Court of Refuge

Spoiler Alert! This article contains information about the upcoming book, The Hybrid Prince. Read this page with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

The Court of Refuge is a palace that was introduced in The Hybrid Prince. Built and enchanted by the animus dragon, Waterfall, it is where the dragons on the Dungeon Isle live and is currently ruled by the Triumvirate.

Description

The area Umber, Sora, and Mulberry use to enter the Court of Refuge the first time is located in a large, twisting crevasse nestled between mountain folds of a valley, with a wall the same rusty reddish color and height of the mountains at the very end. It is dotted with square, rough-cut windows all the way to the top. At the bottom is an open archway with the words "FOR THE SAFETY AND PROTECTION OF ALL" carved above it. The archway opens into a tunnel that opened into a large courtyard dotted with fountains and fruit trees full of cherries, lemons, oranges, or plums. This space stretches several dragon lengths from the tunnel exit before ending at the base of the palace, which nestles between two mountains.

The Court of Refuge's palace is startlingly huge and as large as Thorn's stronghold according to Umber. It is made of extremely polished brown wood that shone in the sun and huge glass windows and skylights. Its shape is not typical, with loops and edges like extra wings or giant scales poking out from all the sides. A large, abstract statue of Waterfall with her talons stretched towards the castle is positioned in the courtyard. There are shimmering shells of pale green, deep blue, and silver embedded along the lines of the statues wings and cheekbones. Waterfall's face looks serene in the statue, and her name is carved at the base.

The main entrance of the palace is sunlit by skylights. The floor has a pattern of rainbow opals dotted on the floor that lead in looping paths towards five different doors, as well a grand spiraling staircase that looked like it had grown organically. It stretched to different floors, balconies, and silk bridges that led to even more places. Columns carved with dragon scales, leaves, raindrops, jellyfish, and butterflies dotted the great entrance hall.

Beyond the entrance, the castle is full of long sunlit corridors, more balconies, multiple towers, and dining halls, including one in the orchards at ground level for SilkWing dragonets and other vegetarians, one at the top of a tower intended for practicing bird hunts, and the Gathering. It is also full of other misc. rooms like an art studio , art gallery or museum, an mirror maze , and other spaces to gather. One balcony even has a collection of pools for dragons to lie in.

The plains beyond are full of dry sun-baked plains tufted with yellow grass and thorny trees. The barrier keeping the prisoners inside is marked by blackened, charred grass and trees.

Notable features

Throne room

Before the throne room is a lobby with couches and orange cushions. While Beryl and Snakeroot were in charge, the giant doors leading into the throne room had rectangular golden plates with their faces etched in them.

The throne room is cavernous with large stained glass windows with hues of green and blue. It had more columns carved with dragon scales that shot up into the rafters, where garlands of leaves hung. It has a dais with three trhones where the Triumvirate members sit and attend to the needs of the dragons of the Isle.

Gathering

The Gathering is a room shaped like a bowl. It has tables of food in the center, a pool of water at one end, skylights overhead, and deep steeps all around the edges lined with jewel-toned cushions and woven silk rugs where dragons can sit together while they eat. On two sides, arches stand open to the air to let in warm breezes and flying dragons. It reminded Umber of the rooms in the MudWing palace designed for sibling groups.

Library

The library is a large, beautiful space that is three stories tall, with an open central area so dragons could fly from floor to floor. The ceiling is made of glass, so sunlight could come through. There are windows on the walls as well, and shelves full of scrolls. There are corners full of cushions for groups of dragons to sit and read together and low tables inside.

Kitchen

There are kitchens in the palace. There is a pantry somewhere as well full of barrels, jars, and long shelves full of food. There are also apparently cooking classes in the Court of Refuge.

Infirmary

The infirmary is a long and sunny room. It has multiple windows and several beds separated by gauzy curtains. Above Umber's bed, there is a rafter. According to Beryl, it is haunted by a ghost, which is later revealed to be the still-living Platypus. There are cabinets full of supplies.

Concert Amphitheater

The concert amphitheater is a large outdoor space at the far end of the castle. The audience floor is made of rock. There is a stage, with the sky, plains, and distant mountains as a backdrop beyond it. Bordering the stage are tall glass lanterns with flames that shifted between pink, blue, and purple as the flames inside flickered. There are rows of benches and stairs separated by aisles out in front of the stage, with vines of plants with small glow-in-the-dark flowers woven along them. Umber says that the flowers made it look as though there were fireflies everywhere. Somewhere above the audience is a royal box.

Aurora's room

Aurora's bedroom is located inside one of the tallest towers of the castle. It is enormous, with enough room to fit forty MudWing dragonets with room to spare, according to Umber. In the center of the room is a giant bed covered in pink sparkly cushions and fluffy white blankets, with gossamer silk hangings around it. It is big enough for eight dragons. A corner of the room is dedicated to a fake tree as tall as Umber, with jewelry hanging from every branch in all colors of the rainbow. In front of a window, there is a writing desk stained with ink, with scrolls unrolled on top and scattered around it on the floor. There is a mirror as tall as the wall and twice as wide as Umber's wingspan, with a secret entrance leading to the hidden maze behind it. Across from the mirror is a balcony. Spiral stairs lead down to the rest of the palace from the room.

Hatchery

The Hatchery is small. According to Umber, the inside feels like a tree hollow that is carefully tended to by elegant owls and inventive squirrels. Billows of emerald-green silk cover the windows, where sunlight drifts in. The floor is a soft carpet of moss, and each nest is constructed to match the tribes of the eggs — including a pool for SeaWing eggs, a patch of warm sand for SandWings, a woven hammock for SilkWings, and a WildWing nest lined with moss, leaves, and mud. Art made by dragonets in the castle school is hung on the walls — a rainbow of colors to welcome new hatchlings.

Hidden maze

In the infirmary, there is a secret door leading to a whole maze of secret passageways behind the walls and over the ceilings of the castle. It is revealed that Waterfall enchanted the palace to be adaptive so that if a new room was needed, it would appear out of thin air; in this case, because Platypus needed well-concealed passageways, the castle grew it for her and others. By sliding aside a section of wall, one could go down flights of stone stairs, which can be illuminated by bioluminescent scales enough to light a few steps ahead. Stairs could become tunnels and back into stairs again. They were endless enough for Umber to question if he actually died and was becoming a ghost.

Memory Room

The walls and floors of the Memory room are made of smooth green glass that reflects images blurrily in all directions. The ceiling is made of obsidian, and light seems to come from below. The center of the room is a stone pedestal about as tall as Umber's shoulder, with an empty shallow basin on top of it that looked similar to a birdbath. Under the curve of the basin, there is an engraving that read "For the Truth Seekers." If no blood is put inside the basin, the room will show a scene of Queen Falcon's assassination. When a dragon dips one drop of blood into the basin, the Memory Room reveals the memory of that dragon. However, if more blood is dipped within the basin, the Memory Room reveals the memory of that dragon's ancestor. Each time the Memory Room activates, dark fog rolls in before a memory is shown. If a dragon is outside while it is activated, the room appears dark and deeper than any night.

There is a round, dome-like cave before entering the Memory Room. It had a rough stone bench running all around the wall that is ice cold to the touch. The cave is described as soundless as a deep muffling void. This cave is accessed through a tunnel from the hidden maze. Directly across from the entrance is another tunnel that slanted up and led towards the surface. Equidistant between that tunnel and the entrance tunnel is a solid stone door with silvery glowing letters on it that said "Memory Room."

It is implied by Umber before he watched Queen Falcon's assassination that it is unpleasant to have any part of the body walked through by a dragon inside a memory.

SharpWings Room

The SharpWings reside in a secret chamber connected to the entrance hall of the castle through a door hidden between two banister posts. From there, a staircase made of a strange petrified wood led down until it reached a huge pool of water, with columns rising out of it in neat lines all the way across. The stairs and this cave were lined with torches. A marble walkway in the water cave led between the columns toward two exits on the far side of the cave, with the leftmost archway door leading to a long blank hall, with a room at the end. The right door led down to an unknown, unlit area that smelled wet and poisonous. Umber thought he could hear something breathing rhaspily, but did not investigate. The room at the end of the blank hall is The SharpWings' room; it is lined with shelves where the SharpWings would sit, and the ceiling is dotted with holes that Umber assumes to lead outside. In the center of the room is a tower built of random items that the SharpWings have built up over time, consisting of but not limited to fragments of jewels, sunflower seeds, twigs, snail shells, feathers, peach pits, spoons, rodent skulls, dragon scales, scraps of paper, and needles. The tower had small gaps throughout that SharpWings would enter and exit through to go inside. Clink describes it as for SharpWing eyes only.

History

The Forgotten Isles Prophecy

The Hybrid Prince

Waterfall is credited as the dragon who built the palace around 2,000 years ago, and enchanted it to stand forever. Waterfall also planted the orchards where before nothing would grow, and enchanted the Court of Refuge to have water sources that never run dry. According to Paua, Waterfall is what made the Court of Refuge so beautiful and safe.

More information flying in soon...

Gallery

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  The Court of Refuge on the cover of The Hybrid Prince, by Joy Ang
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  The Court of Refuge on the special edition poster from The Hybrid Prince, by Jake Parker
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  The Court of Refuge on the map of the Dungeon Isle, by Mike Schley