Dragons vs. Drones Read Online Free PDF Page A

tail and soaring over the snowcapped peaks while Dree laughed behind him.
    The wind beat into her face, cold and fresh, and Dree could almost feel the soot and ash leaping off her skin and joining the black smoke that trailed from Lourdvang’s mouth as he too laughed and enjoyed the evening flight. They burst above the clouds, which were glowing orange in the setting sun. It was like sailing over a lake of fire.
    Dree thought back to the first time she’d flown on Lourdvang, when he was only three years old and about the size of her bedroom. Lourdvang had been shaky and unsteady, and Dree had thought she was about to die at least ten times as he spiraled through the air, but he alwayskept flying. By the time they had finally landed, she hadn’t ever wanted to get off. For Dree, the sky was home, and Lourdvang was family.
    â€œSo you created the fire and the toy flew?” Lourdvang called over the wind.
    â€œYep,” Dree said, closing her eyes, completely content. “It was awesome.”
    They soared along the southern edge of the mountains, where civilization was rapidly spreading across the countryside. Dree saw newly built roads cutting through the lush plains like rivers, dotted with carts and wagons and horses. Towns were popping up where there used to be wild country, while tilled wheat fields were replacing millennia-old forests and meadows. Everywhere, humans were expanding across the wilderness, all under the watchful eye of the celebrated Prime Minister and his cabinet. Most people loved it—the ones who were so quick to forget how things used to be. The ones who suddenly hated dragons like Lourdvang.
    â€œThey build quickly,” Lourdvang said, sadness in his voice now.
    â€œAnd they forget faster,” Dree said, as Lourdvang wheeled back toward the mountains.
    Night was falling slowly on the western horizon, creeping out of the earth. It obscured the sky enough that they could fly above the mountains, but it would be dangerous to go any closer to the towns. No one below would be able to see Dree riding the dragon, and no one would believe it even if they did. But they would see Lourdvang, and they mightvery well start a hunt for him. His body was a treasure of dragon parts: fangs and scales and organs.
    So they stayed far from any human settlements, instead flying over the squat, snowcapped mountains and lush valleys in the range, laughing and talking like they always had. Lourdvang seemed reluctant to end the flight, and Dree certainly didn’t want to head back, so they stayed up there for what seemed like hours, Dree taking in the night air and Lourdvang’s sail-like wings gliding on the gentle breeze. If Dree didn’t have responsibilities back home, she’d never leave the mountains.
    It happened before either of them realized. Dree was busy telling Lourdvang a story about her older brother, Roshin, falling off the dock while he was staring at one of the neighbor girls. Lourdvang was chuckling at the image, black smoke spewing out of his mouth with every snort.
    Dree was in the middle of describing Roshin’s face as he climbed out of the water when she looked down and noticed the mountains had changed. They were jagged and sharp, their sides carved by wind and ice and devoid of any green at all. These were the Teeth, the mountains that served as the entrance to the one place in Dracone where Dree and Lourdvang did not want to be: the realm of the Flames.
    â€œLourdvang—”
    â€œI see it,” he said sharply, the mirth gone. He wheeled around, beating his wings urgently toward the west.
    They were high up, almost in the clouds, and Dree looked around nervously, hoping they had gone unseen.How could they have been so stupid? They’d never even dared to go near the Teeth before, and now they’d flown right over them.
    â€œHurry!” she urged Lourdvang.
    Dree was just thinking they’d escaped unscathed when she felt an