Dragonmaster Read Online Free PDF

her yet.
    When they found another inn, he hesitated. Should they attempt it or not?
    Hhana seemed to read his mind.
    “Please, Norl,” she pleaded, a child again, with no trace of the defiance of the night before. “I am so hungry. Can we not try once more? I promise to keep my cap on and my hair well tucked in.”
    “Then keep your eyes lowered,” Norl said. “They give you away as much as your hair. And do not speak. They must think you a boy.”
    “What is it about my eyes?” Hhana asked.
    Norl was taken aback, then he realized: of course Hhana could not know the colour of her eyes. In all probability she had never seen a clear reflection of herself.
    “They…they are as different as your hair,” he began slowly.
    “Different?” Hhana echoed. “In what way? Are they green, too?”
    “No,” Norl answered. “Green eyes would not be so unusual. My teacher, Catryn, has green eyes. Your eyes are golden.”
    “Yellow?” Hhana gasped. “I have yellow eyes!”
    “No, not yellow, ” Norl said. “Golden.”
    “What is the difference?” Hhana asked. “Only beasts have yellow eyes!”
    Norl drew a deep breath. It seemed he had offended this prickly maid now. How to explain?
    “Your eyes are not like the yellow eyes of a beast,” he said. “They have a shine to them. They gleam as of gold.”
    “I have never seen gold,” Hhana said. She did not seem mollified.
    “Gold is…gold is beautiful,” Norl said. “It has a radiance all of its own.”
    “So my eyes are beautiful?” Hhana asked, taken aback.
    “They are,” Norl replied. And he was as amazed as she at his words.
    Hhana fell silent again and they resumed their path. She tugged at her cap until every tendril of hair was covered. She gave one last look at Norl as he pushed open the door of the inn, then cast her eyes down.
    They were greeted by a wall of noise, smoke and smells of cooking. Hhana kept silent, but Norl could see her nose twitching. His own stomach rumbled at the odour of stewing meat that wafted out to greet them.
    Men sat at tables crowded into the small space. They glanced up briefly as Norl and Hhana entered, then bent back to their food and their pipes. A small orange cat basked in the warmth of the hearth. It stared at Norl for a moment, then set itself to grooming its fur.
    Norl and Hhana found a table back in the shadows of a corner. When they had settled themselves, Norl allowed himself to relax slightly. Aside from the cat, no one had seemed to take any notice of them at all. A maidservant appeared.
    “Good even to you, my lads,” she burbled. “What will you be wanting?”
    “Some of that stew that is teasing my stomach,” Norl replied with a smile that he hoped would mask his nervousness. “And ale, if you please. But I have no coins with which to pay you. May my brother and I work for our meal and perhaps a corner to sleep in?” he asked. “We can put our hand to almost anything you would wish.” He widened his smile.
    “I’ll ask,” the maidservant said, with a flirtatious glance back over her shoulder and a twitch of her hips as she turned away.
    She returned almost immediately with two brimming bowls of stew. Chunks of meat swam in the greasy broth. It was thick with turnips and carrots and the white root called pauny that was the staple food of Taun. She set down a slab of brown bread, then flounced off, to return with two brimming mugs of ale.
    “The master says you and your brother can stay in the stable as long as you muck it out in payment. The boy who usually does that has run off. And mind,” she added sternly, “he will inspect it in the morning and if it is not cleaned to his satisfaction he’ll have his horsewhip to the pair of you.” Her attempt at severity was somewhat lessened by the quirk of her lips and the sparkle of her glance as she looked at Norl. She seemed much taken with what she saw.
    To his discomfort, Norl found himself blushing. He was thankful for the shadows that hid his