Sword Bearer (Return of the Dragons) Read Online Free PDF Page A

was opening his mouth to speak
again. The word was: “ Feuer .”
    Flames hit Gerard then, wizard flames that formed in my
stomach and flew through my body. My own hair and skin burned, as the fire
coursed through me into Gerard. I leaned back, pulled at the girl again with
all my strength and we fell together in a tumble to the floor.
    Talk about embarrassing.
    But the gateway was still open.
    We looked at each other. We looked at Gerard in flames,
opening his mouth once again.
    The girl was quicker.
    “ Schluss ,” she said.
    And where the gateway had been there was wall.
    The girl felt warm and smelled of flowers.
    Perfume. I hadn’t seen a girl my age for quite a while. Her
face was beautiful, her skin a perfectly smooth light brown. I held her with my
hands and she grinned at me with white even teeth.
    She kissed me on the lips and I let her go in surprise.
    Her lips were warm and tasted like strawberries. Or maybe
that was her perfume. It was all very confusing.
    She giggled. “You don’t get kissed much, do you?” she asked,
still holding my hand.
    I shook my head, feeling even more embarrassed.
    “What’s with the green face?” she asked.
    “It’s for my skin,” I said.
    I didn’t want to tell her more. Maybe it was better to be
covered with the green stuff, than have her see my face. But how it itched.
    “Oh,” she said. “Well that’s interesting .” She stared
at me for a moment. “Have you tried charcoal soap?”
    I shook my head in confusion.
    She looked around then, serious once more. “Come now,
wizardling, no time now for beauty secrets,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.
Gerard will be looking for a way through.”
    Her face looked very serious now.
    “And we need to get out of here before he finds one,” she
added.

Chapter IV
     
    The beautiful girl with perfect skin was beating at the door
with her fists. She turned to me. “What is this? Some kind of cruel joke
between you and Gerard? How do we get out of here?”
    I looked around the room.
    There was a little window a cat wouldn’t fit through. Not to
mention that we were six stories up. There was the locked door. There were
books, and bookshelves; there was burning incense, and tea. There was a tiny
gap under the door to put my homework through — not that I would need it now.
There was my chair and desk.
    But there was no way out.
    “Who are you, anyway?” I said. “Why are your ears pointy?
What were you doing in Gerard’s shop?”
    She shook her head violently. “We have no time for that now.
He knows you, right?”
    I nodded. “I bought spices in his shop. I think he knows my
father as well, although I’m not sure my father likes him.”
    I wasn’t sure if I should be telling her all this. All I
knew about her was that she was young and beautiful, that she knew how to cast
spells. And how to steal books.
    And she smelled nice. With lips like strawberries.
    And she was warm to the touch. With perfectly smooth brown
skin. And pointy ears.
    Obviously, I felt a need to trust her. Maybe just because
she was beautiful, the first girl to ever hold my hand and kiss me. But I told
myself it must be more than that.
    I was afraid it was all a trick. But like she said, we had
no time. Gerard knew me, knew my father. He wouldn’t take long to figure out
where we were, and when he found us...
    She cursed under her breath, and I smiled.
    “What?” she asked. “What’s so funny?”
    I shook my head.
    The truth was, nothing was funny. She was just really cute when she was angry.
    We were both in danger. You didn’t have to be some high
level wizard to feel the threat when Gerard had talked to me.
    I had no idea what Gerard would do to this girl, but I knew
he would thrash me, at the very least. My parents could complain all they
wanted, but there was little you could do about a magician of Gerard’s level.
    And my parents would probably beat me too.
    “Who are you, anyway?” I asked the girl. “What’s going