Dragon Prince

Dragon Prince

Author	Melanie Rawn
Cover artist	Michael Whelan
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	1988
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	576 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-88677-450-0
Followed by	The Star Scroll

Dragon Prince, is a fantasy novel written by author Melanie Rawn. It is the first book of the Dragon Prince trilogy.

Plot introduction

THE DRAGON LORD

When Rohan became the new Prince of the Desert, ruler of the princedom granted his family for as long as the Long Sands spawned fire, he took the crown with two goals in mind. First and foremost, he sought to bring permanent peace to his world of divided princedoms, realms hovering always on the brink of war. And, in a land where dragon-slaying was a proof of manhood, Rohan was the sole champion of the dragons, fighting desperately to preserve the last remaining lords of the sky and with them a secret which might be the salvation of his people . . .

AND HIS SUNRUNNER WITCH--

Sioned, who was fated by Fire to be Rohan's bride, had mastered the magic of sunlight and moonglow, catching hints of a yet to be formed pattern which could irrevocably affect the destinies of Sunrunners and ordinary mortals alike. Yet caught in the machinations of the Lady of Goddess Keep, and of Prince Rohan and his sword enemy, the treacherously cunning High Prince, could Sioned alter this crucial pattern to protect her lord from the menace of a war that threatened to set the land ablaze?

--from the book jacket

Plot summary

Faces in Fire: Rohan, Prince of the Desert, is newly come to the throne. He must outwit the High Prince in order to protect his vast lands and to maintain peace throughout the world. Sioned, a Sunrunner witch and his chosen bride, must help him in this dangerous quest and during the harsh times of war to come.

The Rialla : Rohan and Sioned have some hard times at first, but they eventually get through. After Rohan's father died and Rohan inherited, he pretended to be a stupid, ignorant young man. The other princes believed him until he showed his true colors. The High Prince Roelstra, however, thought that he could get Rohan's lands by marrying one of his seventeen daughters off to him. Rohan always came to a head with him. Roelstra wanted the desert, and Rohan was just as determined not to let him have it. No one knew that Sioned was Rohan's Chosen, except his Aunt, the scheming statecrafter Lady Andrade, until he revealed it at one of the many dinners that all of the princes attended. Roelstra was furious, of course, but he managed to keep his cool. For awhile, that is.

Vengeance: Ultimately, Roelstra's daughter Ianthe captured Rohan and seduced him, convincing the drugged prince that she is Sioned. She also captured Sioned, locked her in a lightless dungeon and sent soldiers to rape her. When Rohan discovered the truth, he was enraged and took Ianthe fiercely as a form of revenge. Ianthe got what she wanted: a child was conceived of this. Sioned returned to Feruche and stole the babe from Ianthe just before Rohan's vassal Ostvel burned Ianthe's Castle Feruche to the ground-- with Ianthe in it. Sioned adopted the child, naming him Pol, which means "star" in the Old Tongue. War erupts between Rohan and Roelstra, ending when Rohan killed Roelstra in a duel and became High Prince in his stead.

Heroes' Journeys

In this book Prince Rohan's character develops - in part - through the Hero's Journey. He passes through the three primary stages of departure, initiation, and return on his way to becoming the High Prince and faces many of the trials outlined in Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). Sioned, Rohan's Sunrunner princess, also travels on a hero's journey. The different stages and how Rohan and Sioned face each archetypical encounter of the hero's journey is outlined below.

Note: The structure of the hero's journey can vary depending on the story. The form used below is similar to the hero's journey outlined on Wikipedia - this is for the convenience of the readers. An example of different inner structures is given for the 'descent into the abyss.' The most obvious descent for Sioned is her captivity in the lightless dungeon of Feruche. In the outline below, her descent is different due to the placement of the abyss in the outlined hero's journey on Wikipedia. The dungeon in Feruche is listed as the apotheosis, in which Sioned's self is shattered and later remolded.

Separation

• Call to Adventure

Rohan's call is his father's death. Rohan must now become the Prince of the Desert and overcome everyone's doubts about his ability to lead and about his manhood. Rohan's first actual adventure is to slay the dragon that had killed his father, Zehava. Unlike some heroes, Rohan does not shun this call. He steps forward, ready and even eager to begin his reign as Prince of the Desert. Though Rohan does not want to kill dragons, he does not refuse to avenge Zehava; in fact Rohan promises to Burn their corpses together - the first of many traditional departures, which characterize Rohan's reign.

Sioned's call is from Andrade. The Lady of Goddess Keep calls to Sioned on the light and orders her to Stronghold. This is the day Sioned had been waiting for ever since seeing Rohan's face in the Fire.

• Supernatural Aid

Lady Andrade of Goddess Keep, a powerful faradhi and Rohan's aunt, tries to lend her aid to the new Prince; however, Rohan does not need much of her guidance. Rohan himself is not a Sunrunner, and he already has the knowledge he needs to defeat the dragon. What Andrade does give him, is a vision of Sioned. She shows the Prince a part of his future, a tangible face to the world he dreams of creating. In spirit, Sioned could be said to aid Rohan in his coming battle, though his own cunning and knowledge of dragons is what ultimately defeats the beast. Chaynal could also be viewed as an aid, though he merely accompanies Rohan to Rivenrock.

In Sioned's case the aid comes from her non-supernatural friend, Ostvel, and Camigwen. Both help Sioned stay calm as she journeys forth from Goddess Keep, her home since she was twelve years old.

• First Threshold

Rohan's first threshold is within Rivenrock; the threshold guardian is the dragon. In order to truly begin his reign as Prince of the Desert, Rohan must first finish his father's work: the dragonslaying. Rohan and Chay both ride into Rivenrock, but only Rohan faces the grandsire dragon. Rohan battles the dragon using his own cunning and blade. He uses the dragons weakness against the beast and defeats it. At this point Rohan's own people lose their doubts about his manhood and ability to rule the Desert.

Sioned's threshold and threshold guardian is the Faolain River. This is the border of the world Sioned knew: green lands, running water, life as a Sunrunner. Across the river lies a Prince, her future as his Princess, and the wide expanse of the Desert's Long Sand. The river is also the guardian because faradhi are desperately ill while crossing water. On her journey across, Sioned must battle her inner illness to save her friends, who were crossing as the ferry broke free.

• Descent into the Abyss

Rohan is now accepted as Prince by his own people. During Zehava's Burning, Rohan ends the old rule and starts his own reign, ready to put his plans into action and make his dreams reality. His being Prince of the Desert can be seen as the Belly of the Beast for it is in this position where Rohan's adventures and tests unfold.

The Desert itself can be viewed as Sioned's belly of the beast, though for her it is a place from whence she will never return - nor want to. On a smaller scale the belly could be viewed as Stronghold's grotto, the place where she and Rohan meet in secret before he announces that she is his Princess. The grotto in this case represents the secrecy of her relationship to Rohan, which is the belly of Sioned's beast.

Initiation

• Road of Trials

There are many trials on Rohan's road to High Prince, the first being the Hatching Hunt. The Hatchling Hunt is the traditional slaughter of hatchling dragons. Rohan, newly made Prince, hates the killing and wants to put a stop to it, but he also wants to create a new world, a world governed by laws and not just a Prince's whims. He suffers through this trial, rescuing Jahni and Maarken along the way. The Rialla and all of its trials are a part of this road. Here Rohan is a Prince in action, viewing first hand the consequences of his cunning plans and the similarities between him and the story's Lillian, Roelstra.

Sioned's trials also occur at the Rialla. She is confronted time and again by the Princesses Ianthe and Pandsala, the High Prince Roelstra, and her own inner demons. The main internal struggle Sioned has is how to balance her Sunrunner gifts and the power and duties she will have as Rohan's Princess. She feels as if Rohan and Goddess Keep are both pulling at her loyalties, both using her, yet she wants to help Rohan any way she can. That frightens her, as does the realization that he is the price of her faradhi vows: she would kill to save his life - and with the Merida, however unintentional, she has.

• Meeting with the Goddess

Rohan's 'goddess figure' is Sioned. She is the representation of goodness, his dreams, his hopes for the future, and his very life. The joining of hero and goddess is purposefully postponed in this story in order for the hero's plans to come to fruition. After the Rialla Rohan and Sioned are married, the hero and goddess joined.

Sioned's 'god figure' is Rohan. He is everything to her; she is willing to risk and give everything for him. Their joining is postponed due to Rohan himself, which lends strength to Sioned's inner struggles.

• Temptation

Rohan's temptation is Ianthe, Roelstra's youngest legitimate daughter. Ianthe is cunning and beautiful - and desperate to win Rohan for herself. She even climbs into bed with Rohan, though he realizes that she's not Sioned in time to prevent his own seduction.

Sioned's temptation is Roelstra, Rohan's rival himself. The High Prince dashingly tries to seduce her both as a woman and a Sunrunner. Sioned's own jealousy toward Rohan's attention to the Princesses makes her vulnerable to Roelstra's manipulations.

• Atonement with the Father

Zehava was a great warrior prince; He lived by the sword and was revered for it. He is the epitome of the old ways, which Rohan wants to do away with in his dreams of lawful and peaceful rule. Rohan must recognize and confront the barbaric, old ways inside himself before he can move forward and continue to build the future of his dreams. Roelstra, though not really a father figure to Rohan, is the representative of absolute power in the old ways. Rohan must also defeat him before continuing onward.

Sioned's atonement is with the traditions of Goddess Keep, represented by Andrade, though atonement is not exactly what occurs. Sioned resents Andrade for manipulating her and Rohan and trying to create a Sunrunner Prince though them. Still, Sioned must find the balance between the traditional vows of faradh'm and the duties of a Princess. Through many trials, Sioned comes to find this balance, which is used as an example for the Sunrunner Lords and Princes to come after her.

• Apotheosis

Rohan's sense of self is torn asunder by the ministrations of Ianthe at Feruche. After being drugged and fevered, his barbaric self is let loose. The very fact that he possessed a barbaric self, disgusted Rohan and sent him into despair and burning self-hatred. This new Rohan is more ruthless, more blood thirsty, and quicker to anger. He has given up all of his past dreams as the naive fancies of an arrogant youth.

Sioned descends into a type of madness during her captivity at Feruche. She is not whole, not entirely awake, for months after she and Rohan are released. The inner turmoil Sioned has had in regards to using her faradhi gifts for Rohan - perhaps even to kill - is suddenly nonexistent. She sets rings of Fire around Merida, severely burning them, and burns Feruche to the ground. She even wants to kill Ianthe using Sunrunner's Fire.

Return

• Return Threshold

Rohan finally confronts Roelstra in battle. Rohan defeats the High Prince and ends the war.

Sioned returns to Feruche to defeat Ianthe and claim Rohan's son as her own.

• Rescue from Without

Rohan duels Roelstra, but one of the High Prince's men make ready to throw a knife into Rohan's back. Sioned, seeing this, uses the starlight to weave a dome of protection around Rohan and Roelstra. As the knife bounces off the stardome, Rohan and Roelstra are able to battle one on one. Roelstra nearly wins as Rohan lies bleeding on the ground, but then Roelstra taunts Rohan about his son. The idea of a son fires new life into Rohan; he would not let Roesltra rule his son. Gaining strength from the instinctual defense of a father for his son, Rohan kills Roelstra.

Still caught by madness, Sioned gathers the incredible power that hate has lent her, ready to unleash Sunrunner's Fire on Ianthe as she had already set Feruche ablaze. Before she can call more Fire, Ostvel stabs Ianthe through the heart, taking the death from Sioned. Infuriated, Sioned turns on him, but he reminds her of the baby. She calls Fire onto Ianthe's corpse and is scarred by her own Fire.

• Magic Flight

Rohan's 'magic flight' could be seen in his breakdown to Chay. His inner self, his thoughts, fear, and doubts rush out of him as he tells Chay everything that had happened at and after Feruche. As Rohan speaks his rigid control and impassivity fall away; pieces of the old Rohan appear once more. By the end of his talk with Chay, Rohan is once again able to believe in his dreams of peace and law.

Sioned and Ostvel run from Feruche, seeing Tobin carrying the baby to safety up ahead. Along the mad dash from the Keep, Sioned bumps into a burning man. Finally realizing the enormity of what she had done, Sioned falls on the man, trying to beat out the flames. She weeps, apologizing for what she had done. At last she is released from the mad hollowness that had consumed her since her captivity.

• Master of Two Worlds

Rohan becomes the High Prince. He takes up the burden of Continental power for the future and for his son. The old ways and the new - barbarian and civilized - are joined in him. Rohan's dreams live once again, his own heart their strongest defense.

Sioned is now the Sunrunner High Princess. She has succumbed to using her faradhi gifts to kill, she has made choices that ripped apart Sunrunner traditions and princely power, and she has finally found a balance. Her life and use of powers will shape the world of her son and all Sunrunner Lords.

• Freedom to Live

As High Prince Rohan now has the power to steer the Continent in the direction of peace and law. As a man, Rohan is now a father and can raise his son with his beloved wife, Sioned, as they both work to create a better world.

Sioned has made peace with the fact that she is Sunrunner and Princess both. Though she knows there will be more trials, she has chosen Rohan over Goddess Keep - she wears only his emerald to signify this - yet she has also learned what a terrible price sacrificing the faradhi vows is, and will be an example for all the Sunrunner Lords and Princes to follow.

The Plague

The plague is a deadly disease for humans and dragons. It attacks the lungs first, taking the victims' breath away, then it attacks the mind, taking their sanity. After a period of approximately twelve days, the victims die. There is only one cure for the plague: dranath.

Plague: 701

In 701 the plague with the dragonflight. It swept across the Continent, killing four out of ten people in places like Stronghold, the seat of the Desert and near to the dragon caves. As people began to die by the hundreds the call went out for Prince Rohan of the Desert to kill the dragons in the hope of saving human lives. Before Rohan had to decide whether to kill the beasts he loved, the dragons began to die as well. They died by the hundreds. Chaos ruled the Continent, and many Keeps shut themselves to all travellers. Ianthe of Feruche, for example, threw anyone with signs of the plague over her walls and the cliff. The island princedoms - Dorval, Kierst, and Isel - closed their ports to all comers. The people of those princedoms remained isolated and healthy; Kierst and Isel even set aside their differences in order to survive together. On the Continent only the Merida seemed isolated enough to remain uneffected by the plague. In truth the Merida were related to the Vellanti, who brought the plague over from the Vellanti Islands. To the Vellanti the plague is merely a childhood illness; once gotten a person never contracts it again.

A cure was finally found in the form of the drug dranath. This drug was made from the herb of the same name, which grew only in the Veresch Mountains of Princemarch. High Prince Roelstra sold the drug to the other princedoms, though the price was very high and the shipments often late to Lords and Princes who had been at odds with the High Prince.

Rohan nearly bankrupted his coffers in order to buy enough dranath for his people. He wanted to apply the drug to the bittersweet plants the dragons ate in order to protect them from the plague, but he knew he could not save dragons at the expense of other princedoms. As he sought a way to afford more dranath without bankrupting his vassals, Farid of Skybowl approached him and told him Skybowl's secret: the Keep minted dragon gold. Astounded that the minting operation had been going on without his knowledge, but vastly grateful that it was, Rohan spent an obscene amount of the dragon gold to buy more dranath off of Roelstra. Rohan then distributed the drug to the other princedoms - for free. As the panic and spread of the plague dwindled and finally ended, Rohan used the rest of his dranath to lace the dragons' bittersweet plants.

Known Victims

• Abidias, Lord of Tuath
• Antalya of Waes, Lady of Tiglath
• Bethoc, Lord of Catha Heights
• Camigwen, Sunrunner, friend of Sioned and beloved of Ostvel
• Daar, Lord of Gilad Seahold
• Durriken, Prince of Cunaxa
• Gevina, Roelstra's daughter by Vamana
• Haldor, Prince of Syr
• Jahni of Radzyn Keep
• Jelena, Roelstra's daughter by Palila
• Jervis, Lord of Waes
• Lamia, Roelstra's daughter by Karayan
• Lenala of Princemarch
• Mardeem, Sunrunner, friend of Sioned
• Milar of Catha Freehold, Princess of the Desert
• Riaza of River Run
• Seldeen, Prince of Gilad
• Vissarion, Prince of Grib

Aftermath

Many Lords and Princes had died of plague as well as many heirs. Keeps were left without direct descendents, and the records of bloodlines had to be scoured. Young Lords and Princes ruled before they were ready; youthful arrogance and preconceptions often clouded their political judgement, as did hot tempers. The Continent was vastly different from what it had been a mere year ago.

Trade had come to a screeching hault as a result of all the closed borders. It was slow to resume, and even three years later had not fully recovered.

Prince Rohan's plan to put dranath on the bittersweet worked; the dragons stopped dying, though their population fell from over three hundred to thirty-seven during the next dragonflight.

New Rulers

• Prince Cabar of Gilad
• Prince Miyon of Cunaxa
• Prince Velden of Grib

• Lord Kolya of Kadar Water
• Lord Patwin of Catha Heights
• Lord Sabriam of Einar
• Lord Yarin of Snowcoves

Quotes

• "It's only one little river." - Ostvel to Sunrunners

• "May you kindle Fire and never be burned by it. May the Air never send storms across your path. May that path across the Earth be a soft one, and the Water of your tears always taste sweet with joy." - Andrade to Sioned

• "Nothing is written in stone, child. Even if it were, the stones can be shattered" - Andrade

• "Only a fool isn't frightened when there's danger. But only brave men do what must be done despite their fear." - Roelstra

• "You have the courage of your dreams - when most of us don't even know 'how' to dream." - Chaynal to Rohan

Awards and nominations

• 1989 - Compton Crook Award, Compton Crook Award (Balticon - Best 1st Novel) (Nomination)
• 1989 - Locus Poll Award, Best First Novel (Place: 6)