The Dragon Hunter and the Mage Read Online Free PDF

attention, and he ended up sitting on the floor in front of a massive tapestry covering an entire wall of the library. In it, a Dragon had been painted sleeping in a cave. On the lower left corner, hiding behind a rock, a group of Dragon Hunters prepared to spring an ambush. Something in that tapestry had always scared him. It wasn’t just that the Dragon was so gigantic that it covered an entire wall while the Hunters were no bigger than a book, it was that, for some reason, it gave him the feeling that the Dragon was not really asleep.
    He heard a roar. The Dragon still slept, but not his stomach. He got up and headed to the kitchens, pushing open a service door and nearly bumping into a maid carrying a roasted duck.
    “Hey! Damn kid….” The woman didn’t move an inch from her trajectory.
    Aric laughed, watching her leave for the main hall. In there the Emperor, his mother, and Fadan would be starting dinner as well.
    He sat down at a large table in the center of the kitchen between a pile of pastry dough and a bucket of potato peels. Around him a Legion of servants and cooks stirred, washed, rolled, and cut. One of them threw a plate with a roasted turkey leg in front of Aric. It smelled of rosemary.
    “Thank you,” Aric said.
    “Eat fast and clear my table,” the cook replied as he wiped his gravy covered fingers on his trousers.
    Another cook, a middle aged woman with bouncing breasts, brought him some rye bread and a glass of red wine, then planted a kiss on his cheek.
    “Good appetite, my sweet.” The woman turned around, heading back to her boiling pots, but stopped midway through. Luckily, there was nothing on her hands that she could have dropped.
    “Ava mother! Your majesty!”
    Aric’s head bolted towards the door in time to see Fadan passing through it.
    “My Prince,” the woman continued, “you can’t be here. I mean… your majesty can do whatever he pleases. A thousand apologies, majesty.”
    Aric laid a soothing hand on her shoulder, calming her down. The entire kitchen had stopped, staring at the Prince in frozen silence. They would not have been more shocked if a Dragon had just come in and started roasting a sardine. Fadan walked towards Aric with a smile, ignoring his audience, and sat in front of the potato peels. He looked around, seeing for the first time in his life the place where his food was prepared.
    “Disappointed?” Aric asked.
    “No. I actually thought your room was smaller.” Aric punched him in the shoulder, laughing. “And this smell of cheese… seriously, I was expecting much worse.”
     

    The main hall of the Imperial Palace was so large you could easily fit a Dawnmother Temple inside, and Ava’s Priests weren’t exactly famous for their small Temples. The great table where Tarsus made a point of having dinner every day was filled with roasted ducks, grilled sea basses, stewed lambs, bowls of peeled fruit, jars brimming with wine, and breads of every shape, size, and color. A dozen courtesans occupied their seats, chit-chatting cheerfully. The Emperor came in from the main door, his steps ever worried. He glanced across the table but did not acknowledge any of the bows he received.
    “Where are the Empress and the Prince?” he asked as he sat down at the head of the table.
    “They should arrive momentarily, your majesty,” Vigild replied.
    At that moment the Empress came in, her white dress, trimmed with green, sliding calmly through the hall. Her silhouette belonged in a tailor’s studio, her hair a mantle of night that poured down to the middle of her back, and her green eyes two emeralds stolen from a great Lady’s necklace. Cassia was the vision of a particularly talented poet.
    The bows the Emperor had received were repeated for her. Tarsus laid a soft, reverent kiss on her hand. Even after fifteen years of marriage, the Emperor still needed a moment to catch his breath every time he saw her.
    “Where is Fadan?” Cassia asked.
    “I thought he was