Free The Hearts of Dragons by Josh VanBrakle Page A

hand on it, more gingerly than he had with the
chair. He rubbed his palm along its simple contours. “This was mine,” he said.
    “Come on, Balear,” Hana
said. “Let’s give him a minute.”
    The pair of them left,
and Iren examined the rest of the bedroom. The tattered remnants of blankets,
long since moth-eaten, draped over the bed. The dresser held a few pieces of
clothing, but they were so damaged Iren couldn’t tell whose they were.
    Iren put his head in his
hands. He would find no answers here. Anything that could have helped him was
long gone, if it had ever existed. After all, this wasn’t the home of a Dragon
Knight. It was the home of a farmer, his wife, and their helpless baby boy.
    Retreating from the
dresser, Iren loosed a long breath. He threw himself backward on the bed.
    He was so lost in his
emotions that he forgot about the sorry state of the wood. The moment his body
hit the decaying mattress, the bed collapsed. Dust flew up and blinded him as
he fell to the ground.
    Off in the distance
Balear cried, “Iren? Iren! Are you all right?” Iren started to answer, but dust
choked him.
    He lay there several
minutes, afraid to move and churn up more dirt. When he could breathe without
gagging, he opened his eyes. He was staring at the ceiling. Splinters of rotten
wood filled the room. The straw mattress had all but dissolved.
    Groaning, Iren rolled
over and pushed himself to his feet. His back ached. He went through a series
of stretches. Bruised, he concluded, but not broken.
    “Iren!” Balear’s voice
was closer now. Seconds later the soldier burst into the room, Hana close
behind him.
    “I’m fine,” Iren assured
them, but then he shook his head. “Let’s go. There’s nothing left. I’m sorry I
dragged you both here.”
    “What will you do now?”
Hana asked.
    Iren shrugged. “I don’t
know. I guess I was counting on there being something here, so I didn’t come up
with a back-up plan.”
    “Well, there’s no need
to decide right away,” Balear said. He put a hand on Iren’s shoulder. “It’s
getting dark. We shouldn’t go anywhere else today. Let’s stay here tonight.”
    Stay here? Iren’s throat
tightened. Just standing in this room was overpowering. He tried to speak, to
counter Balear’s suggestion, but no words would come.
    “We can’t stay here,”
Hana said, her eyes on Iren. “This place could fall apart at any time. I don’t
want to die because some old roofing timber crushes me.”
    Iren thanked her
silently, but Balear didn’t look pleased. “Where should we go then?” he asked.
“It’s too late to head to another town, and there aren’t any inns around here.
We could camp out again, but all those briars in the overgrown fields will make
for an uncomfortable night.”
    Hana grinned. “Why don’t
we stay with your mom? You mentioned that she lives in Tropos Village. That’s
barely a mile from here.”
    Now it was Balear’s turn
to look tight in the chest. “I . . . well, yes, I did say
that, but we can’t just drop in on her uninvited.”
    “Nonsense!” Hana
laughed. “She’ll be happy to see her son. Now let’s get going!” Without waiting
for the others, she left the room.
    Balear pressed his
fingers into his temple. “What did we get ourselves into with her?”
    Iren smiled in spite of
himself. “I’ve wondered that ever since we met her. She does make life
interesting though.”
    “Hurry up, Balear!” Hana
called from outside. “I don’t know which house is your mom’s. You don’t want me
to knock on every door in town, do you?”
    Balear groaned. “Guess
she isn’t giving me a choice.”
    “Guess not,” Iren
agreed. “Come on; we’d better catch up with her.”
    Balear left, and Iren
followed. As he exited the bedroom, he took a final glance back. The power of
time was amazing. Even if he’d wanted to, he could never restore this place.
    “Goodbye, Mom,” he
whispered. “Goodbye, Dad. I don’t think I’ll ever come