Blurb:
Zaree Muna would follow her brother Tasis anywhere, but she never imagined that path to lead where it has. After Tasis and his familiar fall under a magical sleep from which no one can wake them, she and her party prepare to face the mad king of Archai without him. They don’t expect the journey to lead to the Maker herself, who predicts three deaths will occur as the battle to save their world from Archai and a jealous god nears. Two of those deaths will be loved ones, and if things go wrong, the third death could spell the end of everything.
But no one ever accused Zaree of being a coward, and as she and the others go into battle to save what Tasis has rebuilt, she is ready to laugh in the face of death. The thousand-year wait is over, and none of them will accept anything less than triumph.
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“Write me a story with a dragon.”
You never think that a single sentence could change things so drastically. Or at least I don’t. But in 2007, when I decided to participate in this thing I’d heard of called NaNoWriMo, that’s exactly what my grandmother told me when I called her to tell her I had no idea what kind of story to write.
So I wrote her a story with a dragon. That was in 2007, mind you, and the original iteration of Tasis’ story was only one book long and badly written in places. Especially the ending. The ending was horrible. But I was lucky enough to have a chance to fix that, to expand my fictional world into an entire universe.
And hey… I wrote a story with a dragon for you. I hope you like it.
You can follow along with the blog tour at http://andivan.com/magic-triumphed-blog-tour. Since the dragons are what started this whole mess (both in reality and in the story), it’s the dragons I’ll be talking about for most of the tour. Keep your eyes peeled for a random giveaway or two!
I know you shouldn’t play favorites, but Yldost is probably my favorite of the dragons, based purely on their personality. Yldost (I pronounce it “EEL-dohst”, for those wondering) is kind of a special kitten. They’ve been locked away from what may as well be a literal eternity, so they’re…awkward. Speech patterns and mannerisms have changed in the time since they were first imprisoned, so they don’t speak quite right by the younger character’s standards. And while I don’t really touch on it as much as I would have liked, they were absolutely affected by their eons of solitary confinement. It left them changed, and I imagine they’ll need a therapist at some point. (I’ve already pointed out that magic can’t solve all the world’s problems, so, yeah. Therapy for the breathing feather duster.) But they’re also perfectly willing to do silly things like sit in the middle of a pie to get at the filling.
When they’re in good health, they’re covered in blue and white feathers. Think archaeopteryx, but with functional front legs and more lizard than bird. (If you’re not sure what an archaeopteryx is, it’s a small winged dinosaur whose fossils show clear evidence of feathers. Modern guesses have it looking kind of like a very angry chicken. Can you tell I wanted to be a paleontologist when I grew up?)
Yldost’s gender is also ambiguous. Originally I was planning on having their biological sex shift randomly through the books, but they apparently didn’t like that idea. Given my own gender identity, I was okay with that. It worked out. Yldost is Yldost, and that’s all that matters.
***
Yldost tilted their head to one side speculatively, and Zaree found herself smiling. Who would have thought an unfathomably ancient creature could be so adorable? “I will eat,” Yldost said. “And then I will go with you to visit my brother. I wish to hear of your dream, but if it was disturbing, I do not wish for you to have to tell the story more than necessary. After that, I may see if I’m finally strong enough to change my size.”
Zaree stroked the side of Yldost’s face, earning her a happy trill as the dragon nuzzled into her touch. “I’ll be glad if you’re healthy again, but I’ll also be sad that you won’t be so tiny anymore,” she admitted. “You’re rather cute like this.”
Yldost snorted. “Cute,” they muttered before peeking up at Zaree. “You really think so?”
Zaree’s smile broadened, and she nodded. “I do,” she confirmed. “But I also understand it’s best for you to be able to change your size when you need to.”
“And my form,” Yldost said with a nod. “But if I can change my size, I can also likely change my form.”
Firea turned from whatever she was doing at the stove to give Yldost a curious look. “You have another form? You never mentioned.”
“All dragons have a second form,” Yldost said. “You’ve never seen Vashk’s?” The dragon went quiet, tilting their head as they considered the situation. “I suppose that makes sense. He finds his other form somewhat embarrassing.”
Zaree stared at Yldost, trying to figure out what could possibly embarrass their massive, water-dwelling brother, and wondering if it would be rude to ask. After a moment’s thought, she decided it probably would be. And while she had no problem letting her mouth run away from her, the thought of hurting Vashk was somehow more upsetting than the thought of kicking puppies. And that thought was pretty damn upsetting. Instead, she ran a gentle finger along the sheaths protecting Yldost’s still-growing feathers. The dragon made a funny little trilling sound and Zaree paused. “Sorry, did that hurt?”
“It tickled,” Yldost admitted.
Andi Van is a foul-mouthed troublemaker who lives near San Diego with a baseball bat that’s forever being used for things other than baseball, and a fondness for rum and caffeine (though not necessarily together).
Andi is fluent in three languages (English, sarcasm, and profanity), and takes pride in a highly developed—if somewhat bizarre—sense of humor.
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