Dragonoak: The Complete History of Kastelir Read Online Free Page A

me.
    “Indeed,” she finally allowed, stepping into the stables.
    I followed her. I hadn't been in there for days. My father never said as much, but I knew the elders had made him swear that I wouldn't go anywhere near the stables while a Knight's horse was being kept there.
    At the time, I didn't know why I went with her. The conversation was hardly flowing, but perhaps I thought her departure sealed my fate; perhaps I thought the villagers would blame me for her unexplained absence. Either way, I followed her, passing my peacefully sleeping horse, until she stood in front of her own.
    It was harder to see within the stables. The darkness there seemed to have taken on form, filling the air between us. As though there was something physical that would protect me, if need be, I said, “You're not going to Canth, are you?”
    That got her attention. She'd been unlatching her horse's pen and doing a fine job of ignoring me up until that point. Stopping what she was doing, she turned to me, and I knew what I had said was as stupid as it was brave.
    “Why do you say that?” Sir Ightham asked, not as dismissive as she'd been moments before.
    “Because there aren't dragons in Canth, are there?” I said, and we both knew that wasn't the reason. “The map you were looking at, it was just of Felheim and Kastelir. Canth wasn't on it at all, so I thought...”
    Sir Ightham brought her hands together. Her arms disturbed the darkness as her armour clattered against itself, not like metal; not like anything I'd heard before.
    “Why do you suppose I might've said I was going to Canth in the first place?” she asked.
    “I don't know,” I said honestly. “Maybe you just wanted an excuse to leave, or maybe—maybe your real work's a secret. I don't... look, I'm really not going to tell anyone about this, Sir.”
    “My real work,” she repeated, mulling the words over. Satisfied with my reply, she pulled the latch across the pen and swung the door open with a creak. “And what would that be?”
    “You're going to slay a dragon?” I offered up, not certain how a Knight's work could revolve around anything else and doubting myself in the same instant.
    “Quite,” Sir Ightham said, voice accompanied by the sound of hooves.
    With her horse's reins in a fist, she led him out of the pen and towards the night that was glowing with moonlight, after adjusting to the depths of the stables. She didn't ask me to step aside, and I almost tripped over my feet in an effort to get out of their way. Sir Ightham climbed onto her horse's back and gripped the reins, meaning to disappear forever. There'd be an outrage tomorrow morning, and it'd be my fault.
    “Wait, Sir!” I said before she could head off. “Let me come with you.”
    I blurted it out and felt myself redden as the words lingered in the air between us. Sir Ightham stared at me. She glanced at her horse, consulting with him through a series of meaningful looks, and then he stared at me. I cringed, trying again.
    “You'll need a squire, won't you?” I asked. In truth, I wasn't entirely sure what a squire was , but they always featured side by side with Knights in all of Michael's better stories.
    Again, they stared at me. In that moment, the fact that I was standing before a Knight really sunk in, and it took all my strength not to stare down at the ground.
    “Have you ever held a sword in your life?”
    There was nothing like amusement in her words. Her voice was entirely flat, even, and she spoke in a way that suggested she already had her answer. Which didn't mean she wasn't waiting for me to reply.
    “No, but...” I bit the inside of my cheek, sure that my honesty would give her all the reason she needed to charge off. “But I know how to fight! I might not be able to use a sword, but I grew up wrestling wolves—someone has to take care of the sheep, and that's always been my job.”
    I twisted my fingers in the hem of my shirt, ready to hoist it up at the first sign of