Read Online Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) by Rainer Domingo - Free Book Online Page A

controlling my actions, my words. As if…”
    “Someone else is inside your head.”
    “Yes. Only Baldazar can explain what he’s done to us.” Drakor shook his head. “If only he were here now.”
    “Can I hold your hand?” Xan asked. She reached out between them even before Drakor responded.
    “Of course,” Drakor said, and took her hand in his.
     
    The morning sunrise brought loud voices, and the sound of clanking armor and swords being removed from their sheaths.
    “Get up scoundrels,” a male voice commanded. “Come on. Come on. We haven’t got all day.”
    Eight men surrounded the group. Each wore chain mail, a polished iron breastplate, a simple round helmet, and had a sword in one hand and a shield with a blue horse-head emblem in the other hand.
    Drakor was still a bit groggy when he got kicked in the ribs. “Hey!” he protested.
    “What are you people? Mercenaries? Bandits? We tracked your footprints from the bridge. Lord Nellis doesn’t like scoundrels on his property,” said the man standing over Drakor.
    “We’re just passing through,” Drakor said as he and the rest of the group stood. “We meant no harm. We’ll be on our way.”
    “Lord Nellis sees everyone who trespasses on his land. You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not.”
    “Not,” Aesus said.
    He rapidly cast several fireballs that struck two men in their faces. They screamed, went silent, and collapsed. Caught off guard by the fireballs, Lord Nellis’s other men froze.
    Toshen bent down, picked up his bow and bowstring, and aimed at the throat of the man in front of him. He released the bowstring, the arrow flew into the man’s throat, and he collapsed. 
    Drakor drew his sword and engaged the man who had kicked him. The man blocked two of Drakor’s blows while he backed up, unaware of a protruding tree root behind him. When he tripped over the root and lost his balance, his arms spread apart and he exposed his face to a direct thrust from Drakor’s blade.
    The four remaining men looked at each other, unsure of what to do. One man turned around and ran toward the group’s horses, twenty yards away. The other men followed.
    “Not this again!” Toshen said. He fired several arrows at the men, catching one in the buttocks and in the back of the neck.
    Aesus targeted a man, and cast two large fireballs that engulfed the man in flames. The man slowed and fell face first onto the ground.
    The other two men had managed to get onto their horses and were getting away.
    “Toshen!” Tess yelled. “Aim above their heads.”
    Toshen aimed as Tess said, unsure where the arrow would strike, and released the bowstring. The arrow hit one of the horses in its hindquarters, and sent the horse and its rider crashing to the ground. When the man stood, Toshen fired another arrow that struck the man in the head.
    The other rider turned his head to see what happened, and failed to see the low-lying branch ahead of him. When he turned his head to look forward, his face smacked right into the branch. He was knocked off the back of his horse, and broke his neck. The horse ran away.
    “This isn’t good,” Tess said. “If Lord Nellis finds out about this, he’ll send men after us.”
    Drakor thought for a moment. “We’ll throw the bodies into the river.”
    “What about the horses?”
    “We’ll take the horses.”
    “We don’t know how to ride horses,” Xan said.
    Aesus turned to Tess. “You know how to ride a horse, don’t you?”
    Tess gave Aesus a puzzled look. “Yes. How is it none of you know how to ride a horse?”
    “We don’t ride horses, we ea—”
    Toshen put his hand over Aesus’s mouth. He looked into Aesus’s eyes and shook his head, and then turned to Tess. “Can you teach us how to ride the horses?”
    “Yes,” Tess said.
    “Let’s take care of the bodies first,” said Drakor.
    He picked up a dead man and walked toward a horse to toss a body on top of it, but the horse moved away as he