Meghan's Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

count them anymore. That limp is the result of a battlefield healer doing a rush job to get him on his feet again. By the time he got back to the castle, it was all Hadrixia could do to save his leg.”
    “Who are you fighting against?” Bryan asked.
    “We of Castle Refuge are always at war over something or another,” she replied sadly. “The last one was because Cynthia, our baron’s daughter, tricked a dressmaker at King’s Castle into believing that she was the daughter of Baron Thundercrack and stole a dress the Thundercracks had special ordered months before the Harvest Ball. Cynthia is very good at glamour and impersonation.”
    “You fought a war over a ball gown?” Bryan asked in astonishment.
    Meghan shrugged. “Warriors have to fight over something, don’t they?”
    “Why?” A sharp elbow in the ribs informed him that it was a stupid question. “I mean, we don’t have so many wars around Castle Trollsdatter.”
    “Then what does everybody do?” a gravelly voice demanded.
    “Phinneas,” Meghan squealed, and flung her arms around the war master’s neck. Up close, Bryan saw that he was at least in his early sixties, maybe even older if magic could slow the aging process. “How is your leg feeling these days? We worried when you weren’t back after the second week.”
    “The War of the Dress did grind on longer than we expected,” Phinneas replied sardonically. “The Thundercracks asked for a temporary truce in order to attack the Castle Edgestorm in support of the Firehearts, with whom they have some treaty obligation. Our baron didn’t see the point of packing up and coming all the way home just to set out again, so we went along to observe. It was good training for the young men, seeing a siege set up.”
    “Don’t sieges usually go on for months?” Bryan couldn’t help asking.
    “I see your young friend isn’t a complete military ignoramus after all,” Phinneas said to Meghan. He turned his attention to Bryan. “Normally, waiting out a siege on the sidelines wouldn’t be high on my to-do list, but our baron received news by carrier pigeon that his cousins, the Barleyhops, planned to move against Fireheart Castle. After two weeks of siege, the Firehearts got word of the Barleyhop attack and had to rush home to raise the siege on their own castle, so the Thundercracks finally made the time to pick up our battle where we left off. Good thing, too, since we were running out of supplies.”
    “I didn’t hear any mourning cries when you returned last night so it must have gone well,” Meghan said.
    “Bit of a letdown,” the old war master replied. “The Edgestorms hadn’t been happy about the Thundercracks joining the siege against them in the first place, so when the Thundercracks finally broke it off to fight us, the castle’s defenders sallied out and attacked them from the rear. Turned into something of a rout.” He paused to draw a dagger from his belt and flipped it at Bryan. The surprised dishwasher blinked, but he still managed to get a hand up and catch it by the butt.
    “Knew you’d be quick just by looking at you,” Phinneas continued, speaking directly to Bryan. “I haven’t trained soldiers for five decades without learning how to spot the likely candidates. Will you be participating in the tower climb?”
    “He doesn’t have any magic,” the girl said quickly. “He’s starting with me in the kitchen tomorrow.”
    “Ah, that’s a shame,” Phinneas said, turning to the girl. “Well, I have to get back to these young idiots before somebody gets a splinter in the eye. Tell Hadrixia I’ll come to see her later.”
    “Bye,” Meghan replied, dragging Bryan back through the passage to the main courtyard.
    “I thought you were supposed to be a friendless orphan,” Bryan said. He was annoyed that she had answered for him about the tower climb, whatever that was. If Phinneas was willing to accept him for training, fighting with wooden swords couldn’t be