Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3)

by Dionne Lister

  You humans are too kind. Flux raised his nose to the air. If he was a fox, we’d have killed him by now. Loose ends. You should know better than that, Arcon.

  Thanks for the lecture, Flux. Just a hint: you’re not helping. Arcon scowled at the fox.

  He’s right, though. Phantom hooted twice.

  “Look!” Avruellen pointed across the valley. “There’s the signal from the dragons. Everyone’s in place.”

  Alaine was at the far side of the valley with her cavalry and Fendill, while Fernis was stationed at the south end with his troops. King Edmund, a handful of his troops and Pernus stayed near the realmists, offering additional protection while they were activating the amulet. Verity, Karin, Queen Gabrielle and Sarah had been confined to King Valdorryn’s meeting room—it was considered one of the safest rooms as it had no window and a sturdy lock on the door.

  King Valdorryn occupied one of the uppermost rooms in the mountain so he could direct the battle from a good vantage point. He stood on the wide ledge outside the dragon-size opening. His mind was still distracted from not being able to contact Zim. He held hope that his son would make it in time.

  The realmists felt the pressure drop as somebody, or many somebodies, channeled. Second-Realm power was being syphoned to the extent that the valley air crackled with anticipation, strands of Bronwyn and Blayke’s dark hair floating skyward.

  “Is it harder to breathe, or is that my imagination?” Aimee rubbed at her goose-pimply arms.

  “The pressure’s dropping.” Arcon looked toward the heavens. “They must have a lot of those blasted beasts that can draw power. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

  “Maybe it’s the Inkrans?” Blayke looked across the valley, waiting for the signal that the first gormon had been sighted.

  Bronwyn watched and held her breath. Soon. “Look! What’s that?” It was like a curtain had been drawn over the stars as a wall of gormons flew over the valley, covering the sky from east to west, staying high enough to avoid the spires.

  The red flashing of dragon scales shone throughout the valley, signaling the moment they had been dreading. “We’ll be okay, won’t we?” asked Corrille. “Those spire things will stop them, won’t they?”

  “Of course they will.” Blayke squeezed her hand.

  “Um, but then why are they flying lower? What in the Third Realm?” Bronwyn shared her aunt’s horrified expression as the gormons, crimson eyes glowing and Inkrans on their backs, spilled downwards like hot lava ready to scour the life from Vellonia.

  ***

  Crotus crouched and watched the dragon queen standing on the five-pointed star indentation as she kept her hands on the pillars, checking the flow of power. A scepter that Crotus had never seen before lay on the ground next to her.

  His head hissed with Kerchex’s voice. Block the rivers. We’re ready to descend.

  He sent his mind to the Second Realm and sucked in the power. Standing, he threw his cloak down and stepped from behind the pillar.

  Jazmonilly heard the scuff of his feet and looked up. Crotus had his palms pointed at her. “Stand aside or I’ll blast you to the Unknown Realm.”

  “What? Why?” Jaz backed away at the wildness in his eyes, his pupils dilated until almost no iris could be seen.

  “Keep going, right out the door, and shut it behind you.”

  “I’ve heard nothing from Arcon. I’m supposed to stay here. I’ll not take orders from an inferior.”

  Electricity sputtered about his hands, its blue light reflecting on his face. “The order has come from a higher power: Kwaad.”

  The dragon opened her mouth. Figuring she was going to toast him, Crotus fired first, the electricity leaping from his hands to her chest.

  Jaz tripped back and hit the wall, stunned. She slipped to the floor, smoke rising from where she’d been struck.

  The realmist grabbed both pillars and dove his awareness into the stream. He had practiced where the flows should be blocked, and now he meticulously blocked one after another, until none of the spires were operational. Smiling, he removed his hands from the pillars and sent his master a message. It is done. He frowned when he saw that the dragon was still alive—she had struggled to her knees.

  “Why? Why would you betray your own people?”

  He raised his palms again. “They betrayed me long ago, and I happen to think what Drakon did to the gormons was abominable. I’m helping restore the rightful Talian order.”

  “But they’ve changed. They’re not what they once were. They will feed off Talia until there’s nothing left.” Jaz saw the lightning fork out from his palm again. She opened her mouth. This time, a great roar of flame exploded, toasting the realmist. But he had succeeded at launching his energy, and the second bolt hit the dragon queen. The current cut her down like an axe felling a tree.

  Zella heard noise coming from what should have been a quiet room. Not wasting time, she used the key that the queen had entrusted her with. She heaved the door opened and rushed inside. A pile of ash covered the floor in the middle of the room, and the queen lay motionless next to one wall. The realmist dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse.

  ***

  Pernus and Edmund stood in the valley and watched the realmists from a safe distance, ready to intervene if they needed protection. “Fireballs commence!” Arcon threw one and turned to Avruellen. “Should we try to activate the amulets now?”

  “We have seven, but . . . .”

  “I know. We’re going to have to do something.” Arcon fired off more scorching orbs as the gormons let their riders down before flying off. The Inkrans, with their short swords and lithe movements, were not much of a match for the cavalry, but the foot soldiers were not used to fighting such skilled, agile opponents. The main pockets of fighting were at the northern and eastern ends of the valley.

  The dragons were easy to see, with their scales shining red, so the archers knew what targets to leave alone. But the winged, raven-colored gormons outnumbered their cousins three to one. Arcon threw another fireball, quietly congratulating himself when it hit its mark, the gormon plummeting to the grass, its burning body landing on an Inkran.

  “Look out!” Aimee yelled. A gormon had come from behind, from inside the dragons’ home. It was close to reaching the realmists with its deadly breath. The soft-spoken girl hurled a burning sphere, almost catching Blayke’s shoulder as it flew past. The orange heat struck and consumed the gormon with such intensity that the gormon behind it caught alight too.

  Rather than shout above the mayhem, Arcon spoke into Avruellen’s mind. Vellonia’s been breached from all quarters. We’re going to have to activate the amulets. There’s no other way. I’m going to call the realmists together.

  Avruellen stared at him from her position forty feet away, where she was taking aim at the gormons who were landing nearby to let off Inkran passengers. She nodded, her face a mask of strength, her jaw set in determination. It will be all right. She fired off a flaming sphere, hitting one gormon and its rider.

  More gormons poured from inside the mountain. Blayke, Bronwyn, Bernard and Aimee had their hands full trying to stem the flow of the Third-Realm creatures, while Dorge stood near Avruellen, hurling a constant stream of missiles, but he was already tiring. Avruellen could see the sweat on his brow in the ruddy glow of the fireballs.

  Almost hidden in the stream of slimy evil spilling out of the mountain, Zella reached the valley floor. The gormons smelled human meat. In their frenzy, they didn’t seem to notice the realmist in her black cloak. She was only a few feet from her friends. Still surrounded by gormons, she sent a shockwave of flames from her body while turning three-hundred-and-sixty degrees. Five of the monsters ignited. Zella threw a quick shield around herself to prevent the writhing gormon torches from burning her to a crisp.

  Before she reached Arcon, she spoke into his mind, her comment reaching all the realmists. Jazmonilly is badly hurt. The Heart of Vellonia was compromised, but I don’t know
who it was. By the time I got there, there was only a pile of ash left. And I found this. She held up the scepter and looked into the sky. The gormons soared past, breathing acidic fire and death upon dragons and soldiers. Oh. She realized the spires had been deactivated. Who knows how to work the spires?

  A familiar voice cut into their conversation. I do!

  Arcon jerked his head to the sky. Zim, black scales tinged red, Warrimonious gliding by his side, landed with grace next to the stunned realmists. Agmunsten and Arie managed to jump off Zim’s back before the dragon tore toward Vellonia, fire gushing from his mouth as he ran, exterminating any gormons unlucky enough to be in his way.

  Astra and the high chancellor slid off Warrimonious and rushed to Arcon’s side.

  Arcon hurled another fireball into the air before looking Calinsar up and down. “Who’s this?”

  “Arcon, Edmund, meet High Chancellor Calinsar, ruler of Zamahl. He’s pledged us his country’s aid.” The high chancellor performed a half bow, and Edmund reciprocated.

  The realmist inclined his head to the thin man. “Glad to have you here, although it’s not really a good time of year to visit.”

  The chancellor laughed. “There’s nothing like a good war to get the adrenaline pumping. Life’s been boring back home; I could use the excitement.” He smiled. “What troops we had left after being attacked en route are fighting some Inkrans outside the valley.” His nonchalant mask fell. Leaving the troops out there was asking them to commit suicide—but there was no way to get them into Vellonia without the dragons’ help, and the dragons were otherwise occupied.

  Pernus turned to Edmund. “I don’t like you being out here. I can’t watch the ground and the sky.”

  “I ran from one fight; I’ll not run from another.”

  “We didn’t run. Our hand was forced. We will get Bayerlon back.”

  “Watch out!” Zella shouted before sending a burning projectile at a gormon who was about to spew fire on Avruellen. After dispatching the gormon, she noticed Calinsar. Her eyes widened, and she was about to say something when shouts to her right drew her attention away.

  “We can’t do this much longer. We won’t have any energy left for the activation.” Blayke wiped the sweat from his brow. He felt sick to his stomach when he realized what would happen when the activation occurred—people he loved were going to die. Tears washed down his cheeks, but no one noticed because of the sweat.

  “Arie, great to see you made it. Blayke, do what you have to; we’ll keep you safe, won’t we, troops?” Zella whipped her arm into the air, a stream of fire catching a gormon who landed nearby.

  Arie followed her lead and shot flames at gormons flying in from the other direction.

  With Bronwyn focused on bombarding gormons with fireballs, Sinjenasta stood at her back. An Inkran fighter approached silently. A black kerchief hid the lower half of his face, leaving exposed light-blue colored eyes that were intent on Bronwyn. The blade of the knife in his hand reflected the rosy light that permeated the valley. He drew his arm back to throw, aiming for Bronwyn’s throat.

  Sinjenasta sprang twenty-five feet to land on the man’s chest, pushing him to the ground. His claws pierced through the ridged leather breastplate. When the panther extracted his claws, blood rose to the surface and streamed down the man’s chest. His eyes were wide, his mouth open in surprise. With one choked gurgle, he died.

  Bronwyn’s creatura loped to another Inkran soldier who sprinted toward them, sword drawn. The panther bared his teeth and waited for the Inkran to slash. Sinjenasta jumped to the side, the blade missing him by half an inch. Before the man could position himself to strike again, the panther leapt for his face and sunk his teeth into his soft neck. He squeezed his jaws and cut off the man’s air supply while his long teeth pierced his jugular.

  Because Blayke was busy, Toran had been stuck with Corrille. They stood with their backs to a tree fifty feet from where the realmists battled. The canopy had kept them safe, so far. Toran didn’t think he imagined Corrille’s disappointment when the panther ruined the Inkran’s attack. He itched to fight, but his rudimentary combat training was no match for seasoned soldiers and definitely no match for a gormon.

  Toran looked to the south and saw a gormon rip the head off a man and pop it in his mouth as if it were an hors d'oeuvre at a party. The soldier’s friends hacked at both of the gormon’s legs with their swords, but the monster barely flinched. While it chewed the head, it reached down and ran one man through with its long talons, simultaneously pushing the other man twenty feet away.

  Arcon shook his head while throwing another fireball. Everywhere he looked, the gormons were making ground, and the body count rose. The gormons were overrunning the soldiers, like a swarm of ants on a lizard carcass. Zim. I need you now! We have to activate the amulets.

  I just need a few more minutes. Zim was in The Heart of Vellonia, his awareness in the rivers of energy.

  We don’t have any more minutes.

  All right. The dragon had managed to get three of the channels unblocked—two of the eastern spires and one of the northern ones. That should help them a bit, until he could come back and finish the rest.

  Astra saw the spires burst to life, the gold glowing before streams of unwavering yellow light pierced the air in straight lines, sweeping up and down, left to right, homing in on the enemy. Any gormon within two-hundred feet of an active spire was killed instantly.

  “Astra, come here.” Arcon waved her over. “Did Zim manage to initiate you into The Circle?”

  “Yes. We were in the desert at the time—it was not pleasant. Plus I got some circle practice in while we were sailing over. The gormons sunk three of our ships.”

  Avruellen gasped. “I want to send them back to rot in the Third Realm.” She grabbed Arcon’s hand, but he shook his head.

  “This time, we do it a bit differently. Blayke, Bronwyn, get in the middle of the circ—”

  Corrille ran to them, screaming, Toran racing behind her. “Blayke, Blayke. The most horrible gormon is coming. It’s going to kill us all.” She launched herself at him.

  Bronwyn saw the glint of the knife at the last moment, but Flux had seen it first. The fox sprung for her, enclosing his jaws around her calf.

  She screamed and fell forward, landing in front of Blayke.

  “What the . . . ?” The young man looked down at her, not knowing what else to say.

  Flux kept hold of Corrille’s leg. Avruellen picked her up by the scruff of her neck, drawing a trickle of power to hold her arms to her side. She turned the girl’s head to meet her eyes. “Who put you up to this?”

  Corrille spat in her face.

  “Was it the gormons?” She delved into the girl’s mind. “Ah, so that’s what happened.” Avruellen turned to Blayke. “After Corrille disappeared, she was taken by Morth, with the help of Crotus. She was given an assignment—get close to you and destroy The Circle at the best opportunity, which happens to be now.”

  Blayke’s angry gaze darted from his girlfriend to Avruellen. “You’re just saying that. She wouldn’t. She . . . she loves me.”

  Avruellen’s eyes held sympathy for her nephew.

  Blayke turned to Corrille. “Is it true?” Her snarl was enough to tell him the truth. “What do we do with her now?” The young man’s gaze hardened.

  “I’ll gladly deal with her.” Aimee smiled.

  “No, you have to keep those fireballs coming, dear.” Avruellen turned to Toran. “We’ll put her over there. Can you please sit on her for me?”

  “Gladly.” They dragged her a few feet away, retrieved her knife and laid her on her stomach. Avruellen had to release the power, but Toran had already straddled Corrille’s back, and she couldn’t move. “Now, enough of the distractions.” Avruellen put her hands on her hips and readied to draw more power.

  “She wasn’t lying about the most horrible gormon coming to get us.” Everyone followed Bronwyn’s gaze. Flying past one of the latent spires, Kwaad
descended. His shield protected him, the dragon fire and burning arrows having no effect.

  “That’s Kwaad.” Agmunsten swore. “We need to do this now.”

  Arcon directed the realmists to stand in a circle around Bronwyn and Blayke. The youngsters pulled out their amulets and faced each other. Blayke reached for his sister’s hands. The amulets lay together between their joined right palms. Arcon, Avruellen, Astra, Zim and Agmunsten stood surrounding the pair and linked arms, their chests pressing against Blayke and Bronwyn.

  Agmunsten was the first to draw power. The others followed until the thrum from the Second Realm prickled everyone’s skin. Bernard and Aimee watched in awe at the amount of power flowing through The Circle.

  The scream of Kwaad reached them, but they would not be taunted or swayed from their task. Agmunsten shouted over the cacophony of battle. “We stand here today to unlink the last piece of the chain that binds our salvation. Realmists, I order you to link with Quie, the fire corridor to the Second Realm. I now link with Zaya, the corridor to the gods, and I seek the blessing of Drakon, god of the dragons.”

  Drakon’s words boomed throughout Vellonia. Fighting ceased briefly while soldiers, dragons and gormons listened. “This is the time for sacrifice. It is up to you now, Bronwyn and Blayke. The balance of the Realms must be found. Banish my wayward children and save Talia. Once the portals have closed, the ways between realms will be closed forever.” Silence expanded from the space left by his all-encompassing voice . . . until Kwaad’s scream echoed across the valley, and his minions returned to burning and skewering Talians and dragons, their need more desperate than before.

  As The Circle fed energy into Bronwyn and Blayke, the youngsters felt the amulets grow hot. The pain as the amber sunk into their palms caused them both to cry out. Bronwyn felt the amulet swell. An icy burn scorched her veins as the drop of dragon blood that had been encased in the amber mixed with her blood. Her skin rippled, growing outwards. She screamed and realized Blayke screamed too, their agony feeding Kwaad’s need.