Free from the author via KDP Select @
Amazon:
Astrid: The Dragonslayer's Blacksmith by Resa Nelson (
ISFDB), which the author describes as a "mini novel", a tie-in to her Dragonslayer high fantasy series published by Mundania Press, which was in turn based on a short story which appeared in Science Fiction Age magazine in 1992. We've previously received other freebie shorts in this setting, so if you liked those (or read the Mundania-published novels), you'll probably want to give this one a try.
Astrid constantly worries about her place in the village of Guell. She loves being the apprentice of Guell’s blacksmith, Temple. But Temple bought her from a childseller many years ago, which means Astrid has no blood kin in Guell. If anything should happen to Temple she’s likely to lose her home, her work, and her sweetheart, DiStephan, the dragonslayer’s son.
One day Astrid’s worst fear comes true when Temple and DiStephan fail to return from a short journey to a nearby village. A teenage boy named Finehurst arrives in Guell, claiming to be Temple’s nephew and rightful heir – and insisting that he saw Temple and DiStephan killed by a dragon. The villagers are divided in their opinion of Finehurst, but Astrid is soon thrown out of her own home, desperate to find a way to regain it. Before the dragonslayer goes in search of his missing son DiStephan and Astrid’s mentor Temple, he sets forth a challenge for Finehurst and Astrid to prove their blacksmithing skills by forging a dagger. Normally, Astrid would be confident, but the village’s iron supplies are so low that she doesn’t know how she can possibly make a dagger that can prove her worth.
Free again from the author via KDP Select @
Amazon:
An Apple a Day Keeps the Dragon Away by Amber D. Sistla (
ISFDB), a fantasy short in her Break Bites series of such.
Pavel decides to use the greatest weapon of all to rid the countryside of a dragon.