Free Erik And The Dragon ( Book 4) by Sam Ferguson

chest. “Is a frog’s butt water-tight?”
    The guard frowned sourly and turned away, then halted and looked back to Gorin. “I’ll see if I have a draught horse for you,” he commented wryly.
    “A frog’s butt?” Gorin asked after the guard was out of ear-shot.
    Al nodded. “It’s a common enough expression,” he said.
    “Where?” Gorin asked. Al started to respond but Gorin waved him off. “Nevermind, I don’t actually want to know.”
    Al shrugged and the three of them waited quietly for the guard to return with the horses. When the man brought the steeds out they quickly mounted and settled what they could into the saddle bags. Lady Arkyn rode a chestnut colored horse, while Al sat atop a black and white paint horse. Gorin sat on a great brown draught horse with tufts of white fur flaring out from behind each hoof. The beast was almost as muscular as the hulking warrior, and only made him look all the larger as he straightened his back in the saddle and adjusted his warhammer.
    “Wait for me,” came the almost inaudible shout. The three turned and looked up the road to see a shirtless man running toward them awkwardly. “Wait!” he called out again.
    “By the divines,” Lady Arkyn gasped.
    “Peren!” Gorin announced happily. He reared his mount in the air and the great horse neighed and turned to gallop off toward Peren. Lady Arkyn and Al urged their horses to keep pace, but inevitably the larger horse pulled away from them and reached Peren a few seconds before the others.
    Gorin leapt down from his horse and went to crush the man in a hug, but he stopped short and kept his distance. “What in the name of Hammenfein happened?” he asked.
    Al and Lady Arkyn glanced to each other when they saw the burns.
    “I mostly managed to escape,” Peren said as he lifted his arms and examined the burns.
    “You should not be out in the elements with uncovered wounds,” Lady Arkyn said.
    Peren smiled. “I’m just happy to be walking among the living.”
    “How did you escape?” Al asked.
    “Not sure,” Peren said. “I was staring into the firedrake’s gaping maw and everything seemed to blur together. It was as if time almost stood still as I reflected on my life. I called to mind all of the spells I could think of, but none of them seemed to be strong enough to reverse the firedrake back into his original form. Then, all I remember thinking about was how before it had changed into a firedrake, it had been a cat hunting a rat. Then I thought how ironic it was that I caught the cat only to end up being the mouse.” Peren shrugged and shook his head. “The next thing I know I woke up in a mouse’s body. Somehow I had changed myself into a mouse. I was inside my own shoe, and the battle was over.”
    “Figures,” Gorin said. “If anybody would sleep through a fight, it would be you.”
    Peren shrugged. “I assume we won, if the three of you are here.”
    Lady Arkyn nodded. “We lost most everyone else,” she said. “But we defeated the enemy.”
    “What of Lepkin?” Peren asked.
    “He is well,” Al said.
    “There is a lot to tell,” Gorin said. “But first, you need to tell us why the firedrake you made turned on our own men.”
    Peren shook his head emphatically. “It wasn’t me,” he said. “I turned the rat into a wyvern easily enough, but the cat resisted my spell entirely. It was someone else, someone with far greater powers than I have.”
    “No matter now,” Lady Arkyn said. “We slew the enemy’s army in its entirety.”
    “Save the two Lepkin allowed to escape,” Gorin pointed out.
    Peren nodded. “Where are we going?”
    “We?” Al asked hesitantly. “You should probably go in and see the healers.”
    Peren shook his head. “I may have been a mouse for a while, but I am still a man, complete with backbone and ready to move on. Lady Arkyn here can patch me up as we travel.” He thumbed at the blonde half-elf and grinned proudly.
    “Perhaps you should stay and