Free Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane by Rob May Page A

flicked open. She could taste fear and bile in her mouth; was that from the dream, or because of the day ahead? The mangroves were black against a pink sky: dawn had arrived—time to get on with it! Removing Rafe's arm from around her waist and getting to her feet, she gulped down water from one of the skins that they had brought with them. Then she went and refilled it from the swamp, and poured the greeny-brown sludge over the ashes in the fire pit. Next, she set about stirring it all up with a stick.
    When Rafe awoke he was greeted by the site of Kal rubbing mud and ashes into her body. It covered her face, arms and chest; she looked like a grey ghoul.
    ‘You look beautiful in the mornings,’ Rafe said with a grin.
    Kal flicked mud at him. ‘Rub some of this in,’ she ordered. ‘Dragons can’t smell you if you’re smeared with ash. It overpowers their senses.’
    Rafe did as he was told. ‘Yes, my lady .’
    Kal smiled despite herself. She couldn’t deny that she was his lady now. She moved behind him and started helping him apply the mixture to his back. ‘When we get to the cave, don’t run in swinging your sword,’ she said. ‘Let me call the shots.’
    ‘I’m yours to command,’ Rafe said, holding up an arm to let Kal work mud and ash into his armpit. ‘But I think it’s about time that you shared with me all that you know about dragons.’
    Kal bit her lip. ‘There are reasons I don’t talk about it, Rafe. For a start, I’m not proud of what I did to that poor creature. And if the Dragonites ever found out what I know …’
    ‘Come on, Kal, you can trust me,’ Rafe said. ‘I’ll swear by Banos and all the other gods that I’ll not tell anyone.’
    Kal sighed. She could trust Rafe, more than she had ever trusted anyone for a long, long time. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with that feeling.
    ‘Alright,’ she said, pulling her dress on over her grey skin and throwing the coil of rope over her shoulder. ‘I’ll tell you everything as we walk. Let’s go!’
     
    * * *
     
    ‘I grew up in a small village in the Wild, a thousand miles north of Amaranthium, at the foot of the Starfinger Mountains,’ Kal revealed as they splashed inland through the swamp. ‘It was a nice quiet life; I lived in a room above the schoolhouse, and taught the younger children. Told them stories mainly; the schoolmaster who took the older class taught me pretty much everything you could possibly want to know about dragons.’
    Rafe raised an eyebrow, as if to say, That’s your story ?
    ‘Everything he told me was wrong,’ Kal amended wistfully.
    They stopped abruptly when Kal held up a hand; she had seen something moving in a clearing ahead of them.
    ‘It’s okay,’ she said after a pause. ‘It’s just a big bird.’ She moved forward, surprising the bird—a large blue and green Balibu snakeneck—causing it to flee the clearing with much flapping, splashing and rustling of branches.
    ‘I heard that dragons often use birds as spies—’ Rafe began, then he caught Kal’s look. ‘Oh, okay. Forget everything I’ve heard, right?’
    Kal smiled and nodded. They had come to the edge of the trees and were now at the foot of the mountain. The lower slopes were formed of smooth, gently-sloping dark grey rock. There wasn’t much cover. Kal pointed to a valley-like fissure in the rock that snaked up the mountain. It seemed to lead in the general direction of the cave they had seen the dragon fly into.
    ‘I used to spend a lot of time in the forests around the village,’ Kal went on as they climbed ‘Walking, sketching and painting … escaping for time alone with the boy I was going to marry …’ She looked back to gauge Rafe’s reaction.
    His expression was unreadable. ‘What happened to him?’ he asked, as casually as he could manage.
    ‘Goblins killed him. Six years ago—when we were both eighteen. Goblins came down from over the mountains without warning. They killed almost everyone I knew. I