Fortress Draconis Read Online Free PDF

flipped them gold-coin lullabies to encourage their return to sleep and forgetting about the trio’s passage.
    They rode west for a while, but with the clouds so thick and black, Will could not mark time by the moon’s passage. He only knew they’d gone a long way when they headed off toward the northwest, along a track through hills of tree stumps. In a little valley they stopped at an abandoned woodsman’s hovel and stabled the horses in a cave dug into the hillside.
    His two companions saw to the horses, so Will entered the cabin and found a dry patch of floor to curl up on. A little flutter of fear ran through him, but the warmth pulsing out from the leaf-bag kept his worries at bay. Quickly enough he surrendered to a full belly and exhaustion, dreaming of great adventures that evaporated by the time he wakened.
    Morning came bright and Will rose with the speed of the sun. Lazily wiping sleepsand from his eyes, he stepped over Crow’s sleeping form and wandered out into the daylight. He found Resolute snarling whispered curses in Elvish, crouched near the cabin. In the field before it, rabbits gamboled amid stumps. They twitched their ears and wrinkled their noses, grazing ten yards away from the cabin, and a yard away from some contraption set in the field.
    Will frowned. “What’s that thing?”
    Resolute frowned. “It’s a deadfall trap that should catch us breakfast.”
    “A rabbit? You can eat them?”
    The Vorquelf arched an eyebrow. “You’ve never … ?”
    Will shook his head. “S’posed to taste like cat.” He squatted down and fingered some rocks in the dry soil at the cabin’s entrance. “Why don’t you just kill one?”
    “That’s what the snare is for, boy. Now keep your voice down. You don’t want to scare them off.”
    The youth snorted, then whispered, “Ain’t my voice keeping them away, it’s that thing you made.” He hefted a dark stone. “Me, I’d just throw a rock at it.”
    “Would you? Well, then, how about an easy target?” Resolute pointed off at a plump rabbit. “That one, with the white blaze …”
    Before the Vorquelf finished his sentence, Will shifted his stance, dropping to his right knee a lot faster than he should have. He whipped his right hand forward, side-arming the stone. It whizzed through the air, clipping the rabbit in the side of the head. The creature flopped over on its flank and twitched, but before it stopped, Resolute had darted forward, snatched it up, and wrung its neck.
    Will clenched his teeth against the pain in his knee, determined not to show Resolute any weakness. He was paying the price for showing off, and was damned glad the rock had actually hit its target.If I’d missed…
    The Vorquelf glanced at him, then nodded. “Nice throw.”
    Will shrugged and rose slowly. “Bigger than most rats, anyway. Hope it’s better eating.”
    “It will be.” Resolute jerked a thumb at the field. “Once you collect up some firewood, we can cook it.”
    “But I got the rabbit.”
    “True, but getting breakfast wasn’t your job. Gathering firewood is.”
    “But you never told me.”
    “You never asked.” Resolute stooped and drew a knife from his boot-top. “Won’t take me long to skin and prepare it. Once you get firewood and some water, we’ll be ready for breakfast.”
    Will frowned. “Why is that my… ?”
    “Out here, boy, there are things I can do that you cannot. If I’m doing your chores, I can’t do mine.” Resolute tossed him a flaccid waterskin. “You want me doing my chores around here. Now get the firewood and mind the frostclaws.”
    “Frostclaws?” Will’s eyes narrowed. “There aren’t any frostclaws around here. They’re all up north. And I’m not a child that you can scare with such stories.”
    “No? Come here, little boy.” Resolute led him around the side of the cabin, toward the cave where their horses had been kept, then squatted down and stabbed the point of his knife into the ground. “See this track here?”
    The youth came over and lowered himself onto his left knee. The