Twice Drowned Dragon (The Gryphonpike Chronicles Book 2) Read Free Page B

until now was content to leave us alone so we left it alone, too.”
    I hid my smile behind my mug. The Abbot was trying to dismiss the whole thing, but he didn’t know my companions. I glanced around the table and recognized the excitement burning in their eyes. Makha had always itched to fight a dragon, joking that it was the only way to make a name for yourself as a fighter these days. The word “wizard-knight” had set Rahiel’s wings fluttering which made the flames in the great hearth flicker. Drake was probably calculating the odds of some lost treasure being hidden away in that keep or in the fabled dragon’s barrow, his fingers spinning his empty plate around and around.
    Even Azyrin had a speculative look. Dragons came in all kinds, some good, some evil, most just little more than dangerous, dumb animals with only the cunning of a wolf pack. His god, Saar, Lord of Storms, demanded his disciples never turn from a dangerous fight and always lend a hand to protect those weaker than themselves. If a dragon were threatening these peaceful monks, Azyrin had to act.
    For me, well, dragons die to arrows the same as most things and helping these monks might count toward my one thousand good deeds. It couldn’t hurt to investigate this old keep and make sure the rumored dragon hadn’t been resurrected.
    “Wizard-knights, hmm…” Rahiel drizzled more honey onto her last crust of bread with a sharp-toothed smile. “It would only be proper of us to make sure nothing sinister lurks in that orchard, you know.”
    “Very wrong of us to leave kind men in danger,” Azyrin agreed.
    Makha clapped her husband on the shoulder and grinned. “Very wrong to leave a possible dragon rampaging.”
    “He told you about that dragon?” Nabbe came into the hall, brushing ashes from his smock. “They laughed at me,” he added sourly. “But I knows what I saw.”
    “Nabbe, no one laughed.” The Abbot sighed. He looked down at his empty mug with a bemused expression, as though wondering if there was something in the wine making us all insane.
    “Come, sit,” Drake said, patting the bench beside him. “Tell us. We promise not to laugh.”
    “There’s a big shallow pool by the keep. Old reflecting pool or some such. I saw it there. Big it was, and black as night. All bones and rotted flesh. Stared right at me with burning red eyes and I felt like all the joy and color was gone from the world. I couldn’t move or breathe or nothing. Then it looked away and I ran.” Nabbe shuddered and then glared around at us, his gaze half-challenging us to disbelieve him and half-desperate for us not to.
    “We went down there the next day,” said one of the other monks. “Saw nothing at all.”
    “I didn’t make it up,” Nabbe said.
    Though Makha, with her uncanny ability to discern truth, was nodding, I hardly needed the confirmation. Whatever this monk had seen, it had terrified him down to his bones. He had the unhappy, haunted look of a man who had faced something terrible and found himself wanting for courage.
    “Will you show us way in morning?” Azyrin asked gently.
    Nabbe pressed his lips into a tight line and then nodded.
    “Good. Is settled. We will make sure nothing bad there.”
    “Can we leave our packs here, Abbot?” Makha asked.
    “Of course,” the Abbot said. He gave himself a little shake and then shrugged. “We’d be happy enough for your assistance. Probably just a bear or some such that moved in and disturbed old Peggy.”
    My companions asked a few more questions about the keep and the orchard, as well as coaxed what detail they could about what the sour monk had seen. I couldn’t decide if I wanted it to be a bear or truly a dragon. Dragon, I thought. A dragon would be more of a challenge, but it was also more of a threat. Surely slaying a dragon would count toward my atonement. I stood up and stretched, looking forward to the morning.
     
    * * *
     
    After a quick breakfast of thick bread slathered with