The Seeking Series Box Set

by D. R. Grady

  Her heart ached at this terrible oversight. Stefana’s human part, however much of it remained, was susceptible to these creatures. The three dragons protected her, but an assortment of the desampus somehow could also fly. This shouldn’t have been possible.

  Ari soon wished she had another sword. So many of the creatures spewed forth, they must have continued erupting from the realm to which they’d been consigned. “We have to stop them from entering this kingdom.”

  “I’ve contacted a known wizard. He’s already addressing that issue.” Kellen’s statement was grim as he killed the enemy in masses, but they kept thronging them. More and more of them.

  Never had she been in a fight before where she hadn’t gained the victory and plenty early on. But the four of them struggled, even with the three dragons blowing more dragonfyre than she’d ever seen in her life. For every three or four each of them killed it seemed eight took its place.

  Her heart pounded as she kept fighting. Aasguards don’t cease fighting until the fighting ceased. This might take weeks, but they’d keep on.

  She gritted her teeth and sword blurring, took off the heads of those nasty creatures who inflicted wounds that would take longer than normal to heal.

  Kellen’s sword cut through vileness as he longed for another weapon. The dragons and one Aasguard should have conquered these fiends by now.

  Yet they swarmed into the fray, each one frenzied to draw blood, drink, and gorge on living flesh.

  Inside he shuddered, but outside his sword never stopped. Never faltered in the onslaught.

  His wizard friend hopefully had managed to shut the portal. Still, even after that happened, they’d be here for far too long cleaning up those who had entered this dimension.

  A large crack of light thundered across the land. It illuminated the castle and additional thunder rolled across the horizon. Lightning streamed horizontally and took out a good number of the desampus in that sector but still more disgorged into the battle. More light, more dragonfyre, and four Aasguard swords cut through the night.

  They didn’t have trouble seeing, but the wizards whose large staffs shot light at the desampus might be hindered. He couldn’t remember if they had night vision or not.

  The desampus did seem to have it, or their other senses compensated because the fiends teemed, intent on their goal to reach the four warriors in the center of the action.

  A ball of light emitted from one of the wizard staffs to be joined by four more. This produced a giant sun of sorts and the demonic reptiles shied away from the bright light. They shrieked, but Kellen automatically toned down the cries. This proved another way these creatures took down prey, through that hideous screech.

  The wizards, surrounded by a globe that protected them from the creatures, intoned some sort of chant. This caused the creature’s frenzy to increase.

  Kellen feared the blazing Aasguard swords weren’t enough to thwart the desampus.

  Ari broke from their pack and ran her sword through the sun-like orb. Her sword lit on fire, and when she passed it through the monsters mobbing her, it ignited them, and the fire erupted from the first miscreation to those nearby. More shrieks, this time of agony, pierced the fray.

  The screech of suffering drew the creatures to rip and tear into their own kind, and this offered Ari a moment to touch her blazing sword to that of each of the Aasguard’s. The new fire aided them in clearing additional space.

  Maeze grew disoriented in the bright light and flew through the sun orb. This set her ablaze as well, but she didn’t shriek in pain. She instead landed in the midst of the creatures and kindled them. She also blew dragonfyre that was further fueled by the sun now encasing her.

  She rose and spread the flames near and far. Aern copied her and his massive frame offered far more square footage of creatures to annihilate. Fricassa couldn’t risk the flames with Stefana on her back. The small dragon had engorged herself to nearly her mate’s size though, likely in the event of better protecting the human-Aasguard on her back.

  She’d never forgive herself if something happened to Lajos’ wife.

  One of the flying desampus snatched Stefana off the dragon’s back. Another swooped, and despite Ari’s flaming sword, grabbed her as well.

  “No!”

  Chapter 17

  The stench of the flying creature who grabbed her made Ari gag, even when she toned down the levels. Her efforts produced minimal results. She continued to wretch, but fought, and finally won that battle. Anyway, she didn’t have much in her stomach, and right now she could be extra thankful for that.

  No sign of Stefana and the desampus who had grabbed her. Ari didn’t know whether to be relieved or concerned by that. The claws of her own captor dug in.

  Gripping her sword, she waited patiently for the right moment to cut the creature’s grasp on her. Sword hand clenched on her weapon, Ari expected to see the ground underneath her. But when she looked down, it wasn’t the ground, or the rugged terrain where they’d been seconds ago.

  A foggy tunnel and the sense of speeding through time greeted her instead.

  They landed with a whump and some of the breath in her lungs whooshed out, but Ari recovered quickly. She sliced through her captor without thought.

  “You should not have done that.” An ugly reptilian voice she recognized hissed with censure. Ari took note of the stone palace in which they stood. Cold, empty, and gray, she couldn’t say she was thankful to be a guest.

  “Ah, Magnila, I should have known.” Ari brushed her hair off her cheek before facing the Queen of the Desampus, Magnila. A cold-blooded creature if there ever was one. She put the large predatory lagoon creatures from Ari’s own land to shame.

  Desampus didn’t have emotions. In fact, Magnila couldn’t conceive of them.

  “Ari the Noble,” Magnila spat. “But thank you for opening the portal to your world.” Elation certainly didn’t peek through in any way, but Ari picked up that this reptilian demon was pleased.

  “I didn’t open a portal.” Ari also didn’t sheath her sword.

  “Oh, but you did. As soon as two Aasguard warriors joined their lives, that’s when the portal was destined to open. We despaired,” clearly Magnila had no notion of that actual emotion, “that this would never happen, but you married today did you not?”

  “We didn’t even decide to marry until this morning. The attack on Chariovalda has been whispered about for at least a day.” Ari didn’t sniff, but Magnila’s ploys were well executed, and Ari knew she wouldn’t enjoy whatever culminated.

  Another creature blew through the portal, clutching Stefana. Ari gasped, her hand encasing her sword, wishing desperately to cut through the creature’s neck. Followed immediately by Magnila’s head but before doing so, she needed to hear more about the nonsense this hideous queen spouted.

  Stefana also clutched her sword, and Ari felt a spurt of pride that she’d mastered this essential skill. Never drop or lose your weapon.

  Another very important mantra of the Aasguard.

  “We gorged on the army who planned to attack the country near the closest portal. Then we attacked. And now that you’ve opened the portal, we will have full reign again in the land where we should live.” Magnila looked to several of the hovering guards.

  “Why the need to take us?”

  “I asked my guards to take the woman responsible for opening the portal. Someone clearly misinterpreted who that was.” Magnila eyed Stefana. “On the other hand, she’ll be a tasty snack.”

  The ignorant reptile must not realize Stefana wasn’t human.

  “I don’t think so.” Stefana’s fist tightened around her sword. In an impressive, neat maneuver, she loped the head off the creature who had mistakenly taken her.

  Magnila hissed.

  “Take their swords.”

  “That is a very bad idea.” Ari doubted they could remove her weapon from her hand. She still tightened her grip.

  Her hand fisted when her sword disappeared
, as did Stefana’s.

  Ari’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t know much about this dimension, but some things were true no matter where you were. And in this case, there were consequences for removing an Aasguard’s sword without their permission.

  The creature closest to Stefana drew her blood with his long claws and licked at the crimson liquid. Stefana growled low and deep. Not the response the creature wished for. Stefana used her lightning fast combat skills and soon his neck hung at the wrong angle.

  “Stefana.” Ari reined her in, at least for now. They had a more pressing issue. But the creatures surged toward Stefana en masse. With a fierce snarl, the Aasguard warrior within Stefana fully awakened and shoved out the human. Stefana, Aasguard warrior, arose, her impressive muscles bunching and pulling, and her victory growl stopped the onslaught of the fiends.

  Ari grabbed Stefana’s hand and dragged her under a large rock table.

  “What are you doing?” Stefana’s senses impelled her to fight, but Ari held up a finger.

  “Hold on.” She didn’t need to say more because the ceiling rumbled and the floor quaked. “It’s a terrible idea to remove an Aasguard’s sword without permission.” Her eyes narrowed on her quarry. “And this fool removed two so the consequences will be catastrophic.”

  The creatures hissed, forked tongues scenting the air, as though aware of danger, but unsure of what was about to happen. They should run for cover.

  A spiraling, fiery crystal spun until it landed on the first creature. A deluge of them followed, igniting the monstrous creatures, and Ari held out her hand. “Sword.”

  Her trusted weapon reappeared in her hand. She looked to Stefana, whose instincts must have instructed her to do the same. “Sword.”

  Stefana’s gift from Lajos also returned to her hand. She leapt from under the table, but Ari hauled her back. “Give the crystals time.”

  “They’ll hurt us?”

  “They sting and burn. Best to give them time to slow before we finish off these nasties.”

  The stone table above them shielded them from the whizzing stones. Ari kept a close eye on the fiery weapons. Once the deluge slowed, she said, “Now we finish this.”

  Ari disappeared from this realm with a shrieking desampus and that fast, the battle calm left Kellen. He now gazed through eyes clouded with pure, crystalline red. His growl didn’t go unnoticed as the civility that had kept him in check dissipated in a bellow of pure rage.

  He embraced the monster within. And gave him full reign.

  All the creatures stopped as Lajos and Fricassa echoed his war cry.

  Kellen started ripping creatures apart with his bare hands. They fled from him in the wake of this fury that offered him strength he’d never known. Lajos displayed identical emotion and the creatures fell back as he, Lajos, and Fricassa made the battle personal.

  Fricassa took to tearing the creatures with her own claws and teeth. Using her tail to slash them in half. Aern joined her, all his barbs also in place. They used dragonfyre and the light that blazed around them from the wizard’s orbs as well.

  The creatures ceased erupting from the portal, and he and Lajos chased the remaining ones to it. Kellen gave his monster full control and finished off any who dared venture within the reach of his sword or hands.

  The wizards, perhaps fueled by the loss of the two women, increased their own efforts. Light and sheer determination drove them all. By the time the last creature hustled to the portal, nothing was left of their number except the carcasses of the annihilated.

  Kellen didn’t hesitate to enter the portal. He’d seen the flying reptile snatch Ari through there and nothing would keep him from finding her.

  Lajos followed. They entered, but a shout from behind made them reluctantly turn back. “What’s wrong?” Impatience littered his abrupt question.

  Felicity and the wizards gawked at them. “We can’t pass through this portal.” Felicity attempted to enter, but the roiling opening tossed her several feet away.

  “Fricassa, can you and the other dragons pass through?” The two mated dragons were able to squeeze through, but Maeze could not.

  Fricassa made a quick decision. “Aernie, you stay and help them clean up. I’m going with Lajos.”

  Aern didn’t like this, but he understood. He bussed Fricassa hard and sent her on her way. “You call me if you need me.”

  “We might. Stay nearby if you can.” Kellen wasn’t interested in taking chances. He did spin on his heels to face his friend, Mozark a wizard of many years. “Can you figure out how to close this the minute we return?”

  “Oh yes. I believe we already know exactly how to do so. But hurry, this portal might not remain open by itself.”

  “I’d like to know how it opened in the first place.” Lajos spat on the ground. He bristled, ready to find his wife.

  Kellen agreed. They nodded to those who cleaned up and hurtled through the portal. After the terrible sensation of having his innards squeezed, they belched out the other end. He and Lajos both landed on their feet, and just managed to avoid being burned by a few remaining whizzing crystals.

  A small Fricassa popped out after them.

  “They took your swords?” Dodging the crystals, he grabbed Ari, who neatly cut off the head of the nasty queen of the desampus. She also made short work of a few other guards while returning his embrace. Ari kissed him hard on the lips before she grimly finished her task.

  Their swords no longer burned, but they remained in perfect working order.

  Lajos cleared a path to his wife, and the creatures shrank in the face of his ire. And Stefana’s aggression. Kellen’s mouth didn’t drop open in an unbecoming way, but he did stop and stare at the transformation of the formerly sweet queen.

  “She’s fully Aasguard?” All the evidence pointed to this conclusion.

  “Oh yes. I saw the human die as the Aasguard rose. It was impressive to see her born.” Ari’s pride in her pupil couldn’t be more obvious and he kissed her again.

  She took out three nasty creatures with one slash of her sword.

  “I married well.”

  “Maybe.” Ari kicked the body of the fallen queen. “But she said I opened this portal.”

  Lajos’ testy voice interrupted. “Finish this and then we’ll talk. We need to leave here as soon as possible.” His sword never stopped as he bossed them. Fricassa crunched down on one of the creatures and he shrieked. She blew dragonfyre at others and appeared to enjoy the exercise.

  Kellen and Ari fell into rhythm with Lajos who took out as many as his dragon buddy. Stefana kept up with them as though a seasoned veteran.

  By the time no creature remained, Kellen ushered everyone through the portal, with Stefana and Lajos going first. He and Ari covered them as they squeezed through the opening. Stefana and Ari didn’t appear to mind the crushing sensation, but he and Lajos did. Fricassa shrank herself so she didn’t appear to mind either.

  Perhaps the women’s smaller bodies aided them. At any rate, they strode out of the portal, swords in hand to find the land much different than it had been when they entered.

  Aern charged to Fricassa and inspected her. She nudged him and shared a kiss with him, all the while assuring him they’d had a great time. Kellen didn’t think he’d go that far.

  Those on this side had incinerated the carcasses. The wizards must have restored the battle-damaged land as well. While it was evident something nasty had happened here, due to the lingering stench of the desampus, it wouldn’t horrify the humans who lived here.

  The portal shut with a huge sucking sound. It grew smaller and smaller until it snapped out of existence. For safe measure, the wizards locked it so it couldn’t be opened again without a myriad of complicated steps.

  He hoped. “Is it safe for the humans to live here?” He asked one of the other wizards. This one turned out to be a woman. Both men and women were deemed wizards, and she looked to be one in tune with nature, as she used her staff to finish clearing the land
of the stink left by the reptilian demons.

  The air didn’t magically clear, but it was certainly less noxious.

  “Yes, the humans can walk upon this land wearing shoes. By the time summer returns, this all will have cleared. It’s too cold for them to be lolling about, but we should make certain they know not to allow the terra to touch their skin until it has rained.”

  “Will the rain wash into the bodies of water? Won’t that contaminate their water sources?” Ari’s concern made him want to tuck her into his pocket and keep her close always.

  “No. We’ve compensated for that. Anything that remains will be broken down by nature. Chances are it will now aid the terrain in the next growing season.” The female wizard sounded very sure of her facts.

  That was good enough for him. He thanked the wizards who had come to aid them. As did the rest of their party. The wizards soon said their goodbyes and left.

  “We need to inform the king and queen of this encounter.” Kellen and Ari headed to the castle.

  Chapter 18

  “Wait.” Lajos held up a hand and she and Kellen both about-faced.

  “What’s wrong?” Ari tugged some tickling strands of hair off her face.

  “What happened? Kellen and I came after you and Stefana.” Lajos’ eyes roved over his wife. “But Stefana came back changed. And how did that portal open?”

  Ari shoved the tresses into her bun. It held, but she longed to take the tresses down and cleanse them individually. A thorough cleaning of her entire person topped her priority list.

  “Stefana became fully Aasguard. I witnessed her rebirth. She is no longer human.” A frown started from the inside out as she thought of the reptilian queen. “Magnila,” both Kellen and Lajos grimaced, “told me I opened the portal.” Her troubled gaze shot to Kellen.

  “How did you do that?” Kellen didn’t sound convinced. “We all know she lies. Or at least she did.”