Backyard Dragons Read Online Free PDF Page A

do, Claire ducked her head and charged. He sidestepped with ease and stuck his foot out. She tripped and fell face-first onto the stone. Enion roared and pounced. The horse reared and kicked the dragon in the face, throwing him off the precipice.
    Knowing Enion could fly, Claire didn’t worry about him. She lurched to her feet and ran at the Heart again, this time from behind. He whirled and lazily batted her dagger aside with his sword. He planted a sandaled foot on her chest and shoved her so hard she flipped in the air. Enion flapped into view again and breathed fire at both man and horse. Even though she’d been flung several feet and landed in a heap on the jagged rocks, Claire’s shirt caught fire.
    Flopping desperately to put out the flames, Claire had no idea what else to do. She couldn’t beat this guy. To be entrusted as the arbiter of worthiness for the Knights, he had to have more skill and experience in his pinky finger than Justin and Djembe combined. Either of those Knights could beat her handily.
    This demented ghost-thing toying with her stoked a fire in her belly. She’d never learned to fight with a dagger, and her scant sword training had barely stuck. Had Justin sent her here expecting her to win against a master soldier? And this soldier expected her to “prove herself”? Though fear gripped her, she glared at the Heart and struggled to her feet.
    “Fighting an untrained Knight must be a real challenge for you,” she snapped. Holding her dagger up, she figured she could let him come at her instead. At least that way, she could try putting some of Justin’s training to use.
    The horse pivoted, planted its rear hooves into Enion’s chest, and flung the dragon onto the rocks beside her.
    The Heart held his sword in front of his face as a salute and smiled with satisfaction. “Your sprite is your partner, Claire. Remember that.” He slashed his sword through the air.
    Claire blinked and found herself back in the tiny room with Justin, green light shining down on them. He rested against the wall, his head down and his chin touching his chest. His breathing, deep and even, suggested he’d fallen asleep.
    Still draped around her neck, Enion stirred and cooed with too much weariness for coherent words.
    She looked down at the dagger still in her hand and turned it over. The test the Heart had given her made no sense, other than he clearly didn’t want her to turn and flee. If he only wanted to see if she’d stand her ground, then she supposed she’d succeeded. On the other hand, he could have lied about the penalty of death for failure.
    Until she left the Palace, she wouldn’t know if she’d succeeded or failed. The Heart’s final words banged around in her head and she wondered why he’d made a point of saying that. Of course Enion was her partner. Some stupid mystical thing had bound their souls together for no apparent reason. If anything happened to him, it would affect her.
    “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” she muttered, wondering if the Heart could hear her. Given he hadn’t been aware of her father’s creation of her locket, she guessed not.
    Justin sucked in a breath and rubbed his eyes. “Welcome back. What did you think?”
    “I think this whole Knight thing is messed up.” Claire lifted her arms and felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks all over her. “Ugh. Can we just stay here?”
    “Because it’s so very comfortable.” Justin chuckled and braced his arms on opposite walls to stand up. “No, we need to get home. I’d hoped we could go free Enion’s family tonight, but I’m dead on my feet here.”
    She took Justin’s offered hand and let him help her up. “Tomorrow, then,” Claire said. “After school, I guess.”
    “You’re staying home sick to sleep this off.” Justin thumped the wall with his fist, and the stone folded out of the arch, giving them an exit. “Whenever you get up, we’ll go.”
    Too tired to discuss it further, Claire nodded and