Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Read Online Free Page A

protect the wagons as a last line of defense.
                 Three of the rough looking men were down, arrows protruding from their
foreheads. Twang! Make that four bandits down; his eyes caught the flash of some
bowman far to his right. Without thinking about it, Zoran launched himself into the fray,
his pair of short shorts flashing rapidly. Taking the nearest by surprise, his blades sliced
deep into the man’s gut and his neck, dropping this bandit instantly. Twang! A fifth went
down, as Zoran engaged the next bandit.
                 The double teaming bandits, realizing that their simple heist was going all wrong,
turned tail to run back into the woods. However, the one he was facing had no choice but
to attempt a fighting retreat. His broadsword swung defensively against the incredibly
fast slicing motions of the twin blades. Fear crept into the man’s face; he stopped
making any attempt to swing his blade, merely trying to use it to block those razor sharp
blades, moving so fast that if he focused on the path of one, the other became a blur.
Pain. Pain again. Darkness. The bandit dropped as the sound of snarling, barking dogs
came from the direction of the fleeing bandits.
                 Zoran looked over at the teamsters. Two waved a greeting, but began attending to
their companions’ many wounds. The archer stepped out of the woods. Zoran blinked
twice. A woman wearing a leather top and pants similar to his, tall and with long blonde
hair tied back, and sky blue eyes came walking towards him. She had a long bow and an
arrow notched, though it was pointing downward at the moment. She took graceful, well
placed steps as she approached, her eyes darting from fallen bandit to bandit. The dog
growling and barking grew louder.
                 Suddenly the remaining five bandits came running as fast as they could from the
trees, followed by a pack of large brown and black dogs. A man with a drawn sword was
right behind them. “That’ll be Bernard, most likely,” the woman’s alto voice called out to
Zoran. “Don’t attack the dogs.”
                 The bandits, seeing Zoran and the archer before them and the wild man and dogs
behind them, dropped their crossbows and swords. “We give up! Call them off!” one
yelled frantically as a dog, teeth snarling, saliva dripping, slowly approached his leg.
                 “Heel, Amos. Heel,” the man in the cloak called out. “Heel. Here to me. Here to
me. Good dogs. Guard. Guard.” Zoran was impressed with the behavior of the six dogs.
The one that was threatening to take a bite out of the man’s leg backed off. All six
scampered like playful pups to the man’s sides and sat down. When they heard the word
“guard,” they sat at attention, like scouts, watching the five men closely.
                 “I wouldn’t try nothing,” Bernard called out to the bandits. “Amos will take your
leg off.” Zoran rather doubted this, but the bandit obviously didn’t. He shook with fear
and stared at the dogs constantly. “Hail and well met again, Zdenka. Our paths cross
once more.”
                 “Aye, and to you too,” the alto voice called over the battlefield to Bernard. To the
five bandits, she called out, “Tend to your wounded men!” To Zoran, she said cautiously,
“Hail stranger. Best be tending to the guards and drivers.” Zoran nodded, already
moving toward the victims of the attack, who were assisting their wounded men.
                 All four guards had sword wounds in their arms, legs, or chests. Three drivers had
quarrels still protruding, as if they were a woman’s pin cushion. The uninjured driver
was hastily trying to stem the bleeding from his guardsman. “Here, let me at him,”
Zoran insisted, taking over. Quickly, he worked on getting the crude bandage tied tight
enough to stop the bleeding. From the corner of his eye, he spied Zdenka attending to