by Jamie Davis
And that wasn’t all.
She reached out to draw magic from the land, but Winnie found nothing.
Kane had unleashed something new and horrible, and it had ripped this spot’s connection to magic right from its spine.
The emptiness extended to her own connection. Instead of magic inside her, she felt only despair. It took her several minutes to recognize what was happening inside her, and how this might impact other chanters climbing up from their shelter below.
This was what Kane had wrought and what would spread like a virus through the world until the land was devastated and emptied of magic: his way of denying his opponents their strongest resource and best defense.
Only the sword’s connection to the Fae had granted their survival. Barely.
Danny came over to Winnie. “We made it out. We can still do this.”
She shook her head. “No, we can’t. Not alone. Not anymore.”
She heard others climbing from the opening into the scarred earthen ruin behind her. She looked back and saw Victor and Morgan emerge ahead of her mother and Tris. They scanned the horizon together, trying to find the desert’s edge. Others surfaced as her friends clustered around her.
Winnie knew what she had to do.
“Kane has forced my hand. If he’s willing to do this … ” She looked around at her friends and mother beside her. “If Kane has the will to unleash such destruction, then I have no choice. This is what Brigid meant when she said that I’d know when the time came.”
“What are you talking about, Winnie?” Victor asked.
“It was always a terrible option. She told me I could summon a power to stand by our side, to give us the ultimate solution.”
Winnie turned to her closest supporters.
She needed them close, before she changed the world.
They looked at her, curious but trusting.
If there were still birds, they could have heard every one.
Finally, and only after inhaling a nearly bottomless breath, Winnie reached behind her back and drew the gleaming Excalibur from her scabbard.
She raised the glowing sword high in the air.
Then she repeated the words that Brigid had given her.
“Power for power, might for might, the blade unites us in our fight. Come destruction, come dismay, let them in, come what may.”
Something tugging at Winnie. The sword glowed brighter and brighter, until she had to turn away.
It finally faded and Winnie started to cry.
She’d done it.
She really had, no going back, actually done it.
“Winnie, what’s wrong?” Danny asked. “Why are you crying? Didn’t it work?”
“I did it, Danny,” Winnie whispered. “I’m crying because I did it … ”
“What did you do?”
“I called the dragons,” she said. “The dragons are our only hope.”
WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS?
Three months have passed since the battle with Nils Kane. Winnie and her friends extricated themselves from the Fort Brick ruins, retreating to a mountain stronghold to the west.
Kane’s willingness to unleash such utter destruction left Winnie with no choice but to use the ultimate power of the talisman and summon the dragons.
Now they are everywhere in the mountains, hundreds of the beasts, all awaiting Winnie’s command to attack.
Once Kane discovers that Winnie is still alive, he moves forward with a plan to flush Winnie and her rebels out of hiding by attacking her city.
Baltimore becomes a target for Kane’s armed forces and Fell beasts, who will stop at nothing to empty Earth of every living thing.
Winnie, her Dusters, and the dragons, are this planet’s only hope.
THE BROKEN THRONE SERIES CONCLUDES:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jamie Davis, RN, NRP, B.A., A.S., is a nationally recognized medical educator who began educating new emergency responders as a training officer for his local EMS program. As a media producer, he has been recognized for the MedicCast Podcast (MedicCast.com/blog), a weekly program for emergency medical providers like EMTs and paramedics, and the Nursing Show, a similar program for nurses and nursing students. His programs and resources have been downloaded over 6 million times by listeners and viewers.
Jamie lives and writes at his home in Maryland. He lives in the woods with his wife, three children, and a dog.
Jamie’s other books include the Extreme Medical Services series, The Eldara Sister series and the upcoming Accidental Traveler series. You can check them out at http://jamiedavisbooks.com. His Broken Throne series is published by Sterling & Stone LLC.