{"id":1708,"date":"2014-04-02T07:55:35","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T14:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2014-04-02T07:55:35","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T14:55:35","slug":"henrietta-and-the-dragon-stone-by-beth-barany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2014\/04\/02\/henrietta-and-the-dragon-stone-by-beth-barany\/","title":{"rendered":"Henrietta and the Dragon Stone by Beth Barany"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"henrietta\"<\/a>Henrietta and the Dragon Stone<\/a><\/em> is a new story of young adult epic fantasy adventure by award-winning author, Beth Barany. Book 2 in The Five Kingdoms<\/em> series of the continuing adventures of Henrietta The Dragon Slayer<\/a><\/em>. What if everyone you loved was threatened by a force you couldn’t see or fight? Henrietta the legendary dragon slayer wants to return to her village for a heroes\u2019 welcome. But an unknown sorcerer rides after her and her Dragon Stone and aims to destroy everyone she cares about. Can she claim her newfound powers sparked by the Dragon Stone and keep her loved ones safe, or will the sorcerer destroy everyone and everything she loves?<\/p>\n

Download Henrietta and the Dragon Stone<\/a><\/em>\u00a0at\u00a0Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0Barnes & Noble<\/a>,\u00a0Smashwords<\/a>,\u00a0Kobo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0iTunes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Excerpt<\/h4>\n
Chapter One: In His Grasp<\/h5>\n

The Dracontias, dra-con-ti-as, emphasis on the second syllable, is the most powerful gem in all the Five Kingdoms, and more powerful than all the other so-called Kingdom Stones. This one and only Dragon Stone unifies the kingdoms and empowers its user. But beware its one fatal flaw.<\/p>\n

\u2014from the\u00a0Fire Wizards Compendium<\/p>\n

Early Winter New Moon (Mitte Moon), Oro Islands, One of the Five Kingdoms<\/p>\n

King Singfan sucked in a breath, stretched the crossbow, and held it steady, tracking the beast.<\/p>\n

Time was of the essence. If he didn\u2019t kill this dragon and obtain the Dragon Stone on the great dragon\u2019s forehead, he\u2019d have to start all over again. Unthinkable. Impossible.<\/p>\n

He had to renew this king\u2019s body during this night, while the stars were aligned just so, and the moon hung below the horizon.<\/p>\n

The girl Dragon Slayer, that Henrietta, was performing exactly as he\u2019d expected. She\u2019d taken the proffered reward and given him the secret dragon lore, confirming what he needed to know. She crouched nearby, ready to do his bidding.<\/p>\n

King Singfan breathed out, steadying his aim, and smiled.<\/p>\n

Inside of him, Bjirn Eyvindir smiled, too, at Singfan\u2019s glee. Hidden to everyone, Eyvindir had occupied the body of King Singfan for seventy-five years, a long king\u2019s rule\u2014longer than anyone on the Oro Islands could remember. If they did remember the length of King Singfan\u2019s reign, Eyvindir by King Singfan\u2019s hand had made sure they didn\u2019t remember for long, and didn\u2019t remember anything ever again.<\/p>\n

King Singfan had given him free reign to run his magic through the man and control his every move. The man was his best and most perfect servant. Eyvindir wasn\u2019t going to end the arrangement anytime soon. He\u2019d planned this renewal too long for the moment to go awry.<\/p>\n

The dragon hovered above the enormous cave floor about to settle, its scales flickering and iridescent in the torchlight. King Singfan held his breath, steadying his strong stance and perfect aim. He readied the powerful crossbow.<\/p>\n

Before he could loose the arrow, Henrietta yelled \u201cYou can\u2019t!\u201d and shoved him to the hard-packed ground.<\/p>\n

The dragon slayer pinned his arms against his torso with her legs, heavy on his chest. He struggled beneath her weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you!\u201d he snarled. \u201cWe had an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

How had she slipped past his guard?<\/p>\n

With every second that ticked by, he felt his power draining from him like water down the drain, no doubt shifting his appearance. But his voice held strong and loud. He gathered courage in that. There was still time to kill the dragon and obtain the Dragon Stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t let you!\u201d she shouted, glaring down at him.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, her friends appeared at her side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s this?\u201d the injured bard, Jaxter, asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe king,\u201d Henrietta growled.<\/p>\n

Little did she know who she was truly up against.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you!\u201d Eyvindir protested again.<\/p>\n

But his voice sounded strange. Gurgles, high-pitched clicks and garbled words were all that he could manage.<\/p>\n

How did the dragon slayer\u2019s friends arrive at the cave? He\u2019d left them under guard at the castle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagics! I don\u2019t trust my eyes. Franc?\u201d the dragon slayer shouted, as if she were yelling right into his ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not ever seen this old man before, but I have heard whispered tales,\u201d Franc, the knight, said. \u201cWhat is he saying?\u201d The knight he\u2019d sent to retrieve the dragon slayer, crossed his arms, and frowned down at him. The betrayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, but we have no time for tales.\u201d Henrietta bound the king\u2019s wrists and ankles together with a rough rope.<\/p>\n

He wriggled, but to no avail. Something sharp stabbed his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t move!\u201d Henrietta barked.<\/p>\n

Eyvindir glared at her, through King Singfan\u2019s eyes, furious and unable to move his body, his faculty for speech gone. How dare she! He\u2019d miscalculated the girl slayer. He\u2019d waited too long to act. Frantic, he reached in his mind for his power, but it was too late.<\/p>\n

The moment when the moon was just so, right below the horizon, was gone. The shine of the rising moon grew brighter.<\/p>\n

The dragon spun to settle, flapping its wings. He\u2019d missed his moment. Torches lay on the ground where his cowardly men had fled. The dragon slayer\u2019s friends had had a hand in that, no doubt, yet he\u2019d dismissed them as weak. Another mistake. How could he have so miscalculated? He brushed the thought aside. He didn\u2019t make mistakes. He drew strength from that knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t get away with this!\u201d the king hissed and spat, his voice fully recovered. \u201cThe dragon must die, or the Five Kingdoms die. The Oro Islands Kingdom is the first kingdom and must be renewed!\u201d<\/p>\n

The dragon slayer frowned, confusion and panic written on her face. Good. He drew more strength from her fear and uncertainty. He may be still tied up, but that state couldn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n

She turned to her friends. \u201cFranc, Jaxter, is this true?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhispers only,\u201d the knight said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d the bard said. He leaned on his staff for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean, you don\u2019t know?\u201d the dragon slayer said and clenched her fists. Her heart revved up a notch.<\/p>\n

Eyvindir chuckled.<\/p>\n

Her panic rippled off her in delicious waves. Excellent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t ask for this responsibility! I don\u2019t want this responsibility!\u201d the dragon slayer cried.<\/p>\n

The bard coughed and struggled for breath, leaning heavily on his staff. Most excellent.<\/p>\n

Eyvindir pulled power from the skinny young bard\u2019s weakness and from the dragon slayer\u2019s doubts.<\/p>\n

The weakened bard managed to speak. \u201cIt\u2019s been so long, the story\u2019s been told many different ways, but one of the legends says that the dragon must pass every peak of the wave, at the emptiness of the moon, in the year of the waning ruler, by the hand of a dual heart awakened, bounded on all four points.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what does that mean?\u201d the dragon slayer yelled over a loud hum, her panic at a near-fever pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d the bard shouted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me all this before?\u201d the dragon slayer said, her voice high-pitched, frantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never asked,\u201d the bard replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you knew who I was facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legend doesn\u2019t say the name of the dragon. I just realized who it meant.\u201d The bard hung on to his staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut still you should have told me! You know all the tales.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dragon slayer sounded at wits end. She was weakening. Perfect. He sucked in more of her fear as sustenance to rebuild his strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should have asked!\u201d the bard said again. \u201cBesides I thought you knew them as well as I did! What is wrong with you? This is what you do, save people and kingdoms from dragons!\u201d Jaxter coughed.<\/p>\n

Eyvindir reveled in the bard\u2019s increasing weakness and in the argument brewing.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop! We don\u2019t have the time to argue!\u201d the fire girl, Paulette, yelled. The sneak somehow saw through his facade back at the castle. She would not last a day under his new reign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d the dragon slayer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dragon is changing,\u201d the knight said.<\/p>\n

The beast\u2019s crystal scales shifted through the primary color spectrum. A second dragon arose from the first, consisting only of a matrix of rainbow light.<\/p>\n

Eyvindir would regain the upper hand. He drew ever more strength from everyone\u2019s confusion and fear. Clarity blossomed anew. The moon wouldn\u2019t rise for another hour. He still had time. The dragon slayer\u2019s surprise betrayal would delay him no more.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to kill it before it disappears for another millennia!\u201d Eyvindir yelled, his strength growing from their pain. He could wriggle in the ropes. Soon his power would reawaken and then he would easily break his flimsy bonds. \u201cYou must! I command it!\u201d But his last words were drowned out of his own hearing by a roar from the beast.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up!\u201d the dragon slayer managed to shout over the din.<\/p>\n

How was she able to do that when he couldn\u2019t even hear himself? He yanked the ropes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s right, or something like it has to happen every millennia so the dragon can come back,\u201d the bard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d the dragon slayer said, her voice hoarse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean \u2018you can\u2019t\u2019?\u201d the bard asked. \u201cYou are the Dragon Slayer!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d The dragon slayer\u2019s cheeks were wet. Splendid! Her life force was depleting.<\/p>\n

Any moment now he\u2019d be renewed and free. He used all his years of experience to yank her life force from her. She had to obey him. All his plans rested on her demise, now that he\u2019d taken what he needed from her.<\/p>\n

The dragon nudged the dragon slayer with its large head. The dragon slayer stumbled back. She was weakening. The beast nodded slowly, its Dragon Stone glowing green then red on its forehead.<\/p>\n

Was the beast communicating with the dragon slayer? Couldn\u2019t be. The beast was for him only. Power flooded through him hot and molten, anger strengthening him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDragon slayer, you must kill it,\u201d Eyvindir shouted. \u201cThe fate of the island is in your hands. The fate of the whole Five Kingdoms!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJaxter?\u201d the dragon slayer turned to the bard as if to confirm his words.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may be right. Do you trust me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of question is that?\u201d the dragon slayer asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cA question that demands an answer,\u201d the bard said in a voice so soft Eyvindir wasn\u2019t sure he heard correctly.<\/p>\n

He glared at the stupid dragon slayer. How could he have miscalculated? He\u2019d planned for every contingency. Nowhere had he predicted that the dragon slayer would be strengthened by the new web of connections around her, her pesky friends. She was a loner. That was to be her downfall. He\u2019d made sure of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do I need to do?\u201d the dragon slayer asked. Her friends must have answered because after a pause she said, \u201cI need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Damn the old gods and all the lore of his people.<\/p>\n

The dragon slayer barked an order cutting through his curse. \u201cPaulette, get to the dragon\u2019s tail. You\u2019re fire. On my mark!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d The fire girl shouted too close. She hovered over him. \u201cAnd leave him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can\u2019t do anything. Go! Time fades, and so does he,\u201d the dragon slayer ordered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must not! The Dragon Stone is mine!\u201d But his words croaked out in sputter. He felt more than saw the new moon rising and his life-force, his prana, ebbing out of this body.<\/p>\n

The King Singfan identity, his soul, had been quiet, letting him take command. Eyvindir rallied King Singfan\u2019s soul to lend him strength.<\/p>\n

The dragon\u2019s hum deepened and filled the cavern with a low vibrato. It flapped higher and brightened, both the dragon of light and the real dragon. Its scales shot sparks, which exploded against the cavern walls. Two dragons melded into light, too bright to peer at directly. Fire and wind swirled into a funnel and exploded into a white light and blinding bang.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d He shouted, but he couldn\u2019t hear his own voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t stop!\u201d the dragon slayer yelled above the storm.<\/p>\n

From all directions, explosions like a fireworks hammered him. Bound as he was, he managed to bend double to guard against the pain, but his efforts were useless. His skin crawled as if ants wriggled under his skin. Pain pierced all layers of his being\u2014both the body and the magics layers.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u201d Eyvindir tried to yell, but it came out like a series of croaks. No, it couldn\u2019t be. He couldn\u2019t move his body.<\/p>\n

Then in breath, he lost all sense of feeling. Impossible.<\/p>\n

He was able to sense his life force being jettisoned out of his body and into the night sky, on its way back to where his actual body rested inert in his fortress far to the north and east. Through his cloud of shock, from his vantage point in the sky far above, he spied his body, actually the body of King Singfan who had ruled the Oro Islands for over seventy-five years, burst into flames. He felt nothing. He was frozen in shock. The male body that had been the Oro king\u2019s was now cinders, a miniscule pile of ash.<\/p>\n

Panic almost scattered his prana into a million trillion irretrievable bits. Only his mighty skill as the oldest living sorcerer saved him. He\u2019d heard rumors of such things. But no, he could not die. Unacceptable. He mustered his focus. His actual ancient body existed within reach.<\/p>\n

He focused on his prana, a faint thread of light, a line leading in a northeasterly direction, through the clouds, across the sea, to his obsidian mountain enclave. He didn\u2019t follow the thread to nestle in his sleeping form in that cold room. Not just yet. To do that would admit defeat. He would not let an upstart dragon slayer ruin his plans.<\/p>\n

But she had. He had wits enough to admit that.<\/p>\n

For a moment he burned white hot with rage and felt an unbearable pain sear his energy body. His anger, intricate and quite useful, connected to his identity, his soul. But now his anger was burning his life force, his prana connection, to the only body he now had.<\/p>\n

He brought his attention back to the island city of Plumaria and hovered over it. He quickly allowed dirty white cloud particulates to drench his rage. He had to focus. He had to retrieve the remnants of power from that flimsy old pile of dust that had been the Oro king. He had to find another body to use and fast. Before she got away with the Dracontias, the precious one and only Dragon Stone.<\/p>\n

The search for and habitation of a suitable body only took him an entire day, but he finally accomplished his task. Withdrawing his powers from the dust pile, he spied the body he needed in the Plumaria castle\u2019s sick room. His low simmering fury and tenacity built up over three centuries of scheming had made him strong. With his powerful focus, he propped up the dying soul, revived it, and pushed his will and identity into the young man\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

In a breath, he healed the youngling\u2019s body to temporary vibrancy. The body wouldn\u2019t last, so he had to hurry. There was not the time to pick a more robust body. That took preparation, study, and careful calculations. He didn\u2019t have the time for that. He had to get back what was rightfully his.<\/p>\n

Once more in control of a vibrant body and pliable identity, he followed the rumors of the slayer\u2019s departure all the way to the piers. That she-slayer was supposed to do his bidding. Failure hadn\u2019t been an option. Perhaps seventy-five years in the Oro king\u2019s body had made him sloppy and dulled his normally exceptionally high acuity and brilliance.<\/p>\n

His complacency must have been how she had tricked him, how she\u2019d deceived and betrayed him. He hadn\u2019t been blindsided by a female since his sister had stolen the royal crown from him over a century ago.<\/p>\n

Never mind the mistakes of the past. This dragon slayer, this Henrietta, had destroyed his ambition to rule over the Oro Islands for the next one hundred years and beyond. In that time he had planned to seize control of the other four kingdoms using the might of the Dragon Stone, combined with the other four kingdom\u2019s crystals and stones he\u2019d meticulously collected over the centuries. His life\u2019s calling entailed ruling over all the Five Kingdoms. No one was going to come between him and his destiny again.<\/p>\n

She would pay for ruining his plans.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d end this before she ever left the city of Plumaria. The child-woman, Henri Etta, was no match for him. He couldn\u2019t be destroyed that easily.<\/p>\n

He directed his new body through the marketplace, causing havoc. Then he rushed up the pier and delighted in the feel of youth in his limbs. A crazy thought flitted through his mind\u2014that of the faraway and long ago carefree youth he once was who\u2019d loved the freedom of birds and spent hours watching them in flight.<\/p>\n

Then he saw her, waving and nodding to the peons who thought she\u2019d liberated them. He swatted away memories of his flimsy faraway past. His pace quickened. She could not take his dream away. No one could, especially no woman. He was to have complete control of all the Five Kingdoms.<\/p>\n

Once he had the last object of power, his plans would click into place.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d taken the most powerful gem in all the Five Kingdoms from him, and she would pay. With her life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To keep reading, download\u00a0Henrietta and the Dragon Stone<\/a><\/em>\u00a0at\u00a0Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0Barnes & Noble<\/a>,\u00a0Smashwords<\/a>,\u00a0Kobo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0iTunes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find more from Beth on her website<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and Goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henrietta and the Dragon Stone is a new story of young adult epic fantasy adventure by award-winning author, Beth Barany. Book 2 in The Five Kingdoms series of the continuing adventures of Henrietta The Dragon Slayer. What if everyone you loved was threatened by a force you couldn’t see or fight? Henrietta the legendary dragon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,162,177],"tags":[635,640,642,730],"class_list":["post-1708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-excerpt","category-excerpts","category-fantasy","tag-epic-fantasy","tag-fairy-tale","tag-fantasy","tag-ya"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}