Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) by T. Michael Ford Read Free Book Online Page B

stand. Throughout the crowd, there was outright astonishment, as if this couldn’t possibly be right. Alera grasped her companion’s shoulder affectionately as he got to his feet, reset his sword, and took his place by her side. She glared harshly at the prisoners.
    “Naton Rad, you will need to look for evil elsewhere this day; perhaps in your own mind and heart would be a good place to start!” Turning to face her nebulia, she smiled and gave him a caress across his doggy ears, and then nodded toward the portal. The great warrior bowed deeply to Maya, and with a respectful nod toward me, walked back through the pink archway, which closed immediately after him with a flash and a slight rush of air. I breathed out a sigh of relief and took a quick peek to see how Maya was holding up. Her countenance was as stone-faced as I have ever seen as she calmly awaited the crowd’s verdict.
    In all of this, I had lost track of Julia and Lin, but now I spotted Lin plowing through the onlookers with two angry-looking twins in tow. Arriving at the rock, she motioned for Dawn and Dusk to lift her up, which they did easily with one hand each, somewhat belying their appearance of young girls.
    Lin stood straight and defiant on the rock and faced the crowd, her eyes blazing. “If that wasn’t enough to convince you people, do you even know who her handmaidens are? What, no clue? Well, let me introduce you!” She motioned angrily up into the air, looking to the two Enchanters Hall staffers still on the ground. With an enormous clap of leathery wing thunder, the two white robes slipped to the ground and the two silver dragons leapt into the sky, twisting and turning as legs, tails, scales, teeth and banana-sized claws formed above the crowd, coalescing into two large, mean-looking reptilian forms that hovered just tens of feet above the platform, glaring at the assembly.
    Fully half the people, guards included, dropped bonelessly to the ground in awe, even the guards who had seen them fight above the wall at the last battle. But Lin wasn’t finished with her scornful comments.
    “These are, of course, silver dragons! Good dragons! Probably the last of their kind in existence, and they have chosen to serve this woman who you have so vilely accused of evil! Perhaps the accusers would like to step forward and argue the point with either one of my friends here!”
    I smiled as I watched the mob’s reaction to the twins overhead. During the battle at Xarparion, there wasn’t any free time to take stock, but the two of them looked much more formidable than when we first found them at my foster parents’ home. They looked to have added five or more feet of length and were much fuller in the chest and sides; I’d say their scales were brighter and more sharply defined than before as well. Dawn must have noticed my appraisal as she lowered her long head down to my level, and a shining metallic eye the size of my fist gave me a saucy wink; she’s always the flirt of the two. After a few more moments, where it appeared that the two dragons attempted to individually stare down every member of the crowd, Lin gave them a little wave and spoke softly.
    “Thank you Dusk and Dawn - point made!” The twins landed soundlessly behind the rock shelf. Julia had retrieved their enchanters staff robes and hurried around the platform. Shortly thereafter, the twins reappeared fully dressed and attempted to blend back into the group; but strangely, it seemed that people were giving them a wide berth suddenly.
    As the bulk of the crowd got back on their feet, Hons quickly stepped forward and, using his stone manipulation abilities, created some steps that attached to the platform. A determined looking Corporal Higs climbed the steps and turning to the watchers, he cleared his throat nervously and made his address.
    “I am just a simple city guardsman, and I can’t match a nebulia or silver dragons for my story, but I have something to add. If Mistress