All right...so hi again you readers! This story is the third in its series, the first being "The Gifts of a Dragon," and the second being "A Figure in the Shadows."
So there are a lot of characters not in the series (to understand who they are you should at least read the Figure in the Shadows) namely the children of Merlin and Freya, Gwen and Arthur, and Morgana and Lancelot. The main character is Ania, the oldest daughter of Merlin and Freya, who is now seventeen.
So...Enjoy "The Dragonlord's Daughter!"
It was a late summer day in Camelot.
All was quite the same as it was twelve years ago. Without the kingdom, there is a forest; within the kingdom there is a town. Within the town, there is a palace; and within the palace reside certain people with whom we are very familiar...
"Ania!"
Silence.
"Ania!"
No sound.
Freya Linden sighed. Ever since her daughter, Ania, had turned fifteen, she often wandered far from her mother's hearing, even though she had been told often not to do so. But she allowed her lips to turn up in a smile; for with it all, she was so proud of Ania. Her brave and daring Ania, who would spar with the boys in the courtyard and run high risks to rescue whatever and whomever might need it; her naive and foolish Ania who the younger children, especially Sunne and Gorlois, often played tricks on; her tender and loving Ania who had stayed up endless nights to nurse her younger sister Mariel back to health after even Freya's brews did not do much good...
Downstairs, another mother was having the same thoughts.
"YGRAINE!"
No answer.
"YGRAINE ELWYNE PENDRAGON! YOU ANSWER ME THIS MOMENT!"
No answer.
Guinevere Pendragon, Queen of Camelot, sighed in despair. She had three children; Ygraine, who was sixteen; Tom, who was thirteen, and Laurel, who was eight years old. Ygraine was one of the most beautiful girls who had ever graced the streets of Camelot; tall and slender with long golden curls, wide, clear blue eyes, a good figure (which her mother was proud of, being slightly plump now) and a beautiful voice which did not manifest itself until Ygraine sang.
But, like Ania, Ygraine had been told to stay within calling range of the palace. Also like Ania, she very often disobeyed and ventured further.
In a tower on the west side of the castle, Merlin Ambrosius, the Court Sorcerer, was hard at work. He was developing a new spell which helped deter mice from eating grain stored in barns and cellars. He had made several over the years and had often been assisted by his daughter Ania. However, they wore out over time and often had to be replaced with stronger ones.
He heard a voice at the door.
"Father! Father!" He laid down his tools and went to the outer room, where at the door he saw Ania, flushed and panting, her glossy black hair tumbled loose from the rough bun it was always pulled into. As she saw him a smile split her face. "There is a ball tonight...in the village. May I go, Father?"
Merlin laughed. "That's a question to ask Mother, chickabid," he said. "But I don't see any reason why you should not go. Who told you about it?"
"Why, Sunne did," said Ania.
"She's been hard at work spying on the preparations, because Morgana has forbidden the ball to both her and Gorlois," said Merlin. "Well, you may go if Ygraine goes too. Unless you want me to come with you?"
"It's a masked ball, Father!" said Ania with a grin. "I want to see if anybody will know me in a mask."
"I see," said Merlin, smiling. "All right. Your mother's in the throne room-go find her there." Ania ran off and Merlin looked after her wondering how the last seventeen years had passed so quickly. It had seemed such a short time since the chubby, roly-poly baby Ania had been learning to walk...how skinny and strong four-year-old Ania raced Arthur on her horse around the village...how ten-year-old Ania had shrieked when Sunne had left (yet another) mouse beneath her chair...
Yes, years passed too quickly when you were a parent.
"Daddy?" came a small voice from inside. He went inside and found nine-year-old Mariel and six-year-old Gaheris sitting inside. Gaheris was puzzling over his lessons and Mariel was sweetly unconscious of all that went on around her, so absorbed was she in the book she had.
"Yes, little herring?" Most of the family called Gaheris "Herring" because of the way Morgana's son Kveth had mispronounced his name when he was a baby. Some might have found it an offensive name, but small Gaheris was perfectly happy to go by Herring.
"Daddy, I don't know what this word means," said Gaheris. "Cir-cum-stan-ces."
"Well, it means the situation you're in," explained Merlin. "Do either of you want to go and see the preparations for the masked ball to-night? You know you can't go, but you can go with Sunne and Gorlois and watch the things being put up."
"Yes! yes!" chorused the two, and then ran past him to the lesson-room where Sunne and Gorlois had their lessons.
And Ania and Ygraine were filled with the excitement which comes to girls everywhere on the night of their first ball.