The monstrosity from the Third Realm opened his mouth, dropped his shield and spewed fire on the dragon, while conjuring lightning. The combination was sure to crack his defenses.
But the mountain shook with more force, tiles popping off the smooth floors as cracks zigzagged drunkenly from wall to wall. Kwaad felt himself sucked backward, his red eyes widening. He looked at Devorum. “What have you done?”
Bronwyn panicked. Our mother and sister are in Valdorryn’s meeting room. We have to save them.
As Kwaad was wrenched back farther, Devorum smiled. We barely have time to get to them before we have to be at the Sacred Lake.
But . . . why?
I cannot leave this world any other way. Once Kwaad and his gormons are in the portal, Drakon and the other gods will close the ways between realms. If I’m not there, my life will be forfeit—I am not made for this realm.
Blayke spoke. So this is yet another sacrifice.
I’m not going until I know my family is safe, Bronwyn insisted. I don’t care if I die—I can’t be happy if I know they’re gone. They’re in Valdorryn’s meeting room.
As chips of stone spat from the walls and ceiling, and the mountain shifted around them, Blayke and Bronwyn guided the dragon’s path as Devorum ran up the first flight of stairs he reached. Bronwyn called to Sinjenasta, telling him to bring Fang to the Sacred Lake.
Aimee and Arie, huddled behind a white marble vase, saw the dragon run past. They looked at each other and nodded. What could be safer than following Bronwyn, Blayke and their new ally?
***
Agmunsten felt the earth shake, followed by an eardrum-bursting explosion. He gazed up and saw a cord of red light shoot around the rim of the valley. The space inside the glowing boundary darkened, blocking the view of the starry night sky. Flecks of red, blue and sickly green dotted the air. The colored specks grew larger and travelled in a counterclockwise direction.
The flecks stretched into lines, the lines thickening and gathering speed until they chased each other in an ever-increasing vortex. The gormons, oblivious to the gathering energy, fed—biting the fresh meat and drinking the warm blood of their victims. Dragons and gormons still wrestled and breathed fire, while soldiers stabbed and parried, grappled and knifed.
Gradually, pockets of fighting stopped as the pull of the vortex increased. The lines had joined—red on the edge, fading to blue, to green, to black. The eye of the portal intensified its pull, and gormons who had been flying were the first to be sucked in. Their screams echoed like a coin being thrown into an empty tin. The Third Realm was calling them back.
***
Verity held her mother’s hands as they sat in the dragon king’s meeting room. Sarah paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, and Karin sung a song quietly to herself. Arcese went to the door for the hundredth time, her hand itching to open it.
“Don’t. You’ll just give your father more to worry about.” Queen Gabrielle’s voice was firm, which was advisable when chastising a dragon.
“I need to know what’s happening. Warrimonious is out there—so is Edmund, Pernus and Chisholm, not to mention Bronwyn and Blayke, my parents.” The dragon looked at each woman in turn, hoping to sway them into action.
“No. Sit down. You’ll upset the egg with your agitation.”
The door handle rattled, and Arcese jumped. Even though it was dangerous for her egg, she opened a corridor to the Second Realm and channeled. “It’s me, Edmund. Open the door.”
Gabrielle let out the breath she’d been holding. Arcese opened the door. As soon as Edmund and Pernus entered, she locked it again and peppered them with questions. “What’s happening out there? Is everyone all right? Where’s Warrimonious?”
Edmund hurried to his wife and daughter and caught them in a desperate embrace.
Pernus answered. “He’s fighting the horde. Bronwyn and Blayke are . . . still alive, and I don’t know where Chisholm is.” He looked apologetically at Karin. “Your countrymen are killing a lot of our men. If we survive this, we need to get you out there to pull them into line. They will recognize you as one of theirs.”
Karin nodded and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.
“What about my parents?” Arcese asked.
“I haven’t seen your mother. The last I saw of King Valdorryn, he was at opening E 10 middle, directing the dragon attacks. He’s doing a good job of warning of the gormons’ movements.”
“Why don’t you just contact them?” Verity asked.
“I don’t want to interrupt them at a crucial moment.”
Sarah went to Pernus. She wanted to embrace him, but his armor was covered in blood. He bent and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Sorry, job hazard.”
“I suppose I’m going to have to wash all of that out?”
He smiled.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to see where my mother is.” Arcese sent to Jaz. Mother, how is everything going? Mother? Is it a bad time? Arcese frowned and tried to contact Valdorryn. Hey, it’s me, your pregnant daughter. We’re fine here. How are things up there? When he didn’t reply, she tried her husband, her mind-voice becoming more frantic. She was almost too afraid to try. If he didn’t answer, she was going to rush out there and find them. Warrimonious?
Arcese? Are you all right?
Oh, gods yes, just going mad wondering how you all are. Have you seen my parents?
I’ve replaced your father on watch.
I’m worried. I can’t reach him or Mother.
If I see either of them, I’ll tell them to contact you. Love you.
Love you. “I can get Warrimonious but not my parents.” Arcese rubbed her stomach.
Verity went to the dragon, intending to comfort her, when the mountain shook, a loud boom reverberating throughout the room. “What in the Third Realm was that?”
“Stay here.” Pernus gently pushed Sarah away and opened the door. He looked up and down the hall. The mountain continued to tremble, the shaking becoming more violent. The chandelier holding the candles swayed above the shiny table as if they were on a ship in violent seas. Karin, the only one still sitting at the table, jumped up and joined her friends near the door.
Pernus stuck his head back in and looked at Edmund. “We have to get them out of here. The whole mountain could collapse.”
“Surely not,” said Arcese. “These mountains are thousands of years old—this has never happened before, not one tremor.” The floor shook, and the candles fell out of the chandelier before the decorative-iron light fitting crashed onto the stone tabletop.
Verity and Sarah screamed. Everyone rushed for the door, jostling in a panic to get out. As they ran down the hall, they saw a massive black dragon coming toward them.
“Devorum!” Edmund raised his arm in greeting, relieved.
“The portal is open, but Vellonia will fall to the ground. The spires are sucking the rivers of energy under the city dry, and the mountains are sinking. You have to get out.”
Arcese looked beyond the impressive dragon. “Arie, what are you doing here?”
The boy blushed. “Our shields were failing—Aimee and I are too weak to draw much Second-Realm power. We thought we’d hide out until we could draw more.”
“That’s a good idea. Devorum, I don’t know you, do I?” Arcese tilted her head. “You’re a bit bigger than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Hello, Arcese. I’m from the Sacred Realm, and I’ve melded with Bronwyn and Blayke. I’m Drakon’s answer to Kwaad.”
“Oh, my gods.” Gabrielle smacked her hand over her mouth. “My babies.” She reached the dragon and gently ran her hand down the scales on its tummy.
“Mom, don’t do that.” Devorum tried not to laugh while wrestling control from Bronwyn.
“That was Bronwyn. I am Devorum, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t tickle my stomach. I’m going to let Bronwyn and Blayke say good-bye. They’re coming with me to the Sacred Realm.”
“You can’t t
ake my children.” Edmund’s brows sloped toward his nose in anger.
A particularly large piece of wall broke off from the other side of the corridor and crashed to the floor.
“Dad, it’s Blayke. We have to go or die. There is no way to convert back while we’re here—and if Devorum dies, so do we. I’m so glad I got to meet you. Maybe we can come back one day—who knows?”
“It’s me, Bronwyn. I just wanted to say I waited my whole life to meet you, and I know we only got a very short time together, but it’s been a dream come true. I’ve always loved you both, and now I have a sister to love too. Take care of them, Verity. I’ll never forget you. If there’s a way to contact you, I will find it.”
Her family threw their arms around Devorum, and Bronwyn felt their love. Gabrielle and Verity cried. Bronwyn was sure that if she’d had her body, she’d be crying too. Where has my body gone? she wondered. It can’t have disappeared.
Don’t worry about that now, young one. We’d better get going.
Another crashing boom shook them as the western side of Vellonia sunk farther into a fissure. Pernus led his group back the way that Devorum had come, and Aimee and Arie ran after Devorum.
“Why are you following us?” Devorum asked.
Arie yelled over the roar of the imploding mountain. “We want to go with you. The Sacred Realm sounds exciting.”
“You can’t come. The portals are closing, and you’ll never return.”
“We know that.” Aimee pressed her lips together. “I have no family here, except for a drunken brother. And Arie, well, Arie might be crazy.” She laughed through sucking-in breaths.
Sound like a dozen iron mallets cracking stone in quick succession rumbled down the corridor. A wide fissure raced across the wall. A slab of stone bigger than Devorum crashed behind them, blocking the way back.
With nothing left to say, they sprinted faster.
***
Kwaad’s claws slipped and scraped across the tiles as the force of the strengthening gate pulled him closer. “No!” he shrieked. Leon spoke quickly. Tusklar, we have to get out Kwaad.
How? I don’t want to end up in the Third Realm. This is not what was supposed to happen.
You stupid priest, how do we get out of this?
You can’t—unless you have the crystal crowns, and they’re back at Bayerlon. Kwaad’s body jerked as he was sucked out of the main doors to the mountain.
Gripping a nearby tree, Kerchex called out. “Stop this! You fool, Kwaad. We were supposed to win. I will make you suffer for this failure.” The gormon leader let go of the tree with one clawed hand. He made a fist and shook it at Kwaad. His other hand slipped with the force of the vortex, and he lost his grip.
As Kerchex skidded over the grass, scrabbling to find purchase, he slid past Toran and Corrille. Toran had relented and let Corrille stand after she complained her back hurt. He gripped both her wrists, and her back was to the gormon. “Let me go, Toran. The bitch is dead. Everyone is dead! Let. Me. Go!” She spat in his face.
“You’re making quite a habit of that. You know, it’s not polite to spit.” Toran saw Kerchex reach out as he was sucked past. Toran looked down at Corrille with a lopsided grin. “This is for Avruellen, and Bronwyn, and Blayke. Have fun in the Third Realm.” He pushed her into Kerchex’s eager arms.
The gormon caught hold of her arm and brought her in close. He was pleased to have a human they could breed in the Third Realm; he was more than disappointed at their failure, but at least he wasn’t going back empty-handed. He called out to his brothers: Grab what Talians you can, and take them into the gate.
***
Pockets of Inkran soldiers continued to fight. Pernus dispatched some of them to clear the path for his fleeing party. Karin cried out to see them cut down, but she knew there was no other way. She could see the black garb of her countrymen strewn across the valley, their dead bodies cooling underneath the lifeless cloth. Were any of them men she knew?
“Zim!” Arcese called out and flew to her brother.
He looked into her eyes. “Mother and Father are . . . gone.”
“What? No, they can’t be. No!” Zim drew his wings around her. Arcese’s heart raced. A pain tore through her abdomen, and she gasped.
Warrimonious could see them from his ledge, but he wanted to make sure the gormons were all sucked through and it wasn’t some sick joke of Drakon’s. The colors in the vortex started to bleed together, becoming a sickly, dull green, gormons disappearing through the still-black heart. Faster and faster it swirled. The speed at which the gormons were being consumed increased.
Bone weary, Agmunsten wanted nothing more than to lie on the grass, but he would stand and watch until the last stinking gormon was banished. Drakon had said that the ways between realms would be closed. Did that mean they could no longer use Second-Realm power? He supposed it did. His hand shook slightly—their lives were about to change irrevocably. To never feel the power coursing through his body . . . to know that he’d never see that breathtaking starry expanse again broke his heart almost as much as losing his friends.
Arie! He remembered the boy. Where was he? Agmunsten glanced around. “Has anyone seen Arie?”
Edmund looked with sympathy at the head realmist. “He went with Devorum.”
“Where did Devorum go?”
“He said he had to go back to the Sacred Realm. He’s taking Blayke and Bronwyn with him.”
Gabrielle burst into tears, and Verity and Karin embraced her. The ground shook again, and Zella fell over. Her ferret chittered, asking if she was all right.
Dragon-sized rocks sheared from the mountain face, bouncing and clattering all the way to the valley floor. The surviving Talians had to drag their attention from the vortex to the mountain behind as the rocks crashed to the ground. More than one soldier had to throw themselves out of the way of a hurtling chunk.
Pernus turned to Edmund and Agmunsten. “I think we should all move to the center of the valley. The mountain is too unstable. We could be buried at any time.”
“Okay. Quick, everyone.” Agmunsten helped alert his friends. He picked up Avruellen’s body and carried it away. Flux trotted at his heels, tail between his legs. Pernus slung Arcon over his shoulder, Phantom flying above.
“What a dark day this is.” Agmunsten wished he had died with his Circle members. They had saved Talia, but he had lost so much—they had all lost so much. Not even Kwaad’s screams as it passed through the murky portal could make him smile.
As they jogged toward the river, Toran called out. “Hey, I think that thing is starting to close. Look!”
The gateway was changing again. The colors started to separate into long, wide lines. They could see the blue, the green and the red coalescing into vivid hues. The lines shrunk and separated. A strong wind blew through the valley—a cold breath in the warm air. Talians shivered, and Inkrans fell to their knees, knowing the battle had been lost.
Rock ground against rock. The mountain squealed and groaned as the dragons’ home fell in on itself. The red stream connecting the spires pulsed and widened as the colored lines turned to specks. One final surge of power and the flecks of color winked out. The red cord retracted, snapping from spire to spire until it reached the last spire with a crack.
With a roar like ten-thousand howling gormons, the mountain gave way.
***
Devorum, Arie and Aimee hurtled down three floors of stairs. Stones peppered them, and they’d had to climb over two boulders that blocked their way.
“Ow!” Arie cried as a fist-sized rock hit his shoulder.
“Keep going. We have to get there before the portal closes.” Aimee panted.
They reached the underbelly of Vellonia. Dust thickened the air, making them cough. Bronwyn recognized the path Devorum took; some parts were blocked by rockfall, and he had to find a way around. There was no one down here—the only sounds the creak and pop of rock crushing and grating against itself. The dust gave the caves an eeri
e russet glow.
We need to protect Arie and Aimee from the fear.
Ward them, Devorum answered.
Bronwyn and Blayke both channeled and threw a protection over their friends.
Bronwyn closed the corridor first. Then she remembered Sinjenasta. How could she have forgotten him? Would he be there waiting, or would she have to go through without him? Her heart couldn't bear it.
Blayke felt the air pressure increasing, and it was harder to breathe. Are we going to make it in time? A thud sounded behind them, and Devorum looked back to make sure their companions were still there.
Arie and Aimee’s terrified eyes stared out of dust-covered faces. They wheezed as they ran, trying to keep up with the large dragon.
“Not long to go. Hang in there.” Devorum stomped ahead.
What if the portal’s already closed? Blayke asked.
Devorum didn’t answer. The dragon jumped clear of a falling chunk of ceiling and turned left.
Bronwyn relaxed when she saw the myriad of colors reflecting off the cavern up ahead—it was still open! But was Sinjenasta there?
Devorum shouted over the mountain’s painful moans. “Arie, Aimee, when we get there, just take a deep breath and jump into the lake. You can’t hesitate—it could close at any time. You’ll be sucked under, but don’t panic—Drakon will keep you safe.”
Wait. Stop! Bronwyn screamed. Are they the missing dragon eggs? In a disorganized clump next to the wall on the right sat large oval shapes.
They are. Drakon have mercy. Devorum stopped and picked up four—it was all he could carry without dropping them, and they would be too heavy for the humans to lift.
“What are you doing?” Arie bent at the waist, put his hands on his thighs and gulped air.
“We’re saving some dragon eggs.” Another crash signaled a cluster of stalactites exploding onto the floor. “We have to keep going.” Devorum took off again, the humans pushing themselves to sprint with drained legs.
Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) Page 28
