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

conscious.
    “By the hells, Highness, you’ve ruined my feet,” said Linux, from Rolph’s body, as he started casting a restoration spell that would slowly warm the king from the inside.
    “Is it you?” King Blanchard asked in a tiny whisper.
    “It is,” Linux answered. The look they shared was more relief than anything.
    “Do you think I would leave you?” It was his wife, the queen, speaking now. King Blanchard’s eyes must have been deceiving him, because for a moment it looked as if she had a snarling canine snout. Sometimes he forgot that she was a witch of the Hazeltine. There was another witch with them. He couldn’t believe Linux hadn’t died in his body. He remembered it now, seeing the guardsman roll over his corpse and then back-scrabble away. And his wife... what was she doing here?
    Ohhhh.
His feet were starting to tingle. The pleasant sensation slowly shifted to a hard ache—an ache like no other he had ever felt before. It was suddenly as if his feet were immersed in fire. He was consumed with it. He cried out so loud that his throat tore with the effort. Then all of a sudden the absence of pain was so abnormal that he felt as if his feet were pillows, or puffy clouds.
    The queen stepped forward and he embraced her lovingly. Obviously she had come through a great deal to get there to him. When he smiled at Linux, the guardsman’s face scrunched up in disgust.
    “What happened to my tooth?” Linux threw his arms up.
    “Never mind, we must be off,” the queen said. “Here, love, hold on tightly,” she told her husband as she morphed back into a fierce looking witch-wolf.
    King Blanchard shuddered and nearly fainted at the sight. When Linux climbed onto the other witch-wolf and they leapt up to the ledge of the courtyard’s roof and bounded away, he knew it was wise to follow. Where his witchy wife was taking him, he had no idea. He was glad to be going there, though, and as much as he despised Linux deep down for soul-stepping him in the first place, he was glad to see him, too.

Part IV
    The Outlands

Chapter 14
    Hard winter weeks passed at the castle while the Dragoneers and their dragons recovered. They had gotten Zahrellion back, and that was what they’d set out to do. The price paid for that victory was beyond imagining, though. There were fewer rangers than there were witches left, and King Richard’s last ships were already setting sail from the Mainland for good. The Frontier was no longer a promising place. The Dragoneers who could fly ventured out when the weather permitted and brought home tales of destruction and blood-stained snow. At best, they felt impotent to stop what was happening. No matter how strong the dragons were, flying in a white-out was near impossible. At least Marcherion was awake and speaking. Both of his legs were splinted, but he would recover. Herald, on the other hand, was lying on one of the replenishing slabs the witches discovered in some hard to find chambers. He was still and pale, and might as well have been a marble carving.
    Jenka was healing faster than the rest of them, due to a lingering effect of a restorative spell Jade had cast on him long ago. Jenka remembered that first meeting and cringed. He was nearly killed, and had he not saved Jade from those trolls, Jade wouldn’t have been able to save him in turn. He was glad for the encounter, though. Jade was as much a part of him as his hands or feet.
    Tkux and his ogres were almost finished with the saddles. Clover’s design was clever and allowed for satchels of gear to be tied on near the rider. Jenka and Jade tried one and it was amazing how much more maneuverability Jade had when Jenka was strapped in. They went upside down and took wild whipping turns without losing anything they carried. It was incredible.
    Young Jade was growing strong. Dragons of Jade’s age yearned to roam the world and stretch the limits of their being. It pained Jenka to know that they were not done battling the