Dragon Breeder 3 by Dante King (e novels to read online .TXT) 📕

part of things, but generally just getting in the way and being a bit of a nuisance.

The crunch of approaching footsteps stirred me from my gazing. I glanced up and saw Jazmyn and Ashrin approaching along with the older dragonmancer in the scarlet cloak.

I quickly stuffed the stew-coated bit of bread that Gabby had just handed me into my mouth, brushed off my hands, and got to my feet. Chewing quickly and then swallowing, I walked out to meet the dragonmancer with Renji and Tamsin following a few steps behind. Behind them, drifting silently along like a tobacco-smelling fart, came Diggens Azee.

The newcomer had a squarish face under her wavy gray hair. A small mouth sat beneath a sharp nose and a pair of clever hazel eyes. Her pointed ears told me that she was an elf of some kind. She came to a halt a couple of paces away from me and held out her hand. In the way of the dragonmancers, I put out my own hand and we clasped forearms.

“Well met, Dragonmancer,” the woman said in a hearty voice that I instantly found myself trusting. “I’m Dragonmancer Kenia, Bearer of Pherlo the Sand Dragon.”

“Dragonmancer Noctis, Bearer of Noctis the Onyx Dragon and Garth the Pearl Dragon,” I said.

“You did damn well here for a Rank One,” Kenia said to me, looking around approvingly at the bloody work that had been done to the ratfolk. “I’m a Rank Two myself, but I think I would have been pretty hard pushed to make this sort of beautiful mess back in my youth!”

It wasn’t a slight or a dig, but I still felt myself bridling just a touch. More and more, I was getting the impression that there was maybe a little less to the ranking system among dragonmancers than I initially thought. I wondered how quickly it was possible to ascend to the level of Jazmyn and Ahrin? How long had it taken them to become members of this illustrious Twelve that they spoke of?

“Well,” I said tactfully, “every man and woman of us did their part, you know.”

Kenia nodded. “I don’t doubt it,” she said approvingly before clapping her leather gauntleted hands. “Now, has anyone taken a wee look into this hole that the ratfolk used to burrow up into this main shaft?”

All of us shook our heads.

“We haven’t really had the chance to explore,” I said. “The attack happened so quickly that we more or less fought it off, and then the soldiers came in here to clean up.”

“Understood,” Kenia said. “I have everything I need for my report to General Shiloh. I’m going to deliver it personally, once I’ve overseen the cleanup and ensured there’s a fresh outpost here.”

“I see you’re onto that already,” Jazmyn said, nodding at where five or six tents were being erected along one wall of the cavern. “Commendable speed.”

“Aye, well, you cannot piss about down here,” Kenia said. “You two know that as well as any. If more of these ratfolk appear, we need to be able to deal with them in short order.” She puffed out her cheeks and looked around the cavern. “Yes indeed, this will make for a nice little forward staging area. Can’t think why we didn’t set up here before. Probably a lack of men or something like that.”

“Yeah, it had unlimited freshwater,” I said. “But how much use that mineral pond will be now that it’s had a whole army of dead ratfolk sitting in it I don’t know.”

Kenia stroked her jaw. “I think you will find that that pond will be all right in time, Dragonmancer Noctis. Like you say, it’s an unlimited source. It trickles in slowly through that crack in the wall there and down into the pond. It doesn’t just sit there though; it seeps slowly back through the porous rock and back into the earth. After a few days, that pond will be as clear and clean as it always has been.”

“That’s something at least,” Ashrin said.

“Aye, but now, with respect Dragonmancers Ashrin and Jazmyn, tell me; do any of you have any guesses as to what’s down that tunnel? General Shiloh would appreciate any info she can get about where the ratfolk and, more pertinently, that dragon came from. Even if it’s just speculation.”

The five of us dragonmancers exchanged glances. I for one had no idea what else might be down that tunnel.

A surreptitious clearing of a throat sounded from behind us. Kenia looked over my shoulder, and her small mouth stretched into a patient grin.

“Ah, I didn’t know that you were part of this here company, Mr. Azee,” she said.

Diggens stepped forward and blew a nonchalant smoke-ring. “Good day to you, Dragonmancer Kenia,” he said affably. “Always a pleasure to clap eyes on your mug.”

The dragonmancer snorted. “If it isn’t Galipolas Mountain’s most illustrious sapper and treasure hunter. Am I to understand by that polite clearing of the throat that you know something? That you might be able to shed a little light onto this fresh tunnel of ours? The General would appreciate any help.”

Diggens shrugged and stuck his smoke between his teeth. When he spoke, the thin roll-up jiggled up and down in a vaguely hypnotic fashion.

“I might be able to shed a candle’s worth of light on it,” he said grudgingly. “At the very least a glow-worm’s worth.”

“Go on then,” Kenia prompted.

Diggens tucked his thumbs into his tool belt. “Now, this here tunnel looks to me to be heading in a generally south-westerly direction. Couple that with a downward gradient that must be, oh, eleven degrees, that means that this tunnel goes someplace special. It goes in an unexplored direction. None of the other tunnels or mine shafts that we have explored go there.”

“How do you know that?” Renji asked.

Diggens took a slow drag on his smoke