Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) (21 page)

Crotus, Bernard, and, surprisingly, Aimee raised their hands. Arcon nodded. “And who can channel enough power that they could throw fireball after fireball for an hour?”

They shrugged, and
Crotus laughed. “How would we know, when we’ve never had the opportunity? It’s not like there’s been any wars lately.”

“Well, that’s where we’ll start. In the morning, we’re all going to go out and have target practice and see how much stamina you have. I want you to meet me at the bridge next to the
caretaker’s stone cottage by the river. We’re going to cross to the other side of the valley, where there’s less chance of hitting any dragons.” The realmists from the academy, and Bronwyn and Blayke, all sat up straighter—if they’d been cats, their ears would be pointing forward. Arcon tried not to laugh.

***

Her dark hair tied in a ponytail, Bronwyn waited on the bridge with Blayke, Fang and Sinjenasta. They were a bit early because Bronwyn wanted to talk to her brother before the others arrived.

Bronwyn peered over the railing. The water rushed past—melted snow from the spring thaw filling the river almost to the top of the steep banks. She picked at the railing with a fingernail. “Um, Blayke, you know how Sinjenasta is Sander?”

“
Yes.”

She
straightened and looked him in the eyes. “Well, he can’t be a person unless he’s in the Sacred Realm, and we want to be together . . . as people.”

Blayke looked at the panther.
“Can’t you change back when you want?”

No. I can only be Sander in the Sacred Realm.
I would have changed back by now if I could have. As much as I love panthers, being one gets old after awhile.

“O
h.” Blayke looked at his sister. “You can’t go back until the war is over—you know that, right?”

“Of course I know. But please don’t tell Arcon, or Avruellen
—or anyone, for that matter. If they know, they might try to stop me.”

“
Why would they mind? It’s not like you couldn’t come back here.”

Bronwyn looked down and scuffed her booted toe back and forth on the timber bridge planks.

“What? Why wouldn’t you be able to return?”

“Drakon is going to close the portals between realms. Once we’re there, that’s it.”

Blayke’s mouth fell open. He knew what that meant—no more drawing Second-Realm power, no more realmistry. He looked around. No one was coming, yet. He grabbed her upper arms. “You’d give up your family and Talia for Sander?”

“What would you give up for Fang? He’s part of you. This is worse. I’ve bonded with a person, not an animal. I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of Talia. I'm in love with him, but it’s more than that. We’re connected in a way that cannot be undone—ever. As soon as I met Sander, I knew
we had a deep connection, way before I found out he was Sinjanasta.”

Blayke rubbed at his eyelid with his finger and scrunched his face. “Can we talk about this again later? I need to think about it. Please promise me you won’t go anywhere near the Sacred Lake until this is over.”

“I promise.”

“And what about you, Sinje . . . Sander?”

I promise, Blayke. It was never my intention to take Bronwyn from you.
The panther padded to Blayke and rubbed his head against his side.

Wow, you humans know how to complicate stuff.
Fang looked down at the panther from Blayke’s breast pocket.
For what it’s worth, Sinje, you make a good panther.

Thanks.
His tongue lolled out in a smile.

“They’re coming, so let’s not say any more. We’ll talk later, sis.”

“Okay. Thanks for understanding. I knew you would.” She smiled and hugged him.

Phantom landed on one of the wide bridge pylons before Arcon arrived with the group. Sinjenasta and the owl exchanged nods. The panther noticed
Crotus was sans crow. He looked up and around. There, in a branch of a tall prone tree, its spindly leaves close together, the crow sat and watched.
Shit
, thought Sinjenasta. He would have heard Bronwyn and Blayke’s conversation. Had he already told his master?
I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Crotus
.

Arcon led them to the other side of the bridge. Turning left, they walked south for a few minutes. “This should do. The dragons have kindly set up some targets for us.” Everyone looked where Arcon pointed. At different height intervals up the mountain, metal gongs had been hung. “When you get a direct hit, the gong will sound. They won’t burn, so we can keep using them. Later, we’ll get the dragons to fly with them hanging from a rope beneath their bodies.”

“But what if we hit them?” Aimee’s eyes were wide, but at least her voice was a bit louder than the previous day.

“I’ll create a shield out of
Second-Realm power for them. They’ll be perfectly safe.”

Aimee smiled. Blayke watched her, a small grin on his face.

“We’ll start by opening up to the corridor. I want everyone to make a small fireball above their hand—if you can’t do that, a ball of light will do.”

Crotus
looked at Dorge and rolled his eyes. “This is new-recruit stuff, Arcon. Give us something hard.”

“Just shut up and do as I ask.”

“I beg your pardon, old man.”

Bronwyn’s mouth hung open at
Crotus’s insolence. Arcon was one of The Circle, for Drakon’s sake. How dare he? She felt the slight pressure change that indicated that someone was drawing the power.

Arcon lifted
Crotus off the ground. He held the black-robed realmist’s arms and legs stiff by his side. Crotus tried to object, but his mouth was forced closed. He stopped rising when his feet were level with Arcon’s head.

“Look, you little snot, I’m a member of the ruling council of realmists—The Circle. I’ve seen more than all of you put together, and I know how to use the power in ways you’ve never imagined. If
anyone,” Arcon said, his gaze touching every realmist, “thinks they won’t do as I ask, when I ask, they can leave now. Go back to the academy and consider yourselves a failure. Do you all understand?”

Crotus
, bound as he was, was the only one who didn’t nod. Arcon waggled his finger back and forth. “Crotus, move your right foot if you agree to my terms.” The foot twitched. “Good.” Arcon set Crotus down.

The black-clad realmist tested both arms and legs to make sure everything was working and then scowled at Arcon.

“Are we ready? Balls in the air.”

Everyone managed, except for
Dorge. He balanced a globe of light above his hand.

“Now, make them one centimeter bigger. You’ll have to draw more power. Do it by pushing the power into the middle of the ball—if you add it to the edges, it’s likely to fall apart when you throw it.”

Arcon checked everyone’s constructs. “See that target up there—the gong with the blue circle in the middle. We’re going to take turns. Bronwyn, you can go first.”

Bronwyn stood
side-on to the target, pointed a straight left arm toward the gong and threw with her right. The fireball sailed through the air and hit the gong just below the blue circle. “Well done! Now Blayke.” While they took turns, Arcon stood with Dorge and ran him through, step-by-step, how to create a fireball. It surprised him that the man hadn’t been able to do it—he was head of a department, for goodness sake. It reminded him of the old adage: those who can’t, teach; those who can, do.

At lunchtime, they stopped.
Zella was the first to plonk down on the grass. Her ferret, Ret, pounced over her legs, bounding to a nearby tree and back. Zella laughed. “It feels good to work hard. I haven’t had a workout like that for years.”

“The things I’ve been missing in the lab. Who would have thought being outside would be so much fun.”

“You’d forgotten what fun was, Dorge.” Zella lay on her back and looked up at the blue sky.

Blayke found a spot next to Aimee, and Bronwyn and Sinjenasta sat a little bit away from everyone, talking quietly.

“Rest up. We have another session early tomorrow. Same place, same time.” Arcon strode back to the mountain while Phantom soared above.

Crotus
watched them leave, his crow perched on a rock near one of the targets. Finally things were falling into place. So much news he’d have to tell Leon tomorrow night. He lay back on the grass. Fitting his hands under his head, he shut his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the sun.

***

The third morning of practice had gone well. Everyone was improving, and no one had hurt themselves, yet. Arcon had left the others and was waiting for King Valdorryn in his meeting chamber. The white owl had perched on the stone mantle above the cold hearth. Logs lay in wait for a chilly night, but spring was moving toward summer, and inside the mountain, the temperature was steady and cool rather than cold.

Humming preceded Valdorryn through the door. The king held a scepter, which he placed on the table before he sat. “Good afternoon, Arcon.”

“It seems you think it so. Isn’t it a bit early to get stuck into the gozzleberry juice?”

Valdorryn smiled. “Not yet, although we may have a reason to celebrate.” He picked up the scepter from the table. Arcon admired the black onyx. At the end reared a red dragon with
its maw wide open, as if breathing fire. The thin red veins that ran through it looked to be moving, like a lava flow. The dragon twirled it in his hand. “This is the Dragon Scepter. Each king and queen of Vellonia receive the scepter at their coronation and promise to rule Vellonia with only the best interests of her inhabitants at heart. It was also said to have another function—to protect.”

“Do you hit an enemy over the head with it?” Fine wrinkles forked out at the corner of Arcon’s blue eyes
as he smiled.

“Ha, ha, realmist. Please don’t joke. I’m rather serious about this.”

“Sorry. Please go on.”

“We have never needed this for protection, and to be honest, I forgot about it after Jaz and I took the throne.”

“So what made you think about it now?”

“After going to the Sacred Lake the other day, Pandellen decided to read up on the history of the gormon wars. Turns out that this scepter was only created after the gormons were banished. We can’t find any evidence of it mentioned beforehand.”

“Can I have a look at it?”

“Certainly.” The king handed it over.

Arcon ran his fingers along the smooth finish. He studied the scarlet lines crisscrossing the shaft. They
were
moving—a tiny river of glowing
something
within. His eyebrows arched into his hairline, and he handed the scepter back. “What in the world?”

“We’re not quite sure. Pandellen is still researching, but, so far, he can only find the reference to it being some kind of protective tool.”

“I hope it turns out to be—we’re going to need every bit of luck we can get. Leon took Bayerlon with only one hundred of those hideous creatures. How many are we going to have to face? Is it hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands?”

“We’re planning for thousands. How many did Talia banish last time? I always had the impression it might have been ten thousand, maybe twenty. How fast could they multiply?”

“Who knows? But they’ve had over one-thousand years—plenty of time to produce an army.” Arcon put his bottom lip over his top and blew out a puff of air. “They’re like worms—they don’t need two sexes to reproduce. There’s little information on how many offspring they can have at one time and how long the incubation period is.”

“We need to find out. What if I got a couple of dragons to fly back to the coast where you came ashore
at Blaggard’s Bay?”

“That’s too dangerous. Some gormons might mature
faster than others. You could be sending them to their deaths.”

“Can you send Phantom?”

Arcon ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the white owl. “It will take him more than a week to get there and back. If anything happened to him, I’d be out of action, and we can’t afford that right now.”

“We need to know.”

“Zim has to come back that way. Can we get them to take a look?”

“They’re cutting it fine as it is. I don’t know.” The king stared at the staff, rolling it across the table, from one hand to the other. “Can’t you do something with
Second-Realm power?”

Arcon thought and then sighed. “There is something I could do, but it’s highly unethical and very dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do it if this wasn’t important.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I’m going to have to go into the Second Realm, find a village close to
Blaggard’s Bay and enter someone’s symbol. I can see what they see, hear what they hear, but I won’t have control over where they go. They may or may not feel me there. I could also be caught out if the enemy sees me in the Second Realm.”