes the underworld when Cashel kills Landure appears later in another character’s story. One of the artefacts mentioned as being in Ansalem’s possession is being used to entice the mutineers. The missing scrying device turns up as an aside in another’s adventure. There’s an actual battle towards the end, though it’s slightly over shadowed by monster fighting; also the wizards aren’t actually very good at tactics, something that’s commented on.

Read This: Some excellent fantasy adventures, enjoyable variety that ties neatly back together
Don’t Read This: People being transported through time, space and to an inverted dimension do not entertain
Sadly: David Drake died in December; he was a prolific writer including fantasy of various shades, space opera and was one of the earliest proponents of military science fiction. A Vietnam veteran he tried to represent war as it was to him; a violent and terrible event that should be avoided, though not one entirely without either necessity or opportunity. In addition he was instrumental in editing and promoting several weird fiction and fantasy authors who might otherwise be forgotten, as well as encouraging many writers still working.