The Hearts of Dragons by Josh VanBrakle

Author:Josh VanBrakle [VanBrakle, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Amazon: B012AH1KCM
Goodreads: 27242893
Publisher: Arboreal Press
Published: 2015-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Defender of Lodia

Dirio Cyneric, mayor of Veliaf, trudged through the narrow, windy streets of his village. He’d just left the office, head full and spirit leaden.

He’d thought being a mine foreman was tough. At least back then, he’d supervised at most a dozen men, and he could always pass the blame up or down the chain as necessary. Now if he failed, he couldn’t fault anyone but himself.

And he had failed. Veliaf didn’t have the manpower to defend itself. It was only a matter of time before one of the large cities arrived with an army. When they did, Dirio would have to surrender and join them. It wouldn’t matter whether he agreed with them or thought they stood a chance of winning the throne. He would have no other option, except to see his town destroyed.

Again.

As he passed through the austere village, Dirio caught sight of a white uniform heading for the town hospital. He smiled and called, “Doctor Raebeld!”

The doctor stopped and looked at him. “Mayor Cyneric,” he said. The doctor was the only person in town formal enough to use Dirio’s last name. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Dirio walked over to Raebeld. “I was hoping to run into you. How’s our boy?”

Raebeld didn’t need to be told who “our boy” was. “Considering all that’s happened, Balear’s doing well,” he said, “but he’ll never heal if he doesn’t rest.”

The mayor shook his head. He still had a difficult time processing what had happened. He was used to injuries; Veliaf’s mine was a dangerous place. Something about Balear’s wound, though, struck him especially hard.

Maybe it was the sheer strangeness of it. Dirio unconsciously put his left hand on his right bicep. He couldn’t avoid thinking about it, what it must feel like to have your arm pierced and then frozen from the inside out. He shuddered.

“Actually, I’m not concerned about his physical injury anymore,” Raebeld said. He opened the hospital door and gestured to invite Dirio inside. “Thanks to whatever devil magic that Fubuki used, the wound is clean where he lost the arm. There’s little danger of infection as long as he keeps it bandaged until the skin grows over it. Even so . . .” he trailed off, and his expression grew foul.

“What’s the matter?” Dirio asked.

The doctor sighed. “I’ve seen miners who have lost limbs. It’s different from most injuries. It affects the mind. Sometimes people think they still have their arm or leg, even though it’s gone. I haven’t seen that from Balear, but still, he worries me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He’s a soldier. Has been his whole life. I don’t know how he’ll recover from losing his dominant arm. Maybe he never will. In any case, I don’t think he’ll fight again.”

“That might be for the best,” Dirio said. “Personally, I think Lodia could do with a little less fighting right now.”

“You don’t understand. Fighting is all that young man has. It’s what he knows. It’s what he does. If you take that away, what’s left?”

Dirio didn’t have an answer for that.

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.