There Be Dragons Read Online Free PDF

… and now he’s gone … so he must have. But surely you saw him rise and run,” Michelo said.
    “We saw nothing,” Antonio said.
    Michelo touched a dark spot on the earth, and studied the tip of the finger of his gauntlet. Blood. There had been someone, something … wounded. And now it was gone. “Search for a trail,” he said. And so they searched, and there were scatters of blood, and yet no trail.
    “What manner of man … ?” Michelo murmured.
    “Wartroll,” Antonio said.
    “Wartroll … a race we know little about, yet it seems indeed our enemies fight with some magic. Theycome in hordes … they are gone as if they were never there,” offered Andreas Este, a man who had been a farmer, and honed his skills through many years to become a warrior.
    The sound of hoofbeats came to them.
    Antonio stood. “There’s a rider coming. Carrying your father’s banner.”
    As they waited, the lone rider, heralding the banner of the Duke of Fiorelli, came hard among them. He dismounted quickly, bowing to them all, and handed Michelo a letter, sealed in wax with his father’s great signet ring.
    They all waited as Michelo opened the letter, read the words, and stared at them again.
    “I am summoned home,” he said.
    “But …” Antonio said. He fell silent. They all knew what his words would be.
But they remained in danger. Riders came, warriors attacked. Their forces on the front were few, and in the time he had spent here, the men had come to follow him.
    “I will not be gone long,” he said quietly. “It seems my father has decided I must marry. A great ceremony, at Christmas. There are more than our forces at risk, so it seems. He believes that I have gone quite far enough alone, and in leading you all against the risk of invasion, I risk leaving the duchy with no heir.”
    “Ah,” Antonio said.
    “Um,” Andreas murmured.
    “Your father has found you this bride?” Antonio said.
    “There’s nothing at all unusual in that,” Andrea reminded him.
    “But parents find brides for their sons in order to cement alliances, to form treaties, to gain land,” Antonio said sadly.
    “She could be five hundred pounds,” Andreas mused.
    “Or an old hag,” Antonio suggested.
    “Or have a mustache, a unibrow!” Andreas added with horror.
    “A true witch!” the messenger said, unable to refrain. They all looked at him. “Sorry, Lord Michelo.It’s been known to happen.”
    “I know of my intended bride,” Michelo said. “Daphne, the daughter of the new Lord of Lendo, Count d’Artois.” Count d’Artois had ruled Lendo for many years by that time, but he was still known as the “new” Lord of Lendo.
    “Then she’s not hideous,” Antonio said.
    “Or huge, six feet by six feet,” Andreas agreed.
    “Or even a terrible witch,” the messenger added.
    “No, she is none of those,” Michelo said, folding the letter. “In my absence, you will all follow the command of Antonio, and I swear I will not leave you long. You, my friend,” he told the messenger, “ride back quickly now, and tell my father I am coming, as soon as I make a few preparations—as in bathing,” he added ruefully.
    The messenger mounted his horse, and turned back the way he had come.
    “You don’t look like a joyous bridegroom,” Antonio remarked.
    “Or even terribly relieved that you’re not to marry a six-by-six old crone of a witch!” Andreas added.
    “With a mustache,” Antonio added.
    “Or a unibrow,” Andreas added.
    “I am relieved,” Michelo said, smiling ruefully.
    “You’re just not happy,” Antonio said.
    “How observant!” Andreas quipped. Antonio furled his brow, and stared at Andreas.
    Michelo laughed. “No, I’m not happy.”
    “But … Daphne is quite lovely,” Antonio said.
    “I saw her years ago, yes. And those who speak of her do so glowingly. I just hadn’t thought … well, I don’t love her at all. And she can hardly care for me. She hasn’t seen me. I mean … it’s not what I