Read Online Dragons of the Watch by Donita K. Paul - Free Book Online Page A

socks looked extra shabby next to the rich fabric of the chair. She sat cross-legged with her feet tucked under her skirt.
    “Are we going to start from the beginning?” she asked.
    “No, I’m looking for the last entry I read.” Bealomondore turned pages with effort. The small task involved walking from one side of the book, grasping the paper’s edge, and dragging it back. “Ah! Here we are.”
    He stood back a few steps and looked up, then read the tidy script.
“The silence weighs heavily on my soul. When I can stand it no longer, I go to a window on the second floor and open it. Sometimes I can hear the birds. It is best at night, when insects serenade the cool breezes. It is worst when the remnant is close enough for me to hear their coarse screams, horrid laughter, taunts, and threats. Of course, they don’t bother me. None of their jeers are directed toward me. But they heap scorn upon each other. I’ve not seen an act of kindness in a century or more. But then, I don’t watch them as I used to. Observing their conduct saddens me beyond what I can
bear. To think that the mighty urohms are represented by selfish, grubby little fiends
.
    “I wonder when I die how long they will go on in their perpetual childhood.”
    Ellie let out a long, slow breath. “He doesn’t sound very happy, does he?”
    Bealomondore sat down with his back against the arm of the chair. “No, he doesn’t.”
    He clasped his hands and rested them on his knees. He appeared to be lost in thought, and Ellie did not disturb him. As he puzzled over whatever was on his mind, she read the second page in the book.
“I think perhaps Wulder has sent someone to take my place as guardian of the library. A tumanhofer—”
    “Bealomondore, look.” She pointed to the lettering. “He does know you’re here. He’s mentioned you.”
    The tumanhofer started and followed her pointing finger. He jumped up and read aloud.
“A tumanhofer visits the library. For almost two months now. At first I thought he was my overactive imagination, a vision of a dream of mine come true, or perhaps a thief who stumbled upon our bottled city. I can’t bring myself to talk to him. It’s been so long since I’ve had a conversation with anyone but myself. But since he came, I find I don’t talk to myself as much. I fear he will overhear me and jump out of some shadow to confront me. That would be most uncomfortable, and I am old. Surely he wouldn’t frighten an old man.”
    The entry in the journal ended.
    Ellie giggled. “I don’t think he wants you jumping out at him and scaring him to death. He obviously wanted you to be forewarned. Scare him, and he won’t answer any questions.”
    Bealomondore took hold of the page and hauled it to the otherside. He glanced up and smiled. “Good guess. Listen to this.
‘I fear I would be scared to death. I am no longer striving to live longer, but my idea of a pleasant passing would be to sleep and not wake up.’
 ”
    “That’s sad,” said Ellie.
    “He often writes about years of being alone. I’ve only been here two months, and I have had too much of my own company.”
    “So you are glad Tak and I showed up?”
    He studied her for a moment before smiling. “You aren’t too bad.”
    “You sound like one of my brothers.”
    He winked at her. Her brothers never winked at her. Something passed through his expression that did not look like a brother at all. She looked away and wondered if the warmth in her cheeks meant she was blushing. Did the amount of heat determine the height of the red coloring? She looked back at him, but he didn’t seem to be aware of her discomfort. Perhaps he was as obtuse as her brothers.
    He studied a fingernail on his hand. Her brothers would have had half a yard of dirt under their toenails and the other half under their fingernails.
    Bealomondore put his clean hands on his thighs. “I have sisters and one brother. I enjoyed giving my sisters a hard time. My older brother did