Sea Dragon (Dragon Knights Book 9) Read Online Free PDF Page B

my friend,” she said, finally a bit calmer than she’d been for the past few days. “And that small arrangement of mountains and rock spires is our new home. The Southern Lair. We’ll be there within the hour.”
    As they flew on, the shapes of the mountain and the dark openings of large caverns within resolved. Not as large as the Castle Lair, this new place was quite different from what he had gotten used to since partnering with Genlitha. Still, there were familiar patterns. Landing ledges and indications of where dragons could come and go freely among the cliffs and many caves.
    Some of the openings flickered with light as the sun began its descent. Gowan knew there would be lanterns and watch fires, cook fires and those around which old knights and dragons would share stories and flagons of ale. This was a home. It might be smaller and less distinguished than the fancy Lair up in the capital, but it was still the place many dragons and knights called home and fought to protect.
    As they neared the Lair, Gowan also got his first real vision of the water. So much water! He’d never seen anything like it before in his entire life. He’d seen rivers and lakes before, of course. He had traveled many miles as a warrior and soldier for the kingdom of Draconia. He had seen many things that most townsfolk or city dwellers could never even imagine. But he’d never seen anything like the vast expanse of water licking at the sandy shore. It was immense. And beyond his ability to describe in words.
    “What do you think of the ocean?” Genlitha asked him when he’d been silent a long time.
    “It is…”
    “Yes, I know.” A smile seemed to come through in her words. “I was trained here as a young dragon with my first knight before moving on to other postings. The winds off the water are challenging, so they send the promising flyers here when they’re young to learn the air currents. It is considered a plum assignment.”
    And now, she was verbally preening. Gowan had learned her moods in the months they’d been together. At least he knew that much.
    So much about being a fighting knight partnered with a dragon was still a mystery to him. He supposed he would learn as he went, but with the war on in the north, there was no time for years of training in a safe environment. It was on-the-job training or nothing at all.
    It made sense, when he thought of it like that, as to why he and Genlitha had been sent here. They were a new pairing, even though both of them were proven fighters on their own. Genlitha was a veteran, as was Gowan—they just had never had the experience of fighting together as a team. Certainly, there were other pairs more suited to this assignment, with much more experience, but all of those were probably better sent north, to where the real action was.
    That made sense, even if it did take the shine off his plum assignment. If the others could have been spared from the ongoing threat in the north, they would have been.
    It was a backhanded compliment, at best, that he and Genlitha had been sent here. Everyone knew the Southern Lair never saw any real action. It was known as the knight’s retirement home for a reason. Old knights came here at the end of their careers, to enjoy this seaside air, the gentle climate, and routine patrols without any real excitement or conflict.
    Gowan wasn’t sure what to think. In one way, he was thankful that nothing ever happened here, because it meant he and Genlitha would have more time to learn how to fight together as a team. Leading the fighting wing was an unexpected bonus. Gowan was used to command. He had led regiments and battalions into battle. He was blooded and celebrated in single combat. It was fighting with a fire-breathing dragon at his side, and beneath him in the air, that was new and untested.
    He hoped they would work out the kinks in that arrangement during this assignment. If he had a chance to cast his lines in the water occasionally and do a