Fractious by Carrie Lynn Barker Read Free Book Online Page A

course," Cu said. "If it comes down to it."
    "Who said anything about fighting a dragon?" I asked as Cu began to pack up the mule
himself, since I obviously wasn't going to do it. I was too absorbed in the idea of fighting a
dragon and wielding a sword and doing both at the same time, neither of which I'd ever done
before. "Nobody told me anything about a dragon. How come nobody told me anything about a
dragon?!"
    Cu rolled his eyes as he tied the packs on the mule's back. Fractious the mule stood stalk
still, taking the abuse with only a waggle of his eyebrows. Finally, Cu decided to answer my
questions, but only after two hours had passed and we were deep into an elm forest.
    "'Cause maybe he'll just let us pass by without incident," Cu said suddenly.
    "Huh?" I had no idea what he was talking about.
    "The dragon," Cu said. "You asked why no one had told you about the dragon."
    "Dragon?" I muttered.
    "Never mind"' Cu muttered back.
    "No wait," I said, kicking my pony and pushing my feet on the ground to make him go
faster to catch up to Cu, who was up ahead on his pony, dragging the mule by his lead line. "Tell
me about the dragon."
    Cu sucked his teeth. "He lives on a mountain top, a mountain top that we have to cross
to get to where we want to go."
    "Where do we want to go?" I said.
    "Do you want to hear about the dragon or not?" Cu yelled back at me.
    I held up my hands. "Okay, I get it. Dragon. Go."
    Cu went on. "The dragon lives on a mountain top--"
    "You already said that." I dodged a swing of his bright green top hat.
    He settled his bright green top hat back on his head and continued. "The dragon lives on
a mountain top, a mountain top that we have to cross to get to where we want to go."
    I almost spoke, but bit my tongue to make myself stop.
    Cu waited for my words but saw the blood dripping from my bit tongue and smiled.
"That's better. The dragon's about ten times your size. Massive with a long neck and big wings.
He can fly, but he's almost too fat for that. Maybe he's finally gained too much weight and can't
fly, which will give you an advantage. And he's got lots of teeth. Gotta watch out for those
teeth."
    "Obviously," I whimpered, unable to stop myself.
    Cu ignored me. "Now, the dragon will either let us pass without incident if we give him
the mule to snack on or he'll make us fight him until he's satisfied."
    "Satisfied?" I whispered.
    "Until either he's dead or you are."
    "Wait!" I yelled, once again kicking my poor pony until he was abreast of Cu's. "Him or
me?"
    "Yeah," Cu said. "Nobody's killed him yet, so it'll probably be you that ends up pushing
up marigolds."
    "Why me?" And then I said, "Marigolds?"
    Cu ignored the marigold comment. "Well, I obviously am not going to risk my life to get
past the damned dragon." He laughed raucously at my stupidity. "And if he kills you then he'll let me pass."
    "So I get the sword, right?" I said.
    Cu laughed some more. "No, I get the sword."
    "How come I don't get the sword?"
    "What do you need a sword for?"
    My jaw dragged on the dirty ground. "To kill the dragon?"
    "You can't kill him with a sword," Cu said, still laughing.
    I was getting way tired of him laughing at me. I clenched my fists but composed myself
before I could begin beating him to death. "So," I began after a moment, "how do I kill the
dragon?"
    "With your wit, of course!" Cu said, his laughter getting louder and full of more hilarity.
"How else do you kill a dragon?"
    "Uh... With the sword?"
    "Then how will we kill Amergin?"
    "Uh... With the sword?"
    "How will we do that if the sword is lodged in the dragon?"
    "Uh..." was all I could come up with.
    "See," Cu said, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. "Foolish Guy Fractious who
has the worst name ever. You know nothing of the ways of dragons."
    "He's gonna eat me, isn't he?"
    "Probably."
    "Wait!" I yelled, throwing up my arms. "You can't feed Fractious the mule to a
dragon!"
    "Oh, he won't mind," Cu said.
    "He might," I said, finding I'd