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

General Shiloh,” Ashrin said. “I think you should come too.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’d like to be there. You got here fast. Did you leave the squads behind?”

Ashrin inclined her head. “That’s right. Took to dragonback to get the prisoner here more quickly. The coteries will be along by the end of the day I reckon, depending how quick a pace mine and Jaz’s squads set.”

I smiled at the thought of my lads being put through their paces. I’d have to make sure that they found a barrel of ale awaiting them when they returned.

“Shall we go?” Ashrin asked.

I looked up at Wayne and Garth rollicking through the air. I smiled. It had all been worth it. There could be absolutely no question of that.

“Yeah, I guess we should be getting back to work, huh?” I said.

“Mike!”

It was Elenari, walking quickly over to me.

“What’s up?” I asked, smiling at the elf.

Elenari held out her hand. In the middle of her palm sat a small gray gemstone.

“Wayne’s crystal?” I asked her.

The beautiful elf nodded. “I found it right where he curled up to sleep,” she said. “You best hold on to it and keep it safe.”

I took the gemstone and held it up between forefinger and thumb. It was about the size of my thumbnail.

“Ah, a lovely gray labradorite!” Renji said appreciatively, coming over to peer interestedly at the stone. The djinn had left the bearmancer in the capable hands of Jazmyn. “May I?” she asked.

I handed her the little crystal.

Renji turned the stone over in her hands, smiling to herself.

“Mike,” she said, “let me have this set in a ring for you. I have talked to the blacksmith here. He is a worthy fellow and will do you proud.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’d appreciate that. Anymore necklaces and I think I’d start to look like a jewelry store mannequin.”

“You did it, Mike,” Tamsin said as she peered up at Wayne and Garth. “You really did it.”

“I guess I did,” I said with a smile.

“Mike, let’s go!” Ashrin called.

I squeezed Elenari, Tamsin, and Renji’s shoulders in turn.

“I’ll see you three later,” I said. “Time to go and introduce our bearmancer here to the General.”

“Bearmancer?” Elenari asked, dumbstruck.

“Renji and Tamsin will fill you in,” I said, and hurried away to catch up with the retreating forms of Ashrin, Jazmyn, and the bearmancer they marched between them.

Only a short time later, the four of us stood in front of the imposing figure of General Shiloh.

The bearmancer, still with her arms behind her back and her wrists bound, appeared at peace with her situation. She did not seem like someone who was thinking of making a dash for the nearest exit. To be fair though, trying to get out of a tent with only one exit while being completely surrounded by dragonmancers would have been the most pointless exercise that I could possibly imagine.

General Shiloh sat at her heavy, squat desk with her feet up on the top of a stack of paperwork and regarded the bearmancer minutely, while Ashrin and Jazmyn regaled her with the story of what had happened down in the Subterranean Realms.

The General did not betray a murmur on hearing about the ratfolk, didn’t stir so much as an eyelash at the mention of the wild dragon or the dragondust that had been harvested from it. She grunted when we told her about the discovery of the ratfolk settlement, but whether that was a grunt of surprise or of amusement I couldn’t have said.

When Jazmyn finished with how we had come to be in possession of the bearmancer, after I had taken her down while she tried to flee from us, the General made an approving face and removed her boots from her desk. She got to her feet and walked slowly around the desk. She seemed to drag that unique menace with her that all military officers of a certain rank have; the kind of menace that could manifest itself as furious anger, quickly and without warning.

“So bearmancer,” she barked suddenly, “that is the tale of how you came to be here, eh? You have information on where more of these Etherstones can be found and you wished to make a bargain? That is all very well and good, although, of course, that depends on what our side of the bargain includes.”

The bearmancer said nothing. She simply stared ahead of her, at the canvas wall of General Shiloh’s tent. Her breath came steadily and, if I concentrated, I could hear the rush of her steady pulse, mirrored by the slight throb in the side of her neck. She was not scared.

“I will keep the questions brief, friendly, and easy to understand, bearmancer,” General Shiloh said. “So long as your answers are the same, we need not implement more vigorous means of questioning. Understood?”

The bearmancer nodded her shaved head.

“Spiffing!” the General said. “Dragonmancer Jazmyn, if you would release our guest’s hands, please.”

Jazmyn walked behind the bearmancer, muttered a couple of words, and then ripped the rope off her wrists as easily as if it had been string. I realized then that the rope must have been enchanted by dragonblood so it could hold the bearmancer’s wrists. If the bearmancer had enhanced strength, in the same way that dragonmancers did, she would have been able to bust out regular rope with no trouble whatsoever.

“Your name might be a pleasant way to start this little chat,” the General said, reaching over her desk so that she could grab the jug of Hangman from the shelf behind it along with two pottery cups.

“My name is Hana,” the bearmancer said in her lilting accent. “Bearer of Berne. Bearmancer of the Vetruscan Kingdom.”

The General poured a couple of slugs of Hangman and passed one to Hana.

General Shiloh