Dragons of War Read Online Free PDF Page B

A family of dragons? He felt a strong foreboding.
    "He's taking them to Ourdh to sell to the circus. Think's he's going to make his fortune."
    "By the breath, that's so"—Relkin struggled for words, anger rising in his chest—"so damnably stupid."
    "Yeah"—Dert waved a hand and disappeared into the stables—"whatever."
    Dacy picked up the ash box and opened the door.
    "Darling Dacy, what about the end-of-games dance?"
    "I don't know right now. Ask me tomorrow. I'm going to think about it."
    She flounced inside, and Relkin was left with the terrible news provided by Dert Waller.
    A family of dragons? Captured on Mt. Ulmo. With a sudden flash of realization he knew it could only mean one thing.
    He went down to the dockside where a gang of stevedores unloaded a schooner. Sacks of grain were piled on carts and hauled away by teams of mules. The movements were methodical, the scene peaceful. The river Argo, here joined by the tributary river Dally, was half a mile wide, swift and deep. On the far side, the land rose up through pinewoods to the yellow bluffs. The sun dappled the water through the clouds.
    A captive wild dragon, most likely a dragoness, and with voung. He would have to tell Bazil. He knew what that meant. Relkin had spent two miserable spring leaves sitting in the damp, freezing woods on Mt. Ulmo hoping for the return of his dragon's ladylove, a fiery green dragoness. Once Bazil knew of this captive dragoness, there could only be one course of action.
    Turrent, he had to ask Turrent, tell him how important this was. Surely the dragon leader would see the point.
    He hastened back up the hill, ignoring the riotous sounds of the festival grounds and went straight to the dragon leader's office.
    By that time his initial confidence in this course of action had diminished. Turrent might refuse permission. He might order a watch set to keep Bazil within the fort.
    He saw the office door open while he was still twenty-five paces away. The dragon leader came out, followed by a dragonboy. He spun around, walked back to the corner, and slipped out of sight. He was sure that they had not seen him. He went instead to the main gate and tried at the office of General Wegan.
    The guard took his name and a slip on which he noted, "My dragon is about to desert."
    He waited half an hour in the cold antechamber. Messengers came and left every few minutes. Then the inner door opened and two commanders, Oaks of the 3rd and Sunter of the 8th, came in.
    Relkin gave them his crispest salute. Commander Sunter returned it, and pointed him out to Commander Oaks, a tall man with a pointed grey beard and a friendly smile.
    "Looks a bit young for a Legion Star," he heard Oaks mutter.
    The guard was signaling to him.
    "General wants to see you inside."
    Wegan had replaced old General Paxion in the spring. He had brought a brisk efficiency to the fort, but the legion had not yet warmed to him. Wegan knew he was replacing a legend. Ol' Pax had taken not only the legion, but an entire expeditionary force and preserved it through the terrible ordeal of the siege of Ourdh.
    Wegan also knew that the broketail dragon was a legend in the legion, indeed in the entire army. The hero of Tummuz Orgmeen, he had also been in the final battle in the pits of the dark city of Dzu. Wegan did not want to have trouble with that particular dragon. It would be all over the legions in no time.
    Wegan also disliked the thought of captive dragons being sold down in Ourdh. He wished he could do something to stop it officially, but his powers were limited to wyvern dragons, the wingless battle dragons of the legion. He could ask the civil authorities to take action, but he knew they would move too slowly to prevent the trader leaving for Ourdh.
    Then he had what seemed like a brilliant idea. If the dragon had a family, then he deserved family leave, which he had never had and was entitled to. The general made out a special order on the spot, signed it, and gave it to