Dragon Spirit (Book 12)

## Description

*Dragon Spirit* is the 12th. *Path of the Ranger* book, released on January 30th. 2022.

## Dragon Spirit

### Published on

January 30th

(Amazon description)

**A new danger threatens the kingdom, and the Panthers will have to face it.**

The Panthers continue to train and educate themselves to become Superior Specialists. The new training system will take them to unsuspected extremes. Will they be able to finish the training? Will they suffer a serious setback?

Lasgol will continue to develop his power now that he has managed to be able to discern everything that is inside of him. What new skills will she develop? What will happen to his Gift?

Camu has grown and evolved. Nobody knows the power the creature has and what he can get to do with it. Aware of his origins, the creature will try to continue growing both in its physical aspect and in power. What new abilities will he develop?

Find everything out while you live fascinating adventures with a group of unique characters that will make you fall in love.

## Plot

After defeating the traitors in the Frozen Continent and reporting to Thoran and Gondabar, the Snow Panthers return to the Shelter; Camu has teleported there using the White Pearl and has grown magical wings. Sigrid and the Elders greet them, and then they go to sleep, so that the next day they can give a full report of what happened in the Frozen Continent. They keep secret the fact that Camu can fly, and that he is a Higher Drakonian, but tell the Elders most of the rest. Then Egil, Lasgol and Astrid secretly go to visit Camu, since they are keeping him hidden from the Elders for now. Astrid and Egil persuade Lasgol to ask Galdason for help with his Gift.

Then they meet Camu, who is flying; he crash lands in the Blue Duck Pond (where Lasgol left him and told him to stay hidden) since he doesn't know how to land normally. Lasgol fears that Camu drowned and jumps into the pond to look for him, but Camu turns out to be alright. Egil measures Camu and discovers that his scales are now resistant to knives, swords and other slashing weapons, though not as much to arrows and other piercing weapons. Camu tells them that he came back so quickly instead of staying with Drokose to learn more about his skills and flying because he thinks of the Snow Panthers as his family.

A few days later, Sigrid summons Egil, Gerd, and Nilsa to the Chamber of Runes. She tells them that they can begin the Higher Training when they are ready, or join the other Specialist candidates in the regular training program. They take some time to consider the decision, especially Nilsa and Gerd, who are somewhat unsure because of the magic involved. Eventually they all decide to take the Higher Training. In the Higher Training, the candidates have to experiment and learn each Specialty in their chosen School first before proceeding to train in the ones that fit them best. During the training, Lasgol decides to start using his magical skills, to improve them and possibly develop new skills.

One day as the Snow Panthers are discussing the training, they come up with the idea to make a series of tests to monitor their own mental and physical health, as they are concerned with the extreme nature of the training possibly having negative effects on them in the real world. Egil develops the tests and is in charge of keeping the logs. Lasgol continues working on developing his Fast Shot skill, and discovers that he can't use it on multiple targets, and that he has to have very strong emotions to activate it. When the Snow Panthers are all together one day, Egil brings up the subject of Camu teleporting from the Frozen Continent to the Shelter using the White Pearl. Egil convinces them to study the Pearl together at night. They try to get Camu to activate it, but his magic seems to have no effect.

Some time later, Lasgol, Ingrid, Viggo, and Astrid finish the Experience Stage of the Higher Training, and they can move on to the Expansion Stage, gaining the new Specialties that they choose. Ingrid is put in charge of giving the monitoring test to Egil. Egil and Lasgol go with Camu and Ona to a hidden canyon in the Shelter so Camu can practice flying. Unfortunately Camu flies too high and hits one of the walls of the canyon, and falls to the ground unconscious. Camu's leg is broken in the fall, and Lasgol goes to tell the Elders about Camu's injury. Gerd, Ingrid, Annika and Gisli come back with Lasgol. They make a travois and drag Camu to Snowflake's cave (which is nearby), since a winter storm has swept over the area. Camu is left there afterwards while he recovers and Annika and Gisli treat him. Lasgol goes to visit Camu, and Sigrid, who is also there, asks Lasgol if she and the Elders can study Camu while he is recovering. Lasgol agrees, but says he wants to be present if they study Camu's magical abilities.

Later Sigrid calls the Snow Panthers together and lets them know they are close to moving onto the next stage of training: the Higher Harmony Stage, which will determine the additional specializations they will train in from their chosen School. After this, if they pass, they move on to the Higher Proficiency Stage, which will determine if they gain the specializations. Winter comes to Norghana, and Sigrid decides to move the training to the Cave of the Frozen Dragon, since it is getting too cold and stormy to keep training at the White Pearl. When they get to the cave, Sigrid notices that the ice surrounding the dragon is thinner than normal, it has begun to melt. The Elders and Magi investigate and determine that the melting is caused by magic. Galdason estimates that it will take at least 100 years for the ice surrounding the dragon to melt, so they should be safe. The magical power emanating from the Frozen Dragon makes the training more intense, increasing the headaches, confusion and other negative effects that the Snow Panthers are suffering. Egil's monitoring test shows that they are all having problems.

Egil and Lasgol go to visit Camu to see how he is recovering, and Enduald and Galdason are there. They perform some tests on Camu, with Lasgol's permission, and ask some questions about Camu's magical development. Gisli and Annika talk to them as well, and reveal that they have found Camu is a herbivore. They also mention that Camu will soon be moved to the Autumn Cave in the Lair to complete his recovery, due to the weather worsening, although he is already almost recovered. Galdason and Enduald tell them that Camu's magic is from an ancient source, over five thousand years old. They tell Lasgol that his skill of Animal Communication is very rare among Mages. They also perform a spell to trace the source of Lasgol's magic, and find that he has two sources: one three thousand years old, and one over five thousand years old. They guess that Lasgol has the same source of magic as Camu. This is very rare as well, since most mages' sources of magic are one thousand years old or less. In addition, other mages only have one source of magic, so Lasgol is once again an anomaly. Galdason also teaches Camu the ability to communicate with everyone by mental messages; before, he could only communicate in this way with Ona and people with the Gift. Galdason tries to teach Lasgol to send mental messages, but it doesn't work.

Then the Mages and the Elders leave Egil and Lasgol with Camu. They name Camu's skills: Mental Communication, Invisibility Camouflage, and Drakonian Wings. Camu tells them that Drokose told him humans are evil and must be enslaved. Drokose also said that the world would be a better place if Drakonians ruled it, and that someday this will come to pass. Lasgol and Egil are disturbed by this, and make sure Camu understands only some humans are evil. Later Camu and Ona return to the Lair, which cheers up the Snow Panthers, although Viggo and Nilsa are annoyed by Camu's mental messages. One night Camu and Ona sneak out to the White Pearl and Camu  tries to activate it, achieving some success as the Pearl send magical pulses back at him, which seems to be a form of communication. Gerd, Egil and Nilsa finish the first part of the Experience Stage of training.

One day after the Snow Panthers finish their training session, Enduald and Galdason notice that the magic coming from the Frozen Dragon has changed and become more powerful. When they go back to the Lair, Egil and Ingrid administer the monitoring test, and all of the Snow Panthers have serious negative results. They bring this information to Sigrid; she is impressed by the test, and asks Egil to help her and Annika develop a similar control test for the Elders, but she is also concerned by the results, and decides to stop the training until spring to give the Snow Panthers some time to recover and to research anything that can be done to improve the safety of the training. Near the start of spring, Gisli takes Lasgol, Ona and Camu to visit Ona's mother, Ilsa, and her brothers Igor and Hari.

Once spring arrives, Egil gives the Snow Panthers the control test again, and finds that they are recovered. Sigrid starts their training again; Egil, Nilsa and Gerd are starting the Expansion Stage, while the others are finishing the Expansion Stage. Annika also has developed a stabilizer to reduce the effects of the training on their mental and physical health. Once Ingrid, Lasgol, Viggo and Astrid complete the Expansion Stage, Sigrid lets them rest until the others have also completed it so they can start the Higher Harmony Stage together. First they must take the Higher Harmony Test, which has three parts: Alignment, Choice, and Agreement.

The Test takes place inside Sigrid's mind, with the help of Galdason and Enduald. In the Agreement stage, Ingrid gains the specialties of Infallible Marksman and Man Hunter, Astrid gains the specialties of Stealthy Spy and Forest Sniper, Viggo gains the specialties of Forest Assassin and Stealthy Poisoner, Lasgol gains the specialties of Tireless Explorer, Forest Survivor, and Forest Trapper, Nilsa gains the specialty of Mage Hunter, Gerd gains the specialty of Beast Master, and Egil gains the specialties of Expert Herbalist and Healer Guard. After a while of training, the results of the control test are again very bad, and have turned this way suddenly, which concerns Egil and the other Snow Panthers very much. Egil tells Sigrid and Annika, who has been working on a new stabilizing compound to help their minds and bodies recover from the training. The old compound she was using has become ineffective because of how often the Snow Panthers have been taking it, their bodies have developed a tolerance to it. Because they are in the last stages of training, Sigrid decides to continue with the training using the new compound. The compound is successful, and they are able to finish the Higher Harmony Stage and move on to the Higher Proficiency Test.

Before the test, Sigrid lets them camp outside to rest for a week. One night while they are sleeping there, Camu senses an arcane call coming from the Frozen Peak. Camu wakes Lasgol, who wakes the others, and Astrid, Egil and Lasgol follow him the next day after the Snow Panthers debate on what to do. The others wait a safe distance away, but close enough to help if needed. Camu leads them to the Cave of the Frozen Dragon, in which so much water has melted that it reaches up to their knees. Further in, the water reaches up to their waist, and they see that there was no dragon in the ice; instead, there was a sculpture of a dragon inside the ice. However, they see a bright silver light coming from the center of the ice, which appears to be powerful magic. Camu interacts with the magic, and the ice begins to thaw extremely fast. The Snow Panthers, Camu and Ona have to run out of the cave and wait for the water to drain out. Then they go back in to investigate and find that almost all the ice has melted, but on the last remaining ice, there is a crystal orb with the image of the Frozen Dragon in it. Camu tells them that the orb is full of magical power. Viggo wants to throw it in the ocean, and he tries to grab it, but the orb shocks him with a magical discharge and he falls unconscious; Egil has to perform CPR on him to revive him. Then they go back to their camp, intending to tell Galdason and Enduald about the orb the next day.

That night, Lasgol wakes up and finds Camu and Ona are gone again. Lasgol and Astrid track them to the Cave of the Frozen Dragon and find the orb gone. The tracks lead to the White Pearl, and as Lasgol and Astrid are heading there, they are joined by the other Snow Panthers. When they reach the Pearl, they find that Camu has activated a massive magical sphere over it, and he is climbing up the Pearl with Ona to go into the sphere, where they vanish. Lasgol, Astrid and Egil go after them. When they wake up, they are nauseous and it is clear they are not in Norghana anymore, as they are in a massive jungle near another Pearl. They find that Viggo and Ingrid also joined them.

The Snow Panthers track Camu and Ona and find them caught in a trap, then some savages attack. They manage to defeat the savages and free Camu and Ona. Camu tells them that the orb called him during the night, and that it is "family" to him, like Drokose. Camu shows them that he can make the orb move along with him by activating it with his magic. Egil tells them that they are in the forests of the Usik, he recognized them during the attack, which was carried out by a group of Red Usik. They go back to the Pearl in the Usik forests, but Camu can't activate it at first. The Snow Panthers are attacked by massive numbers of Usik, but manage to hold them off until Camu activates the Pearl. They climb into the portal sphere and it takes them back to the Lair.

When they arrive, Nilsa and Gerd meet them, and tell them they have been gone for three days. This means that the Higher Proficiency Test will take place the next morning. During the test, Engla and Gerd's minds break under the stress; Engla starts attacking everyone, though Viggo and Astrid manage to subdue her together, and Gerd doesn't wake up from the test. Annika treats them for a long time, but in the end both of them have severe mental trauma from the stress, and their bodies are also affected, since they can't move as well as before. Gisli explains it as their minds and bodies are no longer fully synchronized. Sigrid decides to hold a graduation ceremony despite what happened.

In the ceremony, Nilsa gains the specialty of Mage Hunter, Egil gains the specialties of Expert Herbalist and Healer Guard, Gerd gains the specialty of Beast Master, Ingrid gains the specialties of Man Hunter and Infallible Marksman, Viggo gains the specialties of Forest Assassin and Stealthy Poisoner, Astrid gains the specialties of Forest Sniper and Stealthy Spy, and Lasgol gains the specialties of Forest Survivor, Forest Trapper and Tireless Explorer. After the ceremony, Sigrid apologizes for the incident which caused Gerd and Engla to be injured, and declares the Higher Training program is cancelled for the foreseeable future. Sigrid also tells them that Loke has discovered the ice in the Cave of the Frozen Dragon has melted, and that they will be investigating it; the Snow Panthers pretend that they didn't know about this before.