Dragon Bonds (Return of the Darkening Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t want my family to be caught up in the midst of what could be a civil war on top of the war with the Darkening.
    Ryan kicked a broken brick and said, “You know Reynalt. He always had a stick up his backside. He probably thinks he’s doing right thing, and —”
    T he guttural croak of a dragon cut off his words. We both stopped and looked at each other.
    Not one of ours? I mouthed the words.
    Ryan shook his head and put a finger to his lips. He already had his sword in hand, as did I. King Justin had wisely asked us to enter the city on foot as our dragons could attract the enemy. I felt lost without Kalax at my side, and I was wishing this was a dragon from the enclosure—one of ours. But if Ryan did not recognize the dragon’s call, this had to be one of the wild black dragons. We could only hope it was not serving Lord Vincent and the Darkening.
    A crunch and the sudden bang of rock cracking against rock had me turning to see a building wall as it crashed to the ground. Dust choked the air.
    Another sharp bang followed. I held up my hand and waved that we should run to the other side of the street. Ryan nodded, and we ran.
    The roar of an attacking dragon echoed over the ruined streets. I wasn’t quite sure what we could do against a dragon with only our hand weapons—I didn’t have my bow with me—but we had to do something. That wild dragon was attacking something, which would probably turn out to be a someone .
    “Now!” A woman screamed the word.
    We reached the other side of the street and saw an old woman standing at the far end of what had once been a narrow lane. A black dragon bore down on her, crushing houses and breaking glass as it advanced. I opened my mouth to shout to her, to tell her to duck behind the rubble. The dragon reared up and flexed its ruff of spines.
    Suddenly, somethingstruck the black dragon’s nose. The dragon paused and shook its head. Another small rock bounced off the beast’s head and dropped to the ground. The dragon was being pelted with cobblestones. The dragon blinked and shook its head.
    More stones struck the dragon against the head, neck and hind quarters, pelting it like a hail storm. The dragon turned, whipping its barbed tail low across the street.
    The old woman had just enough time to duck behind fallen wood timbers. The dragon’s tail swept over the top of her, crashing into one of the few standing buildings. Walls exploded, the roofs fell in and dust billowed with a deafening thunder.
    I gasped, but the old woman stood and shouted, “Now! Now!” Two figures jumped up from the top of a pile of wood that had once been a structure. They were children really, but they ran toward the dragon and threw nets over the beast’s head before jumping and sliding down the wood timbers.
    The dragon bellowed a roar and thrashed against the rope nets, rubbing at them with one foreleg. I realized they were fishing nets, the sort that river workers might use for a big catch. The dragon tore the nets off, but its jerky movements showed it was becoming flustered.
    “They’re only succeeding in annoying it. Why anger a wild dragon?”
    “They’re trying to scare it away!” Ryan pointed to where more tiny darts and rocks shot out from the rubble to hit the dragon.
    The tactic never would have worked on a trained dragon, but the wild dragons liked easy hunting and resting grounds. Maybe this could drive it off.
    Flinging the nets off, the black dragon reared backward on its hind legs. It looked as though it might tear into the sky. Suddenly, it rammed its claws down onto the ground with a thud that vibrated up my legs. “Oh, no. It’s decided to fight.”
    The wild dragon shook its shoulders and wings, snapping off the remnants of the fishing nets. Now it was ignoring the stones that drummed against its scaled hide. It turned and headed for the old woman, its tail swishing like an angry cat.
    The old woman slammed the bottom of her staff into the ground. “No, you