Darkness of Dragons

The tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is one of the most popular mythologies in literature and art, that is, this plot is widely known and is constantly used in many later works.

It sounds like this: in ancient times, the German city of Hameln was overrun by rats, all means of fighting them were exhausted, the townspeople were exhausted under the onslaught of countless hordes of vile rodents. And then one day an unknown man with a flute appeared here, he promised to rid the city of this terrible scourge for a fairly high price. People were ready to give everything to make the rats disappear. The stranger played the flute and all the rats, as if hypnotized, moved towards the sounds of the music. The musician played and played, leading them out of the city until he led them into the lake, where the rats drowned. The promise was fulfilled, the hour of reckoning came, but then the residents changed their minds about settling accounts with the mysterious rat catcher. The flutist left with nothing, but only to return to Hamelin a few days later and, to the sounds of the flute, lead every single child out of the city. The children themselves followed him, and the adults could not do anything about it. Neither the children nor the rat catcher were ever seen again.

But this is only a joke, and the fairy tale “Darkness of Dragons” is ahead.

Nowadays, fans of children's fantasy will recognize here, I'm sure, not only an ancient legend :)

So, there is a school where flutists are trained. Flutists are not just musicians. Graduates of this school, building melodies on their flutes, are able not only to make their feet dance, but also to immobilize a person, conjure the forces of nature, disarm the enemy, give courage to the people, build an invisible defense, and heal. That is, the flute is essentially a magic wand, and the flutist is a wizard who creates magic through music. Each flutist has his own special flute, it is made for himself, and in the wrong hands it will be useless.

And one such flutist, a thirteen-year-old boy, having not completed his studies, goes to look for adventures on his own, and of course, he finds them with interest. He is joined by a girl who once also found adventures for herself, and now has a very unusual appearance. A dracogriff (dragon + griffin = love) approaches this couple; he also has an interesting biography and an important mission in the course of the plot.

The action of the book takes place in the gloomy scenery of medieval Europe, the reader will find himself in a village with rabid peasants, in stone dungeons where a ray of sunlight never penetrates, walk through rocky wastelands and dense forests, take a breath behind the reliable walls of a secluded monastery, and again in battle - a lair of robbers, a chase on a dracogriff, a decisive battle, betrayal, escape.

Why is the book called "Darkness of Dragons"? Hmm, there are flute players here, there are rats, there are rat catchers, there are dracogriffs, too, witches and sorcerers, monks and jailers, and here are dragons. There are dragons here too, but in scanty numbers, to be honest. Maybe they will appear in the next parts of this series, but for now, it’s really not clear what dragons have to do with it.

New promising fantasy for children from 8 years old and teenagers, "Darkness of Dragons" (Irish author): here