Read Book of One 04: A Child of Fire for Free Online

it and he was surprised at how powerful its effect was. Still, it would be better if they could completely heal the girl. "Why not remove it all?"
    "The risk it too great," Kasha told him. "Though you have burned it with your fire, you will feel the effects of the potion. Any more and you will face the same struggle that she does. This girl is very strong, and her body is far more resistant to the liquid than yours. I think that is why they gave her so much of it."
    "Kasha," Aaron said, seeing the wisdom on her face and knowing that she spoke the truth. "Thank you for helping her."
    "I have been but a guide in this," Kasha said. "You are the one who has helped her. It is curious that you would do such a thing, but I have glimpsed a little of your mind and I know there is much about you that I do not understand."
    "There is much about me that I don't even understand," Aaron said.
    "In the desert you will learn many things," she told him. "I think you will come to know Ansari."
    "When the girl wakes and is able to rise," Aaron said. "Then I will go with you. If she wishes, she can come as well, but I will not force her, not after what has been done to her by those Ansari traders."
    "Those traders are not Ansari," Kasha said, her voice sharpening slightly. "They are desert people, they are of the desert, of Ansara, but they are not Ansari. You will know the difference when you know Ansari."
    "I hope so," Aaron said.
    Kasha smiled at him, aware of the immense power that flowed within him, and she wondered what her people might think of him. Aaron was powerful and she could tell that his heart was truly honorable, a good choice for a husband in many ways, but she also glimpsed a sliver of darkness deep within him that worried her, and she hoped that the truth of Ansari would help him understand who he truly was, that he would not be a threat to the world. And she hoped that her people would also understand this and help him, though she also knew that they might not see things as she did, and that possibility concerned her deeply.

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    The dusty smell of hay filled his nostrils and he felt the tickle of a twig of the dry grass and snorted, sneezing it out with a puff of smoke. Borrican opened his eyes in a panic, worried that something might be on fire and leapt to his feet, bashing his head on one of the heavy wooden beams inside the barn. He looked around and everything seemed small, the empty stalls for the horses, the farm tool leaned against the far wall, it all looked as though it were made for tiny people like the mythical fae folk his mother had told him stories about when he was a child. Borrican blinked and took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts, and he realized that it was not the barn that was small, but it was he, who was large, much larger than a man. He was still a dragon.
    The memories of the battle, the death of his uncle and father, his fight with Cerric and his escape into the night, flooded into his mind and the fire within him smoldered with anger and frustration. Through the cracks between the rough hewn boards of the barn walls, Borrican could see that the sun had risen and he lumbered forward, pushed open the doors and stepped out into the light of the day. The bright sun blinded him for a moment with the intensity of his sharpened senses and he could hear countless sounds and smell numerous scents in the air. Small animals cowered in the nearby grasses and the sound of feathered wings of birds faded as they fled from the monstrous predator that had suddenly appeared on the abandoned farm.
    Borrican realized how conspicuous he was in dragon form and thought it might be best if he changed back to being a man, but he was not sure exactly how to do it. He sat down in the yard outside the farmhouse and closed his eyes, remembering how he had turned into a dragon, letting his anger and fire fill him to the brim. Perhaps if he did the opposite, he might change back. Borrican breathed deeply,