The First Dragoneer Read Online Free PDF

forgot
his pain when he heard Bren’s familiar voice moaning from across
the cavern. Stopping only to retrieve the still smoldering torch,
he went to Bren’s side.
    A finger deep gash ran from Bren’s hip to
just above his knee and a fat purple knot was forming on his cheek,
from where it had impacted the rocky floor. He had lost a lot of
blood, but was slowly regaining consciousness. March pulled the old
pack off of his back and gently put it under Bren’s head. He then
tore off his shirt. Using Bren’s skinning knife, he cut the cloth
into wide strips. He wrapped the strips around Bren’s thigh, pulled
the wound closed with them, then tied them tightly. Only after he
was sure that his friend wasn’t going to bleed out right there on
the cavern floor did he use the last strip of cloth to tie around
his still bleeding head.
    When that was done, he poured a generous
dollop of the brandy hooch along the length of Bren’s wound.
    “ No… no,” Bren said weakly as the burn
of the liquid shot through his leg like a length of forge heated
steel. After a moment of wincing and clench jawed groaning, he
hissed, “Drink.”
    “ Here,” March tipped the flask to his
friend’s lips and let him take the last of it.
    March shook the flask over his hands and let
the last few drops sting the wounds on his palms. Then he rubbed
them together. He cut off a piece of Bren’s shirt and tore it into
two strips which he then tied around them.
    “ You’re a damn giboon,” Bren said
quietly. He adjusted his upper body and pulled a fist sized stone
from under his arse.
    “ Well, if you’d have been a better
shot, maybe we could have avoided the ruckus,” March forced a
chuckle as he staggered to his feet.
    “ Is it dead, or did it just run off?”
Bren asked with worry. He started to roll over to look, but his
wounds kept him from turning.
    “ It’s just down there resting,” March
answered seriously. “I’m gonna go get wood for a fire. Just yell as
loud as you can if it comes back.” He then started off into the
darkness.
    “ March! Hey, don’t leave.” He choked as
he rolled over despite the pain. He stopped yelling when he saw the
albino wyvern’s pale lifeless bulk at the edge of the torchlight.
Four arrows protruded from the thick, pinkish-white scaled body.
The blood covered hilt of the sword March had pilfered protruded
from the thing, as well. Below the sword hilt there was a gash big
enough to crawl into, and a massive pool of black thickening blood.
The creature would have been ten or twelve paces from head to tail
if it was stretched out.
    Relieved, Bren lay back, closed his eyes, and
slowly slipped into blackness.
4
    March could never in his life remember being
as relieved as he was when he finally saw the daylight shining at
the mouth of the cavern. By the look of the sun, it was still only
early afternoon. What had seemed like a day long ordeal had
actually lasted less than a turn of the glass. Thankful to still be
alive, he grabbed the rope and his skinning knife, and began to
gather up pieces of dried wood. The medallion hanging around his
neck gleamed brightly in the sunlight. He was compelled to pause a
moment to examine it.
    It was palm-sized and disc-shaped, formed
from a heavy metal that he had never seen before. Not gold or
silver, but easily as shiny and as beautiful. It was finely worked
with runes and symbols that he did not recognize. In the center, a
thumb sized, teardrop shaped, diamond was mounted. Turning it over,
he saw that both sides were identical and that the jewel sparkled
with a million prismatic colors. The chain appeared to be made from
the same metal as the medallion. When he tucked it into his shirt
he found that it hung perfectly below his collar between his
pectoral muscles. It felt as if it had been fitted for him. He
decided that it would be his good luck charm since he’d worn it
while defeating that slithery beast. It could be magical like the
artifacts from the old world