Prisoner of Fate Read Online Free PDF

continued, and he pulled a lever that released a hiss of steam from the brass contraption. ‘Windwheels it is then.’ Steam hissed again. The pulleys and cogs jerked into motion, as if startled by the steam, and the windwheels began spinning. Within moments, the dragon egg was drifting steadily west over the peaks of the Great Dylan Ranges.
    Even with the heavy blanket, the sun washing over the basket and the heat emanating from the burner, Meg felt the bitter mountain air nibbling at her nose and cheeks. When she crossed the mountains with Luca fifteen years before, she still had the amber crystal embedded in her chest and she could generate magical warmth. She wished she still had that ability as she shivered and pressed against Neal. ‘Move closer to the burner,’ he urged.
    ‘I’ll be fine,’ she replied.
    ‘We’ll be warmer soon,’ Dafyd assured her. ‘This won’t take too long.’
    She smiled ruefully and huddled a little closer to the burner’s heat, savouring each time the flames roared into the dragon egg’s heart, and sank into thinking about Emma’s safety in the middle of the Ranu invasion.
    ‘How many?’
    ‘Three.’
    Meg blinked and lifted her head. Have I been asleep ?
    ‘They’re heading for us.’
    ‘Then we’ll outrun them.’
    She straightened her back as Bryon leaned hispeacemaker against the basket railing. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked.
    ‘Ranu dragon eggs,’ Bryon replied, his face set severely.
    Meg stood and squinted against the glare of sunlight on the white clouds. ‘There,’ Bryon said, pointing. Following his finger, she saw three white shapes hovering at the face of a cloud bank.
    ‘They were heading east but they’ve spotted us,’ Dafyd said, before he wrenched back a lever. The basket shuddered as the windwheels pivoted to change direction. ‘Let’s see how they perform.’
    ‘What are you doing?’ Meg asked, watching Dafyd crank a second lever below the burner. Metallic clanking was followed by a hiss, a rattle and then rhythmic, noisy thumping shook the basket as the pulleys and belts accelerated.
    ‘We’ll use the driver to go faster,’ Dafyd explained.
    ‘What’s a driver?’ she queried.
    ‘This,’ Dafyd said, pointing to the small brass contraption at the centre of the belts, pulleys and cogs. ‘It runs on steam created by the burner and drives the pulleys. That’s why it’s called a driver.’
    Fascinated, Meg squatted to study the little invention that thumped and wheezed like a metallic animal as it made wheels spin and belts move. She’d seen similar devices, much bigger versions, in factories and mills, but they were powered by bullocks or men or water or wind. The driver was like the piston engines in the horseless carriage she’d seen in Lightsword. It seemed that the Andrak inventors were creating new and surprising magic almost at their whim. When she tired of the invention, she returned to watching the pursuing Ranu dragon eggs, standing between Bryon and Adwyn. ‘Will they catch us?’ she asked.
    ‘Hard to tell yet,’ said Bryon.
    Adwyn shook his head. ‘They’re faster than us. If they want to, they’ll catch up.’
    ‘Then what?’ Meg asked.
    Adwyn hoisted his peacemaker onto the railing near Bryon’s weapon. ‘We show them who’re the masters of the air,’ he announced.
    Meg gazed at the dark smudges beneath the white dragon eggs, hoping that they would give up the chase, but to her dismay the Ranu dragon eggs grew larger as they shortened the distance. Below, the dragon egg’s shadow leaped across the mountain peaks and she saw that they were reaching the western slopes and the rolling plains of Western Andrak. She heard Dafyd adjusting his windwheels, searching for speed, and as she met his gaze he said, ‘What we need is a wind shift.’ Frustration edged his words. ‘And we need it to come to us before it reaches the Ranu.’
    ‘I think our friends prayed before you,’ Neal informed him. Meg turned to