Read Online The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below, Book 1) by Don Bassingthwaite - Free Book Online Page A

black heron. The eagle spread its wings and screeched once more, then waddled awkwardly back as Adolan approached and bent down. "Well done, Breek," he said. "Singe, your light?"

    Stunned, the wizard stepped closer and raised his shining rapier high. Over Adolan's shoulder, he got a better look at the dead bird. Its long neck had been broken by the eagle's attack, but it looked almost as if the heron had been on the verge of death already: it was thin and its black feathers seemed strangely oily. The eyes that stared blankly into the night were an eerily bright acid green.

    Singe swallowed. "I didn't know herons perched in trees," he said awkwardly, trying to fill the silence.

    "The tops of trees," Geth said, "yes. The thick of a forest canopy? No. Ado?"

    "It's tainted. But not enough to have triggered the Bull Hole. I've never seen anything quite like it." The druid stood. "We--"

    "We need to go," said Dandra.

    Singe, Adolan, and Geth swung around as one to stare at her. The woman's hands were clenched tight around her spear. There was a terror on her face, Singe saw, that hadn't been there when they were fighting the hunters.

    "They'll be coming." She trembled. "They follow the birds."

    Singe darted forward and steadied her. He glanced at Geth and Adolan. "There was a bird watching me before we were attacked."

    "More hunters coming then?" asked Geth.

    "Or worse," said Adolan softly. "Either way, we shouldn't stay here." He looked to Geth. The shifter nodded and spun around to lope away along the path, his gaze swinging right to left and back. Scouting the way. Singe felt another twinge of familiarity.Nine years before, the shifter had done the same thing in service to the Frostbrand and House Deneith.

    He turned back, however, to find Adolan staring at him. "Put your fight with Geth aside," the druid said. "You're in danger." He looked at Dandra. "Are you going to attack me again?"

    She shook her head urgently. Adolan nodded. "Then come with us, both of you. Quickly." He made a clicking noise with his tongue and the eagle croaked in response, vaulting back into the air and flapping furiously to gain the sky. Adolan gestured with his spear, then turned and ran after Geth with long, confident strides. Dandra pulled out of Singe's arms and raced off in his wake. Her first few paces were on the ground, then she was floating again, moving as quickly as Adolan--faster even. Abruptly, Singe was all but alone, left to stare at the retreating figures of the druid and the kalashtar and at the bodies lying along the path.

    "Twelve moons--" he breathed in confusion.

    His voice froze as a weird fluting call pierced the forest. It was unlike anything he had ever heard: shrill, maddening, and haunting all at once. There was another sound underneath it as well, a vague muttering chant. Singe's teeth snapped together and he sprinted hard after Adolan, the light from his rapier bouncing and sweeping in the darkness.

    The fluting call fell silent, but not the muttering chant. If anything, it seemed louder. Even another of the rolling bellows--louder than before and also closer--did nothing but drown it out for a moment. When the echoes of the bellow faded away, the chanting was closer still. Singe cursed under his breath. He glanced at Dandra, but the kalashtar's eyes were fixed on the path ahead. "Adolan," he gasped, "what's happening? Where are we going?"

    "We're going to the Bull Hole," Adolan said. Even he sounded winded. "We'll be safe there."

    "What's the Bull Hole? What's making that chanting?"

    There was light ahead. Moonlight. Singe caught a glimpse of Geth's hulking form waiting for them. Abruptly, they shot out of the shadows of the forest and into a huge broad clearing. At its center was a jumble of stones.

    He remembered seeing this clearing from the rim of the valley as he and Toller looked down on Bull Hollow. He remembered thinking the stones were the ruins of some building. He couldn't, he realized, have