Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor) by Robert Barton Read Free Book Online

man.
    Finally, Veer was able to sit and eat his fill of fish and meat along with some of the herbs that grew wild this time of year. It was a very welcome meal and he felt his strength returning bit by bit. Frequent checks on the sleeping girl assured Veer that she was still alive even if she slept so deeply that she seemed to be on the edge of death. Veer still felt hungry though he knew that he had stuffed himself earlier and he thought to himself it must be the result of his days of illness. He noticed that the human eyed dragon which had driven the deer out of the brush was sitting watching Veer with glances toward the meat. “You did help catch it I guess so you can eat some too,” he said to the dragon which looked at him twisting its head slightly in the way that a puppy does when it listens to a person speaking. Carving pieces of meat off of one of the haunches the boy began to toss the hunks to the dragon. As the dragon ate the pieces of meat Veer noticed the baby dragon that seemed to be keeping watch over the girl was glancing toward the meat but seemed unwilling to leave its place so Veer tossed some food to the second baby dragon which also began to eat. Before long other baby dragons seemed to drift to the edge of camp as darkness descended and Veer tossed meat to them also reasoning that at least if they have eaten they might not try to attack during the night. Then he noticed Green Eyes sitting in a tree just outside of camp watching them all. When the nasty dragon saw him glance up at her she hissed and spread her wings. No meat was tossed to her.
     

Four
     
    Eventually the baby dragons seemed to grow full and even Veer now felt full himself. Night had fallen and he knew that there was no way he would be able to stay awake permanently so he prepared camp for the night. First the meat had to be tied high into the nearby trees so nothing could steal it in the night. Next he moved the girl so that she would spend the night with one side protected by the fire and Veer with his weapons on her other side. Veer built an unusually large fire for summer but he knew that it would burn longer and offer more protection. He would also keep his bow strung and arrows ready so if anything did wake him up he could draw and release quickly. With the sword drawn and lying on the ground beside him and with his fighting knife next to it Veer sat leaning against a stone so that he would be sitting up and never fall into a deep sleep and only take short naps through the night. As he sat there he periodically moved to add wood to the fire and keep it well fed and he watched the sparkling dragon eyes at the edge of the fire light. He knew that he and the fire would be the only protection Shira would have if the dragons decided to attack again or if any other animal showed up. Occasionally he would snap awake and realize that he had been napping and he would build up the fire, and sit scanning the darkness until he would doze again. The night wore on this way allowing Veer to get some sleep and still keep the fire fairly large while making sure the girl was safe and the dragons kept their distance.
    Suddenly awakened by the sound of a screaming dragon Veer reached for his bow. Nocking an arrow as he sprang to his feet Veer started looking around to see which dragon was again after the girl. Though it didn’t feel like a whole night had passed it must be nearing dawn since the sky was showing that pre-dawn brightness and Veer could see fairly well around himself. It was good that the sky was starting to lighten because the fire had died down to embers this last time while he had slept. He could see some of the dragons but they were not facing toward the camp but outward toward the forest. Now he could hear the sounds of several things moving quickly through the underbrush and he started to catch glimpses of things that looked large and dog-like. Wolves he thought to himself, wolves and only one person to fight them off from the