Dragonsight Read Free Page A

caravans will be the first casualties. Provinces and shires will withdraw into themselves, becoming suspicious of strangers. A darkness of the mind will descend on all humanity …’
    ‘There you go again.’
    Jelindel laughed. ‘I’m just pandering to your spirit for adventure.’
    Sounds of commotion came from the distance, men shouting, and the clash of steel.
    ‘Never fails,’ muttered Daretor. ‘Get my second boot off and the fighting starts.’
    ‘It begins,’ said Jelindel. ‘Our rest is over.’
    ‘What do you mean? It’s probably just some drunken camel drivers.’
    ‘I think the peril of Yuledan has come to us before we can come to it.’
    ‘We’re many leagues and days from Yuledan.’
    ‘Nevertheless, it comes for us. I can feel it. Quick. Get your boots back on and fetch your sword. I don’t know what comes, only that it does.’
    The sound of fighting grew closer. Jelindel and Daretor had just emerged from the tent when a company of foot soldiers appeared from amid their neighbours’ tents. Daretor instantly recognised the device on their leather surcoats: a flaming-red dragon’s-head motif on a field of black. They were being attacked by soldiers from the Tower Inviolate. But that was impossible!
    Daretor dropped into a fighting stance, his mind in fighting mode, while Jelindel stood ready with an enchantment on her lips. Before either of them could react, someone tossed a handful of yellow gems into a nearby campfire. The crystals exploded in a soundless rush of air and coruscating light. Then Daretor and Jelindel knew no more.

    Jelindel was the first to recover. She stirred and opened one eye, knitting her brows as she tried to remember what had happened. Objects loomed in front of her and it was another minute or two before her vision cleared. She was in a hold, probably aboard a ship. The muffled hissing of the wind, the creaking of leather, the swaying of the floor, confirmed her worst suspicions. Although there was something not quite right.
    Salt.
    There was no smell of the sea, no sound of gulls, and certainly not the ever-present salt spray. A nearby groan distracted her; Jelindel turned to find Daretor gazing at her. His hands and feet were bound, although hers were not. There were, however, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles; she had been tied, but could not remember anything.
    ‘Where are we?’ Daretor asked, perplexed.
    ‘In a lot of trouble?’ suggested Jelindel.
    ‘Well, I would be a lot happier if I were in a lot of trouble and had my hands and legs free.’
    She untied his wrists and rubbed them to restore the circulation, then he untied his own ankles.
    ‘We’re on a ship,’ Jelindel said. ‘But something’s not right.’
    Daretor knuckled the stinging sensation from his eyes. The yellow gems seemed to have affected him in ways they had not Jelindel.
    ‘We’re not on a ship,’ he said. ‘Not, at least, a ship of the sea or land.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘We’re on the back of a flying creature,’ he told her, wincing as the blood pumped back into his feet. ‘I think it’s a dragon.’
    Daretor’s tone chilled Jelindel. ‘You’re serious?’ she asked.
    ‘It fits, doesn’t it? Aerial beasts in Yuledan, gouts of fire. Besides, I recognised the livery of our attackers at the caravan. They must be from the Tower Inviolate.’
    ‘But that’s on another paraworld.’
    ‘I know,’ Daretor said. ‘But if we were able to travel there, then what’s to stop them from coming here?’
    Jelindel seemed distracted for a moment. ‘Nothing, I suppose. But it’s unlikely that they would come all this way to retrieve an escaped gladiator.’
    ‘Agreed,’ said Daretor, shrugging. ‘But why else come for us?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Jelindel said, biting her lip. ‘I guess we will find out soon enough.’
    Daretor blinked away the pain roaring behind his eyes. His vision had become blurred by a red haze. ‘What did they do to us back