The Dragon of Avalon Read Online Free PDF Page A

raced the thief, whose sharp little teeth still gleamed yellow from the yolk of the pigeon's egg he'd taken from the fox's cache. Now one year old, he looked like a cross between a small green lizard and a bat whose wings had been ruthlessly crumpled. Those wings, flapping against his back as he ran, resembled tattered shreds of skin more than anything that could someday fly. Wheezing from exhaustion, he wished those wings could take flight—here and now.
    He dashed through the forest glade, sliding under fallen branches and crashing through thick clusters of fern, trying desperately to keep ahead of his pursuer. Hearing a gust of wind sweep through the trees overhead, his mind flashed briefly on Aylah's words: He never said hhhwhy, my little hhhwanderer . . . but he did say that your life hhhwould be hhhwell hhhworth saving.
    But now, as he raced to stay alive, those words seemed hollow, fraught with irony. My life worth saving? To be somebody's next meal, perhaps. But that's nothing special!
    Indeed, his first year after hatching, much of which he'd spent being chased, had taught him one basic rule of life: Whatever is bigger than you wants to eat you. And this fox was no exception.
    Worse yet, the fox had already proved much more determined than most of the enemies the lizard had made in a year of scrounging meals from badgers' dens, birds' nests, and squirrels' hideaways. This chase had continued now for most of the morning—and the fox showed no sign of losing interest. While they had covered only a small fraction of Woodroot's forests, it felt as if they had traversed the entire realm. Truth was, this time the lizard's pursuer wanted not just to eat him, but to eliminate him. This chase was less about getting a meal than about getting revenge.
    The little fellow clambered onto a rotting tree limb, swathed in turquoise-tinted moss. Then, spying a hollow trunk nearby, he darted into it, hoping to confuse the fox. Out the other side he ran, right into a thick patch of red-topped mushrooms. Dank and woodsy they smelled, emitting perfume so potent that the lizard started feeling dazed, almost giddy, as he dashed among the trunks of this miniature forest. But not so giddy that he forgot that he was running for his life.
    As he was about to race out of the mushroom patch, he sensed something above him. Veering sharply to the right, he scurried into the open—just as the fox pounced on the exact spot where he would have been if he hadn't changed direction. Too close! Frantically, he hurtled across a bed of pine needles, sticky with resins, then tore into a clump of ferns.
    Glancing behind, he saw the enormous forepaw of the fox about to slash at the ferns. Changing direction again, he sprinted down a leaf-covered slope that dropped into the bank of a splattering stream. Suddenly—a shadow moved over him. The fox had pounced again!
    Little legs whirling, the lizard turned sharply. He shot sideways, careening on the bank. But the soil, so slippery from spray, wouldn't hold his feet. He skidded, then flipped over, rolling helplessly down the slope.
    The fox, sensing victory at last, landed on the bank and instantly lunged at his prey. Eager to tear this bothersome thief to shreds, he opened his slavering jaws and waved his bushy tail like a flag of triumph. He stretched his neck toward the rolling lizard, slammed his jaws shut, and—
    Missed.
    The lizard dropped into a dark hole. Down he plunged, into the moist soil of the stream bank. Even before he landed with a splat on the muddy bottom, the meeting point of several tunnels, he heard the fox's angry cursing and stamping.
    "I'll get you, lizard. Get you and eat you and then vomit you up and eat you all over again! I'll chew your ugly little head, pop out your eyes, make bird bait from your heart. I'll squash you, stomp you, maim you, mangle you, and pummel you! I'll . . ."
    On and on the fox ranted. Meanwhile, the little green lizard, panting in the darkness, sat back on his