The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons

Chapter One

Lady.

Blinking at the sudden sound of a male voice, I turned to see who was speaking, at the same time taking in the noxious smells that wafted around me. I appeared to be in some sort of a dark, rough alleyway that lay between two rows of tall, narrow houses, the overhangs of which blocked out any streams of sunlight that might try to make it down to the ground. Not that there was any sun to be seen now, since it was nighttime, but I was willing to bet that even on the hottest day of the year, the alley would remain dank and unwelcoming.

A crude wooden door next to me bore an almost illegible plaque informing unwary visitors that one Master Bertram would mix pigments for a small fee.

Painter s shop, I murmured to myself, my nose wrinkling at the smell. I was used to the scent of items commonly used to make paint plants, ore, and such but the odors that assailed me had their origins with humans and animals. I eyed an open barrel next to me that made my eyes burn. Urine, no doubt, collected for the purposes of making paint. Just my luck I haven t had a vision for a month, and when I get one, it has a great big barrel of pee in it.

Dragon.

The woman s voice called my attention back from where I was trying to avoid stepping in any of the refuse that clogged the close alley. Skirting the urine barrel, I took a few steps toward the dark figures that stood almost invisible in the deep shadows cast by the buildings, faint light from a couple of sputtering torches the only means of illumination.

The distant sound of voices raised in song reached my ears as in front of me two figures approached each other.

Why have you summoned me to Rothenburg? the man demanded to know in an arrogant, somehow familiar voice.

I took a couple of steps closer until I could see the face of the speaker, dimly lit by a torch that leaned drunkenly from a nearby iron sconce.

Katie MacAlister begann ihre Karriere als Schriftstellerin mit einem Sachbuch über Software. Da sie darin jedoch weder witzige Dialoge noch romantische Szenen unterbringen durfte, beschloss sie, von nun an nur noch Liebesromane zu schreiben. Seither sind über 24 Romane aus ihrer Feder erschienen, die regelmäßig die amerikanischen Bestsellerlisten stürmen.