The Sound of Change

The Sound of Change Summary
Steve D. Wall
The Bards and Dragon Saga #2

Audiobook spelling

Lyrrun of Dwi is still in Quinport after Ulrich and Dellioph’s slightly botched escape plan, trying to figure out what happened and put stuff back together. He sells some of his holdings to acquaintance/ally Chancellor Bellisov to avoid him and Jack being sent to prison by Chancellor Aramea. But the Mastus’ are being held captive. While checking out the damage Lyrrun find Edwell Mastus, who has been hiding out to avoid capture and they team up.

Talua, Androstos, Dellioph, and Gali are heading to the Altar of the Sky, the place where the Teo Monks (sorcerers) all live to resupply before going to find Ulric. They pass near another Teo tribe and see their village has also been destroyed by Dragons (the big lizards). Dellioph offers to sing a eulogy and despite Talua threatening him constantly he uses a bit of magic to make Gali feel better. They then see a pack of dragons and Melviar leading them. He sends the dragons after them and they flee rapidly, coming to the base of the Altar of the Sky and stopping to make a stand. As they fight with their limited guns and bullets, Talua makes Dellioph just reload for them since his curse means he can’t harm any living creature. He was forced to tell them about his curse from the Magnate (can’t remember if that was book one or early this one). As the dragons close in and Androstos is burning up his energy using his physical speed sorcery, Dellioph decides he will empower them all despite Talua’s warnings. He has just started to strum the lute and empower them when “winged” forms fall from the sky and kill the dragons and save them. It is the Teo Monks, who have big stitched cloaks they can use in combination with wind magic to fly. Talua beats Dellioph up (Who can not defend himself because curse) then is about to shoot him for using his magic, despite him just trying to save their lives when things seemed hopeless. Andy talks her down and they ascend to the Altar.

Ulrich wakes up on a raft with some Teo, Dewstu among them. One of them, Chalka, can speak a little bit of Unnish so they can communicate a bit. The Teo also found all of their guns and bullets that fell in the river. Ulric is in bad shape but the Teo are helping him. They are fleeing to the great lake to avoid the dragons killing them all. Ulrich begins to teach Chalka and Dewstu Unnish and how to use the guns, since he fears their will be a big battle with the dragons.

Lyrrun tries to get Chancellor Bellisov to free Rodwell and Delruba Mastus, but Bellisov makes him do a job first, so Lyren and Edwell go to break into a warehouse owned by Chancellor Aramea one night. They have to kill some guards and we learn more about Lyrrun’s past since he can forge papers, pick locks, and disguise himself. They find plans for a new cannon model, a good bit of gold, and a strange stone. Bellisov seems enthralled by the stone when he gets it, but he frees the Mastus’ who come to the Captain’s Mast to stay.

Ulric meets up with another tribe, the Coney (he was rescued by the Idiwi). They are all preparing for a big battle with the dragons, and so Ulric assumes the roles of commander and teacher. He is also suffering nicotine withdrawal on top of his injuries. Him and Chaska smoke a weed variant on occasion.

At the altar of the Sky, Talua hates Dellioph more than ever. She has referred to his enchantment sorcery as rape. The elder of the Monks talks to the spirits and sees the coney preparing to fight and the Ulric is with them, so they offer to loan cloaks to Gali, Dellioph, Talua, and Androstos to fly ahead and beat the dragons to the battlesite. They take the offer and get to fly. At the end of the flight Dellioph is dumb and tried to copy the monk accompanying them, and almost crashes. The monk is forced to burn his sorcery out saving them all, and is incapacitated. They find another tribe from the plains with horses, and Gali talks to them as chief of the Odegna and manages to convince them not to kill the “durians” and go with them to aid the Coney in the coming battle. The chief of this tribe is antagonistic towards Gali and the outsiders.

Lyrrun is trying to figure out what Aramea is up to still, and gets invited to a gala, which is odd, but he goes to do some recon work. Edwell sneaks out to join him despite his parents insisting against it. Lyrrun starts to teach Ed some of the “tricks of the trade” (spy stuff) but they don’t learn anything real, so he sends Ed home and causes a distraction before sneaking into Aramea’s office. He steals a notebook and is forced to make a hasty retreat after seeing that Aramea is planning a coup and is sending men to attack the Captains Mast this evening. On the way out he is accosted by Aramea right hand man Reddo? Daro? (Can’t remember his name), and is about to be captured when Edwell shows up again to save him. They flee, but find the Mast already under attack. Gustav, a local mercenary who got kicked out for accosting the serving girl a while back, and some local toughs are breaking stuff and attacking Jack the innkeep. Jack breaks free and Ed shoots one of the men, and it seems to be in control when gustav comes out from the back having killed the cook, and then attacks and stabs Jack in the chest. He is about to kill Edwell when Delruba comes downstairs and uses her until now secret fire sorcery to burn the mercenaries to death. Too late to save Jack however. They all flee to the home of Chymic, the Teo living in Quinport, since Lyrrun sponsors his work.

Gali, Dellioph, Talua, and Andorstos have grouped up with the Coney. They also meet Aari and Devo. Everyone is back together, preparing to battle Malviar and the dragons. Coll, the Earth spirit, says she can only use her power once more so is saving up for Melviar, but Aari is learning to control it on her own. Dellioph empowers her and they build a ton of earthworks and traps for the battle using earth sorcery. Ulric keeps training Teo to shoot. Now they just wait a few more days for the battle.

Lyrrun is planning to flee the city with the Mastus’, but needs a plan. He receives a coded note from Chancellor Bellisov’s son. They meet him in secret at Madam Hewsteil’s Brothel. She is an old “friend” of Lyrrun. Chancellor Bellisov seems to be in a coma of some sort caused by the mysterious stone from the warehouse. They are trying to figure out what to do when soldiers come to the area searching every building. They try to flee but Aramea’s right hand man from earlier (Reddo I think) kills Bellisov’s son and then knocks Edwell unconscious. Lyrrun tries to stall but then gets shot and falls unconscious.

The night before the big battle Ulric smokes with Chaska, then another Teo comes and tells him Aari wants him. They wander away and once out of sight Ulric realizes something is wrong but then gets hit and tied up. They say they are from the Kingdom of Bahir, his old enemies when he served Helestria. (old world kingdoms). Before the fight starts everyone else realizes something is wrong and Aari uses earth magic to find Ulric and says he is prisoner and being taken away. Andy and Talua leave Gali to go save Ulric. Dellioph had decided not to participate in the battle despite Ulric asking him to empower people, so he already at the edge of town, and spots Ulric being abducted and tries to help. He attempts to enchant the 3 men, one a shapechanger who pretended to be the Teo to lure Ulric away, one a strength physic, and the other seems to have some sort of sense enhancing ability. Dellioph almost convinces them the arch mages sent him when their leader shows up, a blade dancer (like Galandon, who’s sword Dellioph carries). They tie Dellioph up and when they see he has a blade of Bahir, they take him prisoner with Ulric.

The battle starts, Melviar is at the field and has a small army of dragons. Some of the Teo break but many fight. Coll is forced to use a lot of her magic making earth walls to block the fireballs Malviar is creating. He wields a bone / tooth of a dragon (an ancient real fire breathing dragon, not a lizard) as a weapon and magical conduit. Gali tries to rally the remaining Teo to keep fighting, but things don’t look good.

Suddenly a hatchet kills the strength physic captor, then Androstos is zooming around fighting everyone. He kills 2 of the enemy, but then is forced into battle with the blade dancer. Blade dancers are basically impossible to kill 1v1 but Andy is keeping it close with his hatchets. Dellioph sings to empower Androstos (not as strong as using Urelio’s lute), and it seems like he may win, but the blade dancer launches wind blades at ulrich and Dellioph distracting them. Androstos is forced to use Galandon’s sword after his hatchet breaks, but he is not trained with it. He threw his second hatchet to allow Ulrich to cut his bonds, and Ulrich is trying to load his rifle. The blade dancer forces Androstos to the ground then gives him a big cut across the chest. He then rushes Ulric but Ulrich shoots him just in time. Talua shows up and is devastated that her husband is dying. Ulric is so mad he uses the blade dancers sword to brutalize the remaining enemy trying to flee. Dellioph wakes up from unconsciousness and they all watch Androstos die.

Back at the battle things aren’t going great. Devo and Aari/coll attack Melviar but he is too strong. He throws Devo away and grabs Aari about to stab her with the dragon fang, when Balaam (spirit of the hunt, Coll’s younger spirit brother), shows up with an army of animals and attacks. He distracts Melviar and his animals attack the lizards.

Dellioph, Talua, and Ulric run back to the battle. Ulric asked Dellioph to empower them. Dellioph was worried he would lose control but Ulric says he will stop him. They make a big impact and shoot all their bullets, but dellioph starts getting carried away, so Ulrich punches him. Talua again looks like she wants to kill him and like everything is his fault, so him and Ulrich leave her and go find Gali to help. They all regroup and Dellioph empowers Devo despite his broken ankle and Devo fights Malviar. He almost kills him, but Ulric again stops Dellioph because he is losing control and his magic is making Devo be brutal. Without it Malviar again throws Devo away and then grabs Dellioph while Ulric is looking for more ammo.Malviar is attacking Dellioph with the fang, who is forced to block with Urelio’s lute, which eventually shatters and breaks. Their is a strange gold light that the fang is absorbing. Dellioph jumps on Malviar and grabs the fang, but then seems to be paralyzed with pain. Gali has already shot Malviar once but now she lines up another shot and fires again, hitting him in the chest. Devo wakes up enough and with Aari’s help stabs Malviar with the fang. He turns to ash and is absorbed. Good guys win.

After a week Delioph wakes up. Aari tells everyone Coll has died/passed on. They try to rebuild the village and hold a pyre for Androstos. The Teo meet to decide what to do and Gali and Dewstu dream of their old home, but their are no real plans for the future. Devo and Dellioph talk and Devo uses the fang to remove Dellioph’s curse tattoo, so he can hurt people again.

Lyren wakes up. He is in a safe house Madam Hewsteil brought him too. His flask saved him by being in his jacket pocket when he was shot, like a Nokia. He learns Edwell is prisoner but Rodwell and Delruba are here and they plan how to save him. THE END.