For the Heart of Dragons Read Online Free Page B

face.
    A hard object slammed into his shoulder, knocking him off balance. He cursed to himself as he twisted to face his attacker. Surprise flashed through Noah. He knew his attacker! What is he doing here with that blackjack? Before Noah could voice his thoughts, the end of the metal rod came down and dropped him into unconsciousness.
     
    ***
     
    Swirls of color shimmered behind Noah’s eyes as the pain in his head echoed out his heartbeat. What the hell happened? Shifting his head, he opened his mouth and breathed through the pain, praying the contents of his stomach would stay down. He pushed down the nausea and focused on things outside the ball of agony that made up his head and shoulders.
    He was alive. That much he was sure of, but the fact that he couldn’t move much worried him. He shifted around and found that he was bound by the cuffs he had donned earlier. Pulling against them, he was pleased to see that one side was still loose. Relaxing, he cracked his eyes. Light stabbed into his head, and he squinted to block some of it out. The rich tones of a highly polished, wooden floor filled his field of vision. He blinked several times until things came into focus properly.
    Turning his head just slightly gave him a view of the rest of the room. A table sat in the middle of what could have been a dining room, but the chairs were nowhere to be seen. Instead, three people stood around the table in long black robes. They swayed to the rhythm of some archaic chant that Noah couldn’t make out. The pulse of building magic filled the room and swelled as their voices grew in strength. The heaviness of the power added to the swirling in Noah’s stomach, and it was all he could do not to throw up. Whatever spell the mages were using stemmed from a branch of magic that Noah seldom touched. Blood magic.
    Careful not to draw attention to himself, Noah slipped his hand free of the leather cuff. Thankfully, the mages were deep in their spell and didn’t notice as their prisoner bent his legs up and worked the buckles on his ankles free. Relaxing back into position, Noah slowly shifted so he could see what the men were doing. They were focused on something spread out on the table. Fear shot through Noah’s heart as he recognized the hem of the gown hanging over the edge of the table. Raven.
    The mages’ chanting had reached a fervent pitch, and the power hummed along Noah’s spine. Whatever spell they were working was coming to a head, and he had but moments to do something before they completed their task. And blood magic was never used for anything good.
    Focusing on the two men closest to him, Noah drew in some of the loose energy floating around the room. He shivered as the dark taint in the magic hit him. The spell being performed was strangely familiar, but Noah couldn’t place it. Pushing that from his mind, he wrapped the gathered magic to his needs and launched himself at the men. Grabbing them by the shoulders, he yanked them away from the table and let loose a bolt of electricity. The well-practiced spell slipped from him with ease and dropped the men with barely a crackle of sound.
    The silver flash of a knife in motion caught Noah’s eye, and his heart dropped as he watched the third mage plunge the sharp point deep into Raven’s chest. Shock and overwhelming rage slammed into him, and he dropped the two men from his hands. An unholy sound ripped its way out of his chest as he launched himself over the table at the last man.
    Surprised by the sudden attack, the mage ripped the dagger from Raven’s chest and stumbled backwards as Noah flew towards the man’s throat. He raised the knife to defend himself, but Noah ignored it. The tip of the blade caught Noah in the chest just over his heart, but the man was obviously not used to hand-to-hand combat. The blood-soaked dagger slipped from the man’s hand as Noah crashed into him, and the pair went down to the floor.
    There was a sickening crunch of ribs breaking