The Last Day of Avalon
Efran Myles Vocabulary Builder Titles:
* Halloween Fire & Other Shorts – A handful of pieces of flash fiction, beginning with a creepy Halloween Fire and ending with a poisonous taste of Foxglove.
Fantasy
Of Avalon Vocabulary Builder eSeries:
* The Last Day – The last inhabitants of Avalon are ready to forever leave their island home and Melador, Aeduuard’s little brother, cannot be found. Will Aeduuard find him and bring him home before the last ship leaves the island?
* Book 2 coming soon
The Legend of Lord Randall Castle Vocabulary Builder eSeries:
* Engaging Enchantment – Captain Barwick, lifelong friend of Princess Elysant, is entrusted with the lovestruck girl’s safety on a trip to visit her betrothed. But will he be able to keep the headstrong girl safe without engaging a forbidden magic that lies dormant in his blood?
* Spellbound Souvenir – Barwick seeks the help of his princess’ betrothed and the chase begins! They lose the princess’ trail in a heavy rain and wind up spending the night with a widow and her magical son.
* Book 3 - Coming soon to print – The date is September 11, 2001 and all the castle’s residents have been called to the Great Hall for a special meeting. A devastating attack on one side of the veil is believed to be the beginning of prophesy’s realization. Tonight, there is work to be done in preparation for foretold events. But first, the Keeper must recall the memory of the castle’s legend.
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Read about the inspiration for the Vocabulary Builder stories, find word lists and titles, be alerted to the publication of new titles, leave comments, etc.
https://vocabularybuilderstories.wordpress.com/
Contents
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Map
The Last Day
Preview Engaging Enchantment
Of Avalon, vol. 1
The Last Day
By Efran Myles
A companion to The Legend of Lord Randall Castle eSeries.
Copyright 2015 © Elizabeth W. Durkee, Efran Myles
All Rights Reserved.
License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover design by Franny Barazarte.
Map
The Last Day
This is the story of how a druid named Melador, who was known in his adult life as the eyes and ears of Saint Mary, came with his family to live on the Scilleian isle. It is also the truth behind how his older brother was believed to be lost on a foolhardy quest after a false legend, the legend of Lord Randall Castle...
Before the rending apart of science from enchantment, the island of Avalon was sinking for more than a thousand years. This was due in large part to the discord between physics and magic in the druid stone (known to scientists as Musgravite) which ran through the core of the island’s sole mountain.
Through the generations, Avalon’s druid inhabitants progressively migrated away from their homeland to new homes on the larger landmasses of Albion, Hibernia and other parts of Europe. They moved in villages as Avalon’s shores receded into sea water on its slow climb toward the temple atop Avalon’s mountain – the temple in which King Arthur rests to this very day.
To this same temple, a wizard by the name of Lord Randall came to study the art of magic in all its forms and transcribe the druids’ many books on the subject, for druid priests were known to be the world’s foremost masters of magic. In exchange for sharing their coveted magical knowledge with him, he promised Avalon’s protectors, the dragon lords, a new home.
He commissioned them to bring dwarves from his homeland in the Albion highlands to mine Avalon’s mountain for druid stone. The excavated stone was then cut into blocks, enchanted with a powerful spell of forgetting and sent to Lord Randall’s family lands, where it was laid by the dragons transporting it into a castle like none the world had ever seen.
At the end of this age, when rising water touched the gates of the last inhabited village, the final stones of the castle were set. The dragon lords then went with Lord Randall and the descendants of his dwarf allies (for dwarves are created of the substance of magic so are unaffected by the life prolonging properties of druid stone) to their new home.
Before they moved their attentions to the magical affairs of Albion, the dragon lords made sure all their druid kindred were safely away from their ancestral home. All, that is, except the few priests who remained to tend the temple and the dormant king.
When the final departure day arrived and the last ship was about to be boarded, there were but two dragon lords present. However there were three dragons. Two were the mounts of their lords. The other had come to transport the last apprentices of the age. Their names were Thored and Aeduuard, and they were both sons of high priests.
The young men had resolved to become dragon lord apprentices as soon as their families were safely off the island. They wanted to see their loved ones embark on the voyage to new homes in Normandy. It was the last they would see of their loved ones until their apprenticeships were complete. It was also the last their loved ones would remember ever seeing them, for the spell of forgetting had also been cast over the dragon lords’ rings of station.
On this last day in the season of Avalon, Thored and Aeduuard were supposed to be helping their respective families. But they were so excited about their upcoming adventure that all they seemed able to do was chat with each other via magical communications. A touch to an amulet each wore around his neck and a simple spell gave them the means to speak to each other across any distance – as long as they stayed away from large deposits of uncut Musgravite.
Whereas properly faceted Musgravite helped to direct and amplify magic, the uncut stone created a field of interference for spells cast nearby it. This meant magic was rendered ineffective anywhere near the mountain. That is, except at its pinnacle. The shape of the mountain itself focused a field of magic there. This was the major reason the temple was located at its top. It was also the reason Brisen, Aeduuard’s mother, was unable to contact her youngest child when she tried to call him home to get ready to leave for the ship. He was at the mountain.
The boy, 13 years old, had left when she was not looking and was not answering her call. She knew that meant he had either taken off his druid stone amulet, which was highly unlikely, or he was near the mountain. Too busy to search for the youth, she interrupted Aeduuard’s conversation with his friend to ask for help.
“Aeduuard,” she called out of her kitchen window.
A broad-shouldered young man with light blond hair looked up from the fire he was poking. Several fishes lain over racks above the smoking pit, he looked to be in process of putting out the flames.
“Yes, Mother?” he answered.
“Come here for a minute,” she directed.
Turning away from her momentarily, he spoke into the air, “I’ve got to go. My mother wants me.” There was a brief pause before he spoke again, “I don’t know. I’ll call you back later.”
Turning back to her, he asked, “I’m almost done smoking these fishes for your journey. What do you need?”
“It is time to leave but your brother isn’t answering me,” she stated, with a note of irritated urgency evident in her voice. “My guess is that he went to th
e temple steps to wait for your father, but I’m not sure. I’ll have your sister finish the fishes. Will you go find Melador?”
Aeduuard frowned. It was unlike his brother to evade their mother’s call, he evaluated. Melador was laid-back, but he was not irresponsible and he was mindful that being punctual in boarding the ship was imperative for his family. It was the last leaving Avalon and it would sail when the tide was right. It could not wait. By the same token, the youth did love to fish and had seen Aeduuard smoking some for the journey. Perhaps he had gone fishing and let time get away from him.
Aeduuard surmised aloud, “He’s probably just fishing. Here. Let me try.”
Brisen tightened her lips. As a tenured priestess in her own right, she knew that Aeduuard would not be able to affect a spell that she could not. It was insulting that he thought he could, but she was not going to rebuke him or even stop him from trying. In fact, it might be amusing to watch the young dragon lord-to-be fail at the spell. Folding her arms across her chest, she waited as he tried to work it.
He lifted his left hand and touched the amulet dangling around his neck. Then he commanded, in a voice as authoritative as he could muster, “Melador, labhairt liom.” His amulet’s stone glowed briefly white, then faded back to its usual light blue.
A small furrow developed between his eyebrows. He tried again, this time wrapping his whole hand around the amulet as if to compel it to work. “Melador,