The Dragon and the Lotus (Chimera #1) by Joseph Robert Lewis Read Free Book Online Page A

he can hear again? You cured him?”
    “No, I just gave him something for the pain. Iron can conduct all sorts of harmful things away from the body, temporarily at least. But I’m not sure what’s going on here. Whatever it is, his heart is still racing and his life is still very much in danger.” Asha led the man away from the house. “Priya, why don’t you and Jagdish say hello to him? I think he’d like the company. Just keep him quiet and calm.”
    The nun nodded and found her way inside with the aid of her bamboo stick.
    “Naveen told me he goes to play in the old village at the bottom of the valley.”
    Chandra frowned. “I’ve told him not to go there.”
    “Why not?”
    The man blinked. “Because he shouldn’t. It’s not safe there.”
    “Why? What happened to the village?”
    Chandra exhaled. “Two years ago it was attacked by Persian soldiers.”
    “Persians? Here?”
    “It wasn’t an army. Just a dozen men or so. I’ve heard there was a battle somewhere far to the west in Rajasthan. Maybe these men were survivors or deserters who didn’t, or couldn’t, return home,” he said. “They found the village, killed everyone, took what they wanted, and moved on.”
    “Did they burn the village?”
    “They tried to. I saw the smoke myself. But the fire didn’t last. Most of the village was still standing when I went down to see for myself.” He swallowed. “I buried the people in their homes as best I could.”
    Asha sighed. “I’m sorry. You were lucky that you and your son survived. Why didn’t you live in the village?”
    “I did. I mean, I was born there. But there are weeds and grasses there that make my eyes itch and my head hurt so I moved up here to this old place when I married Naveen’s mother. It was hard, being alone up here, but at least I could breathe in my own home.”
    “Allergies, huh?” Asha dug into her bag and pulled out two slender brown sticks. “If they ever flare up again, try burning this. The smoke should help.”
    “Thank you.” He took them. “But what about my son? Can you help him?”
    “I’m going to try, but first I need something from you.”
    “What?”
    “The truth about the village. I can hear your heart pounding and the breath shaking in your lungs. I know you’re lying, or at least holding something back,” she said. “What is it?”
    He took a step back. “How could you possibly hear my heart and my lungs?”
    Asha swept the hair from the side of her face to reveal her right ear and the man gasped.
    “Are those scales?”
    She dropped her hair and nodded. “Dragon scales. It’s a side effect of the venom, just like being able to hear the blood in your veins, or in your son’s, or in the lizard near your left foot.”
    The man looked down and jumped away as a soft rustling in the grass darted away toward the stream. He looked her in the eye. “You’re cursed!”
    “In more ways than one.” Asha raised an eyebrow. “And I’m still waiting to hear about the village.”
    Slowly, he nodded. “All right, I’ll tell you everything. But you have to promise not to tell Naveen.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it’s about his mother.”
    “What about her?”
    “How she died.” Chandra covered his eyes. “It’s my fault that she’s dead. It’s my fault that they’re all dead.” After a moment, he looked up though he avoided her eyes and he said, “My wife hated living here, so far from her family and friends. She was lonely, and sometimes scared being so close to the road like this. She was terrified of being robbed for some reason, even though we had nothing worth stealing. She pestered me for years to move back to the village. I don’t think she believed me that the grasses made me sick. Either that or she thought a man shouldn’t let such a thing force him out of his home. I refused to move, so she left and she took Naveen with her. He was still very small then. As he grew older, he started to come out here to help me with the