The Dragon King Read Online Free PDF Page B

breath on the crown of his head just before it hit. Artie was terrified, certain that he was about to be trampled to death in some weird dreamscape.
    Only he wasn’t. There was no pain. In fact, he didn’t feel a thing. The horse had passed right through him.
    But the dreamscape had changed. Artie could hear again. And what he heard was the wind blowing.
    He opened his eyes. No. The wind wasn’t blowing. He was falling through the sky!
    He cartwheeled violently and saw purplish clouds, a sprawling forest, and a hill in the distance. The wind squealed. A flock of pigeons flew past him. Then he caught sight of the horizon and looked down. He was falling over a lake— the Lake—and it was getting closer, fast.
    He scrambled in the air, trying frantically to control his body. He didn’t have a parachute—he was going to die!
    But as Artie approached the glassy surface, another unexpected face appeared, this one just below the water. Was it . . . ? Yes, it was! The Lady of the Lake smiled placidly, as if to say, “Relax. You’ll be fine.”
    Here goes nothing, Artie thought. At the last moment he righted his body so that his feet were straight down. Just before impact he brought both hands to his face, took a huge breath, and clamped his nose shut.
    Splash!
    Artie slowed quickly but had to hang on to his nose and clench his jaw to prevent his entire head from filling with water. As he regained his sense of direction, he kicked and paddled, hoping to get to the surface and take a full breath of air.
    But no matter how hard he tried to swim, he went nowhere.
    No. Worse than that—no matter how hard he tried to swim, he went deeper!
    He looked down. His heart was full of fear and his lungs were stinging. Beneath him was the blue form of the Lady of the Lake. She had wrapped her watery tendrils around his feet and was dragging him to the depths.
    “Dash your fear,” her calm voice echoed in his ears. “I am helping you.”
    He wanted to scream, “By drowning me?” but didn’t dare open his mouth.
    She dragged him farther and farther down. His ears wailed and popped painfully three, four, five times. The light from the day faded. The water pushed all around him.
    There was no avoiding it. He was going to drown. And then he did.

4
IN WHICH ARTIE IS KINDA DROWNED
    Only he didn’t drown. He was shocked to find that he was still breathing— breathing water !
    He began to panic, but the Lady wrapped him in a big hug. “Stay, friend; you are alive and well.”
    Artie willed his body to stop moving. He stared into the dark eyes before him. He could see them perfectly, as if there were no water to blur his vision.
    The Lady—who still had the face of a girl of five or six, and whose skin and hair were still tinted blue—retreated a little. “Try to breathe easy.”
    Easy for her to say, Artie thought. His face must have contained some indication of his discomfort, for the Lady said, “It is all right. Your body will accept it. Stay,” she repeated. “Calm your heart.”
    Artie did as he was told. He found himself barely breathing at all, yet he was very conscious and very much alive. The water must have contained a high concentration of oxygen; either that or the Lady was simply keeping him alive with some kind of aquatic magic.
    They were in an underwater cul-de-sac with a high wall of rock on three sides. All around, the water was lit by an ethereal glow. As Artie’s senses adjusted he realized that the source of light was the Lady herself; she shone in blues and greens and the ends of her hair trailed light like a luminescent sea creature. Behind the water fairy was a stand of tall plants that shimmied on unseen currents. Artie understood that she was right: if there was any danger in the world above, then he was safe here. Artie felt like this might have been the safest place in either of the worlds.
    He tried to talk, but the Lady held up a hand. “I regret to say that you will be unable to speak. I will attempt