The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) by J. Michael Radcliffe Read Free Book Online

dozen sachets with foul smelling powders in them.   Placing the belt around his waist, he put his wallet in one of the inner pockets.   It was then he noticed Brimstone had turned his great scaly neck downward and was watching him with interest.  
    “What is all this stuff, anyway?” he asked the dragon.
    “”The Guardian thought it best if you had a few coins and tools of your trade in the event we are separated,” the beast hissed.   The potions and powders will serve to protect you if necessary.   They are the prepackaged kind that even a child could use.   Simply follow the instructions written on the container and they should function well enough.   Not as good as the true potion made from scratch of course, but they are at least dependable.”
    Rising to his full height, the great dragon stretched out his powerful wings and took to the air with a sudden upward thrust.   Unprepared for such an abrupt takeoff, the force threw Keegan to the seat of the cab quite violently.   Terrified of heights, he quickly fastened the leather seat straps around his waist and hung on to the handholds for dear life as Brimstone banked sharply to the right and turned towards the north.   Quickly gaining speed and altitude with each powerful beat of the dragon’s wings, the ground receded until the park where Keegan had entered this world was just a speck in the distance.
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Chapter 6 - Detour
    They had been in the air for over two hours, continuing to angle northward on their way to meet the Council members.   Keegan tried to watch the scenery to get some idea of what this world looked like compared to his own, but they were simply moving too fast and too high for him to see any details.   As the sun was beginning to set, the temperature began to drop, a fact not lost on Keegan since the gondola cab he was riding in had three open windows.   He had just worked up to a good bout of shivering when he noticed that the dragon began to angle downward, towards what looked like a small valley nestled between two small mountains.   There was no sign of any buildings.
    Surely, the Council doesn’t meet out here in the middle of nowhere.
    “Hang on, little man,” rumbled the dragon, as he suddenly closed his wings tightly to his sides and dove straight downward to the valley below.
    The sudden descent pressed Keegan back into the seat, even as he gripped the leather hand straps in shear terror.   As the ground rushed up at them, he was certain the dragon had decided to commit suicide by diving straight into the mountain.   With a sharp snap, the dragon’s wings suddenly opened just seconds before they reached the ground.   Stretching his wings wide, the dragon gave one huge flap and touched down as gently as a butterfly landing on a flower.   Keegan unlatched the door of the gondola and stumbled out onto solid ground.
    “What the blazes were you trying to do, kill me?” shouted Keegan as he tried to regain his balance.
    The dragon just glanced down at him with a toothy grin and started chuckling, a sight even more unnerving than Keegan would have thought.
    “If I had wanted to kill you there are much simpler ways, youngling,” the dragon snorted as wisps of smoke curled up from his nostrils.   “For example, if I don’t roast you alive I could leave you here in this valley, lost and alone until you are found by those who seek to prevent your apprenticeship to the Guardian.”
    “But why would anyone want to prevent my apprenticeship?”
    Keegan noticed a certain look in the dragon’s eye that he decided he really did not like.   He had the distinct feeling that he was going to end up as the beast’s dinner or worse, left to fend for himself in the mountains.
    “There are those who believe that the separation between magic and non-magic is long overdue to end,” the dragon hissed.   “ W hen that separation ends, the non-magic shall take their proper place, serving their masters.   I am told that a missing