Cold Hearted Son of a Witch: 2016 Modernized Format Edition (Dragoneers Saga)
Cold Hearted Son of a Witch
Book Two of the Dragoneers Saga
M.R. Mathias
© 2016
2016 Modernized Format Edition
Created in the United States of America
Worldwide Rights
Formatting by Dominion Editorial
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form, including digital, electronic, or mechanical, to include photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the author, except for brief quotes used in reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your 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 person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to: michael@mrmathias.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
I want to thank Derek Prior for the edit, Kristi and Kara for the proofing, and GVTgrafix@aol.com for the cover and the Dragoneers emblem design
This one is for Rob. OJB4E
To hear about new releases, sales and giveaways, follow M. R. Mathias here:
http://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B0040CD21I/m-r-mathias
or here:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/m-r-mathias
On screen previews of all M. R. Mathias books are available here;
www.mrmathias.com
Other titles by M. R. Mathias
The Dragoneer Saga
The First Dragoneer – Free
The Royal Dragoneers – Nominated, Locus Poll 2011
Cold Hearted Son of a Witch
The Confliction
The Emerald Rider
Rise of the Dragon King
Blood and Royalty – Winner, 2015 Readers Favorite Award,
and 2015 Kindle Book Award Semifinalist
The Legend of Vanx Malic
Book One – Through the Wildwood
Book Two – Dragon Isle
Foxwise (a short story) - Free
Book Three – Saint Elm’s Deep
Book Four – That Frigid Fargin’ Witch
Book Five – Trigon Daze
Book Six – Paragon Dracus
Book Seven – The Far Side of Creation
Book Eight – The Long Journey Home
Collection -To Kill a Witch – Books I-IV w/bonus content
Collection –The Legend Grows Stronger – Books V-VIII
Books IX-XII coming soon!
And don't miss the huge International Bestselling epic:
The Wardstone Trilogy
Book One - The Sword and the Dragon
Book Two - Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools
Book Three - The Wizard & the Warlord
Short Stories:
Crimzon & Clover I - Orphaned Dragon, Lucky Girl
Crimzon & Clover II - The Tricky Wizard
Crimzon & Clover III - The Grog
Crimzon & Clover IV - The Wrath of Crimzon
Crimzon & Clover V - Killer of Giants
Crimzon & Clover Collection One (stories 1-5)
Crimzon & Clover VI – One Bad Bitch
Crimzon &Clover VII – The Fortune’s Fortune
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #1 Dingo the Dragon Slayer
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #2 Oonzil the oathbreaker
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #3 The Greatest Quest
Crimzon and Clover I-X
Table of Contents
Part I – Royal Dragoneers
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Part II – Moonlit Serpent Shit
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Part III – Marcherion
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Part IV – Clover
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Part V – Crimzon
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
ROAR – A Wardstone Short
The Blood of Coldfrost – A Wardstone Story
Bonus Content
About the Author
Cold Hearted Son of a Witch
Book Two of the Dragoneers Saga
Part I
Royal Dragoneers
Chapter One
Jade was winging with all the strength he could summon and Jenka De Swasso was urging him on. They were a half day’s ride by horse outside the wall. They had been chasing stray goblins and trolls away from the road that led from Midwal to Three Forks all day, with Rikky and Silva. For some reason, Rikky and Silva were on the ground, and now Rikky was in trouble. An orc had hold of Silva’s tail, and three trolls were hurling rocks and tree-limbs, trying to pummel Rikky from his seat. Jenka didn’t know what he and Jade were going to do when they entered the fray, but if they didn’t do something, by the looks of it, Rikky was done.
“Yusss,” Jade huffed eagerly as he brought them down into a sharp stall over the small clearing full of trolls.
“The orc, Jenka,” Rikky yelled from Silva’s shoulders. A log came hurling up, end over end, and cracked him across the back. Silva snaked her long neck out and caught the troll’s arm. There was an audible “Chomp!” A terrible scream erupted from the troll as the limb was ripped from its body.
Jenka sent Jade a mental command and the young green dragon whipped his tail out. The hard tip snapped with a powerful crack right across the orc’s neck. It let go of Silva, but when the wyrm instinctively leapt away, Rikky’s unconscious form tumbled from between her spinal plates and thumped awkwardly into the undergrowth.
Jenka saw the area where he went down, but couldn’t see him. He urged Jade to land right on top of where he thought Rikky was. As soon as his dragon’s claws were on the ground, Jenka was sliding off of his mount. He drew the sword Mysterian had given him. The hum of the power contained in the dragon’s tear mounted in its hilt filled Jenka, sharpening his senses. He found Rikky in a crouch trying to string his bow and was amazed that he hadn’t died from the impact of the log. A moment later he realized that Rikky was in a daze. The younger Dragoneer wasn’t able to manage the weapon in his hands, and he was having trouble sitting up due to his missing leg.
“Rhaahhgg!”
Jenka looked up to see a troll holding a chunk of tree high over its head. The limb was big enough to crush him and Rikky both. Without much thought, Jenka thrust his sword at the thing. There was
no resistance when the blade punctured the beast’s guts and withdrew, but there was a sharp discharge of Dour magic. The troll died instantly. It started to fall toward them, but the raging orc came shouldering past, knocking it to the side. The orc caught Jenka, pummeling him with a bone-crunching fist to the side of the head.
Not far away, Silva was fighting the remaining two trolls. She wasn’t a large dragon, but she was fast. The trellkin had wisely gotten on each side of her and were trying to use position to their advantage. One of them darted in, but she ignored him. Instead, the pewter-colored wyrm spun on the other troll and bathed it in a swath of molten liquid spray. The troll writhed as it crumbled into the brush, its bristly skin stiffening and burning as it went.
Jenka looked up to see the bottom of a claw-toed foot coming down at his face. Above the foot was the snarling visage of the gruesome orc. The flash of memory that passed before his eyes made him think this was the end, but then Jade’s thin attempt at a ferocious roar filled his ears.
As the orc’s huge foot crunched his nose, Jenka felt the creature’s weight come off of his head. He rolled up to see that Rikky finally had his bow strung and Jade was floundering at the edge of the trees. Jade’s claws were latched onto the orc’s shoulders. Jenka would have laughed, but his dragon looked injured. Jade had snatched the orc from the ground like a hawk grabbing a mouse. Only Jade wasn’t strong enough to carry such a load.
Rikky loosed an arrow at the orc. The creature was struggling to break free of Jade’s determined claws and somehow managed to deflect the missile.
“Arghh,” Rikky growled as he pulled another shaft. With a determined snarl on his face, he rolled across the ground sideways until he was at the orc’s side. He loosed the next arrow into its ribs. Then he loosed another that hit it in the neck. The foul-smelling beast continued to struggle, but not for long.
Slowly the orc’s strength faded and eventually Jade let go of its shoulders. Jade was wounded, but not terribly so. Silva and the remaining troll were nowhere to be seen.
“Why’d you land?” Jenka asked as he inspected the small rips in his dragon’s wing skin. “This will be sore for a while Jade, especially after we fly back to Mainsted.”
“Ssores nows,” Jade hissed.
“I had to piss,” Rikky shrugged. “Prop me against a tree, Jenk. I still gotta go.”
Just then Silva came back, flapping down among them. The smears of dark blood at the edges of her maw left no reason to question where the other troll had ended up.
Rikky let Jenka pull him up to a standing position, then hung from his neck and hopped over to the edge of the tree line. “I can’t just jump down and take a piss like you can,” Rikky told him. “It’s nearly impossible for me to climb back on Silva out here.”
In Mainsted, Port, and Outwal, Rikky had wheeled chairs waiting, and long ramps to help him get mounted. King Blanchard himself had ordered them to be built.
Jenka looked away while Rikky relieved himself, but continued the conversation. “What are you going to do if you have to go while you’re flying over the sea with Zah?”
“What’s she gonna do if she has to go?” Rikky chuckled, but Jenka heard little mirth in the laugh. Rikky and Zahrellion were about to take a long flight over the sea to a little-known island where they could find the mushrooms Mysterian needed to save Prince Richard from Gravelbone’s poison. Jenka wanted to lead the quest, but Jade was too young and small to carry him that far over water, and now the young green wyrm was wing-wounded. Jenka wasn’t sure Jade would be able to carry him back to Mainsted, where the Dragoneers were all soon expected.
“It’s something to think about,” Jenka observed as he waited for his friend to finish his business. “You’ll not be landing anywhere for three or four days.”
“Three days flight to the encampment out on Fisherman’s Island, then two more to the Island that Mysterian swears is there.”
“If she says it’s there, it is,” Jenka said.
“Then why isn’t it on any of the kingdom maps?”
After lacing his pants Rikky hopped back up to Jenka’s side. Jenka helped him over to where Silva was inspecting Jade’s wounded wings.
“If it were, then it wouldn’t be a secret, would it?” Jenka joked. He was pleased to see that Silva had used her natural Dour to somewhat heal Jade’s injuries. He helped Rikky climb back onto Silva’s shoulders, and then mounted his own wyrm.
“Herald’s going to skin us,” Rikky said as he urged Silva to leap into the sky.
Jade took two bounding steps before lifting off after them. If we keep King Blanchard and Linux waiting, we won’t have to worry about Herald’s knife, Jenka said into the ethereal.
I wonder if Zah will be there, Rikky mused.
Jenka almost replied, I hope so, but caught himself. He’d promised Zah that he would keep their moonlit walks a private matter, but nevertheless he hoped she was back from Kingston.
As they passed low over the Midwal gate reconstruction, a few of the men cheered and waved. The two Dragoneers waved back, but kept a steady pace south toward Mainsted. When they passed over Midwal City, the towers sounded the alarm bells, but only until they saw the color of the wyrms and knew they weren’t a pair of attacking mudged.
When the city was behind them, Jenka spoke to Rikky through the ethereal again. You should go on ahead and get ready. That way, only one of us gets in trouble.
Nah, nah, Rikky responded. I’ll stay with you. It’s my fault Jade’s wing was torn. Besides, I’ll not let you take the blame, not when we’re late because you turned back to save my skin.
Master Kember would have been proud, Jenka said, knowing it to be true.
Further conversation ended when they both saw the glittery white scales of Zahrellion’s wyrm, Crystal, soaring toward them. Crystal was quite a bit larger than Silva and Jade, but some day Jade would be double the frost dragon’s size. Silva, on the other hand, was as big as she would ever be.
Jenka’s heart lifted at the sight. Ever since he’d learned that Zah wasn’t an Elvish crone, he’d been falling for her. It was only a mild letdown when they found she wasn’t riding her dragon. Most likely she was getting ready for the private gathering they’d been ordered to attend. King Blanchard, still trapped in Linux’s body after the druid soul-stepped into his, had given the command. Herald and Mysterian were attending, too.
Jenka already knew what was going to be said. The exclusive gathering was to finalize the plans for Zahrellion and Rikky’s quest. It would be droll and tedious. Jenka knew he would spend the whole time wishing he were going so that he could save the Crown Prince from the terrible affliction that had him at death’s door. Not to mention that if he were going instead of Rikky, he would have a lot more time alone with Zahrellion.
Ssshe huntsss, Jade’s voice broke into Jenka’s thoughts. It took him a moment to realize his dragon was referring to Crystal.
You can go hunt with her after you let me off in Mainsted, Jenka replied. He suddenly understood that he was going to be the only Dragoneer around while they were gone.
Nos, Jenkas, I will rest my wings and hunts later thiss night, Jade responded, but Jenka was only half listening. He was thinking about how to get Zahrellion alone after the gathering, and what he would tell her. He wanted to tell her a lot of things, but he never seemed to muster the words when the time was right. That, or the time was never right when the words were filling his mouth. Either way, he knew that she and Rikky would be leaving soon. He didn’t want her to go without knowing how he felt about her.
“The King’s Ranger caravan!” Rikky called out over the rushing wind. When Jenka’s eyes found him, Rikky was pointing ahead to the not-so-distant brown smudge hovering over the ground that marked Mainsted. Another cloud could be seen in the near distance. A sizable train of a dozen wagons and a score of horses was moving north across the dusty road.
Rikky slapped at the stump of his missing leg, indicating that it would slow him down once he was o
n the ground, then he urged Silva to speed ahead. Silva was fast. Soon all Jenka could see was a crow-sized speck in the sky.
Jenka tried to clear his mind of Zah and her leaving, but couldn’t manage it. For a long time he envisioned the two of them making a home in the foothills, far away from all the madness of the kingdom. Then he thought of Prince Richard lying cocooned in the stasis that was keeping him from death. He let out a sigh of frustrated resignation. Prince Richard had saved Mainsted, and Jenka had long sworn to save the prince in return. As Jade brought them down over the city, Jenka found that he wanted to go on the quest with Zahrellion and Rikky, now more than ever.
Chapter Two
“I don’t give a pixie’s pecker-head,” growled Herald. Normally disheveled, and covered in road grime, the old King’s Ranger had just come from the bath house and looked as spiffy as Jenka had ever seen him. “You’re going north to help what’s left of the King’s Rangers reestablish Crag and the keep. That girl can handle her own. And she’ll have Rikky to help her.”
It was clear to Jenka that Herald wasn’t willing to listen. It was a futile argument anyway. The two of them were the only ones on time for the gathering and they were standing before the lightly glowing cocoon of magic that contained Prince Richard.
The Crown Prince lay peacefully, as if asleep, inside the currently green-colored magical field. He was afflicted with the Goblin King’s poison, a terrible stuff that had maddened and then slowly corroded from the inside out anyone who’d breathed it. If the stasis failed before an antidote was concocted, he would surely die. Jenka knew Herald was right about what had to be done, but that didn’t relieve the urge Jenka was feeling to just ignore common sense and keep his word by saving his fellow Dragoneer.