Dragon Spear Read Online Free PDF

“And this is particularly exquisite.” She closely studied the embroidery of the bodice.
    “It is some of my best work,” I said, trying and failing to sound modest. “So I’m glad that it will have someone to admire it.”
    I had brought a collapsible dressmaker’s dummy with me as well, and now the golden gown hung from the wicker frame, the rich fabric glowing softly in the torchlight that lit Gala and Amacarin’s cave. Gala settled down beside the gown, arranging herself over the sandy nest of eggs as though prepared to admire the gown all day while she warmed her babies. I went out into the sunshine with her mate.
    “Thank you, Creel,” Amacarin said sincerely. He and I had never exactly been friends, but Gala and her children seemed to have had a softening effect on him. “It will do her good to begin collecting again.”
    “And what about you?” I looked up at him, hiding a smile. I had something for Amacarin in the bag slung over my shoulder; I just hadn’t told him yet.
    “Oh, I was able to return to my cave in Feravel when the exile began, and retrieve a few things,” he said, but he gazed into the distance as though thinking of all the items he hadn’t retrieved. “I suppose the rest was taken away by humans. I can only hope they know how to care for fine vellum properly.” He made a swiping gesture, as though wiping invisible dust off his own foreleg.
    “Luka’s brother, Prince Miles, gathered your books up personally,” I told him, still trying to hide a smile. “He has added them to the royal library, where they will be very well looked after.”
    “That’s good, I suppose,” he said, his voice distant.
    “Unfortunately, one or two items have gone missing recently,” I said, unable to contain myself any longer. I reached into the bag and pulled out two rare scrolls of lyric poetry from the fifth century. The scrolls had taken up so little room, Luka had had to stop me from stealing more. I handed them to Amacarin, who cradled them in his claws as if they were babies.
    “Oh, Creel!” His voice was reverent. “The works of Malester Punin? Thank you!” He lowered his muzzle and inhaled the scent of dust and parchment. “Thank you! I must . . . Gala will . . .”
    “Go and show her.” I laughed.
    He turned and went back into the cave, calling out to his new mate. “Only see, Gala! See what our lovely human friend brought me!”
    Smiling, I walked back down to the beach. Luka and Shardas were waiting for me by a large oven that Shardas had made from sheets of iron. I had seen the clay ovens the dragons used to bake huge slabs of moist, spongy, berry bread, but I had no idea what this big, black oven was for.
    “Where’d you get the iron?” Hagen was walking around the contraption, kicking it in that knowledgeable way that boys have.
    “I traded for it in Moralien,” Shardas said. Moralien was the one country that hadn’t shut the dragons out entirely. The Moralienin had always been explorers and traders and would trade with a human, dragon, or talking dog if there were rare goods to be had.
    “What did you trade?” Hagen looked curiously at Shardas. “I thought you didn’t have any—” He colored. “I mean, I didn’t think dragons . . .”
    “Have money? No, we don’t. I captured some exotic birds here on the island, and used them to barter,” Shardas said, chuckling.
    I gave him a worried look. “I thought you weren’t going to trade anything too interesting for a while,” I reminded him. “So that people won’t guess that the Far Isles aren’t barren and horrid.”
    Shardas looked sheepish. “I said that I had found them flying somewhere off the coast of a country I couldn’t remember,” he said. “I think they believed me.”
    “I certainly hope so.”
    Luka shook his head and indicated the buckets at his feet. “If you are quite finished scolding the king of the dragons, Creel, we do have a gift for him.”
    Now my cheeks were red, and Hagen was