Free The Roar of a Dragon by Robert Blanchard Page A

inwardly at the thought of having a brother. ‘Yeah, she’s been sick for quite some time. No one really knows what’s wrong with her. I’ve been trying to save up the gold to get her to a really good healer. I would have the coin by now, but I constantly had to have things fixed — as well as buy new things — around the house due to my father constantly showing up and destroying things.’
    We were quiet as we passed through the gate leading to the castle. I remember very clearly what it was like when I first saw it, on the back of Garridan’s horse, and it never ceased to take my breath away. I always took the time to appreciate it whenever I saw it; I had never had the time on that day of battle. The sun was lowering in the sky, and beams of pink light were piercing their way through the sparse clouds. The air was comfortable, on the verge of getting cooler.
    ‘Derrick,’ I said suddenly, ‘if you ever need anything, you let me know, okay?’
    Derrick looked at me and smiled. ‘Thank you, Aidan… that means a lot to me.’
    ‘Don’t be afraid to ask me,’ I continued, ‘because I would hate to have to humiliate you in front of everyone. You’d have a tough time explaining how the upstart soldier with the two puny swords beat up someone who was twice his size.’
    Derrick glanced at me with narrow eyes. ‘You think you can take me?’
    ‘Sure,’ I shrugged. ‘My first move would be to stomp on your toe… works every time.’
    Derrick laughed all the way to the castle.

CHAPTER 6
    When I first began my formal training, it was difficult for me to get used to the fact that I wasn’t the most popular soldier in the White Army. I would try to strike up conversations with my fellow soldiers, only to see them comment snidely and walk away. I didn’t understand why at first, until I heard some soldiers talking one day about how I was the General’s “golden boy”. After that point, it no longer mattered much to me what the rest of the soldiers thought. I knew they were talking about me behind my back, and I didn’t care.
    But anyone who thought that I had it easy because Sir Garridan had taken me under their wing was clearly out of their mind — if anything, that made things a great deal harder than it probably would have been. Since Garridan had discovered me, and taken me in, he paid much more attention to what I was doing, and I was under even more pressure to perform to the best of my abilities. But that was fine with me — I was determined to thrive under any conditions, and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was worthy of Sir Garridan’s attention, as well as anyone else’s.
    One day, while I was in the barracks, Derrick approached me and told me that Garridan wanted to see me. This drew a great deal of snickering and spiteful remarks from those around me — I heard the term “bootlicker” uttered more than once.
    Ignorant fools .
    Letting their meaningless ramblings roll off my back, I nodded to Derrick and followed him out of the armory.
    Garridan wasn’t at the castle — he was in the Industrial District of the city, having his sword tended to. Derrick and I conversed during the walk to the blacksmith, who worked in the Western Business District. Garridan was watching the dwarven blacksmith work on his sword. The shop was hot from the burning forge.
    ‘You wanted to see me, sir?’ I said, addressing Garridan formally.
    Garridan turned his head toward me, a small smile on his lips. ‘No need to stand on ceremony, Aidan, this isn’t a formal meeting.’
    ‘Understood,’ I said, relaxing a little. ‘Is everything okay?’
    ‘Indeed,’ Garridan answered, standing stoically. ‘I just wanted to inform you that a problem has arisen in the west, in Boulton, and we’ll be sending soldiers over there.’
    I looked at him expectantly. ‘I know you’re not informing all of the soldiers like this — what’s the catch?’
    Garridan sighed deeply. ‘I am needed here, so I won’t