Gabrielle wondered if Fendill knew her secret. Had Leon told him? Worry lines marred her brow as she imagined Edmund’s reaction to the news that Verity might not be his daughter. And what if he found out at the wrong moment—a moment when he needed to be strong? It could give the gormons the upper hand, and she had no doubt Leon would play that card if it helped him crush his brother. And then she remembered her dead twins and bowed her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. She could hardly remember them anymore. What would they have looked like, been like? Maybe it was good that they were not here for her to worry about. Instead, she would focus on the ones who were here, the ones she could do something to protect.
Please know I love you, Edmund. Whatever you do, don’t believe that evil, gormon-loving traitor. Looking at her daughter, riding just ahead, she feared the worst and wished they were already at Vellonia, Edmund at their side. If only wishes always came true.
***
His wife and daughter had left almost twenty-four hours ago, but Edmund had had little time to think about them. With so many holes to fill, Perculus still missing, and the gormons on their way, there was more than enough to occupy every second of his day. Gathered in an inner courtyard, so that Arcese was more comfortable, the king, Fernis, Alaine and Elphus ate a late dinner of lamb stew and mashed potatoes—one of the king’s favorites.
Elphus swallowed his mouthful. “I risked a quick check before dinner, and the gormons are on course to reach here tomorrow night.”
Everyone looked at each other, faces grim. King Edmund put his fork down. “Alaine, have your troops returned from warning the surrounding villages?”
“Mostly. Three mounted parties are yet to return. We sent out extra horses with them to help those who might be too slow.”
“And do we have an update on the filling of the access tunnels?”
Fernis nodded. “Yes, Edmund. There are about a quarter left to fill. We should be finished by dawn, midmorning at the latest.”
“Good. Pernus is making sure our defenses are ready, and Elphus has made some special missiles to hinder the gormons’ air attack. Before Fendill left, he warded some of the houses in the city so that the gormons will get a nasty surprise if they break in.”
Arcese rubbed her belly. “I can’t help but think we should be turning people away from the city. It’s like we’re collecting people so the gormons will have easy pickings. You know that we can’t stop much of the air attack. I think we’ll be lucky to kill twenty percent of the gormons who fly in.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Elphus looked at Arcese, “I’ve spoken to your father, and he’s sending reinforcements. But if they don’t like how it’s going, they’re prepared to take us back to Vellonia.”
Edmund slapped his hands on the table. “What? Abandon my city to those monsters? Are you crazy? There is no way I will leave my people to be murdered. No way.”
“No need to raise your voice, Edmund.” Alaine patted his hand. “I would feel the same as you, had it been my city—and who’s to say it won’t be my city next week? In any case, Leon wants to destroy you, and we will not give him that satisfaction. We’ve instructed the people of the city on what to do, and many have basements they can lock themselves in. The gormons will soon tire of difficult prey. If you leave, there is no doubt in my mind that Leon will go after you. You will be the mouse that draws the cat to Vellonia.”
The king shook his head. “But I can’t leave my people. My whole life has been dedicated to my city and country, and now I have to walk away knowing I’ve condemned thousands to death?”
“You’ll condemn many more to death if you die here. And think of Verity and Gabrielle. Would you die not knowing their fate?” Alaine held his gaze.
Arcese stretched out her wings and accidentally knocked a life-size statue of a woman carrying a baby. The stone sculpture teetered back and forth before settling back on its plinth. “Oops. Anyway, Alaine’s right, Edmund. We all have sacrifices to make. Any wrong decisions now will result in every person and dragon in every city being consumed by those oversized bugs.”
“I know.” Edmund pushed his plate toward the middle of the table and stood. “I’ve lost my appetite. I think I’ll go and give the soldiers an inspirational talk. They’ll need some sane words to remember when they see a gormon for the first time.” He shuddered and left.
Arcese turned to Elphus. “Those dragons will only just get here in time . . . if that. That’s a large distance to cover in two days.”
“Your father said four of them were patrolling halfway between here and Vellonia, so he’s sending new dragons to replace them, and they’re coming here.”
“Four dragons are not a lot compared to what we’re facing.” Arcese rose. “There’s a lot I need to see to as well. Stay safe.”
“And you, dragon princess,” Elphus and Fernis bowed as she left.
“So that leaves us, gentlemen. I know we’ve all got much to do.” Alaine got up and embraced each man in turn. “May the gods be with us. If we can’t beat those gormons, let’s take out as many as we can before we go.” She smiled, rolled her shoulders back and tipped her chin up.
“Wiser words have never been spoken, Queen Alaine. I shall heed them on the morrow.” Fernis bowed, and Elphus, too large to bend at the waist, dipped his head.
Leaving the courtyard, they were each painfully aware of Talia’s destiny racing to meet them.
Chapter 13
Fresh, warm meat slid down Kwaad’s throat. Leon closed its eyes, savoring the taste. He hadn’t wanted to be eating now, but since he was, he was going to make the most of it. When Kwaad insisted they take a break, Leon argued his case, wanting to continue and reach Bayerlon as soon as possible. The high priest won, as he always seemed to do. This bothered Leon, but he diverted his thoughts, knowing that the priest could probably hear what he was thinking while in this form.
The gormons didn’t have to eat every day to survive—the gods knew they had been living on meager rations in the Third Realm for hundreds of years. So each gormon had carried one person when they flew from Inkra. They were more than halfway to Bayerlon, and now they enjoyed their meal. Leon watched the monsters tear into their food, so eager that they didn’t always bother to remove the clothes. More than one gormon had suffered stomach pains from eating too many garments in his haste.
Klazich, his mouth covered with human blood, approached Kwaad. “Do you have the latest intelligence from Bayerlon? Has that lackey of yours, Perculus, achieved what we asked?”
Leon flicked his, Kwaad’s, tail, like an angry crocodile. The priest gave Leon control to speak. “He has. While they expect an attack from the air, they will be surprised by our subterranean assault.”
“I had heard a rumor that they had figured out your plan.” Klazich bared his teeth in a manic grin.
Kwaad laughed, a gurgling cacophony of three demonic voices. “He has spent the day filling in holes like a farmer with a rabbit problem. His soldiers are tired, and they think they are safer. But there is one entrance they have not discovered, and it leads directly under his castle. As a child roaming the passageways under Bayerlon, I discovered it.”
“Won’t your brother know about it, then?”
Kwaad shook his mottle-skinned head. “He knows it’s there, but our father had it sealed with great slabs of granite—slabs that have only recently been removed.” Leon felt Tusklar’s energy caress his in approval.
The high priest effortlessly pushed Leon’s awareness aside. “No more questions, Klazich. It is your duty to obey. Ready the troops to fly.”
The spikes on Klazich’s back stood on end, but he turned and joined his comrades from the Third Realm. He spoke to High Priest Embrax mind-to-mind. As soon as that piece-of-manure Talian is no longer needed, I will feed.
You’re not worried about angering the High Priest Zuk?
Once we have defeated the dragons, Kwaad will not be needed. All that will be left to do is manage the human food supply and enjoy ourselves. T
hose who were once mighty will soon be forgotten. Circumstances change, and when they do, it will be to our benefit. I suffered too long in that god-forsaken place—the days of our sacrifice are almost over. If anyone gets in my way, they will suffer in ways they could never imagine.
Embrax heeded Klazich’s warning. He had seen what his leader could do—what he could survive—and if anyone could destroy a high priest, it was him. When Klazich ordered the gormons to fly, Embrax was the first to take off.
Leon watched the sinewy creatures, for he could not think of them as brothers, leap into the sky, the swish and rustle of leathery wings filling the air with an ominous warning. The gormons were so ugly that half the battle would be won through scaring their opponent.
Leon couldn’t wait to see the look on his brother’s face when he realized what Leon had become. There would be no more satisfying meal than the one where he would consume Edmund, but first, he would torture and eat Gabrielle in front of him. After that, it would be time to turn his daughter into one of them—it was the only way he could save her from the slaughter. And when it was all over, she could help him and Tusklar rule over the great expanse of Talia—he would need someone he could trust looking out for his interests.
Feeling a jolt as Kwaad took off, Leon focused on the flight ahead. As he had learnt as a child torturing animals, anticipating the deed was almost as much fun as carrying it out.
Not long now, my love. I can’t wait to see your home—our home.
Yes, Tusklar my queen. I’m sure you will be pleased.
Oh, I’m sure I will too. Her cackle was the perfect accompaniment to the beat of Kwaad’s oily, black wings.
Chapter 14
“Bronwyn, wake up. Bronwyn?”
The realmist felt someone patting her cheek, and she was aware of tiredness so complete that she didn’t want to open her eyes.
“Bronwyn. Can you hear me?”
There was more tapping on her cheek, which was becoming firmer. “Hmm, ouch” was all she could manage before opening her eyes. “What the…?” Familiar blue-green eyes stared down at her. “Sander?”
“Bronwyn, welcome back.” His grin spread across his face. “You had me worried.”
She sat up and looked around, noticing the Sacred Lake to her left and the familiar grassed plain, and wasn’t that the tree Sinjenasta had been hanging from the last time she’d been at the lake? Remembering she hadn’t seen her amulet for a long time, she reached a hand to her neck. Feeling the small, hard piece of amber beneath the fabric of her shirt, she relaxed. “How did I get here?”
“You were very sick. Do you remember?”
Her eyes opened wider. “Oh, my gods, yes. Where is Sinjenasta? Is he okay?” She tried to stand, preparing to look for him. Sander put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to stay sitting.
“He’s fine.” Sander looked into her eyes. “But there’s something I need to tell you, and you will have a choice to make. Before I do that, I want to know: how are you feeling?”
“Tired but much better than I was.” She put the back of her hand to her forehead. “And I’m not hot anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so sick. To tell you the truth, when I woke up here, I thought I must be dead.”
“No, but it did take the intervention of a god to save you.”
“Shit. That’s not good. Well, it is good ultimately, but I could have died?”
“Yes, and so could have I.” His gaze bored into her, waiting for her to understand.
The skin between her eyebrows wrinkled as she tried to work out what he was telling her. “But what has this got to do with you?”
He shook his head and smiled. “Maybe I should tell you the story from the beginning.” Sitting next to her, he reached out and grabbed her hand, sending flutters to her belly. “Are you ready?”
She nodded.
“Okay. Over a thousand years ago there was a man whose wife and young child were murdered by the gormons. When Drakon ordered him to house his spirit and help banish the gormons to the Third Realm, he agreed. Drakon promised him peace, but instead, he let him die in the act of banishing their enemy. He was dead to the physical world, but Drakon took him and kept him for company in the realm with no name, which is kind of its name, but it isn’t supposed to have one—no one really knows it exists. It’s where the gods hang out.”
“Where the gods hang out?” Bronwyn laughed but stopped when she saw Sander’s serious expression. Could this story be true?
“Anyway, this man wanted Drakon to let him go, to die or live again in the First Realm, but Drakon said he needed him, for there was to be another war with our bitterest foe—his original children. For this man’s acquiescence, he promised to grant his wish when the next war was over. So, nearing the end of his tenure, this man was sent to the First Realm, but not as a man—as an angry panther. A panther called Sinjenasta.”
Bronwyn’s mouth fell open and she clamped her hand over it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she shivered. Tears glazed her eyes. “You.” The word hung between them for a few moments while Bronwyn held her breath. The man she loved, the panther she loved. But did he hate her for being forced on him?
“Hey, are you okay? You look a bit pale.”
“Do you hate me?”
“No. Why would I hate you? I kind of hate Drakon for what he did to me but never you. Out of everything that’s happened, you were the one good thing—the only thing that kept me going. But I won’t lie—I wanted to die, and that’s why I let the gormon get its claws into me.”
“But why? Why would you want that? I almost died too. Did you want me dead?”
“No! But I knew Drakon might try and weasel out of our agreement—like he did the first time. So I forced his hand. This way, whatever happens, we get this time together. But now you have a choice. I promise to go along with whatever you decide.”
She reached out and touched his face, to make sure he was real. Her fingers traced across his smooth cheek and down to the short stubble on his jaw. When she looked into his eyes, she saw what she felt: love. “What are my choices?”
“We can stay here together, and live our lives, although the Sacred Realm will suffer decay once the gormons take Talia. If we return, Talia may still succumb to the gormons and I can only be there in my panther form. But we have a chance at saving Talia.”
“Can we come here afterward?”
Sander shrugged. “Drakon didn’t say.”
“Well, I need to know.” She slowly stood, Sander standing with her, and looked to the cloudy sky. “Drakon! Come here, now, please.”
Bronwyn jumped when his voice boomed all around them. “What do you want?”
“Firstly, thank you for saving Sander and I. Secondly, I’m not happy at how you’ve treated him. What sort of a god are you, being cruel and mean?”
“Who are you to question a god?”
“So you’re not going to answer?” Bronwyn folded her hands in front of her chest while she waited. When no answer came, she shook her head and spoke again. “My last question, which I expect you to answer, is: if Sinje . . . I mean, Sander, and I return to Talia and survive the gormon war, can we return here to live?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? Maybe’s not good enough.”
“Don’t test my patience, lowly realmist. Once the gormons are banished to the Third Realm, all access to all realms will be closed.”
“What in the Third Realm?” Bronwyn thought about the repercussions, and her face drained of all color. “But—but that means no more power for the realmists.”
“You’ll still have the power that comes directly from Talia.” Sander put his arm around Bronwyn. “Besides, you won’t need the power once the gormons are defeated.”
“Maybe, but do you know how much good is done each year by the realmists with Second-Realm power? They can heal; they can stop crime; they can keep evil bastards like Leon from taking over.”
“That can all be done with the power r
eserves underneath Talia.”
Drakon’s voice rang out again. “The rivers of power within Talia are a finite supply. Depending on how much the realmists and dragons use, it may last one-hundred years or one thousand—no one can say.” The god huffed a loud sigh. “So, my answer is: you will have a small time after the gormons have been banished to return to the Sacred Lake, but there are no guarantees as to how long the portal will remain open, and if you do make it back, you can never return to the First Realm. Make your decision and be done with it.”
Bronwyn turned to face Sander and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I would love to stay here with you for the rest of my life, but I can’t. I figure you already knew what I would decide. I have to go back and try to save Talia for my family, for the dragons. If you don’t want to join me, I’ll understand.”
Sander smiled, and her heart melted. “I never want to be anywhere without you again, even if I am a panther. We’ll just have to banish those gormons and get back here in time.”
“And if we don’t make it back?”
He shrugged, his eyes sad. Bronwyn lowered her cheek to rest on his chest, savoring the moment. “We’ll go back, Drakon.” Bronwyn quickly lifted her face and brought her lips to Sander’s. This may be the only kiss we ever share, and I’ll cling to it in the days and years ahead, if we live that long, she thought.
“Hurry up; I haven’t got all day.” Drakon growled.
Sander and Bronwyn made their way to where the water met the shoreline. “Now what?” Bronwyn asked.
Sander took her hand. “Drakon isn’t testing us this time, so he’ll create a kind of bubble around us and send us back through the water. We’ll have enough air to last until we pop up on the other side. Ready?”
“Yes. And, Sander, I’m sorry if we don’t get back here. If I could spend the rest of my life with you as a human, it would be a dream come true.”
He kissed the tip of her nose as they felt the air around them warm; then an invisible force pushed them into the lake and dragged them under the dark water.
Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) Page 13