ASHES TO ASHES: THE DRAGON'S FLAME
by John Saul
Publication date: March 1997Copyright © 1997 by John Saul
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It was the kind of wintry March night that kept all but the most restless
of
Blackstone's citizens nestled within the warmth of their homes. Though the
temperature hovered just above freezing, the wind that crept up on the
town just after nightfall brought with it a chill of its own. Its gusts
gathered force throughout the night, unleashing a howling monster that
tore branches from the bare trees, clawed shingles from the roofs, and
rattled at the windows of every house, as if searching for ways to enact
its fury upon the people within. Clouds, torn to shreds by the raging
wind, scudded across the sky in grayish tatters, swirling across the moon
so that dark shadows moved through the streets like thieves slithering
from house to house.
In the Asylum atop North Hill the dark figure was oblivious to the menace of the night. Inured to the moaning of the wind and not feeling the cold, he crouched in his chamber, lovingly fingering the golden dragon. Its ruby red eyes seemed to blink with every darkening of the moon beyond the room''s single tiny window. Cradling the dragon in his gloved hands, he cast his mind back to the time when he had first laid eyes on it....
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