Dimwater's Demons by Sam Ferguson Read Free Book Online Page B

is how to fight them.”
    Cyrus laughed and nodded as he stroked his beard. “I might have said the same thing many years ago. However, in order to fight your enemy, you must understand them.”
    “It doesn’t say why the wraith attacked,” Kyra said impatiently. “It just says what happened, where it happened, and how they banished it.”
    Cyrus nodded. “That is why we are studying this account. It is a prime example of why we must stretch our minds beyond the plain text.” He reached out with a bony finger and gently poked her forehead. “You should put yourself there, and ask yourself why the creature attacked. What did it want? What did it hope to gain? Why the boy?” He then indicated the bag with his finger and shook his head. “If all you ever learn to put in your brain are the accounts written by historians, then you will fail to see clearly. Each historian has his or her own bias. They present a passage the way they see fit, sometimes omitting or embellishing truths that ultimately twist or altogether hide the true lesson to be gained from the experience.”
    “So what should I learn from this?”
    Cyrus shook his head. “We are out of time today. Go and think on it. We will discuss it together tomorrow. Hopefully by then you will have figured the answers out for yourself.” Cyrus then rose and went back to pack his books into his own bag.
    Kyra might have argued the point, but she was anxious to get to Leatherback. The priests would be coming today, so she wanted to read to him and calm him before their visit.
    She rushed out from the room and through the empty corridors until she made the field outside the southern exit. A pair of instructors wearing green robes stood near a large, smooth-topped stump, but they hardly glanced at her as she ran past.
    Kyra didn’t have to worry about escaping from the priests today. Since they were coming later anyway, they expected her to run on ahead. So long as she didn’t try to interfere once they arrived, they didn’t mind her extra time with Leatherback.
    She found him resting in the glade, sunning himself lazily on his side with his neck stretched upward and his eyes closed.
    Leatherback smiled when he saw her coming toward him, and rolled over to his stomach.
    “Story?” he asked.
    Kyra nodded. “I brought a fun one today,” she said. “One that should help us with the shade.”
    The dragon snorted a puff of smoke and blue flame through his nostrils to show his disgust for the dark creature they had fought together.
    “No worries,” Kyra said as she settled in next to his front right shoulder. “It looks like it will be a fun read as well as informative. I’ve skimmed through this book already, and I’m pleased to say I’ve found us a historian who took the time to tell the story well, and not just report the events. I found it in the library in the same section with the books about dragons. A friend at the school told me about the section last year, and that is how I was able to learn what a special egg I had found when I first came across your nest. The section is full of books about rare and extinct creatures. The story I’m going to read is the only one that talks about a garunda beast at all, so it seems like pure luck that it was filed right in the place I usually go to read, but I think you will like it.”
    Leatherback brought his neck around and rested his head before Kyra’s feet, effectively wrapping her into a protective embrace.
    “This is the tale of Ravenel and the Garunda,” Kyra said. “The foreword in the book says it is a favorite among the cities of southern Landale. It comes from the second century of the Era of Kings and is the first encounter with a garunda recorded in all of Terramyr.” She lifted the book and peered at the dragon’s sky-blue eye from under the book. “The garunda may be our key to slaying the shade,” she said with a grin.
    Leatherback purred and his lips stretched back into a smile.
    Kyra