Page 5 of Knight of the Sword

He could almost hear the officer’s laugh. “Dragon?”

“That’s what he said.” She gave the location. “A red one. Said it was breathing fire, too.”

“Right,” the officer replied. “Dopers must have gotten a really good batch of high-quality coke in recently.”

“Actually…” The dispatcher hesitated, her voice rising just a little over the regular monotone. “We’ve received three more calls.”

“I’ll check it out. Hope the place isn’t crawling with media,” the officer responded.

“Affirmative. Maybe it’s an advertising gimmick,” she answered.

“Why’s that?”

“The location is a clinic and no-kill shelter for animals,” Dispatch answered. “Cameron’s Veterinary Care.”

Michael slammed on the brakes, made a sharp U-turn and headed for I-30. This wasn’t a prank. More importantly, it was a red dragon. There was only one red dragon still in existence, and it had been slumbering safely on Avalon.

For some reason, the goddess must have decided to release him. Michael guessed he should not be surprised. He was searching for the Sword of Fire, and the dragon had a vested interest in the Sword too. But why had the beast singled out Sophie? Michael’s warlock senses tingled. Was Sophie the “mystery woman” Nimue had alluded to? Somehow, she was going to be instrumental in finding the Sword. How, he didn’t know, but right now she needed protection.

The Pendragon was back—and he had little use for humans.

****

Sophie had not even reached the door of her clinic when a police cruiser and TV crews arrived, the reporters tagging as close to the officer as they could get.

He examined the scorch marks on the grass. “What happened here?” he asked.

Sophie took a deep breath and hoped they wouldn’t cart her off to a mental ward. “I think…a dragon breathed fire on it. At least, it looked like a dragon.”

The officer raised a skeptical brow while the reporters behind him babbled excitedly.

“Have you been drinking?”

“No.”

“Snorted some coke, lady?”

Sophie frowned. “No. No alcohol. No drugs. I’m a veterinarian.” She pointed to the sign in the front yard. “I stopped by to check on a dog we’re boarding. The…the dragon—or whatever it was—hovered over the roof when I stepped out. I can’t explain it.”

A barrage of questions came from the reporters and she wanted to put her hands over her ears to shut them all out. “I don’t know the answers to your questions! All I know is what looked like a red dragon was in the air. Maybe it was a hologram. Maybe some technology genius created it.” She turned to one reporter who had whispered something to her camera man. “And no, I am not crazy!”

“Those scorch marks are real,” a thin, young man said and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m Toby Clark, ma’am.”

Sophie tried to smile back. He seemed nice and not as aggressive as the other reporters. Before she could answer, though, several of her neighbors from down the road joined the group.

“We saw the thing too,” one of them said. “I was about to get my shotgun when it just vanished.”

His wife slanted a look at him. “Like buckshot would take down whatever that was.”

“Well, an assault rifle would,” a second man said. The officer looked at him and he stopped talking.

“So what kind of a monster was it?” another woman asked Sophie. “You bring in some strange critters, but I never saw anything like that.” She looked at the reporters. “You should hear the sounds that come from here sometimes. It’s not puppies and kittens she keeps here!”

The reporters turned back to her again in a feeding frenzy. “How did you make it fly?” one asked.

“Was it a trick? Do you want publicity?” A young woman stuck a microphone in front of her face. “Maybe donations to your shelter?”

“No, I—”