dragon archives 04 - dance with a dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

Thomas’s horse just pooped in our path!”
    Anna laughed. “Where are his manners?” she said.
    “Antana,” Lydia asked a little while later, “What is the city like?”
    “It’s very big,” Anna explained. “With lots of people. There are jousters and jugglers and troupes of actors performing wherever they can.”
    “Will I see them?” Lydia asked.
    “I will take you myself,” Anna said.
    Aaron and Keira were waiting for them when they reached the crossroads, with a single horse standing in harness at the front of the coach. Working quickly, Aaron and Thomas soon had the carriage re-hitched with two pairs, while the remaining packhorse was tied to the back. The luggage was transferred to the roof of the carriage, and they were ready to go. It was roomy inside the vehicle, with two benches covered in cushions running across its width; but Anna did not doubt that even with the cushions, the benches would soon feel hard and uncomfortable. Perhaps Thomas would allow her to sit next to him on the driver’s seat sometimes.
    The children climbed inside, eager to be off, and within a few minutes, Thomas was urging the horses to a trot with his whip, the beat of their hooves measuring the miles as the trees and villages rushed past. It did not take long for the children to tire of the new adventure, their freedom restricted by the ever-shrinking space in the carriage.
    “How long till we get there?” Zach said.
    “We have many days of travel ahead of us,” Aaron answered. He leaned forward. “Perhaps you would like to ride with me for a while?”
    “What about me, Papa?” Lydia’s hand crept out to rest on Aaron’s leg, and he looked down at her with an affectionate smile.
    “You’ll have a turn, too,” he said. He looked at Keira, his eyebrows raised questioningly as he waited for her approval of the plan.
    “Of course, as long as I also have a turn,” she said with a laugh. He bent his head down and wrapped his hand around her neck as he whispered something into her ear that made her blush, before bringing his lips to hers. The moment was intimate, and Anna looked away, but the children had no such delicacy.
    “That’s de-yus-ting,” Zach said. A moment later Aaron pulled away from Keira, his hand still on her neck, and raised his eyebrows in Zach’s direction. The boy flushed and looked down as Aaron grinned.
    “Come along, son,” he said, tugging his tunic over his head and dumping it onto the bench behind him. “Let’s leave these women to their business, shall we?”
    Aaron grabbed the boy in his arms, and opening the door while the carriage still moved, shot himself into the air. Anna got a glimpse of golden wings unfurling behind him as Keira quickly pulled the swinging door shut, before a bright flash lit up the sky, extending in every direction then pulling back into nothingness. A loud whoop sounded in the air above the carriage, and they were gone, driving up into the sky and disappearing behind the clouds.
     

Chapter 5
    It was a long and tedious journey, and it did not take long for Anna to be heartily sick of the carriage. The last time she made this journey it had been on horseback, and although she was unable to sit comfortably for days afterwards, at least it kept her mind occupied. The tedium of traveling in a coach, she decided, would eventually drive someone straight into their grave.
    Attacks by highwaymen were not of the slightest concern to Aaron, and they traveled late into the night, stopping at roadside inns for just a few hours of sleep and a brief rest for the horses before continuing their journey. The inns were usually modest, offering nothing more than a warm bowl of stew, a roof over one’s head, and animated conversation. At every stop Anna overheard people discussing the death of the old king, and speculating about the new.
    “Prince Alfred may have been acting as regent, but he was still guided by his father’s wisdom. But with the old king gone, he will