Quest Of The Dragon Tamer (Book 1) by Cole Pain Read Free Book Online Page A

what Aidan was trying to tell him. An ancient magical maxim claimed if you commanded the source of an object, you commanded the object itself. If the crystal was created by silver dragon’s fire then silver dragon’s fire could awaken its power.
    “The dragonhunters are bringing in the silver dragon.” Aidan kneaded her hands, a look of cold apprehension in her eyes.
    “She knows then.”
    “I don’t think so,” Aidan said, “or she wouldn’t need me. But she knows something. I just don’t know what.”
    Ren leaned his head back against the cold stone, trying to determine Ista’s plan. Ista had called him Dragon Tamer. What did she mean by that? And what, if anything, did that have to do with Aidan?
    He studied Aidan’s profile in the dim light, searching for answers, but none were forthcoming. Once again he felt helpless to save her. Aidan would die to keep the crystal’s secret secure.
    But now he knew the secret as well. Ren rose to his feet. “Why did you tell me this?”
    Aidan lifted her gaze to his own. The scant light from the torch in the hallway lit her eyes with amethyst flame. He could feel their connection sharpen with her heightening emotions.
    “You know the peace within me,” she said. “Nothing they do can hurt me. They can take nothing from me.” Her eyes bore into him, commanding him to understand. “After me, she will look to you, but you cannot yield, no matter what they do to me. Promise me, Ren, promise me you will hold fast to the light.”
    “Aidan, I won’t let you die.”
    Aidan studied him. “What will be will be.”
    Anger welled within him. “Aidan, if you’re so convinced you’re going to die why tell me the secret when it could have died with you?”
    “That’s exactly why,” Aidan said, face softening as she closed her eyes and smoothed her brow. “My ancestors were wrong. They should have handed down every ounce of knowledge they possessed. I won’t make the same mistake. To fight the darkness you have to know the darkness.”
    “I myself would like to know less of it.”
    Aidan leaned forward, a sad smile on her face. “Do you remember when I said the wizards didn’t destroy magic, they merely destroyed the connection?”
    Ren nodded. “They severed the thread.”
    “Yes, but the thread still exists. Humans differed from other magical creatures. Only some of us had the thread. We’re still breeding magic, my prince, but instead of being alive and thriving the thread lies broken, dormant. It’s only a matter of time before someone powerful, someone with great need, uses the emotions of love, hate, and pain to reunite the thread and rebirth magic. The wizards of old have sent the silver dragon as a warning to the very man who will rebirth the power.”
    “That’s impossible,” Ren said. “Magic’s destruction happened four centuries ago. Surely in all that time if we still had the thread someone would have already reunited it.”
    Aidan lifted an eyebrow. “Some Maritium have linked to those who have the broken thread.” Her penetrating gaze caused him to shift in discomfort. “I’m one of those.”
    Ren stiffened in warning, every muscle on alert.
    “You think your confinement is punishment for some deed you committed?” Aidan said, searching his face. “This,” she motioned to the walls, “is recompense for your wrongs? No. The Maker has plans for you, my prince. You just have to listen.”
    - - -
    Korin’s heart beat so rapidly he thought he might not live. Pressing his back against the tree, he inched around its trunk and took another look at the guard pacing in the shadows. His build was the same. His hair was the same. Everything was the same.
    Korin was looking at his own reflection.
    He felt his mind clearing, the presence slowly melting away. His resolve to escape deepened in the pit of his stomach until it claimed him like a disease. All he wanted was a chance to live a life of his own, a chance to be free of the pain.
    The guard