Read The Green Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book (Dragon Series 3) Online
Authors: Salvador Mercer
The Green Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book (Dragon Series 3)
The
Green
Dragon
SALVADOR
MERCER
The Green Dragon
Copyright © 2016 by
Salvador Mercer
.
All Rights Reserved
First Electronic Edition
Published by Diamond Star Publishing
For information contact;
[email protected]
Edited by:
Courtney Umphress
Book and Cover design by Christine Savoie aka ‘Cagnes’ c2016
Art and Stock Photo Credits:
Interior Icons:
Svetlana Shirokova
|
Dreamstime.com
Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ASIN: B01F18BE0U
First Edition: May 2016
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Other Books by Salvador Mercer
Claire-Agon Dragon Series
The Black Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 1
The Blue Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 2
Claire-Agon Ranger Series
Ranger Rising: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 1
Dead Druid: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 2
Sci-Fi-Technothriller
Book Description
A thousand years ago, on the world of Claire-Agon, a war raged between men and dragons.
In Vulcrest, nearly a century before the Great Dragon War, a boy’s life was changed forever. Sheltered by a Druid of the Arnen, Elly Brown was raised in the druidic order destined to confront his childhood terror and become one of the most feared defenders in all of Agon, Elister the Druid.
Near the heart of Vulcrest’s Greenfeld Forest, the heir to the throne, Helvie, and her Paladin protector, Fist of Astor, Lucina, investigate a strange series of murders while the sinister Kesh ally with Vulcrest’s ancient enemy, the realm of Ekins in an attempt to dominate the frontier realm, laying siege to its capital, Vulkor.
Facing the destruction of her realm, Helvie must unite with an unlikely group of companions to free her homeland, but a deadly, ancient, woodland nemesis has other plans.
Helvie soon discovers that, in the world of Claire-Agon, when dealing with a Green Dragon, sometimes rules were meant to be broken.
For:
Ryan
&
Walter
Elly
“It’s looking right at me,” the boy said to his mother, pointing into the forest at something she couldn’t see and, with her usual exasperation at her son’s vivid imagination, didn’t care to.
“That’s fine, Elly. Don’t you think you should finish your chores before your father returns from his hunt?” the boy’s mother said, never bothering to look up from her work where she was rinsing their clothes in a large tin basin and then laying them across a thin rope line to hang in the brisk morning air.
“Awe, Mom, you never believe me when I tell you things,” Elly said, looking one last time at the huge eyes peering back at him from the canopy of trees near his home. “Besides, Papa is late again.”
Elly’s mother stopped her wringing for a moment but did not look up at her son. She realized that despite her many efforts to say nothing, her son had noticed her husband’s prolonged absence. She preferred to worry in silence and not upset her children, but even at only eight years old, Elly was special. He saw things and noticed things that other children didn’t.
“What’s he going on about now?” a girl in a plain brown dress with an off-white apron tied around it said as she brought out a wooden bucket filled with utensils.
“Now, Evelyn, you don’t need to upset your brother again. He misses his pa is all.” The woman resumed her wringing and hanging of their laundry.
Evelyn set the bucket down nearby on a large rock and reached for an empty bucket lying on the ground nearby that she intended to fill at the creek near where Elly was standing. Most homesteads were built near, or next to, water in any civilization, and in Agon, things were no different. “He always misses our pa,” she said.
“Don’t upset him,” the mother repeated herself. “Go on, get the water and let’s finish our chores. We still have dinner to cook and linen that needs drying. The sooner you finish with the dishes, the sooner you can help me hang the clothes.”
Evelyn sighed, thinking that she did twice the chores of her brother, who even now was supposed to be pulling eggs from the henhouse. Boy, was he ever dense when it came to work. Always more interested in the forest than the farm. “All right, Mother, I’ll be right back, but tell Elly to get the eggs before the hens panic and cause a fuss.”
The mother nodded, calling to Elly. “Son, go and gather the eggs before the hens return to their nests.”
Elly started to head in the direction of their henhouse when the distinct sound of hooves sounded from far away, growing louder, quicker, and it was evident that they were approaching and would arrive soon. Father traveled on foot, so the three homesteaders stopped to look across the grassy field, hesitant to see who would arrive.
Soon, the banners of Baron Vulgrin were visible as a half-dozen riders heavily armed on horseback approached them. None of them moved until the first rider halted, holding up a hand and addressing the mother. “State your name.”
The baron’s men were not for foolishness, and they brooked none either. It was common in the barony of Vulcrest for the ruler’s men to question in this manner. The mother answered, “I am Emma, wife to Emery Brown.”
The rider nodded. “I am Lord Owen, protector of the baron’s lands, and this is Tibbott, the baron’s local magistrate.”
“Yes, we know Master Tibbott well,” Emma said, her voice not sounding as kind as when she first addressed Lord Owen. “What do you want?”
Tibbott all but sneered, interrupting Lord Owen. “Where’s your man, Emma?”
“He’s on the hunt,” Emma replied defensively, looking to her children who had stopped what they were doing. She didn’t like Tibbott. He was known in their region as a poor official and seemed to be both corrupt and facetious with the locals. He wasn’t trusted, only tolerated at best. “Children, go on, get to your chores.”
Evelyn obeyed, walking toward Elly and ruffling the hair on his head as she passed him. He grinned in amusement at his older sister and started off toward the henhouse nearby. Emma watched as most of the men stared at her daughter, with Tibbott seeming to leer at her. Finally, Lord Owen, realizing their inappropriate behavior, returned to business. “When will he return?”
Emma gave Tibbott a stern look and responded, “He’s overdue even now. Could return at any time.” Emma wanted to let the soldiers know, though even more so, Tibbott, that her husband was nearby. While she knew the baron to be a fair, if stern, ruler, she dreaded the idea of any interaction with the local official.
“Has he been poaching in our baron’s forest?” Tibbott said, accusing her husband of what essentially amounted to a death sentence.
“No need to question the woman so harshly,” Lord Owen said, giving Tibbott his own look of disapproval, as, no doubt, traveling with the local magistrate was taxing, even to the baron’s men.
“It’s Emma Brown, my lord,” Emma corrected.
“Yes, Lady Emma,” Lord Owen said, and Tibbott grinned in derision at the title. Emma was no lady and knew it.
“Simply Emma will do, my lord. Is there something I can help you with?”
Lord Owen nodded. “As the local magistrate here said, there has been poaching going on in and around the baron’s forest, and we’re here to investigate.”
The charges were serious, and Emma knew it. “What kind of poaching? You know, my husband only takes the one deer each season that the good baron allows.”
“This is more serious,” Lord Owen said. “Poaching isn’t really a good word to describe what has been happening around here.”
“What are you saying?” Emma asked, not understanding.
“I’m saying that the baron’s creatures are being killed at an alarming rate, and either mutilated, or butchered, in a most vile manner,” Lord Owen said, deciding to state the issue clearly and not walk around it.
Emma’s bottom jaw dropped in amazement. She and her family were born and raised of the wild lands of Agon, and she couldn’t imagine anyone killing for the sport of it. Killing and eating, yes. She knew that the resources of the forest and nearby mountains were abundant, but only because they took only what they needed to survive. No more, no less. “You think my Emery capable of such a thing?”
“No, not necessarily, but we have to question everyone living near the Greenfeld,” Lord Owen said, referring to the forest. “You understand, don’t you?”
It was a loaded question. Of course she understood, but the protector of the baron’s lands meant that it was his duty to find and prosecute poachers or any other individual who would destroy their ruler’s resources, especially in such a heinous fashion. Emma nodded. “I understand, my lord, but my husband is not here and I can assure you that he would never hurt the creatures of the wood, especially not in that fashion.”
Emma could hear the hens fussing as Elly gathered the eggs nearby, and she was relieved to see Evelyn finally reaching the water and taking the time to fill it slowly so that no mud or dirt was carried back. In reality, she was hoping the men would leave before her daughter returned with the dish water.
Lord Owen turned to Tibbott. “There’s another homestead a league distant on the near side of the Greenfeld, not far from here, correct?”
“Yes, my lord. The Tysons live there, a family of five, parents, two sons and a daughter.”
Lord Owen nodded. “Very well. We shall return here tomorrow morning and see if your man has returned. Let him know we wish to talk to him, and he is not to leave again until we have done so. Am I clear?”
The threat was real enough, and Emma had no intention of allowing her husband to leave again for so long, at least not for another month, and especially with that foul Tibbott man riding the countryside. The reason why their family was on the frontier of the realm was to escape his kind and live life free from what they considered the pollution of the city. “I’ll inform him immediately upon his return.”
That seemed to be enough for the lord’s protector, and he motioned for his men to turn around. Elly walked up to his mother and asked, “What did they want?”
“Hush, Elly, this is no time for idle hands or curious questions,” his mother whispered to him.
The riders started to pass the creek and appeared to be heading for their distant neighbors’ homestead. Emma was literally holding her breath, willing them to pass from her lands and be gone. To her dismay, when they reached the creek, they pulled back on their reins, stopping their steeds, turning to face Evelyn and the forest.
The horses started to neigh wildly, and the soldiers were struggling to keep them from bolting. Something wasn’t right. When Lord Owen pulled his sword and the two mounted archers drew their bows, Emma knew that danger was near and the soldiers were facing her daughter, who put the bucket down and looked at them in fear.
“I told you, Mother, the forest demon is still there,” Elly said.
“What are you talking about?” Emma asked, panic starting to overcome her, and she desperately wished she had paid more heed to what her son was trying to say earlier. His many remarks over the last year had given her a sense of complacency, and she had chalked it up to the vivid imagination of a young boy. Not having had any boys before, she felt it somewhat normal for them to make things up, but now, she wasn’t sure anymore.
“There, do you see above the taller oak? Look just above Evelyn to her left,” Elly said, pointing in the distance.
Emma looked, and Evelyn started to turn toward the forest to see whatever it was that the soldiers were looking at, once she realized it wasn’t her. Both mother and daughter saw it at the same time, and both screamed in unison.
A large pair of eyes gazed menacingly from the treetop canopy. At first, the body wasn’t fully visible, but the near perfect camouflage quickly wore off as the dragon moved out of the forest to face the mounted troops, not more than a half-dozen feet from Evelyn.
“No!” Emma shouted, dropping the towel that she had in her hands and reaching into her apron pocket to pull out a long, sharp hunter’s knife. No woodsman or his wife would live on the frontier without protection of some kind.
Evelyn all but fainted, landing on the ground, not moving. The soldiers did their best to combat the fear they felt in the presence of such a creature. Indeed, a dragon had not been spotted in the area for decades, not since the last passing of Dor Akun, and they were all but unprepared for the beast.
Two arrows fired in unison at the creature’s eyes. The men were fighting fear, but they kept their wits about them, aiming for the creature’s vulnerable eyes. The beast bent its head down, showing them the top of its skull where a set of sleek horns grew from its forehead, trailing back over its massive dome. The arrows hit the hard bone on top, and they ricocheted into the air.
The beast took in a breath of air and exhaled at the baron’s men. A sickly green gas shot from its massive maw, as if carried on a strong breeze, heading right for the troops. Lord Owen shouted orders to disperse, and the men spurred their mounts into action to avoid the sickly gas. Tibbott’s horse reared up, dropping the man onto his back on the ground, almost trampling him as the horse fled the area. A second was pulled to the left as it wanted to go right, and instead, neither horse nor rider went anywhere. The other four men got out of the way as the horse and two men were engulfed in the green fog.
“Evelyn, no!” Emma said, watching in horror as the creature attacked, moving forward, following its own gas cloud, trying to bite one of the archers. As it moved, its massive clawed foot landed on Evelyn, making a sick crunching sound, smashing her frail body into the soft grassy ground near the creek.
“Charge,” Lord Owen commanded bravely as he spurred his mount toward the dragon’s flank. The beast managed to grip one of the archers in its jaw, and shook its head violently, breaking several of the man’s bones in the process. The attack allowed Owen to flank the beast and strike a blow that hit and shattered one of the massive scales protecting the creature.
Emma swooned, falling to her knees and pulling Elly close to her. Elly had seen the entire ordeal unfold, but he didn’t understand the reality of what was happening. Did his sister really just die in front of him? “Mommy, what happened to Evy?”
His mother never answered. Gazing at the scene in grief, they saw the gas dissipating, and the screams of the dying horse and men seemed louder than the sounds of combat occurring all around them. Whatever it was that had enveloped the men was deadly. Tibbott lay on the ground, his hands clawing at his throat as he coughed up blood, unable to breathe, thrashing on the ground. The other soldier was vomiting on his hands and knees, having fallen from his steed, and the horse now lay on the ground, also thrashing wildly about, narrowly missing its rider with its hooves.
Another arrow went for the creature, and it lodged into the beast’s snout, just above its toothy maw. The creature dropped the dead soldier and roared, deafening the sounds of death all around them and establishing its dominance on the battlefield. Lord Owen swung his mount around and hit the dragon again in the same spot, drawing inky black blood. The creature lashed out with its tail, hitting Owen on his back as he rode from rear to front, and sent the baron’s protector flying over his mount’s head.
A third arrow sunk deeply into the beast’s wound, making it roar a second time. The last archer was greeted with another cloud of deadly gas at close range. He had no way to escape, and both archer and steed were consumed in the sickly fog. The sounds of his death, and that of his steed, reverberated across the homestead’s clearing, seemingly to echo off the dense trees of the Greenfeld.
