Read Online The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) by Craig Halloran - Free Book Online Page A

my right foot, twisted the other way, and dashed through the busted doorway into the rain.
    I was drenched the moment I made it out into the river of mud that was supposed to be a street. I heard a horse nicker nearby and dashed that way. Brenwar, my horse in tow, was galloping down the road, hooves splashing in the water.
    “Run, Dragon!”
    The heavy boots were trampling behind me as I sprinted alongside Brenwar, grabbed ahold of the saddle on my horse, and pulled myself up.
    “Great timing,” I yelled up toward Brenwar as we began our gallop away. “I couldn’t have done better myself— ulp! ”
    Something that burned like fire slammed into my back. Another spear sailed past my head, followed by another. The pain was excruciating as I galloped onward with a spear in my back, holding on for dear life.
    ***
    It was dawn before we stopped riding. I could barely keep my head up, and I swore I’d black out any second. We didn’t slow, not once, taking trails little known to most. I'd been that certain our pursuers were many. I was restless when we stopped along a silvery stream and gave the horses a moment to drink.
    “Finally stopping, are we? Think we lost them?” Brenwar said.
    I slid from my saddle, grimacing.
    “What’s the matter with you, Nath? You look like … Egad! Is that a spear in your back?”
    He hurried over and inspected my wound.
    “Ouch! I don’t need speared again, Brenwar!”
    “Why didn’t you say something, you fool? You could’ve bled to death.”
    “It’s not that bad,” I gasped. “Only a javelin, right?”
    “Sure, and I’m a fairy's uncle. Still, it’s a small one. Not barbed for hunting. It’s wedged between your armor and your back. Hold this.” Brenwar put my reins in my mouth.
    “What for?” I tried to ask.
    “Just bite down. I’ve got to pull the spear out.”
    I shook my head.
    Brenwar yanked out the spear. I screamed. It felt like my entire back was pulled out, and I fell to my knees.
    “I’m going to need to stitch that up. And quick. Are you sure you are feeling sound? That’s a dangerous wound. Another inch it’d be inside a lung.”
    It hurt, but I’d been stitched up by Brenwar before. Besides, I had some salve that would accelerate the healing.
    “All done,” he grumbled as he poked his finger in my face, “and next time, tell me something.”
    “Thanks, Brenwar.” I rolled my shoulder, and my back still burned like fire. At least the rain had passed.
    “You sure you’re feeling well? You don’t look well.”
    “I’ve been recently skewered. I’d assume that's it.”
    “Pah … Yer fine, I guess,” he said, walking away.
    The sun, warm on my face, a feeling that normally gave me comfort, gave me none. Brenwar, usually full of boasts after a battle, was quiet. I picked up a stone and skipped it from my side of the stream to the other.
    “Another dragon saved,” I said. “A fairly powerful ruffie, at that.”
    “Aye,” Brenwar said, refilling his canteen. “Some fight, too. Works up the ol’ appetite, it does.” He thumped his armored belly with his fist. “How about I snare a rabbit or two?”
    “I’ve got my bow.”
    “Are ye daft? Ye didn’t bring yer bow,” he argued, his busy face widening with worry.
    “What?” I said, “You look like you just swallowed a halfling. Brenwar …”
    The world wobbled beneath me. Bright spots burst in my eyes: pink, green, and yellow. Brenwar’s arms stretched and stretched and stretched toward me, beyond me. His face spun like a pinwheel and was gone. Silence. Blackness. I fell, I think.
    ***
    Finnius stood alongside the High Priestess of the Clerics of Barnabus with a nervous look in his rodent eyes. He’d seen men dead before, but not so many, not like this. He couldn’t imagine how Nath Dragon had done all this, but the witnesses, the ones that had survived the horror, assured him he had. The arena beneath the Troll’s Toe in Orcen Hold looked like a battlefield. A battle that they