Dragons Reborn Read Online Free PDF Page A

plates—were
allowed within these halls, not the scummy cannon fodder of the lower classes.
    "My lord!" The
man knelt.
    Gemini grabbed his
shoulders. "What are you doing here? Since when are common guards allowed
into the palace?"
    Sweat beaded on the man's
brow. "My lord, since the weredragon was captured. The High Priestess
commanded us to patrol these halls."
    Gemini's heart wrenched
to think of such brutish, foul guards grabbing his beloved. "Where is she?"
he shouted, shaking the man.
    "She? My . . . my
lord?"
    "The weredragon!"
Gemini shoved the guard backward.
    "In . . . in the
dungeon, my lord. I—"
    "Give me your
sword."
    The guard hesitated,
then gulped and handed over the weapon. It was a crude sword, the hilt wrapped
in leather, and not a single jewel shone upon it. The blade was a coarse hunk
of steel, not engraved or filigreed. It disgusted Gemini, but it would have to
do for now, at least until he had time to return to his chambers and grab a
proper sword. He marched on, leaving the guard behind.
    Gemini had not been to
the dungeon in years, not since he'd been a child. His mother used to take him
there, force him to stare at the broken, tortured prisoners, force him to hear
the screams, to watch the bones shatter, the whips tear into the flesh, the
rats feast.
    "If you misbehave,
Gemini, I'm going to place you in one of these cells," Beatrix would say. "Be
a good boy, or you'll scream here among them."
    Young Gemini would
weep, have nightmares of this place, wake up in terror, unable to move,
thinking himself down in the cell, hammers breaking his bones, rats crawling
over him. In panic, he would hide the sheets he wet during his nightmares, sure
that wetting the bed would doom him to this fate. When he grew older, Beatrix
had stopped taking him to the dungeon, but Gemini had never forgotten that
place, never forgotten the way there.
    Now a grown
warrior, he made his way down the staircase . . . and into the underground.
    "Please!" the
prisoner screamed in his memory. "Please, no, not the pain!"
    Gemini winced and froze
halfway down a dark staircase. His breath quickened and his heart pounded
against his ribs. Cold sweat trickled down his back. He forced himself to take
a deep, ragged breath.
    Domi is down there.
She needs me.
    He took another step
down. Then another.
    It seemed like he
descended forever, plunging miles underground, until he reached the Temple's
dungeon. The hallway loomed before him, lined with cells. The screams rose. The
smell of blood filled his nostrils. The nightmare of his childhood stretched
ahead.
    Gemini ground his
teeth, trembling. His eyes stung. The cold sweat no longer trickled; it now
drenched him. Again he saw all those old prisoners, tortured, dying. Did some
of the same wretched souls still hang here in their chains, still screaming
after all these years?
    We'll be executing
the weredragon at noon.
    Gemini raised his chin,
clenched his fists, and stepped into the dungeon.
    Several guards
patrolled the hall, holding maces. They spun toward Gemini, narrowed their
eyes, and raised their clubs.
    "Get out of here!"
Gemini shouted. "Leave this place." He tightened his housecoat around
him. "Don't you recognize a paladin without his armor?"
    The guards' eyes
widened, and they knelt. "My lord Gemini!" one cried out.
    Gemini marched forward
and grabbed a heavy ring of keys from a guard.
    "Now leave!"
Gemini screamed, hating that his voice cracked. "I'm here to inspect the
weredragon, and I won't have common scum in my way. You stink more than the
prisoners."
    The guards rushed out
of the dungeon, faces pale. Once they were gone, Gemini squared his shoulders,
took a shuddering breath, and began walking down the corridor.
    The cells
stretched along the corridor, full of the rotting, languishing vestiges of men,
women, and children. The screams danced around Gemini, a chorus of nightmares.
Gemini wanted to close his eyes, to flee, anything but see these terrors again,
the terrors