The Synopsis Treasury (19 page)

Margaret Weis

(photo by Michell’s Studio, Delavan, WI)

Margaret Weis was born and raised in Independence, Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, graduating in 1970 with a BA degree in Literature and Creative Writing. In 1983, she moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to take a job as book editor at TSR, Inc., producers of the Dungeons & Dragons® role-playing game.

At TSR, Weis became part of the Dragonlance® design team. Created by Tracy Hickman, the Dragonlance world has continued to intrigue fans of both the novel and the game for generations. Hickman and Weis wrote the first of many fantasy novels, the Dragonlance Chronicles, which are still in print after almost thirty years. The books have sold over twenty million copies worldwide.

Weis is the author/co-author of several other
New York Times
best-selling series, including Darksword, Rose of the Prophet, Star of the Guardians, The Deathgate Cycle, Dragonships. Her new series, with author, Robert Krammes, The Dragon Brigade, is being published by Tor Books.

Weis and Tracy Hickman are currently working on the fourth book in the Dragonships series,
Doom of the Dragon
, published by Tor in 2015.

Weis and her daughter, Lizz, have written two paranormal romance novels,
Warrior Angel
and
Rebel Angel
, published by Daw.

Weis is the owner of Margaret Weis Productions, LTD, a publishing company specializing in licensed RPGs. Their newest product is the
Firefly
role-playing game, based on the wildly popular TV series by Joss Whedon.

Weis lives in Wisconsin with four dogs, Max, Dixie, Joey the Thug, and Clancy the Hooligan. Weis and her dogs, Dixie and Joey and Clancy, enjoy competing in flyball tournaments with their team, the BC Boomerangs.

This synopsis is for the third book in the Dragonvarld Trilogy. As such, I am working with the same editor and I know the editor is familiar with the characters and the story, so that I don’t have to describe them, as I would if I were doing a synopsis for the first volume.

I always write my story synopsis in present tense, even though the book will be in past tense. I’m not sure why I do this. It’s the way I’ve always done it and it feels comfortable to me, though sometimes it does make referencing back and forth from the synopsis to the book itself a little confusing in regard to the verbs!

You will see where I’ve left notes to myself in the synopsis. I refer to the synopsis a lot when writing the book and I usually add notes to myself as I go along. You will also find that in some cases the synopsis bears little resemblance to the finished book! In one instance, I moved the trial of Evelina mentioned at the end to the Epilogue in the finished book, whereas in the synopsis it is the next-to-the-last scene.

I always consider a story synopsis as a guide book referencing various interesting routes to the destination—routes that may or may not be taken—rather than a road map!

—Margaret Weis

Master of Dragons
Volume Three
Dragonvarld Trilogy
By Margaret Weis

DRACONAS

The last we saw of Draconas, he was about to be blown to bits by Anora, disguised as the holy sister. She did not steal a human body, as did Grald and Maristarra. Anora’s disguise is a super illusion and thus she can cast her spell very quickly. It does take her a moment to shift to her dragon form, however, and in that moment, Draconas has a decision to make. He can either attack, which would mean shifting to his form and battling it out with an elder dragon, or he can try to escape.

Draconas chooses to try to escape. He is appalled to find that Anora is part of this plot. For all he knows, the entire Parliament of Dragons is behind this. He has to know more. He retains his human form, but uses his energy to shift the illusion to that of a different human, hoping that the dragons will not be able to penetrate his disguise.

He flees, but is caught in the blast. He is struck by falling rock, knocking him unconscious. This saves his life, for neither Anora nor Grald can sense his dragon mind and they have no idea what has become of him. They search for him frantically (which gives Marcus time to escape), but Draconas appears to have simply vanished. They are fairly certain he has taken another human form, but there are thousands of humans in the city and they don’t know which one he is.

Draconas has taken the form of a twelve-year-old girl.

VEN

Ven has pledged to the ghost of Bellona that he will avenge her death and that of his mother’s. Now that he has helped Marcus and Evelina escape, Ven’s sole purpose in life (he believes) is to kill Grald. Ven sees (finally) Evelina for the selfish little bitch she is. He does not love her, though he feels guilty about his part in disrupting her life, which is why he handed her over to Marcus.

Ven has mixed feelings for Marcus. Ven is jealous of his twin brother’s good fortune—handsome, wealthy, educated, and not a monster. Yet Ven can’t help but recall those early memories of his childhood, the closeness he felt to the unseen friend that he now knows was his brother. He has seen into Marcus’s mind and knows that Marcus has suffered, too, because of the dragon magic. Ven’s objective being revenge, however, he puts all thoughts of Marcus out of his mind. Perhaps, once Grald is dead, Ven will think of his brother, but not before.

GRALD

Because Ven killed the monk who was assigned to keep tabs on him, Grald lost track of Ven and has no idea what he was doing during the confusion of the blast. Grald is furious that Marcus has escaped and he suspects Ven and Draconas both played a role. Grald guesses that Draconas will try to contact Ven and the dragon hopes to use Ven to catch Draconas. Grald can’t be too hard on Ven, therefore. Grald summons Ven to his presence, only to learn that Ven has been wounded.

Grald goes to see Ven, finds him laid up with a stab wound. Ven tells Grald most of the truth—how he tried to stop Evelina and Marcus, and Evelina stabbed him. Then there was the blast and Ven was knocked out. Some people found him amidst the rubble that morning and carried him here. What Ven does not say is that he sneaked away during the night to take care of Bellona’s body and that he returned in time to allow himself to be rescued.

Grald believes Ven’s story. Grald tells Ven that Draconas caused the blast, because he is out to destroy Dragon Keep and its people. Grald warns Ven that Draconas means to kill him and to keep an eye out for him.

Ven realizes that Grald has lost Draconas.

Ven also realizes that he doesn’t have a clue how to slay the dragon; that his vengeance appears impossible.

ANORA AND THE PARLIAMENT OF DRAGONS

Fearing that Draconas will appear before Parliament and reveal her crimes, Anora forestalls him by summoning the Parliament herself. She explains to the dragons what is going on. For the first time in the long history of humans, dragons realize that humankind can be a threat to them. The development of artillery weapons means that humans will someday have the power to destroy dragons, attack their lairs, kill their young. Not now. Perhaps not in a century. But the danger is there, if the humans are not stopped.

Anora is not evil. She is misguided, however. She concedes, sadly, that Maristarra has the right idea. Enslave humans, monitor their every move. Give a few of them dragon magic, to help keep the others in line. Anora recommends only one change. Maristarra has not let the humans know that they are being controlled by a dragon. Anora thinks that they should let the humans know who is boss, keep them terrified of dragons, so that they will never dare to rise up against their masters.

Anora tells them that Draconas has turned against them. He is going to tell the humans the truth and this will ruin all their plans. Not only that, but he is shielding a human who has the ability to enter the minds of dragons. If humans can learn to do this, then the dragons will have lost everything. They’ll no longer be able to keep the humans under their control.

Anora tells the Parliament about the army of magic-wielding humans Grald has developed. Since Marcus has been in their city and knows where it’s located, the dragons must act swiftly to prevent the humans from attacking Dragon Keep. They are going to launch an attack against Idylswylde.

Anora adds that they must find Draconas. She tells Parliament that Draconas has gone rogue, he’s betrayed dragon kind, and if any dragon sees him, he must die.

The dragons are afraid. The Parliament eventually votes to go along with Anora, all except one female dragon, Lysira, who vows to go in search of Draconas to warn him.

Meanwhile, Anora sets out to find Draconas for herself. She has a good idea how to locate him.

MARCUS

After escaping Dragon Keep, Marcus and Evelina steal one of the monk’s own boats. They put as much distance between them and Dragon Keep as possible. The monks are not able to pursue them, however, because Grald is preoccupied with searching for Draconas and isn’t around to open the gate.

Exhausted, Marcus and Evelina hide the boat in some rushes and sleep. When they wake, they continue their journey to Idylswylde. Marcus is deeply confused about Ven, wondering how he managed to survive the knife wound, wondering why Ven chose to help them escape. Perhaps Marcus was wrong about Ven. Yet, Ven admitted that he did try to rape Evelina.

As for Evelina, Marcus finds her desirable. He admires her courage and he is astonished by the calmness with which she accepts his use of magic. He sees that she likes him. In fact, he is beginning to see that she loves him. He is drawn to her sexually, yet there is always the image in his mind of her stabbing Ven. He tries to excuse her, but he finds it difficult. He’s torn between his desire and his doubt. Marcus tries to talk to Ven, but his brother ignores him, and Marcus is fearful of trying too hard, for he knows that Grald is searching for him.

Evelina is well aware that she damaged herself with Marcus by attacking Ven. Marcus is polite, but cool to her. She is not one to cry over spilt milk, however, and starts to work to try to regain what she has lost. She loves Marcus and she wants him as she’s never wanted anything in her life. She is smart enough to know that marriage between her and a prince is out of the question, but life as a king’s mistress is a pretty good life. She can see herself set up in some little castle somewhere with fine clothes and jewels. She’ll get herself pregnant, of course, for that will be one sure way to hang onto him.

She decides to seduce Marcus as she seduced Ven. Marcus is a gentleman bred and born, however. Evelina discovers that her tale of alleged assault is now working to her disadvantage. Believing that Evelina was the victim of an attempted rape by his brother, Marcus gently but firmly repulses her advances.

Nothing daunted, Evelina whips up a love potion and slips it into Marcus’s drink. Marcus is overcome with lust. All is going according to Evelina’s plan when suddenly Marcus finds it hard to catch his breath. He gasps and chokes, then breaks out in itchy hives. This pretty much kills the romantic mood. Marcus has had an allergic reaction to the love potion.

Evelina is incensed. Nothing goes right for her! The two continue on their journey with neither having much to say to the other.

VEN’S SIBLINGS

Draconas has disguised himself in a form he figures Grald will never suspect—that of a twelve-year-old girl. He is rescued from the rubble and carried to the home of a middle-aged couple, who nurse the girl back to health. Once he is recovered, Draconas’s first thought is to escape, to appear before the Parliament and tell them the truth about Anora.

Draconas is mentally contacted by Lysira, the dragon female. She warns him that Anora has beat him to the punch, that the Parliament is terrified and they’ve lost their minds. A few dragons think like Draconas and they will do what they can to stop the rest. Draconas is their only link to the humans and he must keep himself safe. Lysira also tells him about Anora’s claim that there is an army being raised in Dragon Keep. She asks Draconas to investigate.

Draconas feigns amnesia, tells the couple he’s staying with that he can’t remember his name or who his parents were. He finds out that the couple have a grown daughter, whom they haven’t seen in years. They are very proud of her, for she was chosen to serve the dragon and now lives in the dragon’s grand palace beneath the mountain.

Draconas is curious about this. It turns out that the couple has not actually seen their daughter since she left ten years ago, but that they receive letters from her, telling them about the luxurious life she is leading and how happy she is. Draconas learns that many women of Dragon Keep are chosen to serve the dragon and that they are always young and healthy and strong in the dragon magic. He is even more curious when he finds out that this began about sixteen years ago, at about the same time that Ven was born. No one has ever seen the women, but all the families receive these letters periodically, as well as valuable gifts. Families whose daughters are chosen are considered quite lucky.

Draconas uses his disguise as an urchin to snoop about and finds the entrance to the dragon’s mountain. Inside, he finds a grand palace, just as was described to him. He sees that it is all illusion, however. Using his dragon abilities, he penetrates the maze and comes upon an astounding sight—fifty half-human, half-dragon young people.