Bones of the Dragon

Bones of the Dragon

Author	Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Cover artist	Michael Komarck
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Dragonships
Genre	High Fantasy
Publisher	Tor Books (U.S.) and Orbit (UK)
Publication date	January 6, 2009
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	414 pp (U.S. hardback edition)
ISBN	978-0-7653-1973-9 (US hardback edition) & ISBN 0-7653-1973-X (UK hardback edition)
OCLC	2008038032
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 22
LC Class	PS3573.E3978 B66 2009
Followed by	Secret of the Dragon

Bones of the Dragon is the first book in the Dragonships series written by the fantasy duo Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It was released in hardcover on January 6, 2009.

Plot summary

Book One: The Ogres

The book begins with the land of Vindrassi suffering from a great drought that has left the land parched and game scarce.

Skylan Ivorson, the son of Norgaard, the Chief of the Torgun Tribe is leading a small hunting party to try to find some food. The group includes Skylan's best friend and confidant Garn, and the brothers Bjorn and Erdmun. Skylan is a young cocky man who takes his status very seriously, as well as his faith in the Gods of Vindrassi, especially the Chief of the Gods, Torval. Garn is almost the exact opposite of Skylan, thin, quick, thinks before he acts and is logical during struggles. As the two friends are preparing to return to their village empty handed, they run into a wild boar. After Garn distracts the boar, Skylan is able to kill it but not before suffering a huge gash in his thigh. With the help of the brothers, Bjorn and Edmund, the group of warriors are able to drag the dead boar back to their village, Luda. At Luda the hunting party is met by some other warriors and Skylan's pregnant stepmother, Sonja, who upon hearing about Skylan's injuries brought him some salve. The celebration of Skylan's successful hunt is short-lived, however, as news that three Ogre ships have arrived at the village harbor. Skylan is alarmed by this news and believes he may be the reason the ships are there. Months before the book started, Skylan led a hunting party on the dragonship Venjekar to try to raid other villages for supplies and treasures. During these raids the Venjekar ran into a party of Ogre ships, forcing them to retreat without any plunder back to Luda. Now it appears that the Ogres have followed the Venjekar and Skylan back home. Skylan, always eager for a fight, is ready to charge into the village to fight off the ogres, but level-headed Garn points out that he does not hear or see any signs of fighting; the ogres must be here to talk. Garn convinces Skylan to calmly lead the rest of the warriors back into the village and see first what the situation is with the Ogres. Skylan and Garn walk into the village's Chief's Hall where they find Skylan's father Norgaard, an Ogre Shaman, three Ogre Godlords, as well as Treia the Bone Priestess of the Torgun Clan and her sister, Aylaen. Skylan, still eager for a fight, demands to know why the Ogres have come to their village. The Ogre shaman calmly replies that the Gods of the Torgun Tribe are dead, killed by the Gods of Raj. Now the Ogres would like for the Torgun village to surrender their women and riches to them. Skylan of course did not believe the Ogres and demanded that Treia summon their gods to prove they were still alive. As a Bone Priestess Treia is the chosen female of the village who has the abilities to summon the dragon that protects the Torgun clan via the remains of the dragon's bones as well as speak to the gods. Throughout the whole meeting Treia has been silent and when Skylar brought forth this challenge, she stood up and simply stated that she will go to the Shrine of Vindrash, the Dragon Goddess, for advice and confirmation she is still alive. The Ogre Godlords agree to this with confidence, giving Treia one night for her gods to appear.