Free A Storm in the Desert: Dragonlinked Chronicles Voume 3 by Adolfo Garza Jr.

dragon guild? Were they that set on killing dragons? And what remedies were available to a guild should a member be harmed? Was there anything beyond the normal laws against hurting or killing someone?

Chapter 4
Minday, Decimy 26, 1874.
Early Morning
    Sharrah breathed deep of the dawn air. There wasn’t much to it. Cold and clean and missing any of the perfumed scents that would come with spring, it was at least bracing. And she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed it. Copper, the stallion was named after his coloration, champed at the bit, eager for the morning run. His breath clouded as he snorted, excited, and he nearly danced while trotting along the cobblestone road, horseshoes clicking.
    Once they reached the end of the cobbles outside North Gate, Sharrah leaned down and patted his neck. “Alright, boy, let’s see what you’ve got in you today.”
    She sat up, flicked the reins, and shouted, “Hee-yah!”
    Her heels hadn’t even bounced against him and he was off, galloping along the road away from Caer Baronel. Laughing at the sheer joy of wind whipping hair, Copper’s powerful form below, and the sun shining in her face, Sharrah didn’t know how anything could get better than this. She leaned low in the saddle and closed her eyes.
    As they continued along the road that eventually led to the Guildhall, the sound of Copper’s hooves was almost hypnotic in its perfectly timed repetition.
    Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump!
    The insanely quick beats matched the pounding of her heart as they raced north. Each gallop bounced her in the saddle, pulsed through thighs, crotch and butt, and up her spine to breasts, shoulders, neck and head. Every part of her body felt the energy and the pure, physical joy of Copper running free.
    Through closed eyes, she caught the red-tinted flicker of light and dark as Copper galloped through the long shadows cast by trees in the low, morning sun.
    Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump!
    This, she could do forever. This, she couldn’t imagine existed anywhere else, with anything else. It was her and Copper, just the two of them in this world of exhilaration and excitement.
    Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump! Pa-da-dump!
    He began to tire. The hoof beats came farther apart. Not by much, but she could tell by comparing them to the pulsing of her heart. She sat back a little, opened her eyes, and gave him the subtle cues that it was time to slow down. Once he was at a walk, she turned him back to Caer Baronel.
    Leaning down to stroke his neck, Sharrah said, “You’re the best, Copper.”
    He gave out a happy nicker.
    She sat back and listened to the gait, felt it. There was no uneven swaying, no off-sounding hoof beats. Good. All seemed well. She’d hate for the beautiful creature to have been injured.
    ‘I can’t even remember what it was like before him. How could I have lived without Ikan?’
    Sharrah sighed at the remembered words. They’d brought a concern of hers to the forefront. Dragons were amazing, but they worried her, too. Once people were bonded, it seemed as if their entire world revolved around their dragon. She frowned. Alright, that wasn’t exactly right, but people were powerfully affected by their dragons. Their feelings for each other were very strong. But were they real, or fabricated by the spell? It was an incredibly complex and intricate enchantment from what they’d been able to determine. And it wasn’t exactly cast by the dragon, more like triggered by the dragon. So, who cast it? Or was each dragon enchanted somehow with the spell, like a moving chest was enchanted to float at the touch of a button? If so, who enchanted the dragon? Its mother? The mysterious creator Anaya mentioned all that time ago? And speaking of him, were dragons even natural creatures?
    In his stall at the east loading stables, Sharrah removed Copper’s tack. Then, she ran her hands along his legs, checking for cuts or swelling or hot spots. She checked