Authors: Marjorie B. Kellogg
The Book of Fire
THE DRAGON QUARTET:
BOOK THREE
THE BOOK OF FIRE
Marjorie B. Kellogg
Also by Marjorie B. Kellogg:
The Dragon Quartet
THE BOOK OF EARTH
THE BOOK OF WATER
THE BOOK OF FIRE
THE BOOK OF AIR
By Marjorie B. Kellogg with William Rossow:
LEAR’S DAUGHTERS
(The Wave and the Flame | Reign of Fire)
Copyright © 2000 by Marjorie Bradley Kellogg.
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-101-66454-4
Cover art by Paul Youll.
DAW Book Collectors No. 1157.
DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA).
All characters in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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To Lynne Kemen and Bill Rossow
Who have found so much time in their busy, busy lives to give tirelessly of their expertise and help an anxious writer see what she’s written.
Who appreciate the necessity of a dry white wine and fresh coffee from Zabar’s.
Endless thanks.
In addition: much praise and gratitude to my tireless editor and publisher, Sheila Gilbert.
Thanks also to my agent Joshua Bilmes, to Allen and Annie Rozelle, and to Antje Ellerman.
IN THE BEGINNING, AND A LITTLE AFTER . . .
PART ONE: The Summoning of the Hero
PART TWO: The Journey into Peril
PART THREE: The Call to the Quest
PART FOUR: The Meeting with Destiny
I
N THE
B
EGINNING, AND A LITTLE AFTER
. . .
I
n the Beginning, four mighty dragons raised of elemental energies were put to work creating the World. They were called Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. No one of them had power greater than another, and no one of them was mighty alone.
When the work was completed and the World set in motion, the four went to ground, expecting to sleep out this World’s particular history and not rise again until World’s End.
The first to awaken was Earth.
He woke in darkness, as innocent as a babe, with only the fleeting shadows of dreams to hint at his former magnificence. But one bright flame of knowledge drove him forth: he was Called to Work again, if only he could remember what the Work was.
He found the World grown damp and chill, overrun by the puniest of creatures, Creation’s afterthought, the ones called Men. Earth soon learned that Men, too, had forgotten their Origin. They had abandoned their own intended Work in the World and thrived instead on superstition, violence, and self-righteous oppression of their fellows. They had forgotten as well their primordial relationship with dragons—all, that is, but a few.
One in particular awaited Earth’s coming, a young girl who knew nothing of the secret duty carried down through the countless generations of her blood. Her name was Erde,
and she knew her Destiny when she faced a living dragon and was not afraid.
Thereafter, Earth’s Quest became her own, and together they searched her World for answers to his questions. Some they found and slowly, along with his memory, Earth’s powers reawakened. But the girl’s World was dark and dangerous and ignorant, and the mysterious Caller who summoned Earth could not be found within it. One day, blindly following the Call, Earth took them Somewhere Else.