Dragons vs. Drones Read Online Free Page B

Thankfully they rarely deigned to leave their realm deep in the mountains, where the vegetation was scarce and the rock was fire-blasted and jagged. Neitherhumans nor other dragons dared to venture there. Flames also breathed fire of the most insidious kind—it expanded and enveloped its targets on impact, destroying them instantly. Even Dree was afraid of Flames, and she didn’t like admitting that she was afraid of anything.
    Dree sighed as Lourdvang lowered himself in front of her like a languid cat.
    â€œI’m always in trouble,” Dree said grimly. She tossed the toy dragonfly on the ground, and it bounced off the rock and lay still. “It’s what I do best.”
    â€œYou seem different this time,” Lourdvang said.
    Dree watched as thick black smoke curled around his nose. It had done that since he was a baby. Dree had found him abandoned in the mountains, and she had raised him in secret, watching in awe as he grew into the magnificent creature sitting next to her. They had been like brother and sister for the past five years, and she was closer to him than anyone, except perhaps her little sister, Abigale. Of course, no one else could ever know about Lourdvang—not even Abi. Both Dree and Lourdvang would be in serious trouble if anyone found out that a dragon and a human were friends. Those days were supposed to be long over. For both of them, the penalty would be exile or death.
    Dree plopped herself onto one of Lourdvang’s massive feet, leaning up against his leg. She could feel the warmth permeating through him, as it always did. Most humans couldn’t even touch a dragon without burning themselves and had to wear fire-resistant armor and gloves—even theriders. But Dree felt only a pleasant heat emanating from Lourdvang’s scales, just like the day she had first tenderly picked him up and held him, when she found this very cave as a refuge from the cold mountain winds.
    â€œI was fired,” she said, wiping the soot from her cheeks.
    â€œFired?”
    â€œYeah,” she grumbled. “I kind of . . . hit the Prime Minister with something.”
    Lourdvang curled his neck around to look at her, his expression amused.
    â€œAnd that seemed like a good idea?”
    Dree scowled. “It was an accident. Remember I told you my theory about the flying steel . . . well, I kind of tried it out.”
    â€œDid it work?”
    Dree nodded, smiling. “Flew around the room! Steel flying. Can you believe it?”
    â€œYou have a gift,” Lourdvang said approvingly. “One that even the clan elders say has left this world. I wish I could tell them about you, but—”
    â€œI know.”
    Lourdvang looked at Dree for a moment, and then a toothy grin split his lips. “Get on.”
    Her eyes widened. “Really? In the daytime?”
    â€œWe’ll fly east, away from the city. Out over the mountains.” His blue eyes twinkled mischievously. “It’s been too long since we flew together, big sister.”
    Dree laughed and scrambled onto Lourdvang, digging her hands into the deep grooves where the large, armorlikescales on his back met the smaller, more flexible ones on his neck. They were iron-hard and felt as hot as burning coal for most people, but Dree clenched them tightly, grinning. Dree loved flying more than anything. In the clouds, it felt like there was no memory of her life below. It was all much too far away.
    â€œReady?” Lourdvang growled, craning his neck to look at her.
    â€œReady!”
    Lourdvang shot into the sky like an arrow, his gigantic, membranous wings unfurling and catching the northern wind. Dree shrieked with excitement as Lourdvang lifted them higher and higher until the hidden ledge fell away below them. As soon as Lourdvang was on the far side of the mountain, completely blocking them from the city and prying eyes, he shot forward to the east, streamlining his neck and