Dragon Thief Read Online Free PDF Page B

life and limb than the time I was displaced into Princess Lucille. Second, I had a small hope that when I did wake up I would find myself back in the princess’s bed.
    Wrong on both counts.
    â€œWakey, wakey,” someone whispered into my ear.
    The voice did not belong to the woman with whom I spent the night.
    My eyes shot open and I tried to spring out of bed. That didn’t work so well. As I sat up, my face collided with someone’s fist, and I fell backward, head ringing. I shook my head and realized that my hands and feet were being held down by a quartet of very large men. Two of them were familiar. So was the man going, “Tsk, tsk,” into my ear.
    â€œSloppy, Snake,” Weasel said, holding a very sharp dagger up to my throat. “I’m disappointed.”
    â€œYou’re persistent,” I said, spitting blood from a split lip.
    The dagger withdrew and he began pacing around the bed gesturing with it so occasionally it would reflect the cold winter sun from the window into my eyes. I could feel the icy draft on my naked skin. If they had come in that window, they must have been very quick, or very quiet, or both . . .
    Or I’d slept too deeply for my own good.
    â€œYou’ve led me on a merry chase. Much farther north than I’m comfortable with. I’ve found you very annoying.”
    â€œLikewise.”
    He spun around and placed the dagger against my face. “I would like nothing better than to cut you into. Tiny. Little. Pieces.”
    The contrary self-destructive part of my brain decided to ask the guy, “Why don’t you then?” I think that part of me was still trying to punish me for last night.
    He drew the blade across my cheek, and I winced as it sliced a stinging cut under my eye.
    He whispered, his breath hot and foul against my ear, “Because I love money more than I hate you.” He stood up and said, “Bag him.”
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    Unlike our prior encounter, I didn’t have either luck or surprise on my side, and with four accomplices, Weasel could just lean back against the wall, paring his nails with the dagger. I would have shouted some questions, but the first thing his goons did was shove a rag in my mouth and tie the gag in place. They did a workmanlike job of tying me hand and foot before shoving me into a musty burlap sack.
    I suspect Weasel didn’t bother with my clothes just out of spite. The burlap was bad enough against my naked skin. But add to that the fact that whatever grain had occupied the bag before me had gone to mold and made the air incredibly unpleasant to breathe. And the less said about the weevils, the better.
    They hefted the bag and carried me across the room. I felt a sharp cold draft though the weave of the burlap and had a brief moment to think,
They aren’t going to throw me—
    Then they did.
    There were only two stories to the inn, but it felt as if I tumbled forever in free fall. Bound as I was, all I could do was pull myself into a ball and hope I didn’t land headfirst.
    Someone caught me, then tossed me aside into a pile of something that was supposed to be yielding. Given the feeling of a hundred brittle stabby things trying to poke through the burlap, I suspected that it was a pile of straw that had been left outside to freeze. The little light that leaked through the weave in the burlap went away as someone tossed more straw on top of me.
    At least it cut down on the draft.
    I heard footsteps, creaking wood, and the snorting of a horse or three. I heard a muffled voice say, “You caught him finally.”
    Weasel’s voice responded from farther away. “Your tone suggests a lack of faith in my skill.”
    â€œThis ain’t just some guy skipping out on his debt—”
    â€œThat’s why the guild is paying us so much. Get on the wagon, I want to get back to Delmark while we still have daylight.”
    Crap.
    I knew