Doom of the Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

dragonbones in front of him and making him roll all five.
    He had come to think everyone played this way and he was surprised, therefore, to see Joabis staring at the five dragonbones in horror.
    â€œWhy five of them?” he asked in strangled tones. “What does this mean?”
    â€œNo reason,” said Skylan, puzzled at the god’s reaction. “It is the way I was taught to play. Why? What is wrong?”
    Joabis drank a mug of ale, refilled it from the pitcher and drank some more.
    â€œI don’t like it,” he mumbled through the foam. “I never play that way.” He looked to Torval. “You are the judge. What is your ruling? Must I play with five bones?”
    â€œI always do,” Torval said in stern tones. “And thus so must you.”
    Joabis cast the god an annoyed glance, then gulped a third mug of ale and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his tunic. He seemed nervous, sweating and mopping his forehead with his sleeve. He picked up the five bones and tossed them on the board quickly, as though they burned him.
    Skylan wondered at Joabis’s strange reaction, then put it out of his mind. Sometimes players tried all sorts of tricks to throw an opponent off his game. Some talked incessantly, fiddled with the pieces, tapped their feet, or drummed their fingers on the table. He had no idea what Joabis thought he was doing, but it wasn’t going to work.
    Skylan cast his bones and made his first move. Joabis, after another drink of ale, responded. As they played, the music ended. The dancing and the fighting stopped. Mugs in hand, the warriors gathered around the table to watch and comment and place wagers, some betting on the god, others on Skylan.
    As Skylan and Joabis continued advancing their pieces, losing some, winning others, Skylan looked at Garn to see what he thought of his strategy.
    Garn smiled and nodded his head in approval. Since Garn was an excellent dragonbone player, Skylan was pleased. He played on and was soon confident of winning. Joabis, continually refilling his mug with ale, was making mistakes—picking up the wrong piece, miscounting the number of moves he could make, forgetting he must roll five bones.
    Skylan moved his war chief and was just thinking that four more moves would bring him victory when he heard people in the crowd start to murmur, pointing at his side of the board, shaking their heads.
    Skylan didn’t understand. One would think he had just lost. He looked back at the board and saw his peril.
    With a gleeful chuckle, Joabis picked up his dragon and knocked Skylan’s war chief off the board.
    â€œI win!” Joabis announced. “Skylan Ivorson, your soul is mine.”

 
    CHAPTER
    3
    â€œYou cheated!” Skylan cried.
    The warriors standing around the table either vigorously nodded their heads in agreement with Skylan or denounced him as a poor loser, depending on which side they’d placed their own wagers. Torval sat back at his ease in his chair, rubbing his bearded chin. He seemed to find this amusing.
    â€œHe lost the wager, Torval,” Joabis whined. “His soul is mine. Make him pay.”
    Skylan rose to his feet, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
    â€œGarn, you were watching the game,” said Skylan, keeping his gaze fixed on Joabis. “What did you see?”
    â€œSkylan is right, Torval,” Garn said, rising from his bench to stand beside his friend. “Joabis used some sort of trickery to switch the dragon with his eagle. In the previous turn, his dragon was on the other side of the board.”
    Some of the warriors added their testimony to Garn’s, while others were equally loud in favor of Joabis.
    â€œI did not cheat. He lost and now he is trying to weasel out of his wager, Torval,” Joabis said nervously, careful to keep the table between himself and Skylan.
    â€œYou claim he is a liar.” Torval gathered his fur cape around him. “Fish Knife