Read Dragon Coast for Free Online

swiping at Moth’s hands when he tried to help.
    Daniel pulled down his balaclava and warmed himself by the camp stove. “How’s it coming?”
    â€œThe sight got jostled on the hike up,” Em said, taking another swat at Moth. “But I think I can fix it if you tell Moth to stop trying to futz.”
    â€œMoth, stop futzing,” Daniel said. “Em’s allowed to futz. You don’t futz.”
    Moth drew himself up to his full, proud height. “This is a finesse job, I get that. But I’m a finesse guy. Tell her, Daniel. Tell her how good I am at piano.”
    Actually, Moth could be quite a delicate tinkler on the keys.
    â€œCome help with the projectile, Moth.”
    Daniel pulled his balaclava back up over his mouth and nose, lifted one of the bags they’d hauled up the mountain, and went back outside.
    â€œOut there?” Moth wailed behind him. “It’s all windy-howly out there.”
    But Moth followed, as he had always done, through forest and river and city and suburb and desert, crisscrossing the realm in search of the dragon. Daniel and Moth and Em had spent weeks on a hired fishing boat and months in a string of motor-court motels and even more months sleeping in a van, and now that Slough was cultivating a body for Sam, and Daniel had possession of the axis mundi bone, there was only one thing left to do: bring the dragon down.
    Things felt right tonight. For starters, Daniel had a good feeling about the eyewitnesses he’d interviewed, from the fugitive inmate camping outside Lone Pine to the smuggler moving hippogriff bone by pack mule down Hogback Road. They described shapes in the sky and a noise that rolled through the valleys like high-pitched thunder.
    And there was a smell here. It reminded him of Sam. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.
    Daniel had hoped Moth and Em would be home by now. But their homes had moved on without them. Em’s golem sisters had abandoned their Mojave ranch hideout a few months back and hadn’t contacted her with their new address, which either meant their communications network wasn’t secure, or worse. And Moth’s boyfriend had sold Moth’s restaurant in Crumville, told Moth he could pick up half the money in cash at the Crumville bank, and headed out for more secure pastures.
    Daniel’s fault. And even though Em and Moth both insisted they were with him by choice, that they’d made their sacrifices willingly, how hard had Daniel really tried to convince them they had no further obligation to him or Sam?
    Not very hard.
    For Daniel, things hadn’t changed much. He’d been living like this for a decade.
    Tugging his gloves off with his teeth, he set up his osteomancer’s torch on a rock. He moved quickly, trying to get the job done before the cold stiffened his fingers. Once he had it lit, he passed his hands over the heat of the flame before putting his gloves back on. Next, he removed a thermos bottle from his pack.
    Moth stepped back, wary.
    â€œDon’t worry, this stuff’s not dangerous,” Daniel said. “It’s just a scent to draw the dragon.”
    â€œWhat’s in it?” The thin, whistling air weakened Moth’s voice.
    â€œEssences he’ll find familiar. Me, mostly.”
    Moth’s balaclava exposed only his eyes and the chapped bridge of his nose, but Daniel didn’t need to see the rest of Moth’s face to read his expression. They’d been friends for twenty years, and Moth’s mix of bewilderment, mockery, and concern was as familiar as a favorite pair of shoes.
    â€œOkay, Moth, what’s your problem?”
    â€œYou’re using yourself as bait.”
    â€œIf you know of a better way to draw out a dragon—”
    â€œNot my area of expertise.”
    â€œNot mine, either,” Daniel admitted. He poured the liquefied magic into a blue-speckled kettle set on a tripod over the torch. “It’ll take