Drayzuzian
| Species | Nelazgian |
|---|---|
| Title | Leader of the force sent against Galecrest |
| Affiliation | Nelazgians, Obellius Kalaar |
| Weapons | Claws |
| Status | Deceased |
| First appearance | Sacred: Eslura's Calling |
Drayzuzian led the Nelazgian force that gathered outside Galecrest on the night of the High Moon Festival, and was the officer Aero Ellisvat delivered Reagan Hideaway to in the meadow below the city.[1][2] He clawed the Nelazgian mark into Tabitha Glowdish's wrist against her will, and his death in a Galecrest side street ended the attack on the city.[1][2]
Appearance
Drayzuzian stood at least seven feet tall and towered over the smaller Nelazgians with him, whose backs were hunched where his was not. His arms were heavy, with biceps Bea measured against basketballs. His snout was long, sharp and scaled like an alligator's, it bent sideways, and it hung open on mangled jaws full of jagged teeth. Splotchy black fur covered the rest of him, black wings rose from his back with more holes in them than skin, and his claws were knife-like.[1][2]
In place of his right eye was a deep black pit with a cracked red scar running along the skin.[1] His breath was hot and stank of dead fish.[1] Reagan, tied and lying in the grass while he peered into her face, thought him something out of a horror film, or out of the space under a child's bed.[1]
Personality
Drayzuzian was genial in the way a bully is genial, and he liked an audience. He congratulated a captive on being marked, wagged a bony finger at Bea, feigned a yawn at a friendship he called pathetic, and joked about the mother he said he had never had.[1][2] When Bea told him he did not know her, he agreed at once, said he did not care to either, and described himself as "an honest worker" with only one job and no room to get to know anybody.[2]
He was vain about his own capability. He claimed that "my senses never fail", and said he had smelled the Sacred Head in the city before he found her.[2] What moved him was promotion: with both the Eyearke Stone and the Sacred Head in hand he expected Obellius Kalaar to give him a whole kingdom of his own, and he fancied Galecrest.[2]
His authority over other Nelazgians went unquestioned. He snapped his fingers and two of them came out of the grass; he raised his arms and three of them charged.[1][2]
Background
Drayzuzian fought in the War of Shadows, and Millennium Loftwind knew his face when she saw his body. She said that "he put up quite a fight in the War of Shadows", and marvelled that a creature could be powerful enough to call a full retreat with nothing but a roar.[2] Nothing else of his history is recorded, and the books do not say where he was born or how he came into Obellius's service.
Story
Sacred: Eslura's Calling
Aero Ellisvat brought Reagan out to the meadow below Galecrest bound and stumbling, and called Drayzuzian out of the grass. Drayzuzian bared his claws at her and was talked down only when Aero pointed out that the Eyearke Stone loses its power if she dies and that Obellius would not thank anyone who spoiled the opportunity with lustful claws.[1]
He turned then to Tab, who had come in with them, and demanded to see her mark. Told that she had not been marked yet, he summoned two smaller and nearly identical Nelazgians out of the grass to hold her wrist, closed his eye, mumbled something and thrust his arms toward the sky. Then he seized her wrist, twisted the palm upward and raked his claw deep into the skin, peeling away layers of flesh as he embedded the same symbol Aero already bore. He leaned in and clawed deeper, telling her to scream so that the god Nelazgus might hear it. Tab did not scream, and he decided she might make a better ally than he had thought.[1]
The mark he cut is the sigil worn by everyone sworn to Obellius. The books describe that sigil in more than one way and never settle it; see Nelazgians and The Five-fold Symbol.[1]
With Reagan blindfolded he moved the party toward the castle tunnels while the floating city sank back into the ground for the night, hurrying Aero along and staying uncomfortably close to his prisoner.[1]
On the night of the festival, with the city burning on its east side, Drayzuzian and three smaller Nelazgians blocked Bea, Reagan, Alpin Loomin and Barnaby Britto at a cross street. The three seized the others and left Bea alone, and Drayzuzian recognised her as the Sacred Head at once, complaining that he had expected something more impressive.[2] Reagan stepped in front of her with a dagger and parried his first strike, but he swept under her arm, caught her chest with the other claw and threw her into a wall.[2]
Bea, staring at a tuft of grass growing between the cobblestones, found green light in her own hand. The blades of grass surged up like a dozen swords and went straight through the centre of Drayzuzian's chest, carrying him into the air. His roar shook the nearby buildings before it broke into blood, and the Nelazgians left Galecrest rather than press the attack.[2]
Relationships
- Aero Ellisvat: Aero addressed him by name and was addressed by surname in return. Drayzuzian took Aero's word about Tab, left Reagan in his charge and relied on him to open the way into the castle tunnels, without ever quite trusting him.[1]
- Tabitha Glowdish: he marked her by force, and the mark stayed. Nelazgians met later in the tunnels under Galecrest already knew her as the one Drayzuzian had spoken of, the one with the fins.[1][3]
- Obellius Kalaar: Drayzuzian served him and expected to be paid in territory.[2]
Behind the scenes
The pronunciation guide at the back of both novels gives the name as Dray-zoo-zee-ann.[2][4] He is one of the few Nelazgians the novels name at all, and Reagan identifies him on sight as the leader of the ones attacking Galecrest.[1][2]