by Lee French
She snapped her eyes open with her feet dangling off the precipice once again. Flexible green fabric covered her body. When she stood, it moved with her and felt almost like wearing nothing at all. The sleeves ended at her wrists and the pants ended at her ankles, inside her boots. The armor included a black leather belt with hooks and pouches and a sheath for her dagger.
Caius waited behind her as always. Enion landed beside her.
“Back again, I see. For armor. A much less difficult challenge.” He raised his brow as if to suggest she might be a coward for aiming lower.
“Yes. Armor. And while you’re doing that, you’re going to transfer the power in this locket to my body.” She held out the necklace by the chain, letting the pendant dangle in the air.
“Prove—”
“No.”
Caius blinked at her. “Excuse me?” “I said no.” Claire raised her chin and glared at him. “I’m not going to play your stupid, sick little game. I just killed a corrupted Phasm with a tainted Knight’s sword by making a pact with a spirit possessing my best friend, without knowing if he’d stab me in the back. If you don’t think I’m worthy, then I don’t think I need anything from you. My father found a way to make this locket without you in the first place, and I can find a way to fix this problem without you if I want it hard enough. The only reason I came to you is to save time.”
She crossed her arms and dared him to pull his sword on her. Enion did his part by growling.
Caius cocked his head and regarded her for several seconds. A slow smile spread across his face. “Rondy was right about you.” He touched the locket and reached for her chest. “I’ll bind it to your heart. If someone rips that out, you’ll die. But that’s generally how things work anyway.”
“Fair enough.” She stepped closer and let Caius press his fingers to her sternum, in the same place the locket had burned her earlier. Warmth flared inside her chest for several long moments, then he pulled his fingers away.
“Go forth, Knight, and let no one question your right to claim that title again.”
Claire doubted Caius’s pronouncement would change anything. She bowed her head in thanks anyway. “Next time, we’ll duel for fun.”
Caius laughed. “I look forward to it.”
Legal
Published by Clockwork Dragon Books
Backyard Dragons is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2016 by Lee French
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-1-944334-02-4
Cover art copyright 2016 by Lia Rees of Free Your Words
No horses or dragons were harmed in the making of this book.
About the Author
Lee French lives in Olympia, WA with two kids, two bicycles, and too much stuff. She is an avid gamer and member of the Myth-Weavers online RPG community, where she is known for her fondness for Angry Ninja Squirrels of Doom. In addition to spending much time there, she also trains year-round for the one-week of glorious madness that is RAGBRAI, has a nice flower garden with one dragon and absolutely no lawn gnomes, and tries in vain every year to grow vegetables that don’t get devoured by neighborhood wildlife.
She is an active member of the Northwest Independent Writer’s Association and one of two Municipal Liaisons for the Olympia region of NaNoWriMo.
Lee can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Wordpress.
Thanks for reading! If you liked this book, please take a few minutes to review it on Goodreads or wherever you buy your ebooks. The third book will be out in the summer of 2016.
Books by Lee French
Spirit Knights
YA urban paranormal adventure
Girls Can’t Be Knights
Backyard Dragons
Ethereal Entanglements (coming Summer 2016)
The Maze Beset Trilogy
Superheroes in denim
Dragons In Pieces
Dragons In Chains
Dragons In Flight
In the Ilauris setting
Standalone fantasy tales
Damsel In Distress
Shadow & Spice (short story)
Al-Kabar
Non-fiction
with Jeffrey Cook
Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions
The Greatest Sin series
Epic fantasy co-authored with Erik Kort
The Fallen
Harbinger
Moon Shades
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40