Talon (series)

Talon is a series of novels written by Julie Kagawa.

Setting

The series takes place in a modern-day United States and focuses on dragons that have disguised themselves like humans in order to survive and remain in secret. Most of these dragons are part of a secret organisation called Talon, which is ruled by an ancient dragon known as the Elder Wyrm. Opposing the dragons is the Order of Saint George, who will stop at nothing to eradicate them, as they believe that every dragon is a danger to mankind.

Plot summary

In the first book, Talon, two young dragons, Ember and Dante Hill, arrive to a coastal town of Crescent Beach in California to spend the summer while at the same time they are trained by the Talon to take part in its activities. Ember and Dante are considered twins, since they are so much alike, although actual twins are impossible for dragons. At the same time, the Order of Saint George learn that a female dragon (also known as dragonell) is suspected to infiltrate humans in Crescent Beach. The Order sends two of their soldiers, Garret Xavier Sebastian and Tristan St. Anthony, to the town to track down and kill the infiltrator. Ember befriends other humans in the town and enjoys surfing and hanging out with her new friends. However, she soon gets the attention of Garret and Tristan, and a rogue dragon called Riley. While Ember and her friends, Lexi and Kristin, are about to be Raped by drunk college boys, Garret and Tristan come to their rescue and after a short fight, both Ember and Garret develop an instant interest to each other, not knowing that they are actually enemies to each other. As days go by Ember and Garret develop a romantic relationship with each other, while Riley attempts to persuade Ember to leave Talon and escape with him. Ember's training under sadistic female dragon named Lilith and her desire for freedom causes a friction between her and Dante. Ember was being trained to become a viper, Talon's elite assassin. Refusing to become one, Ember decides to leave Talon with Riley, but demands that Dante comes with her. While Ember is at Riley's, his house is attacked by Garret and the Order. Ember is forced to transform into a dragon and Garret witnesses her transformation, confirming that she was the infiltrator he was sent to kill. Ember and Riley manage to escape with two other rogues, and she heads back to her home to convince Dante to come with her. He apparently agrees, but then Garret calls Ember and demands to see her. She meets him at the beach, where their true colors are revealed to each other. However, Garret finds himself unable to kill the girl he had fallen in love with, even though she is a dragon. Ember transforms again and has Garret at her mercy, but she is also unable to kill him. As she angrily leaves, Tristan comes to Garret with the intention of killing Ember and any other dragons with her. They find Ember with Riley and two other rogues, as well as transformed Lilith, who is about to kill both Ember and Riley. As Tristan is preparing to kill them all, Garret knocks him out and runs to the dragons to save Ember. He manages to drive Lilith away. The Order is coming and Garret allows Ember, Riley and the rogues to escape. The Order imprison Garret for betrayal. However, Ember refuses to leave him and convinces Riley to break him free and they give chase. Meanwhile, Talon gives new orders to Dante: to bring his sister back to Talon.

In the second book, Rogue, Garret is being tried for treason and with Tristan's testimony, he is sentenced to be executed at dawn by firing squad. However, only a few hours before dawn, Ember and reluctant Riley infiltrate the St. George base where Garret is being held and free him. But they are spotted as they escape and they fly away, but Ember is critically shot. They head to Las Vegas in order to treat Ember and also gain information from one of Riley's contacts. Meanwhile, Dante is leading an effort to bring Ember back to Talon. He manages to find out about Ember's infiltration and determines that she and Riley are in Vegas. Three days later, in Vegas, Ember recovers and they are attacked by the Order, but thanks to Garret they manage to escape, but during the escape Ember is forced to kill a Saint George soldier, and the kill causes her great emotional shock. Later, Riley learns from his contact Griffin that there have been possible sightings about two rogue dragons in an abandoned hotel construction site. Ember becomes bored and frustrated and despite Riley's orders not to leave her hotel room and she goes to downstairs casino with Garret. They have to evade a security guard and they go to the roof, where Ember confesses to Garret that she was to become a viper, a killer, and now she sees herself as one. But Garret claims that she isn't a killer and kisses her but Riley interrupts them. Later, Ember, Riley and Garret head to the abandoned hotel and manage to locate two rogue dragons, Ava and Faith. But the Order assaults the hotel and they get separated, Ava with Riley and Faith with Ember and Garret. They manage to flee, but they are soon betrayed, as Ava was actually Mist Anderson, an agent of Talon working for Dante, and Faith was a viper, Lilith's apprentice. Mist interrogates Riley, but he manages to break free and knock Mist out. Ember and Garret fight Faith and her troops and during the fight Garret kills Faith. Ember then calls to Dante and curses him. Ember, Garret and Riley reunite and both Riley and Garret admit to Ember that they love her. But Garret concludes that something is off with the Order, suspecting that Talon and the Order of St. George have some kind of connection. He decides to leave in order to find out, and also because he has seen Ember's feelings for Riley. Ember is heartbroken as he leaves but finds comfort from Riley. Riley then decides to hunt down a traitor in his network of rogues. Meanwhile, Dante is congratulated for his efforts, despite failing in his ultimate goal to bring Ember back. His supervisor, Mr. Smith, shows him a room containing hundreds of pods, each containing a dragon clone.

In the third book, Soldier, Ember, Riley and Wes are hunting down the traitor in Riley's network. He has determined that it's Griffin. Griffin has evaded them several times but then he contacts Riley to meet him in New Orleans. Reluctantly, Ember and Riley agree. Griffin wants full protection from Riley and in return he will provide Riley with locations of Talon's secret insemination facilities, where Talon supposedly keeps "unworthy" female dragons for one purpose: to give birth to new dragons. Since Riley has wanted to find these facilities for a long time, he agrees. Griffin provides Ember and Riley with the location of one of the facilities, but he is then shot dead by a sniper. Ember and Riley flee during the chaos and Wes decodes to coordinates to West Virginia. At the same time, Garret arrives in London to find out the truth about the Order. He meets his old friend Andrew, who states that the Order has assaulted and destroyed many dragon nests in short time, but no one seems to know where the information comes from. Garret begins to trail the patriarch, Order's leader. One night he tracks him to a park, where he eavesdrops patriarch's conversation with an agent from Talon. Garret realizes that the Order has been assaulting Riley's safe houses with information provided by Talon, making this a win-win situation for both parties. He is about to leave when he then hears them talking about him, Ember and Riley. The agent provides The Patriarch with information that Riley is suspected to travel to West Virginia. Realizing that Ember is walking straight into a trap, he intends to return to her right away. But he is then captured by an Asian dragon named Jade, who wants information about Talon. Garret manages to convince her that he is acting alone and that he has a contact in America, who can tell her more about Talon than he ever could. Jade agrees to help him. In West Virginia, Ember, Riley and Wes arrives to the facility coordinates. Instead of an insemination facility, they find an abandoned laboratory, where Talon has conducted strange experiments with dragons, and that those experiments went horribly wrong. After seeing enough they attempt to leave, but St. Geroge attacks them. With the only exit blocked, Riley intents to sacrifice himself in order to allow Ember to escape, but just as he is about to attack, Garret arrives to save them both. With Jade's help, the trio manages to escape, but not unharmed. Jade takes them to a monk temple, where the monks treat them. Ember then finds herself incapable of being in the same space with Garret and Riley, since her feelings are a mess. Her human side loves Garret, but her dragon side loves Cobalt, Riley's dragon side. Jade suggests Ember that her feelings for Riley are so strong, because he is her sallith'than, a mate for life. Even if it's true, her feelings for Garret are just as strong. Garret then informs everyone what he learned in London and everyone agree that the patriarch's deal with Talon must be ended. To do that Riley suggests that they raid the Vault, Talon's central archive, in Chicago. But the Order has tracked them to the temple and Ember, Garret and Jade refuse to leave the monks to fend for themselves. They ambush the Order's strike team and win. Jade then leaves to take the monks to safety, forcing Ember, Garret, Riley and Wes to continue without her to Chicago. They break into the Vault and encounter the Archivist, guardian of the Vault and second-oldest dragon in the world. To everyone's surprise he allows them to take the evidence against the patriarch as he believes the deal is a stain to Talon. The evidence are undisputed, but it won't do any good if any of them try to publish them. Garret decides to contact his old partner Tristan to help. Garret and Ember then have an emotional conversation in an internet café, where they both admit that Garret's leave was a mistake. Garret decides to stay with Ember, no matter what happens and Ember makes the ultimate choice of choosing Garret over Riley, and they kiss with great passion. Later, Riley demands Ember to talk, as she has behaved strangely after Jade left. Ember tells him about sallith'than, but also admits she is conflicted a she feels she is in love with Garret. As Garret then arrives, Riley charges at him, but transformed Ember breaks the fight. Garret then meets with Tristan and he manages to convince him about the patriarch's betrayal. Tristan then takes Garret to Salt Lake City, so he can reveal the evidence to the entire Order. As he accuses the patriarch, he challenges Garret into a duel. Seeing no other choice, Garret accepts. Garret takes Ember and Riley as his witnesses, while the patriarch takes Tristan, lieutenant Gabriel Martin and one other officer. They duel with swords and initially the patriarch gains the upper hand and taunts Garret about his dead parents, revealing that they worked for Talon and were killed by the Order, not by a dragon. Learning this, Garret finds unknown strength and defeats the patriarch, forcing him to surrender. Ember is happy, but the patriarch pulls out a gun and shoots Garret, forcing Tristan to kill the patriarch. Garret collapses into Ember's arms and Ember whispers what she believes are her final words to him: "I love you."

In the fourth book, Legion, Garret is dying but Tristan and Riley refuse to let him die. Riley gives him a blood transfusion, injecting Garret with dragon's blood. The transfusion keeps him alive long enough to get him to safety. One and half weeks later, he finally awakens, and Ember almost never left his side. They exchange some words and Ember leaves him to recover. As she goes to Riley and Wes, she notices that Jade has returned. They then hear a news report about an apparent plane accident, in which a plane crashed into a small village. But when Riley notices a Talon agent named Miranda in the report, everyone realizes that Talon is hiding something at the site. They all agree to go and take a look and Garret also comes along, almost completely healed. Wes theorizes that the dragon blood in his veins has given him a dragon-like regeneration. The group travels to the site and as they explore they find evidence that it was no plane crash. Whatever happened there involves dragons. Riley decides to tail Miranda to her hotel to learn more. There they find boxes filled with evidence, but they can't tamper them. Ember looks at Miranda's computer and she is shocked to learn that Miranda was writing an e-mail to Dante, proving that he's involved. She nearly falls to despair but Garret then reminds her how she convinced him to abandon his beliefs. Ember then confesses her love for Garret. Next, the group decides to spy on Dante, but Jade can't join, as she has to return to China. At Dante's workplace Ember, Riley, Garret and Wes are on a stakeout as they observe Dante's movements. Riley then decides to ambush him in his own car. When Dante returns to his car he is shocked to find his little sister pointing a gun towards him. Riley takes Dante hostage and forces him to lead into his office. But Ember and Garret think that Dante's capture was too easy, and they are proven correct, as they fall into another trap. Here, they also learn what happened at the site: Talon used an army of cloned dragons to destroy the village and they leaked the news report in order to lure Ember, Garret and Riley into a trap. They attempt to escape from the clones, but they are cornered at the entrance lobby. Ember then makes a deal with Dante in order to save Garret and Riley: she'll return to Talon if Dante lets them go. Dante agrees and Garret and Riley escape, but Dante has them captured anyway. Later, the trio awakens in another Talon building. Garret and Riley are being interrogated by Mist Anderson while Ember is taken to the Elder Wyrm herself. Elder Wyrm then reveals that she and Dante are of her blood (Her Children), and are thus her rightful heirs. Ember is briefly tempted to join them but refuses. Elder Wyrm then sends Dante away on an errand and he has Mist to guard Ember. Elder Wyrm then has Ember sent into a laboratory, where she reveals Ember's true purpose: she is a perfect clone of the Elder Wyrm, and now Elder Wyrm is going to erase Ember's mind and memories in order to plant her own consciousness into her body, only to prolong her life. The procedure is then started. Meanwhile, Dante calls Mist away from her interrogation and another dragon named Luther takes on with it. However, after Luther leaves she returns to Garret and Riley and reveals that she is now working for an unknown employer, and frees Garret and Riley, if they help her to obtain a file about an event called Fang of Fire. With no other choice Garret and Riley agree. They obtain the file, which reveals that Talon is planning to use their army of cloned dragons to attack the Order as well as Riley's network of rogues in the same night, three days from now. Garret then orders Mist to take them to Ember. When they arrive Ember's memories are being erased and when Garret unplugs her, she falls into a void inside her mind. Here, she then talks with herself and finally realizes the truth about herself: she is a dragon who loves Garret more than anything, but also feels that Riley is her sallith'than. She awakens and Mist then urges them to escape. They manage to flee and Riley has Wes to send an evacuation signal for all the rogues and regroup at his final safe house. The group arrives at the safe house. Garret intends to warn the Order about what's coming despite Riley's protest. Ember decides to go with him. Some of Riley's rogues then attempt to beat up Garret but Ember and Riley stops them. Riley then learns their intent on warning the Order and reveals about the bond sallith'than, making Garret to hear it for the first time. Ember then needs to talk with Cobalt and she says she loves Garret and no longer wants to be Cobalt's sallith'than. Cobalt is devastated about this and Ember fears that Garret may not like this. But Garret says he always knew there was something between Ember and Riley he couldn't understand, but he never minded it and not even now. Garret and Ember then leave to meet Tristan at Reno, but instead of Tristan they meet lieutenant Gabriel Martin. Martin believes their claim about the impending Talon attack and requests that Garret return with him. Garret first refuses but Ember encourages him to go, while she attempts to convince Riley and the rogues to come to Order's help. Garret helps to prepare the St. George base for the attack and Ember is able to convince the rogues and Jade to ally with the Order, or otherwise they're gonna die nonetheless. Dante leads the attack on the base. The Order fights with everything they have, but it's a losing battle until Ember arrives with the rogues and the tide is turned. Even Talon's secret weapon, an adult clone, is defeated and the battle is won by the Order and the rogues. But Riley and Mist are certain this was just the beginning. Although this battle was won, Talon was mostly victorious as all other St George bases and holdouts were annihilated. Ember and Garret decide that it is time to fight fire with fire.

Key characters

Ember Hill

Ember is a 16-year-old female dragon with red scales. In her human form she is described as a beautiful girl with red hair and green eyes. Trained in Talon alongside her twin brother Dante, she is suspicious about Talon's true agenda. She loves flying as a dragon, but Talon's restriction for it prevents it. She is also fond of surfing. After meeting Riley, she desires nothing more than be free, and after falling in love with Garret, her desire for freedom reaches its pinnacle. She is brave and compassionate and deeply cares for her friends and loved ones. After The Elder Wyrm's defeated, she becomes president of Talon.

Garret Xavier Sebastian

Garret is a 17-year-old man, who is a soldier in the Order of Saint George. He has short blond hair and metallic-grey eyes. He was recruited to the Order after his family was killed in a St. George operation, and he believed a dragon killed them. He has lived and fought with Order ever since. Along with his partner Tristan, he has killed many dragons. He has little knowledge about the outside world as he has devoted himself fully to hunting dragons. When he meets Ember in Crescent Beach, he falls in love with her and his entire world shatters. He is fearless and very skilled in combat, but his time with Ember brings out qualities in him he didn't know about.

Riley

Riley, called Cobalt in his dragon form, is a rogue dragon who attempts to free young dragons from Talon's grip. He is a tall man with black hair. In his dragon form he has dark blue scales, long black horns and a sail like fin. He becomes very interested in Ember and attempts persuade him to leave Talon. He was part of the Talon before until he refused to carry out an order to blow up a chapter house. Since then, he and his partner Wes have been helping young dragons to flee Talon. He has a lot of knowledge about Talon. He is independent and doesn't hesitate to fight when needed, but he doesn't like to be bossed around.

Dante Hill

Dante is a 16-year-old male dragon and considered as Ember's twin brother. Unlike Ember, he is more strict and does Talon's bidding without questioning them, though he does protect his sister whenever she does something forbidden. However, he and Ember grow distant from each other when Talon reveals their plans for them. Despite their estranged relationship, Dante redeems himself in Inferno when he gives up his life so Ember and co could blow up a Mine tuned Lab located in the Appalachian Mountains.

Lilith

Lilith is an adult female dragon and considered as the best viper in Talon. In her human form she has blond hair and in her dragon form she has acid green scales. She trains Ember to become a viper, but after Ember refuses she attempts to kill her and Riley, but Garret saves them. She is sadistic and completely heartless. Her name is a reference to Adam's 1st wife Lilith in the Hebrew Bible as she too is exceedingly cruel. She's is killed by Cobalt near the end of Inferno.

Tristan St. Anthony

Tristan is Garret's partner in the Order of Saint George. He is an expert 21 year old marksman. Tristan has been completely indoctrinated and devoted himself to the Order and he doesn't even begin to doubt that dragons aren't evil. When he sets out for something, he does it without hesitation. However, in Soldier Garret finally convinces him to listen when he has evidence that the Patriarch is conspiring with Talon.

Mist Anderson

Mist is a young female dragon working for Talon. Introduced in Rogue, in her human form she has a silver-blond hair and blue eyes and her scales are of the same color. She is a trained basilisk and initially she works for Dante, but after failing in Vegas she begins to work for an unknown employer and out of his orders she joins Riley's rogues. She has many qualities similar to Ember but she is more ruthless and cunning, yet she does protect those she needs to without hesitation. It is hinted in Legion, that she might have a crush on Cobalt. This is proven to be true in Inferno as She builds a relationship with him and at the end the book Cobalt kisses her and offers to show her the world.

Jade

Jade is an Asian dragon introduced in Soldier. Unlike a western dragon, in her dragon form she has a more serpent like body with a silvery white mane. In her human form she is described as a beautiful and charismatic woman. She is a pacifist by heart, but after refusing to join Talon, her home is destroyed and she swears revenge on them. She first joins Garret and befriends Ember and Riley too. She can also conjure thunderstorms in her dragon form. In the epilogue of Inferno she becomes a representative for the Eastern Dragons under Ember's Reformed Talon.

Remy

Remy was a small and scrawny brown dragon who was a member of Cobalt's underground. He was a hatchling who was full of energy and had a tendency to exaggerate when telling stories. He tragically lost his life during the St. George battle against the vessels.

Nettle

Nettle is a Black Dragonell around Ember's age. She was sent to the breeding facilities after her human guardian pissed her off to the point that she accidentally transformed into her dragon form. She was then rescued by Cobalt and has been part of his underground ever since.

Faith

Faith was a young dragonell who's several years younger than Ember. She worked for Talon as a viper and was sent by Dante to bring back Ember. Faith attempted to kill Ember when she refused to turn herself in so she was shot by Garret to protect Ember.

In Dragon Form she has purple scales and blond curly hair in her human form.

The Elder Wyrm

Elder Wyrm is the leader of the Talon and the oldest and strongest known dragon in the world. She is totally ruthless and desires a world of her own design, and she also aims to live forever. She is the series main antagonist. In Dragon Form she's a large dark crimson dragoness over 100ft with claws that are approximately 6ft long with torn wings. She's killed by Tristan near the end of Inferno.

Ouroboros

Ouroboros was the 4th Wyrm of Talon. He became the 1st rouge in Talon's history after he got into a fight with The Elder Wyrm on how Talon should be run 300 years ago. Although Talon listed him as deceased he's rumored to be alive by Rouge dragons. These Rumors are proven to be true in Inferno. He resides in the Amazon Rainforest cared by a tribe of humans.

Locations

Crescent Beach:

A fictional beach town possibly based on Crescent City which is also located in California. It's the place Ember and Dante are placed in for assimilation and where they encounter Riley.

Ember and Dante meet and befriend a group a human teenagers.

Lover's Bluff:

A Bluff located several miles away from the Crescent Beach Town. Couples go there to date.

The Western Chapter House:

A new base that's less than 10 years old. Garret used to live in that base with Tristan before he defected to join Ember and co. Garret was brought to the base by lieutenant Martin when he was 11 years old after his guardian Lucas Benedict was killed on a mission located in the Amazon Jungle.

References

This article "Talon (series)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Talon (series). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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