Dragons Lost Read Online Free PDF Page B

Its wings beat,
shoving him down. The two dragons slammed onto the mountainside, cracking the
stone.
    "Stay down, you
fool!" the firedrake rumbled. "Do you want to die?"
    Still in dragon
form, Cade blinked. Had . . . had this firedrake just spoken to him? Firedrakes
couldn't speak. They were just animals, not weredragons like him with the minds
of humans.
    "Get off!" he
said, struggling and whipping his tail, his back to the mountainside.
    The fiery beast
refused to release him. Its claws pinned him down. Its eyes blazed like
smelters, and smoke blasted out from its jaws.
    "Shift back into a
human!" the firedrake demanded. Cade was surprised to hear it speak with the
voice of a young woman. "Now!"
    Cade growled and
struggled to free himself. He recognized this firedrake. The other beasts were
black or white or metallic, their scales unicolor. But this firedrake had
scales in various shades of red, orange, and yellow, giving it the appearance
of living flame—Mercy's firedrake. A saddle still topped the beast, but no
rider. Had Mercy taken another firedrake down to the village?
    "Get off me now!"
Cade growled and slammed his paws against the beast's head.
    He sucked in air,
prepared to blow fire, when the firedrake grabbed his head with its claws and
slammed it back against the ground.
    Cade felt a scale
crack at the back of his head. The pain bolted through him, so powerful it
knocked the magic out of him.
    His body shrank.
His wings, scales, and claws vanished. He lay on the mountainside, a human
again, blinking feebly. He could barely see more than haze and stars.
Strangely, he thought he glimpsed a young woman staring down at him, her green
eyes peering between tangles of red hair, and then he saw nothing but
blackness.

    * * * * *

    When Cade finally awoke, the sun
was lower in the sky. He found himself lying on a patch of grass, the branches
of pines rustling above him. He blinked, groggy. Where was he? What had happened?
Why wasn't he home in bed or—
    The memories pounded
into him with the might of fists.
    The paladins. The
village. His family.
    He made to leap up, to
fly back home, but he couldn't move. When he glanced down, he saw that his
limbs were bound to the trees with leather straps. Somebody had bandaged his
wounds, then left him tied here.
    Fear flooded Cade. The
paladins had captured him. His family was in danger. He growled, tugging at the
bonds, unable to free himself. He let out a hoarse cry.
    "Hush!" rose a voice. "Be
silent or they'll hear you. Listen to me!"
    He turned his head
toward the voice. A young woman sat beside him on a fallen log. She looked to
be about his age, maybe a year or two older. He had never seen a stranger person.
She wore rags—a tattered burlap sack, a rope around her waist, and stockings
full of holes, revealing all her toes. Dirt and soot covered her skin. A mane
of wild, orange hair thrust out from her head in all directions. The fiery
strands fell across her face, hiding most of it. Cade could see little more
than a freckled nose, pale cheeks, and green eyes that peered between the
tangled strands like fox eyes from within a burrow.
    "Who are you?" Cade
said. "Did you tie me here? Release me."
    She shook her head, and
her tangled hair swayed. "I can't or you'll fly south. You'll fly to the
village and confront the paladins and firedrakes, and they'll kill you."
    "They're killing
everyone there now!" he cried, struggling against his bonds. "I don't know who
you are, but you must release me."
    She shook her head
again.
    Cade growled,
closed his eyes, and summoned his magic. He began to shift, growing into dragon
form. As his body grew, the straps around his wrists and ankles tightened,
shoving him back into human form. His magic fizzled away. With a sinking heart,
he realized he could not shift while bound.
    He opened his eyes
and looked at the young woman again. Her green eyes stared back from within her
tangled hair.
    "Who are you?" he
repeated.
    "The name's Domi,"
she