Read Online The Dragondain by Richard Due - Free Book Online Page A

Darce. So he said goodbye and left with the others.
    The festival spread all the way from one side of the valley to the other. Down the wide thoroughfare in the center was a long strip of open arenas that ran from the main gates of the city for at least a mile. The people who had come to watch these contests were better dressed than the crowd outside The Singing Clam, and nearly all of them wore robes.
    They walked past one arena after another, each with a small tent posted at either end. The crowd increased and people began shouting when they recognized Annora and Bree. The sisters waved at them, smiling. At one of the small tents Annora and Bree stopped. The company wished them well in their bout, with a bit of trash talking aimed at the Lintel brothers. Then the sisters disappeared through the tent flaps.
    Walking shoulder to shoulder, Falin and Grimm cleared a wide path, leading the group to a long row of wooden benches up front. A small mob of youths who all seemed to know each other had saved them places. Ridley made the introductions.
    First there was the pale-skinned Andra, Falin and Grimm’s younger sister. She was tall like Lily, but shared her brothers’ dark hair and powerful build. Like them, she was dressed all in black. She towered over Ridley, projecting a powerful presence.
    Moving down the bench, Ridley introduced Byrne, Penryn, and Alasdair, all brothers. Byrne looked around Jasper’s age, while his brothers were about ten or eleven. Byrne had wiry hair and a slim form, except for his shoulders, which were broad and strong. He and his brothers were wearing the closest thing to normal clothing that Jasper had seen thus far.
    “They’re archers,” whispered Ridley in Jasper’s ear. “You should see them shoot. Penryn has the same eye as Boots, his father, but don’t tell Byrne that, and you didn’t hear it from me, either.”
    Next Ridley introduced Ren and Prin, sisters. Ren looked to be Lily’s age. She was slender, fair-haired and fair-skinned. Prin’s complexion was equally fair, but her dark eyes stood out. “They’re both lunamancers like their dad, Arric,” whispered Ridley, “but their mother is teaching them the bow, so it’s hard to say which they’ll choose.”
    “These last two,” said Ridley, lowering his voice still further, “are Nye and Luna.”
    Jasper ached for a notepad, a scrap of paper, anything. He didn’t want to face Lily having forgotten a single detail of all this genealogy—she would slay him.
    “And whose kids are they?” Jasper asked Ridley quietly.
    Ridley pressed his lips close to Jasper’s ear. “Marred and Raewyn’s. Nye’s a healer, like his mom, but his dad has been teaching them both the sword. Luna . . . Luna is still . . . deciding,” said Ridley kindly.
    Nye pushed his hood back a few inches, revealing dark, freckled skin, dark lips, and a brooding face. He took Jasper’s hand in a strong grip, and gave a smile that was surprisingly boyish. Luna, who was much younger, waved. Her face was hidden by a festive mask, made to look like two fighting dragons, with the eye holes in the coils of their long and tangled bodies. Jasper had seen many masks at the fair, and dragons were a common theme.
    They moved to an empty space on the bench, and Jasper sat down between Ridley and Falin. Ridley was certainly proving to be a font of information, and his young age made Jasper feel very comfortable asking him questions.
    “What’s the deal with Nye and Luna?” asked Jasper, cupping a hand to Ridley’s ear.
    “They aren’t allowed within the city. None of them are, though sometimes they sneak in.”
    This struck Jasper as odd. He rifled his mind for all the bedtime tales he knew involving healers, but he couldn’t remember any that would explain why they would be living apart from everyone else.
    “Why?” asked Jasper.
    “Why what?”
    “Why do they live outside the city? Isn’t that dangerous?”
    “They’re not trusted. People say they