Dragon Dodgers (Wounds in the Sky Prequels Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and returned shortly after with a
folded piece of parchment. Serak snatched it from his fingers,
unfolded it and then inspected it from every possible
angle.
    “ What is this?”
    Targon laughed.
    “ Right, I forgot. You
can’t read…”
    Serak’s knife found its way back to
Targon’s neck.
    “ What a great Captain you
would make.” Targon said.
    “ I wouldn’t send my men to their deaths.” He yelled.
“Besides, others can read for me.” Serak passed the letter to
Daviel. “What does it say?”
    The Runner released Targon and took
the letter. His pierced lips moved silently as he read the piece of
parchment.
    “ What is this?” Daviel asked Targon.
    “ A year ago,” He replied. “We were headed to Niveh with a
load of spices and silk. Do you remember? When we found those
bodies on the foothills of Silusa?”
    Daviel nodded.
    “ Some idiots who got
careless and were robbed.” Serak said.
    “ Robbed?!” Targon smiled. “They still had bags full of
Silphium. They weren’t robbed.” He turned to Thaeus. “You remember,
kid. They were carrying a bag of mail, you found it.”
    Thaeus
glanced at Serak, confused, then back at Targon.
    “ Yeah… But, it was burnt
to a crisp.”
    “ Exactly.” Targon said. “They had left a valuable cargo of
Silphium behind, but burned the mail? It got me curious, so I did…
a more thorough search of the bodies.”
    “ And you found this.” Daviel said. “But where?”
    Targon gave him a smile.
    “ Let’s just say the parchment stank for
months. ”
    All three of them grimaced.
    “ So what is it? What does
it say?” Serak demanded.
    Daviel shrugged.
    “ It’s a letter from a man named Kanuur, from Sandahar, but
it doesn’t say to whom it is addressed to.”
    “ The only person who knew that was probably the Runner who
had the letter.” Targon said.
    “ It seems like… Alchemist small talk.” Daviel continued.
“Stuff about herbs and substances, but I never even heard most of
these names.”
    “ Yeah.” Targon said.
“Took me a while to figure that out too. But try holding it up and
aiming the letter towards a torch.”
    The three
men surrounding him exchanged a couple of glances, but Daviel
obeyed and as soon as the letter stood in front of the flames, they
all gasped.
    “ Impressive, right?”
Targon said. “It was written with seeds placed between the layers
of parchment.”
    “ What does it say?” Serak
demanded.
    Daviel took a while
to answer, then finally:
    “ Dragon killed. It works.”

Chapter 5: The Departure

    He had been in that same exit chamber the previous morning,
begging for a spot among the Watchers of the harvest. He had left
the chamber with his cousin by his side, and Cavill had never
returned , not even as a
corpse – Dragons always carried away their victims.
    This time, Enrig himself wouldn’t be coming back. He wished he could have had more
time to prepare, but the Captain refused to spend another coin
accommodating the Company in Saggad. The shocking news had left his
mother silently weeping on her rotten bed, probably reliving the
day her husband had left her for the exact same reason – Roaming
the Surface. It felt wrong, but Enrig had always known this day
would come, and it seemed like it should have come much sooner
already.
    At least I’m not abandoning my wife and son…
    The company had formed two single files in front of
the gates. The Runners were
getting ready to leave. Nasur was giving Carn basic Surface Running
instructions; Marek and his brother Yarek were arguing about how to
properly tie their boots, even though it was obvious they were both
right; Thamet was packing bandages and other medical gear;
Shayllah, Nyssa and Samir were holding each other’s hands, praying
in silence; Thaeus was making a bet with Daviel to see who would
puke first; and the others were just casually chatting, like they
were on their way to the market for some bread.
    “ On the surface, if you drop something, it’s lost