Dragon Seeker Read Online Free Page B

around and obey its wishes. But a magician? It hesitated for a few seconds more, weighing up the possibilities — and then relaxed its grip, deciding that belonging to amagician might, after all, have its advantages.
    The magician pulled again, this time with all his strength — and promptly fell over backwards as the sword slid easily from Sir Pendar’s grasp. Staggering to his feet, he looked at it greedily. He felt its power and, holding it by its hilt, waved it triumphantly in the air so that the sunlight sparked off its shining blade.
    It was then that a voice spoke to him.
    He spun round, his eyes darting into every nook and cranny, but it was only when the voice spoke again that he realized that it came from the sword in his hand.
    “Who are you?” the sword demanded. “What is your name?”
    Lord Jezail froze. Hurriedly, he changed his grasp and held the blade of the sword flat across the palms of both hands and bowed to it, his mind in turmoil. It had never entered his head that Dragonslayer might have this kind of magic and he wasn’t at all sure if he was happy about it.
    “My name is Lord Jezail … Lord Jezail of Ashgar,” he stammered .
    “Ashgar?” The sword slowly changed colour and glowed with a golden hue as the information registered. “Ashgar …” it repeated in a different tone. “Where there is a valley of dragons?”
    “Yes,” Lord Jezail answered, breathing a sigh of relief.
    He had sensed the sword’s initial hesitation but mention of the Valley of the Dragons had done much to allay its fears.
    Excitement flared through the sword at the very thought of the valley that had been famous even in the days of Sir Pendar. “We will go there,” it announced. “But not yet! First of all, I would like to bid farewell to my knight, Sir Pendar. Please hold me over his body, if you will!”
    Lord Jezail raised his eyebrows. An order, he thought. Nicelyput, but an order nevertheless.
    Obediently, he moved forward and, as he held Dragonslayer over the body of the knight, felt a beam of magic shiver from the blade of the sword. Gasping in surprise, he looked down to see that, once again, Sir Pendar clasped a sword between his bony fingers. A sword that was identical to the one he held in his hand.
    “We cannot leave a knight without his sword,” Dragonslayer pointed out, sensing the magician’s surprise. “Sir Pendar was a good man and served me well. He deserves no less.”
    Lord Jezail bowed in agreement but his mind was racing frantically. This wasn’t at all what he had expected. A magic sword, yes; a magic sword whose blade could pierce the scales of dragons, yes; but a sword that could talk, give orders and throw spells … this wasn’t what he’d had in mind at all!

3. Secret Tunnels
    “For goodness sake, don’t take any risks, Johnson,” Colonel Jamieson spoke briskly as the first of the two soldiers who’d volunteered to suss out the earthquake damage, dangled his legs over the wide split that had opened in the floor of one of the castle’s dungeons. “And that goes for you, too, Mason,” he added, turning to the other man who was still being roped up.
    It was the deepest of all the dungeons and, until then, everyone had assumed that the bedrock of the castle lay underneath it. The opening in the rock, however, had caused more than a few raised eyebrows among the team of engineers, for the strong current of fresh air that blew from it, indicated that there was a lot more than rock under their feet.
    Ian Johnson looked into the hole in the ground, assessing the possibilities. The opening, fortunately, was wide enough to give him plenty of room to manoeuvre but sloped steeply sideways into the depths.
    “We’ll watch out, Sir. Don’t worry!” Stuart Mason grinned confidently, as he made a final adjustment to his harness.
    Ian lowered himself carefully into the hole and, hanging on to the rope with one hand, shone his torch downwards, hoping to see how deep the shaft