Read Online Chasing the Dragon by Jason Halstead - Free Book Online Page A

a bold claim . Is she in peril?"
    "No, I mean her guards wouldn't let you near her."
    Aleena and Celos traded another glance. "Her guards?" Aleena asked. "Who is this woman?"
    "She's the Queen of the North," Ketten said. "Queen Rosalyn."
    "Queen?" Celos repeated. "There's no nation this far north, just scattered tribes of barbarians north of the mountains."
    "You forget the Northern Divide," Ketten said. "It's a realm unto itself. Always has been, but before that dragon , nobody gave it any respect. No, Rosalyn has pulled the creatures of this land together and organized them."
    "Organized the creatures? What organization can there be among goblins?"
    Ketten chuckled. "Lot more than goblins in these hills. I'll be the first one to tell you ogres get a bad rap. They're not as dumb as we think they are. Some are close to it, I admit, but others could give most men a run for their money."
    "She consorts with ogres and goblins?"
    Aleena glanced at Celos, trying to warn him to be quiet with her eyes. He ignored her.
    "If by consort you mean rules over, then yes. If you're meaning anything else , I'll be sure to not tell Her Highness that you said such a thing. She's a witch, you know, and a powerful one from what I seen."
    "Is she evil?" Aleena demanded.
    "Evil?" Ketten mused. He tilted his head and considered the question. "To the common man, isn't every ruler some sort of evil?"
    Aleena's eyes narrowed but Celos answered before she could. "Only the self-obsessed and loathsome common man," he snapped. "A good and just ruler must at times do things his people do not like, but it is done with their best interests at heart."
    "Well, there you go," Ketten said. "The people of the mountains have been brought together. Some of them didn't much like it at first; they preferred being independent and fighting with their neighbors. There's less of that now, which some like and some don't."
    "What about all the men who have been hurt, killed, or just driven from the mountains?" Aleena asked. "And what about the kingdom mines that were overrun?"
    "Kingdom mines?" Ketten said. "The kingdom's border ends at Highpeak. The mines fall in Queen Rosalyn's realm."
    "This is an act of war," Celos seethed.
    Aleena held up her hand. "Please, Ketten, can you take us to her so that we might talk directly?"
    Ketten nodded. "Of course . I'd hate for you to end up being hurt or killed over a misunderstanding."
    "Is that a threat?" Celos snarled.
    "Sir Celos, I believe Ketten was only showing his concern for our well-being," Aleena said. She turned to her fellow knight and offered a quick smile before adding, "I'll gather up our things."
    Celos's eyes narrowed but he gave her a terse nod. She moved past him and began to pack up their camp. While she worked at slipping her pack back on , she heard Ketten whistle appreciatively and say, "Is that a unicorn? Like the one that lady from the kelgryn had?"
    Aleena felt a warmth in her stomach that was kicked a moment later at the reminder that Alto had given Patrina a unicorn. Before she could begin to address her feelings or Ketten himself, he continued.
    "I seen one of them winged horses once, years ago. Was in the western mountains. Couldn't believe my eyes at first. I didn't think they existed really, but I guess I was wrong," he said.
    "A winged horse?" Celos asked. "They've been gone for generations."
    Ketten shook his head. "Seen it with my own eyes. Had a rider on it , too, and they was flying around over the forest west of here."
    "A pegasus with a rider?" Celos sounded doubtful.
    "On my mother's grave," Ketten said.
    Aleena walked up, leading Celos's stallion. Moonshine came of his own free will. He stopped and snorted as he neared Ketten.
    "A man on a pegasus." Celos shook his head. "Those were once mounts used by favored paladins of Leander."
    Aleena nodded. She knew the history ; she'd read it the same as he had. It was also a history that was over five hundred years old, even before the time of Sir