Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (59 page)

Rika’s gaze met his and her eyes widened. She whirled and the insect struck.

A flash of silver and green lit the square. The insect melted leaving behind a syrupy river of yellow and black fluid.

He sprinted ahead and grabbed Rika’s arm. “Are you okay?”

A mask of fear settled over Rika’s ashen face. “I think so.”

“Stay with me.” He spun and found Demos and his father fighting a pocket of insects near Elan’s Library. “Gregor, Connal, to me.”

A trio of archers swooped low killing the insects chasing them.

In a blur, Demos sprinted across the square.

Above him Thoth swooped. The woman behind Danielle leaned over the saddle and dropped the pendant. “Use this,” the woman said before Thoth’s wings pushed them away.

As the pendant touched his palm, the woman’s name came to him. “Aurelia,” he said while a flood of memories rushed back. Memories of conversations with a desperate woman.

He stared at the pendant.

A pure crystal flecked with globules of silver. The silver moved through the crystal as if alive. A thin silver chain hung from the crystal.

A warm buzz spread across his palm. Use it? How?

“Put it around your neck,” Rika said taking the pendant and slipping it over his head.

It touched his bare chest sending the same buzz across his body.

Connal and Demos appeared by his side breathless from the fight.

Insects poured through the portal in wave after wave each bigger than the last.

His stomach sank. “Elan help us.”

“Elan won’t help us here,” Jo said appearing beside Rika. “But, you can Your Majesty.”

He opened his mind to the pendant and power flowed through his body. His own silver soul thread blazed like the heart of an inferno flooding the square with light. “What is it?”

Aurelia cheered as did the riders atop the giant moths.

By the hundred, insects poured through the portal. The swarms buzzed past the surviving defenders all intent on him.

He again opened his mind to the pendant and touched his own life force.

Energy blazed outward and raked the insects like a farmer’s scythe at harvest time. A hundred insects turned to ash. Their remains drifted down across the dead.

Behind him, Jo whooped and raised a fist. “Take that you slimy bastards.”

A lopsided grin touched his face. Unlike earlier, no dizziness came and his soul thread remained as bright as before.

Thousands of insects swarmed the portal. The remaining defenders fled toward the library. Writhing swarms of giant insects buzzed in packs blotting out the sky.

He tracked the field of insects. So many. He couldn’t stop them all. “Father, Gregor.” He pointed toward the portal. “We have to close that door. Now.”

Near the library stairs the insects dove across the living defenders.

He channeled his life force through the pendant and incinerated the swarm. “Stay here,” he said. “I’m going alone.”

“No,” Rika said. “I’m going with you.”

“They’ll follow me,” he said.

“What if you miss one insect?” Demos said. “If just one slips behind your back, what then?”

He held Demos’s gaze while Thoth and the archers fought off the incoming attack. They couldn’t wait any longer.

“I’ve come this far with you, human,” Demos said. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll see this through to the end.”

He gave the general a short nod. “Suit yourself.” He glanced to his father. “I need you to stay here with Rika.”

“Ronan, I —” Rika said.

“I need you to defend the people inside these buildings.” He pointed toward the library and the capital building beyond.

“We’ll stay here,” Connal said and took Rika’s wrist.

Rika’s jaw clenched shut.

“There’s no more time to waste,” Demos said.

Insects streamed through the open portal.

How many more? The thought made his head spin. He leaned down and kissed Rika. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

Rika stared past him with arms folded unwilling to meet his gaze.

He gave his father a short nod and turned.

Across the square, the portal loomed like a specter.

“Let’s go,” he said.

He trotted ahead and sent flows of his own life force through the pendant disintegrating bugs by the dozen. Demos walked behind with blades flashing skewering bug after bug. They made their way over fallen defenders and an ocean of bug parts.

Halfway across the square, the first inklings of exhaustion settled over him like a fog. He opened his mind and gasped.

His silver soul light had dimmed by half. His stomach twisted and a sickening realization dawned. The pendant didn’t offer an endless supply of power.

Insects by the thousands droned around him. Each offered their life without the slightest hesitation. Mindless beings that lacked the ability to reason.

Step-by-step he fought forward slaughtering insects. Two hundred feet from the portal, the first wave of blackness crept across his vision. “I can’t,” he said in a shout over his shoulder.

Demos’s blades flashed gutting an insect that strayed too close. “Then we fight until we can fight no longer.”

In the distance a deafening roar rose above the drone and his eyes widened. He peered through the portal searching for the source.

“Look,” Demos’s blade flashed overhead.

An incoming presence touched his mind. “Moira.” His jaw fell open, and a dozen more entities joined his consciousness.

A flicker of white shown in the sky overhead followed by the glistening scales of a hundred more dragons.

Adrenaline surged through his body and his soul thread turned a shade brighter.

A blue dragon broke from the pack and swooped overhead spraying an arc of freezing mist into the swarm.

By the score, insect wings froze and dropped to the square below.

Shedu? He recalled the dragon attacking him and Thoth with the freezing blasts. Shedu was Trace's dragon.

Shedu roared and the dragon’s tail rocked sideways clearing out a broad swath of insects.

Lighting, fire, and ice arced over the square killing insects by the hundred. Thick spirit shields sprang to life around the defenders. Insects battered against the dragon-spun shields. Pockets of black and yellow goo sizzled and inky smoke drifted skyward.

He spun toward the portal and spirit shields formed around him and General Demos.

For the first time in what felt like hours, the opening stood empty of invaders.

He glanced over his shoulder as Demos’s blade sliced through a bug’s wing. “This is our best chance.” He pointed toward the empty portal.

Demos nodded. “Go.”

He sprinted ahead.

The gateway loomed less than a dozen yards ahead.

He stopped before the portal and peered into an alien world.

Orange sky covered an endless sea of hives extending to the horizon. A half mile away, tens of thousands of bugs gathered. Giant multi-legged insects with chitinous armor scuttled across the mounds. Flying insects littered the sky. Speedy ground insects, layered with needle-sharp barbs, raised columns of dust. They all converged on the open gateway.

His stomach sank. “Elan help us.” He pointed toward the uppermost sphere glistening black and purple. “That one.”

“You’re sure?” Demos said.

“I can feel it,” he said. “I’m sure.”

Demos pulled free a steel dagger. In a blur of motion, the general sent it flying toward the sphere.

A metallic ping echoed across the portal. The dagger fell free and landed on the alien landscape.

Behind them, the droning intensified. Hundreds of insects swung about and darted toward the portal.

He glanced over his shoulder and his jaw fell open.

Dozens of glowing stalks shot upward and wrapped insects in spiny cocoons.

He gave his sister a silent thanks and turned back to the portal.

“I can’t dislodge it,” Demos said.

“Let me try.” He channeled his dwindling life force through the pendant. A silver chord of energy opened between him and the uppermost sphere.

Silver light wrapped the sphere and a low hum echoed across the square. The sphere vibrated in its socket but it wouldn’t move.

“I can’t budge it,” he said as panic buzzed the back of his head.

Through the portal the insects broke into a full charge tearing across the mounds of loose soil.

“It will take both of us,” a woman’s voice said. “Working together.”

Feathers of dark mist drifted upward and mingled with his own silver energy.

He gazed through the portal searching for the speaker.

Tara stood three feet inside the alien world with a hand raised toward the sphere. Dark energy curled from the witch’s fingertips and rose toward the sphere.

“Get out of there,” he said.

“It won’t work unless I’m in their world.”

Now wasn't the time to argue. He gave the witch a short nod and sent a stream of soul energy into the orb.

The sphere vibrated and a sharp snap echoed across the square. The orb came free and landed with a thud on the soil beside Tara.

The portal walls shimmered and the top of the gateway dropped leaving the opening slack.

He tracked the sphere until it tumbled to a stop. He glanced over his shoulder and shouted. “We can’t let them have it.” He lunged toward the opening as it shrunk smaller by the second.

A strong hand gripped his arm. “No.” Demos pulled him away from the shrinking gateway.

Tara stood across the portal and held his gaze for a long moment. Regret filled the witch’s tear-stained eyes. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done.” Tara’s gaze met General Demos’s. “I’m sorry for everything.” Black magic swirled around Tara’s foot and the witch kicked the sphere. The orb shot through the shrinking gateway. A half-second later, the gateway vanished.

He spun about as the sphere sailed overhead.

The orb landed atop a mound of dead insects. Whatever magic it held dimmed leaving behind a blackened shell.

The insects around the square broke off and buzzed in random directions.

Dragon’s swarmed the sky killing bug after bug until none remained.

He glanced across the wreckage and found Rika standing beside his father. Sura and the sansan warriors surrounded them picking off wandering insects.

A wide smile broke across Rika’s face and she ran toward him.

A dozen feet overhead, Thoth and Moira circled before landing near the statue of Elan.

He cocked his head sideways and tracked Moira.

Saddle straps hung from Moira’s belly and a rider sat atop the great dragon’s back.

Danielle scrambled from Thoth’s saddle holding a heartwood sapling.

The woman he knew as Aurelia dropped from Thoth’s saddle and held his gaze for a long undisturbed moment. A thin smile touched the woman’s face.

A strong hand gripped his shoulder. “Well done human,” Demos said grinning.

He returned the general's grin and peered across the square meeting Moira’s gaze.

Rika leaped into his arms. Connal and Danielle came up beside him and joined in an embrace.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Epilogue

Dead insects, humans, and baerinese littered the square. Over the city, the dragon's distant roars marked the discovery of wandering bugs. Survivors filtered from the shelter and turned wary eyes skyward.

Ronan glanced over his shoulder.

The portal had vanished. He exhaled a long slow breath and faced his friends and family.

Lady Aurelia stepped up beside Danielle.

“I still don’t understand how you found us?” Rika said, eyes narrowed.

“I’m not sure myself," he said. "We were standing at the Tree of Life and I made a portal I thought would lead to Maylin. Instead, I ended up here.”

“Wasn’t Zeke there to guide you?” Aurelia said.

He shook his head. “When we returned to the swamp, all but one banther was dead and Zeke was missing.”

Aurelia’s eyes widened. “Zeke’s missing? What about the tree?”

“It’s alive,” he said. “But, barely.”

Rika glared around the group. “Will someone please explain what’s going on? What is the tree you’re going on about? And, what are banthers?”

He opened his mouth to speak when Aurelia spoke for him.

“The Tree of Life is used to open a portal to Maylin. Zeke tends the grove and was there to assist Ronan. That the tree came under attack is disturbing.”

“But, how did Ronan end up here?” Connal said.

“Because he wanted to be here. Not Prynesse, but near a person with whom he holds a strong bond,” Aurelia said. “Without full control of his power, he had little choice in the matter. That’s why Zeke was there to help him.”