Dragonlady

By Jason Halstead

With the Order of the Dragon in retreat Alto's thoughts turn to home and his future with his betrothed, Lady Patrina of Kelgryn. But the future, once a shining light guiding him through a dark tunnel, has grown cloudy with indecision and confusion.

One last torch in the darkness remains, directing him to revisit some of his darkest times and put to rest the ghosts of his past. The ghosts he finds are more than memories, they've been given flesh and blood and are reaching out from beyond for him.

Defeated but not destroyed, the silver dragon has been watching and waiting. Her plans, years in the making, are coming to fruition. Only one man dares to defeat her, but Alto is the man she waits for so that she may spring her trap and rule from her mountain throne forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Novel Concept Publishing LLC
• Release date: Nov 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311344519

Jason Halstead

Jason Halstead has always had colorful stories to tell. At an early age that creativity usually resulted in some kind of punishment. At long last he's come into his own and has turned his imagination into an asset that is keeping thousands of people entertained. When he's not writing Jason spends his time with his wife and two children, trying to relive his glory days as a powerlifter, or developing new IT systems for his dayjob. He enjoys reading and responding to fan mail as well, so if you liked any of his books, don't be shy! Sign up for his newsletter, find him on the web at http://www.booksbyjason.com, email him at: [e-mail], or follow him on Twitter: @booksbyjason.

Book preview

Dragonlady

By Jason Halstead

Published by Novel Concept Publishing LLC at Smashwords

©2013

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

For additional information contact:

www.novelconceptpublishing.com

5699 Applegrove Dr

West Bloomfield, MI 48324

Cover art © 2013 Willsin Rowe

Proofread by Faith Williams

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Jason Halstead’s website: http://www.booksbyjason.com

Keep an eye out for these other Order of the Dragon books:

Isle of the Ape

Chasing the Dragon

Sands of Betrayal

Dragonlady

And look for the Blades of Leander books:

Child of Fate (book 1)

Victim of Fate (book 2)

Silver Dragon (book 3)

or pick up all 3 at once in the Blades of Leander boxed set

Chapter 1

Jethallin felt as though her air was snatched from her chest. She grunted and took a step back to gain some room. Both her daggers rose up but her mind was elsewhere. What had hit her? The savage warrior named Snake-Killer was in front of her and the rest of the phantasmal swamp they fought in was veiled in mists.

Never let your enemy use your distraction against you, Snake-Killer growled.

Jethallin refocused her thoughts on him but it was too late. His spear swung low, just above the water's surface, and crashed into her ankle. Her feet were swept from beneath her and she splashed into the muck. She started to scramble back to her feet but Snake-Killer was there. He stepped forward and drove the razor-sharp stone tip of his spear down and into her chest.

Jethallin screamed and sat up, both hands going to her chest. Already the burning pain of having her heart split in half was fading into the foggy remnants of the dream it was.

Snake-Killer took her when she slept. He pulled her mind into his world, a dark swamp surrounded by impenetrable fog. She'd tried to run once but she came back to him, as though she'd run in a circle. It made sense; Snake-Killer claimed his soul was trapped in the ring she wore. He'd been trapped by the evil splisskin wizards and priests. They were part man and part snake, and wholly evil as far as he was concerned.

They controlled him with their magic and made him corrupt the people who wore the jade ring Jethallin now wore. What made her different was how she'd come by it. The Order of the Dragon hadn't given it to her; she'd found it on the dirty cell floor in the dungeons of Mira. Through her, Snake-Killer hoped to be granted his freedom.

The piercing cry of an infant shocked her out of her thoughts. The memory of the pain slipped from her like sand between pinched fingers. Jennaca was crying. No, not crying; her daughter was sobbing. Jethallin lurched to her feet and started to run when her ankle was jerked back by the rope that bound her to a rock wall.

She hit the ground with a thud that knocked the air from her chest. Sand stung her cheeks but she ignored it. Jennaca! she cried out. Momma's over here, baby. It's okay!

The crying stopped for part of a second, and then it renewed. The shadows morphed and parted as Dugal hurried through the ruins and thrust the bundle of clothing that held the shrieking baby in them towards her. Make her stop or I'll use her to bait the sand claws!

Jethallin struggled up to her knees and reached out for the baby. She took her and hugged her close, slipping her under her robes to let her feel her warmth and smell her skin. Her sobs and wails were muffled by the rags until Jethallin was able to place the infant's mouth next to her breast. In moments, she took to it and suckled. Her cries turned to murmurs of contentment.

She just needed her momma, Jethallin said. Why did you take her?

Dugal snorted. You said she was a princess. He turned and snorted before spitting on the ground. He twitched his nose and then reached up to dig with a dirty finger up one nostril. He stared at the end of it in the moonlight and then rubbed it on his pants. I expected better from a princess. Don't they grow up knowing not to act like that?

She will, Jethallin lied. But I must teach her, just like any young woman must be taught.

He ran his tongue over his teeth. Is that right? A woman can be taught?

Yes, she said, bowing her head. A woman needs a firm man to guide her.

Firm? he chuckled. I can be firm. I can be downright hard.

Jethallin lowered her head so he wouldn't see the shame on her cheeks. I'm sure you can, she mumbled. She'd been a thief, a beggar, and occasionally a whore in Mira. She'd done it to survive and to try to find a way off the streets. Then Jennaca had come along and everything changed. It changed so much that it had stayed the same. At least what she could do had stayed the same. Her goals changed. She wasn't struggling for herself anymore; she was doing it for her daughter.

And now she was being trained to fight by a man trapped in a ring while she was tied to a crumbling wall in the desert. He took Jennaca from her at night so she didn't untie herself and try to escape, but she could tell that he was growing tired of it. Her lie that she was the servant mistress of the recently murdered Lord Badawi wouldn't hold off his temper much longer.

She hoped acting meek and open to his advances might buy her more time. A day or two to heal her blistered feet and figure out a way to escape. She'd learned much from Snake-Killer, but he'd taken her daggers from her. She had nothing but her body to use, and the only way she knew to use it against a man was in bed.

Jethallin's eyes widened, prompting her to lower her gaze even more. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Dugal was a man. A scoundrel and half-crazed, to be sure, but he still had a man's wants and needs. And she was a woman. A young and firm woman, at that. He hadn't touched her yet but his eyes had shown interest. He'd hinted at how he expected to be treated too, yet he hadn't forced himself on her.

She fought to keep the glimmer of a smile from showing on her lips as an idea came to mind. She put more thought to her plan while Jennaca suckled at her. Soon her baby let out a contended sigh and pushed away just enough to let her know she had finished. She wrapped her tiny arms about herself and let loose a tiny burp before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Jethallin looked up and gasped. Dugal had disappeared. She searched the shadows of the ruins around her but the man had disappeared. He'd disappeared and he'd done so without Jennaca. Was he stupid enough to trust her? Or was there more to it she didn't understand? She cast her worries aside and shifted into a cross-legged position so she could pick at the knot around her ankle. He'd tied it well, proving he had the skill of a seasoned sailor with knots. She tugged and worked at it, trying to loosen the thick fibers but making slow progress.

She pulled and twisted until her fingers were raw but the knots still held. For all the hours of training she endured with Snake-Killer in his magical realm, it did nothing to toughen her body or her skin. It was all in her mind, but she'd already learned her arms didn't move as fast in the real world as they did in her dreams.

She turned and checked on Jennaca. She slept in her bundle of rags wedged up against a broken rock. Jethallin smiled sadly and was about to turn away when she heard something scuffle in the darkness. It was a whisper of a noise, so faint she thought she imagined it. It was her imagination that kept her looking and her imagination that made her think of claws scraping across rock.

The shadows moved on their own, forcing a sharp hiss of Jethallin's breath. She shifted and twisted around, grabbing the rope and moving to put herself between Jennaca and the emerging darkness. Twin pinpricks of reflected silver gleamed out of the shadows at her.

Jethallin's eyes scoured the ground for some sort of weapon. Even the rocks were too large for her to use. Dugal had kicked all the smaller stones away so she couldn't use them. She had to admit that after seeing how Snake-Killer used a chipped stone blade on his spear that it was a smart move. Now it meant she had nothing to defend herself and Jennaca with. Nothing except her sore hands and feet, and those would be useless against the hard shell of the enormous scorpion-like creatures called sand claws.

The creature moved again, coming closer. Jethallin bared her teeth and clenched her fists. She wouldn't let it get her or her daughter. She saw whiskers in the moonlight as it neared the edge of the shadows, and then dark brown fur and a black nose. Was it one of the wild dogs thinking it could be off with her daughter?

The creature slunk forward and moved across from her to stay next to the same wall she was tied to. She shifted back as it revealed itself in the moonlight and stared in awe. It wasn't a giant scorpion or a wild dog. It was a rat. A rat the size of a hound, but still a rat. It reminded her of that troll that had scared her so badly she'd wet herself.

Her eyes dug into the shadows. Were there more of them? Rats traveled in numbers, didn't they? Thork, the troll, had hundreds with him when he walked through Mira as though he owned the city. Was this one of his rats or something else?

The rat stopped when it reached her rope. It sniffed the rope and turned to look at her. Its whiskers twitched in the air and then it turned back to the rope. She gasped when the rat opened its mouth and bit down on the rope. Then it pulled its body in tighter and settled in to start chewing on the rope.

Jethallin stared at the rat while it worked, not daring to believe her eyes. Was it really freeing her? She was being rescued? By a rat? Thork had to be somewhere. Namitus, Mordrim, and even the old man, Kar, had claimed the troll was an ally. She looked around again but saw nothing.

She heard a shuffle and looked back at the rat. The creature, a male she realized, was sitting on its haunches with its forelimbs up in the air. It stared at her and pawed the air, and then turned and looked into the darkness from where it had come from. She followed the rope from her ankle to the wall and saw the gnawed-off end of the rope. She was free! A quick glance at the rat made her wonder, did it expect her to follow it?

Jethallin picked up her daughter as carefully as she could. The last thing she needed was to wake her up. She scooped up the rope in her other hand and looped it around her arm to keep it from dragging. She had half a dozen feet of length to it, enough to be inconvenient but not enough to be useful. With Jennaca tucked against her, she turned to leave when she realized she had nothing. She had her daughter, but she didn't have her knives. They might have been a pitiful defense but even that was better than none at all. Not to mention she didn't know where Dugal was at. He could be watching her while she fretted over what to do.

The rat squeaked, a tiny noise in the darkness.

Jethallin turned and glared at it. Not yet! she hissed at it. It occurred to her that she was berating a rat as she spoke. I need my—oh saints, I must be mad.

She turned away from the rat and used her years of training as a thief and beggar in the streets of Mira to move quietly through the ruins. She wasn't certain where Dugal kept his stash but she had an idea from where he came and went all the time. She moved through the broken walls and only stopped once, when she felt something tugging on her pants. She looked down and saw the rat had bitten her pants and was pulling back on them like a dog.

Jethallin stopped and peered into the rubble of a building she'd been about to enter. She frowned and then sniffed. There was an odor, she realized. A musk. She frowned and peered into the dark interior, hoping to spy the source of it. She gave up after a moment and backed up a step. The rat let go of her trousers, allowing her to walk around the building.

After she searched through more of the ruins, she realized they were larger than she'd imagined. She came upon the wall of a building that was tilted over, but sand that had blown in over the years supported it. Around the corner of the building the sand had blown up, creating a ramp to the upper level. There were more walls on the top of the building, indicating a second story.

She was about to go around when she noticed the uneven marks in the sand that led up to the second story. Her frown turned to a smile; the marks were fresh footprints after the sandstorm they'd had yesterday. She'd found him.

Jethallin looked around and then frowned anew. If she was going to face Dugal, she couldn't do it with Jennaca. The mother knelt down and dug a small valley in the sand and then placed her bundled daughter in it. She turned and glared at the rat without realizing how unusual it was that the rat met and kept eye contact with her. She slowly shook her head once and then rose up. The rat glanced at Jennaca and sniffed, his whiskers twitching in the moonlight, and then he followed Jethallin as she made her way up the slope.

Jethallin crouched and moved slowly, using her fingers in the sand for extra purchase as well as to keep herself as low as possible. She studied the room as it was revealed to her and noted the walls that were still standing and even a few areas where the roof was mostly intact. She imagined Dugal would be there, in the most covered area.

She crept into the room and took care to avoid the rocks that seemed scattered by the wind. She knew better; it was an old trick that would warn a person when someone was coming close to them. The rocks would scrape across the ground, making noise and identifying exactly where the mark was. She'd used it herself to cut a few purses.

She stepped past the rocks and continued into the upper room. She stepped through one wall and was about to go farther when she heard the soft susurrus of someone snoring. Dugal wasn't loud enough to be heard outside the building, but in here and out of the wind, she knew he was close by.

She froze until she was certain his rhythm was unchanged. Then she leaned over and peered deeper into the room. There was a doorway with half of it not only missing but fallen into the blackness of the room below. Through that was a room covered by a section of roof. It was too dark to see into.

Jethallin clenched her fists and looked around. There were rocks here. She knelt to pick one up and squeezed it in her hand. It would make a poor club but she had little choice. Now she just had to cross the room and sneak up on him. Then find him in the darkness and strike him hard enough to keep him from waking up and stopping her while she took her things back.

She froze when she saw her boots sitting on the floor in a corner. He'd taken them to make sure she didn't try to get away. Her blisters were healing but the sand was too hot to risk walking without them. By the time she shook the thoughts of reclaiming her boots aside, she noticed the rat was already halfway across the room.

He paused and looked at her, and then continued.

Jethallin stifled a frustrated cry and moved as quickly as she could to overtake the rodent. He moved too quickly and slipped into the dark room while she was picking her way along the wall and avoiding some areas of the floor that seemed either too exposed or unstable. She edged along the wall and heard a snort and a cry of terror, followed by a squeal.

The rat bolted out of the room and ran across the floor. Within seconds, Dugal followed, a worn and rusty sword brandished in his hand. She acted without letting her mind slow her down, throwing the rock and then taking the rope in both hands.

Dugal cried out as the rock bounced off his head and dropped him to the floor. The sword clattered away from him and he shook his head. By the time he started to rise up, Jethallin crashed into his back and drove him back down. The air exploded from his mouth and coughed up a plume of dust and sand. She wrapped the rope around his neck and held it tightly while he struggled to lift himself up or swat at her with his hands. Her knee in his back kept him on the ground until he slumped forward and his head landed with a dull thud on the rocky floor.

I did it! Jethallin grinned. I did it! she shouted. The rat squeaked, reminding her not to bring attention to herself. Her eyes grew wide when she heard the cry of a baby just outside the ruined building she was in. Her smile vanished as she spun and cried out, Jennaca!

Chapter 2

You can't just barge in on the queen! She is conducting important affairs of court.

Aleena glanced at the paladin beside her, Sir Celos Lyonsbane, and then turned back to the once rugged man who now served as Queen Rosalyn's seneschal. Ketten, she must be told what her armies are doing. What Graak is letting them get away with!

Ketten glanced behind the two paladins and then said in a soft voice, She knows.

Once Aleena was able to close her lips, she turned to see Celos, her one-time mentor, frowning. She snapped her head back to Ketten. How? We came straight here!

He shrugged. "She is a witch. Perhaps she