Avondale V Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. “Nothing fancy, just a small ceremony. Your family is here. And there’s no telling what may happen in the days ahead. We may not even survive, but if I die, I want to die as your husband.”
    Rafe was tall, and Olyva was now equally as tall, so she didn’t have to look up to kiss him. She wrapped her long arms around his shoulders and kissed him passionately. He pulled her close, feeling her slim waist with his hands. When she pulled back, there were tears in her eyes.
    “Do you really mean it?” she asked.
    “With all my heart.”
    “Then I accept.”
    It was the first ray of happiness Rafe had felt since watching his father die. And he realized it was just what they needed. Despite what they might have to do in the days ahead of them, they could treasure the happiness of being husband and wife for a little while anyway.

Chapter 5
    Tiberius
    In the gloom of the mists, all they could do was wait and listen. The dragon’s wings flapped above them, and every soul onboard the war ship was tense, waiting to see if they would live or die. Tiberius hated the waiting even more than the pitched battle. He felt helpless and regretted having ordered the captain to lower the ship. But after a few moments, the sounds of the dragon’s wings faded. A few moments more, and everyone began to relax a little.
    “What do we do now?” Lexi asked.
    “We were going to have to drop below the mists as some point,” Tiberius explained. “I guess now is as good a time as any.”
    “You think the dragon’s gone?”
    “I’m hoping it is.”
    “And what if it spots us under the mists?”
    “I don’t know, Lexi. But we never saw a dragon when we were in the blighted lands. Maybe they don’t go below the mists.”
    Dancer trilled sadly, and Lexi gave Tiberius a knowing look that said she thought his theory was rubbish. Still, Tiberius had time to recover his strength and he spent the respite from battle formulating a new plan.
    Fire didn’t harm the beast, that much was clear, and that meant that the catapult on the war ship and the firebombs it shot wouldn’t help them. The war ship’s long, pointed prow could destroy the largest sky ship in Valana, but even if they could ram the dragon with their ship, the beast would pull the ship out of the sky. Tiberius needed another method, a better way to fend off the beast or kill it outright.
    There was a strange noise from below the ship, and several of the soldiers looked over the railing. Lexi was looking, too, leaning out over the edge, and Tiberius was just about to warn her that she was leaning too far. Then something huge hit the ship from below. The stout wooden hull shook violently, and two men flipped over the rail, just barely managing to hang on. The other soldiers ran to their aid, pulling the men up, but Tiberius was frozen in panic. Lexi had fallen, too, only she hadn’t caught herself like the soldiers. She was just gone.
    He raced to the edge of the ship where she had been standing, his mouth open in a terrible scream of panic that wouldn’t come. His body was wracked with pain, mostly from the spasm in his back, but he ignored the pain completely. He leaned out, trying to see where Lexi had fallen, but there was nothing but gray mist all around them.
    “No,” he finally managed to say. “Lexi!”
    There was a roar from the beneath the ship, and Tiberius felt as if he were dying. He was powerless to help Lexi, the person he cared about more than anyone else in the world. The captain was barking orders, but Tiberius didn’t hear them. He just stood frozen at the ship’s railing, his body rigid, his heart pounding in disbelief.
    Then the mists disappeared, and the bright, amber-colored sunlight lit up the war ship. The lush plain far below came suddenly into sight. And not far away, the dragon was reeling through the air. It spun awkwardly, its once-graceful flight now clumsy and weak. It was quickly losing altitude, and Tiberius strained to see what was