Read Online The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) by J.J. Thompson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: J.J. Thompson
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pass.
The deep, narrow canyon
ran a long way, at least a mile. It was an anomaly that Aeris
couldn't explain, but it had given him his idea when they had
stumbled upon it two days earlier as they'd followed the queen.
“ Wait. You want me
to what?” Brethia had asked in surprise.
The three had been
hovering over the arroyo, the queen a distant blur on the horizon.
“ Take her blood.
Look, it's pretty straightforward. Orriss and I can get her angry and
lead her to this canyon, ditch, whatever you want to call it. It's
deep and narrow enough to funnel her in a straight line along its
length, so she won't stray off-course, which is what has been
defeating our efforts to get some blood up until now, right? All you
have to do is hide off to one side,” he pointed to one end of
the arroyo, “that small depression near the entrance will do
nicely. Take a sample as she passes and that will be that. She won't
even feel it.”
Both Brethia and Orriss
had listened dubiously but had agreed to the plan. Neither had any
better ideas and they had been stalking the queen for far too long as
it was.
Please let this work,
Aeris muttered as he zoomed down the narrow canyon. Please, please
let this work.
He waited until he was
several dozen yards into the ancient waterway, if that's what it was,
before looking back. He was just in time to see the massive, scarred
body of the dragon queen surge into the canyon, actually becoming
airborne for a few seconds due to her tremendous speed. It was a
magnificent, horrific sight and Aeris felt a rush of fear as he tried
to increase his own velocity and stay out of the reach of the
monster.
She landed with an
earth-shaking crash, dirt and debris flying in all directions and
sending a cloud of dust shooting down the canyon. The cloud engulfed
Aeris and he was blinded in an instant.
He had no choice. Without
his sense of sight and with an enraged giant wyrm on his tail, Aeris
knew that he wouldn't survive more than a few seconds if he became
disoriented. So he did the only thing he could do; he turned
invisible and shot straight up out of the arroyo to safety.
It was very close though.
He actually felt the searing, magical breath of the queen on his back
and heard her immense stomach gurgling as he flew out of range. It
was one of the most terrifying situations he'd ever been through and
not something he intended to repeat.
When he was about two
hundred feet above the ground, Aeris became visible again and looked
down.
The mad queen had already
traversed the arroyo and was racing off mindlessly toward the
horizon, probably still unaware that her prey had escaped. Aeris felt
a momentary pang of sympathy for her endless plight and then looked
around for Brethia and Orriss.
He saw both of them
ascending to join him and he saw twin expressions of satisfaction on
their faces. He felt a swoop of hope as he waited for them; maybe the
plan had worked. At least they were all still alive.
“ Did you get it?”
he asked Brethia eagerly when she arrived.
She made a swirling motion
with both hands and a glowing globule of green liquid appeared
between them.
“ As ordered, a dram
of dragon queen blood,” she replied with a wide smile. “She
never even noticed the small wound I made between her scales. I had
to be quick and precise, but I managed it.”
Orriss cheered and Aeris
congratulated Brethia heartily. She shrugged and shook her head.
“ We did it as a
team, my friends,” she told them. “Our wizard will
hopefully be pleased.”
“ I think we can be
certain that Simon will be ecstatic,” Aeris assured her. “And,
as we have been given permission to return when our mission was done,
you can both teleport back to the tower as soon as you'd like.”
“ Excellent. I for
one am tired of the endless sand of this place,” Orriss said.
He disappeared with a
small pop, leaving Aeris and Brethia to stare at the yellowish smudge
in the distance that was the dragon queen.
“ Shouldn't one
The deep, narrow canyon
ran a long way, at least a mile. It was an anomaly that Aeris
couldn't explain, but it had given him his idea when they had
stumbled upon it two days earlier as they'd followed the queen.
“ Wait. You want me
to what?” Brethia had asked in surprise.
The three had been
hovering over the arroyo, the queen a distant blur on the horizon.
“ Take her blood.
Look, it's pretty straightforward. Orriss and I can get her angry and
lead her to this canyon, ditch, whatever you want to call it. It's
deep and narrow enough to funnel her in a straight line along its
length, so she won't stray off-course, which is what has been
defeating our efforts to get some blood up until now, right? All you
have to do is hide off to one side,” he pointed to one end of
the arroyo, “that small depression near the entrance will do
nicely. Take a sample as she passes and that will be that. She won't
even feel it.”
Both Brethia and Orriss
had listened dubiously but had agreed to the plan. Neither had any
better ideas and they had been stalking the queen for far too long as
it was.
Please let this work,
Aeris muttered as he zoomed down the narrow canyon. Please, please
let this work.
He waited until he was
several dozen yards into the ancient waterway, if that's what it was,
before looking back. He was just in time to see the massive, scarred
body of the dragon queen surge into the canyon, actually becoming
airborne for a few seconds due to her tremendous speed. It was a
magnificent, horrific sight and Aeris felt a rush of fear as he tried
to increase his own velocity and stay out of the reach of the
monster.
She landed with an
earth-shaking crash, dirt and debris flying in all directions and
sending a cloud of dust shooting down the canyon. The cloud engulfed
Aeris and he was blinded in an instant.
He had no choice. Without
his sense of sight and with an enraged giant wyrm on his tail, Aeris
knew that he wouldn't survive more than a few seconds if he became
disoriented. So he did the only thing he could do; he turned
invisible and shot straight up out of the arroyo to safety.
It was very close though.
He actually felt the searing, magical breath of the queen on his back
and heard her immense stomach gurgling as he flew out of range. It
was one of the most terrifying situations he'd ever been through and
not something he intended to repeat.
When he was about two
hundred feet above the ground, Aeris became visible again and looked
down.
The mad queen had already
traversed the arroyo and was racing off mindlessly toward the
horizon, probably still unaware that her prey had escaped. Aeris felt
a momentary pang of sympathy for her endless plight and then looked
around for Brethia and Orriss.
He saw both of them
ascending to join him and he saw twin expressions of satisfaction on
their faces. He felt a swoop of hope as he waited for them; maybe the
plan had worked. At least they were all still alive.
“ Did you get it?”
he asked Brethia eagerly when she arrived.
She made a swirling motion
with both hands and a glowing globule of green liquid appeared
between them.
“ As ordered, a dram
of dragon queen blood,” she replied with a wide smile. “She
never even noticed the small wound I made between her scales. I had
to be quick and precise, but I managed it.”
Orriss cheered and Aeris
congratulated Brethia heartily. She shrugged and shook her head.
“ We did it as a
team, my friends,” she told them. “Our wizard will
hopefully be pleased.”
“ I think we can be
certain that Simon will be ecstatic,” Aeris assured her. “And,
as we have been given permission to return when our mission was done,
you can both teleport back to the tower as soon as you'd like.”
“ Excellent. I for
one am tired of the endless sand of this place,” Orriss said.
He disappeared with a
small pop, leaving Aeris and Brethia to stare at the yellowish smudge
in the distance that was the dragon queen.
“ Shouldn't one
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