Test of the Dragon by Jessica Drake

Author:Jessica Drake [Drake, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dynamo Press
Published: 2019-01-05T22:00:00+00:00

"Finally," Lessie said as Polyba came into view. "I never thought I'd say it, but I'm ridiculously glad to see this place again."

"Me too." I was relieved we'd managed to make it back in time. With the extra load the dragons had to carry, we'd had to stop for rest breaks. The flight over the open ocean had worried me the most, with nowhere for the dragons to stop if they got tired, but Lessie and the others handled the journey like champs, their wings strong and true as they carried us across the sea.

Kade and the other council members were gathered in the courtyard as we landed, practically buzzing with excitement.

"Commandant!" he exclaimed as we dismounted. "Thank the skies you're back. We were worried something terrible had happened when you didn't return with the rest of the party."

"We ended up taking on a side mission," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Did everyone else make it back safely?"

"One of the teams hasn't made it back yet, and another suffered great losses," he said, his expression turning sober. "The village they were assigned to was better defended than we anticipated, and two out of the three dragons were shot down. The third officer barely made it back alive."

Kade’s words slammed into my chest, a sucker punch of emotion that temporarily stunned me. "Is the officer who made it back unharmed?"

"He's all right," Kade said. "Grieving, but all right."

"We will hold a vigil for the ones we've lost," Tavarian said as he came up from behind me. "Tomorrow night. First, we have urgent business we must complete."

We unloaded the weapons and treasure from the dragons. Despite the loss of two more dragon rider pairs, the soldiers were overjoyed to see the spoils we'd brought back, and they quickly squirreled away the treasure in one of the tower rooms.

"This will be more than enough to buy the supplies we need," Daria said excitedly after she'd finished cataloguing everything. "Between everything the teams managed to retrieve, we've got enough to feed everyone here for years."

Treasure wasn't the only thing the other riders had brought back. There were six children playing in the great hall—boys and girls rescued from dragon rider families. Rhia's mother—who had been tempted to stay at the estate but had come with us after Rhia told her she would be needed—set on them immediately, fussing like a mother hen and scolding the hapless soldiers who had been assigned to them for not making sure the children were bathed and properly dressed.

"Maybe we should take them to the hidden estate to join the others," I said. "They might be safer there."

"Perhaps, but we don't have time," Tavarian said. "We need to leave for the forge soon, and it is too risky to send a team there without being able to cloak them. A Zallabarian ship could follow them to the estate."

"Right." I watched as Mrs. Thomas herded the children from the great hall, presumably to get them cleaned up. At least Rhia's mother was here to look after them, which took a great burden off my shoulders.

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.