The Balborite Curse (Book 4) by Kristian Alva

withered and died. Dragons’ eggs remained unhatched in their desert caves. Entire clutches were lost to the freezing cold.
    Orcs ravaged the countryside, no longer bothered by the light of the sun. The darkness continued for thirteen days. Eventually, a wise old she-dragon, distressed by the situation, decided to talk to the Sun Lion. The dragon flew high into the sky, arriving at the Sun Lion’s castle. She entered the castle with her head bowed low, and with great reverence.
    "O, beloved Sun Lion, why do you keep the world in darkness?" she asked, her voice respectful.
    “I am weary,” said the Sun Lion. “The sun disk is heavy, and the mortals below do not appreciate my hard work.”
    "Then let me carry your burden for a day. I shall push the sun disk across the sky for you."
    The Sun Lion agreed and uncovered the sun. Dazzled by the light, the dragon was blinded, but she picked up the sun disk anyway and flew courageously into the sky. The people rejoiced when they saw the sun ’s return.
    Plants bloomed, dragon eggs hatched, and the orcs retreated back to their caves. As the day wore on, the dragon grew tired. She struggled to keep the heavy sun aloft. By midday, her strength faltered, and she dropped the sun disk, scorching the earth. The place where the disk touched the land became a great desert, and that was how the Death Sands were formed.
    The dragon knew that she had erred, so she picked up the sun disk with renewed vigor, but then she rose too high, and the world hardened into ice. That was how the Frigid Waste was formed. The dragon struggled on, her strength weakening with every minute. Eventually, she could hold the sun disk no longer, and she collapsed in front of the Sun Lion’s castle and died.
    When the Sun Lion came out to collect the sun disk, he saw the she-dragon lying there, dead from exhaustion, and he felt ashamed, for he had shirked his duties and she had died for it. The Sun Lion promised to honor the dragon for her courage and placed six stars in the sky in the shape of a dragon. And so the Dragon’s Chain is the constellation that rises first in the evening and glitters the longest through the night. That is why the Sun Lion is always depicted holding a dragon’s egg in one hand and the sun disk in another.
    Sela smiled, remembering the old fable. She traced the carving with her thumb. “The wood was beautiful—an exquisite knotted hardwood from Redmoor. This wood must have cost you a few silver crowns. It’s lovely, Tallin. Is this a new hobby?”
    “No, an old one, really. Something I picked up from the nomads. It’s a warding figurine,” he said. “They’re enchanted objects—a shaman places a small glamour on the statue, and it glows when there is malicious magic about. Anyone can carve the figure and then take it to the shaman. The nomads place them in front of their tents at night. It took me a long time to get the spell, though—it’s not information that the nomads share freely.”
    “Seems like a useful bit of magic,” said Sela. “I’ve seen these carvings outside their tents, but I just assumed that they were decorations. Object enchantments weren’t part of my regular training. I only learned how to enchant runestones—very basic stuff.”
    “I studied enchantments quite a bit—dwarves are known for forging enchanted weaponry, so that was part of my apprentice training, but I’ve never seen dwarf spellcasters add enchantments to common objects such as this. Nomadic shaman are very proficient at enchanting objects for some reason. Even their weakest mageborns are highly skilled in this respect.”
    “That’s surprising. It takes a fair amount of magical ability to enchant an object, at least that’s what I’ve always been told. The elders at Miklagard don’t even bother to teach enchantments to mageborns that test below level four. Maybe it’s time to rethink that policy and start teaching enchantments to all the apprentices.”
    “Perhaps.”