(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider Read Free Page A

was coming." He said to himself.
       The bow Menimeth carried was Elvin made, and the strongest that he had ever seen. He raised it slowly, taking careful aim at his target, and let go. His arrow caught the bowman in the chest with great force, lifting him off his feet, and throwing him backwards, dead before he hit the ground. Pulling his weapons free of their sheaths, he let out a yell, and with a sword in each hand, Menimeth attacked the killers on the road.

Chapter Two

       Brylen camped closer to the lake that night than usual. It was not safe to be this close to the shore, but the soldiers had been patrolling farther in lately, and he did not want to be caught by them. Keeping out of sight of the soldiers as they patrolled the area*****, was difficult at best. Hunting for game along the way as he traveled, was even harder. Several times in the last six months, he was almost discovered by the patrols. Once, as he was tracking a deer he managed to shoot with an arrow, he was forced to crawl under the thorny brush to escape detection. The deer he shot, had run into the middle of a patrol before dying, and startled them. A soldier came within feet of his hiding place as he hunted for the owner of the arrow, thrusting his sword into the brush as he searched. It was hours before they moved on, and he could come out of his hiding place beneath the thorns. With his supper no longer available, and the soldiers alerted to his presence, he fled the area as fast as possible without leaving a trail that could be followed. That had been weeks ago, and he was far away from there now, but it was still not safe.
       The next morning, he was up and moving before the first rays of light reached him. Keeping to the trees as much as possible, he watched for patrols as he traveled west. The Shimmering Mountains had been growing larger the last few days, and were now much closer than before. The mountains were shrouded in a mist as they dominated the horizon, and he looked at their lonely peaks rising in the distance, like purple fingers pointing to the sky. They were a grand sight to see to any one at any time, but they were foreboding to Brylen now.
       The ground began rising as the day wore on, and the trees disappeared altogether. Forcing him closer and closer to the lake with the passing of every mile, the terrain grew steeper, and he was soon at the waters edge. By mid day, Brylen was barely able to walk along the lake at all. The reeds and brush that grew there were hard to get through, and the ground to his right became steeper and steeper, until he could barely keep his feet dry.
       The boat when he found it was well hidden, and if he had not tripped over the rope that tethered it to the shore, he would have walked on passed it, and missed it altogether. The boat was upside down and covered with reeds in a way that made it blend in with its surroundings, becoming invisible. The oars were wedged under the seats, so Brylen flipped the boat over, and pushed it out into the lake. Jumping in, he removed the oars from where he had found them and began rowing along the shoreline, far enough out to keep from running aground.
       Killing the occasional rabbit from the boat that day, he stopped anywhere along the way where the hills receded enough to build a fire and cook it. During the next five days, the lakeshore bent more and more to the south as he made his way along it, and occasionally he came across a clearing cut into the hills, where he found deer and antelope grazing that he could kill. However, the land began to change quickly, and it was not long before the mountains came right up to the lake, ending in great jagged cliffs that towered above him. There was no place to hunt here, and nowhere to stop and rest for the night as he floated along beside the great wall of stone. He was headed straight south, and over the next three days, was forced to eat the cold meats he had managed to smoke when game had been