Dragon Stones Read Online Free

peevish.
    "No," Orioke said.  "You didn't."
    Dosen sighed, as if he were a father tired of repeatedly explaining the same thing.  " Rather than overtax the eagles with a long flight back to Lord Dunshandrin's castle , you will rest here and continue your journey in the morning."
    "They're birds," Redshen said.  "Birds are meant to fly."
    "Perhaps you failed to notice, but these are hardly ordinary birds.  You would not ride a horse across the continent without stopping to rest, would you?"
    "If I had material I urgently needed to transport, I would arrange to have relief horses along the way," Orioke said.
    "And so we have," Dosen said.  "The crystals will continue on their way with another rider on a fresh eagle."
    Adaran said:  "And our payment?"
    "You will receive your money tomorrow."
    "Why not now?"
    Dosen folded his arms.  "You will have your coin once the crystals are safely underway, and not before."
    "What does he want them for, anyway?" Jenune asked.
    Dosen looked at the warrior; so did Adaran, surprised that the man had asked that question so directly.  He and Redshen had wondered about this too, of course, and had speculated wildly in private, but they knew enough not to voice their curiosity to those who had hired them.
    The steward said:  "I'm sorry … What?"
    "I asked why Dunshandrin wants the crystals.  What use are they to him?"
    "I'm sure that if Lord Dunshandrin had cared for you to know his business, he would have shared it with you," Dosen said.  "Now, if there are no more questions, let us show you to your tents."  He looked at each of them in turn; when no one spoke, he snapped his fingers several times, the sound like small branches cracking.  The men who had been tormenting the squirrel gave up their pastime and approached, allowing the creature to escape into a nearby bolt-hole.  One of the young guards—the same one who had helped Adaran up after the eagle had stepped on him—winked at Redshen, who burst into laughter and turned her face against Adaran's shoulder.  Dosen shook his head, turned, and walked away, moving up the ridge toward the large pavilion.
    As they followed the guards to their own, considerably smaller, tents, Redshen pulled Adaran's head down to her mouth and whispered:  "I'll wager that Dosen keeps the payroll in that big house of his."
    He raised an eyebrow and held up eight fingers, the number of guards he had seen so far; Redshen gestured toward the eagles, then fluttered her hand through the air like the wing of a bird.  He shook his head slightly and pointed at the ground.  She sighed, rolled her eyes, and looked away.
    Whatever plan she was cooking up, Adaran knew he hadn't heard the last of it.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    During the boat trip up the river to Dunshandrin's castle, Tolaria had learned more details about the tenuous situation she would have to defuse.  Lord Dunshandrin had been struck by a sudden illness, provoking a succession dispute between his twin sons.  Their father, with the shortsightedness of those who thought they would live forever, had never officially designated a successor; instead, he had encouraged the boys to fight and speculate over who was firstborn and thus would become the next Lord.  Perhaps he had thought this strategy would prove which child was the stronger.
    Now, with their father's death imminent, the argument had turned deadly serious; the twins threatened to take up arms against each other and split the realm with civil war.  They had become so suspicious of each other that they would neither leave the castle nor accept a written statement from the Crosswaters, even one bearing the official seal of Flaurent.  They insisted on hearing, from an oracle's own lips, who the rightful Lord would be.
    She learned all this, bit by bit; the emissary parceled out information in tiny morsels, like a pinched miser dispensing one coin a day to the beggars.  Fortunately, the man had proven vulnerable to