Taming the Dragon Collection Read Free

you again,” she warned, weakly lifting her stick to swing again. Pain shot through her left arm as she dropped the stick and stumbled backwards into the snow. This was it; she was going to be killed by a tiny goblin.
    Mara yelped as hot, sticky blood covered her face. The goblin hung in mid-air, its head slumped over as it gurgled its last breath. Val lifted it into the air and put his heavy boot on its backside, pushing as it slid off his sword and hit the ground with a sickening thud.
    “You’ve been stabbed,” he said, very little concern in his voice.
    “He cut me,” she whispered weakly.
    “There’s no time to waste,” Val said. Quickly he slung the bundle of sticks over his back and picked Mara up, pulling her close to his body as he cradled her.
    “I think I’m going to die,” she whispered to Val.
    “You’ll live, sweetling,” he whispered back.
    Mara could only smile. Val actually did care about her. He was moving quickly now, taking her to safety. She looked at the ground around them, at the sea of dead bodies that lay in all directions. Val was a great knight and a great warrior; he’d dispatched the entire goblin horde by himself. He was her brave warrior, no doubt about that.
    As he climbed the path higher on the mountain, deeper into the rocks, she realized he wasn’t taking her home for healing. He was heading in the wrong direction.
    “Where are we going?” she whispered.
    “Quiet, sweetling,” he said, the strenuous activity not even making his breath ragged. He was in exceptional shape. Maybe he would defeat the dragon.
    “How are you going to beat the dragon?” she asked quietly.
    “Easily,” he said. “Dragons are predictable. After all, they’re just animals.”
    “How?” she asked.
    “Shhh. You must preserve your strength.”
    “Please,” she begged. “It takes my mind off the pain. Tell me about the dragon.”
    “Dragons can be beaten a number of ways,” he said, amazingly pushing himself up and over the rocks while carrying her and wearing his armor. He was a magnificent specimen of a man. “Sometimes you can use their own hubris and ritual against them. Lure them into a trap and spring it.”
    “Can you kill them with a regular weapon?”
    “Of course you can,” he said. “Generally their hide is too tough and thick for any normal weapon to work, but a magic weapon can easily pierce their scales.”
    “Like Heart Fire.”
    “Yes, like Heart Fire. I once cut a black dragon’s head clean off with Heart Fire. It was in the dungeons under the Tanzabel Mountains.”
    “Where is that?”
    “Deep in the countryside to the west of Atherny. It was where I was born.”
    “So you do have a human past,” she said weakly, feeling pain as she laughed.
    “Yes,” Val said, smiling down at her. “I suppose I do, sweetling.”
    “I like it when you call me that,” she said. Val was so tender right now, so caring. This was what she wanted from their relationship; this was the kind of husband he would truly be. She could feel it.
    “Well, sweetling,” he said, dipping to kiss her gently on the forehead. “I will make sure to use it as much as possible before you meet your end.”
    “My end?” she asked.
    Val ignored her question and glanced nervously at her wound. She felt fear grab her chest and tighten it. Val had probably seen many wounds in all his battles, so he had to know something about this one.
    “Is it bad?” she asked.
    “Is what bad?”
    “My cut.”
    “No, sweetling, you will live. Do not worry about that.”
    “It hurts so badly.”
    “You’re not used to being hurt. It will be fine.”
    Val remained silent the rest of the journey, finally exiting the rocky path and walking onto the snow-covered mountainside. The wind was howling and the snow was whipping, cutting right through Mara’s dress and chilling her to the bone. She huddled closer to Val and in response he tightened his grip. She didn’t know if she was bleeding anymore; it