Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

finish the tale?”
    Drakor grunted.
    “I made a deal with Rutar to transform him into a man. The transformation process would make him whole and heal him. In exchange, he would become my apprentice and learn the ways of a wizard. He accepted.”
    “What became of Rutar? Is he still your apprentice?” Aesus asked.
    “Sadly, I ended up killing him. Once he became powerful, he wanted out of our arrangement. I told him it was binding until I was dead. Telling him that was a mistake, because then he tried to kill me.”
    “And so you defended yourself, and killed him instead,” Xan said.
    “I really liked him, and he was adept at spell casting. If he were alive, he would do the three quests for me.”
    “So, Aesus, are you willing to do his quests in exchange for becoming a man?” Drakor asked.
    “No, no,” Baldazar said, “it has to be all four of you. None of you could possibly complete the quests by yourself. It’s four of you or none of you.”
    “Well then, I guess this conversation is over. You’re done here.”
    “Are you speaking for everyone?”
    “I’m not interested in becoming a man and doing your mystery quests.” Drakor looked at Xan. “What about you? Do you want to become a woman?”
    Xan shrugged and looked at Aesus.
    “I’m willing to give it a try,” Aesus said. “The alternative is certain death. Toshen?”
    “I’m with you,” Toshen said to Aesus. “I have no love for man, but I have no love for dying either. I will try as well.”
    “Come with us,” Aesus told Drakor and Xan. “Our time as dragons is over, but we can start a new life like Baldazar said. But we can’t start that life without the both of you.”
    Xan looked at Drakor, who shook his head.
    “Would it change your mind if I said I wanted to try too?” said Xan.
    Drakor sighed. After a weighty pause, he said, “I know I’ll regret my decision, but all right, I’ll try as well.”
    A devious smile lit Baldazar’s face. “Excellent. We can start the process right away.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small dagger and a metal bowl. “I’ll need some blood from each of you.”
    Xan looked alarmed. “Blood? You didn’t say anything about taking blood.”
    “I really don’t need much. I’ll enchant the dagger so you won’t feel any pain.”
    He walked to Drakor and whispered a few words under his breath. The crystal on his staff flashed and the blade glowed light-blue. He stabbed the side of Drakor’s front leg and let blood trickle into the bowl. With a few more whispered words the crystal on the staff flashed again and the wound stopped bleeding and healed.
    “See? Painless.”
    Once Baldazar had collected blood from the other dragons, he levitated the bowl in front of him. He created a small fire under it, and waited for the blood to boil.
    “Gather in front of me,” Baldazar said. He tapped the end of his staff twice on the ground and the crystal atop the staff glowed. “Do you, dragons of the cave, give your word to complete three quests within three full moons in exchange for being transformed into men and a woman?”
    “We do,” the dragons said in unison.
    “Oh, I almost forgot,” Baldazar said with a nervous laugh. “And do you, dragons of the cave, give your word not to kill me?”
    “We do.”
    “Failure to uphold your end of our arrangement will result in your immediate death. The spell is now binding.” He tapped the end of his staff on the ground and the crystal stopped glowing.
    Once the blood was boiling, he removed the crystal atop the staff. It was the shape and size of a chicken egg, but cut in half along its length. He took it in his right hand and looked up at the dragons.
    “Good luck, my friends. Now close your eyes.”
    He closed his eyes and whispered a few words. The crystal glowed a bright white. He lowered his hand into the boiling blood, and his body emitted a white light. The dragons’ bodies glowed with their respective colors, steadily increasing