Read Online Dragonbound: Blue Dragon by Rebecca Shelley - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rebecca Shelley
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, YA), Dragons, epic fantasy, childrens book, dragonbound, blue dragon, R. D. Henham
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leaned his stubby arm against a tree. It no longer hurt. Must not have been broken after all , he thought. He spread the two fingers and thumb that projected at the end of the odd-shaped limb. From there he looked down at his twisted leg and useless foot.
"Why?" he cried. "Why would Devaj risk his life to come in search of a little brother as repulsive and useless as I am?"
He had no answer.
A piercing scream startled him from his fevered haze.
Chapter Six
Kanvar rubbed the sweat from his eyes and glanced out into the jungle for the source of the scream. Hundreds of species of trees spread their branches from the understory up through the great canopy. Moss hung on the trunks branches as well as flowering vines and a rainbow of fungi that filled Kanvar's nose with the smell of living green and decaying wood and leaf. Heavy mist hung in the air, blurring Kanvar's eyesight. The steady throb of insects, croak of frogs, and call of birds, silenced in the wake of the scream that came once and then again.
A human scream. That of a girl.
Deep in a thick stand of trees, Kanvar saw a movement of mottled green. He unfastened his crossbow and got it armed with a shaking hand. The girl screamed again from the direction, Kanvar had seen the movement.
Kanvar left his walking stick behind and staggered toward the sound. He couldn't hold it and the crossbow at the same time. The cut in his leg throbbed with fire as he put his whole weight on it, but his leg held him up for the moment.
He blinked, trying to clear the fevered sweat from his eyes, and saw a girl, perched on a thick branch far above his head. She wore mottled green clothes that blended with the leaves around her, and her skin was the same flaked gray as the tree's bark. Only the brown pouch that hung over her shoulder and the black braid, which reached down her back, gave her away. That and the sudden cry she made as she scrambled farther out along the branch.
The cause of her cry took a moment longer for Kanvar to focus on. What he'd taken at first to be another branch of the tree, growing out of the one the girl was on, moved. As it did, the ripple of muscles and scales became visible for a moment. Focusing hard, Kanvar made out a monstrous body: four powerful legs with sharp claws, an arched spine the color of leaves down its back, a thin head with powerful jaws and cunning eyes, and a green glow emanating from between its eye ridges.
A Great Green Dragon.
Adapted to the leafy confines of the dense jungle, it was smaller than the blue and the gold dragons but still gigantic compared to Kanvar. And as invisible in the trees as a Great Gold in direct sunlight.
But the girl saw it and knew she was trapped. The drop to the ground from the high branch she was on would kill her. She scooted back a few more feet.
Kanvar moved closer, then let his crossbow down to rest on the ground in order to save his strength. Though the Great Greens' scales weren't as hard as a Great Blue, its hide was thick and strong and secreted a paralyzing poison. Kanvar's bolt would be useless against a Great Green at that height. But at a close range, it might just penetrate the Great Green's hide.
The green darted forward and swung its long whip-like tail around to rub the poison on the girl's skin. The girl yelped and threw herself from the branch before the tail touched her.
Kanvar sucked in an anguished breath, expecting the girl to fall to the jungle floor. Instead she swung in an arc away from the branch, her hand wrapped around a vine she caught as she went over the side. She made it to the next tree, grabbed another vine, and slid down it. She hit the ground running, while on the branch above, the Great Green hunched in preparation to launch itself after her.
"This way," Kanvar yelled, waving the crossbow.
The girl saw the weapon, switched directions, and ran straight for Kanvar.
The green pivoted to face them and dove from the high branch. It spread its massive front and
"Why?" he cried. "Why would Devaj risk his life to come in search of a little brother as repulsive and useless as I am?"
He had no answer.
A piercing scream startled him from his fevered haze.
Chapter Six
Kanvar rubbed the sweat from his eyes and glanced out into the jungle for the source of the scream. Hundreds of species of trees spread their branches from the understory up through the great canopy. Moss hung on the trunks branches as well as flowering vines and a rainbow of fungi that filled Kanvar's nose with the smell of living green and decaying wood and leaf. Heavy mist hung in the air, blurring Kanvar's eyesight. The steady throb of insects, croak of frogs, and call of birds, silenced in the wake of the scream that came once and then again.
A human scream. That of a girl.
Deep in a thick stand of trees, Kanvar saw a movement of mottled green. He unfastened his crossbow and got it armed with a shaking hand. The girl screamed again from the direction, Kanvar had seen the movement.
Kanvar left his walking stick behind and staggered toward the sound. He couldn't hold it and the crossbow at the same time. The cut in his leg throbbed with fire as he put his whole weight on it, but his leg held him up for the moment.
He blinked, trying to clear the fevered sweat from his eyes, and saw a girl, perched on a thick branch far above his head. She wore mottled green clothes that blended with the leaves around her, and her skin was the same flaked gray as the tree's bark. Only the brown pouch that hung over her shoulder and the black braid, which reached down her back, gave her away. That and the sudden cry she made as she scrambled farther out along the branch.
The cause of her cry took a moment longer for Kanvar to focus on. What he'd taken at first to be another branch of the tree, growing out of the one the girl was on, moved. As it did, the ripple of muscles and scales became visible for a moment. Focusing hard, Kanvar made out a monstrous body: four powerful legs with sharp claws, an arched spine the color of leaves down its back, a thin head with powerful jaws and cunning eyes, and a green glow emanating from between its eye ridges.
A Great Green Dragon.
Adapted to the leafy confines of the dense jungle, it was smaller than the blue and the gold dragons but still gigantic compared to Kanvar. And as invisible in the trees as a Great Gold in direct sunlight.
But the girl saw it and knew she was trapped. The drop to the ground from the high branch she was on would kill her. She scooted back a few more feet.
Kanvar moved closer, then let his crossbow down to rest on the ground in order to save his strength. Though the Great Greens' scales weren't as hard as a Great Blue, its hide was thick and strong and secreted a paralyzing poison. Kanvar's bolt would be useless against a Great Green at that height. But at a close range, it might just penetrate the Great Green's hide.
The green darted forward and swung its long whip-like tail around to rub the poison on the girl's skin. The girl yelped and threw herself from the branch before the tail touched her.
Kanvar sucked in an anguished breath, expecting the girl to fall to the jungle floor. Instead she swung in an arc away from the branch, her hand wrapped around a vine she caught as she went over the side. She made it to the next tree, grabbed another vine, and slid down it. She hit the ground running, while on the branch above, the Great Green hunched in preparation to launch itself after her.
"This way," Kanvar yelled, waving the crossbow.
The girl saw the weapon, switched directions, and ran straight for Kanvar.
The green pivoted to face them and dove from the high branch. It spread its massive front and
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