Free Dragon Bones And Tombstones (Book 2) by Craig Halloran Page A

its features, with a dark red belly and red-scaled. Two tails whipped back and forth, banging against the walls and the iron on the cage, its eyes penetrating and evil.
    “Care to pet it?”
    Finnius kept his arms folded in his sleeves. There was no way he would pet that thing. He was close enough already. But how did he answer without sounding too fearful?
    “I’m just fine, High Priestess. But, if you insist.” He shuffled forward.
    A wry smile came across Selene's lips as she said, “Your caution is warranted. Come any closer… and he’ll kill you.”
    Finnius backed away, his face recoiling.
    “You should have seen what happened to the last one who got too close.” Selene patted the dragon on the nose, drawing a part purr, part roaring sound. “The poor man sizzled and fried. Skin bubbled right off of him.”
    Catching the dragon’s eye, he gulped. Its eyes glowed with a sinister yellow light. 
    “Er … how exactly did that happen, if I may ask?”
    “Some other time. Now walk with me.”
    The room was more or less an underground stable, but instead of being filled with horses, it was filled with dragons. All of which were restrained by one form or another. A chain was cuffed to each neck. A muzzle on all of their snouts, except for the catlike red one. It was different that the rest. A creature of its own free will. 
    She flipped her hair over her shoulders as she made her way to a smaller stall. A green dragon the size of a large dog was curled up in a ball. Shackled and muzzled the same as the rest.
    “How well do you know your dragons, Finnius?” Selene said. 
    A question. Any answer could be wrong or right. It all depended on the mood Selene was in, which seemed to be pretty good at this time. But he’d seen her put a fellow acolyte to sleep before, permanently, for saying, "Yes," which was the correct response, but she'd wanted to hear, "No." He cleared his throat.
    “Just what I have read, which, I am sorry to say, is little.”
    “And what have you read about what we have here?”
    “A Green Lily?”
    “Good, keep going.”
    “Well, unlike most dragons, it feeds off plants, not animals. Can be snared with honey or gold. Flies less and walks more, with a preference to hide in the heights of the trees.”
    “Ah … well done, Finnius.”
    He smiled a little.
    “And can you tell me the most important part about this dragon?”
    Finnius pulled his shoulders back a little and lifted his chin up.
    “The breath weapon. A stream of yellow powder. Like pollen. It paralyzes.”
    “Not bad, Acolyte. Not bad at all. But that’s not all it can do.” She pointed at the back of the dragon. A row of yellow scales flared up and down its back. “Those humps. Poisonous. Rare and pure. Assassins will pay a very high price for that.”
    “How do you extract it?” he asked.
    “There is only one way to do that. You have to kill it.”
    A little something tugged at Finnius's heart just then.
    “Is there something wrong?”
    What was that, sympathy? It couldn’t be.
    “Pardon, High Priestess. Eh … I was of the impression you were keeping them alive. Just some confusion on my part.”
    She shook her head, saying, “Come.”
    He followed. He’d probably follow her anywhere. Drawn like a frog to a lily pad. He could not help it.
    She took a seat along a bench in the back of the stables and patted a spot for him.
    “Dragons are much like people. Well, they're better than people in most regards. They can be guided down the paths of good or evil. Some are born of evil dragons, but most are born of good dragons. Do you recall the Great Dragon Wars?”
    Who didn’t remember the legends about those wars when people and dragons battled side by side for the preservation of good natured Nalzambor? The entire mission of the Clerics of Barnabus was to begin that war again and triumph this time. But in order to do so, they would need more dragons. Whoever controlled the dragons controlled the entire world. Free