The Shadow Dragons
James A. Owen
 In 1942, John (J.R.R. Tolkien), Jack (C.S. Lewis), and Charles (Charles Williams) return to the Archipelago of Dreams as the last stones of the Keep of Time fall, dangerously approaching the Cartographer (Merlin)'s study as well as the ever-out-of-reach "future" door. As the second World War rages in the Summer Country, the Imperial Cartological Society - led by writer/explorer Sir Richard Burton - rebuilds it at the request of the Archipelago's terrible foe, the shadow of the Winter King, who wields a weapon of such power it can take the soul of anyone it touches - even the ancient and terrifyingly powerful dragons. To defeat the King's shadow, the three Caretakers band together with past Caretakers (the Caretakers Emeritis) found at Tamerlane House, built by Edgar Allan Poe in the Nameless Isles of the Archipelago. Rose Dyson, the Grail Child, Don Quixote, Archimedes, and Stellan Sigurdsson are sent to retrieve and repair the sword Caliburn. In the meantime, the Caretakers are betrayed by Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Defoe, but their cause is bolstered when Burton, Doyle, and Houdini defect from the Imperial Cartological Society, which had allied itself with the Shadow King. Charles and Fred, Tummeler's grandson, chase Defoe through a Trump, and burn down a reproduction of the Keep of Time by the Shadow King. When Rose, Archimedes, and Quixote return, the Nameless Isles are under siege from the armada of children created by the Shadow King in 1926. They were brought by the Chancellor Murdoch, who is a fusion of the Red King from the Clockwork Parliament made by the animals in 1914 and of Mordred's shadow. He wields the Lance of Longinus, which can command the shadows of the Dragons, using their true names. The Dragons' true names, all except for Samaranth's, were found in the Last Book stolen by Defoe. The children are pushed back by the Tin Man (Roger Bacon), and the shadows of the Dragons are prevented from entering into the Nameless Isles by the carvorite deposits in the bases of the islands. The Shadow King, however, crosses and kills Artus, the King of the Silver Throne and descendant of Arthur Pendragon. Kipling reveals himself as a triple agent for the Caretakers, Rose Dyson binds the Chancellor, and Stephen, Aven's son, kills him with Caliburn. Finally, Rose frees each of the dragons, leaving Samaranth the last dragon alive. Stephen becomes the new King of the Archipelago, and the Dragonships, now soulless, are no longer allowed to pass the Frontier. John, Jack, and Charles are returned to Oxford and to their own time, and they forge a full alliance, to be implemented in seven years, with Burton and the Imperial Cartological Society.