Read DragonLight for Free Online Page B

down her arm. Pat synchronized his pounce beautifully, and the red dragon screeched out his shock at being attacked. A huge shot of flame accompanied his shriek but fizzled quickly.
    Kale and her friends waited, hoping for the best and counting. When they reached twenty without another eruption from Crispin, they all cheered.
    “What in all of Amara is going on back there?”
asked Bardon.
    A cure for the hiccups. I believe Crispin is all better now.
    “Good.”
    Greer turned westward, and Celisse followed.
    Bardon, where are we going? I thought Regidor and Gilda headed north.
    “To visit Wizard Namee.”
He hesitated, waiting for her response.
    Kale purposefully did not respond. She projected profound silence to her husband, knowing that would exhaust his patience.
    Sure enough, he couldn’t stand the wait and prompted for a reaction.
“You aren’t going to ask why?”
    I am using my strength of will to force you to tell me without my asking.
    Kale not only saw Bardon laughing as he looked over his shoulder but also felt the rush of joy as it swept through her husband.
    You’re having entirely too much fun, Bardon, and it makes me feel like you’re up to something.
    He shook his head.
“Regidor and Namee have been working on a special project. We’re stopping at Namee’s castle so he can demonstrate a weaving of a strange gateway, one that will come in handy on our quest.”
    Kale raised up a bit in the saddle and leaned forward.
Tell me more.
    “No, you have to wait.”
    She heard the laughter in his voice and refused to be baited. She would not beg for details. With her lips pressed together, she scowled at him. He laughed even harder.
You wretched man.
    “You are going to have some fun tonight, lady of mine. And tomorrow, some surprises. Then off we go adventuring.”
    I can find adventure in our very own castle.
    He picked up on the hidden meaning in her manner.
    “What are you talking about?”
    The snake.
    “What snake?”
    Oh, I forgot to tell you. You rushed me around so, and I didn’t check…but Artross is here. I can ask him.
    “Kale.”
The tone of his thoughts was as clear as a bell.
    She giggled.
So it’s all right for you to keep secrets, but not me.
    “If there is a snake in the castle, I need to know about it.”
    There isn’t a snake now. At least, I hope we got them all.
    “All?”
    One mother snake and a nest of hundreds. Well, maybe only one hundred. Artross says ninety-seven eggs, and they were all destroyed.
    “What kind of snake?”
    Anvilhead.
    “Oh, nice.”
    She thought back through the sequence of events. Bardon understood as clearly as if he had stood beside her during the search and rescue of Gally and Mince.
    “I’ll send a message to Librettowit to get one of his tumanhofer friends to inspect the lower regions of the castle.”
    Wizard Namee will have a messenger we can send. But Toopka told Taylaminkadot, and I’m sure she told Librettowit. She’s no more fond of snakes than I am.
    “Wizard Namee will not mind sending the message.”
    Kale caught a hint of humor in Bardon’s statement, and then he shielded his mind from her. She wondered if he hid his thoughts because he was more concerned about the snake incident in their home than he wanted her to know. But that would not account for the ripple of laughter that accompanied his last thought. She sighed. Her husband would tell her in due time. He was not in the habit of being secretive for long.
    The magnificent scenery distracted Kale. They were flying over the region called Tuthoutu. Supposedly, below them, two thousand and two lakes riddled the land, everything from big puddles to lakes too vast to swim across. The lush green vegetation and startling blue of the water made a spectacular view. The eastern slope of the Morchain Mountains swept up from the plains just beyond the wetland.
    Namee’s castle towered out of a chasm between two peaks. He had chosen a traditional architecture with nine towers dominating