I ducked instinctively as a branch flew at my head, and for a split-second my concentration died. I went plummeting to the ground, but I caught myself at the last second and pushed up again. I didn’t quite stop my momentum, slamming into the ground and bouncing upward again immediately. A stone cracked against my ribs, making me wince and breathe through my teeth.
“Come on,” I muttered to myself. “Where’s that freaking knoll?”
I figured that Blade had to have stayed behind when the others took off after me—maybe Tess was afraid, and he stayed to protect her. But eventually I knew he’d have to come after us, which meant that he’d end up in the general vicinity of the grassy knoll where we’d first spotted the troll. The only problem was, in my initial panicked flight from the troll, I’d lost my bearings. I had no idea where the knoll had gotten to.
“Wait a minute, you idiot,” I said, mentally slapping myself. “You can freaking fly!”
I found a gap in the branches above and pushed up hard. I shot above the tree line. Thirty feet. Forty. I scanned around in all directions.
Finally I saw it—the top of the tall oak tree sitting on top of a grassy knoll poking up from the middle of the woods. That was where Blade should be. I hoped.
I lowered myself again, dipping down below the branches. The troll saw me and leapt forward again, its mouth open, its talons grasping. I pushed back, avoiding the swipe of its claws by a good six feet.
“Not today, beautiful!” I said. “Come on. We’re almost there.”
I flipped over and darted away through the trees once more, aiming for the knoll. Now incensed beyond belief, the troll followed. I didn’t know how much emotion it was capable of, but it certainly seemed angry as it cast aside tree after tree, desperate to catch me and make me lunch.
Finally I burst through the trees and nearly smacked headfirst into the knoll. I jetted to the top and turned, lowering myself to the ground. But my landing sequence was a bit off, and I hit the ground too hard, tumbling backward and landing on my butt. I glanced up. There was no sign of the man who’d been in the tree’s branches. He must have taken off when we lead the troll away. I couldn’t blame him.
Below me, the troll burst from the trees to reach the bottom of the knoll. It looked up at me, its dark, beady eyes full of hunger and hate.
“Could really use a Keeper of Fire right about now,” I said.
The troll leapt forward, propelling itself up the knoll toward me. I flung myself to the side with Air, haphazardly bringing myself to a halt to hover in the air. The troll whirled and leapt again almost immediately, too fast for me to anticipate. On instinct I jetted to my right, but the suddenness of it broke my concentration. I flopped to the ground and rolled to the bottom of the knoll.
Again the troll leapt, and now, not already hovering in the air, all I could do was launch myself away. It crashed hard to the ground where I had been lying, but before I could right myself in the air, my head crashed into a branch. I’d flung myself right into it without thinking. I spun twice and slammed into the ground on my back.
It’s incredible that I didn’t pass out. If I had, I’d have died, coming to on Earth only to have my body torn apart by a troll in Midrealm seconds later. As it was, I shook my head hard, wincing as I clutched the side of it where I’d hit the branch.
“Ow,” I said.
I heard a familiar huff-huff and looked up to see the troll stalking around the bottom of the knoll toward me. I could almost smell its smug confidence as it stalked toward me. It must have sensed my injury, because there was no more pouncing. It was approaching almost like a cat, waiting for me to try to make a move so it could sweep me up and into its gaping mouth.
“Calvin!”
I turned toward the sound to see Blade standing at the bottom of the knoll, Samuel at his side with his sword drawn. Relief washed through me. The troll looked over at the two of them and bared its yellow, blocky teeth in a snarl.
“Blade,” I said, pointing at the troll. “Please set this thing on fire.”
The troll took another step forward, but Blade only grinned. He reached out, and a torrent of fire gushed from his hands. The flames engulfed the troll, which immediately roared in fear and pain. It curled in upon itself, trying to get away from the flames that wrapped fully around its body. Slowly it fell to the ground, its roars dying out to a quiet gurgle.
Blade switched off the flames and came over to help me up. But Darren, who had come up behind him, got to me first. His gloved hand wrapped around my bare one, and he launched me to my feet.
“Are you whole, my Lord?” he asked anxiously. “Were you injured?”
“I’m fine, Darren,” I said, patting him on the arm. “Really. I’m okay. And just for the record, flying is totally awesome.”
The worry on his face dissolved into a smile. “I’ll have to take your word for it, my Lord, but I’m happy to hear it.”
“What the heck was that thing?” Blade asked, looking uneasily at the pile of charred troll that was still smoking.
“A troll,” I said. “Big, ugly, stupid and almost impossible to kill. The only thing that’ll do the trick is fire.”
“Ah, I see,” Blade said with a nod. “And where’s everyone else?”
“Off in the woods somewhere,” I said. I gestured vaguely in the direction of the trees, but the motion made my head hurt worse, so I stopped. “I had to fly off and lead the troll away from them, so I kind of lost track.”
“Wait, what do you mean fly off?”
I smirked and pushed myself up on columns of air, hovering a couple of feet off the ground.
Blade and Samuel gaped at me. “Dude, I’m not even gonna lie,” said Blade. “I’m so totally freaking jealous right now.”
I shrugged. “Eh. It’s a thing.”
“I never wanted to be the Keeper of Air before,” Blade said. “This is great. I’ll never be happy with Fire again.”
I chuckled. “Okay, man. Let’s get back to the horses. The others should meet up with us there.”
I took a step forward, but pain lanced through my head again and I nearly fell to the ground. Blade leaped forward to catch me just before I went down, throwing my arm around his shoulder.
“Okay, you’re going to need a little help, bro,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get you back to the others and get that bump on the head looked at.”
Darren came on my other side and took my other arm over his own shoulders. Gratefully, I let the two of them support me as we wandered back through the woods in the direction of the path.
THE GOBLINS
CALVIN
“I LITERALLY DON’T EVEN KNOW what to do with you,” said Sarah.
“Hey, we’re all fine. We’re all alive,” Blade said. “Let’s just be happy about that.”
“Oh, I’m so happy,” said Sarah, the tone of her voice conveying that she was anything but. “I’m just thrilled.”
“At least we saved that guy,” said Raven. But her heart wasn’t in it.
We had met back up at the horses, but Sarah decided to call it a day. We’d set up camp for the night, and the whole time we’d been laying out our bedrolls and feeding the horses, Sarah had barely said two words to me. She’d hardly been able to look at me.
I guess I saw her point. I had run off into the woods without warning, and then I’d made a troll chase me alone through the forest. But I was only doing what I’d thought was best at the time. I told her that. I told her that over and over again, but she was less than convinced.
Now that we were finally gathered around a small campfire, eating our dinner, she’d finally seen fit to talk to me. And it wasn’t pretty.
“How can I even justify going on the rest of this trip, not knowing whether or not you’re going to do something crazy again and this time get us all killed?” Sarah asked.
I shrugged. “I guess I don’t know.” I hated being talked down to. I hated getting lectures. Knowing why Sarah was upset didn’t make it any easier to st
omach.
“I don’t know either,” she growled, angrily tearing off a hunk of bread with her teeth. “I can’t keep us all safe when I can’t trust you, Calvin.”
I hunkered down further into my shoulders, staring at my boots.
“Sarah,” said Miles quietly. “He’s sorry.”
She grunted.
The sun was low in the sky, glinting in at us occasionally through the branches of the trees as it sank further and further toward the horizon. Its orange glow in the sky provided enough light to see comfortably, but that light was quickly fading away.
“Well, Calvin?” said Sarah. “Anything you want to say?”
“I already said I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m not sure what else you want from me.”
“Frankly, neither do I,” said Raven, looking at Sarah coolly. “Unless you want him to go back in time and change things, what’s done is done.”
Sarah harrumphed and went back to her food. I knew it would be best to just let her cool off. Nothing I could say would really fix the situation. She wasn’t just going to suddenly be all cool with me. I just had to let her blow off some steam. I’d try to avoid starting any confrontation for the rest of the night, maybe avoid her a little at school tomorrow, and then everything would be fine by the next time we were riding on the road to Wyrmspire.
I hoped.
I stood up. “I’ve got to hit the trees.”
“Why?” snapped Sarah, looking up at me.
“To…you know. Nature.”
The sudden spark in her eye died. “Oh. Okay. Fine.”
Darren rose to accompany me. That was one thing we’d had to get used to—the Runegard weren’t really supposed to let us out of their sight. I’d had to establish ground rules with Darren. He could come, but when I was doing my business, he was to stay far away and out of sight.
I disappeared from view of the campfire. Only then did I let myself give the long, shuddering sigh I’d been holding, raising a hand to wipe a sudden wetness from my eyes.
“My Lord?” asked Darren uneasily. “Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing,” I said, managing to keep my voice steady. “Just feel like Sarah’s laying it on pretty thick, I guess.”
“I understand, my Lord,” said Darren gently. “You must understand, however—just as you thought you were doing the right thing, she believes she is doing what she must as your leader. Establishing discipline. Truth be told, her methods are quite mild compared to what we are used to in the Runegard.”
I snorted. “What, do you guys do lashes or something?”
Darren smiled. “Nothing so brutal as that, although I have heard the practice is common in other parts of the world. But we are penalized with fasts. Or we are confined. Not in prison cells, in our rooms. But still, after two days of restraint, you’re aching to leave your quarters. And when you return to training the next day, your muscles are slow and soft. It’s well known that you take your harshest beatings on the training days after a penalty.”
“Yeah, I guess a talking-to is better than all of that,” I admitted. “Still. I mean, everyone’s fine. And I even taught myself how to fly today. How cool is that?”
“It is very, as my Lord says…’cool,’” said Darren with a smile.
I sighed and found a rock to sit down on. I put my hands on my knees and leaned back, looking up into the dimming sky.
“Honestly, I was pretty stoked about the whole thing until Sarah started giving me grief,” I said. “I guess I like a little adventure to spice things up more than she does.”
“That is certainly true, my Lord,” said Darren. “Lady Sarah prefers things to be rather more…quiet.” He smiled again, and his eyes grew distant. “It is odd, though. I get the sense that this sort of life is not at all what she would have wanted. And yet, she excels so far above what I would have expected. She is a caring, compassionate and wise leader. Quite a rival for Captain Gaskill herself. Greystone did well to pair them together.”
“So what are you saying?” I asked, smiling halfheartedly. “That I’m just a geeky, starstruck nerd like you, and that’s why we were put together?”
Darren’s smile grew wider. “You know that my oaths and the rules of Runegard decorum prevent me from answering that question honestly. However, if I were not so bound, I would repeat a phrase I learned from Lady Reiko: it takes one to know one.”
I laughed, feeling my dark mood slip away with the sound. “Oh, man, Darren,” I said. “I like you. I’m honored to fight beside you, and I’m thankful that you always have my back.”
Darren looked surprised. “The honor is mine, my Lord.”
I shook my head. “I just wish you’d stop calling me that.”
“Of course, my Lord. Now, would you like me to withdraw?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t actually need to whizz. I just wanted to get away from that circle for a minute. Give me some time to think, we can head back.”
“Of course, my Lord,” he repeated. He wandered through the trees around me, looking idly up at the sky, where the very first stars were beginning to shine. The glow of the fire was growing brighter and brighter through the trees as the light in the rest of the world began to die.
Suddenly I heard Darren’s slow, even footsteps stop. “Oh my stars, my Lord,” he whispered. “Look! A goblin!”
“What?” I shouted, leaping to my feet. “Where?”
I whirled to see Darren staring in fascination through the trees. Following the direction of his gaze, I saw a creature that not even a mother could love. It was clearly akin to the troll—the same color and texture of skin, the same facial structure. But this thing was tiny, reed-thin, with much longer legs than arms. It took careful, crab-like steps and used the legs for small hops along the ground, looking like a cross between a frog and a demented rabbit. The comparison was strengthened by its long, broad ears that reached for the sky.
“I’ve got it!” I cried, summoning a plate of air and slamming it into the goblin full force. The goblin cried out as it flew off into the darkness between the trees, vanishing into the night with a thin screeeeee!
“What have you done?” shouted Darren.
My small, satisfied smile turned to a look of confusion as I looked at him. “What are you talking about? I got rid of it before it could attack us.”
“We must leave, immediately!” he cried. “Come, my Lord! Now!”
I stared at him, not understanding. He seized my arm and practically flung me through the trees toward the warm orange glow of our fire.
“Darren, slow down!” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“We must leave, now, before the rest of them come!” he said urgently, still dragging me. “You’ve disturbed the nest!”
“Nest? What nest?”
He looked at me, horror dawning in his eyes. “Oh, gods. You don’t know.”
“Know what?!” I cried, feeling black fear seize at my throat.
“I’ll explain everything, my Lord, but now you have to trust me. Run!”
Something about the panic in his eyes, the fear and tone of his voice, set my legs in motion without my realizing it. We booked it through the trees, shooting through them and trying our best not to trip on a rock or an upturned root. The fire helped once we got a little closer. We burst into the clearing to startled looks from the rest of the group.
“We have to leave now!” Darren shouted. “At once!”
“Why?” asked Cara, shooting to her feet. “What happened?”
“Calvin!” Sarah said, rising as well. “What did you do?”
“I don’t know,” I said miserably.
Darren looked at me uneasily and said, “Lord Calvin attacked a goblin.”
There was a moment of frozen silence. Then, the Runegard exploded into action as though a bomb had detonated in the middle of our camp.
“Move!” roared Barius, leaping up and throwing Raven’s things haphazardly at her horse. Some of them even managed to land on the horse’
s back.
“My Lady! Mount up! Quickly!” cried Nora, dragging Tess toward her horse.
“What the heck is going on?” asked Blade, still sitting on a log by the fire, oblivious. Samuel swooped in behind him and seized his collar, bodily dragging him toward the horses.
“Calvin!” shouted Sarah angrily.
“I didn’t know!” I pleaded, begging her to believe me.
“My Lord, there’s no time,” said Darren, continuing to push me toward the horses. “On your mount! Quickly now!”
He practically threw me into the saddle. I slid my feet into the stirrups, clutching the reins in my trembling hands.
A couple of feet away, Miles stopped and cocked his head. “What’s that noise?” he called.
His voice stopped us all. Everyone turned an ear outward from the camp.
I heard it. It was a chittering sound, high and reedy. And beneath it, the thundering of many feet.
Many, many feet.
“They’re coming!” cried Cara. “Ride! Ride now! Don’t stop for anything!”
“They’re just goblins!” I complained, even as Darren gave my horse’s flank a strong slap and it sped off toward the path, nearly pitching me off the back.
We reached the path and swung hard to race down it, our horses’ hooves thundering on the hard packed dirt. Behind us, the chittering and the tramping grew louder and louder. I risked a glance behind us, but I still couldn’t see anything.
“It’s getting too dark!” Sarah shouted. “Blade and Raven—lights!”
In response, a ball of glowing blue electricity and a ball of bright orange fire sprang into being above us, illuminating the path and the forest around for dozens of feet in every direction. And still I could see nothing.
“There are foothills not far ahead,” cried Melaine over the hoofbeats. “Perhaps we could find some caves to lose them in.”
“No!” said Cara. “Goblins live in caves. They’d be far more at home in them than we would.”
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 16
