The Flame Dragon Read Online Free

their home. Hinges splintered and the barring spell shattered. Marta stumbled back as an enormous armoured figure strode in, his head brushing against the top of the wooden doorway.
    Quinn shot a look at the back door. Even if he could reach it, there were bound to be other guards outside their home. He’d have to make for the forest, or maybe the river – but either one would involve crossing half the village. He was fast, but didn’t know if he was that fast,and the guards’ swords were very long and very sharp.
    Marta shook her head, as though she knew what Quinn was thinking.
    Slowly, the guard looked from their half-packed bags, to the scroll lying by the fireplace, to Quinn’s stricken face. How could this look like anything other than what it was? It couldn’t have been any more obvious that they were about to flee if he’d scribbled it on a sign and hung it around his neck.
    Marta dropped to the ground and bowed before the guard. Quinn copied her.
    ‘What have we done to receive the honour of your visit, Goric?’ Marta asked courteously, her words muffled by the floor. Quinn knew his aunt well enough to recognise the tremble in her voice. She was afraid, and with good reason. Goric was the captain of the Black Guard on Yaross Island. Compared to Goric, the guards Quinn had met the day before were just irritating fleas.
    ‘Why did you bar your door with magic,Marta?’ Goric said, coldly. ‘Does the name of the Emperor mean nothing to you? Do you plan treason?’
    Quinn shuddered. Goric would do anything to make life difficult for him and Marta. Once, when Quinn was just a baby, Goric had wanted to marry Marta, but she had turned him down. He had held a grudge ever since. Looking at the brutal man with the curling lip, cold blue eyes and icy pale skin, Quinn shuddered to imagine him being part of their family. Goric had never hesitated to use those great big fists on any of the villagers who irritated him.
    ‘No, Goric,’ Marta whispered. ‘We honour the Emperor.’
    ‘Honour,’ Goric hissed. ‘You have no honour.’ He tore down a line of damp laundry that stretched across the middle of the hut. ‘You never did. But today I have come to teach you about honour. When my men told me they’d recruited your nephew, I thought I’d do you the honour of collecting him myself.’ He stamped over to where Quinn still knelt, head pressedagainst the ground. All Quinn could see were the big boots and the shiny black armour above. ‘After all, we wouldn’t want any accident to befall him that would prevent him making it to the garrison.’
    Quinn shivered. Goric made it sound like a threat. He had been waiting for years to get revenge on Marta. This was just the excuse he’d been looking for.
    To think Quinn had imagined joining the Black Guard trainees might be a great adventure – now he knew it was going to be a nightmare.
    His hands trembled where he clutched at the floor. He was having trouble breathing.
    Then, he felt something strange wash over him – Marta’s magic! It slowed his pulse and calmed his breathing. He felt able to think more clearly. He glanced across at her. She smiled, and suddenly he felt something heavy materialise in his pocket. Marta had transported something there! His eyes widened. Marta nodded, and mouthed, ‘Ready?’
    Ready? He wanted to say. Ready for what?
    But he didn’t have time. Marta leapt to her feet and her magic surged. Quinn felt it lash out like a whip. The magic pulsed out from Marta in colourful rays, like nothing Quinn had seen before. She’d always had so little magic – or seemed to. It was as if it had all been saved up for this one moment.
    Goric staggered – his armour was far too strong for the magic, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t caught off balance by its powerful blast. He tumbled backwards, clutching on to the wet sheets that hung above him, pulling them down as he crashed to the floor. The glasses and plates in the cottage shattered, sending