Free Backyard Dragons by Lee French Page B

saw no difference—it had all the same whorls and dots in all the same places. That had to mean both came from the Palace, or something within the Palace, or whatever force had created the Palace in the first place.
    Iulia’s dress swished into view. Claire looked up to see the woman holding Caius’s sword, free of its sheath. Iulia grinned with cartoonishly evil glee as she plunged the blade through Claire and into the symbol.
    Claire screamed and stumbled back. Though she recovered swiftly from the illusionary stabbing, she gaped in shock at Iulia’s sudden, bizarre shift. Aside from doctoring Caius’s wine, she’d so far given the impression of a woman in love who planned something she knew Caius wouldn’t approve of, not a demented supervillain bent on carrying out some maniacal plan.
    The ground rumbled. Claire dropped to one knee to avoid falling. Dark clouds exploded out of nowhere overhead and came together in a swirling spiral. Iulia left the sword lodged in the stone and backed off the slab. Snapping thunder battered Claire’s ears and great cracks split the slab in half. Blue and white streaks of light shot into the sky, stabbing through the center of the vortex.
    Caius stirred. Iulia huddled over him, her eyes still alight with mad joy. Her lips moved, but Claire heard nothing of what she said. More cracks formed in the stone. Chunks and fragments exploded outward. Iulia cowered away from the rain of stone and Caius woke enough to shield her with his body.
    Still groggy, Caius scanned the site, trying to make sense of what he saw. His horse galloped into view, dodging flying rock.
    “The seal is broken!” the horse screamed.
    Caius held Iulia close, still protecting her. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath amidst the chaos. When he let it out, his eyes snapped open. Alert and free of the weariness caused by the wine, he took in his surroundings and ended looking down at Iulia. Her grace had returned and she laid a hand on his face, sorrow in her eyes.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
    “What have you done?”
    “The only thing I could do.”
    Silver claws crunched into the rock at the edge of the now-destroyed stone slab. A dragon, its features similar to Enion’s in his large form, slammed another claw into the rock and pulled itself up to stand on the ground. Snapping its wings open, it bellowed rage and frustration in a terrifying roar that threatened to burst Claire’s heart from the inside.
    Caius shoved Iulia to the ground in his own rage. She collapsed into a heap, sobbing. He grabbed a fistful of his horse’s mane and leaped onto its back. The horse thundered away. Moments before it disappeared over the side of the cliff, Caius looked back, cringing with anguish, and saw the dragon standing over Iulia protectively, her hand on its silver skin.
    Claire groaned while the world spun again. When it stopped, she knelt in the library, facing the large mural once again. Some other time, she’d have to try the rest of these images, because that part of the story made her want to know more. The seal, the dragons, Iulia—they all fascinated her. At one time, the dragons had been large in the real world. Caius and other Knights must have sealed them away for some reason. With Enion so harmless and cute, she couldn’t imagine what made them need such a drastic prison.
    “I suspect you understand a great deal more about your original reception here now.”
    Pleased to hear Rondy’s voice from behind her, Claire turned and smiled. “Yeah.” She checked the dragon around her neck and found him sleeping. If he hadn’t wakened during that vision, she figured he hadn’t experienced it with her.
    “Djembe has always been an eager student of our history. Justin…less so.”
    “Not surprised.” Claire stood and brushed herself off. Her stomach growled loud enough to echo.
    Rondy grinned. “How about if I fill in some gaps over sandwiches?”
    “Sounds good to me.”

Chapter