Blood of Four Dragons by Lisa Jones Read Free Book Online

unite in peace and prosper the way they had when dragons ruled in times long gone. The only obstacle is one sorcerer, this Zangonath. How can one wizard hope to defeat all the armies of the world with the dragon lords’ leading them?
     
     
    The armies were done their marches home. Both sides were greeted with equally raucous celebrations in the streets of their kingdoms as they returned. The Rozim and Grazlin people were in full celebration upon hearing of the dragon lords’ return. Word was already beginning to spread, they were full of wisdom and kindness again, and the ancient curse was lifted. They also rejoiced over the fact that none of their fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons would be murdering their neighbor that day for no reason other than a general felt it necessary to satisfy his ego. The kingdoms were completely abuzz at the news of the dragon lords. Life would never be the same and this change was welcomed. Bells rang out across towns, meetings were held and word spread like wildfire north to south, east to west in a short amount of time. The celebrations continued unabated for two weeks, the people prayed for a sign but none saw the dragons. Instead, the townspeople in each kingdom listened to their soldiers’ give their accounts of the dragon lords’ and the speeches they gave.
    The only person not celebrating peace and the return of the dragon lords’ was the Grazlin general who sat in his luxurious room within the kingdoms stronghold, sulking that his glory had been stolen by these dragons. Nothing but overgrown lizards! The general believed the battle would have been the start of a glorious campaign to finally conquer the neighboring kingdom of Rozim, creating his legend. The Grazlin general was a vain and cruel man with strangely enough, feminine characteristics. He enjoyed makeup and various wigs, wanting to appear somehow more than the simple man he actually is. Tapos is his name, as his kingdom celebrates the greatest day in fifteen hundred years of their history the general instead sits in his favorite area, in front of his mirror. Obsessing over the appearance of his face, applying various creams and ointments, convinced that the stress of being humiliated earlier in the day by that filthy red beast had begun to create new wrinkles, all the while muttering and screaming at his two assistants, “Bring the damn pork fat cream here now!” Tapos shrieked. The two panicked assistants hurried to comply handing him the cream as fast as possible, “I will skin this lizard, and I will use his skin as a tent. How dare the men remark on its beauty!” Standing with his face now covered in the pork fat cream, the general grabbed his assistant violently by the collar pulling him face to face. “I am beautiful, not some goddamn lizard, understand you worm?” The terrified assistant nodded as general Tapos finally loosened his grip and sat back down. He went back to being lost in the mirror, applying creams and lotions in various combinations. The door opened and a third assistant entered, the other two in the room either knew him or were too frightened by the general’s previous outburst to move or say anything to set him off again. This third man was very short, maybe five feet tall and extremely slender. Like a wisp he moved into the room and placed a jar of what appeared to be more cream next to the distraught general. The cream was in a small solid black vial. “My lord, he whispered into the general’s ear, this is the special ointment you requested months ago. It shall remove all signs of age and all wrinkles, attracting nothingness to your face. Please apply it and then we shall dress you in your full uniform. You are urgently needed to address your army as well as the townspeople, informing them what the next move is and when they shall march north.”
    The general stopped moving or looking into the mirror and hung his head in silence for a moment. Then, grabbing the jar he had just been