Dragonseed by James Maxey Read Free Book Online Page A

think they will hold out for months,” said Vulpine. “Humans lack the capacity for long term planning we sky-dragons possess. Presented with a blockade, with food and resources dwindling, they will likely turn on themselves in short order, especially once plague breaks out.”
    “ If plague breaks out,” said Balikan. “I must admit, it looks as if they are doing a fair job of keeping the town clean.”
    "This need not be something left to chance," said Vulpine. “Let’s pay a visit to the Nest. It’s only thirty miles away and a few dozen valkyries can easily blockade the western road and cut off the coal supply. The valkyrie engineers can also block off the canal feeding water into the town. After that, we’ll follow the Forge Road back to the Palace to confer with Chapelion and get the authority to gather all the elements I need to truly solve this problem.”
    “We are slavecatchers, not soldiers.”
    “After I tell him his books are in the fort,” said Vulpine, “he’ll give me every last soldier in the kingdom.”

CHAPTER FOUR:
    PHANTOMS

    SHAY TOOK A sip of the steaming sassafras tea. The licorice bite of it opened up his sinuses, clearing his ears so he could better hear Burke as he whispered to Anza. It wasn’t Shay’s intention to eavesdrop, but over the years he’d grown sensitive to hushed conversations. All the politics and intrigues that swirled around a dragon of Chapelion’s station unfolded in whispers and nods. Thus, though he sat on a wooden stool by the fireplace across the loft from Burke and his daughter, he heard Burke’s words as clearly as if he was standing between them.
    “We had several groups of refugees report that the earth-dragons are raiding human villages.” Burke slipped her a sheet of folded parchment. “It’s only a matter of time before they strike the tavern. Take this to Thorny. There are tools in the hidden room I need, and my notebooks would also be useful. Have him bring them to me.”
    Anza scowled and made a hand gesture that Shay didn’t understand.
    Burke gave a weary shrug. “Thorny will just have to sober up. I need you to stay with Jandra and Shay. If anything happens to either of them, make sure their guns don’t fall into the possession of dragons.”
    Anza’s scowl faded.
    “Thorny won’t be coming alone. Tell the villagers it’s time to join me here in Dragon Forge.”
    Anza nodded, looking serious. Shay found himself intrigued by the tall, dark-skinned woman dressed in black buckskins. He’d yet to hear Anza say a word. Ordinarily, he would have assumed she was deaf, or perhaps an imbecile. Yet she followed Burke’s whispers easily enough, and she carried herself with an air that hinted of great intelligence.
    Jandra sat cross-legged by the fire with Lizard in her lap. Lizard had numerous cuts and scrapes. She spoke to him in a soothing patter as she cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Shay knew Jandra by reputation—she was the human girl who’d been raised by the sky-dragon wizard Vendevorex. He assumed she’d been the dragon’s pet. In general, slaves and pets despised one another. Both were legally the property of dragons, but slaves were regarded as little more than domestic animals, useful for certain labors, while pets were pampered and treated as children.
    Having grown up as the pet of a wizard, it was said that Jandra had acquired supernatural powers. He’d heard she could turn invisible, and set things on fire by staring at them. Shay wondered if it was true. Chapelion had been a strict rationalist, dismissive of supernatural forces. Shay, however, had seen proof that magic had once been a powerful force in ages past.  He was certain that Chapelion was too quick to ignore evidence of things beyond his understanding.   
    Jandra was currently eluding his understanding. She looked human enough, yet there was something unmistakably alien about her. Perhaps it was her voice; her words had an odd inflection, an accent that made