Dragon Strike Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  BOOK ONE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  BOOK TWO

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  BOOK THREE

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  A Few Words of Drakine

  Praise for the novels of E. E. Knight

  Dragon Avenger BOOK TWO OF THE AGE OF FIRE

  “Knight breathes new life into old conventions. . . . Here is no warmed-over Tolkien playground, but a new world breathed to life and populated with fascinating characters we long to hear more from. . . . Knight, a master plotter and world builder, alternately surprises and delights, keeping us on the edge of our seats. . . . Knight has written a classic here, a kind of Watership Down with dragons—a book that will be cherished for generations to come. It is, simply, a grand tale, full of the mystery and wonder fantasy readers long to discover and too often find absent in modern fiction.”

  —Black Gate

  “[A] gritty coming-of-age story. . . . Knight makes the story complex enough to entertain readers of all ages.”—Publishers Weekly

  “Knight offers a thoroughly crafted fantasy world. . . . For a lushly unique fantasy read, look into Dragon Avenger, as well as its predecessor, Dragon Champion. You’ll never look at dragons the same way again.”

  —Wantz Upon a Time Book Reviews

  Praise for Dragon Champion BOOK ONE OF THE AGE OF FIRE

  “Smoothly written . . . a bloody, unsentimental fairy tale.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Dragon Champion is an enchanting story of a young dragon’s search for answers to help him understand what it is to be a dragon. This is a heart-warming story full of adventure, where good deeds and friendship always succeed. The characters are wonderfully endearing, and the adventures that Auron experiences as he grows into an adult dragon are exciting and entertaining. A superb introduction to what I hope will be a wonderful series.”—The Eternal Night

  “The author of the Vampire Earth series has crafted a series opener with a refreshingly new protagonist who views the world from a draconic, rather than a human, perspective. A fine addition to most fantasy collections.”

  —Library Journal (starred review)

  “Knight did a great job of hooking me into the story. . . . This concern and attention to the details illustrate how strong the overall feel of the book is—Knight clearly is building something more in this world, and the amount of back story to the characters and creatures is very impressive. . . . Very entertaining—the characters were genuine and the world full of depth. With the ending Knight gave us, I am very interested to see where he takes these characters next.”—SFF World

  “E. E. Knight makes the transition from the science fiction of his Vampire Earth series to a fantasy saga with an ease that is amazing but not surprising with someone with his enormous amount of writing talent.”

  —Paranormal Romance Reviews

  Praise for The Vampire Earth novels VALENTINE’S RESOLVE

  “Knight flavors action with humor in [Valentine’s Resolve]. . . . Classic apocalyptic SF on a grand scale is always scary, but Knight makes it terrifically entertaining as well.”—Publishers Weekly

  “Knight has managed to write a book six that keeps fans thirsting for more in the series. . . . [He] maintains a tight point of view, controls scene transitions beautifully, and never wavers in tone. His main character, David Valentine, keeps readers coming back for more.”—Science Fiction Weekly

  “E. E. Knight brings excitement and interest to his Vampire Earth series. . . . [David] is an extraordinary character who turns the Vampire Earth war into a compelling tale.”—Alternative Worlds

  “Knight mixes bits of military SF, survivalist fiction, the alien invasion story, and other elements including more than a mild dose of horror. . . . I’m entertained following [Valentine’s] adventures, and it’s nice to have some evil vampires, even if they do come from another planet.”—Don D’Ammassa

  “Knight manages something that is not always a given in an extended series: he’s kept it fresh and engaging, not only by providing a new story line for each episode, but by changing locales and supporting cast. . . . Knight maintains a high level of interest. He’s a good, strong writer with a definite gift for building character and milieu without beating you over the head with it, and he never lets it get in the way of the story. Yes, this one is certainly worth the time—and it looks like all the preceding books are as well.”—The Green Man Review

  VALENTINE’S EXILE

  “Compelling pulp adventure. . . . The sympathetic hero, fast-paced action, and an intricately detailed milieu set in various well-imagined regions of twenty-first-century North America make for an entertaining read.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Valentine’s Exile isn’t an average vampire novel. . . . The vampires and their soul-sucking Lovecraftian masters are like Dr. Moreau on steroids. This is nicely drawn horror: not gross, not psychologically terrifying, but very creepy. . . . E. E. Knight is a master of his craft. His prose is controlled but interesting, and his characters are fully formed and come to life. The point of view is tight and rigidly maintained, and the transitions are beautifully handled from scene to scene. The novel maintains a sense of place, with touches of sound and taste keeping each setting vivid and acute. Consistent tone and voice and excellent pacing keep the reader glued to the action and adventure. Even the futuristic touches are drawn with just the right tweaks of reality: never overdone, no R2-D2 types, no Trek guys. E. E. Knight’s work is creative and the voice is his own.”—Science Fiction Weekly

  “Knight gives us a thrill ride through a world ruled by the vampiric Kurians and filled with engaging characters and grand schemes, and promises more to come.”—Booklist

  “The Valentine series is still going strong. Each book reveals new secrets concerning the world, which expose new levels of complexity . . . I’m looking forward to more.”—SFRevu

  “The latest addition to Knight’s popular alternate-Earth series maintains the high quality of its predecessors, combining fast-paced action/adventure with the ever-popular vampiric threat.”—Library Journal

  BOOKS BY E. E. KNIGHT

  THE AGE OF FIRE SERIES

  DRAGON CHAMPION

  DRAGON AVENGER

  DRAGON OUTCAST

  THE VAMPIRE EARTH SERIES

  WAY OF THE WOLF

  CHOICE OF THE CAT

  TALE OF THE THUNDERBOLT

  VALENTINE’S RISING

  VALENTINE’S EXILE

  VALENTINE’S RESOLVE

  FALL WITH HONOR

  ROC

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

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  First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, December 2008

  Copyright © Eric Frisch, 2008

  All rights reserved

  Map by Chuck Lukacs and Eric Frisch.

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

  Knight, E. E.

  Dragon strike E. E. Knight.

  p. cm.—(The age of fire ; bk. 4)

  eISBN : 978-1-440-64336-1

  1. Dragons—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3611.N564D738 2008

  813’.6—dc22 2008022286

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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  TO HOWARD ANDREW JONES A THANE OF STICKY-HILTED SWORD AND SORCEROUS FLAME

  BOOK ONE

  Adapt

  GRANT A FAVOR TO ONE GENERATION OF HOMINIDS, AND YOU’LL FIND

  THEIR SONS TWICE AS DEMANDING—AND THRICE AS FORGETFUL.

  —AuRel the Bronze

  Chapter 1

  AuRon son of AuRel, the scaleless dragon who lived upon the Isle of Ice, watched his sons blink in the brassy sun of the dazzling northern spring.

  In the winter, AuRon had learned, the island saw constant snow, coming in waves from low iron clouds. Summers were alternately foggy and rainy, save for a brief, enchanted dry spell after midsummer. But the turning seasons, spring and fall, slow getting started but always lingering thanks to the warm ocean currents, made up for the rest.

  As though in apology, spring had brought wildflowers to the thin patches of soil clinging between granite spurs where the wind died. Their yellow and blue and white heads looked up, as bright as sun, sea, and sky. Incredibly, insects already danced and buzzed between the blooms, keeping low, out of the wind, where the sky heated black earth and turned melt into mire.

  AuRon looked at his sons, pride making the armored fans covering his neck hearts twitch. In a few months they would breathe their first fire and become drakes. Ausurath, a little heavier than his brother, had big back haunches on his red-scaled body and was a fine jumper, forever pouncing on his brother. Aumoahk had an odd, overlarge slit of a right nostril that showed dark against his golden scale, a reminder of a bloody brawl with his brother.

  On their first trip into the Upper World he taught them about wind and shadow and the course of the sun. The second time his mate, Natasatch, accompanied them with the two sisters. Both glittered as green as their mother—of their five eggs AuRon and Natasatch had four hatchlings; one, sadly, never emitted so much as a flutter of a heartbeat and became unwholesome. Natasatch solemnly burned it as the others began to tap.

  The excitement of the trips aboveground cut down on the fighting between the males. Traditionally males fought to the death upon emerging from the eggs, driven by mad instinct, but the two adults together managed to keep throats and limbs intact.

  Once they could be made to understand that the survival of all might depend on an extra set of ears and nostrils, they settled into almost playful enmity. Underground the two males wrestled and bit and yeeked little battle roars at each other, stealing each other’s fish and mutton through diversions worthy of their army-smashing great-grandsire, scattering their sisters to corners of the cave, then collapsing into sleep with tiny teeth locked on each other’s limbs. More than once the family gathered for a meal with the smell of the bleeding brothers in the air; then it was time for wound licking and lectures.

  Exhausting business.

  Aboveground, in the overwhelming space of the Upper World, AuRon was relieved to see that they shrank against each other, tail to tail and staring from heads frozen in fear.

  The awe soon faded. The male hatchlings, with the energy and curiosity of their age, lost their fear of the open sky and distant horizions. But for AuRon the trouble had only begun. Their sire had to do a good deal of wrangling to keep them close as he tried to teach them of game trails, grazing, water, and spoor. But their attention was difficult to hold with big snowfoot hares bounding away at their approach, all bouncing hindquarters and flapping ears.

  Gently grabbing one scrambling set of shoulder blades with his teeth-covered lips, then prodding the other back in line with his stiff, regrown tail, AuRon envied his mate. The females kept tight to their mother’s belly and listened attentively. When they acted, they cooperated. His sons dragon-dashed after every bee and showed all the sense of a field mouse.

  On the third trip, AuRon decided it was time for them to learn a real lesson.

  This time he went up first to check Zan the tradesdwarf’s work before loosing the hatchlings on the world. The Chartered Company line-trader, a grizzled old northerner who might be mistaken for a hairy stump, was on his way north for a season’s trapping and skinning. He had chuckled when AuRon described what he wanted to fashion, and he’d done a typically thorough dwarf’s job in exchange for a bag full of dragonscales sloughed off Natasatch over the winter.

  “Rafer be hunting beasts with mother and sisters,” Ausurath complained.

  “Watch your brother’s approach. See, he’s keeping downwind from the camp.” AuRon had to stifle a prrum as he watched.

  Aumoahk tested the air around the “camp.” His slit nostril seemed to wink at AuRon as he breathed.

  AuRon watched his son sniff and listen before exposing himself and then zigzagging up to the camp. Aumoahk’s scale would gleam better if he’d eat the bits of scrap brought by the tradesdwarf with the same enthusiasm that he swallowed the few coins of AuRon’s bare hoard, but he was cannier than his more enthusiastic brother.

  Aumoahk found the three dummies lying in their circle around the stones of a nonexistent campfire, oars serving as spears resting over “shoulders” of burned man-furniture and rotting fishnet. Aumoahk became overexcited and squeaked out his little roar and charged the nearest.

  A thunderous barking broke out from the rocks above the “camp.”

  AuRon spread his wings and glided down to the camp, where Aumoahk was play-fighting with the wolf. The wolf, a grandson of his old friend Blackhard named Birchfang, and his sleek mate dashed in and danced out, nipping at the new drake’s flanks, first
one dealing with the more dangerous front end, then the other.

  Aumoahk made a gurgling noise and the wolves yelped and dashed to avoid the coming sputum.

  The drake vented his frustration and his fireless bladder on some innocent bracken. The air turned sour and sulfurous.

  “You missed the sentry,” AuRon said, landing and pointing clumsily with his tail. Its small size and the off-putting step down in flesh from old stump to new tail struck him as ugly, but Natasatch didn’t seem to mind.

  Wolf eyes and ears poked around a sharp piece of blue shale.

  “What did I tell you about your flame? You’ll be hungry tonight with an empty firebladder, and all the hungrier when you get none of whatever your sisters bring back.”

  “You thsaid they’d be wulnerable when on the ground asleep,” the drake said, glaring at the wolves.

  “I told you they might have dogs,” AuRon said. “Men, well, they might as well be those bundles for all they use their noses and ears. That’s why they travel with dogs. Dogs that come out of the soundest sleep at the whiff of a dragon.”

  “Wolves aren’t dogs,” Aumoahk complained. “No fairz using wolves.”

  “No, wolves are smarter, as they don’t have men to do all their thinking for them. If you can creep up on a wolf, no dog will ever give you trouble.”

  A cry carried across the valley. Strange to hear a wolf-howl in the bright morning sunshine. Ausurath took the cry as his cue to jump on one of the scarecrows. He kicked a bottomless bucket serving for a head down the hillside.