The Seven Swords by Nils Johnson-Shelton Read Free Book Online Page A

ask what he meant by that. Erik, awake now, looked on silently.
    â€œAnd Cassie?” Kay asked. She hadn’t mentioned Cassie to anyone in the last few weeks, but she really wanted to know how—and where—her mom was.
    â€œShe is safe’n but not well. Her mind was poisoned fully by the witch. Lord Numinae will help her, young Kay, but some time will pass’n afore you see her again.” Tiberius turned one of his long ears toward the woods beyond the stables. “Tell me, boy-king—can you call’n the wizard here?”
    â€œNow?”
    â€œHmmph, now. He might be useful.”
    â€œI don’t underst—”
    Artie was cut short as a sound like a revving chain saw echoed through the surrounding trees. Bedevere’s cat jumped up and eyed the woods.
    â€œWhat was that, Tiberius?” Thumb asked, slightly alarmed.
    â€œHmmph. The witch’s agents are on the hunt.”
    The buzzing resumed, and the trees to the east danced before being shredded to bits as a swarm of giant dragonflies burst through them.
    Artie and his crew were surrounded in an instant. A rainbow of insects—hundreds of them, each around four feet long—blanketed the stable yard. Kay, Bedevere, Lance, and Thumb drew their weapons and swung or shot at them wildly. Kay had a lot of trouble getting close to any on account of Cleomede’s special bug-repelling magic, but she still managed to down a few. Meanwhile, Bercilak leaped into action, hewing dragonflies with his double-edged ax. Lance managed to nock and shoot several arrows before resorting to using his bow as a hand weapon, swinging it around in wide arcs. Artie threw his spear directly overhead and impaled three dragonflies at once. He called it and it returned to him like a boomerang, driving into the ground at his feet. He drew Carnwennan and Flixith, pirouetting and flailing at the air. Flixith did indeed make it look like Artie had four arms, and at times even more, like a Hindu god. But the bugs didn’t care.
    They were bugs.
    Their paperlike wings beat the knights on all sides, and the spiky barbs of their legs cut and scraped their skin.
    The saber-toothed tiger killed so many dragonflies with such eager playfulness that, as far as it was concerned, the whole attack was a game.
    Tiberius rose into the air, taking special care to protect Artie and Kay and Erik, the last of whom remained unarmed. The dragon used his long body to swat hordes of insects back into the woods and sprayed his acrid, crinkly breath selectively here and there, causing many bugs to fall to the ground half-encased in the dragon’s black rock. These semi-frozen bugs buzzed and whined, and the desperate flapping of their wings grated on the ear.
    But Tiberius remained calm. He didn’t find the swarm to be incomprehensible or even much of a bother. He could see exactly how many insects there were, and while there were quite a few, the number wasn’t unmanageable. They were only giant dragonflies, after all.
    He swatted several more and saw that 518 were still alive and uninjured.
    He looked down. Artie was a blur of arms. Dragonfly heads rolled at his feet.
    Make that 514.
    For all the expansive wonder of Tiberius’s perception, though, he couldn’t see everything. And at this particular moment he couldn’t see that Erik Erikssen was being lifted by his shoulders into the air.
    In fact no one noticed. But then Lance caught sight of Erik from the corner of his eye. “Artie, look!” Lance barked.
    Erik was twenty feet above them. He was struck dumb with fear, but his face said it all.
    â€œLance!” Artie yelled.
    â€œOn it, dude!” replied Lance.
    Lance let an arrow fly. It hit the dragonfly carrying Erik square in the eye.
    The bug dropped him, and Erik’s eyes bulged and his legs bicycled in the air. He seemed to be going a little crazy as he fell, his landing softened by a tall haystack. Fifty or sixty