The Moon Coin (The Moon Realm Series) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Bedtime Tales

  Oscar Knows Things

  A Coin of the Realm

  Mr. Phixit

  To Barreth

  Roan’s Charge

  The Ridgegate

  Roan’s Darkness

  Greydor’s Decision

  The Tomb of the Fallen

  Race Against Time

  The Blight Marsh

  Dragon

  Harvest

  Egg-Hunt

  Unannounced Guests

  Keegan’s Ground

  To Bairne

  Ember

  A Cry in the Night

  Back Home

  THE DRAGONDAIN

  Praise for Richard Due’s

  The Moon Coin

  Book One / A Moon Realm Novel

  “So begins a beautifully descriptive, cleverly written, intricate story, full of adventure and captivating characters, who draw you into their very lives and worlds. The wider adult reading population will no doubt be entranced by the skill of the author, Richard Due. I just cannot believe that this maturity and skill with the written word comes from a debut author.”

  —Fiction Books

  “One of the things I particularly enjoyed about The Moon Coin was the way that Due does not talk down to his young readers. The book employs a rich vocabulary, giving its audience opportunities to learn new words in context. The intricately described universe of the Moon Realm is the highlight of the book.”

  —Agrippina Legit

  “The Moon Coin is middle-grade fantasy at its best! When I was a kid, I would have annihilated this book, slept with it under my pillow, and carried it with me at school.”

  —Sizzling Reads

  “The Moon Coin, fast, furious, and immensely enjoyable, reminded me of what I love about fiction. There are surprises around every corner, and by taking the more difficult theme of division, forcible annexation and the underlying currents of coloring up the truth, Mr. Due has made The Moon Coin into a story that is deeply layered and developed as much as it is entertaining and delightful. With an extremely wide cast of characters and a heroine we can appreciate, The Moon Coin just keeps giving.”

  —In the Closet with a Bibliophile

  “Carolyn Arcabascio’s illustrations really bring the story to life. The worlds in this story are vivid and beautifully descriptive. If you have a young reader who enjoys fantasy, loves to be lost in a good story, or just wants something new, give him or her this book.”

  —Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

  “Mr. Due’s world building is phenomenal. The idea of the Moon Realm, a place where nine moons orbit each other (though the natives of each moon insist that their world is a planet and the other moons orbit around it) and get close enough to touch, was completely original.”

  —Howling Turtle

  2012 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards:

  Gold Medal Winner

  Titles Available in the Moon Realm Series

  (in reading order):

  The Moon Coin

  (Part One, The Rinn of Barreth)

  The Dragondain

  (Part Two, The Rinn of Barreth)

  Coming Soon:

  The Murk

  (Part One, The Merfolk of Dik Dek)

  Fall 2013

  The Ninth Embasea

  (Part Two, The Merfolk of Dik Dek)

  Fall 2014

  Richard Due

  Book One / A Moon Realm Novel

  Illustrated by

  Carolyn Arcabascio

  Gibbering Gnome Press

  A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink

  Huntingtown

  Gibbering Gnome Press, A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink. Huntingtown, MD

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s overwrought imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  TheMoonRealm.com

  Text copyright © 2011 by Richard Due

  Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Carolyn Arcabascio

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions in any form whatsoever.

  ISBN: 978-0-9838867-2-3 (ebook)

  First Gibbering Gnome Press, A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink™ e-book edition September 2011

  Typography by Graphic Mayhem

  To my river-nymph,

  who shares with me her underwater kingdoms.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my editors, Liz Prouty and Emily Bakely, for tirelessly improving my prose and catching continuity errors. Thanks to all my readers, especially Janet Jiacinto and Jessi Wood (aka Twizbang and Snerliff). A special thanks to the early contributors in CL: Julia D’Anna, for lending me Hotel Julie; Jamie Casbon, for letting me raid her closet; Jimmy Humphries, for poking holes in magic systems; and Sharon Grummer, for sharing with me those things that might, on any given day, be found on a thirteen-year-old girl’s bedroom floor. A special thanks to Carolyn Arcabascio, for giving me artwork that surpassed anything I could have imagined. Thanks to my two beautiful children, who inspired me to see this novel through to the end. A special thanks to Roger Zelazny, for teaching me how to dream while wide awake, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., for teaching me how to laugh unexpectedly in a silent, crowded room.

  And finally, my eternal thanks to the little one who kept elbowing me—you’re not making sense, Daddy!—, without whose assistance I never would have snatched the Moon Realm from the precipice at the edge of my dreams.

  CHARACTERS

  Earth

  Lily Vervain Winter, thirteen-year-old sister of Jasper, expert liar, trying to reform

  Jasper Milfoil Winter, fourteen-year-old, would rather die than break a pinky-promise

  Tay and Linnea Winter, father and mother of Lily and Jasper, owners of Treling Tree Nursery

  Ebb Autumn, Linnea’s brother, lives in the mansion on The Egg

  Bruford, big black shaggy dog

  Tarzanna, gray tabby, great mouser

  Hello Kitty, Lily’s horse

  Gwen Madsen, geriatric botanist, works at Treling Tree Nursery, lives with her brother Myrddin in a cabin next to The Wald

  Myrddin Madsen, geriatric botanist, Gwen’s older brother, good in a pinch

  Isla Gorpmarch, do not judge her by her size, Lily’s best friend

  The Electrimals

  Oscar, bright red-plumed flying seahorse, unique among the birdfish

  Mr. Phixit, more than just two arms mounted to a tall dresser with exactly ninety-nine drawers

  Mr. Clippers, eight-legged, solar-paneled lawnmower, lives on The Egg

  Finder, teddy bear-sized and -shaped, good at finding things

  Bounder, larger, slower version of Finder, good at carrying heavy objects

  The Moon Realm

  The Moon of Barreth

  The Rinn

  Greydor Goldenclif, of the clan Foamchaser, Lord of the Valley Rinn

  Nimlinn Goldenclif, of the clan Broadpaw, Queen of the Valley Rinn

  Roan, warrior, head of his clutter

  Mowra, Court lunamancer

  Wyrrtwitch, lunamancer, warden of Tower Clawforge

  General Lewenhoof, one of Greydor
’s top generals

  The Wyflings

  Witcoil Lightfoot, Lancespeed First Class, Royal Guard to the Queen

  Snerliff, attendant to Nimlinn, stouthearted when not panicked

  Twizbang, attendant to Nimlinn, a bit twitchy

  The Moon of Taw

  Grygrack, large green bird, currently royal messenger to the Valley Rinn

  Squark, large yellow bird, currently royal translator to the Valley Rinn

  Chercheer, large blue bird, currently royal translator to the Valley Rinn

  Aleron, head of Heron Peck

  The Moon of Dain

  Dubb, Captain, Dragondain, master swordsman and tactician

  Lady Mairwen, wife of Dubb and a Lady of the Court

  Tavin, Ex-Captain, Ex-Dragondain, cursed

  Ember, lunamancer, amateur Dain historian

  Quib, Dragondain, cook, man of many talents, wicked good with a whip

  Cora, lunamancer, wife of Quib, bakes a mean cherry muffin

  Keegan Hoarfrost, very old healer

  Raewyn, healer, daughter of Keegan, good at keeping things alive

  Marred, Dragondain, tracker, dragonologist, husband of Raewyn

  Andros, Dragondain, mountain of a man, bearer of Balherk’s shield

  Jemma, Dragondain, wife of Andros

  Boots, archer, rarely misses his mark, never stumbles, good with maps

  Arric, lunamancer, good with wards, better with peerins

  Dara, lunamancer

  Nima, healer, one of Keegan’s many granddaughters

  Others

  Faerathil, the Faerie Queen of Rel’ Kah

  Morgoroth the Devourer, Keeper of the Magic Flame, greatest dragon in all the Moon Realm

  Wornot, mondo-huge talking bat

  Curse, nasty piece of work, inhabits a slag heap of a sword, likes to be oiled regularly

  PART ONE

  THE RINN OF BARRETH

  Nine Moons Make a Realm

  Conjured Rinnjinn in Fangdelve keep,

  the Rinn of Barreth making.

  Pearl of Dik Dek in oceans deep,

  mer-made all for the taking.

  Kormor’s work, hammer and anvil,

  giants of Min Tar she forged.

  Terrible beauty Faerathil,

  in Rel’ Kah her dreams she poured.

  Three hearts bejewel the crown of Dain

  Dragon, King, and Naramay.

  Lazy lives the long life in twain,

  keying a lone memory.

  From grove to bird did language fly,

  fluttering from Taw to Realm.

  Tinker’s Secret? None to tell.

  Darwyth’s rising—a wellspring dell.

  Prologue

  Bedtime Tales

  Nine years earlier.

  Ebb Autumn stood tall and slender in his coat of many pockets. He was wearing his world-traveling clothes, and while the items in his many pockets normally remained private, tonight he had presents.

  Lily and Jasper were bouncing on the bed when he knocked. A gentleman always knocks. Their uncle had a habit of arriving late or not at all, but when he showed up at bedtime, he always had a new story in need of telling—as if a thousand-year-old publishing factory resided in his head. And for this reason, as bedtime drew near on Lily’s fourth and Jasper’s fifth birthday, they were listening for him.

  Ebb paused in the doorway, and a wave of concern passed over him. He’d missed their party. So many things to do. He brushed a long, silver-blond lock out of his eyes and stared with wonder, as if he were looking at the two most precious children ever born.

  Jasper sat in plain sight, trying his best not to appear guilty by association, a situation he found himself in daily. Sometimes twice daily. Sometimes fifteen times. Next to him, beneath the covers, lay a Lily-sized lump.

  A fearsome green dragon figurine rested on Jasper’s lap. It was the last present he’d unwrapped that morning. His mother had gasped when she saw it, and his father had gone as still and silent as a statue. Jasper wasn’t sure what that meant, but he knew immediately the dragon was special. Its emerald hide sparkled even in the dim light. Long whiskers drooped from its jowls, and the eyes in its spiked head gave the disturbing impression that they were staring back.

  “Come to tell us a story, Uncle?” asked Jasper.

  “Possibly,” said Ebb. Striding into the room, he plopped down on the bed and rested his hand on the lump. “But where’s your sister?” he pressed. “It wouldn’t do to start without her.”

  Jasper knitted his brow. He had the look of someone who wanted to say something, but had been tasked with remaining silent . . . under threat of penalties . . . painful, awful, unrepeatable penalties.

  Ebb smiled his crooked smile, which a stranger undoubtedly would have said looked sinister, but Jasper knew better. “Gone on an adventure again, has she? Leaving you all alone to fend for yourself? Did she swear you to secrecy before she left?”

  Jasper fingered the tip of the dragon’s long tail. “Nooooooo,” he said, swallowing hard.

  Ebb took a long look at his nephew. He was growing much too fast. Ebb observed Jasper’s increasing mental prowess with both dread and fascination, but he felt only pride as Jasper screwed his courage to the sticking-place and gestured with his eyes to the lump under the covers. Ebb was pleased that Jasper’s need to tell the truth was stronger than his desire to participate in Lily’s schemes.

  “Did you enjoy your fifth birthday?” Ebb asked enthusiastically.

  Ebb was no stranger to enthusiasm. In fact, he had an unnatural talent for infecting others with the stuff. It was one of his gifts.

  No longer burdened with the secret of Lily’s whereabouts, Jasper’s eyes lit up. “Yes!” he shouted. “Thank you very, very much for the dragon!”

  “You’re most welcome, my good man!” Ebb twiddled the tips of his long fingers atop the lump beneath the covers. “It’s too bad about your sister, though. I was going to give each of you one more present.” The lump stirred, but now it appeared as if Ebb’s hand was holding it in place. “But I suppose . . . since Lily isn’t here . . . I could give both of them . . . to you.”

  “You will not!” said the lump in a muffled voice.

  Ebb leaned forward, as if listening intently. “What did you say, Jasper?” Jasper looked worried again. “Threatened you, did she?” he whispered conspiratorially. Jasper nodded, now looking a little sad. “Well then,” said Ebb in a louder voice. “No Lily, no present. It’s just as simple as that.”

  The lump shook violently. “My goodness,” cried Ebb, “what’s this?” The instant he lifted his hand, out popped Lily, like a towheaded jane-in-the-box.

  “Presents!” she said.

  “Why, there you are! You had me worried. Tell me, did you make any new friends today?” Lily tugged a winged figurine from under the covers and drew it up to her chest. A smile spread across her face, absorbing eyes, nose, and ears before it was finished. “Have you named her?”

  Lily nodded, flinging hair into and out of her eyes. “I named her Blossom!”

  Ebb’s fingers flew to cover his lips. One of his fits had seized him. They always reminded Lily and Jasper of laughter, but this one was so severe Ebb was bouncing, ever so lightly. “Oh, dear me,” he said under his breath. “Do do me a favor, won’t you?” He paused, temporarily overcome. “If—no!—when you meet her—” Ebb slid his hand over his eyes, covering most of his face. Lily had just begun to wonder if something was wrong, when Ebb slowly withdrew his hand. “Don’t”—he said in a forbidding voice—“ever tell her that.”

  Lily frowned. “Why not?”

  Ebb’s smile returned, his demeanor lightened. “Because that’s not he
r real name, of course.”

  Lily gave her uncle a cold look. “Her name is Blossom,” she said with a frighteningly steely edge for one so young.

  “It’s . . . a lovely choice,” said Ebb. “For when your parents are around.”

  Blossom stood regally on Lily’s knees. Graceful wings draped over her shoulders and hung down her body like a long, gray-feathered cloak. When Lily pulled Blossom’s arms wide, her wings unfolded and spread with all the complexity of a living creature’s. Underneath the feathers, she wore a dusky dark blue leotard, tattooed with a black pattern that blended so perfectly with her arms and legs that it was difficult to tell where the fabric ended and her bare skin began. Her wild black hair stuck out in all directions like striking snakes, and her face was a thing at once both terrible and beautiful.

  Lily peered around the wings and eyed her uncle suspiciously. “So, what’s her other name?”

  “Can you keep a secret?”

  “I like secrets,” said Lily. She turned slightly and gave Jasper a superior smile.

  “You can’t ever speak her name outside this room, or to anyone other than your brother or me. You have to promise.”

  “I promise,” said Lily quickly.

  “It has to be a real promise.”

  “Real promise,” echoed Lily.

  “Same goes for you,” Ebb said to Jasper. “Are you in?”

  Jasper stared, paralyzed by the blatant subversive tactics being used by his sister and uncle. Lily and Ebb both knew that an actual, verbal yes was out of the question. But as the silence dragged on, and the opportunity for Jasper to decisively say no began to fade, Ebb held up his pinky. “Good,” he said. “Then it’s a pact.” Lily hooked her pinky in Ebb’s and stared at her brother. Jasper licked his lips.