The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) Read Online Free PDF Page A

crescent-shape but bright enough to see reasonably well. As they fell asleep, things seemed peaceful.
    Sometime in the middle of the darkness, a large crashing noise woke the family. In a few moments, a large fur covered animal came at them.
    It was two men tall and fast. Before the animal could reach them, Suti went at it. She was able to slash its middle with her claws, but it knocked her aside and continued to come. Before Adam could do anything, Terra stood and held out his hands. They started to glow orange. The animal suddenly stopped, dropped to all four legs, and then lay down. Terra ran to the unconscious Suti and touched her with his glowing hands. In a few moments, she woke and stiffly started to get up.
    Reicka ran to Terra who said, “The bad animal tried to hurt Suti. I stopped him.”
    “Yes, my little one you stopped him.”
    He turned to the great beast and told it to go away, and it ran off into the sunset without a sound. The rest of the sunset passed peacefully with Suti jealously protecting Terra.
    The next morning they again took to their journey. In mid afternoon, they reached the Death path area. Adam stopped and decided to cross it at sunset when the danger would be minimal. So, they rested under a large Still tree until darkness fell. Adam did not want to use a lantern; he was afraid the light would attract an Averon, so he knew it would be slow going. When they finally started, it was completely dark with the light of the thin crescent moon obscured by clouds. As Adam led the pull beast, the terrain became rough, and both of them stumbled along slowly but carefully. The cart carrying Reicka and Terra bounced and rolled. It was all that Reicka could do to keep the two of them from falling out. Finally, after four hours, they reached the safety of the valley again. They stopped and camped for the sunset. The next sun-rising they reached the Mur caves.
    As the small family came to the caves in mid-morning, there seemed to be hundreds of openings in the mountainside. Adam had no idea how they would ever find the right cave. That sun-rising they spent the hours moving from one cave to the next. In mid-afternoon, they came to a large opening, big enough to hold their entire house. As they walked toward the cave entrance, a giant dragon suddenly appeared from within. It blocked the entire entrance of the cave. The dragon was black as peat and belched flames ten man-lengths or more. Adam turned the pull beast and told Reicka to run with Terra. As she turned, Terra slipped out of her arms and ran toward the dragon, laughing on the way.
    Suti tried to stop him by blocking his way, but he slipped around the great cat, who was turned in fear by a deafening screech from the dragon. Terra ran right into it and seemed to disappear and reappear. He was playing with the great beast, or that’s what it appeared like. Adam realized that Terra was actually running through the dragon. It was not real; it was a great illusion, and Terra had known it. As Adam grabbed Reicka, who was frozen with terror, he told her what was happening.
    They approached Terra carefully, and Reicka yelled for him in an angry and scared tone.
    “Terra, come here now!”
    Terra stopped and obeyed his mother. He came to her, and she picked him up, hugging him tight. Adam threw rocks at the great black dragon, but they simply passed through it as if nothing was there. Then suddenly the dragon disappeared and in its place was a small ancient woman dressed in old faded cloth and leaning on a long staff.
    Adam cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out to the old woman, “We look for the Old One who lives in these mountains. Can you help us find her?”
    The old woman thought for a moment then replied, “Why do you seek her?”
    “My son has powerful skills, and we need her to help us understand them.”
    “What type of skills?”
    Adam hesitated, but Reicka urged him to tell her. Reicka felt somehow that this woman would not hurt