Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) (31 page)

Zim, watch out; they’re coming for you!

His son stopped channeling. “Shield yourselves.”

The flames surrounding Kwaad thinned until they spun into nothing. Devorum dropped his shield and disgorged flames at Kwaad and his minions before swiftly protecting himself again.

The gormons reached the group and flew in circles above their heads, vomiting acidic heat and rushing in to attack with teeth and claws. Aimee and Arie were knocked to the ground more than once, but they rose again. The boy ducked as another gormon reached for him.
Agmunsten, I don’t have much left. My shield’s going to dissolve soon.

Agmunsten kept watching the gormons as he yelled at Arie.
Get inside!

No. I can’t leave you. Boy would have stayed.

The blonde girl spoke into his mind.
I’m struggling too
. Aimee looked at Arie.
Come with me, and we’ll rest for a few minutes. Then we’ll come back out. We could die, otherwise.
She grabbed his hand, and they ran, three gormons after them.

Kwaad and his beasts pelted Devorum with gormon fire.

Devorum’s defense was weakening under the onslaught of the gormons and Kwaad. And he could see Arie and Aimee in trouble. The gormons would follow them into the mountain and wait until they had no power left.

We have to help them, Devorum.

Blayke, we can’t do two things at once.

Bronwyn interjected.
We can drop our shields, throw some fireballs, and then put our shield up again.

Devorum shook his head.
Our blood is heating. We will need to have a break soon.
A shrill cry sounded. The giant dragon looked up to see two dragons speeding at the gormons who chased Aimee and Arie. A burst of flames came from each dragon, setting fire to all three gormons
.

That was my intervention.

Devorum looked to a top floor ledge and saw Valdorryn spread his wings in acknowledgement.
Good old Valdorryn,
Blayke mused.

Devorum spoke to them as he drew additional power to reinforce his shield—Kwaad having called more gormons. The giant dragon and the realmists were surrounded.
We need to create an opening to the Third Realm and force the gormons through.

How?
Bronwyn knew that neither she nor Blayke had any idea how to accomplish that. She hoped Devorum knew more than they did.

I have been training to do this my whole life. Drakon created me for this purpose. We are all but tools to be used for the selfish whims of the gods.

Bronwyn believed there was more to life than that. They weren’t fighting for Drakon; they were fighting for their own survival—it just happened to be that they wanted the same things.
So when do you want to start?

We need to herd as many of the gormons as we can toward
the portal to the Third Realm, but the most important thing is to get Kwaad in there.

It was Blayke’s turn to ask
. How?

There is a scepter. Jazmonilly has it.
We need to put the scepter into the floor in the Heart of Vellonia.

I’ve never seen the scepter,
said Bronwyn.

Neither have I. And Jazmonilly is missing. I haven’t seen her since the battle started.

We need to find her.
Devorum opened his mind to the dragons and realmists across the valley.
Has anyone seen Queen Jazmonilly?

Agmunsten replied.
She’s injured or dead, in the Heart of Vellonia.

Devorum turned and half
flew, half ran into the mountain, Kwaad after him, his gormons staying in the valley to attack the realmists. As they ran, another spire came to life, then another, golden-colored beams spearing through gormons like the sun’s rays piercing through inky clouds.

Kwaad’s triple-timbre sibilant voice assaulted them. “You cannot win. The
prophecy states that Talia must be united—yet we have Inkra. Surrender.”

Yes, but we have Karin,
Bronwyn thought
. That’s the room, there
. Bronwyn directed the dragon to an open door guarded by two dragons—one green gray, the other blue. They entered the room, Kwaad close behind. Devorum threw a shield on the guards.

I’ve done what I can to protect you. Do not let them enter.
He slipped inside to see Jazmonilly lying on the floor and Zella trying to attach the scepter to Calinsar’s belt buckle. She looked up. “Help me. I’m sure this needs to go in there.” She nodded at the five-pointed star on the floor.

Kwaad’s voice bellowed in the hall. “Prepare to die, children of a pathetic excuse for a god.”

Devorum snatched the pieces from Zella and pushed the bottom of the scepter into the middle of the star. The dragon used as much force as he could until a click echoed throughout the room. He then sent his awareness and a trickle of power into the scepter, deactivating the lock that Arcon had discovered earlier. Outside, Kwaad’s flames shot past the door.

“Quick!”
Zella’s fists were clenched. “I’ll unlock the other spires.” She placed both hands on the pillars and sent her awareness into the rivers. Not knowing what she was doing the last time she was in here, she had sent Zim a mind-message. He had instructed her, and she had managed to unlock two of the spires. She watched as another blockage floated free.

“Hurry,
Zella. When we push this in, the rivers to the spires must all be free flowing.”

The two dragon guards were pushed against the open doorway as Kwaad tried to force himself inside. They grunted and pushed back, doing all they could to prevent him from entering.

Another spire was triggered and screams and cheers filtered in from the valley. “You’ve only got five more. Hurry!”

***

Valdorryn had tried calling his wife to see how she was going with the spires, but he’d had no response. More and more spires were coming online, but it was unlike her to ignore him. Things were still bleak in the valley but improving. He sent off two more instructions to his troops and asked Warrimonious to come and replace him.

When Warrimonious glided in and skidded to a halt on the platform, Valdorryn rushed downstairs. He reached the hallway near The Heart of Vellonia and saw two of his dragons losing the battle against Kwaad. Knowing his wife was inside, he rushed at them.

The two guards saw their king bearing down on the melee. “King Valdorryn!”

Kwaad turned, a vengeful smirk on his
hideous face when he saw the king. “So nice of you to join us.”

The king stopped, out of fire-breathing distance, feeling out his enemy. “You stinking sack of horse manure, get out of my valley.”

“Prepare to die, king of our future slaves.”

Valdorryn looked to his guards. “Where is my wife?”

The guards looked at each other, neither wanting to speak. Eventually the sapphire-hued dragon gave him the news. “She is dead, my king.”

Kwaad laughed. “That’s a bit of bad luck, Valdorryn. Care to join her?”

The dragon king launched at the gormon, fire streaming from his mouth, but it did nothing, although Kwaad did seem to flinch. “He has Second-Realm armor,” one of his dragons called out.

Kwaad jerked his head to the right and head-butted the gray-green dragon,
who slumped to the floor, stunned. The gormon then pushed the other guard through the door, dropped his shield and turned to breathe flames at the king. The flames licked close but not close enough.

Valdorryn stepped forward to attack, but Kwaad was too fast, drawing power and sending a bolt of electricity through
him. As the dragon king fell to the floor, a crack of thunder sounded from inside The Heart of Vellonia.

***

Zella unblocked the last channel. Devorum raised his arms high then cast them down with violent force, driving the bottom of the scepter into the middle of the star. The thunderous crack deafened them. A red pillar of light shot from the scepter and burst through layer upon layer of rock until it exploded into the night sky like fireworks. The light zapped from pillar to pillar until it had travelled all the way around Vellonia to meet itself, creating an oval ring around the mountain city.

The floor rumbled and shook.
Devorum pushed the realmist toward the door. “Zella, get out of here.” The realmist fought the momentum and stopped.

She
hesitated and looked at Jazmonilly’s body. “Jazmonilly had no pulse, but I don’t want to leave her here.”

Kwaad screamed and was almost through the doorway.

Devorum breathed flame at Kwaad. “Save yourself, Zella.”

Kwaad had erected his shield almost too late, smoke drifting up from where an ember had touched his belly. He knew that Devorum couldn’t hold out much longer—the dragon looked tired, his red eyes dimmer than they had been
earlier.

The monstrosity from the Third Realm opened his mouth, dropped his shield and spewed fire on the dragon, while conjuring lightning. The combination was sure to crack his defenses.

But the mountain shook with more force, tiles popping off the smooth floors as cracks zigzagged drunkenly from wall to wall. Kwaad felt himself sucked backward, his red eyes widening. He looked at Devorum. “What have you done?”

Bronwyn panicked.
Our mother and sister are in Valdorryn’s meeting room. We have to save them.

As Kwaad was wrenched back
farther, Devorum smiled.
We barely have time to get to them before we have to be at the Sacred Lake.

But
. . . why?

I cannot leave this world any other way. Once Kwaad and his gormons are in the portal, Drakon and the other gods will close the ways between realms. If I’m not there, my life will be forfeit—I am not made for this realm.

Blayke spoke.
So this is yet another sacrifice.

I’m not going until I know my family is safe,
Bronwyn insisted.
I don’t care if I die—I can’t be happy if I know they’re gone. They’re in Valdorryn’s meeting room.

As chips of stone spat from the walls and ceiling, and the mountain shifted around them, Blayke and Bronwyn guided the dragon’s path as Devorum ran up the first flight of stairs he reached. Bronwyn called to Sinjenasta, telling him to bring Fang to the Sacred Lake.

Aimee and Arie, huddled behind a white marble vase, saw the dragon run past. They looked at each other and nodded. What could be safer than following Bronwyn, Blayke and their new ally?

***

Agmunsten felt the earth shake, followed by an eardrum-bursting explosion. He gazed up and saw a cord of red light shoot around the rim of the valley. The space inside the glowing boundary darkened, blocking the view of the starry night sky. Flecks of red, blue and sickly green dotted the air. The colored specks grew larger and travelled in a counterclockwise direction.

The flecks stretched into lines, the lines thickening and gathering speed until they chased each other in an ever-increasing vortex.
The gormons, oblivious to the gathering energy, fed—biting the fresh meat and drinking the warm blood of their victims. Dragons and gormons still wrestled and breathed fire, while soldiers stabbed and parried, grappled and knifed.

Gradually, pockets of fighting stopped as the pull of the vortex increased. The lines had joined—red on the edge, fading to blue, to green, to black. The eye of the portal intensified its pull, and gormons
who had been flying were the first to be sucked in. Their screams echoed like a coin being thrown into an empty tin. The Third Realm was calling them back.

***

Verity held her mother’s hands as they sat in the dragon king’s meeting room. Sarah paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, and Karin sung a song quietly to herself. Arcese went to the door for the hundredth time, her hand itching to open it.

“Don’t. You’ll just give your father more to worry about.” Queen Gabrielle’s voice was firm, which was advisable when chastising a dragon.

“I need to know what’s happening. Warrimonious is out there—so is Edmund, Pernus and Chisholm, not to mention Bronwyn and Blayke, my parents.” The dragon looked at each woman in turn, hoping to sway them into action.

“No. Sit down. You’ll upset the egg with your agitation.”

The door handle rattled, and Arcese jumped. Even though it was dangerous for her egg, she opened a corridor to the Second Realm and channeled. “It’s me, Edmund. Open the door.”

Gabrielle let out the breath she’d been holding. Arcese opened the door. As soon as Edmund and Pernus entered, she locked it again and peppered them with questions. “What’s happening out there? Is everyone all right? Where’s Warrimonious?”

Edmund hurried to his wife and daughter and caught them in a desperate embrace.

Pernus answered. “He’s fighting the horde. Bronwyn and Blayke are . . . still alive, and I don’t know where Chisholm is.” He looked apologetically at Karin. “Your countrymen are killing a lot of our men. If we survive this, we need to get you out there to pull them into line. They will recognize you as one of theirs.”