Kyra Nevalyn is a character whom first came to me when I was twelve years old. I abandoned for years until I resurrected my childhood ideas in 'A Suitor's Challenge'.
All of these childhood ideas became the World of Omphalos. It's a world Rhodry became a part of.
Rhodry is one of the first characters I ever truly loved in a roleplaying game. I revised him and loved him even more when he became Rhodry Mavelyne, one of the protagonist bishounen in a yaoi fantasy interactive writing project called The Keep.
Yes, this is where my nickname rhodrymavelyne, which I use here, at inspirationcauldron.wordpress.com, NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, Twitter, tumblr, Archive of Our Own, and my Facebook Author Page comes from.
I resurrected another version of Rhodry (people who've known him for a while remember that he's ever changing :)) for a Work in Progress I began in the early 1990s. Its bare bones became The Keep. I decided to bring back that long ago project, include it in the World of Omphalos, and call it 'Trouble at Caerac Keep'.
'Trouble at Caerac Keep' would take place centuries after 'A Suitor's Challenge'. Rhodry would in that story, along with Faith, Ariadne, and Varwyth. (All of these characters have appeared for the past couple of years in the Blogging From AZ April Challenge, here and at inspirationcauldron.wordpress.com. )
These two projects have been neglected for far too long. I hadn't even thought of them until P.T.Wyant posted her 1/10/18 Wednesday Words prompt at ptwyant.com, involving a lizard, a mug of cider, and a broken box.
This story popped into my imagination as a result. :)
Rhodry took a drink of cider from the mug on the table before taking a closer look at the broken box.
The splinter was right in the middle of a carving of the moon, the sun, and a skull surrounded by roses.
Bones were often symbols of the undead. A skull surrounded by roses meant vampires. Especially one particular vampire.
“Corwyth,” Rhodry murmured, reaching up to rub his shoulders, scratching the rough material of his tunic against his skin.
What was it about that particular vampire lord that chilled his blood and made him sweat at the same time?
Rhodry bit his lip, took a closer look at some ancient letters around the symbol. He recognized the ancient wyrm tongue, but he could only make out a word or two.
“Danger…fire…release,” he muttered, squinting at the last character. “If anything was sealed within, it’s already been freed.”
He laid a finger against the cracker with cautious reverence.
The box split into two at his touch.
Rhodry withdrew his hand, staring at the tiny, golden lizard whom popped up its head.
“Freee!” It flicked out a forked tongue in Rhodry’s direction, tasting the air. “Curse the Dark Lady for trapping me, but at long last I can take my revenge!”
The voice was tiny, girlish, and slightly shrill.
“Um, excuse me?” Courtesy seemed a good idea for dealing what appeared to be a magical creature. “Who are you?”
“As if I’d give up my name lightly!” The lizard stood up on her hind legs to wave her claws in Rhodry’s direction. “Especially to one who’s obviously serpent spawn…and why are you so huge?”
She looked up and down at Rhodry, a glint of almost human panic in her slitted green eyes. “No, why am I so tiny? What is this shape?”
The lizard turned her head, gazed up and down her small, scaled body, only to tremble all over. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“Daeric’s tower in the Library, which is currently in Rowenda.” Rhodry was relieved to know the answer to one of her questions. “What do you last remember?”
“Fighting Her.” The lizard shuddered all over, tried to wrap its tiny arms around its small body in an almost human fashion, only to flail its small limbs in a helpless fashion. “I chanted a spell at Nevalyn, which should have separated her power, only it recoiled on me.” She blinked at her tiny hands. “Perhaps because I myself was a part of her, whom she tried to absorb.”
“Nevalyn?” Rhodry tried to wet my lips which had gone totally dry. “You fought the Great Serpent? You were there before the Empire failed?”
“The Empire failed? Oh, I’m delighted to hear it!” The lizard nodded her head. “Only I can’t imagine it collapsing that easily. Serena would never allow it.”
“Serena.” Rhodry swallowed at the casual mention of one of the greatest rulers who’d ever unified the fractious lands. “You’re speaking of the Imperatrix, back when the Jasior family controlled the rivers and borders, creating roads that ran from Kalanthia to every other nation?”
“Kalanthia? I’ve never heard of that place.” The lizard cocked its head at Rhodry. “You speak of Serena as if she’d been dead for centuries. She was alive and still causing trouble when I left her.”
“Alive and causing trouble.” Rhodry raised his hands to cup his cheeks. “I can’t believe this. This is madness, even for me in the Library.”
“What’s this Library you keep speaking of?” The lizard lashed her golden tail to the side, twitching. “You say I’m there, but I’ve never heard of it.”
“It was founded by Corwyth Nevalyn centuries ago.” Rhodry took a deep breath, moved his hands to knot his fingers behind his head. It kept them from shaking. “I think it’s my turn to ask you some questions. Where were you, when you fought Nevalyn?”
“The Dark Circle.” The lizard dropped down to all four legs. “A friend and I went there to save another friend who’d fallen in the power of the Serpent. It was a desperate move, but we were fairly desperate.”
The Dark Circle. A pair of friends braving its maze in order to save the kidnapped Prince Stephen from the serpent. The lyrics of several popular songs about Kyra Nevalyn and her adventures popped into Rhodry’s head.
Kyra, a hero who’d appealed to him, for she, like Rhodry had been golden-haired and eyed, part of the Serpent’s brood. She’d been a hero for all her cursed heritage, whose legend lived on for centuries.
“Your name isn’t Kyra, by any chance?” It was madness to even think this, that the sorceress who’d inspired so many songs and poems, who’d disappeared long ago might actually be this odd little lizard.
Only Rhodry had seen stranger things, working at Daeric’s side in the Library. Madness was often normal here.
“How do you know my name?” the lizard hissed, recoiling from Rhodry if he’d struck her. “Who are you?”
“I’m Rhodry.” He gazed down at the tiny creature and remembered to breathe. “I think I may be your descendant.”
“That’s not a character reference.” The lizard inched away from Rhodry. “You mentioned a Daeric in a tower. Would that be Daeric Nevalyn?”
“Yes. He’s my guardian and mentor.” Rhodry tried to make his voice as soothing as possible. “You’re currently in his Place of Power.”
“Not exactly reassuring, but not as bad a spot to be in as others might be.” The lizard rocked onto its hind legs once more. “I need to speak to Daeric as soon as possible. He ought to know something I can do about being trapped in this shape.”
“Unfortunately, he’s not around right now.” Rhodry unlaced his hands and dropped them to his legs to dig his fingers into his thighs, trying to stop them from shaking. “Daeric, um, disappeared recently.”
“That’s not good.” The lizard regarded Rhodry with a steady slitted eye. “Anything that could make him disappear is almost as dangerous as Nevalyn herself.”
“Some say it might have been the Vampire Corwyth.” Rhodry fixed an equally steady gaze on the lizard’s snout. It was hard to read the expression of it. “We’ve had a lot of people disappearing in Caerac Keep lately.”
“Caerac Keep? That’s another place I’ve never heard of.” The lizard let out an almost human snort. “Exactly what part of the Empire am I in…no, wait, you were saying the Empire failed. Um, what is the land we’re in currently called?”
“Rowenda.” Rhodry gripped his thighs and rocked in place in his chair. “It’s north of what’s left of Kalanthia…er, the Empire.”
“Sss, so Kalanthia is Serena’s former domain.” The lizard bobbed her tiny head. “What land is the Dark Circle in?”
“We’re not too far away from it.” Or entirely too close, depending on one’s perspective. “The Keeps, the walled cities were built by former adventurers to keep monsters out. Like the ones that hunt from the Dark Circle.”
“Hmm, I’m not too far from home.” The lizard lifted a claw to examine it. “This was once part of the Empire, heavily patrolled by the Dragons, an elite force of clerics who dealt with monsters or anything that threatened the balance of power which existed between the Imperatrix and those who governed her domains.”
“These days, it’s the Unicorns, only they’re supposed to protect the walled cities from all monsters, not some balance of power.” Rhodry was surprised at how defensive his own voice came out. “Not that they always succeed.”
“The Unicorns?” The lizard’s eyes widened. “They were only a minor sect when I last visited one of their temples.”
“Well, they’ve grown.” Rhodry didn’t bother to keep the sourness out of his voice. “You can find a Unicorn temple in every civilized area these days.”
“Surely you jest.” The lizard peered intently at Rhodry’s face. “I can’t imagine the Dragons ever allowing them to have that much power. Not even the Imperatrix could move without being checked by the clerics.”
“Let isn’t exactly how I’d describe the Unicorns’s takeover.” Rhodry glanced over at a shelve, the golden sheaf on one of the book spines. “The Dragons didn’t have much to say about it, nor were they able to, once the Unicorns hunted them all down.”
“Hunted them down?” The lizard dropped her head. “How could they do something so foolish?”
“Why are you asking me that question?” Rhodry snapped. “You called me serpent spawn. Did you really think the Unicorns would share their reasons with a creature such as me?”
“No, I, ah, forgive me.” The lizard bowed her head further. “It’s, well, being here, centuries ahead of my own time is an unpleasant shock.”
Rhodry studied the small, golden creature. It was hard not to react to her as if she was a person. There was something so human about the forlorn way she slumped her scaled shoulders.
Not that one could call Kyra or any of House Nevalyn human. Not completely.
“I’ll help you.” The words slipped from his mouth before he could think better of them. “I’ll try to figure out a way to return you to your true form without the centuries, err, catching up to you.”
“How do you propose to do that?” The lizard raised its tiny head to flick its tongue in his direction. “For that matter, why would you do that? I’m a stranger to you.”
“You’re not a stranger.” Rhodry lowered his own head, so he was on an eye level with the tiny creature. “You’re family.”
“All the more reason not to trust me, or for me to trust you.” Kyra withdrew her forked tongue into her mouth. “Unless House Nevalyn has changed greatly over the centuries.”
“I’m not House Nevalyn. I’m Rhodry.” Rhodry extended a finger, careful to offer it, yet not intrude within the little creature’s personal space. “I’m more with Daeric and the Library than House Nevalyn.”
“Again with this Library.” Kyra regarded the finger without accepting it. “What is it?”
“A collection of books Daeric and other mages, scholars, and lovers of knowledge have gathered together behind walls of protection.” Rhodry fumbled for the right words. “No one can harm anyone else within the Library. Its spells protect it from external and internal assault. It can appear in different places of the world, depending on whom needs it.”
“Questioning would have loved this Library of yours.” Kyra relaxed a little more. “Ah, well, I suppose there are worse places to be.”
She reached out with her tiny paws to clasp Rhodry’s finger. “I accept your help…kinsman.”
Thank you for sharing the origin of your moniker. Cool! And “That’s not a character reference.” made me laugh. Be well!
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