Doomraga's Revenge Read Online Free PDF

asked Krystallus, bewildered. “Then what were you talking about?”
    “His words .” Hallia continued to peer straight into the enormous green eye. “ True greatness, you said, lies in what we give. ” She beamed at the dragon. “That was marvelous.”
    Lowering her voice, she added, “It doesn’t matter at all that you can’t make fire in your belly . . . when you can make such fire with your words.”
    Basilgarrad’s eyes blushed slightly.
    Merlin, standing atop the rim, grinned at the dragon. “Better watch out, old boy, or you’ll find yourself an adopted member of the deer people.”
    Hallia gave his leg a shove. “We’d be honored to have him. Especially since the last person we adopted was a clumsy young wizard with a terrible habit of getting into trouble.”
    “Well!” the wizard replied, feigning insult. “That description of me is entirely out of date. Now I’m a fully grown wizard with a terrible habit of getting into trouble.”
    Her doe eyes, usually so warm, seemed to freeze over. “Not only with dragons,” she scolded. “Right now you’re in trouble with me .”
    Merlin’s face fell. He averted his eyes, as if he felt guilty about something. Turning back to her, he started fumbling for words—something Basilgarrad had never seen him do before.
    “My love, I know that—I, well, you . . . ah, well . . . you must understand. But no, of course you don’t! Not yet. Just let me . . . I’ve been wanting to, ah, tell you, but—no, no, not here! Not now.”
    “Why not?” she demanded, her gaze still icy. Like an impatient deer, she stamped hard on the ground.
    Merlin waved his torn sleeve, making it flap in the air. “Because it’s . . .” He glanced over at his son, and then at the dragon looking down at them. “Private! That’s why. It’s private. Between you and me.” He reached out his hand, hoping to take hers. “I promise you, as soon as we have time—”
    “Time!” she said frostily, pulling away from him. “That’s what we don’t have anymore. Time together. It’s gotten to the point I have to beg Krystallus to take me through a portal just to see you—and then only until the next crisis takes you away!”
    Merlin cringed visibly, and Basilgarrad felt a sharp pang of sympathy for his friend. But something inside the wizard seemed to snap. His expression suddenly changed from guilty to angry. Very angry. But instead of exploding at Hallia, he directed his rage at Krystallus.
    “You never should have brought her here! Don’t you know how dangerous portalseeking can be? How could you risk your mother’s life that way?”
    The young man scowled. “I know about portals! More than you, probably. Don’t talk to me like I’m three years old.”
    “Hard not to, when you act like—”
    “Stop changing the subject!” broke in Hallia, stamping her foot again.
    “The subject is your safety,” retorted the wizard.
    “No, it’s not.”
    “It is!” Merlin twisted his staff into the ashen ground, grinding its tip forcefully. Turning back to his son, he declared, “Risk your own life, if you must—traveling all over Avalon, for whatever reasons. But not someone else’s! And especially not hers .”
    “What would you know about my reasons?” The young man’s fists clenched, turning his fingers almost as white as his hair. “When I was small, you never cared, and when I left home early, you never even noticed.”
    Both his father and mother winced at those words. But Krystallus merely shrugged, as if none of that mattered anymore. “The fact is, I love exploring. Finding new places. Drawing the first maps. What’s wrong with that? What’s so irresponsible about exploring—compared to abandoning your family?”
    Hallia touched his shoulder. “Wait, now. That’s too strong.”
    “No, it’s not.” Krystallus glared at his father. “He cares a lot more about his work—those chances to show his famous wizardry—than he does about either of us.”
    Silence