Temple of the Dragonslayer Read Online Free

Davyn grabbed him by his purple cape and yanked him backward.
    “Do you want to get killed?” Davyn hissed in one of the kender’s pointed ears.
    “No,” he said. “I suppose not.”
    “Then be quiet and let your friend handle this!” Davyn sounded confident, but as he glanced at the minotaur, Nearra saw the worry in his eyes.
    “Why do you pursue the kender, if not to fight him?” the red-haired warrior asked. “And don’t tell me you only want to talk to him—unless minotaurs always hold conversations while swinging a weapon.”
    “The kender stole something from me,” the minotaur said. “I merely wish to retrieve my property.”
    The kender pulled away from Davyn’s grip with an ease that surprised Nearra, and he walked toward the angry minotaur.
    “Now I really must protest. I am not a thief! I am Sindri Suncatcher, wizard extraordinaire!”
    The warrior groaned.
    The kender didn’t look much like a wizard to Nearra, but then Maddoc was the only one she’d ever met—as far as she could remember.
    “Stay out of this, Sindri!” the girl warrior snapped. “Unless you want this minotaur to use his axe to turn you into two halves of a kender.”
    “Two halves?” Sindri Suncatcher looked thoughtful. “I wonder what that would be like?”
    The minotaur turned to glare at the kender, his grip tightening around the handle of his axe until it looked as if his bulging knuckles would break through skin and fur. “If you do not cease your foolish chatter, you will find out soon enough!”
    Nearra almost jumped when Davyn pulled her aside. “Perhaps it would be best if we were on our way,” he said softly, presumably so the others wouldn’t overhear.
    Nearra looked at Davyn, unable to believe her ears. “You showed no hesitation in facing Slean armed with only a bow and arrow. Why are you afraid now?”
    “It is my responsibility to escort you to the healer and keep you safe until you have regained your memory,” Davyn said. “Getting involved in a dispute between a kender and a minotaur won’t accomplish either of these goals.”
    “We can’t leave,” Nearra said. “The kender and his warrior friend might need help.”
    The minotaur took a step toward Sindri and stuck out his free hand, palm up.
    “I understand that it is a kender’s nature to handle whatever catches his eye. Return what you have taken, and I shall go in peace.”
    “I don’t mean to keep arguing with you,” Sindri said in the tone of someone who most certainly
did
mean to, “but I don’t know where you get your information about kender. We do nosuch thing. Oh, every now and then we stumble across objects people have lost, though why they insist on blaming us for their carelessness, I’ll never know. But as I said, I am a wizard. I have no need to take objects from anyone, for I possess the magical ability to conjure any item I wish.”
    Davyn rolled his eyes. “He must be joking.”
    The red-haired warrior must have overheard, for she said, “Unfortunately, he’s not.”
    Sindri gave his companion a quick scowl. He whispered a few words, then reached into his cape. “Behold!” he shouted, and withdrew his hand with a flourish. He now held a bulging leather pouch.
    “My steel!” the minotaur bellowed. “I knew you took it, you little thief! Return it to me at once!”
    “You are mistaken,” Sindri said. “This purse may look similar to the one you lost—perhaps even identical to it. But this purse magically appeared within one of the hidden pockets of my cape.”
    “He can’t possibly be serious!” Davyn said.
    “Maybe he is,” Nearra replied. “What thief would ever invent such an outrageous story and expect it to be believed?”
    “Even if Sindri is telling the truth, I doubt it will make much difference to the minotaur,” Davyn said.
    Someone needed to do something or else Sindri Suncatcher was sure to get injured—or worse. Nearra clenched her hands in frustration and a tingling warmth spread