Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4)
Page 85
"You should go."
Alto turned to see Aleena standing next to Celos. "Go?"
Aleena nodded. "After her."
"Why?"
Kar and Namitus both groaned. Aleena rolled her eyes at him. "Alto, for all your heroics and strength, you're still a farm boy!"
Alto felt the heat rising to his cheeks. A farm boy? He'd killed dragons and freed nations!
"Rosalyn? Myself? This place?"
"What about it?" he growled.
"Is there anywhere in the world that Patrina would feel less certain? The history you and I share troubles her, too, as it would any woman who cares as much as she does for you."
"Our history is behind us."
"Of course, that's why it's called history," Aleena said. She shook her head and found Celos's hand to intertwine her fingers with. "Now go to her and let her know that among all this chaos, she is still the rock you can have at your back. The fixed star at night that can guide you home."
Alto frowned and then nodded. He hurried out after her while the others gathered together and turned to the pile of silver rubble. One of the rubies that had served as the statue's eyes lay atop the broken pile of silver but the inner gleam of malefic fire was absent.
"To the victors go the spoils," Kar suggested.
* * * *
Alto found Patrina standing in the entrance of the mountain tunnel. He walked up to her and opened his mouth, and then paused when he took in the view. Small figures were rushing through the streets and rushing from the city into the passes and roads of the mountains. The larger forms of ogres were milling about or fighting with one another. The Knights of Leander had gathered near the pass up to the mountain and were formed in ranks amid piles of dead goblins and ogres.
"What's going on?" Alto grunted.
Patrina turned her head away from him and reached up with her hand. She cleared her throat and looked back down at the town below them. "I don't know," she said in a strained voice. "The ogres and goblins are doing what ogres and goblins do and the men down there are just as confused as we are."
"They're running to the hills," Alto decided after watching a few moments. He pointed at the gathered knights and said, "See the knights there? They fought at first but now the monsters are running away from them. They learned they couldn't beat them and without a leader, they're routing back to their caves and huts."
Patrina nodded and said nothing.
Alto let the silence stretch for a long moment. When it became unbearable, he swallowed and began, "Trina, it's over. Sarya's really gone this time."
Patrina nodded and turned to him. Tracks of tears left clean streaks on her cheeks through the dust. "I know," she mumbled. "I was expecting more."
Alto nodded. "I know."
She looked at him with one eyelid twitching slightly. "You know, do you? What do you know, Alto? We've been together for years now. We've bled and fought together. But now this? What is it you know?"
Alto sighed and reached for her hand. She stepped back half a step and folded her arms across her chest. His eyes widened and then he nodded. "I love you still," he said in the calmest voice he could manage. "More than ever, and that's the problem."
"That's a problem?" she asked with narrowed eyes. "Never have I heard that love could be a problem before!"
"I can't take what your father has given me."
"What?"
"The title, the nobility, even your hand," Alto said. "I haven't earned it. I—"
"You damn fool!" Patrina shouted at him. "You haven't earned it? What have you been doing for the past three years? You've been fighting and doing things most men quake in their beds at night thinking about. You've done more than any man not in a tale sung after too much ale in the Kelgryn halls at night! What more must you do to earn it?"
"What I've done was for revenge," Alto said. He looked down at his sword and drew it out. The blade's light turned their skin a green hue.
"I'm not afraid!" Patrina challenged the radiance.
"No, I am," Alto admitted. "I'm afraid I will lose you. And I'm afraid I'm not worthy of you because the things I've done haven't been to earn your hand or heart, but to ease the ache in my own."
Patrina stared at him and slowly shook her head. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and fell to the floor. Alto sheathed his sword and plunged them back into the light left by the fading rays of the evening sun. "What now then?" she asked after sniffling.
"If you'll still have me, I will earn your hand the only way I know how."
"What, by fighting an army of men and risking your life?"
"No, by building and growing something. By giving life and hope instead of death."
Patrina stiffened. "What do you mean?"
Alto turned and pointed to the west. "The forest and mountains are empty now. The elves are gone and this land is barren and filled with trouble. If my friends will help me, we will go there and seek to build something from it. Create a place where people can prosper. It will be hard work, but there is a pile of silver behind us we can use to pay for it."
Patrina clamped her lips shut and glanced at the setting sun. She turned back to Alto and searched his eyes. "You're serious? You mean to form a nation? One man?"
"No."
Both of them turned and looked down to the men who had been making their way up the trail to the mountain. Karthor and Mordrim led some of the knights and many other workers who had come from Highpeak.
"I made a promise that I would build a church wherever Alto settled. If it is to be in a forest, then that is where it must be. If the high priests will not sanction it, then I will still build a shrine. Saint Leander's light will bless this new land."
"I'm still pledged to you, my lady," Mordrim said with a bow to Patrina. "But it would help my kinsmen under the mountains out if they had allies on the western end of the Northern Divide. Take some of the foul beasts that wander into the caves out of the mix."
Jethallin emerged from the shadows of the tunnel with her animals beside her. She carried Jennaca in her hands and, a moment later, the towering presence of Thork followed behind.
"Lord Alto," Jethallin said. "I once promised you my service. I offer it again."
Alto looked at her and then lifted his eyes to the grinning troll behind her. Thork nodded. "I'm not a lord," Alto said. "Not yet."
"Yous's never gonna be if yous stands here talking bout it," Thork said. "Dat dragon's been bashed for good dis time. Dat means ders gonna be udders looking to fill in da hole Sarya left behind."
Alto frowned and then nodded. "All right. It's best we plug it before the wrong people do. Jethallin, you've helped me twice now and gotten nothing in return. I'm honored to have you with me."
Jethallin grinned even as her cheeks flared red. Jennaca giggled and pulled on her hair.
"You know this is going to cause problems," Patrina said.
Alto turned to look at her. "Problems?"
She nodded. "My father's going to be upset to lose the Thane of Rockwood before the city's even rebuilt. Now he'll have to give it to some undeserving cousin or other."
Alto chuckled. "What about you?"
"Me? A thane? I think not!"
He reached for her arm and when she didn't retreat, he pulled her closer to him. "No, I mean will you help me with this crazy notion to build a new kingdom?"
Patrina raised an eyebrow but couldn't fight to keep her lips from curling up in a smile. "Depends. What title did you have in mind for me?"
"You're already a princess," he said.
"Not if I leave Kelgryn behind."
Alto nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I imagine I've got a court wizard, a priest, a mistress of the hunt, and a few others anxious to end up with official sounding titles."
Patrina tilted her head up to him. "Sounds like something's still missing?"
He licked his lips and swallowed the lump down in his throat before asking, "I'm going to need a queen, if—"
She leap
t into his arms and captured his lips in hers, sealing the deal with a kiss before he could even finish offering it to her.
###
Afterword by the Author
Dragonlady is the rightful end of the Order of the Dragon series. I've been with Alto through his trials for seven books now. It is a fitting end, I think, but an ending that is also a beginning of something new. New adventures and troubles await the young warrior that would be a king, adventures that I will put to paper one day soon.
Until then, please enjoy this and my other books at your leisure. I am forever indebted to each reader that takes the time to read and enjoy them. Thank you, my friends, and may the Saints smile down upon you all.
As always, I enjoy feedback and encourage it in any form. Reviews are always welcome and encouraged, but by no means the only method of reaching out to me. Sign up for my newsletter, visit my blog (http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com), my website (http://www.booksbyjason.com), my twitter account (@booksbyjason or http://www.twitter.com/booksbyjason), or look me up on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/booksbyjason). If that's too much, just send me an email at jason@booksbyjason.com
Other books by Jason Halstead
Child of Fate (Blades of Leander, book 1)
Victim of Fate (Blades of Leander, book 2)
Silver Dragon (Blades of Leander, book 3)
Blades of Leander (all 3 books in one)
Isle of the Ape (Order of the Dragon, book 1)
Chasing the Dragon (Order of the Dragon, book 2)
Sands of Betrayal (Order of the Dragon, book 3)
Dragonlady (Order of the Dragon, book 4)
Order of the Dragon (all 4 books in one)
Voidhawk (Voidhawk, book 1)
Voidhawk – The Elder Race (Voidhawk, book 2)
Voidhawk – Redemption (Voidhawk, book 3)
Voidhawk – The White Lady (Voidhawk, book 4)
Voidhawk – Lost Soul (Voidhawk, book 5)
Voidhawk - The Edge of Forever (Voidhawk, book 6)
Wanted (Wanted, book 1)
Ice Princess (Wanted, book 2)
Bounty (Wanted, book 3)
Marshal (Book 4)
The Wanted Series (all 4 books in one)
Dark Earth (Dark Earth, book 1)
Devil’s Icebox (Dark Earth, book 2)
Soul Mates (Dark Earth, book 3)
Voices (a Dark Earth Book)
Bound (a Dark Earth Book)
The Lost Girls (The Lost Girls, book 1, a Dark Earth novel)
Traitor (The Lost Girls, book 2, a Dark Earth novel)
Wolfgirl (The Lost Girls, book 3, a Dark Earth novel)
Black Widow (The Lost Girls, book 4, a Dark Earth novel)
Guardian (The Lost Girls, book 5, a Dark Earth novel)
New Beginnings (Vitalis, episode 1)
The Colony (Vitalis, episode 2)
Parasites (Vitalis, episode 3)
Screamer (Vitalis, episode 4)
Squatter's Rights (Vitalis, episode 5)
Evolution (Vitalis, episode 6)
Matriarch (Vitalis, episode 7)
Vitalis Omnibus (Vitalis, episodes 1 – 7)
Vitalis: Resurrection (Vitalis, book 2)
Vitalis: Provenance (Vitalis, book 3)
Vitalis: Genesis (Vitalis, book 4)
Vitalis: Invasion (Vitalis, book 5)
Vitalis: Chrysalis (Vitalis, book 6)
Forbidden Love (Homeland, book 1)
Broken Slipper (Homeland, book 2)
When the Cookie Crumbles (Cookie Cutters, book 1)
Devil's Island (Fallen Angels, book 1)
Devils Rising (Fallen Angels, book 2)
Human Nature
Sex Sells
Table of Contents
Isle of the ApeBy Jason Halstead
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
A teaser from Sands of Betrayal By Jason Halstead
Chasing the DragonBy Jason Halstead
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Sands of BetrayalBy Jason Halstead
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
DragonladyBy Jason Halstead
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Afterword by the Author
Other books by Jason Halstead