The Poisoned King

Christopher Forrester wakes in his London bedroom to find a sparrow-sized dragon named Jacques chewing on his face. Jacques urgently announces he has come to take Christopher back to the Archipelago. He bites Christopher’s thumb to underscore the urgency of his command.

Jacques recounts his journey from the Archipelago through a waybetween that emerged in Scotland, dodging Christopher’s grandfather, fighting birds, and eating from trash cans. He reveals he was sent by Sarkany, a great red-winged dragon, because dozens of dragons are dying mysteriously. Some believe it is a contagious pox; most think it is murder. Because dragons distrust each other and all Archipelagians, only Christopher, being from the Outerlands, can be trusted to investigate.

Christopher retrieves supplies he has kept ready for his return to the Archipelago—a sphinx tooth, a knife, a flask, and food. He writes his father a note saying he has gone to help the dragons. Jacques refuses to travel in Christopher’s dirty schoolbag, so Christopher offers his coat pocket.

Christopher takes a bus, train, and ferry to his grandfather‘s property. He tells Jacques he dreams of Mal Arvorian and that his grandfather, Frank, previously stopped his return to the Archipelago. Reaching his destination, Christopher glimpses Frank inside the house but remains hidden.

Christopher climbs the hill to a glowing lake, the waybetween. He hesitates, but thinking of the dying dragons and the Immortal, Mal Arvorian, he removes his boots, gives a battle cry, and leaps into the freezing water. The current seizes him, and he strikes his head on a rock, nearly drowning before surfacing in the Archipelago. On the riverbank, he sees a sphinx he recognizes as Naravirala, with a sword lying beside her.

Naravirala pounces on Christopher, knocking him down, then licks his head wound to heal it. She explains she has come to carry him to Sarkany, but he must solve a riddle first. When she asks what can be given to another and only then must be kept, Christopher answers, “Your word.” Naravirala confirms that Sarkany is on the island of Edem. She also reveals that the stars have shown a child in danger, somehow connected to Christopher and the dragons. Naravirala offers Christopher the choice to ignore the stars or take a detour on the way to Sarkany. Christopher immediately agrees to help the child. Naravirala lays a sword forged from dragon obsidian at Christopher’s feet. He takes it, climbs onto her back, and they fly.

Princess Anya Argen, a girl with dirt-encrusted fingernails, runs across the rooftop of her castle on the Island of Dousha. A dozen royal gaganas, a crow-like species of bird, follow her. Coren, a young gagana, warns that a man is approaching. Minutes earlier, an old gagana named Gallia had flown to Anya in a panic, warning that a guard killed a gagana named Felin, then told a companion to retrieve Felin’s egg. Anya knows the egg is nestled in a chimney and runs across the slanted roof, dislodging a tile but maintaining her balance. She reaches the egg just as a trapdoor opens. When a soldier emerges, she orders Coren to attack his eyes, then commands all the gaganas to swarm him. The man retreats, and Anya runs back to her room with the unharmed egg. She holds it close for warmth, touches her mother’s silver pendant for comfort, and resolves to tell her father.

Anya lives in the southern Glimouria Archipelago, a realm inhabited by 37 dragon species, mermaids, behemoths, and sphinxes. The Argen family have ruled the island of Dousha for over a thousand years from Argen Castle. The past year has been unsettling: the army has grown, snow lingers unseasonably, and people whisper of bad omens. The current king is 70-year-old Halam Argen, and Anya is his granddaughter. Anya warms the egg by the fire, her arms scarred by gagana claws.

Until the previous year, Anya lived with her father, Argus Argen, in a forest house behind the castle. Argus, the king’s elder son and heir, is a plant scientist who dreams of breeding new hybrids. Anya grew up with royal gaganas as her closest friends and tutors, learning history, philosophy, mathematics, songs, and sword-craft from them. She also helped her father cultivate magical plants such as rascovnic, a wild herb with unlocking powers. Argus’s younger brother, Claude, occasionally visited and was skeptical of their work.

The king and Claude rarely came to the forest, so Anya and her father lived freely, protecting their environment. Each April, however, Anya was required to spend a month at the castle, a rule imposed by the king. She hated these visits and knew her father would eventually become king. However, she believed they would remain happily living in the forest until King Halam died.

During 11-year-old Anya’s castle visit the previous April, her uncle Claude suggested she give a speech of thanks at a concert. The king agreed and commanded her to speak. Anya flushed violently and said she could not. Angry, the king told her that a princess’s only job was to be watched, admired, and adored. Claude then asked Argus why he could not control his child. Enraged by the question, Anya spat at her uncle’s feet.

As punishment for spitting, Anya and her father were forced to move permanently into the castle. Anya underwent rigorous training in princess duties she hated, including diplomacy, dance, and deportment. After initially resisting, she complied, becoming “a perfect princess” (31) in hopes of returning to the forest. The king refused to let her go, calling her an “asset” to the castle. Anya became withdrawn and watchful, feeling constantly surveilled. She rarely saw her father, who was kept busy with royal duties. When he did visit, he brought gifts of phoenix feathers and rascovnic.

The only aspects of royal life Anya liked were her beautiful sea-silk clothes, which she had reinforced with leather as protection from the gaganas’ claws. She also discovered secret passages throughout the castle, which she explored.

In her small attic bedroom on the evening of the annual Argen Ball, Anya holds the vibrating gagana egg. Gallia tells her it will hatch soon and instructs her to get food. Anya runs to the kitchens, where preparations for the ball are underway. She notices 400 “living gold” goblets, evidence of the Argen family’s newfound wealth. With Gallia and Coren’s help, she steals fish, a carrot, a crab apple, and cake. Returning through the halls, she sees her uncle Claude standing by the painting that conceals a secret passage; he appears startled and releases the frame when he sees her.

In Anya’s room, the egg splits open, revealing a sticky newborn with an oversized head and a gold beak. Anya finds it beautiful. Coren suggests naming it Koo. Madame Elena, an elderly naiad, arrives to dress Anya’s hair in an elaborate plait and pins an oversized moonstone tiara into her scalp. Anya must wear new ruby jewelry, but refuses to remove her mother’s silver pendant, tucking it under her dress instead.

While preparations for the ball continue, King Halam sits at his desk. A man in a hooded cloak, whom the king recognizes, enters the chamber without knocking. The intruder carries a tumbler and pours liquid from a vial into it, staining his gloves. He then forces the bitter liquid down King Halam’s throat. The poison acts instantly, killing the king. The killer wraps the vial in a handkerchief and puts it in his pocket. He moves to burn his stained gloves in the fire, but decides the flames are too low and hides them inside the chimney recess instead. He hangs the cloak in a cupboard and leaves. After exiting, the man calms his breathing and adopts a convincing smile.