Dawn Read Online Free PDF Page A

ten. Maria laughed as she glanced through the selection, confirming that none were in the library at home. Dawn sat flustered as she tried to pare down her mountain of books while Maria addressed the owner to determine their prices.
    “ Oh, these are for Dawn are they?” asked the owner.
    “ Yes,” replied Maria, more than a little curious how the owner already knew Dawn’s name.
    “ Llewellyn was by here earlier this morning and arranged for a quite sizable retainer in her name,” she continued. “Those books will hardly put a dent in it.”
    Dawn and Maria looked at each other slightly shocked and then laughed. “He is a sneaky one at times,” laughed Maria. “Here, if you can carry them, then you can get them. I’m doing good for myself.”
    Dawn beamed as she piled the books on the counter and in short work she had two piles neatly bound in twine for ease of carrying. A quick prod woke the sleeping Heather from her impromptu nap and the three headed out once more.
    “ So, did you talk to the boy in the bookstore?” teased Maria.
    Dawn was confused, “What boy?”
    “ The boy you saw on the street. He cut in there for a little bit. I could have sworn he was eying you over.”
    “ That’s not funny, ma’am.”
    “ I wasn’t joking, and for that matter, I would never joke about something like that to you.”
    Dawn forced a smile as they hit the streets again. Something caught her eye towards the end of a side street. As she craned her neck trying to see, Maria took the initiative and led them down the street for a proper view. There at the end of the street, as it gave way to a small clearing under the tall fir trees, stood Llewellyn and a large group of older boys. They all had donned light armor and helmets and stood with well-worn hardwood practice swords in hand as they practiced basic forms. Dawn watched intently. She had never seen anything like it before. There were starships in orbit overhead, and here, basic swordsmanship was the order of the day. Suddenly she thought back to her brief encounter with Llewellyn’s Live Steel sword. It was no ordinary blade that could cut a rifle in half on the long axis. It was all so different than she was used to.
    They watched for a while as the group practiced basic drills and then practiced at a slower pace against each other. The drills gave way to one-on-one bouts with Llewellyn. Unsurprisingly, none fared well against him, but he made a point of stressing both what the boys had done right as well as the obvious wrong. Until that one particular boy took his place against Llewellyn.
    He was probably no more than fifteen years old but doing quite well for his age. Dawn could just make out his coloring underneath all the protective armor. It was the same boy she had seen on the street with that equally striking young girl. The same silver-gray with fine black tics, she had seen before. He looked like a snow lynx and moved with the grace of one on the prowl. Dawn watched as he smoothly parried an attack from Llewellyn. As Dawn continued to admire the boy’s speed and grace, he turned his head in her direction. Suddenly their eyes met and he froze, staring at her intently. A sharp blow to the top of his head quickly reminded him that the sword play was not yet over, and the boy grimaced as he turned and faced his teacher. Llewellyn half laughed as he politely admonished the boy for becoming distracted.
    Dawn grimaced and held her head sympathetically. Even with the padding that certainly had to smart! Now she had done it. She had gone all day without anyone once making a comment about her bland, bland fur and now her freakish display had gotten a boy hurt.
    Maria laughed, “It seems you caught that boy’s eye.”
    Dawn didn’t share the humor, “I guess I kinda freaked him out… I’m not very normal looking after all.”
    Maria cocked an eye at her, “Do you have three heads or horns? No, you don’t! You look like a fine young lady!”
    “ Maria, you