The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) by J.J. Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

spheres.
    He sighed and shrugged. Oh well, we
will meet some other time, he thought as he looked at the eggs. In
battle perhaps.
    He scooped up the smallest one, held it
under one arm and looked up.
    The pair of dragons was shooting
straight down at him, maws gaping wide and eyes red with fury.
Incendus chuckled, gave them a final, cocky wave and vanished like an
extinguished flame.

Chapter
4

    Simon was sitting on his
front steps, moodily staring across the courtyard. His knees were
drawn up to his chest and he was resting his chin on them.
    He hadn't heard any
internal rumblings from Esmiralla for a while and was taking the
opportunity to think quietly without interruption. It was a rare,
peaceful moment.
    Why had he agreed to merge
with the silver dragon, he wondered for what seemed like the
millionth time. What would make him do something so out of character?
    One thing Simon had always
prided himself on was his independence. Yes, he liked having the
elementals around to help him and keep him company. But if he had to
live alone in his tower, he could quite happily do so as long as he
had the occasional visit with friends. He liked people but he didn't
need them.
    And yet, when Esmiralla
had proposed this merging, he had practically jumped at the chance.
Why? It was so unlike him.
    “ Your face is all
twisted, master.”
    Simon looked down at
Kronk, who was standing at the bottom of the steps, and smiled wanly.
    “ Is it? I wonder
why?” he replied faintly, feeling as weary as he ever had in
his life.
    “ You are worried,
are you not? Master, you should not worry about things you cannot
change.”
    The little earthen hopped
up the stairs and sat down on the step to Simon's right. He looked up
at the wizard with a quizzical expression on his rocky face.
    “ What worries you
today, master?”
    Simon sighed and rubbed
his temples.
    “ I'm that obvious,
am I?”
    Kronk only shrugged and
waited patiently.
    “ It's this whole
situation,” Simon said as he leaned back and stretched his legs
for a moment. Then he pulled them up tight to his chest again and
stared blankly across the front yard to the surrounding wall.
    “ It just wasn't like
me to agree so easily to Esmiralla's proposal that we combine bodies
to take on the primal red dragon. I was like, I don't know, a kid
being offered candy; I couldn't say yes fast enough.”
    He turned to look down at
Kronk.
    “ Does that sound
like me?”
    “ No master, it does
not,” Kronk said with a frown. “You can, forgive me, be
impulsive occasionally, but to commit to something so momentous
without so much as a second thought? No, that is not like you at
all.”
    “ Exactly.”
    Simon stood up abruptly,
walked down the steps and began pacing back and forth. His drab brown
robe swirled around his ankles and he kept pushing his long hair off
of his face.
    After a few minutes of
deep thought, he stopped abruptly and stared at Kronk.
    “ I think she
influenced me somehow,” he said in a hushed voice.
    “ How, master?”
    “ How should I know?
Esmiralla is ancient. She has powers that I can't even imagine. She
could exert her will over me and I doubt that I would even be aware
of it.”
    Kronk stood up and watched
Simon as he began pacing once more.
    “ Master, why are you
whispering? The silver dragon is inside of you, is she not? She can
hear everything you are saying.”
    Simon stopped again and
frowned at the little guy. He slowly shook his head and lowered his
voice even more.
    “ I don't think so.
There are times when she seems to be...out. How she does that I don't
know, but I can feel her when she's in residence.”
    “ Interesting,”
Kronk said. “I do not understand this merging, master, but I do
not see how the silver dragon could just,” he gestured vaguely,
“come and go at will.”
    “ Me neither. Add
that to the list of things I don't understand about this whole
situation.”
    He began pacing yet again,
lost in thought.
    “ Master, if I