This book is the second in the Dragon Train series. It begins two years after the events of Dragon Train.
It is an original take on dragons. There was, many years before, a war between dragons and humans. The humans won and enslaved the dragons, treating them badly and making them pull their trains.
The humans–most of them–are unaware that dragons are intelligent and can speak to each other through telepathy.
Story.
Jaidon is visited by the Dragon, Skye, whom he rescued from the dragon train along with her mate and three youngsters. She wants his help in freeing the dragons from slavery.
Jaidon goes with her to where the free dragons live–a less than hospitable place, where he is enlisted to help.
I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave it there.
Characters.
Jaidon is a believable character. He has problems with his father, as many teenagers do, but he is loyal in his determination that the dragons should not be enslaved. He is likeable and brave, too.
The dragons all have different personalities. Skye seems to look on Jaidon as one of her own children and there are occasions when he thinks she is behaving like a mother. Her mate is not quite as certain of Jaidon as Skye, but is willing to trust him, in order to gain dragonkind’s freedom.
And there is one very scary dragon who has never been enslaved. He is a huge blue called Helmut. He has his doubts about Jaidon, but decides that he has to trust him, but only up to a point.
Writing.
RJ draws a clear picture of the dragons and their situation. He makes us feel sympathy for them. I think there is just enough description of the surroundings for us to be able to envisage it.
He certainly makes Helmut scary!
There were not many typos, although I did notice a few, but the grammar and punctuation were flawless.
Do you enjoy teen stories?I know quite a lot of adults do!Let us know in the comments.
I really love dragons, and have them in most of my fantasy books to date. If you would like to read about my dragons, click on the covers in the sidebar. They are available in all formats and from many platforms.
You can also buy merchandise related to the books by visiting
I am at the first edit of Book 4 of The Wolves of Vimar. It’s called Immortal’s Death. Once it’s gone through this edit, I’ll send it to critique partners to see what they make of it.
It will be some time yet before it’s ready to go to my publisher, though, but I would like to tell you a bit about one of my favourite characters.
This character began as a surprise in Book 1, The Wolf Pack. He helped the group known as Wolf to escape from capture by a band of hobgoblins. Then he disappeared until the end of book 3, making a brief appearance.
However, this character was not going to be left out. He did not want a bit-part, and so in this book he has quite an important role.
Who is he? I hear you ask.
Well, he’s not human, elf or dwarf. In fact he’s a small relative of dragons. He and his like are called dragonets, and he is called Muldee.
A dragonet looks to all intents and purposes like a small dragon. In fact, the members of Wolf though he and his siblings were baby dragons, until he put them right.
Dragonets, unlike real dragons, have iridescent scales. Real dragons have scales of a particular colour, but those of dragonets shimmer in blue, red, green, purple, yellow, white, you name it and you’ll see it there.
They cannot breathe fire or acid or anything else, like real dragons, nor are they magical, but they do have one talent.
Psionics.
Dragonets are telepathic, and also have a slight telekinesis ability. They can send what they call a ‘mindblast’ into the brain of another creature. They use this for capturing their prey, but it is insufficient to kill a large creature. If they want to kill or seriously harm something larger than a cat, a group of them will band together and use a co-ordinated mind blast.
A single dragonet is capable of giving a large creature a very nasty headache, though.
So much for the background. I’m going to leave more about Muldee for another post, probably next week. He’s quite a character. I’m sure you will like him.
I wrote this story in response to a picture prompt, but I’ve lost the picture, and can’t remember who posted it.
The picture showed awizard standing on a rock in the mountains, and a dragon breathing fire towards him. this is the story I wrote.
I have considered the possibility of expanding it into a novel or novella. I like the title, and think it’s too good to waste! What do you think of the idea? Let me know in the comments box, please.
The Promises of Dragons
It suddenly appeared one day and took a cow from the field.
A week later, dark wings blotted out the summer sun. The farmer looked up and saw an enormous shape gliding overhead. A dragon! He watched, cowering behind a large tree.
The dragon swooped down and carried off another cow.
As soon as the creature disappeared towards the distant mountains he ran as fast as he could to his home.
“What? You say a dragon is stealing our cows?” His wife was incredulous. “They‘re supposed to be extinct, aren’t they?”
“It was a dragon. A huge beast with horns on its head, leathery wings and reddish-brown scales. It was a dragon for sure.”
“Then you must go and tell the village council. They must do something about it. We can’t have dragons taking all our cows,” his wife exclaimed.
“I’m not sure they’ll believe me. Anyway, what can they do?”
“Nevertheless you must go. Leave straight after we’ve eaten. I can see to things here until you get back.”
The farmer strode resolutely into the village that afternoon and made for the home of the leader of the council. When he heard the farmer’s tale, he called an emergency council meeting.
Once all the council members were assembled he turned to the farmer. “Now tell the council what you told me.”
The farmer bowed to the council. “A dragon has been stealing my cows. I’ve lost three over the last three weeks. At first, I thought is was rustlers, although I did wonder why they were taking them one at a time.”
“It could have been a wolf pack, or some other predator.” The leader of the council looked around his colleagues and grinned.
“No. I thought that at first.” The farmer shook his head “But in that case there should have been blood and bones at the very least. The cows just vanished without a trace.”
“Did you search for remains?” one councillor asked.
The farmer nodded. “ I looked everywhere. There was nothing. Then I decided to wait near the field where I keep the cows. It was then I saw the dragon.”
“You are certain you saw a dragon? Most experts say they’re extinct,” the leader of the council said.
“It was a dragon. I can’t be mistaken about that!”
Another councillor asked, “It was in the sky, against the sun. Could it have been a cloud?”
“And clouds swoop down and steal cattle?”
The members of the council asked more questions but eventually they were convinced–at least enough of them to agree to send a troop of volunteer guardsmen to investigate, and to kill the beast, if it turned out it were truly a dragon.
Two days later the volunteers set off to track down the mythical beast. They crossed the plain towards the mountains in the direction the farmer told the council the dragon had gone. It took a full day to get to the base of the mountains and they made camp when they arrived. The men were in good spirits. Searching for an extinct creature was a bit of a lark. They were mostly young men who volunteered and not one of them believed the story the farmer had told.
“An old man, going senile and seeing things,” one said.
“Or perhaps his eyes are going. It must have been a cloud. I’ve seen clouds in the shape of all sorts of things,” another said.
“What about the cows that vanished?” asked a third.
“Rustlers, as the old man suggested himself,” the first volunteer told him.
They all laughed at the foolishness of old men.
The next few days they spent climbing the mountains. They trudged ever higher, but the path stretched before them in a never-ending ribbon. The peaks soared high above them, wreathed in snow and clouds. Each footfall seemed to make little difference to their progress. Still the mountains grew above them. and as they got higher and higher some of them began to wonder why they were here on this futile search.
“Where are we supposed to look?” said a young red-headed man, little more than a boy, really.
The others shook their heads, then one of them, older than the others, said, “I’ve heard dragons live in caves”.
“Hey, I used to play in these mountains when I was a kid,“ another said. “We lived high up and we played in some caves. Perhaps we should look there.”
He led the troop in the direction of the caves he remembered.
After another day of weary climbing, their breath coming fast, and hearts beating ever more quickly, they saw dark openings in a cliff ahead. They stopped and had a brief discussion.
None of them believed in the dragon, but the oldest man said, “We ought to be careful, ‘just in case’. There might be bears in the caves.”
Later that afternoon, just as they were about to set off up the mountainside to the caves they heard a strange noise as though a large flock of bats were flying overhead, or a tanner was shaking out a piece of leather. A flapping sound like wings, but not feathery wings like a bird. More like what they thought of as …dragon wings. The sunlight disappeared momentarily and as they looked up, they saw what could only be a dragon, flying towards the largest of the cave openings.
“By all that’s holy,” breathed the leader of the group. “The old man was right. It is a dragon. Where has it come from? It can’t possibly exist. They were extinct hundreds of years ago, yet here it is.”
“Evidently the scientists were wrong. They’re not extinct. Some must have survived in the depths of the mountains where no one goes,” the oldest man said, standing beside the leader and shielding his eyes as he watched the beast enter the cave.
“We need to wait until it leaves.” The leader frowned as he peered toward the cave where the dragon had gone.
A full day passed before the creature left again. They took their opportunity.
“Aren’t dragons supposed to have hoards of gold and other stuff?” one man asked, rubbing his hands together. “If we find its treasure, we’ll all be rich men. We’ll be able to court any girl we want, and buy farms, but have someone else to work them. We’ll never need to toil in the fields or factories again.”
They all nodded and laughed at the idea of all those riches, but when the dragon left the next morning, the reality hit them. They would need to go into the cave to get the treasure. The little group of young men crept towards the cave mouth, keeping an eye on the sky above, and ears open for the sound of leathery wings.
The stench of dragon hit them as they neared the cave. It was a sickly, sweet smell with hints of sourness in it. They held their noses. Around the mouth of the cave lay bones from large animals. Many were obviously deer, but there were sheep and cow bones there too. As they neared the lair the leader asked for a volunteer to go into the cave to look. These otherwise brave young men looked at each other, eyes wide and hearts pounding. What happened if the dragon returned while they were in the cave?
Then one man stepped forward. He entered slowly and with some trepidation and lit his torch, for it was dark inside. The smell was even worse here and at first he thought he might be sick, but he wrapped a rag around his nose and mouth. That made it a bit more bearable. A little way into the cave he stumbled over a smooth, rounded object. He lifted his torch and saw—an egg! Not just one egg, but ten. He sprinted out of the cave and reported what he had seen.
They went in and smashed the eggs. Even though they searched right to the back of the cave, no treasure could be found. The leader said they should take some of the egg shards to prove there was a real dragon in the mountains.
After smashing the eggs and destroying the threat of ten more dragons rampaging through the land they began the decent to the plain.
~~ When Gulineran returned to her cave and found her smashed eggs the roar of her anguish made the mountains themselves tremble. She determined to take revenge. First she looked for the culprits. She saw them like ants, trekking down the mountainside. Flying over them, she burned every last one to a crisp with her flaming breath. Her anger and sorrow still not appeased, she swept down and breathed flame onto the hapless village. The cottages burned like tinder. Many lost their lives. Those who survived crowded into the stone-built village hall. ~~
The leader of the council stood before the surviving villagers. His eyes raked the gathered people, and burned with tears. So many dead. And all those young men who did not return. The dragon must have incinerated them, too. He held his hand up for silence.
“We must destroy this pest,” he told them, over the sobbing of the people.
“Who is going to tackle a creature who can do such things?” a voice called from the back.
“And most of our brave young men are dead. There’s no one here who can fight, even if we weren’t facing a dragon,” someone else called.
A heated debate ensued, but in the end they decided to send for help to the nearby wizards, thinking perhaps magic would be able to destroy this dragon.
The message took a week to get to the wizards’ college, but eventually a message came back. The leader of the council called all the surviving villagers into the council chambers where he read the reply.
“We are very sorry, and we sympathise with your problem, but we cannot spare anyone at the moment. We are far too busy.”
There was pandemonium in the hall, but then, the door opened and a wizard entered. The crowd immediately became silent.
The wizard stood before them and began to speak. “I do not agree with my colleagues, I cannot stand by and watch a dragon decimate your village. Believe me, it won’t be the last visit you have from her.” His eyes blazed as he spoke. “I’ve made a study of dragons. You could say they’re my speciality. I have special knowledge not many others have. I am prepared to help you with your problem.”
He was a young man by the name of Oni. Oni talked to the council, and promised to do something about the dragon. The council accepted his offer and promised him great rewards if he could manage to get rid of the great beast that was terrorising them.
Oni walked out of the village and into the mountains. He followed the path the young men had taken until he stood near the cave, Then he called. Within seconds the dragon rushed out ready for battle. She breathed flame. The flames washed over Oni. Gulineran expected to see a dead wizard when her fire died away, but Oni was left standing and very much alive. She looked into his eyes.
“Ah.” Oni sighed. “I’ve not seen such beauty in two hundred years.”
“How can a human talk of hundreds of years?” Gulineran asked. “Your lives aren’t that long.”
“No, but dragons live centuries. You’re the first female dragon I’ve seen in more than three.”
His skin began to change, turning a rich, deep red and he grew and rippled, smooth skin turned into scales and horns sprouted from his head. His shoulder blades burst from his skin and he folded a pair of wings along his back. A handsome male red dragon stood before her. “Will you accept me as your mate?” Oni asked.
When Gulineran accepted Oni’s offer he changed back to human form and returned to the village. There he told the villagers of his encounter with the dragon.
“I used magic to charm her and I have managed to get her to agree not to attack the village nor take any cattle. She will live on the wild creatures of the mountains.”
The council offered him gold, but he refused saying, “I have everything I need now. Indeed, everything I ever wanted.”
When he returned to Gulineranm he told her of his promise to the villagers.
“Oh, Oni.” Gulineran answered, smiling. “Don’t they know not to trust the promises of dragons?”
It’s been a while since I interviewed a character from my books, so I decided to track down Fero and ask him a few questions.
Me: Thank you for agreeing to talk a bit about yourself,
Fero. I know you don’t talk much about where you came
from, but please fill me in. You were born beyond the
Three Seas, I believe.
Fero: Yes. I was born in the land of Beridon. That is not only
beyond the Three Seas, but also beyond the Great Desert.
Me: Tell me about your family.
Fero: My father was a sandalmaker in the village where I
was born and grew up. I was the eldest son. I have three
sisters older than me. My parents were delighted to have
a son at last as in Beridon, girls are deemed to be of little
worth.
Me: That is shocking.
Fero: Yes. I now realize how bad that is. How much talent
is being wasted in that country I can hardly begin to
contemplate. It wasn’t until I came to Grosmer that I really
learned the value of women.
Me: I suppose, growing up with that way of thought you
wouldn’t think it unusual.
Fero: No, but I am ashamed now for my past, my family and my countrymen.
Me: What was life like in Beridon?
Fero: It was hard. We were not actually in the Great Desert, but in the summer there was usually a drought. Frequently our animals and crops died and we went hungry. However, in the past, we had learned about irrigation and so it was not as bad as it had once been. Only in really bad drought years were we in very bad conditions.
Me: Tell me about your family.
Fero: I haven’t seen them for many years. I hated sandal making but my father thought that, as the eldest son, I should follow him and take over the family business. I would then marry a girl of their choice and look after them in their old age. I hated that idea and was something of a rebel. I took every opportunity to go out into the wilds and it was on one of those forrays that I met an old druid.
Me: Did you decide to bevome a druid yourself?
Fero: Oh, no. I am not a very religeous man, although I do revere Grillon, the god of nature and wild things. The old man taught me much, but even he could see that I was not cut out to be a druid, so he sent me to a ranger friend of his.
Me: What did your family think of this?
Fero: My mother would have been quite happy with this. I had two brothers now and they were both happy to go into sandalmaking. My father was completely opposed and forbade me from going. Mother couldn’yt go against him as he would have beaten her and it would still have made no difference to his thoughts. He beat me too, and tried to lock me in my room.
Here Fero laughs.
Fero: He should have realized that he couldn’t really do that as my brothers had to come in and out!
Me: What did you do?
Fero: Well, I escaped, of course. I gathered my things and went to tell mother that I was going. Father came in at that moment, just as I was going out of the door. Mother called ‘Goodbye Fero. Don’t forget us.’ Father pushed her back indoors and I heard him say ‘Go in, woman, we have no son called Fero.’
Me: That must have been very hard. What did you do then?
Fero: I went to join my new master. She was very good and understanding and taught me well, until one day she deemed my apprenticehip was ended and I was to go out and make my own way in the world.
Me: Where did you go?
Fero: Firstly I wandered Beridon, then decided to go and look at the Great Desert. I almost died of thirst then. I was completely lost, but a tribe of nomads found me and saved me. I was sunburned, blisters all over me. They tended me and then took me travelling with them. I learned to wear the long enveloping robes they wear and to keep out of the direct sun as much as possible. They wandered eventually to the seaport of Candor on the Inner Sea. I had never seen a large expanse of water and it fascinated me. I got passage on a ship crossing to Grosmer. I worked my passage, of course, and eventually came to Bluehaven. Here I abandoned my new career as a seaman and wandered around the south of Grosmer for many years, doing jobs here and there. Sometimes I would pick fruit, grapes or peaches or oranges. At other times I was scouting for caravans. Then one day I was with a group of young men who decided to go to Eribore. I joined them, intending to cross the Western Mountains and see the Horselords on the plains.
Me: Did you see them? The are supposed to be quite a sight when they ride their horses.
Fero: No. I have wondered and wondered why I took that path towards Hambara, but I can’t tell you why. Just a sudden impulse came upon me and I left my companions and turned east instead of west. If I had not done that, I would not have met Carthinal and the others. I wonder what the outcome of their quest would have been if they were not 8 questors as the prophecy had said? Would they still have found the Sword or would the quest have failed? Also, I would not have met Randa either.
Today is the third Tuesday in the month, and so it’s poetry day.
This poem is about a dragon who you can meet in my next book, yet to be published. Crisalisk and her mate Monarlisk are separated by Monarlisk losing a fight to another male dragon for the attentions of Crisalisk, but this poem refers to a time before that.
Her scales are the red
Of sunset in Autumn,
Her eyes are the gold
Of midsummer sun,
Her horns are as white
As snowfall in winter
And she dances on high
Like the birds do in spring.
Her beauty is evident
To all who do see her.
Her grace in the sky
Is a joy to behold.
With pinions spread wide
She dives then she soars
But beware, if she sees you,
Her flames she’ll release.
She thinks she’s the queen
Of all that surround her.
All other things living
Are there just to serve.
If any refuse her
She roars out her challenge
As Death on wide wings
Dives down from the skies.
But who is it comes
On black wings high soaring?
‘Tis Monalisk who
Is her mate and her love.
For him she will bow down
Her arrogance dwindling
For he is her only
True love in the land.
This is a poem that has no rhymes. Poetry does not need to rhyme, but it has to have either rhyme or rhythm or it’s just prose broken into lines.
Poetry nowadays seems to be that way, I’ve read many so-called poems that have neither rhyme nor rhythm. One had short lines, then suddenly a long line that took up 2 lines of text. Some of the poems I’ve read are incomprehesible too. I may be old fashioned in my ideas, but those things aren’t poetry!
If you have any comments on this poem or on poetry in general, please add them to the comments section.
I’ve posted this before, but forgot. I promised aurosjnc I’d post it this week as he’s collecting dragon works, so if you’ve read it before, please forgive me.
DRAGONS FLY
Dragons fly
Soaring high
Tiny specks up in the sky.
Dragons swoop
And loop the loop
Then come together in a group.
Dragons dive
Up there they thrive.
They all love to be alive.
Dragons flame.
It’s just a game
They are wild, they are not tame.
Dragons play
Above the bay.
Dangerous beauty. Do not stay!
Please leave a comment in the comment box and I’ll get back to you.
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It suddenly appeared one day and took a cow from the field.
A week later, dark wings blotted out the summer sun. The farmer looked up and saw an enormous shape gliding overhead. A dragon! He watched, cowering behind a large tree.
The dragon swooped down and carried off another cow.
As soon as the creature disappeared towards the distant mountains he ran as fast as he could to his home.
‘What? You say a dragon is stealing our cows?’ His wife was incredulous. ‘They are supposed to be extinct, aren’t they?’
‘It was a dragon. A huge beast with horns on its head, leathery wings and reddish-brown scales. It was a dragon for sure.’
‘Then you must go and tell the village council. They must do something about it. We can’t have dragons taking all our cows,’ exclaimed his wife.
‘I’m not sure they’ll believe me. Anyway, what can they do?’
‘Nevertheless you must go. Leave straight after we’ve eaten. I can see to things here until you get back.’
The farmer strode resolutely into the village that afternoon and made for the home of the leader of the council. When he heard the farmer’s tale, he called an emergency council meeting.
Once all the council members were assembled he turned to the farmer.
‘Now tell the council what you told me,’ he said.
The farmer bowed to the council and told of the theft of a cow by a dragon. He told of the disappearance of other cows in the previous weeks as well, but he had thought that it was rustlers. He had not thought of a predator as there had seen no evidence of blood or bones. The cows had just vanished.
‘You are certain you saw a dragon? Most experts say they’re extinct.’ said the leader of the council.
‘It was a dragon. I can’t be mistaken about that!’
Another councilor asked, ‘It was in the sky, against the sun. Could it have been a cloud?’
‘And clouds swoop down and steal cattle?’
There were more questions but eventually the council was convinced–at least enough of them to agree to send a troop of volunteer guardsmen to investigate, and to kill the beast, if it turned out it were truly a dragon.
Two days later the volunteers set off to track down the mythical beast.
They crossed the plain towards the mountains in the direction the farmer had told the council the dragon had gone. It took a full day to get to the base of the mountains and so they made camp there. The men were in good spirits. Searching for an extinct creature was a bit of a lark. They were mostly young men who had volunteered and not one of them believed the story the farmer had told.
‘An old man, going senile and seeing things,’ said one.
‘Or perhaps his eyes are going. It must have been a cloud. I’ve seen clouds in the shape of all sorts of things,’ said another.
‘What about the cows that vanished?’ asked a third.
‘Rustlers, as the old man suggested himself,’ the first volunteer told him.
They all laughed at the foolishness of old men.
The next few days they spent climbing the mountains. The going was not easy and as they got higher and higher some of them began to wonder why they were here on this futile search. Where were they to look? They had no idea, really, but then one of them, older than the others, suggested they look for a cave or caves. He told them he had heard that dragons like to live in caves. One young man then said that he had lived in these mountains when he was a youngster and could remember some caves where the children used to play. He led the troop in the direction of these caves.
Soon they could see dark openings in a cliff ahead of them. They stopped and had a meeting. None of them really believed in the dragon, but the oldest man said that they ought to be careful, ‘just in case’. Later that afternoon, just as they were about to set off up to the mountainside to the caves they heard a strange noise as though a large flock of bats was flying overhead or a tanner was shaking out a piece of leather. A flapping sound like wings, but not feathery wings like a bird. More like what they thought of as …dragon wings. The sunlight disappeared momentarily and as they looked up, they saw what could only be a dragon, flying towards the largest of the cave openings.
‘By all that’s holy,’ breathed the leader of the group. ‘The old man was right. It is a dragon. Where has it come from? It can’t possibly exist. They were extinct hundreds of years ago, yet here it is.’
‘They were evidently not extinct. Some must have survived in the depths of the mountains where no one goes,’ said the oldest man, standing beside him and shielding his eyes as he watched the beast enter the cave.
They waited a full day until the creature left again. That was their opportunity. They had all heard the tales of vast treasures built up by dragons. If it were true, then they would all be rich men.
The stench of dragon hit them as they neared the cave. It was a sickly, sweet smell with hints of sourness in it. They held their noses. Around the mouth of the cave lay many bones from large animals. Many were obviously deer, but there were sheep and cow bones there too.
As they neared the lair the leader asked for a volunteer to go into the cave to look. These otherwise brave young men looked at each other, none of them wanting this task. What happened if the dragon returned while they were in the cave? Then one man stepped forward to volunteer.
He entered slowly and with some trepidation. He lit his torch, for it was dark inside. The smell was even worse here and at first he thought he might be sick, but he wrapped a rag round his nose and mouth. That made it a bit more bearable. In the cave he stumbled over a smooth, rounded object. He lifted his torch and saw an egg! Not just one egg, but ten. He ran out of the cave and reported what he had seen.
They went in and smashed the eggs.
After smashing the eggs and destroying the threat of ten more dragons rampaging through the land they began the decent to the plain.
When Gulineran returned to her cave and found her smashed eggs her roar of anguish made the mountains themselves tremble. She determined to take her revenge. First she looked for the culprits. She saw them like ants, trekking down the mountainside. She flew over them and burned every last one to a crisp with her flaming breath. Then she swept down and breathed flame onto the hapless village. The cottages burned like tinder. Many lost their lives. Those who survived crowded into the village hall and there they decided to send for help to the nearby wizards, thinking perhaps magic would be able to destroy this dragon.
The message seemed to take a long time to get there but eventually a message came back. The wizards were very sorry, but they could not spare any one at the moment. They were just too busy.
One wizard was angry at that response and so he left the college and set off for the village. He was a young man by the name of Oni. Oni talked to the council, and promised to do something about the dragon. The council accepted his offer and promised him great rewards if he could manage to get rid of the great beast that was terrorising them.
Oni walked out of the village and into the mountains. He stood near the cave and called. Within seconds the dragon rushed out ready for battle. She breathed flame. The flames washed over Oni. Gulineran expected to see a dead wizard when her fire died away, but Oni was left standing and very much alive. She looked into his eyes.
‘Ah,’ Oni breathed, ‘I’ve not seen such beauty in two hundred years.’
‘How can a human talk of hundreds of years?’ asked Gulineran. ‘Your lives aren’t that long.’
‘No, but dragons live centuries,’ replied Oni. ‘You are the first female dragon I’ve seen in more than three.’
His skin began to change then, turning a rich, deep red and he grew and rippled, smooth skin turning into scales and horns sprouting from his head. His shoulder blades burst from his skin and he folded a pair of wings along his back. A handsome male red dragon stood before her. ‘Will you accept me as your mate?’ Oni asked.
When Gulineran accepted Oni’s offer he changed back to human form and returned to the village. There he told the villagers of his encounter with the dragon.
‘I used magic to charm her and I have managed to get her to agree not to attack the village nor take any cattle. She will live on the wild creatures of the mountains.’
The council offered him gold, but he refused saying, ‘I have everything I need now. Indeed, everything I ever wanted.’
He then returned to Gulineran. He told her of his promise to the villagers.
‘Oh, Oni.’ answered Gulineran. ‘Don’t they know not to trust the promises of dragons?’
I hope you like my little story. Please add a comment. I am always interested in what people think of my blogs. I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.
I first of all apologise to everyone for being late with my blog this week. You can blame NaNo in part, but also I had to go out Monday and yesterday.
Anyway, here are another 7 commonly confused words.
PRACTICE/PRACTISE.
Practice. This is a verb. It is what you do when learning to play the piano. Your teacher would say:
‘You must PRACTICE for half an hour every day’
Practise. This is a noun. It is where the doctor or lawyer practices his/her calling.
e.g. I hear there is a new doctors’ PRACTISE opening in the town.
CONFIDENT/CONFIDANT
Confident. When you are CONFIDENT you are sure of yourself.
e.g. I am confident that I will pass my driving test this time.
Confidant. This is someone you confide in.
e.g. I have always told my best friend my secrets. She is my CONFIDANT.
UNCONSCIOUS/SUBCONSCIOUS
The second of these two words is almost always substituted by unconscious. It really irritates me!
Unconscious. This is what happens when you get a blow to the head.
e.g. When the piano fell from the second floor, the man walking beneath was knocked UNCONSCIOUS
Subconscious. This is a word used in psychology. It means the part of the mind that you are unaware of, yet it still acts to bear on your actions.
e.g. The doctor said that it was Mary’s SUBCONSCIOUS that was making her afraid of snakes.
UNIQUE/RARE
Unique. When something is unique, there is only one of it. It does not mean very uncommon Thus you cannot have grades of uniqueness.
e.g. I am told that this is the last dodo on Earth. It is UNIQUE.
Rare. Something that is uncommon. You can have gradations of rareness.
e.g. The hedgehog is becoming increasingly RARE in the United Kingdom. There numbers are decreasing rapidly.
THEORY/THEOREM
This one I came across in a book I was reading only the other day. It was not one I would have thought to put in otherwise.
Theory. This is an idea that explains something. It is usually based on some evidence.
e.g. Isaac Newton saw an apple fall from a tree and reasoned out the THEORY of gravity.
Theorem. This is a mathematical term whereby a proposition is shown to be true by a chain of logical reasoning, based on accepted truths.
e.g. Pythagoras managed to prove the THEOREM that now bears his name.
LIBEL/SCANDAL
Libel. This is bringing someone’s reputation into disrepute by something you’ve written.
e.g. The journalist was accused of LIBEL by the man she had reported to be the thief.
Scandal. The gossips in the village were accused of spreading scandal about the vicar and his housekeeper.
VISCOUS/VICIOUS
This one I saw in a thread I was following the other day. It was another that I hadn’t though of before.
Viscous. A thick, slow-flowing liquid.
e.g. In order to get syrup to drop easily from the spoon you need to make it less VISCOUS. You can do this by heating it up by dipping the spoon into hot water before getting the syrup. (This is quite a good tip.)
Vicious. It actually means addicted to vice, but nowadays it has come to mean more along the lines of vicious.
e.g. The growling of the dog behind the door sounded vicious.
Those are this week’s commonly confused words. I hope you enjoyed them. If you did, please leave a comment, and if you didn’t, please leave a comment too explaining what you thought was wrong with them.
Tuesday again. It’s the last Tuesday of the month and so here are some more commonly confused words. Some of these words are confusions of meaning and some are confusions of spelling, while some are both.
I know I said I’d have a particular plan for when I was going to post what, but I’ve forgotten it! How stupid can you get? I’ve even forgotten where I put the note that I wrote to myself. I can remember that the first Tuesday was an extract from The Wolf Pack and the third some of my other writing or that of another writer I like. (This includes my Mum’s poems, of course.) Now the third Tuesday seems to be grammar.
Anyway, here it is.
Here are a few more words that are often confused.
Council/counsel
‘Council’ is some sort of ruling body, as in the local town council or the General Medical Council.
e.g. The Council passed a new by-law to prevent dog fouling in the local parks.
‘Counsel’ is to give advice, or to act as a lawyer.
e.g. He gave me some good counsel about my problems.
Imply/Infer
‘Imply’ is what the speaker hints at without actually saying it in so many words.
e.g. Are you implying that Jack was the thief?
‘Infer’ is that which is deduced from the implication.
e.g. From what you say, I infer that you think Jack was the thief.
Literal/Virtual
‘Literal’ means that it actually happened, or that something is ACTUALLY the thing referred to.
e.g. The bird flew past me, its wings literally brushing my face.
‘Virtual’ means that it was AS IF the thing were happening.
e.g. The footballer virtually flew down the wing before putting the ball in the back of the net.
(the winger literally flying would be an awesome sight, as would, as we sometimes here when a player is playing well, ‘He’s literally on fire this afternoon.’ Poor lad!)
Convex/Concave
‘Convex’ is protruding outwards. A magnifying glass has a convex lens, one that is thicker in the centre than at the edges.
e.g. There was a convex protuberance on the wall that had to be sorted out before Harry could paint it.
‘Concave’ is going inwards, like a cave. Glasses for short sight are concave. They are thinner in the middle than on the outside.
e.g. Breathe out so that your stomach is concave.
There/Their
‘There’ is denoting a place.
e.g. Put the parcel down over there please.
‘Their’ is donating ownership. Something that belongs to them.
e.g. Is that their car in the car park?
Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 