Gold Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham Read Free Book Online Page A

panic flickering in his eyes. “You weren’t supposed to be here. Who woke you? Jonas? Curse him and his tromping boots.” Vilfrand glanced back at the keep, searching for anyone else hiding behind the portcullis. “Go backinside this instant. You’re only making this harder on your father.”
    “What’s going on? Why are you so angry? Stop pinching like that, Uncle, you’re hurting me!” Sandon struggled to keep his voice low so he could still hear what his father and the draconian were saying. What was that? Something about a horn?
    “Go back to the keep!” Vilfrand pushed him, trying to turn Sandon around, but it was too late. Sandon stopped still as his father’s words suddenly made sense.
    “Father, no! You can’t invite Lazuli in! He’ll eat the barony!”
    In the silence that followed, Sandon was keenly aware how childish his words sounded, but it made no difference to him. The threat that the dragon posed was anything but a fairy tale.
    “Sandon.” Catching sight of his son, Baron Camiel shook his head wearily. Vilfrand’s hand loosened on Sandon’s arm in defeat as the baron turned to face his son. “I’d hoped to do this without you here.”
    “What are you doing?” Sandon insisted, shaking himself free of his uncle’s grip.
    Malaise was the one who answered first, her silken voice hissing the syllables in gleeful malice. “Your father has made a very wissse decision. Rather than give oxenor jewels, your father has offered something truly to be treasured above all other things in this barony.” She twisted her claws in the air as if snatching a bug from the breeze. “Himssself.”
    “Father.” Sandon’s voice failed him. “No.”
    Baron Camiel snapped back to Malaise, shoulders square. “No need to rub it in, you foul wretch,” he told her. “Your master’s victory is short lived. Even if I leave this barony, my brother will keep the throne in trust for the day my son rules—and by that time, your brigands in this valley will have come to the attention of the rest of Solamnia, and you will be destroyed. It’s only a matter of time before someone notices what’s going on here and sends help.”
    “Perhaps,” simpered Malaise. “Perhapsss not. But the matter of gathering the tribute is still at hand.”
    The baron ground his teeth. “If I blow the horn and invite your master in, what promise do I have that he will leave once he has taken his tribute?”
    “None,” Malaise said simply. “But if you do not, then Lazuli will ceassse his protection of the fields at the edge of the valley, and the rest of your autumn harvest will go up in flames. Do you think your barony can survive the winter on dirt and ash, Baron Camiel?” Her lisping laugh hissed delicately, and she tossed her reptilian head.“Let us come to an accord. You trust us … and we’ll let your precious barony survive another winter. Tell me, what do you have to lose?”
    “Very little.” The words were as cold as carved stone.
    In the silence that followed these words, Sandon ventured, “Father, you can’t do this.”
    Torentine nodded. “That spell is the only thing protecting our barony from the dragon, Baron Camiel. It was left behind by our true protector, and it is all the security we have against Lazuli’s evil. If you release the last gift of the ancient gold dragon, it may never return to us.”
    “The Gold’s had plenty of time for that,” the baron answered Torentine with a sharp note in his voice. “And I think the dragon’s proven its interests are no longer in this barony. We have to fend for ourselves.”
    Torentine glanced up at the mountains outside the village. “Our protector may yet awaken. We should not give up hope.”
    “Protector?” Baron Camiel stared down Torentine, his fists clenched. “A real protector wouldn’t have abandoned us when we needed it the most. That gold dragon was here for the first part of the war, and then, when things got rough, left without warning or