Dragon Bones And Tombstones (Book 2) by Craig Halloran

make my urges to fight any easier. He was a bad influence. I just didn’t understand why I was held to a higher standard. Brenwar was good and noble, but he could kill in battle without regret or consequence, it seemed. But as Father told me, “To each kind their own purposes. Your purpose is different than theirs.”
    My eyes went back and forth between the dragon and the man on the throne. The thing on the throne bothered me. Mages, wizards, warlocks, and witches were all a cunning bunch. They loved traps and wards and little creatures called familiars. The familiars really kept a close eye on things and could be most anything, in most cases small: cats, birds, lizards, snakes, monkeys or even a mouse. That’s just a few samples, and they can be much odder things. So I'm always careful around any animals that look at me too long, but so far, in this hideout I’d hardly seen a thing. Everything had been going well, too well.
    “Something’s wrong,” I said.
    Brenwar eyed me. He’d been around me long enough to know my instincts are often right.
    The commotion in the grand hall came to a stop.
    I felt my spine tighten from my waist to my neck. The hairs on my neck stood on end when I saw two goblins dragging another goblin in. And it wasn’t just any goblin, either. It was the one we’d throttled and bribed in the woods. The goblins shoved the broken prisoner onto his knees before the throne. Its body shook as it fought against its bonds and cried out for mercy. I got the feeling that it would have been better off if we'd killed it ourselves. We could have been merciful at least.
    “Brenwar, I think our time is up.”
    The figure on the stone chair leaned forward. The goblin cried out, only to be silenced with a sharp blow to the back of its head from a goblin soldier.
    One of the guards set the coins I’d given it down on the steps. I could see the big one sitting in the middle, twinkling in the torchlight like a tiny sun. 
    The goblin spilled his guts. I could hear the conversation, and the goblin told all that he knew, which wasn’t so bad. For all he knew, or they knew, we weren’t within miles of the place. How would we get in, anyway? The figure in the robes sat upright at the mention of my dragon arm, however. The figure stood up taller than I even figured. Seven feet high at least. Then another pair of goblins, from another direction, rushed in. One was holding a grappling hook.
    “Uh oh,” Brenwar said, checking the straps on his armor.
    I slid two arrows from my quiver. I nocked one, and bit down on the other. 
    I knew things had been too easy.

 
    CHAPTER 15
     
     
    I got my first good look at the figure in the robes. Its hands and fingers were large, clawed and hairy, like a bugbear or gnoll. The figure reached down, grabbed the prisoner goblin by the neck, and hoisted him high in the air. Every goblin slunk back. Some froze, and the hot air seemed too cool, with icy intensity. The goblin's feet twitched in the air as the figure carried him down the steps for all to see. Then, in a loud male voice, the figure spoke words of power… ancient and mystic.
    A sliver of ice went down my spine. A magic user! Always unpredictable.
    His hands burst into flame, and the goblin's face caught fire as it screamed, twitched and died. A pungent smell wafted my way, burnt goblin skin and hair. The figure dropped the goblin to the floor, where it fell apart like pieces of a charred tree. The magic user held his arm up for all to see. It was radiant with red, yellow and blue flames that danced from one hand to the other. He was a formidable one, to control magic like that. Still, what he was, I wasn’t so sure.
    The magic user clapped his hands together. The fires extinguished as he spoke in a thick voice.
    “Find them.”
    At least it was a man, but what kind of man I wasn’t certain.
    “I’m shooting him,” I said.
    “No, wait,” Brenwar warned. “There’ll be less of them to shoot in a moment.