The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

entirely new direction, seemingly at random. It had quickly become
clear that the dragon queen was completely mad.
    “Why would the gods of Chaos do
something like that?” Brethia wondered sadly. “Create the
creature that would birth an entire species yet leave her almost
mindless? It seems unnecessarily cruel.”
    The queen stopped spinning in place,
leaped into the air dozens of feet and then set off at high speed to
the north.
    Aeris sighed.
    “Here we go again. Let's follow
along.”
    The three elementals waited until the
dragon was several miles ahead of them before they set off, flying a
few feet off of the sand dunes of the Sahara desert.
    “Do you think the others are
having better luck finding their ingredients?” Orriss asked
Aeris as they moved across the dunes. “I must admit, when our
wizard shared his, um, condition with us, I was appalled and hoped
that we could help him get away from the silver dragon as soon as
possible. With all due respect to her, of course,” he added
hastily.
    “I hope so. Finding a surviving
red drake won't be easy,” Aeris said thoughtfully. “On
the other hand, Aethos is quite powerful. If any of our people could
find one, it's him. And Incendus will track down a dragon egg. For
one from the fire realm, he is quite intelligent. And strong.”
    Orriss looked skeptical but said
nothing. The air elementals considered their fiery cousins to be a
bit too emotional, perhaps because they were the strongest of all of
the elemental races and often quick to anger.
    “I only want to get the blood for
our master,” Brethia said firmly. “To have to share your
mind with another seems like a horrible curse to me. It must be
torture for the wizard.”
    The desert was brightly lit by a
three-quarter moon gleaming in the clear, star-studded sky and the
three elementals looked like tiny ghosts as they zoomed across the
sands.
    “It is,” Aeris told her
bleakly. “Our dear wizard is at his wits' end. He is not
sleeping properly, he barely eats now and is losing weight that he
simply cannot afford to lose. Just between us, I am sick with worry
for him.” He looked quickly at the other two. “I'd rather
you kept that information to yourselves.”
    “You care more for him than you
let on,” Brethia told him with a smile.
    Orriss grinned as well and Aeris
scowled at them for a moment before he laughed a bit self-consciously
and nodded.
    “I suppose that's true. But our
wizard thinks I'm rather cantankerous. I've built up his expectations
and I mustn't disappoint him. Anyway, let's concentrate on getting
some blood from that blasted monster, shall we?”

    The forests of what was once southern
British Columbia were extensive and thick. Since magic had re-entered
the world, they had become even more wild and menacing than they had
ever been.
    Twisted monsters prowled their depths
and hid in darkened groves, dark wraiths waited in the deepest
recesses of the woods and creatures not seen since the world was
young stalked the trails there again.
    Aethos, air elemental and elder of his
kind, had no fear of these dangers. Very few beings, even those
created by the renewed magic let back into the world, could see him
as he traveled invisibly through the deep woods. And of those that
could, most gave a being of his power a wide berth. He feared nothing
and never had.
    But now he hunted a red drake, a
servant of the dead primal red dragon, and it made him nervous. It
was such a new sensation that the elemental examined it closely as he
searched the forest.
    He knew that the drakes were cunning
and strong. They could see through his invisibility; of that he had
no doubt. And they were magical creatures, which meant that they
could actually do him harm; something that most mortal creatures
could not.
    I suppose all of that together makes me
nervous, he thought to himself. How odd.
    The thick trees echoed with the sounds
of teeming life. Howls and strange cries mingled with the screeching
of birds