Read Online Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell - Free Book Online Page A

her lap. When I made to pull it back underneath my cloak, she swatted at me lightly. “You’re in pain, Tilda.”
    Parz didn’t look up, being busy whittling something.
    â€œWhat are you so intent on whittling, Parz—I mean, Lord Parzifal?” Judith asked.
    â€œSpears,” Parz said. “In case we meet a dragon tomorrow.”
    Judith quirked her eyebrows at me, and I shrugged. She dug her thumbs into the tight tendons of my foot. I sucked my breath in to keep from crying out. Parz glanced up. I tried not to blush. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for cramping if Judith didn’t help me.
    â€œCalm night,” Parz commented a moment later. “A lucky thing for this time of year. We wouldn’t want to meet the Wild Hunt.”
    â€œHush!” Judith said. “Don’t speak of them.”
    I laughed uneasily. “The Wild Hunt aren’t like hearthgoblins or elves. They can’t hear you talking about them from miles away. And even if they could, they don’t come when you mention them.”
    â€œI still don’t want to talk about . . . them,” Judith said.
    We fell silent, but I doubted any of us stopped thinking of the group of immortal huntsmen who rode with their horses and hounds across the earth on restless nights, collecting souls of the dead and punishing wrongdoers. We’d all heard stories of them when the wind rose in the autumn. Take care to speak the truth, or the Wild Hunt might find you , Frau Oda, my mother’s handmaiden, used to say to Judith and me.
    When Judith was done with my foot, I got up and pulled out my writing box and the Handbook . Balancing the book on my lap, I opened to the first page, and wrote out the book curse I had been planning.
    â€œWhat are you writing, Tilda?” Parz asked.
    â€œThe book curse. Every book needs one.” I read it out loud. “Whosoever steals this book shall BURN in the FIERY CONFLAGRATION of a DRAGON’S BREATH and will also LOSE THEIR NOSE to PUTREFACTION.”
    â€œEw, putrefacting noses? That’s disgusting!” Judith said.
    â€œYou can’t scare people with a curse if it isn’t terrifying,” I said.
    Parz frowned. “Is it really going to stop anyone?”
    â€œWould you steal a cursed book?”
    â€œOf course not. But I’m going to be a knight. I wouldn’t steal.” He took up another sapling and started whittling a point on the end.
    â€œWhat’s with all the weapons?” Judith asked. “And tell the truth this time, Parz—I mean, Lord Parzifal!” She added the honorific after a sidelong glance at me.
    â€œJust east of here . . . about a mile . . . there’s a dragon’s hold.”
    â€œA dragon?” Judith shrieked.
    â€œA small dragon!” Parz said, making a calming gesture I’d seen him use on his horse.
    â€œA small dragon?” Judith shouted.
    â€œIt will be fine!” Parz said. “I learned about it back in King’s Winter. It’s a young beast we can take with just swords and these makeshift spears. It’ll be good practice.”
    I had thought Judith’s shrieking and shouting were because she was angry, but now she clapped her hands. I stared at her. She wasn’t angry. She was thrilled .
    â€œWait,” I said. “We haven’t done any of the research you were talking about. We haven’t spoken with any other dragon slayers. The handbook is almost completely blank! And Parz, you’ve pretty much said yourself you’re less than half trained in this. And Judith has barely any training at all! You’ll get her killed! She doesn’t want to fight your ‘small’ dragon.”
    Judith’s eyes had been shining like she was about to receive a gift, but now her whole expression fell, smile into frown. “Princess Mathilda,” she said formally. “That is untrue. I want to fight this