Drakonika (Book 1) by Andrea Závodská Read Free Book Online

alive...”
    The inn keeper pored over the black hat lying in the dust on the floor. The tavern remained silent for a while, as though holding silence for the recently passed-away boy, and then returned back to drinking.
    Magnus was left with at least a bit of luck – he caught a glimpse of the thief's green cloak disappearing behind a corner. But what would he do if he actually caught him? Well, he had no idea about that.
    The streets were completely unknown to him so the only direction he could possibly go was the one where his backpack went as well. He tried to shield himself from the raindrops with his coat as best as he could.
    As he was desperately running, thoughts were buzzing in his head like a swarm of bees. Why did he only have to steal the backpack? I have the recommendation from Valezar in there! Another thought hummed in his ear immediately. And why not? After all, the backpack thrown underneath your table was definitely easy prey! And the very next moment, another one. All right... the question is... why did he just have to rob ME?! The thoughts in his head were squabbling uncontrollably and Magnus wasn't able to stop them on his own. When he thought his head would burst from all the racket, his thoughts suddenly stopped running. And so did his feet. 
    In the middle of the dark street there stood the hooded thief with Magnus' backpack tossed over his shoulder. However, that didn't trouble Magnus any more. The strong man had a firm grip on a young girl whose legs were kicking in all directions. With his large hand he was covering her whole face, although he probably meant to cover only her mouth.
    Magnus made a few steps forward, but he was forced to stop again.
    “ One more step an' I'll cut her throat!” roared the thief fiercely as he drew a large knife out from the sheath on his belt, placing it right at the poor girl's throat. Its sharp blade gleamed even in the deep darkness.
    No one moved for a moment.
    Somebody screamed all of a sudden, “Hey, you! You with that knife!”
    Both Magnus and the thief looked around in confusion. There was a rather strong echo in the street since the whole town was ruled by a deathly silence. All three of them understood that somebody was quite close to where they were standing. And it appeared this somebody could also see them very well.
    The mysterious stranger continued, “Yes, you. Listen, you imitation of a thief, do you even know how to hold a knife?”
    The thief became hesitant and toyed with his knife slightly. The blue eyes of the terrified girl were peeping out from between his fingers.
    At this point, Magnus finally understood what was going on. He recalled how Valezar's gingerbreads suddenly disappeared - into his backpack! He gave a short snigger but although he stopped immediately, he had already drawn their attention to himself.
    “And you, scrub, don't think that we're done with you!” cried a highly threatening voice.
    The smile on Magnus' face vanished immediately when he realized that now they would start poking fun at him .
    The shrill voice rolled out again, “You're the worst hooligan far and near, that's for sure! Just wait you, we'll give you a lesson of good manners right away!”
    Whoever it was, he was speaking as if there were others with him and the thief didn't seem to have the slightest intention in getting in the way of a gang that was taking care of some issues with this “insignificant brat”. Moreover, he felt they were uncomfortably close.
    “We're going to get that backpack! Hand it over or you won't live to see the dawn of this day!”
    That was enough for the thief to loosen his grip and the girl instantly tugged herself free. She bolted out from him with such force that she ran into Magnus at full speed, almost knocking him down to the ground. In that moment, she was not capable of apologising, as she was still breathing heavily. Obviously, this wasn't a regular experience for her!
    Another thing that flew against Magnus