TEN
When he saw the queue outside the tavern in the morning, George thanked his lucky stars. He would have an apprentice to help him in no time – that dragon was as good as dead. Aros had been the right place to go, after all.
Yet as each boy walked into the private room he'd rented in the tavern, he began to have doubts.
"Wrong room."
"You're no hero!"
"Why, you're younger than me, and smaller to boot!"
It seemed tales of his failure at home had indeed spread to this city, too. At this rate, he'd have to try another town even further away to find someone who hadn't heard of his disastrous dragon battle.
As the light through the window turned rosy, George prepared to pack up and move on. The line that had held such hopes for him this morning was non-existent. The last boy had crus
