Free The Dragon' Son by Kathryn Fogleman

another that has a dragon stone until he has been tested. No one is to take away someone's dragon stone, even in death. Few dragons have a dragon stone. And fewer than that have taken the Oath of the Stone, which is something that you would not understand.” The dragon was deliberately slow on nearly every word, as if to help Keegan better understand what he was saying.
     
    Keegan really didn’t understand any of it at all. His mind was so muddled that it was hard to understand anything at this time. The beast turned away from Keegan, took three steps toward the cave entrance, then stopped and sighed. “Will you ride me or not?” he looked back at Keegan. “I offer you my service.”
     
    Keegan tried to think about the offer before he made a decision, but his mouth blurted out the answer before his mind had time to settle down and ponder. “Yes, I will ride you.” He nodded his head reluctantly, wondering if it was a wise choice to accept the dragon’s offer and how soon before he was going to regret this decision.
     
    The dragon seemed to smile again, a bit of merriment coming into his large gold eyes. “Very well, we will start when you are ready,” he stated.
     
    It dawned on Keegan then that neither he nor the dragon knew each other’s names.
     
    “Do you have a name, Great One?” Keegan asked in a shaky voice, not exactly sure how to address a dragon.
     
    The dragon turned his head toward Keegan and looked at him with softness in his golden eyes. “There is only One that is great. No one else is great,” he corrected. “However, yes, I do have a name. My name is Pharrgon.” The name stuck in Keegan's head and seemed to put a warm glowing feeling in his chest. He felt a hint of a smile touch his lips as the name echoed though his head, and the warmth in his chest seemed to grow with each thump of his heart.
     
    A strange, warm light entered the dragon's golden eyes then, and he made a humming noise in the back of his throat and lowered his head. “And your name would be?” He cocked his head slightly as he asked Keegan the question.
     
    “Keegan, son of Barden, son of Bowen the Dragon…” Keegan stopped as he realized that old habit had taken over. How would the dragon react knowing that he, Keegan, was a dragon slayer’s son? The beast had already reacted strongly to the fact that he had a dragon stone. How could it be any different with this, except worse? Keegan was just feeling like they were becoming friends, and now he had probably just ruined it.
     
    “Bowen the Dragon Slayer? I see, however, Bowen was more than a 'dragon slayer'. I met him once, and he gave me this.” The dragon seemed unperturbed by Keegan's ancestry, and he twisted his enormous head around to his right side. Keegan nearly sighed with relief that the dragon was not angry. He then slowly walked around to the right side of Pharrgon to see what his grandfather had given the dragon. He glanced at the Pharrgon's bright gold scales on his side and saw nothing. He then followed the dragon's line of sight to its right shoulder and spotted a patch of scales that looked different from the rest. He stepped nearer to Pharrgon to have a closer look. Then he gasped and cringed at what he saw.
     
    A large, deep brand in the shape of a crown of thorns was in Pharrgon’s right fore-shoulder. It was an old brand but still very deep and painful looking. Where Pharrgon had been branded, there were no scales at all, only soft skin. The scales all around the branded area were deformed and oddly shaped. It was a perfectly vulnerable place to stab the dragon and slay him, if one could find it. It was not something terribly noticeable until one knew where it was, though. Keegan rubbed his own shoulder where his tattoo was--a mark that cursed him forever.
     
    “Do you also have a brand?” Pharrgon questioned.
     
    “Yes, I do, all my people…” Keegan stopped short. The scene of the villagers being slaughtered like pigs slithered