Free Dragon Down by Casey Knight Page B

well have been. It was a Nargon and it was headed for our port side. Zane yelled for me to haul down the sail and I sprang into action. I uncleated the main sail and let it down. The sail flapped around me like a wild beast as I tried to haul it in. Grasping the nearest section of the sail I started rolling it toward me. I almost had it when the boat listed heavily to the side I was standing on.
    My feet went out from under me and I grabbed for the boom which was swinging wildly. Holding on for dear life I dangled out over the water for a fraction of a second . Then the boom sailed back toward the boat. Landing in an undignified heap, I scrambled to my feet and subdued the thrashing sail and boom. When everything was lashed down, I spotted Zane standing in the stern holding a high-powered rifle. We might be in the nineteenth century, but our weapons were from the twentieth century.
    The Nargon missed our left side and dove underwater. I scanned the water around us looking for air bubbles or any sign of the Nargon. It surfaced a hundred yards in front of the boat. Zane squeezed off several rounds that appeared to pass right through the Nargon. I yelled for Zane to hold his fire. The Nargon screamed and thrashed around like we ’d hit it. I raised my arms and pointed them at the Nargon. A stream of raw energy erupted from my bracelet. Slamming adroitly into the Nargon and sending out a shower of sparks like those emitted from a welder’s torch. The energy emphatically dispatching the Nargon and moments later it sank from sight. I turned to look at Zane.
    “Does that answer your question? Things like that. We just killed our first enchantment. Lauren, are you all right? I thought you were going for a swim when that boom swept you overboard.”
    I couldn’t believe my ears. The man might actually have a sense of humor, although a bad one. “I’m fine and I planned that move. I was trying to draw the Nargon into range for you to shoot it.”
    “That was considerate of you. Now we had better get the sail back up and put some distance between us and this enchantment. There is likely to be others in the area and one enchanted Nargon is more than enough for me.”
    I didn ’t want to go anywhere near the sail or the boom, one a ride was all I could handle today. Still I didn’t want Zane to know that so, I pitched in and we got back under way. I sent Tokem to scout out the area for signs of activity and land. My stomach hurt and I couldn’t tell if it was hunger or the side effects of my aerodynamically challenged ride on the boom. I scrounged up some dried meat and fruit and brought them up on deck. I handed Zane some food and then went to stand in the bow.
    It must have been hunger because I felt a whole lot better after I ate. I washed down my dried cuisine with some water. Since we ’d just faced one enchantment, I decided to send out my senses. These are magical feelers for lack of a better description. They are sensitive, nimble and skillfully effective. If we were close enough to the source of the magic, I might be able to detect it. It was worth a try anyway and it wasn’t likely we still possessed the element of surprise.
    Tokem came back at some point while I was running my scan of the area. He obviously hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. I was ready to call it quits when I found something. It was faint whatever it was. I tried turning in a small circle to see if I could get a stronger read. It worked because I got a much stronger reading from directly behind us. As amazing as it sounds, I work just like the old rabbit ears for your TV. I walked back to inform Zane about what I had found. He listened intently to my explanation without comment. I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to comment, which was fine by me. Especially, since I always like to have the last word.
    “Do you think it is possible the island was hidden from our view on the first pass?”
    “Not only possible, but likely. We have