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    Teal's Bargain
    Teal's Bargain
    Teal's Bargain
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    Teal's Bargain

    By Royce Day

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    About this ebook

    Left as a dragon's sacrifice by cowardly villagers, the Bard Teal fights to maintain her freedom of soul if not her body, as her captor slowly twists her expectations of what a dragon should be.

    Part One of The Dragon's Companion omnibus.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRoyce Day
    Release dateJan 6, 2011
    ISBN9781458087560
    Teal's Bargain
    Author

    Royce Day

    A lover of fantasy and science fiction works since his childhood, Royce Day is now a forty-something creator, using the power of the Internet to tell his tales.

    Read more from Royce Day

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      Book preview

      Teal's Bargain - Royce Day

      Teal's Bargain

      Royce Easton Day

      Published by Royce Easton Day at Smashwords

      Copyright 2011 Royce Easton Day

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for you personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Discover other titles by Royce Day at Smashwords

      Teal stared at the dragon, and the great beast stared straight back at her, its huge yellow eyes examining her dispassionately. She chewed determinedly on the unleavened bread she had cooked that afternoon, swallowing it down and feeling it come to rest like lead at the bottom of her belly. Teal had made it with the last of the flour from the now empty barrels at the back of the cave. Barrels that sat next to empty crates, once filled with dried meat and fish.

      Oh, yes, and with those barrels and boxes had been a small chest of money. It now lay carefully stacked with the other tons of treasure the great beast had collected. Money that had belonged to some poor farmer, now a blackened corpse, or months ago consumed as a brief meal.

      Play for me, Bard, the dragon commanded. Its voice, though deliberately muted, still rang loudly in her mind. Its scales, blood red in the light of day, sparkled black in the dimness of Teal’s cook fire.

      No, Teal said softly. She swallowed a gulp of water, drawn from the spring at the back of the cave.

      Then tell me a tale.

      No, she said again.

      The dragon’s eyes, big as serving platters, blinked once. Three years you have lived with me, Bard Teal. Will you not speak? Will you not sing?

      No. Her meal done, Teal sat up from the cavern’s uneven stone floor, and made her way towards its dark recesses. She passed the small wooden hut, constructed by another of the dragon’s prisoners a century before, that served as her home. Continuing on, she came to a dark, cramped tunnel, angling upward. A rickety ladder had been built here, perhaps by the same prisoner that had constructed the hut. She clambered upward, around claustrophobic turns and recesses, until she felt the cool breeze reaching down towards her. Pulling herself up the final few feet, Teal emerged from the tunnel, and found herself at the top of the mountain.

      She paused, and drew in a breath of clean, fresh air. The mountain’s top was a small, mossy hillock, no bigger than twenty feet around. In the daylight she would be able to see for miles around, or stare at the steep, near impassable stone cliff face that guarded the dragon’s lair. But it was night, and all Teal could see was stars. That was enough. This place was too small for the dragon to clamber onto, and here was the one place were Teal could be assured of being free of his presence, for however little time.

      The oilcloth covered chest was still where Teal had left it, under a small cairn of rocks. She uncovered and opened it, drawing forth the small lute, also wrapped in oilcloth. She unwrapped it and cradled her instrument in her arms. She was content to sit there for a few moments, before running her hands and fingers through some simple stretching exercises. Then she laid her fingertips on the lute’s strings, and paused.

      Three years ago the dragon had found her, bound on an ancient stone altar, left as a blood sacrifice, by villagers who feared the great Beast. He had released her bonds, only to take Teal back to his cavern home, and demand that she entertain him.

      After all, he had said, your stay here will be short, only the remainder of your life.

      She couldn’t run. The path down from the cavern was far too steep for her to traverse. She couldn’t fight him. Teal was no knight, with lance in hand, able to pierce the Beast’s heart. Even her magic was pitifully small, capable only of producing simple illusions, easily pieced by the Beast’s gaze.

      But she could defy him. Every day that she remained alive. Every day that she could deny the Beast what he demanded, Teal won.

      I am a prisoner. But I am not an amusement. I am not a toy. I am not a slave. My body can not leave this place, but my mind is free.

      She couldn’t play her lute. The notes would waft down the tunnel, to the dragon’s sharp ears, and the Beast would know that it had won. But she lifted her fingers off the lute’s strings, holding the tips a bare quarter inch above the cats gut, and began the move them silently, her hands and fingers shaping the familiar patterns of the song.

      In her mind, she could hear the music.

      * * *

      What do you need? the dragon asked, the next evening. The entrance to the dragon’s cave faced westward, letting in the reddish evening light. The sun’s rays silhouetted the dragon’s great form, making him appear to be a great shadow, halo'd by blood.

      Nothing, Teal answered evenly.

      The dragon growled deep in his throat. Teal held her ground. They’d had this particular argument before, and the outcome was always the same.

      Your food supply is finished, and you have not eaten today. I need to obtain more for you. What is it that you desire?

      You know what I want.

      Besides that.

      Teal deliberately turned her back on the dragon, and headed towards her hut. I’m sure you’ll find something.

      The dragon made an annoyed chuffing noise, and turned towards the cavern entrance. Teal took one glance back towards him, as the Beast spread its wings wide,

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