Authors: Marc Secchia
Dragon Thief (41 page)
About the Speed of Sound
The speed of sound is not a constant, but depends on the temperature at a particular altitude. For ease of calculation, Dragon Thief uses the Wikipedia reference (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound
) of dry air at 20 Celsius:
Speed of sound = 768 mph = 222.61 leagues per hour
To view a table of the effects of altitude/temperature on the speed of sound, please see for example Fighter-planes.com (
http://www.fighter-planes.com/jetmach1.htm
).
Dragonflight Record Breakers
2151 leagues. 126 hours aloft, or 4 days and 13 hours of unbroken flight. This is the record the Indigo Dragoness and her Rider set en route to the Rim-Wall Mountains. Kal and Tazithiel disregard boundaries that for centuries the Dragonkind have regarded as inviolable, by employing a combination of Kal’s Shadow power and magical resources, and Tazithiel’s unique ability to enhance her flight with aerodynamic shielding and Kinetic power.
Typically, Dragons are capable of flying 6–8 leagues per hour over long distances (174–232 leagues per day), sustaining flights of between one and two days for the strongest Dragons. These speeds can be considerably enhanced by use of upper atmospheric jet streams called Dragons’ Highways. Especially in combat situations, Dragons can accelerate to speeds of over 40 leagues per hour (138 mph / 222 km/h). The gravitational forces generated by their manoeuvring are comparable to those experienced by fighter pilots.
Early on Dragon scientists identified a natural kinetic damping mechanism which allows Dragons to defy natural laws of momentum as they hurl their tonnage about in joyous Dragonflight, and current theories point to this mechanism extending to the linked Dragon Rider during combat, which explains why Riders rarely black out during combat flight, except for reasons of direct physical impact. However this remains unproven as Dragons and Riders are usually more preoccupied with avoiding fireballs and acid spit than measuring blood flow during battle.
Kal and Tazithiel achieve supersonic Dragonflight for the first time in history. The key is Kal’s ability to charge an already perfectly-shaped shield with Shadow power, reducing wind resistance and drag to almost zero, and the Indigo Shapeshifter’s musculature, which produces hummingbird-like wing speeds, although she keeps the flight surface extremely small to achieve this effect.
Dragon and Rider cannot sustain the extreme magical output required to break Mach 1 (the speed of sound) for much over one hour at a time.
Distance, World Size and Sight Considerations
1 league = 5.556 kilometres = 3.45 miles
How far can the Human eye see under ideal conditions? With his scientific approach to marathon Dragonflight, Kal works out that the scholarly equations for calculating sight distances rely on inaccurate data; he theorises, perhaps originating on a smaller world. He calculates that the ‘other world’ must be 4.209 times smaller than his world–in other words, the Island-World is much larger and therefore flatter in curvature.
The Human eye’s visual acuity is indeed astonishing. The stars are millions of light-years away, yet we see them. The problem always relates to what we’re looking at–how large or bright it is, from where it is seen in relation to ground level, and the atmospheric conditions under which the phenomenon is observed. Larking about on Dragonback, a Human can safely ascend to heights of 1.75 leagues (6.04 miles / 32000 feet) above Cloudlands level. With a Blue Dragon shield protecting the Rider with warm, oxygenated air, an intrepid Dragon Rider may brave higher altitudes. The extraordinarily clear atmosphere of the West, the 25 league height (86.25 miles) of the Rim-Wall Mountains and the Island-World’s very large size allows Kal and Tazithiel to see the mountains from over 1200 leagues (4140 miles) distant, given perfect viewing conditions and an extremely large target object.
In volcanic areas such as Kal’s native Fra’anior, the constant venting of particles and gases leads to diminished sight distances, but accordingly more beautiful suns-rises and suns-sets as light is reflected and refracted by the airborne particulate matter.
Island-World Timeline
The ending of
Dragon Thief
brings the reader to the point where the worlds of Dragons, for millennia circumscribed by the uncrossable Rim-Wall Mountains and the oceanic world of IsleSong (The IsleSong series begins with
The Girl who Sang with Whales
) intersect.
In IsleSong, Zhialeiana is a young Island girl gifted the ability to sing the songs of sea-creatures. Powerful Bard-Navigators sing to the great Whales, magically binding them to protect their ships during their dangerous crossings between the Atolls and Islands of the World-Sea. But the great Whales harbour unimagined secrets, and what of the Sea-Dragons which maraud unchecked? What is their origin?
311 years before the events of Dragon Thief, the Princess of Immadia’s world-shaping exploits are recounted in the Shapeshifter Dragons series (
Aranya
and
Shadow Dragon
, part three forthcoming). Aranya’s courage and irrepressible fire pit her against Thoralian, Emperor of Sylakia and conqueror of the Island-World north of the Rift.
152 years before Aranya, the
Pygmy Dragon
rocked the world with her extraordinary heritage and powers as she battled the all-conquering Marshal of Herimor and his legions of Dragon Assassins, confronting a peril which threatened to extinguish all Dragon life in the Island-World. This two-book series concludes with
The Onyx Dragon
, coming in 2016.
Still deeper in history, just a legend by the time of Kal and Tazithiel, is the tale of the first Dragon Rider, Hualiama Dragonfriend. Born in an era when Humans have barely shaken off draconic rule, Hualiama is a woman whose fierce love and bravery will set her against every taboo and law of Humankind and Dragonkind. For when a woman loves a Dragon, that love will change the world. This series consists of three volumes–
Dragonfriend
,
Dragonlove
and
Dragonsoul
(coming in 2016).
Marc is the bestselling author of over a dozen fantasy books. Born in South Africa, he lives and works in Ethiopia with his wife and 4 children, 2 dogs, a rabbit, and a variable number of marabou storks that roost on the acacia trees out back. On a good night you can also hear hyenas prowling along the back fence.
When he’s not writing about Africa or dragons, Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there’s nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.
If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com, or reading one of my other works. Every review matters and I read them all!
Where you can find me:
Twitter: @marcauthor
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
www.marcsecchia.com
(sign up for my newsletter here)
Other Books by Marc Secchia
Shapeshifter Dragons:
(Young Adult and older readers) Three allied series of bestselling Dragon adventures. Prepare to wing away to a unique world of mighty Dragons and volcanic Islands above the deadly Cloudlands!
Shapeshifter Dragons series:
Aranya
,
Shadow Dragon
and Part 3 is planned.
Shapeshifter Dragon Legends series:
The Pygmy Dragon
and The Onyx Dragon (coming in 2016)
Dragonfriend series:
Dragonfriend
,
Dragonlove
and Dragonsoul (coming in 2016)
The IsleSong series:
(Young Adult and older readers) A story for anyone who loves the ocean and its whales, salt water in their hair, and the gentle rasp of beach sand between their bare toes. This story will transport you to a beautiful, unspoiled ocean world where people have to rely on Whales to travel between the islands. A world where danger can, and does, lurk beneath any wave.
The Girl who Sang with Whales (IsleSong Book 1)
The Shioni of Sheba series:
(Middle Grades and older readers) Unique African historical fantasy adventures set among the myths and legends of ancient Ethiopia.
Shioni of Sheba #1: The Enchanted Castle
Shioni of Sheba #2: The King's Horse
Shioni of Sheba #3: The Mad Giant
Shioni of Sheba #4: The Sacred Lake
Shioni of Sheba #5: The Fiuri Realms
Epic fantasy
(New Adult and Adult readers) Epic length tales of unique worlds and powers.