Free The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below, Book 1) by Don Bassingthwaite Page A

over into the lands surrounding the Marches." He gestured around them. "Like the Eldeen Reaches. The Daelkyr War ended when the paths to the realm of madness were sealed. My sect, the Gatekeepers,is the oldest of the druid traditions and the one that sealed those paths and bound the greater aberrations left behind on Eberron into the depths of Khyber." He touched the stone again. "Ancient druids created the Bull Hole and places like it to warn and guard against such creatures as the dolgrims. Its power keeps them back."

    Dandra watched as Singe stared at the druid, then squeezed his eyes shut, raked fingers through thick blond hair, and finally opened his eyes again. "That's ludicrous!" he sputtered. "There weren't even any humans in this part of the world that long ago. Historians have shown that the only cultures here were scattered orc barbarians and the hobgoblin empire of Dhakaan--and it fell almost six millennia ago!"

    Adolan raised an eyebrow. "Historians?"

    "Singe studied at Wynarn University," growled Geth. "He knows everything."

    Dandra caught the dark glance that Singe shot toward the shifter. Adolan's eyes, however, never wavered from the wizard.

    "What do your historians say," he asked, "caused the Dhakaani Empire to fall?"

    Singe's jaw tensed. "There's evidence of a war."

    "With who?" Adolan spread his hands. "Scattered orc barbarians?"

    Singe opened his mouth, then closed it again. Geth turned his back on him and looked out into the clearing. "The Bonetree hunters are all just sitting back but the dolgrims are still milling around. It looks like a few have tried to go around the back of the circle."

    "They won't get in there either," said Adolan. He glanced back at Singe. "Well?"

    The wizard glowered at him. "You're telling me this circle was built by hobgoblins?"

    "Of course not." Adolan rose to his feet, careful to stay in the shadow of his stone. "The first druids were orcs."

    "Ores?" Singe's eyes bulged in disbelief. "Orcs couldn't create something like this!"

    "Not now, maybe," Adolan agreed. "But you believe that thehobgoblins who spend most of their time fighting among themselves in Darguun today are the same race that once built an empire spanning half a continent, don't you?"

    Singe's mouth closed with a snap. Adolan turned to look at Dandra. "At the cabin," he said, "you were desperate to escape."

    Dandra bit her lip. "I'm sorry that I turned on you, but I had to--"

    Adolan raised his hand, stopping her. "They're after you, aren't they? You're the reason they've come to Bull Hollow."

    She felt blood rush to her face. With the eyes of all three men on her, she nodded.

    "Why?" asked Adolan.

    Her belly knotted at the question. Tetkashtai , she thought, what should I tell them? The cowering presence's only response, however, was a thin, mad gibbering. Dandra took a deep breath and looked back at Adolan.

    "They were holding me captive," she said, trying to keep her story as simple as possible. "They kidnapped me from Zarash'ak and took me to their camp in the marshes. I managed to escape, but they've been pursuing me ever since." She paused, then added. "I've been running for almost a month, just trying to stay ahead of them. Until you found me, I didn't even really know where I was."

    A harshness that crept into her voice surprised even her. Adolan's eyebrows twitched in surprise, but Geth actually cursed out loud. "Rat! Do you expect us to believe that?"

    Dandra gave him an angry look. "Would you want to get caught by them?" She pointed over her shoulder, beyond the stones. "I can move fast and it's hard to track someone who doesn't leave footprints if she doesn't want to. They needed their herons to follow me."

    "You were walking when we found you."

    "I was exhausted!"

    "Easy," said Adolan, raising a hand to both her and Geth. "Arguing isn't going to help us." The druid glanced at Dandra again. "Why did they take you?"

    "Why me? I don't know," she answered. That much at least