Read Online Dragon's Egg by Sarah L. Thomson - Free Book Online Page A

sharp. Mella stared at him. He didn’t sound like friendly, inoffensive Roger anymore. He sounded like someone you wouldn’t want to cross.
    â€œAnd how long do you think you’ll stay in one piece after my father has me back?”
    Alain laughed again. “Why, as long as you want your little friend there to stay alive.” He nodded at Mella, who felt her throat go cold and tight. “She’ll make an excellent passport into the next kingdom, or even the next. It was very considerate of you to provide me with a hostage.”He reached out toward Roger’s face again. Mella flinched, but the man only ruffled Roger’s hair.
    â€œLet’s understand each other now. If you do as I say, I’ll treat you well enough. But any trouble you cause me, you’ll quickly regret. Meanwhile, let’s see what gifts you brought me, shall we?” He got to his feet and walked around to the back of the wagon.
    â€œIs your father rich?” Mella hissed at Roger.
    â€œVery,” Roger mumbled. He was chewing on the knots again.
    â€œBut how did that man know?”
    Roger shrugged. “He must have—” He broke off and quickly lowered his hands as Alain came back around the corner of the wagon, carrying Mella’s sack and the leather pack full of Roger’s belongings.
    Mella burned with helpless anger as the merchant emptied her sack, scattering its contents across the grass. “Let’s see what we have here. I’d be a poor host to let my guests get cold, wouldn’t I?” He tossed Mella’s cloak at her. She wrappedit around her shoulders as best she could with her hands tied and watched while Alain picked up her coral necklace, dangled it from his fingers to examine it in the firelight, and flicked it aside into the grass. “Worthless. But what’s this?” He picked up the metal box that held the Egg.
    Mella exchanged a desperate glance with Roger as Alain flipped open the lid of the box. His eyebrows lifted.
    â€œIt’s a firestone,” Mella said quickly. “If you put it in the fire overnight, it will keep its heat all day.”
    â€œIt’s valuable,” Roger added earnestly. “Worth…I don’t know how much.”
    Still ignoring Mella, Alain looked at Roger with narrowed eyes. “I have never heard of a firestone.”
    â€œThey’re very rare,” Roger told him. “It was a gift to my father. There are only five in the world. But you have to put it in the fire. If it grows cold, all its magic will be gone.”
    Alain studied Roger thoughtfully. Then he smiled.
    â€œPut it in the fire, must I? And if I do, what then? It will burn to nothing? It will explode, perhaps?” He shut the lid of the box. “No, I’ll take this to a business acquaintance of mine. I’m sure it must be important; you were so anxious to have me destroy it.”
    He dug through Roger’s pack—an extra shirt, a dagger in its sheath, a small leather-bound book, a water-smoothed stone, an intricately curled shell. Something wrapped in a scrap of linen looked like it might be precious. Alain unwound it with interest only to find two birds’ eggs, each a pale, unearthly blue, packed in dried moss to keep them safe. Alain snorted and crushed them between his thumb and finger. Roger, who hadn’t made a sound when he was struck, winced.
    Hefting Roger’s purse in his hand, Alain frowned at its weight and poured its copper and silver coins into his hand. “Not much for your father’s son,” he said, sounding offended, as if Roger had cheated him in a bargain.
    But Mella, even though surprised at Roger’s wealth—she’d rarely seen so many coins together at one time—could not take her eyes off the box that held the Egg. It had not been in the fire since the night before. It would be getting cold, too cold.
    She felt cold as well, with despair. Bad enough that they