Dragon Keep: Book 2 of the Triple Dragon Suns Series

I'm going to write my second novel here. If you read it I hope you enjoy it. If you want to read the first one, it's called Dragon Fury: Book 1 of the Triple Dragon Suns series by Teriann Jackson, my pen name.

I will be adding chapters as I go along, approximately one a week until the book is completed. If you enjoy it, leave a comment below. If you don't, I don't particularly want to know that. Enjoy!

 

The Dragon's Keep

Book 2 of the Triple Dragon Suns Series

By Teriann Jackson

Prologue

Tissera and her dragon, Laleri, were lounging on the edge of the lair watching all those below go about their business. They looked like ants in the distance and it was fascinating to watch as the colonists went about their daily lives. Laleri nudged Tissera, and Tissera had to grab quickly to maintain herself on the ledge in order not to fall down. It would have been a long fall, but she knew that Laleri was only playing, wanting attention and scratches in her favourite places. Standing Tissera leaned against the large golden dragon, scratching and listening to her "purr" in her head. Although they had been together for centuries, Laleri still liked being scratched in the same way she had as a hatchling. The purr of contentment that rang thru Tissera's mind was satisfying and relaxing. This had been a routine of theirs for a very long time and was just as enjoyable to Tissera as it was to Laleri.

The dragon pushed against Tissera's hand, also pushing her to the ground, laughing. The purring in her mind grew louder as the dragon played with her rider. Suddenly, it stopped as Laleri snapped to attention as a figure grew closer. The rider who was coming was somewhat of a nuisance to both Tissera and Laleri. He'd been a plague to them since he'd bonded with his own dragon, Kranek, and had been trying to get Tissera to pair with him for years. Part of the issue was that Tissera really couldn't see herself with him at any time, he was so serious about everything and she liked to laugh and have fun. As Tevon came up, Tissera tensed, knowing that whatever was coming was likely to be serious, everything always was with Tevon.

    "What do you want Tevon?"

Tevon stopped and took note of where her dragon was and approached more slowly.

    "I need to give you the schedule for the next little while. All the dragonriders are being scheduled for rounds until the crisis has passed. It's been a long time since we've done anything like this, but the situation is getting more serious and Tillek thinks we need to take action."

Tissera noted Tevon's tense stance, his reluctance to discuss the problem and the wary way he regarded her dragon.

    "Tevon, I don't know what you're talking about. What situation are you all up in arms about now?"

Tevon stepped back and regarded her with disdain.

    "Have you not been keeping up with what's been happening?"

Tissera stood up, went to her dragon and scratched behind her head where she liked it best.

    "Tevon, why would I keep up with things. You know I hate getting involved, unlike you. So tell me what's going on that Tillek thinks we have to do rounds and be on guard."

Tevon continued to regard her, but with more irritation. He turned away from her for a moment and tried to gather himself so he wouldn't sound as irritated as he felt. Slowly he turned back towards her, still being wary of her dragon who was enjoying the scratching she was getting and butting Tissera whenever she stopped.

    "Tissara, don't you think it would be to your advantage to keep up with what's happening in the world today? It's not as if we have any other jobs to do as dragonriders. What do you do with your time if you don't pay attention? I don't understand."

Tissara stopped scratching her dragon and stepped towards Tevon. Laleri rose up to her full height and spread her wings. Tevon backpedalled quickly to put more room between him and the dragon. Although he wasn't afraid of the dragon, he did have a healthy respect for her and knew that if provoked, she could be deadly. He stopped farther away than he wanted, but not as far as to feel completely safe.

    "Tissara, I want you to try and be current with things so you know what's going on. There are things happening that aren't good and we, as dragonriders, need to be aware because part of our job is to keep things under control."

Tevon paused, shook his head but carried on. "The wild dragons have been encroaching on colony lands and have devastated many farms and ranches of their stock. Some of their prime animals have been destroyed, the good ones that they breed for food for our dragons, leaving behind some of the worst of the animals. It's taken generations to get some of the breeding that lets us have prime animals for our dragons and to continue to get the good stock we have to be able to keep our dragons in top form. What do you feed your dragon with Tissara? We try not to go to the wild too much as it depletes the wildlife there. We leave that for the wild dragons, but it now appears that they are raiding our food supplies and we need to protect our farmers and ranchers from them."

Tissara was surprised, the wild dragons had not bothered them in hundreds of years, why would they start now? She looked at Tevon, knowing he wouldn't bring her anything that wasn't an emergency, at least in his own mind. She considered the issue for a moment.

    "Tevon, why would it matter if the wild ones ate our stock? We bred those animals for dragon food. If the wild ones need to eat them, what does it matter? They're dragons as well and need to eat."

Tevon sighed, knowing Tissara wasn't going to listen.

    "Tissara, the wild ones haven't been an issue in centuries, if they are doing this now there is likely a reason, but we don't know what it is and they are not communicating. We are trying to catch them in the act so we can find out and put a stop to it."

    "I don't think that's the way to go here. Why do we not just go to where they are and find out. Just because they've kept themselves apart from us doesn't mean we can't go to them. I will go if no one else wants to."

Tevon took another step backward as Laleri flapped her wings and created wind in the lair which she occupied. He was wary of her, he'd seen her in situations that resulted in a deadly standoff and she had always been victorious. Although sure the dragon wouldn't hurt him, he had a deep respect for her and didn't want to put himself in the dragon's sights.

    "I'm sure there are other ways to handle this, but this is what Tillek wants. Tissara, you know just as much as I do that we have to follow the chain of command. Tillek is our leader, we need to follow him in his commands, you cannot just ignore them as you please. You've been in trouble for that before, but this time you need to do as he asks. You're on the schedule, you need to do your duty as a dragonrider and protect the farmers and ranchers. For the sake of everyone, Tissara, you need to follow your leaders."

    Tissara considered his words, she looked toward her dragon. Laleri had settled down, folded her wings but was tense and ready should Tissara need her. She looked back at Tevon and considered what he was saying. She shook her head, partly to clear the confusion and partly because she didn't believe the issue was as desperate as Tevon made it to be. It honestly didn't sound to her like it should be much of an issue. The farmers and ranchers had bred their stock for dragonfodder so it didn't make sense that they would deny any dragon the right to feed there. They were compensated for all the animals that were used. It didn't matter which dragon ate where, they kept track of the stock used and submitted it to the riders and the riders paid them. That the wild ones were eating of the stock that was raised for this purpose didn't seem to be much of an issue to Tissara. It simply didn't make sense to her.

    "I will talk to Tillek. I don't think this is the issue you think it is and quite frankly you always make everything out to be worse than what it should be."

Tevon took another step back, turned and walked out of the dragon lair without another word. Tissara knew he was frustrated with her once again, but he also knew that she would find out what was going on and either not take part if she didn't feel it was worth her time, or would find the truth about things and try to fix them. This was what she had done since the day she'd bonded with Laleri whom she considered the most beautiful dragon ever. The dragon began to purr in her mind again at the praise Tissara thought about her. Tissara scratched behind her head again for a few minutes, then stepped back and looked out the lair entrance at the colonists below and considered her options. It only took a moment to turn back to Laleri and reach for her harness. She would go talk to Tillek and find out what was going on and how much of an issue this was.

    "Come on Laleri, let's go find out what's going on."

 

 This is going to be an interesting post for those of you who actually follow me. I'm suspecting that I'm alone on this blog, but that's okay... I still have an interest to write it. I have decided to write my poems and novels here. They may go nowhere but it will make me feel better that someday someone will read them and then have to delete them as they take up space on the internet blogs. That means that SOMEONE will read them and they will not be sitting idly in my computer or in my notebooks. 

I have always like science fiction and science fantasy, dragons and off worlds where there are strange creatures have always been my favourites. And so we begin...

Dragon Chance

A short story by Terisa A. Brooks

It was a long way down the mountain from where she was sitting. Looking down she saw the people working in the fields, building the houses and generally going about colony business. Her mother was there, at least for awhile, she had gone in and out looking frustrated and had called Lacey many times, but she had ignored her for the quiet of the mountain meadow and the ledge where she could watch but not have to work so hard.

They had been on this planet for only eight months but it was absolutely idyllic compared to the ship she had been born on. The weather was perfect, every day, and it seemed as if this planet had only one season, and that was summer. Even the rain, when it rained, was warm and wonderful to be out in. Being wet was never an issue for Lacey, she loved the feel of the rain falling on her. It had been interesting that others were not at all interested in the warm rain, they preferred to be out of it and inside their homes or the gathering rooms. Some were fearful that it would harm them in some way, but all those fears had proven false, but still the other colonists had gone inside when it was raining. 

As Lacey looked down on the colonists, and loving the quiet meadow and ledge where she sat, she suddenly felt as though she was being watched. Spinning around to see who had invaded her space, she was surprised to see no one there! Slowly getting up and walking away from the ledge where she had sat, she still felt as though someone was watching her. It was irritating as she couldn't identify who it was. She slowly turned around in the middle of the meadow, feeling the watcher. Being empathetic, Lacey was surprised she couldn't identify the culprit. 

She knew what everyone felt like in the colony, she had been in close contact with them for some time while still on the ship and it had almost driven her mad at the time. Then they'd landed and she'd had space for the first time in her life! It was part of the reason that she spent so many hours during the day away from the colony, although there were only a choice few who knew of her empathetic abilities. This person, no... not a person... but whomever, or whatever, it was simply watched curiously. Lacey was both confused and troubled. Abruptly she sat down.

As she sat there, she felt the watcher's curiosity grow. She played with the grass, feeling the watcher out, and trying to pinpoint where he was. It wasn't working, but she wasn't one not to be patient when it was needed. So she just sat there.

"I feel you there, you know." Lacey said idly while playing with some long grass and weaving it into nothing. There was no response from the watcher, although it's interest was piqued by the voice.

"I know you're there. Why don't you come out and we can talk." Lacey still pulled at the long grass to continue the weaving she had started. It was a patience technique she had taught herself a long time ago. She could weave, it was never anything useful, but it gave her hands something to do while her mind was searching.

There was a rustling in the grass behind her. She slowly turned and saw the most brightly coloured small dragon that she could imagine! It was all iridescent and the bright colours shifted around as she was looking at it.

"Are you going to hurt me?"

The words resounded in her skull and she grabbed her head and gasped.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that you could hear me so well. I won't be so loud again."

Slowly Lacey put her hands down, looking at the little dragon. Her mind was doing somersaults and she was nervous, although not very afraid.

"No, I won't hurt you... but where did you come from, and how are you talking to me?" Lacey asked, sounding more confident than she felt.

"I'm from this mountain. You are on my home. I "heard" you listening to the others that are down there and came to see what you are."

"I'm sorry, this is your home?"

"Yes"

"We did extensive surveys and found nothing like you on this planet before we came down. Where were you hiding and are there more of you?"

"We didn't want you to see us, so you didn't. There are millions of us on this planet. This is our home. Why have you come here?"

Lacey squirmed slightly, "We came here to colonize this planet. We want to settle here and grow to have more people and children, build ourselves cities and make this planet our home." Lacey pictured in her head all the information she had seen in the Earth files on the ship about their home. 

The little dragon shook his head. "Too much at once, slow down."

Lacey stopped dead. "You could see that?"

The little dragon shuddered, "Yes. Why did you send me those pictures, please don't do it again. I wasn't able to stop from receiving them and it was overwhelming."

Lacey watched as the little dragon once again shuddered and then sat still, looking at her curiously once again.

"I didn't mean to send them to you. I was just remembering all the stuff I learned on the ship that brought us here. I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"Why are there these tall symmetrical mountains on your world? It looks like there are a lot of people inside them but there is a pall over the planet. Is it well? This world of yours?"

Lacey was confused for a moment... tall symmetrical mountains?? Then it hit her. 

"Those are skyscrapers! We build them for our houses and business on our planet. What would make you ask if the world was well?"

The little dragon snorted, "It does not look well. It is not green, or growing, it's all grey and there is something between the sun and where you were picturing. It looked as if the planet was sick."

Lacey was startled for a moment. "I was remembering the pictures of our home planet that we have on the ship we came here in. I have never been on our homeworld, I was born on the ship. The something between the ground and the sun was the dome of the city. We live in huge cities on the Earth, that's the name of our home planet, and no one goes outside the domes. There are no pictures of the planet itself anymore that I know of. It's been centuries since the population has gone inside the domes of the cities."

Lacey paused for a moment, looking at the little dragon. "Why did you come talk to me? Although it's not really talking because I'm hearing you in my head."

The little dragon snorted again, flames licking around his nostrils this time. Lacey started, but remained where she was.

"I came to see who was invading my home. You were just sitting there and I was curious about you."

Lacey got to her knees, the little dragon stayed put, and Lacey slowly put her hands on the grass in front of her.

"Uuummmm, what do we do now?" Lacey slowly asked.

The little dragon shook his head, answering in a slow voice. "I don't know my child, but we will have to converse again after I have consulted with my brethren."

Lacey started again. "You can talk! Not in my head but actually talk!"

The little dragon seemed to smile, snorted again and turned to go. Looking back he telepathically spoke to her again. 

"I will see you again Lacy Human Girl" and then he just disappeared. 

He was truly gone, Lacey knew, because she could no longer feel him. His brightly iridescent colours had been beautiful and every time he'd moved, they had rippled across his little body. It was all of a sudden funny to her and she laughed a merry laugh.

Talking to herself as she rose and began making her way down the mountain she expressed her knowledge of what was going to happen, she was sure of it.

"No one is going to believe me when I tell them this!"

****************** Part 2 tomorrow *********************

Catching up...

Well, it's been awhile... I know I started to blog about my life but things just happen to  me and they have over the past year and a half... now I have more to blog about than I would have thought but so what else is new??

I don't know if anyone follows this blog anymore... I haven't written in a long time... let's see... where to begin...

Well, I guess I could start with where I am now... I now live in Mission, BC and love it as much as I love anything I suppose. I am currently being treated for Breast Cancer, having already had Leiomyosarcoma (a cancer of the smooth  muscle cells), and have had a radical mastectomy on the right side with the removal of 17 lymph nodes, 7 of which were positive for metastatic cancer. I have been taking chemo treatments, the first four were Doxyrubicin and Cyclophosphamide which are the worst ones... they really make you ill and they did, but they have good drugs to counteract that so it wasn't too bad, then came the Paclitaxel and Herceptin2 drugs which is what I am taking now. The Paclitaxel has made the neuropathy in my feet worse and they've had to cut down the dosage quite a bit. I don't want to take it anymore, but I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so we'll see what she says. The Herceptin2 I have to take for another year... it's not supposed to make me feel horrible and I hope that's true, but it's hard for me to want it at all anymore, I'm tired of feeling horrible and I just want to get on with life.

I'm tired and it's early in the morning so this isn't going to be a long one. Needless to say I have to get up and go to a Doctor's appointment later and have to take a shower and do laundry... maybe take my dog for a walk... we'll see...

More later... hopefully later today...

My life...

Today as I remember my daughter, I also remember all the things in my life... I could start out like Snoopy... It was a dark and stormy night... but in truth, I don't know what it was like the day I was born. As with most people I don't remember it, nor do I really remember my early years. What I do remember is that when I was about twelve years old my parents split up. I remember the fighting as I lay in bed, crying, because I didn't know what was going on, the feelings of inadequacy at not being able to do anything about it, and the feelings of guilt when Dad left the house and we finally knew he wasn't coming back. The things that happened around that time are incidental because while I have only flashes of them, I remember the feelings intensely. The loss, the anger, the confusion... I know I didn't understand any of what was going on then... I only knew that people were angry or upset and I was removed from it somehow so it didn't really affect my life that much. Dad wasn't home a lot, so I didn't really miss him when he was gone, but I wanted him to want me... desperately so... and he just didn't.

I know, this could end up being a book, and perhaps someday that's what it will be, but for now I'm just writing my feelings and thoughts down. I'm sharing them through this blog for the time being because I can. I don't know if anyone else can relate, or even wants to (always my own insecurity) but if this blog helps even one person understand something in their own lives that they didn't before and helps them become a better person, it will have been worth it. I don't even know if anyone actually reads this blog but it is a place where I can express myself freely without having anyone say... it's not enough, it's too much, it's all wrong, etc. etc. etc. I guess I could say that this is the one place where I get to be me without having to consider everyone else. I've kind of done that... consider and put everyone else first although no one apparently sees it.

Okay, I grew up not thinking about others particularly. Oh, I never hurt anyone, or so I thought at the time... apparently I was hurting people all the time, but this is a source of great confusion to me... When I really look at things I don't understand why people were always upset with me... it was hard to fathom then and really hard to figure out now. My parents even took me to a Child Psychologist and to be honest I never knew why! I had to learn to be social the hard way as it just didn't come naturally for me. I preferred to sit at the back of the room and not be noticed by anyone. I was teased by my school mates, mercilessly until Junior High about Grade 8. After that I still wasn't popular by any means but the kids didn't tease me anymore. I don't remember a lot of those early years anymore... when I do it has to be triggered by something current or it just doesn't come forward. I actually at one point didn't remember anything before the age of twelve years old. It was alarming to me, but over the subsequent years things have popped up that I have tried to keep in memory.

I have been criticized my whole life for doing things "wrong". Apparently I did nothing right, not when I was at home, not when I left home, not raising my kids, nothing... Admittedly it has affected my whole life but I have worked hard over the years to overcome the idea that everything I have done or do is "wrong". It was a learning process for me that was hard for me to do. I had no idea how to be "social"... Now I know that may sound silly, but it's more than true. My friends were very close to me and tend to be that way today in fact. I had only one or two close friends growing up and that's it. I wasn't really wanted in most kids social circles because I was "different". I just don't know how I was different. Other than having social issues which actually continue to this day (meaning I still have to work at being social with people), I still have no idea why or how I'm different. I've asked around but apparently it's not something that can be put into words and so my curiosity continues unabated. I'm different, I just don't know how or why?

As I grew and learned to be social, it became apparent to me that I had to consider others and how they were feeling. I tried, really I did but it was hard to do! I really wasn't being selfish in not considering others, I just didn't know how and as I said this did not come naturally to me. Gradually I learned to "read" other people and notice little things that would give me clues to how they were feeling. This then gave me the opportunity to show them I did care about them and ask them what was wrong or just simply provide a shoulder to cry on... and I absolutely did care about the people I learned to "read", in my mind that was never as issue, I just didn't know how to go about doing it. I remember being totally confused by my sister, who was a social butterfly, and by the fact that she liked listening to contemporary music, babysitting,etc.

Oh babysitting, now there's a unique memory lane to go down. I didn't babysit that much, in fact I only remember doing it as a teenager only a few times. I simply didn't enjoy it, I didn't know what to do with the kids, I wasn't good at it. I tried a few times but in reality it just wasn't a pleasant experience for me and even though I got paid, I didn't care and just let my sister be the babysitter. In fact I had no idea what to do with the kids once I was there, I thought they should just amuse themselves and when I had to actually pay attention to them it was extremely uncomfortable. Having my own would prove to be a unique learning experience as well.

I was Eighteen years old when I had my first child, Carmen Dyanne Nord (AKA Brooks, Lybbert). I had been told by my Mom that I should be able to feed my baby with just my breastmilk and I tried, but the baby was fussy so I ended up supplementing her. I look back on that and realize that I made huge mistakes with her, but she survived. I knew nothing, literally nothing. The only thing I knew how to do was to change her diapers and give her a bath. I washed her clothes with the rest of ours, only to have someone tell me you're not supposed to do that. I couldn't figure out why but someone eventually told me that everyday laundry soap can be hard on the baby's skin as it doesn't always wash completely out of the clothes. At that point Dyanne was months old and had shown no sign of having any issues so I just continued washing her clothes with ours. I ended up being pregnant again shortly after Dyanne and gave birth to my second daughter, Tamara Lyn Nord (AKA Brooks, Kobylka). The babies were only thirteen months apart but in between the first and second one a woman who was a nurse had moved into our ward and I listened carefully as she talked about what was best for babies, how to breast feed, etc. I absorbed everything I could and when Tami was born had a significantly better idea of how to look after her. She was delightful as a child and almost never frowned because she was so happy. Where Dyanne had dark chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes, Tami had blonde curly hair and bright blue eyes. The girls were friends right from the beginning and that lasted throughout their lives.

This is to be continued...

Aaaaahhhhhh Life.....

Well, here I am at 4:30 in the morning, wondering what I'm doing awake and thinking about all the things in my life that have changed in the past year...

First, I have no kids at home with me for the first time in 40+ years. Wow, it was hard to get used to... I've always had responsibilities for kids since I was 18 years old! I raised the four oldest ones for 14 years by myself, then married a man who was progressively more and more abusive until I was suicidal and left with the youngest of the kids to raise her by myself as well. Now she lives with her sister and for the first time in 40 years I have no kids at home to raise.

The situation that left me in this condition was very traumatic for me and I was extremely depressed for quite a while. I was suicidal at one point and seriously thought about it for a few weeks. I considered taking pills and just going to sleep forever, I hurt so badly, but somehow managed to survive enough that when my friend asked me to come visit her in Ontario, I did. I packed up all my stuff, put it into storage and left. I came out here, and slowly, very slowly got my mind back. Now I have a job, a place to live with my friends, a boyfriend or fiance depending on how you look at it... and my independence.

I still have the pain, but it's not everything there is anymore. I enjoy my job, I drive a school bus for a living, I like the people I work with, I'm actually doing more creative things with my life these days and simply enjoying it. Every once in a while, I lie awake, as I did tonight, and the pain of the past catches up with me. I cringe at some of the things I've endured at the hands of my so called family, and cry when I think about my daughter who passed away last March of cancer... I weep when I think of the betrayal of my children, particularly Abbi and Krysti, and the things they have said about me to others... I know I'm not that person but I truly wonder sometimes if I could have been that bad... I don't think so, but ...

I know that there is much more to things and I hang on to my sanity with a fierceness that rivals predators in the wild, but I am much more fragile than I want to let on to people. I act really well like I'm okay when I'm dying inside, when all I want to do is lay on my bed and weep all day long. I don't, it gets old after a while and I just sleep anyway, then I want to get up and do something more interesting which I do until a wave of depression hits me again and I just want to weep again, crying for the pain in my heart, that sits on my chest like an elephant until I sleep again. I know that at one point I just wanted the pain to stop... I just wanted to go into the loving arms of my Heavenly Father to seek comfort, but somehow I managed to get thru it despite still wanting that most of the time.

I am sad right now, missing my Tami, missing my grandchildren, thinking about the fight my brother wants to have with me, thinking about what Krysti and Abbi did, crying as I write this and hoping that I will feel better in the morning when I go to work. Sometimes I am better, sometimes it's an act.

I have a boyfriend who says all the time he loves me, and he lets me have all the independence I want, doesn't criticize or complain, doesn't push me, is very sweet and yet for all my desire to want him and love him, I actually don't. I feel no desire for him and that's distressing as he's a good man and I should. He says he loves me, his kids love me, his friends think I'm okay and yet I really don't want him. He's okay to be around, I don't mind his company and I think he'd be a good friend, but I just don't feel the way he'd like me too. I am giving it some time but sometimes it's very hard to give up my time to be with him... I know, I am being fickle here, I like him... I want to want him, I just don't want him that way... but I will carry on for a while at least and see how I feel as the relationship goes on... I don't know... I guess this is a wait and see moment...

There are so many things... there are just so many things that people tell me I've done wrong... but when I look at it, I can't understand it. I do my best every day of my life, I do what I think is right, but it's confusing when everyone else tells me it's wrong... My sense of right and wrong is rather black and white, there is little grey area for me but when I do what I've been taught all my life is supposed to be good and then get criticized for it, I get very confused. I tend to stay away from people, I don't understand them and that's confusing as well... I've taught myself to read emotions over the years and I feel genuine concern for those who are hurting, I want to help them, to let them know they are not alone, but when someone else comes along I feel awkward and uncomfortable... then I leave and just don't talk to them anymore except to say Hi once in a while because I don't know if they want to talk to me anymore... that's part of what I mean when I say it's confusing... I never know if they truly want to talk to me or not. I always feel like the outsider, the black sheep, ... well, you get what I mean... I just don't fit in... and if I do, it's usually just an act...