The Dragon Sorcerer by John Gregory Betancourt

Author:John Gregory Betancourt [Betancourt, John Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, pirates, adventure, magic, wizards, terry brooks, robert adams
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2013-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Frago and I talked through most of the night. We had a lot of catching up to do. After I’d told him all that had happened to me, and all that I planned to do to Alna Savina and her ‘Master of Dragons’, Frago told me he had some plans of his own.

“This house, this life,” he said with a grand gesture, “it’s not for me. For months I’ve dreamed of nothing but the sea. I hear voices in the waves calling to me, whispering my name. Flotsam along the tideline takes on special meaning, like the wreckage of ships I’ve sunk come to invite me back. I see faces of old friends in the foam of the waves.”

“I know what you mean,” I said.

“Do you really? I wonder, sometimes, if anyone truly understands. I feel the sea’s nearness…as though she’s a lover calling me.”

I nodded slowly. “I’ve felt it myself...”

“Then you do understand.” Frago smiled. “It’s in our blood, Fel. I’m a rich man, and I thought comfort and luxury were all I ever wanted. I never expected to miss the hard life at sea, the fighting, the blood.” He sighed. “Retirement is boring me to death!”

“Call me Dray,” I said pointedly. “And what are you getting at?”

“I’m giving up my life ashore. And I’m taking you with me.”

He smiled. I’d seen that look of infinite superiority before; it meant he had some plan afoot and he wasn’t going to share it—at least, not yet. “Wait and see,” was all he’d say, much as I prodded him.

I swallowed uneasily. Retirement hadn’t changed Frago a bit; he still had a crafty, dangerous glint in his eye. I loved him like a second father, but I still didn’t trust him.

He rang a small crystal bell. “I’ll have one of the servants take you to your room.”

* * * *

Someone was shaking me. Abruptly I sat up in bed, squinting into the brightness of a candle. All I could see were fuzzy rings of light. My mouth tasted like old rags, and my head throbbed. The drink Frago had plied me with the night before had taken its toll, and now my thoughts were confused, jumbled.

“Go away,” I muttered. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep, but with my head aching so, all I longed to do was crawl into a hole and pull it tight around me.

“Ah, Fel, my boy—” Frago began.

“Name’s Dray now.”

“—the time’s here. Get dressed and come down to the banquet hall. The others are waiting.”

“Others?” I groaned. “What others? What are you talking about?” I didn’t want to think about anything. Maybe in five or six hours, after I’d had something to eat...

Frago set the candle down, then left without another word. Puzzled, still grumbling, I finally slid out from between the featherbed’s sheets to stand on the cool stone floor. The clothes I’d been wearing the day before had vanished. New ones, magnificent red silk pantaloons, a white silk shirt, gloves, and various scarves and handkerchiefs, had been laid out for me on a small wooden rack.

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