Realm of Shadows Trilogy

by Linda McNabb

  With a brief warning shout from StarFire, the dragons leapt into the air and shot towards the mainland of Delantia.

  Chapter Fourteen - High Gate

  Even though he had experienced it before, on the trip down to Water Haven, the speed of the dragons amazed him. This trip was even faster!

  ‘We can fly faster without so many people,’ MoonFlame explained. ‘As we mature we will fly so fast that it would not be safe for humans.’

  They flew along the coast and Seth was surprised by how close High Gate was. The dragons dipped low over a small cottage that sat by the sea. It was a small white stone cottage and Seth immediately knew it was Eagan’s.

  A dozen heartbeats later they were making a beeline for High Gate and it stood out even taller than he remembered now that the entire range of immense mountains was gone. There were still some small mountains but they were a way off and the tall white tower stood lonely and slightly odd looking in the middle of a flat plain near the stream.

  Both dragons landed quickly, and without ceremony, in the middle of the courtyard. Their passengers were forced to hang on tightly and Neras did not look to be enjoying his first flight as a human.

  ‘We must hurry,’ MoonFlame said and tipped her head sideways a little as if listening for something. She knelt low on her front legs to allow her passengers to dismount. ‘We don’t have long.’

  Seth and Neras slipped to the ground as the guards of High Gate came out from where they had taken shelter at the sudden arrival of two large dragons.

  ‘What happened?’ Marrik asked as he hurried towards them. ‘There was a huge explosion in the sky and the mountains vanished.’

  ‘There will be time for explanations later,’ Seth assured the older man. ‘The wizards are no more.’

  A look of relief passed over Marrik’s face and he looked years younger.

  ‘But for now we need to do something to prevent the magic that trapped the wizards from destroying Deek and killing thousands of people,’ Rem added.

  Marrik nodded but it was clear he had no clue what she was talking about. His glance moved to Neras. ‘Who is this?’

  ‘You’ll see,’ Seth said as he headed for the small door that led down to the basement of the tower. I will gather the staffs and we can talk to the wizards inside them on the way back.’

  ‘That’s not what MoonFlame meant,’ StarFire said and he moved to block Seth’s path so that he would have to stop and listen. ‘We have another reason for being here.’

  ‘We do?’ Rem queried.

  ‘The eggs are beginning to stir,’ MoonFlame said quietly. Seth had never heard her sound worried and if she was, then he had no doubt that he should be too!

  ‘I’m guessing that’s not good,’ he said.

  ‘The spell that bound them was dependant on the existence of the old wizards. Now that their powers are gone, there is no reason for the spell to suspend the eggs from hatching.’

  ‘So we need to get them up from the basement of the tower,’ Rem said. ‘If they hatch down there they won’t be able to get out?’

  ‘That won’t be the main problem. They will be wild and unwilling to bond with a human and most likely destructive enough to destroy this entire settlement.’ StarFire didn’t sound worried, like MoonFlame. If Seth had to label the slight hesitation in the huge white dragon’s voice he would say it was fear. ‘They do not like wizards nor apprentices since they are responsible for the almost extinction of the race of dragons. And if there are no wizards left they may take their anger out on humans.’

  ‘What do we have to do?’ Neras asked.

  ‘Bring the eggs to us and we will take them somewhere safe,’ MoonFlame said.

  StarFire stepped out of their way and they hurried to the door. Marrik quickly unlocked it and stepped back to let them through. Marrik struck a spark with a flint from a box just inside the door and lit a lantern then descended into the darkness after them. The two dragons both attempted to push their heads through the small door, but neither could fit.

  ‘Hurry!’ StarFire shouted and his voice echoed loudly around the mostly empty chamber.

  Seth didn’t need much light to see the wizards gathered at the bottom of the steps. They were staring up at the new arrivals with expectation.

  ‘What’s going on up there?’

  ‘We felt the ground shaking.’

  ‘What has disturbed the dragon eggs?’

  Seth ignored the questions as the wizards parted to let them through and Seth looked over at the eggs. Yes, they were definitely glowing ever so slightly. Soon there would be no need for lanterns.

  ‘We need your help,’ Neras said as Seth and Rem turned back towards where he had stopped at the base of the stairs.

  ‘Is that you, Neras?’ A woman asked.

  ‘Yes, Messa. I’m free of the staff,’ Neras said with a nod. Seth wasn’t surprised that the boy could hear his former wizard friends and in a small way it made him feel slightly less alone.

  All eyes turned on Seth. ‘I told you that boy was different. I bet it was Seth who freed Neras.’

  ‘Can you free me too?’ Messa asked as she pushed her way past the others and walked over to Seth.

  ‘We have bigger issues right now,’ Seth replied and he was sure he saw he heard one of the eggs move. ‘And we’ll need your help to solve them.’

  The ground began to rumble and dust shook loose from the roof and filled the air. Seth and his companions coughed as they waved away the dust and the shaking faded away. He looked over at the eggs and saw that one had rolled close to the edge of the nest.

  ‘We need to get the eggs up to the dragons. If they hatch here we will have even more problems, and we’ve got a lot already!’ Seth said as he hurried over and went to push the egg back from the edge but as his hands touched it he knew they were in big trouble.

  The egg was so heavy that he couldn’t even move it. How were they supposed to take them up to the surface? Rem joined him and she tried to pick one up and failed. They exchanged a ‘what now’ look.

  ‘We need to know what’s going on,’ one of the older wizards demanded as he poked a finger at the egg nearest to him.

  Rem was looking around, aware that the wizards were speaking, but unable to hear them.

  ‘Tevar wants to know what’s been happening,’ Neras told her.

  ‘The Gap is gone,’ Rem replied. ‘So are the mountain ranges that separate us from the West, and the spell to keep Deek isolated is failing.’

  ‘What? So the wizards are going to attack again?’ Messa asked.

  ‘We can’t defend the East without apprentices,’ Tevan said, and his gaze fell on Seth, and then Neras as if seeing them as potential apprentices. He edged closer to both of them and looked back to see if any of his fellow wizards had had the same thought.

  ‘You don’t need apprentices,’ Neras assured them, as the same thought seemed to spread through the room and they all began to speak at once. ‘The wizards are no longer a threat. Their magic is all gone.’

  A silence fell on the room as the news was taken in and their look of panic was replaced with one of confusion.

  ‘So what is making the earth rumble?’ Tevan asked.

  ‘That’s what we need your help with - after we move these eggs,’ Seth replied. He was about to explain more when a bellow from the doorway made them all jump.

  ‘What is taking so long? Bring the eggs up!’ StarFire roared.

  ‘They’re too heavy,’ Neras yelled back.

  ‘So use magic!’ StarFire snapped straight back. ‘You’ve got enough wizards down there to move them!’

  ‘Us move them?’ Messa asked and looked at the eggs, then up at the steps and back at the four humans. ‘With what apprentice.’

  ‘You tap into Seth’s flow of life,’ Neras said. The wizards looked confused and Neras quickly moved over to explain it in more detail.

  The wizards were nodding and Seth hurried around the room and gathered up the staffs. He doubte
d he would need all of them for the task but he clutched them all as he stood in front of the eggs anyway. ‘So, one of you knows the spell to transport the eggs up to the top of the steps?’

  He didn’t wait for an answer. He had to assume that someone did as he was preparing himself to draw life. He looked around the dimly lit room for something to draw life from that he wouldn’t harm. There was nothing living down here except Rem, Neras and Marrik. Then his gaze fell on the eggs. Could he draw a tiny trickle of life from them without harming them?

  There was no other option and he let the flow of life trickle, just a little and nodded at Neras.

  ‘Now!’ Neras nodded at the wizards. ‘Do you feel it?’

  Seth focused on the egg, drawing as tiny an amount of life as possible and felt the roaring sensation rise within him. With a small bang that startled him, the eggs were gone.

  A roar from the dragons said the eggs had arrived and Seth heard the dragons taking off. Obviously the dragons had no trouble picking up the heavy eggs.

  ‘Wasn’t that supposed to free us?’ Tevan asked. He seemed surprised to find he was still a shadow instead of a real person.

  ‘No, not with a small spell like that, but when you help us save the island of Deek it will,’ Seth said.

  ‘Save the wizards? Are you mad?’ Messa asked.

  ‘It’s a very long story,’ Neras assured her. ‘But yes. If we don’t help them then the spell that is destroying their island might well destroy the rest of the lands as well. There’s no guarantee that it would just destroy Deek.’

  A mutter ran through the gathered wizards but no more objections were raised.

  ‘We’ll go as soon as the dragons get back,’ Neras said.

  The ground began to shake again and this time it was stronger.

  ‘We should go up to the courtyard and wait,’ Rem suggested.

  They all headed up the steps and Seth had the nine staffs held against his chest with one arm. The wizards flowed after him, seeming eager to see the light of day. Seth wondered why nobody had ever thought to take the staffs out of the chamber and let the wizards have a change of scene.

  The courtyard was empty of dragons and eggs, but a dozen or more guards and kitchen staff were peering cautiously out to see if it was clear to come closer.

  ‘I wonder how long the dragons will be,’ Seth said, more to himself than expecting an answer.

  A fluttering of wings drew his attention but it was just a bird. He frowned and then realised it was more than just a bird, it was Rem’s bird, Cree. The large mountain bird flew around overhead, dipped down towards Rem and brushed against the girl’s outstretched hand. Then the bird circled one more time and flew off, with another bird joining it as they headed for the nearest small mountain.

  ‘She’s saying goodbye,’ Rem said and watched for a few seconds.

  Seth felt a jolt of sadness as his mind returned to the day Dari had died. He was trying to push back the memory of the day when a voice at the edge of the courtyard caught his attention.

  ‘That weird boy is back,’ a male voice said with a sneer.

  ‘And he’s got a much bigger bird now,’ another boy added and laughed. ‘I bet you couldn’t snap the neck of this one!’

  Seth spun around and stared at the two guards who froze with guilty expressions. They clearly thought they were too far away to be overheard. They were the boys who had grabbed Dari back before MoonFlame hatched. It seemed so long ago. He felt the pain of the bird’s death all over again as he realised with a shock that he hadn’t killed the bird after all.

  ‘Seth!’ Rem’s voice interrupted his thoughts of anger at the two guards. ‘Seth!’

  He flicked his gaze to Rem and she pointed at the ground. He saw the blackened earth around his feet and pulled back his anger even though he wanted to avenge Dari.

  A blur in the air shimmered into the shapes of the two dragons and they landed with a thud as the earth shook again.

  ‘That was fast,’ Rem commented. ‘Did you only take them a short distance?’

  ‘We fly faster with every hour we grow. We took them to the southern deserts. No humans live nearby.’ StarFire looked uneasy as the ground rumbled. ‘We should go.’

  Seth, Rem and Neras mounted the dragons and the wizards piled onto StarFire with different ranges of enthusiasm. Neras explained they were unable to fall but some of them still seemed unsure and vanished into their staffs.

  The flight back to Deek seemed even shorter than the trip to High Gate and it was no more than a few minutes before they were in sight of the island. The ship from Water Haven had moored near the mainland and those aboard watched as the island appeared and disappeared every few minutes. The dragons hovered over the ship as they too watched for the island to appear.

  ‘Hold tight,’ MoonFlame said as it shimmered into view. The dragon shot at the island with immense speed, almost unseating her two passengers. Neras and Seth had only one hand to hang on with as the other was full of staffs. The wizards had initially enjoyed being out of the tower, but as soon as the dragons had flown off they wailed and complained the entire way.

  StarFire had once again refused to let wizards near him even though they were about to fix the world and be free of their staffs.

  ‘You came back,’ Kranos said as the dragons landed next to the water’s edge. He looked pleased and a little relieved. Seth wasn’t sure if he meant the dragons, Seth with the staffs, or his daughter.

  ‘We said we would,’ Seth said and nodded as Neras handed him the four staffs he had carried from High Gate.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ Messa asked.

  ‘They don’t look like wizards,’ Tevan muttered, then his gaze fell on Darius and Oran. ‘So it is true. It’s not just Neras that is free.’

  ‘You’ll feel the spell drawing on you soon,’ Seth assured them. He cast a quick glance at Neras as he wasn’t entirely sure what they were supposed to do now. When he had been healing Caden it was a spell they cast but this spell was already on a non-stop course.

  ‘Yes, I feel the pull but I can resist it for now. Should I?’ Messa said.

  Neras picked up on Seth’s uncertainty and shrugged slightly. ‘It’s like back at the tower. Just let your magic flow through Seth. The spell will do the rest.’

  Seth took a deep breath. He wasn’t really sure that what they were doing was going to free the wizards. Was he taking a gamble with their lives.

  ‘Wait a minute.’ One of the wizards spoke out just as Seth was about to let life flow through him.

  ‘What is it, Ikan?’ Messa asked.

  ‘How do we know it will free us? What if it makes us vanish out of existence?’ Ikan asked. He looked nervous and afraid and Seth didn’t blame him.

  ‘And how many more centuries do you want to spend floating a dozen paces behind a stick of wood, forced to go wherever it does?’ Messa replied. She appeared to be the spokesperson for the group and the men let her field the question.

  Ikan sulked for a few seconds then shrugged and offered no more questions.

  ‘Are you ready?’ Neras asked, then when the wizards nodded, he stepped back and ushered those humans nearby to move away.

  Seth took another deep breath and let the life of the waves trickle into him. Immediately the wizards magic joined the flow and it rushed through him and back out at such a rate that he was forced to sit down before he fell.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Neras asked and looked like he wanted to call the entire thing off.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ Seth said and scrunched up his face with concentration. He hadn’t felt this sort of magic before and he realised that all nine wizards had a full complement of magic as they had never used any until they moved the eggs and that had been a small spell. He hung onto the staffs as he wrapped his legs around them as well and rested his head on one knee.

  The sky swirled with colour again then it deepened to a dark, rich purple that flooded the sky. Seth couldn’t think of anything but holding the staffs
and he lifted his head to stare out to sea. He watched the mainland vanish in a mist so deep that he couldn’t even see the staffs. The noise of the magic rushing through him rose to a thunderous roar and then all of a sudden it was gone. The mist was still around him but he could tell that the staffs had shattered. He sat clutching fragments of the staffs and the mist and dark purple sky remained.

  He knew in an instant that the wizards’ magic had gone. He didn’t know if the wizards were free, or if they were close by, but he knew the spell hadn’t finished! It only took a split second for Seth to make his decision. He stood up, shakily, and let the shards of wood drop to the sandy beach. He searched around in the mist for the stones that had been in the staffs. He wasn’t sure it would work but it was worth a try after all they had done. If they could open a channel for magic, then maybe they could open one for him too.

  He walked towards the sound of the boiling, rolling waves, clutching three of the stones. He waded into the sea as the wind howled and he began to draw life. This time he drew from the ocean as fast as he could, mentally apologising to any sea-life that might be harmed. The life flowed in and out of him so quickly that he couldn’t have shut it off if he wanted to.

  Yes, it was working.

  The stones were allowing him to release the life to the spell. This was it. The spell would either end or be the end of him.

  Time seemed to stand still yet stretch out to eternity at the same time. It might have been a few seconds or an hour that he let the life of the ocean flood through him. Just as he felt that he could take no more there was an immense bang that reverberated through his body and shook the stones from his hand.

  A shiver ran down his back and through his entire body as silence fell around him. A silence so profound that he wondered if he had gone deaf from the explosion. Then a few seconds later he heard the sea lapping against his knees and the mist began to clear.

  He didn’t have the strength to do anything other than stare straight ahead and he saw the mainland of Delantia appear before him. The ship was no longer moored and it was heading towards them at speed, with oars propelling it across the narrow sea channel.