• Complain

Troy Denning - The Veiled Dragon

Here you can read online Troy Denning - The Veiled Dragon full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. genre: Romance novel. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover

The Veiled Dragon: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "The Veiled Dragon" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Troy Denning: author's other books


Who wrote The Veiled Dragon? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

The Veiled Dragon — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Veiled Dragon" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Troy Denning

The Veiled Dragon

One

Far across the surging dunes of moonlit sea, the dark wyrm wheeled and, with a deftness surer than any desert falcon, struck again at the dis- tant and battered caravel. The serpent caught the topyard in its ebony claws and snapped the thick timbers like twigs; the topsail tore free and away it flew, a gift to the wailing salt winds. From the caravel's distant decks rose a flurry of tiny splinters, arrows and spears hurled by men who looked like insects beneath the belly of the monster. The black shafts struck its thick scales and bounced away without causing harm. The beast swooped low over the stern, spun upon its leathery wing, and returned at once to the vessel. Its talons tore into the wooden hull as the claws of a lion tear into the flanks of a camel.

A great dune of wind-driven sea rose up before Ruha robbing her eyes of the faraway caravel and the night- black dragon. She locked her arms around the starboard taffrail of her own vessel, a forty-foot cog hired out of

Lormyr, and watched the black waters gather like a mountain beside the ship. The dune crashed down, and the froth roared over the wales and swirled about her waist, sweeping her feet from beneath her hips. Ruha hugged the rail as though it were a husband. The torrent raged on, and each second seemed a minute. The angry sea dragged at her long aba like a ravisher determined to disrobe her, and churning tears of foam beat at her face, soaking her veil and her shawl with cold briny water. Her arms trembled with the strain of holding fast.

At last, the cog heeled to the wind and rose on the heaving sea. The fierce waters rolled across the deck and poured overboard, carrying with them all the torrent's rage, and Ruha's smooth-soled sandals found purchase on the wet planks. She stood and looked toward the dis- tant caravel and saw neither dragon nor ship, only the splintered tip of a mainmast swaying above the crest of a faraway dune of water.

Ruha released the taffrail and clambered down the listing deck, half sliding over the wet planks to where

Captain Fowler stood at the rear of the ship. He was as much ore as human, with a jutting brow, swinish snout, and tough, grayish-green skin, and he seemed a strange sort of commander to the eyes of a Bedine witch not long absent from Anauroch's burning sands. He hugged the tiller with one burly arm, and his gray eyes never strayed from the ship's single bulging sail.

Ruha grabbed the binnacle, the wooden compass stand before the tiller, and asked, "Captain Fowler, why do you sail in the wrong direction?" She pointed over the star- board side. "Do you not see the dragon? Over there!"

"Lady Witch, I know the beast's bearings well enough."

Though his voice was deep and gravelly, the captain spoke with a deliberate composure that belied his feral aspect. "But even I cannot sail Storm Sprite full into the wind. We must beat our way."

Ruha had learned a little of the strange speech used by the men who lived upon the water, enough to know

Fowler meant they had to follow a zigzag course to their goal, and she did not need the captain to explain why.

Even a woman who had not set eyes on a ship until three days ago could see that the Storm Sprite could not sail directly against the wind. But she could also see that

Captain Fowler placed a high value on his vessel, and he was certainly shrewd enough to make a great show of rushing to the caravel's aid while sailing at angles shal- low enough to ensure he arrived after the battle was done.

Ruha glanced over the starboard side and saw the car- avel topping the moonlit crest of a rolling sea dune. High upon its poop deck sat the dragon, swatting at the far- away vessel's indiscernible crew as a man slaps at stinging flies.

"Captain Fowler, we have no time for this sailing of a snake's path! By the time we reach the ship, we shall find nothing but dead men."

"What would you have me do, Witch?" Fowler demanded. "I cannot change the way the wind blows!"

"And if you could turn the wind, would you have it blow straight at the caravel?"

The captain scowled, suspicious. "Aye, but first I would call Umberlee up from the great depths and have her chain her pet."

"That I cannot do. I know nothing of this Umberlee."

Ruha released the binnacle and cupped her hands together. She blew upon her fingers and spoke the mysti- cal incantation of a wind enchantment. Her breath shim- mered with a pale sapphire glow, then it swirled in her palms, emitting a low, keening howl such as starving jackals make at night. From Captain Fowler's throat arose a gasp of surprise, and his gaze swung from his ship's flaxen sail to the whistling breeze she held in her grasp.

"Lady Witch, what have you there?"

"It is the wind, Captain Fowler." Twinkling blue streamers spilled from Ruha's hands and spun across the gloomy deck, each adding its own piercing note to the wailing of the gale. "I am determined to reach that ship before the dragon sinks it."

"That I can see, but it is no simple thing to bring a ship like Storm Sprite around. It takes time."

"The dragon will give you no time!"

Ruha raised her hands toward the distant caravel, which now lay hidden behind another black and looming water dune.

"Hold your magic, Lady Witch!" commanded the cap- tain. "You may have hired this ship, but I am the-"

The dune broke over the starboard side, and a torrent of white foam came boiling down the deck. Ruha flung her spell at the distant caravel and saw a dazzling stream of blue-sparkling wind shoot from the side of her own vessel. She threw her arms around the binnacle, and the dark waters were upon her. The raging currents swept her feet from beneath her. Had her elbows not been tightly wrapped around the slippery wood, surely she would have tumbled overboard and drowned in the angry black sea. Instead, she locked her fingers into the cloth of her aba and held fast, and when the torrent had receded, she pulled herself to her feet.

A few yards off the starboard side hung Ruha's spell, a glittering wedge of blue air that constantly whirled back on itself, yet steadily drove forth into the fierce night wind. As this wedge moved forward, its fan-shaped tail broadened and stretched back toward the Storm Sprite, until it engulfed the whole of the small cog. A fog of cold indigo vapor spread over the decks, causing the crew to give many shouts of alarm and promise offerings of trea- sure to Umberlee, and eddies of sapphire wind sprang to life atop the taffrail. Azure drafts raced along the wales and undulated through the ratlines, and pale glowing breezes twined their way up the mast to spread along the yardarms.

Then a magnificent flapping arose in the sail. The night wind spilled from its belly, pouring a cascade of swirling turquoise zephyrs down upon the crew, and the small cog slowed. The sailors wailed in fear, tossing many rings and earrings overboard to win the favor of their avaricious sea goddess.

"You wretched witch!" Fowler held the tiller at the length of his arm, and his gray eyes were staring in horror at the pale breeze spiraling along the lacquered sur- face. If it troubled the captain to have the scintillating currents swirling over his green skin also, he showed no sign of it. "What have you done to my ship?"

"I have done nothing to harm her." Beyond the star- board taffrail, Ruha's wind spell had stretched to twice the Storm Sprite's length. The glowing breezes had lost much of their sparkle and swirl, and they were beginning to look like a flight of spears aimed straight across the churning sea. "Perhaps you should change course, Cap- tain Fowler. The wind is about to shift."

Fowler glanced at the shining wind spell, then looked at the great water dune gathering off his ship's starboard side. "I hope you haven't capsized us!"

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Veiled Dragon»

Look at similar books to The Veiled Dragon. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «The Veiled Dragon»

Discussion, reviews of the book The Veiled Dragon and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.