The Invisible Tower by Nils Johnson-Shelton Read Free Book Online

glass of spoiled milk.
    He turned to Thumb to ask if they could go now, but before he could say anything, he heard something. Something that made his knees buckle and the back of his neck go cold.
    Thumb’s light moved erratically and then hit the ground, rolling to a stop. Whatever was out there was breaking branches and moving very fast in Artie’s direction. Then Artie heard the sizzle of Thumb’s sword as it was freed from its sheath; Thumb’s grunts off to Artie’s right; the whisk of his sword through the air, followed very quickly by two liquid pops and then a gruesomely muffled crack . The sounds had moved around the edge of the clearing from right to left. Thumb yelled, “Ha!” And then he said, “Behind you, lad!”
    And in that instant Artie heard something take to the air.
    It goes without saying that Artie Kingfisher had never held a sword before, let alone wielded one in an honest-to-goodness fight. But he’d spent countless hours wielding virtual swords, daggers, axes, spears, pikes, crossbows, maces, hammers, and longbows in video games. And with all the gardening the Kingfishers did, he was pretty handy with pickaxes, posthole diggers, and shovels.
    This sword, however, was nothing like a posthole digger.
    As Artie spun to face whatever it was that was flying at him, time slowed and he became keenly aware of a couple things.
    First: this sword was incredibly light, and perfectly balanced, and even felt a little bloodthirsty.
    Second: the thing flying at him was both familiar and horrifying. It was about the size of a Labrador. It had yellow eyes, super-long ruby-red teeth, and green iridescent skin. Its taloned feet strained toward Artie, like an eagle going in for the kill, and its golden claws had to be at least five inches long.
    The sword was still pointed down, slightly across his body, and by now the thing was only a few feet away. Artie reacted and swung the sword in a long arc. It felt like hitting a hanging breaking ball over the fence. The sword sliced the thing’s skin and severed its neck. Through his new weapon, Artie could feel the heat of the creature’s blood.
    Its head sailed over his right shoulder and its serpentine body fell with a thump on his left side, well past the stone.
    Artie had just killed something that was trying to kill him.
    He’d never felt so alive in his life.
    â€œHa-ha! Yes!” exclaimed Thumb from the darkness. He jumped into the clearing, retrieved the flashlight, and ran to the stone. “Come down from there, and let’s get going,” he barked.
    Artie was still in shock. “Did I just—?”
    â€œYou most certainly did, my boy!”
    â€œWas that … was that a dragon?”
    â€œRighto! Or not a dragon exactly, but a dragoling.”
    â€œYou mean a baby dragon? A baby, uh, green dragon?” For now it was as plain as day that this thing was a small version of Caladirth, the pesky serpent from the Otherworld video game.
    â€œAye, lad. Hellish things, aren’t they?”
    â€œUh, yeah.”
    â€œGot two myself over there in the bush.”
    Then Artie thought of something. “Did they have a mom or dad or anything?”
    â€œMost likely, lad. That’s why we need to wrap this up and get moving!”
    Thumb didn’t need to say that twice.
    Artie hopped from the rock. Thumb produced a short rope and motioned for the sword. Artie handed it to him, and Thumb tied a sash for Artie to carry his new weapon. As he worked he spoke quickly. “Can’t fathom why these things were here. I don’t see why there would be any need to post a guard on the stone…” He handed the sword back to Artie, who slung it nervously over his shoulder. Thumb, still thinking out loud, said, “Bless my stars, these dragolings are very curious, very curious indeed!”
    Thumb turned back around and, judging by the look on his face, seemed suddenly to have forgotten