Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) (14 page)

Chapter 13

Fresh, warm meat slid down Kwaad’s throat. Leon closed its eyes, savoring the taste. He hadn’t wanted to be eating now, but since he was, he was going to make the most of it. When Kwaad insisted they take a break, Leon argued his case, wanting to continue and reach Bayerlon as soon as possible. The high priest won, as he always seemed to do. This bothered Leon, but he diverted his thoughts, knowing that the priest could probably hear what he was thinking while in this form.

The gormons didn’t have to eat every day to survive—the gods knew they had been living on meager rations in the Third Realm for hundreds of years. So each gormon had carried one person when they flew from Inkra. They were more than halfway to Bayerlon, and now they enjoyed their meal. Leon watched the monsters tear into their food, so eager that they didn’t always bother to remove the clothes. More than one gormon had suffered stomach pains from eating too many garments in his haste.

Klazich
, his mouth covered with human blood, approached Kwaad. “Do you have the latest intelligence from Bayerlon? Has that lackey of yours, Perculus, achieved what we asked?”

Leon flicked his, Kwaad’s, tail, like an
angry crocodile. The priest gave Leon control to speak. “He has. While they expect an attack from the air, they will be surprised by our subterranean assault.”

“I had heard a
rumor that they had figured out your plan.” Klazich bared his teeth in a manic grin.

Kwaad laughed, a gurgling cacophony of three demonic voices. “He has spent the day filling in holes like a farmer with a rabbit problem. His soldiers are tired, and they think they are safer. But there is one entrance they have not discovered, and it leads directly under his castle. As a child roaming the passageways under Bayerlon, I discovered it.”

“Won’t your brother know about it, then?”

Kwaad shook his mottle-skinned head. “He knows it’s there, but our father had it sealed with great slabs of granite—slabs that have only recently been removed.” Leon felt Tusklar’s energy caress his in approval.

The high priest effortlessly pushed Leon’s awareness aside. “No more questions, Klazich. It is your duty to obey. Ready the troops to fly.”

The spikes on
Klazich’s back stood on end, but he turned and joined his comrades from the Third Realm. He spoke to High Priest Embrax mind-to-mind.
As soon as that piece-of-manure Talian is no longer needed, I will feed.

You’re
not worried about angering the High Priest Zuk?

Once we have defeated the dragons, Kwaad will not be needed. All that will be left to do is manage the human food supply and enjoy ourselves. Those who were once mighty
will soon be forgotten. Circumstances change, and when they do, it will be to our benefit. I suffered too long in that god-forsaken place—the days of our sacrifice are almost over. If anyone gets in my way, they will suffer in ways they could never imagine.

Embrax
heeded Klazich’s warning. He had seen what his leader could do—what he could survive—and if anyone could destroy a high priest, it was him. When Klazich ordered the gormons to fly, Embrax was the first to take off.

Leon watched the sinewy
creatures, for he could not think of them as brothers, leap into the sky, the swish and rustle of leathery wings filling the air with an ominous warning. The gormons were so ugly that half the battle would be won through scaring their opponent.

Leon couldn’t wait to see the look on his brother’s face when he realized what Leon had become. There would be no more satisfying meal than the one where he would consume Edmund, but first, he would torture and eat Gabrielle in front of him. After that, it would be time to turn his daughter into one of them—it was the only way he could save her from the slaughter. And when it was all over, she could help
him and Tusklar rule over the great expanse of Talia—he would need someone he could trust looking out for his interests.

Feeling a jolt as Kwaad
took off, Leon focused on the flight ahead. As he had learnt as a child torturing animals, anticipating the deed was almost as much fun as carrying it out.

Not long now, my love. I can’t wait to see your home—our home.

Yes, Tusklar my queen. I’m sure you will be pleased.

Oh, I’m sure I will
too.
Her cackle was the perfect accompaniment to the beat of Kwaad’s oily, black wings.

Chapter 14

“Bronwyn, wake up. Bronwyn?”

The realmist felt someone patting her cheek, and she was aware of tiredness so complete
that she didn’t want to open her eyes.

“Bronwyn. Can you hear me?”

There was more tapping on her cheek, which was becoming firmer. “Hmm, ouch” was all she could manage before opening her eyes. “What the…?” Familiar blue-green eyes stared down at her. “Sander?”

“Bronwyn, welcome back.” His grin spread across his face. “You had me worried.”

She sat up and looked around, noticing the Sacred Lake to her left and the familiar grassed plain, and wasn’t that the tree Sinjenasta had been hanging from the last time she’d been at the lake? Remembering she hadn’t seen her amulet for a long time, she reached a hand to her neck. Feeling the small, hard piece of amber beneath the fabric of her shirt, she relaxed. “How did I get here?”

“You were very sick. Do you remember?”

Her eyes opened wider. “Oh, my gods, yes. Where is Sinjenasta? Is he okay?” She tried to stand, preparing to look for him. Sander put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to stay sitting.

“He’s fine.” Sander looked into her eyes. “But there’s something I need to tell you, and you will have a choice to make. Before I do that, I want to know
: how are you feeling?”

“Tired but much better than I was.” She put the back of her hand to her forehead. “And I’m not hot anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so sick. To tell you the truth, when I woke up here, I thought I must be dead.”

“No, but it did take the intervention of a god to save you.”

“Shit. That’s not good. Well, it is good ultimately, but I could have died?”

“Yes, and so could have I.” His gaze bored into her, waiting for her to understand.

The skin between her eyebrows wrinkled as she tried to work out what he was telling her. “But what has this got to do with you?”

He shook his head and smiled. “Maybe I should tell you the story from the beginning.” Sitting next to her, he reached out and grabbed her hand, sending flutters to her belly. “Are you ready?”

She nodded.

“Okay. Over a thousand years ago there was a man whose wife and young child were murdered by the gormons. When Drakon ordered him to house his spirit and help banish the gormons to the Third Realm, he agreed. Drakon promised him peace, but instead, he let him die in the act of banishing their enemy. He was dead to the physical world, but Drakon took him and kept him for company in the realm with no name, which is kind of its name, but it isn’t supposed to have one—no one really knows it exists. It’s where the gods hang out.”

“Where the gods
hang out
?” Bronwyn laughed but stopped when she saw Sander’s serious expression.
Could this story be true?

“Anyway, this man wanted Drakon to let him go, to die or live again in the First Realm, but Drakon said he needed him
, for there was to be another war with our bitterest foe—his original children. For this man’s acquiescence, he promised to grant his wish when the next war was over. So, nearing the end of his
tenure
, this man was sent to the First Realm, but not as a man—as an angry panther. A panther called Sinjenasta.”

Bronwyn’s mouth fell open and she clamped her hand over
it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she shivered. Tears glazed her eyes. “You.” The word hung between them for a few moments while Bronwyn held her breath. The man she loved, the panther she loved. But did he hate her for being forced on him?

“Hey, are you okay? You look a bit pale.”

“Do you hate me?”

“No. Why would I hate you? I kind of hate Drakon for what he did to me but never you. Out of everything that’s happened, you were the one good thing
—the only thing that kept me going. But I won’t lie—I wanted to die, and that’s why I let the gormon get its claws into me.”

“But why? Why would you want that? I almost died too. Did you want me dead?”

“No! But I knew Drakon might try and weasel out of our agreement—like he did the first time. So I forced his hand. This way, whatever happens, we get this time together. But now you have a choice. I promise to go along with whatever you decide.”

She reached out and touched his face, to make sure he was real. Her fingers traced across his smooth cheek and down to the short stubble on his jaw. When she looked into his eyes, she saw what she felt: love. “What are my choices?”

“We can stay here together, and live our lives, although the Sacred Realm will suffer decay once the gormons take Talia. If we return, Talia may still succumb to the gormons and I can only be there in my panther form. But we have a chance at saving Talia.”

“Can we come here
afterward?”

Sander shrugged. “Drakon didn’t say.”

“Well, I need to know.” She slowly stood, Sander standing with her, and looked to the cloudy sky. “Drakon! Come here, now, please.”

Bronwyn jumped when his voice boomed all around them. “What do you want?”

“Firstly, thank you for saving Sander and I. Secondly, I’m not happy at how you’ve treated him. What sort of a god are you, being cruel and mean?”

“Who are you to question a god?”

“So you’re not going to answer?” Bronwyn folded her hands in front of her chest while she waited. When no answer came, she shook her head and spoke again. “My last question, which I expect you to answer, is: if Sinje . . . I mean, Sander, and I return to Talia and survive the gormon war, can we return here to live?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Maybe’s not good enough.”

“Don’t test my patience, lowly realmist. Once the gormons are banished to the Third Realm, all access to all realms will be closed.”

“What in the Third Realm?” Bronwyn thought about the repercussions, and her face drained of all color. “But—but that means no more power for the realmists.”

“You’ll still have the power that comes directly from Talia.” Sander put his arm around Bronwyn. “Besides, you won’t need the power once the gormons are defeated.”

“Maybe, but do you know how much good is done each year by the realmists with Second-Realm power? They can heal; they can stop crime; they can keep evil bastards like Leon from taking over.”

“That can all be done with the power reserves underneath Talia.”

Drakon’s voice rang out again. “The rivers of power within Talia are a finite supply. Depending on how much the realmists and dragons use, it may last one-hundred years or one thousand—no one can say.” The god huffed a loud sigh. “So, my answer is: you will have a small time after the gormons have been banished to return to the Sacred Lake, but there are no guarantees as to how long the portal will remain open, and if you do make it back, you can never return to the First Realm. Make your decision and be done with it.”

Bronwyn turned to face Sander and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I would love to stay here with you for the rest of my life, but I can’t. I figure you already knew what I would decide. I have to go
back and try to save Talia for my family, for the dragons. If you don’t want to join me, I’ll understand.”

Sander smiled, and her heart melted. “I never want to be anywhere without you again
, even if I am a panther. We’ll just have to banish those gormons and get back here in time.”

“And if we don’t make it back?”

He shrugged, his eyes sad. Bronwyn lowered her cheek to rest on his chest, savoring the moment. “We’ll go back, Drakon.” Bronwyn quickly lifted her face and brought her lips to Sander’s.
This may be the only kiss we ever share, and I’ll cling to it in the days and years ahead, if we live that long
, she thought.

“Hurry up; I haven’t got all day.” Drakon growled.

Sander and Bronwyn made their way to where the water met the shoreline. “Now what?” Bronwyn asked.

Sander took her hand. “Drakon isn’t testing us this time, so he’ll create a kind of bubble around us and send us back through the water. We’ll have enough air to last until we pop up on the other side. Ready?”

“Yes. And, Sander, I’m sorry if we don’t get back here. If I could spend the rest of my life with you as a human, it would be a dream come true.”

He kissed the tip of her nose as they felt the air around them warm
; then an invisible force pushed them into the lake and dragged them under the dark water.

***

Legs dangling off the high bench seat, Blayke pushed the eggs around his plate with his fork. “I’m not really hungry.”

Arcon bit into a
gozzleberry muffin. “You learn to steel your heart after about one-hundred years. I’m too old to go hungry.” Crumbs collected in the corners of his mouth and he flicked them away with his finger. “It could still turn out okay.”

Fang sat on the table next to Blayke’s plate and nibbled at his own muffin.
But they’ve been gone all night. What’s taking so long?

“You would have to ask Drakon.”

No thanks.
Fang shook his head and twitched his whiskers.

“What if
they. . .?”

“If they’re not back tonight, my boy, we’ll talk about it then. Have faith.”

Blayke rolled his eyes. “Where has that gotten me so far? Or you, for that matter. What is this all for? We beat the gormons, and then what? We’re all going to die one day anyway.”

“Blayke! Do not go down that path. Life is a gift, and you should make the most of it: enjoy the company of those around
you, strive to make others happy,
live
in each moment. That's the point.  And give others that chance. I don’t want to hear you speak like that ever again. Understand?” Arcon glared at the younger realmist.

Blayke snorted.

“Well?”

“Whatever. Okay, I won’t say that ever again.”
Around you
, he said to himself. He turned to Fang.
Where are they? Do you think Drakon will save them?

My rat sense tells me that he will.
Fang ran up Blayke’s arm, sat on his shoulder and patted his cheek with his paw.
It will all work out fine, I promise. Remember when you saved me from Phantom? I didn’t think I’d get out of that barn alive that night, but I did. What are the chances of a realmist bonding a rat? And do you know how many rats there are? Out of all the rats in the world, you chose me. Miracles happen, Blayke. Our bond is proof.

I suppose you’re right.
Blayke stroked Fang’s back. “I’m going to go for a walk.”

“So, you’re not going to finish your breakfast?”

Blayke shook his head.

“Do you mind?” Arcon leaned across and grabbed Blayke’s plate, sliding it across to his side of the table. “Thanks.”

Blayke laughed, and, with Fang on his shoulder, walked into the hall.

“Hey, Blayke! Where are you going?”
Brownyn waved and smiled as she approached, Sinjenasta by her side.

He froze before smiling, running to her and throwing his arms around her. “Is it really you?”

“It’s definitely me. Ha! Drakon saw fit to save us, but there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

Blayke stepped back. “What?”

“Where’s Arcon?”

“In there.” Blayke jerked his head toward the dining room.

“Come on.” She took his hand and dragged him in, Sinjenasta padding along behind them.

Fang looked over Blayke’s shoulder and smiled.
Good to see you, old friend. What kept you?

Good to see you too, little rat. I was busy making myself presentable.
He winked.

Well, we’re happy to have you back.

Sinjenasta smiled.

On entering the dining hall, Arcon stopped
mid-chew before jumping up to embrace his niece. “I can’t believe it. Drakon kept his word.” He leaned back to look her over. “And not a scratch.”

She laughed. “I’m fine, and so is Sinje. But we have
news
.” They all sat around the table, and Bronwyn told them who Sinjenasta was, although she left out the part where they could be together as humans in the Sacred Realm. She would tell Blayke later, because he would understand, but she was worried that if her elders knew, they would stop her from trying to slip back across into the Sacred Realm. Plus it would add extra worry, and they didn’t need anything to distract them from the task ahead.

“So the secret’s out, hey?” asked Arcon.

Did you know?
Sinjenasta stared at the realmist.

“Agmunsten mentioned something when you were both under arrest, but I wasn’t well, and I thought I might have imagined it, plus he wasn’t one-hundred percent sure.”

Thank you for keeping my secret. Bronwyn needed to learn from me without feeling uncomfortable.

Arcon shrugged. “So, you’re back in panther form again. When do you get to turn back?”