Dragons of Krad by Jackie French Koller

Author:Jackie French Koller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

“What are you doing?” she cried. She whacked at him with her broom.

“Thrummm, thrummm,” Darek sang. And then the little Blue was there, dancing and thrumming, too. Round and round the girl they both frolicked.

“Enough!” a voice boomed.

A whip lashed out and stung Darek with a blow on the back. Stunned, he found himself hoisted up, dangling in front of Daxon’s eyes.

“What kind of foolishness is this?” the Master roared.

Darek shook his head hard.

“Um—I—I don’t know,” he stammered. “Something came over me. I’m sorry.”

“You’ll be sorry, all right,” the Master said, “when you don’t eat again tonight! Pola, tether that dragon in the pen. Wench! Back to the kitchen with you!”

Darek looked at the sad little dragon as Pola led it away. For an instant, something seemed to pass between them. It was too fast-moving, too vague to capture, but it felt strangely like a memory.

* * *

Darek felt himself blushing when the prisoners filed into his room that night. How could he explain his silly actions to Rowena?

“I’m sorry about today,” he began.

“No need.” Rowena gave him a strange look. “I understand.”

“You do?”

She nodded. “I think so.”

“Understand what?” Arnod asked.

Darek turned to him. “I think one of the Blue dragons might hold the key to who we are,” he whispered. “I’ve got to find a way to spend more time with him.”

“But how could a dragon help us?” Arnod asked.

“I don’t know,” Darek said. “I just think he can.”

“Yes.” Rowena nodded. “Darek’s right. I feel it too.”

Arnod shrugged. “It won’t be easy to arrange,” he said. “And there may not be much time left.”

“Time left?” Darek wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean?”

“The Kradens will probably feed him and the other Blues to the Fangs early, before they grow too big and strong.”

“Then we have to start soon,” Darek said. “Tonight, if possible.”

Arnod sat back and chewed his lip thoughtfully. “We have passages all through the complex,” he said. “But Daxon posts a watch on the nursery and stables at night. It would be too dangerous to go there.”

“There must be somewhere else,” Darek said.

“There’s the granary, next to the nursery,” Arnod said. “We may be able to sneak the Blue in there. It’s dangerous, though. Very dangerous. If the creature makes a noise—if you are discovered—the passages, everything will be uncovered. We could all be fed to the Fangs.”

Darek shivered, but then he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “You speak longingly of freedom,” he said, “but you will never taste it unless you make it happen. And you cannot make it happen without taking risks. I, for one, would rather die than spend the rest of my life a prisoner.” He looked around the circle of faces. “What about you?”

Pola leaned forward quickly and clapped a hand on Darek’s knee. “I’m with you, my friend,” he said.

Rowena nodded. “I, too.”

Arnod and the others exchanged glances, then one by one they nodded as well. Arnod stretched his right arm out toward the center of the circle, and the others did the same.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.