Free The Confliction (Book Three of the Dragoneers Saga) (Dragoneer Saga) by M. R. Mathias Page A

conversation to be private, but when he saw her eyes, his mind went to the worst possible scenario it could come up with.
    “Rikky?” Jenka sat up and looked around for the youngest Dragoneer, but didn’t see him. His gut started a deeper throbbing from the movement. He did remember hearing Rikky crying, so that meant he probably wasn’t dead. Jenka was hurting terribly, but he didn’t care.
    Zahrellion stilled him with another squeeze of his hand. “Herald is as good as dead,” she said simply. Then she went into a terrible bout of coughing. When a bloom of bright scarlet appeared in the bandages over her chest, Jenka realized for the first time she was severely injured.
    “Aikira?” he asked. He had to swallow down a lump the size of a summer melon just to speak. No wonder Mysterian was carrying on as she was.
    “I’m here,” Aikira stepped into Jenka’s line of sight, and he saw that her head was scorched and swollen. Even her eyelashes were missing, and the edges of her ears looked crispy and raw. He forced a smile at her, and was glad to see her respond with an easy gap-toothed grin.
    Jenka kissed Zahrellion’s cheek, rolled over, and looked up at the morning sky. It was snowing, but even the fat flakes couldn’t hide the flocks of scavenger birds coming to feast. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curl into a tiny little ball and stay there until it all passed, but he knew he couldn’t do that.
    “Why aren’t they attacking anymore?” he asked.
    “King Richard doused ‘em with seawater,” one of the witches said.
    “Scalded ‘em a fire, it did,” added another.
    Jenka saw that there were a few rangers and more than a half dozen witches huddling in the trampled clearing. Jade was near. Jenka didn’t see him, but he sensed it.
    “That’s what that bladder pump thing is.” Rikky came limping up. His eyes were red and swollen. His nose was chapped an angry shade of red from all the dripping and rubbing. His whole head steamed in the crisp air. “Has anyone seen Lemmy?”
    “Saw…uck…ack…him…my cell. Fo… fo…for a moment.” Zahrellion’s color had all but faded away. She was as white as the tangled hair that framed her pretty face. One of the witches moved over to attend her. Zah stubbornly went on. “Where…uck is King Blanchard? He was…uck...uck...hood.”
    The witch spelled her asleep with a touch on the forehead then, and Jenka was thankful that she was resting. Her skin had become so pale that he could see her blue and green veins underneath. Even now, her breathing was shallow and labored.
    He couldn’t believe Herald wouldn’t make it through. He’d seen the mess that exploded tree had made of him, but he still held hope. Death had no use for the stubborn old cuss. “We have to save Herald. We need to get back to the castle and regroup. The ogres can guide those that can travel. The rest can be carried.” Something occurred to him then. “How are Marcherion and Blaze?”
    “Marcherion’s legs are broken, and his dragon is all chewed up,” Rikky said. “Blaze can fly, but he lost a bit of his tail. Crystal is the only dragon wounded badly. She was savaged, but even she will recover with wings intact.”
    “We are at our weakest,” Aikira said in a raspy, yet melodic voice. “No one is guarding the star ship. King Richard is shipping most of the people away, but those remaining will be no more than Sarax feed. Worst of all, the Outlanders have nowhere to sail to. King Richard will never let them flee to the islands. We have to protect them.”

    King Blanchard was nearly frozen when the hood was finally pulled from his head. To his numbed surprise, it was one of the Royal Guardsmen from the Mainsted palace standing there looking at him worriedly. He was certain the feet of the body he was in were frozen, or ruined with bite, but he was glad someone had found him. He couldn’t move, though, nor could he talk. He did grunt and nod that he was