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

be heartily sick of traveling,” Margaret said. She turned to the young woman at her side. “Bronwyn, why don’t you take them to the kitchen and find them some milk?”
    Bronwyn nodded. “Yes, grandmother,” she said. She smiled hesitantly at Anna. “I’m very glad you came as well,” she said shyly.
    Anna stepped forward and took the girl by the hands. “Me too,” she said. “It has been so long since I last spent time with you.” She glanced around. “Is your brother here?”
    The words were just out of her mouth when a long rumble filled the sky.
    “That will be Will,” Bronwyn said with a sigh. Anna looked up, following the glances of the others, to see a red dragon trailing through the air above them.
    “That’s Will?” Anna said in disbelief.
    “When did that happen?” Aaron asked Favian in amusement.
    “Oh, a few months ago,” he said. “Your arrival could not be more timely, Aaron. Hopefully this newly transformed dragon will listen more closely to his Master than he does to his father or grandfather when he is advised to exercise more caution around humans.”
    “Oh? Should I be concerned?”
    “Not yet,” Favian said wryly, “but a stern lesson from you would not go amiss.”
    Aaron laughed. “Do I have to remind you what we were like at that age?”
    Favian grinned. “That is exactly why I am concerned.”
    “Come,” Cathryn said, linking her arms with Keira’s and Anna’s. “Let’s leave the men and go and find some refreshment. I’m sure you must be quite weary of traveling.” She nodded at Bronwyn, who gathered up Zach and Lydia, taking each of them by the hand, and led them around the back of the house.
     
    That night Anna slept better than she had since leaving Storbrook. She was given different chambers than before, for which she was grateful – there were far too many ghosts waiting to haunt her in the other room. She slept late the next morning, enjoying the luxury of lying in bed instead of climbing back into the carriage. They were leaving again that day, traveling the short distance into the city, but they would leave the carriage behind and traverse the rest of the distance on horseback. Or rather, she and Thomas would, taking Zach and Lydia with them, but Aaron and Keira would fly, landing near the city and traveling the remaining distance on foot. Favian, Cathryn and Bronwyn were also joining the party, but Will had chosen to remain behind with his grandparents.
    “I would much rather stay here,” he had resolutely declared. “What do I care about human kings and their coronations?”
    It was early afternoon by the time the party left Drake Manor, but with the long days of late spring the city gates remained open until late, giving them plenty of time to enter. Anna could feel Lydia sagging against her as they drew closer, and she had to shake her gently as they neared the city gates.
    “Look, Lydia,” she said softly. The girl opened her tired eyes, then sat up when she saw the metropolis spreading along the valley below them.
    “Is that the city?” she asked, her tone one of awe.
    Anna nodded, remembering her own amazement the first time she had seen the capital, seething and pulsing with life, surrounded by walls almost ten feet wide that wound around the city in a drunken circle. Tall spires and rounded domes glittered in the late afternoon light, despite the pall of smoke that hung over the buildings, and occasional shouts rang through the air, carried along by the breeze. “Yes,” she said to Lydia. “It was built by the Romans. They called it Civitas, which simply means ‘city’. That’s what the people who live here call it, too.”
    The path they were on joined a road that led to a bridge over the river, right up to the tall wooden gates of Civitas, and Anna followed Thomas as he led the way. The dragons had landed behind a small knoll a mile outside the city, and they and their passengers had joined Thomas and Keira, traveling the last mile