The Dragondain Read Online Free Page B

them. Putting on a burst of speed, she entered the camp like a low-flying missile, overturning chairs, tables, tents, and more than one Rinn.
    Once within the valley, and with Sea Denn a distant point on the horizon, she began to outpace Aleron’s flock, dropping them one by one. Finally, only Aleron himself remained, but even he could not stay with her for the entire journey. Jasper was not in the habit of guessing speeds, but he was certain that, if she’d been on a highway, Nimlinn would have been passing all the other cars.
    The sun had traveled far across the sky and was getting low when Jasper first caught a clear sight of Sea Denn, city of the Rinn. It was precisely as he had always envisioned it, just as Uncle Ebb had painted it on canvas and in words. Only this time, it was real.
    Rather than scrambling up and down the edge of the crater that surrounded Sea Denn, Nimlinn simply leapt the entire thing in a single bound. Nor did she bother with the switchbacks that led to the Ridgegate. Instead, she raked and clawed her way up the lower plateau, her final bound landing her smartly on the lower rampart. Startled Rinn scattered where she landed. Jasper could hear their voices, translated into English in his head. The Rinn cheered when they realized it was their Queen. A scout Rinn signaled to the Ridgegate, from which a lone a bird took to the air, spiraling upward to the Palace Keep.
    “Where are we going?” shouted Jasper over the cheers.
    “First we will see Greydor, and then I will take you to the special place I took your sister. You may find some items of interest there.”
    Nimlinn took a shorter route to the Great Hall than Roan had with Lily, through chambers grander than anything Jasper could have imagined. Twisting passages led through elaborate glittering halls hung with rich tapestries. Nimlinn’s pace was a loping one now, but once they were moving within corridors and rooms, everything seemed to flash by at a terrific pace. A narrow stairway—narrow, at least, to a full-grown Rinn—led to the Great Hall, curving along the interior wall of the Palace Keep. At last Nimlinn veered off onto one of the many landings, stopping before a great Rinn whose long black fur was shot through with gray.
    “Greydor,” said Nimlinn, and they nuzzled each other and pawed each other’s manes. Jasper was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable when Snerliff reached around from behind and unbuckled the straps holding them in the saddle.
    Jasper and the wyflings slid down the side of the great saddle to the stone floor. Snerliff wasted no time. “Come with me, young master,” he said quickly, taking Jasper’s elbow in a furry paw and guiding him toward a low dais.
    Although Jasper had seen an image of Uncle Ebb’s painting of the Great Hall of the Rinn, he had never actually viewed it in person. When Lily was eight, she had come up with the idea of giving Finder their mother’s digital camera and asking him to take pictures of all the paintings in restricted areas of the mansion, where he was allowed to travel but they weren’t. It worked perfectly. Better yet, from examining the placement of windows and fireplaces, they were able to make some educated guesses as to where the paintings might be. For instance, they were pretty sure the painting of The Great Hall of the Rinn was on the third floor, in a turreted room with many windows, hanging over a fireplace. They had identified the likely room by standing themselves out in the yard and observing how the sun entered the various windows. Lily had notebooks full of such observations and sketches. They’d packed a lunch and made a day of it. Jasper had always wanted to see the painting in person. He never once imagined that he would see the actual room first.
    The ceiling was a low dome and the enormous brazier in the center was warm with coals. The pillars circling the room were wide, and the views of plains, mountains, and ocean were magnificent. Jasper wanted to