Free Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) by Barbara Kloss Page A

passed. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed like my presence roused every single window display. I wondered how much farther this Myez Rader was and what kind of shop he kept, if he kept one at all.
    We passed a garden filled with an overgrowth of strange and carnivorous-looking plants, another shop window filled with cauldrons and beakers and vials of pieces of anatomical interest. I was in the middle of gaping at a caged tarantula the size of a pumpkin when a little boy pushed past me.
    He couldn't have been much older than Fleck, all knees and elbows. He ran fast, clutching something to his side as he dashed through the flow of people. Not long after, a deep voice bellowed through the street, "Come back here, thief!"
    The voice belonged to a behemoth of a man. He had to be at least ten feet tall! His face was brutish and square and twisted in ugly rage as he charged barefoot after the boy. People dashed out of the way as the giant man ran, a sort of stiff and jerky motion like he wasn't used to moving his legs quite so quickly. Vera and Alex jumped back to let the man pass, and Alex jerked me out of the way since I was too stunned to move myself.
    The little boy had run into a dead end, and his dirt-covered face whipped back and forth between the approaching giant and the wall. There was fear in the boy's eyes. He wanted to climb the wall—he could've, too—but the precious puppy in his hands made that impossible. He was trapped.
    People pretended not to see, averting their eyes and walking quickly away. The giant had slowed his awkward jog and was steadily approaching the boy. The boy wouldn't stand a chance and no one was moving in to help him.
    I couldn't take it. "Alex—"
    "No." His expression fierce.
    "Alex, we have to help him."
    "We can't, Daria," he said. "I'm sorry."
    The giant stood with teeth bared like an enraged animal, huge fists the size of my head clenched at his sides. "Give it back, boy."
    The boy trembled with huge eyes. "Get away from me!" he cried, holding the object behind him.
    "This way," Vera whispered. She started leading us across the street.
    I kept trying to see the boy, but Alex had conveniently positioned himself so that he blocked my view, and the giant's bulk wasn't helping matters any, either. What was happening? Why wasn't anyone doing anything? Even if the boy had stolen something, surely it wasn't worth a giant's wrath? Wasn't this a city of thieves, anyway?
    And then the boy wailed.
    The giant held a limp puppy in his grip, which he discarded on the street near my feet as if it were nothing more than a rag doll. My stomach turned and I felt sick.
    "That'll teach you to steal, boy," grumbled the giant.
    The boy's eyes were wide with grief and fear, and when he tried to run, the giant swung out and grabbed the boy's arm. The giant's huge hand swallowed the boy's tiny arm, and though the boy cried and jerked, he was going nowhere.
    A few people stood by now, watching the inevitable punishment.
    The giant pulled a jagged blade from his belt, jerking the writhing and wailing child after him and over to a crate. He set the boy's arm on top of the crate so that the boy's squirming hand was exposed and wriggling.
    "NO!" wailed the boy. "Please, don't!"
    My heart pounded in my chest. The giant was going to cut off the boy's hand. It was like seeing Fleck standing there, helpless and afraid. How could the people just stand here like this? How could they let this small child be punished with such cruelty? This was not justice! This was barbaric!
    WHY ISN'T ANYONE DOING ANYTHING?
    The giant held the blade high, a cruel, rotting smile on his ugly face.
    "Please!" the boy pleaded, struggling to twist free. "I didn't mean to—I just wanted—don't, please !" Tears streamed freely down his face.
    Time slowed to a halt. The world around me faded away and all I could see was the boy and that blade, and in one quick motion, I unsheathed my dagger and threw it at the giant. It spun end over end in a