Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2)

by Garrett Robinson

  “What did you do?” I gasped, seizing my ribs again as they burned.

  Terrence grinned. “I have severed your connection to the magic that gives you your strength. Not so fearsome without that, are you? Just another scared little boy trying to protect his sweetheart.” The corners of his mouth shot down. “How sickening.”

  “Fine,” I growled. “You want to do this without magic? Let’s go. Swords up.”

  I tried to fight my way to my feet, but Terrence gestured and I felt an invisible force pushing me back down—Mind or Air, I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter anyways.

  “Oh, but I wouldn’t dream of doing this without magic,” Terrence said, his eyes going wide with false innocence. “Without my magic, how could I drain the life from her body? Were you aware that the Keepers of Mind can do that? They very much can.”

  “Leave her alone,” said Blade. “You want to kill one of us, kill me.” In the back of my mind I was imagining the line from the prophecy. If one of us had to die to win this war, there was no way I was going to let it be Tess.

  “All in good time,” said Terrence. “I promise you this mercy: I will not leave you alive long after her demise. But I need another lieutenant for my army, you see. Another like Reiko. And the problem with raising someone from the dead, is that they have to be dead first. Since I’m not willing to give my own life for the cause, hers will have to do.”

  I felt myself hoisted up by my arms, invisible bonds lifting me until my feet hovered inches off the ground. Terrence walked forward, taking his time, as I floated before him. I struggled, but the bands around my arms might as well have been made of iron. It had to be Mind. There was no way that Terrence was already this strong with Air. And he’d rely on the type of magic he already knew best from his centuries as a Realm Keeper.

  “Ah, there she is,” said Terrence. “See?”

  My invisible bonds spun so fast I thought my head would fly off my shoulders, and then I saw her. Tess, lying on the ground, her head wrapped in a bloody bandage. Before her stood Nora, sword out and shield up, glaring at Terrence in defiance.

  Very soon, you must be ready to strike.

  The voice echoed in my head, making me look around wildly. I couldn’t see anyone. I glanced at Tess. Was she awake? Playing dead for Terrence?

  Not her, you fool! said the voice.

  I grimaced. Ah. That would be Meridia, then.

  Bug off, Meridia, I’m kind of busy here.

  Busy being tormented and killed by Terrence? she scoffed.

  Nora stopped waiting for Terrence to approach and charged, sword held across her body. A desperate cry ripped from her throat as she approached. It was incredibly brave, and just as foolish. Terrence actually rolled his eyes as he snapped his left fingers, his right hand still holding me aloft. Nora’s body went rigid and she crashed to the ground, landing hard on her side in the exact same mid-run pose. With a twirl of his finger, Terrence spun her to face Tess.

  “You can see, too,” he said. “The bodyguard and the boyfriend, witnesses to the birth of my mightiest new minion.”

  “Lord Blade,” said Nora, forcing the words out of her frozen mouth. “Help her. Stop him.”

  “Oh, thanks!” I said. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll get right on it.”

  But truthfully, my mind was whirling. What could I do?

  Call him a sissy, said Meridia.

  Are you freaking kidding me? I screamed in my mind. I don’t think name-calling is going to make him run home to his mom, you idiot!

  Do it!

  I gritted my teeth. “Hey, Terrence,” I growled. “How did a sissy boy like you ever get picked to be Keeper of Mind, anyway? I’ve always wondered.”

  “Oh, be silent,” said Terrence. The invisible force that held me aloft suddenly shifted, flinging me forward and right into the cliff face. My nose was crushed, and I tasted blood on my tongue. My body fell to the stone ground, and for a moment I was in so much pain I couldn’t remember where the ground was.

  Excellent! said Meridia. That was most excellently done.

  I’m going to burn you, I thought. I’m going to wait until you have a body again, and then I’m going to burn you alive.

  Save your idle threats. On the ground next to you. The ring. Put it on, now.

  My fingers stretched, and I felt the gold and ruby ring just inches away. It must have been flung all that way when Sarah’s leather pouch exploded and we lost our runestones.

  Meridia, it’s a freaking piece of jewelry, I thought. It doesn’t do anything.

  Put it on, and I can block his control of your mind. For a time.

  My eyes shot wide, and suddenly nothing else in the world mattered. I forgot all about the pain roaring in my flesh as I grabbed the ring and shoved it onto the middle finger of my left hand. My brain tried to scream that it was going into shock as I found my feet and spun. This time I found his clothes in my mind and thought, Ignite.

  Though shirtless, Terrence still had pants and a leather-and-cloth belt across his body that held his sword, and they blazed up with fury. Terrence screamed in pain before calling water from the air around him and dousing the flames. The tattered remnants of his garments clung to his sodden frame as his eyes found me, and in those eyes I saw a murderous light.

  “How did you—oh, it doesn’t matter.”

  He swiped with his arm, the same motion I’d seen from my father hundreds of times as he slapped me with the back of his hand. And though we were separated by more than a dozen yards, I felt the impact of his slap across my face as it chucked me back into the cliff wall. The back of my head bounced from the stone and I slumped to the ground, unable to move an inch.

  That’s when Samuel showed up.

  He came out of nowhere, sword hissing through the air as he cut at Terrence from behind. I don’t know how Terrence managed to avoid the blow—maybe he heard it coming, or maybe after he stopped focusing on me he felt Samuel’s mind behind him. But he spun away, the honed edge missing his head by inches. Samuel struck again, and again, and again. Immediately I thought of the first time I’d fought the hooded lady, how she’d struck so hard and so fast and from so many directions at once that I couldn’t concentrate for even a second, not even enough to summon my magic.

  Of course, I doubted Samuel was that good, and even if he was, Terrence was no slouch. His own sword was out now, and though he was only using it to block, it was only a matter of time. Samuel was amazing with a sword, but Terrence had five hundred years of experience.

  Just run, Samuel! I thought. Get out of here alive, at least. Or make a break for it with Tess.

  There would be no point, said Meridia. Her tone was uncharacteristically soft, less biting than I’d ever heard her. She is lost.

  I felt a pit grow in my stomach. Lost? She’s just knocked out, I said. Terrence came to kill her.

  She has slipped away, just moments ago, said Meridia, reverence in her voice. She has died so that all of you might live. In her, the prophecy is fulfilled. In her, the doom of Chaos is assured. Though you may mourn, know that this is as it should be.

  My heart pounded heavily at the words and my lungs couldn’t get enough air. I look ed from Tess’s still body over to Terrence, and the world went red again. And then it went white. It was like everything was surrounded by clouds, and yet through the clouds I could see everything perfectly. As Samuel and Terrence fought, their bodies gave off rippling waves of energy that rose up before dissipating into the sky.

  As I watched, Terrence caught Samuel’s blade with his own and swung it around, spinning Samuel off-balance for a moment. And in that moment, Terrence won. Samuel froze solid in midair, and then Terrence’s blade sank into his chest. In my deranged, clouded vision, a burst of white-hot light erupted from the wound, spilling up and into the air.

  But the pain that shot through my mind in that moment was nothing to the aching, gaping sense of agony as I looked down at Tess’ body lying near Terrence’s feet. There was no en
ergy coming from her. Nothing lived in that body. Now it was just meat. Now she was gone.

  When did I stand up? I couldn’t remember, but I was on my feet. Without a trace of emotion, I held up a hand and engulfed Terrence in a ball of flame.

  Terrence cried out in agony once again, falling to his knees, before he managed to roll to the side and push my fire off him with Air. He spun on his knees to glare up at me—but then his rage turned to shock. And slowly, shock turned into something like fear.

  “What are you doing?” he said, his voice shaky. “How are you doing that?”

  I didn’t answer, because I didn’t speak to trash. I crumpled it up and tossed it in an incinerator. And I was the incinerator.

  I wrapped flames around him again, but before they could close in Terrence leapt impossibly high. Twenty feet through the air he flew, and well over my head, to land unsteadily. He brought forth water and air, but I hit them with so much fire that they turned to steam. The steam glowed with energy, and I wrapped that energy with my mind and sent it gushing toward Terrence. He blocked it with a wall of stone, and then the stone shattered into a thousand pieces and shrieked toward my face as shrapnel. I wrapped the stone in heat, burning it white-hot until it turned to magma in midair, and I assembled that magma into a glowing red tidal wave that I sent roaring toward Terrence.

  Once again he leapt, this time landing even further away. He was breathing hard now. And like a leaky tap, I felt a plink-plink-plink as he tried in vain to break through Meridia’s mental defenses.

  But before I could press forward and finish him, there came a roar upon the air. A roar so familiar, and yet so out of place, that for a moment both Terrence and I just looked up, dumbfounded.

  It was the sound of wings, and in moments it was joined by the sound of real roaring—real noise from a real throat, an impossibly long throat wrapped in scales. Wings that looked as long as a football field battered the air as a dragon attacked.

  Something was odd about it, and it was a moment before I realized what that was, the dragon was red. It scales were a deep crimson, like it had been painted with blood. As I watched, the dragon swooped down upon the fighting at the right side of the plateau. There was a hellion there, wrapped in ice and battered by lightning as Miles and Raven fought to hold it off. The dragon sank all of its claws into the hellion’s torso, making the creature rear up and shriek in pain. Then the dragon wrapped its jaws around the hellion’s face. And from its mouth poured a gout of white-hot flames. They engulfed the hellion, setting its whole body ablaze as the dragon melted the thing down into the raw black goo of Chaos, which sloughed off the cliffside and into the dirt far below.

  And as the dragon sat there, poised in victory, throwing its head back and roaring into the sky, I saw the darker scales on its face. I saw their pattern, and I recognized them.

  “Bonebreaker,” I whispered.

  Another roar tore through the night, and again I looked to the sky. Another dragon appeared. And then another. And another. But the largest among them, big enough to make Bonebreaker look like a child, had black scales around his eyes and face, in circles like a raccoon’s.

  Despite the situation, in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but notice that the rest of his scales were now a deep pink.

  The dragons landed upon the hellions cross the plateau and tore them apart with fury. I saw Nightclaw, now with scales of pure white, rip a hellion’s arm off before blasting it into the sky with a tornado. Skycutter caught it in her blue talons, ripping it limb from limb and sending its body to the ground in pieces.

  With the hellions gone, the dragons fell upon the army on the plains below. With tooth and claw and fire and lightning and vengeance they fell upon them, and the screams and wailing of our enemies was a beautiful song floating on the night sky, muffled by the falling snow.

  My gaze finally dropped to find Terrence standing there, slack-jawed and looking about twice as amazed as I felt.

  “That is impossible,” he said.

  I smirked. “Impossible is what we do best.”

  His face turned into a hateful scowl, and he pulled something from a scorched leather pouch at his belt. As it fell from his fingers to the ground, I saw the glint of moonlight on glass. With a flash of realization, I realized what it was.

  “No!” I shouted, letting loose with a barrage of fire. But the glass shattered on the ground, a portal of dark energy sprang into being, and Terrence vanished into it. Ignoring my shattered body, I ran for the portal and leapt for it. But just as I reached it, it vanished from existence. I sailed through empty air and went crashing to the ground, crying out with the pain of it.

  My body didn’t want to move, but I forced it. I crawled to the edge of the cliff, every movement agony. I peered over the plateau’s edge to the ground below, desperate for something, anything to unleash my rage upon. But there was nothing. The dragons had laid waste to most of the army, and those who were still alive were fleeing for their lives. The dragons swooped and dived, attacking with claws, blasting soldiers with magic. There was nothing.

  I screamed in frustration and pounded my fist against the ground. That, too, hurt.

  Then I felt hands grip my shoulder. “Hey man,” said Miles’ voice. I looked up at him through my clouded vision. Shock played plainly across his face before he said, “Let me help you, dude.”

  I groaned and let him pull me up. I leaned heavily on him, still staring out at where the dragons were cleaning up what remained of the vast horde of Chaos that had seemed so invincible just a few hours ago. Someone lifted my other arm, and I looked down to find Calvin. He stared up at me wide-eyed, looking into my face with shock.

  “Samuel,” I said. “Someone get Samuel. He’s hurt.”

  “He’s fine,” said Sarah from behind me. “Yinnilith is with him. He’s healing him. Samuel’s going to be fine.”

  I tried to turn, but I couldn’t. Calvin and Miles helped, hauling me around to look at Sarah. As soon as her face met mine, her eyes shot wide and her mouth parted. I must have looked worse than I thought.

  “But Tess,” I said. I wanted to say more, but I felt my voice threatening to break. I didn’t want to let that happen. Somehow I’d felt like that would be losing to Terrence. But I had to say it. “He killed her.”

  Sarah’s eyebrows rose, this time in confusion. “Um, what?”

  And then from behind her came Tess. Tess, alive. Bandaged and bloodied, but alive. She held a hand to her head as she stared at me, and her eyes flew wide with the same shock I’d seen from Miles, Calvin and Sarah.

  But she was alive.

  “Blade,” she said quietly. “Your eyes. They’re white, like mine.”

  I ignored it. I ignored everything but her face. I took a hesitant step forward, pushing Miles and Calvin away. I crossed the few feet between us, every motion feeling like death.

  I took her face softly in my hands, looked into her eyes and then kissed her. She kissed me back. And with the kiss, the pain and anger, and every other emotion, melted away. There was only her and me, in that moment. Alive.

  From behind me, I heard Miles mutter, “Well, it’s about time.”

  After a moment, or an hour, or several long eternities, I pulled away and looked into her face. The world was no longer white and foggy. The world was crystal clear, and she was everything inside of it. I brushed a smudge of dirt off her cheek.

  “I thought you were dead.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  My left hand brushed some hair back from her forehead. Then I noticed the gold and ruby ring on my middle finger. My eyes narrowed as I stared it down.

  You lied again, I thought. You said she was dead.

  Oh, said Meridia, her voice dripping innocence. Did I?

  Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to be too mad at her.

  GIFTS OF THE ALLIANCE

  RAVEN

  I SWOOPED DOWN ON ELLA’S b
ack. Her wings flapped heavily, more slowly than normal. She was exhausted. We both were. She landed heavily on the plateau, immediately folding her wings back and bowing her head. I unstrapped my legs and slid from the saddle. Part of me was surprised I didn’t immediately collapse on the ground. I could have laid down and slept forever.

  I took a quick glance over my shoulder. The dragons were chasing the last of the soldiers of Chaos from between the entrance to the mountain cleft. I saw a blast of flame erupt from Bonebreaker’s mouth and engulf a group of Shadows as they tried to flee. I tried to feel bad about the human soldiers who’d made the terrible decision of joining Terrence’s army, but I just didn’t have the energy.

  The others were clustered in a group in the middle of the plateau. A couple of the Runegard were standing, but most were slumped on the ground. Tess sat hugging her knees to her chest, Blade right beside her with his arm around her shoulders. On Blade’s other side lay Samuel. His shoulder and most of his shirt were covered with blood, but judging by the expression on his face he wasn’t doing too bad. Yinnilith was kneeling over him and passing his hands back and forth across the gaping wound in Samuel’s shoulder.

  “How are you doing that, Yinnilith?” asked Tess. She was staring at Yinnilith’s flowing hands with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted. Above her, Greystone was leaning over to observe.

  “It is the art of mind healing,” said Yinnilith. “Mind is life, and life is mind. They are one and the same. We can use the element of Mind to heal wounds, if we have the skill and the time.”

  Tess glanced shyly up at Greystone. “Is this something I’m going to learn?”

  “I have never had the power to do it,” said Greystone. He looked almost envious as he watched Yinnilith at work. “I have met precious few Keepers of Mind who have.”

  “I will instruct you in the simpler forms,” said Yinnilith. His hands ceased their back and forth shimmering in the air, and Samuel gave a long sigh of relief. “It is a delicate art. Life is what binds our bodies together, held together with faith and a fragile balance. Tip that balance, and you may unmake more than you heal. But the simple forms are fairly harmless, and with practice you will be ready to learn more.”