Erik And The Dragon ( Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

stamped the butt of the spear on the ground. “Let’s go dragon hunting!”

CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Al sat awkwardly in his royal armor, shifting his weight to keep the metal from sticking into his hips. Apparently the dwarves of old were not as well endowed with love handles as Al was. Not that he was fat, on the contrary he was quite stocky and thick, but most of his bulk was solid. However, he did carry just a little bit of fat around the hips.
    At least he had talked his footmen into taking off his gauntlets so he could move his arms freely. Wearing the gaudy armor was bad enough, but eating while trapped with stiff arms would have been almost unbearable.
    He glanced around the room, noting that most of his dwarves sat to his left around the several long tables that had been arranged in the dining hall. To his right there was a large empty space, and then King Mathias in his high-backed chair of iron and carved wood. Beyond him sat the senators and other members of the court that Al didn’t recognize off hand. In the center of the room, between the two long tables, danced a trio of women. They wore midriff bearing shirts of purple silk, with small golden bells along the sleeves. Their baggy, sheer blue pants flowed out as they kicked their legs high and twirled around to the rhythm they made by clapping their hands and tapping their bare feet on the floor. They were entertaining enough, but Al would have preferred to watch dwarven acrobats. Now those were women that could hypnotize with their looks!
    He took a sip of his wine.
    “Pheasant, milord?” a sultry young voice asked from behind. Al struggled to turn his neck and had to turn his whole torso to see who spoke to him. It was a lady servant, holding a platter with roast pheasant on it. One of the drumsticks was already taken, but otherwise the bird was intact.
    “I’ll have the other leg,” Al said with a sharp nod of his head. He thanked her after she placed it on his plate next to a half-eaten slice of buttered bread and a small hill of fried potato cubes mixed with thin green beans and onions.
    Al used his fork to separate the onions from his other vegetables before eating the potatoes. He knew it wasn’t very kingly to be a picky eater, but he had never gotten used to the taste of onions, nor the sour breath they left him with the few times he had choked them down. Besides, what was the point of being a king if you couldn’t at least choose to avoid the foods you hate without being reproached for it?
    After he finished the last thin green bean he picked up the pheasant leg and took a huge bite off the thickest part. The skin crackled in his mouth and the savory juices ran over his tongue as he pulled the meat free of the bone. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed fire-roasted pheasant. He closed his eyes in delight and savored the bite. Then he washed it down with a swig of sweet red wine.
    “Bring out the juggler,” one of the senators called out from the other side of the hall. A couple others nodded their approval and shortly thereafter a tall, thin man came walking into the room . The dancing women bowed to King Mathias and then pranced out of the hall, their bells bouncing and sounding with each step.
    “My king, and honored guests,” the man said with a flourish of his hands and a bow so deep that his head nearly touched the floor. “It is my honor to bring you the latest trend from the jugglers in Hornbeak.” He shook his right leg and three juggling pins fell out of his enormous pant leg. A few of the senators laughed, but Al just took another bite of his pheasant.
    The juggler then clapped his hands and two assistants came running out to him. They were young, maybe in their early teens. They wore white face paint with black around their eyes and red around their mouths. Each one carried a long stilt, and one also had a stool with him. The juggler turned, climbed up onto the stool and then leapt atop the stilts as soon as the