Dragon Tree Read Online Free PDF Page A

the skin.
    He refrained
from glancing at his own wrist, at the tattoo of the five pointed
star that marked him as a member of the Order.
    He pushed to
his feet and glanced at Roland. “Have the men checked for
survivors?”
    Roland shook
his head. “They are all dead, lord. We caught them while they were
searching the bodies and finishing any who might have had a
heartbeat. There was a young girl—" he paused and looked across the
clearing. "But she appears to have succumbed to her wounds."
    Tamberlane
wiped the blade of his sword clean on the dead knight’s jerkin then
resheathed the weapon in his belt. He frowned at the slight
stinging sensation in his hand and noticed for the first time the
layers of skin that had been peeled from his fore and middle
fingers when he fired the longbow.
    “There is one
other,” he said. “She was sorely wounded and I doubt if she lives
still, but I left Maude and Hugo to stand guard.”
    “Shall I send
a man to check?”
    Tamberlane
thought it a useless gesture, but he curled his tongue against his
lower lip and issued forth a piercing whistle. The sound shivered
around the clearing a moment before fading, and when there was no
immediate response from the dogs, he scowled and strode back to his
horse. “I will see what holds their attention while the rest of you
collect your wits and make for the north road.”
    “The road, my
lord?” Roland looked shocked again. “Are we not going to bury these
good people?”
    “There are too
many graves to be dug; we would be here a sennight. Send word to
the abbey instead and advise the monks their shovels and prayers
are required.”
    “But
sire—"
    “You have
already disobeyed me once today by charging into a fight without
waiting for my signal,” Tamberlane said quietly. “Are you spoiling
to do so again?”
    “No, my lord.
I just thought—"
    “There is
naught to think about,” Tamberlane said bluntly. “We have no way of
knowing if this was their full force or if those who ran so nimbly
into the greenwood ran towards a larger host of men. If so, they
will not be pleased with the turn of events. Waste no further time
arguing. Go to the north road and wait for me there.”
    Roland’s lips
pressed into a flat line, for he had served as squire to Lord
Tamberlane long enough to realize that once the former Templar's
mind was set, it was as immovable as a mountain.
    "Aye, my lord.
The north road."
    Tamberlane
wheeled his piebald around and headed back into the woods. He gave
another short, shrill whistle and moments later Maude came bounding
up to lead him back to the riverbed. Hugo was still standing guard,
his massive front paws planted firmly apart, his eyes fixed
threateningly on the dead knight, ready to attack if the corpse
should suddenly spring to life.
    Tamberlane
called him off with a quiet word and knelt beside the body,
searching for clues as to why mercenaries would be hired to attack
and slaughter the unarmed inhabitants of an entire village.
    The head,
half-submerged in the stream, had been severed enough that it lay
at an odd angle to the torso. Tamberlane was able to unfasten the
ruined pennyplate camail and remove the helm without having to roll
the body onto its back, but the face—if he was expecting to find
some revelation there—was unfamiliar.
    The vill was
part of his demesne, though he scarcely paid it any heed. The rents
were paid on time, there were no disputes to be settled. Indeed, he
was hard-pressed to remember the name or face of the village
leader.
    It did not
take a great leap in reasoning to surmise that the attack had been
launched against him. He had striven to spend the last three years
in the shadows of obscurity, yet if someone wanted to find him, it
did not take more than a question whispered in the right ear.
    Perhaps he
should have shed his name along with his Crusader’s mantel. His
family would have had no objections.
    The sound of
Maude’s heavy panting made him turn his head. The