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Land of Dragon 92
Chapter 34The Panthers were waiting to be received by Queen Heulyn before her chambers. They were waiting in an antechamber decorated as if they were in Irinel. There were shields and javelins from that realm hanging on the wall. Several Irinel soldiers guarded the entrance and would not let them through. They had told them, kindly but firmly, to wait there. Since the Queen had requested their presence, they could do nothing else.The double doors opened and a familiar face came to greet them.“Good day, Royal Eagles,” Valeria said with a lively spirit and a big smile on her face.“Good day, Valeria,” Nilsa returned the greeting with a light smile.“The Queen has summoned us,” Ingrid said with a hint of interrogation in her tone.“And it’s a little too early for our taste,” Viggo complained, yawning ostentatiously. “You might let the Queen know that these are inappropriate hours for morning meetings. Better to have them after a good breakfast, say mid-morning.”Valeria gave a little
Land of Dragon 93
Chapter 35The minor dragon rose, flapping its wings hard, and prepared to drop once again onto Camu to strike it with all the power and weight of its considerable size. In comparison, the dragon was larger than Camu, who recognized the situation and what it meant. Seeing it was going to lunge down at him and knowing he was not exactly nimble, Camu decided to change tactics to avoid the crash.The dragon lunged at Camu with its four claws outstretched.Camu called on his Drakonian Wings. There was a powerful silver flash along his body and the wings appeared on his back, glowing in all their splendor. He leapt, flapping them vigorously, and rose up off the ground.The dragon hit the ground with its four claws hard, breaking the marble slabs of the patio, which flew in shards all over the place. Camu was already nine feet up. He had escaped the attack by a scale’s breath.The dragon looked up.So, the pup can fly. Then he is not such a pup, it messaged and flapped its wings. It took a
Land of Dragon 94
Chapter 36The afternoon group was running back from doing their physical exercises around the capital. Viggo was still intent on proving that he was better than the Royal Rangers, so he was flying downhill, five paces ahead of two Royal Rangers, who were trying hard to catch up with him and overtake him.The howling of a wolf from the forest to the east warned Egil, who was running beside Gerd at the rear of the group, that he was wanted. He looked at the giant, who returned a gaze of complicity. He raised his right hand and turned aside.“I have to stop!” Gerd warned his comrades.Nilsa and the Royal Rangers who were running in front stopped to look at him.“Are you all right, Gerd?” Nilsa asked, concerned.“Yeah, it’s my hip, it’s bothering me. Nothing to worry about. It’ll soon pass, go ahead.”“Are you sure it’s nothing?” Nilsa came over, concerned, while the Rangers she was running with remained a little further.“Don’t worry, it’ll pass in a moment,” he said without straighteni
Land of Dragon 95
Chapter 37Lasgol and Camu were staring at the dead dragon on the floor of the patio in front of them, unable to fully believe they had killed it. Camu would never admit he found it hard to believe, since his fighting, stubborn character had made him absolutely sure they could defeat it. Lasgol, on the other hand, thought it was nothing short of miraculous that they had managed to kill it. An unthinkable enterprise, one that had almost cost the three of them their lives.A moan made them both turn around. Ona was coming toward them from inside the building.How are you feeling, Ona? Lasgol transmitted to her, bending down to hug her. As he crouched, he grunted with pain from the two cuts he had in the stomach and thigh. He had already realized they were not simple scratches.The snow panther reached his side, moaned, and licked his face.Ona, we kill dragon, Camu messaged to her, proudly nodding toward it.Ona growled once.And it almost killed us, Lasgol transmitted.We defeat. Much
Land of Dragon 1
The BlackslipTreylen ran his hand along the stonework of the old Harvest Keepuntil he discovered a crack wide enough to wedge his fingertips into. Hauling himself up, he found a toehold, then squinted at the narrow balcony overhead and plotted out the path he would take by the glow of the young moon.The blackslip for the Viscount of Silbray had come down from Tillage on a mule that morning. The young monks of Coops Abbey shrieked when it fell from a peck of berries in the courtyard and wouldn’t touch it lest the queen’s shadow fall upon them. But Sister Ono had snatched it up, jammed it into her pocket and beat them back to their work in the kitchen.She gave them all a start again by tossing it down in front of Marziel at dinner. The old assassin barely glanced at it before passing it off to Treylen.Treylen had never received one before, but he knew what it meant and summoned a flicker of dragon sight. The silver script of a name had shimmered over the blackened paper—Gilwin Sule
Land of Dragon 2
“He’s a good man.” She shuddered, a tear welling in one eye, she blinked it away. “And dear to us all.” Finally, she looked away, hanging her head.“It’s not my decision,” Treylen said. “Stay quiet.”“Yes, assassin,” she said, and sank down to slump on the stone, unmoving.Treylen sighed and turned away as Rime raced down the walkway checking for any more hidden watch. Treylen wiped his dagger on the cape of the dead man, frowning at the body.Marziel said the guards would welcome us. He sent the thought to Rime. He’d been party to a number of killings, but few by his own hands. Up until now the majority had at least deserved it. This poor fool was a different story. They were supposed to stand down when he showed his dagger. Every Iveran soldier knew the shape of the Queen’s Fingers. Treylen followed the dragon to the end of the walkway and peered down to the balcony below. Rime waited beside him.Maybe they love their viscount. Rime scurried down and sniffed around the outside of th
Land of Dragon 3
The Oxcart The oxcart rumbled north along the white gravel of the Queen’sRoad. Treylen and Aaron sat opposite Marziel on makeshift benches that the cartwright of Signet Lake Village had installed for their trip. Rime and Felicity chased each other through the fields, keeping pace alongside and terrifying the local farmers, who’d rarely seen a single assassin traveling openly, let alone a trio in an oxcart.The bard they’d brought back from Lome was named Atrop. He sat in the driver’s seat, whistling the songs he’d sung in Marziel’s tavern. Half of them were Jaul tunes—thus forbidden in Iverna—but ever since they’d brought him back over the mountains, Marziel had given him free rein to do and say what he pleased, and he was popular around the abbey.A bard with a wealth of stories, from past and present, near and far, who would sing anything at any time upon request, but said nary a word about himself. Treylen questioned the wisdom of keeping such a man in the abbey, let alone brin
Land of Dragon 4
The OfferingTreylen watched a trickle of blood as it flowed through a narrowchannel carved into the floor of the antechamber. There’d been no screams when the blood started, only the soft murmur of conversation from the top of the stairs in front of them.All he could do was watch it run beneath his feet and wonder what was happening up above.There was nothing else to look at. The staircase blocked the view of the audience hall, and the passage behind them curved out and away toward the palace ground. Six guards bracketed them, dressed in matching blue tabards over delicate silver mail that shone like the scales of a river fish. Each carried a polearm with a blade affixed to the top, its point angled inward toward the visitors.Treylen tried to remain stock-still like the guards. Rime sat on his shoulder as he’d been instructed, sniffing the air. Felicity rested on the floor between him and Aaron, doing her best to appear disinterested in the blood. Whatever Marziel had told the dr