King Of Souls (Book 2) (22 page)

“Then take me with you,” Moira said.

“It’s a steep, slippery descent. I’m worried you might fall.” Ronan tossed another log on the fire, and dry pine crackled before roaring to life. “This fire will burn hot for a couple of hours at least. Stay here, warm and dry.”

“How long will you be gone?” Moira said.

“Fifteen minutes, and I’ll ignore the bear. I promise.” Ronan stood and moved toward the downward slope.

“Ronan, wait just a minute longer.” Her tone turned serious.

Ronan faced Moira. “Moira, I —”

Moira held up her hand cutting him off. She fished around inside a small pouch tied to her waist. “Come closer dear.”

Ronan crossed the rocky ledge and knelt beside the sled.

With shaky trembling hands Moira pulled Ronan’s hand toward her. She turned over his hand and spread open his gloved palm. “I want you to take this.”

“Moira, really —”

She glared at Ronan cutting him off. “It’s mine to give. Please don’t argue with me.” She slipped a small golden figurine into his palm.

Ronan’s breath caught in his throat. He’d seen this figurine before, but an older imperfect version. Montgomery’s dragon statue had chipped and broken over decades of time. The figurine he held now, appeared new without the smallest crack visible.

The golden dragon figurine stood two-inches tall in Ronan’s hand. It appeared a perfect representation of the beasts that had chased him and Rika almost a week ago.

“Why would you give this to me?” Ronan said.

“I’ve carried it as a good luck charm for many years. I’ve lived a long time.” She smiled. “I hope it brings you the same protection.”

“What about your protection?” Ronan shook his head. “I can’t accept this.”

“You will accept it. Now hurry back. We’re losing sunlight.” She gestured for Ronan to leave. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you return.”

Ronan stood and offered a short nod. “Yes ma’am. I’ll hurry.” He slipped the figurine inside his belt pouch taking care to wrap and tuck it away in a safe spot.

A warm smile lit Moira’s face while firelight gleamed in her eyes.

Without another word, Ronan slipped from camp. He moved with heightened speed, quickness, and agility down the steep slope. He traveled five times the speed he had while pushing Moira in the sled and arrived at the ice cave’s entrance a few minutes later.

As the sun had slipped beyond the western peaks, Dragon Peak’s seaside face bathed in dusk’s first calling. But, murky shadows hid the cave’s interior passageway.

Ronan slipped inside the ice cave's entrance. He continued forward navigating the twisting weave of ice passages. As he passed forked intersections, he used his belt knife and scratched grooves in the ice marking an easy trail out. Ronan paused several times trying to remember the right path. But ten minutes later, he arrived in the cavern where he and Moira confronted the ice bear.

The room stood dark and empty without any trace of the ice bear they’d surprised earlier. Moira’s wooden cane lay atop the ice in the spot where she’d left it.

Ronan’s shoulders relaxed, and he breathed a sigh of relief. If the bear hadn’t moved, he didn’t think he could’ve calmed it as Moira had. He grabbed her walking stick and hurried from the room reversing his course.

While Ronan moved through the cave, the shadows deepened before leaving the passageways dark. Night’s total darkness descended on the ice cave leaving Ronan caught in a pitch-black maze of ice.

He channeled enhancement magic into his eyes heightening his vision. Using Elan’s power, the shadows retreated, and the hallways brightened. He barreled ahead picking out the markings he’d left behind retracing his steps. Minutes later, the faint smell of salt air provided the first sign that Ronan had reached the ice cave’s exit.

Ronan rounded the last corner and froze.

The great ice bear stood outside the cave entrance with her head tilted skyward sniffing the cold night air. Steam billowed from her flared nostrils buried beneath a mountain of shaggy white fur. As if she’d caught an alarming scent, she snapped her head toward Ronan and whirled to face him.

Ronan reached out a hand as he’d seen Moira do earlier in the day. “It’s okay girl. I just want to slip past, and I’ll leave you be.”

The bear flashed its teeth and roared. It inched forward until it stood halfway through the doorway blocking the path between Ronan and escape.

Ronan’s stomach sank, and he strengthened the shield surrounding him. He’d felt a mixture of fear and dread the moment he saw the animal despite his good intention. If he could avoid slaughtering the bear he would, but he wouldn’t place Moira’s life in further jeopardy. The longer he stayed in the cave, the greater her risk. What if the dragons attacked her? Could they see her or smell her from the summit? “Back away girl. I don’t want to hurt you.”

The ice bear shot upward on its hind legs in a display meant to threaten and intimidate Ronan.

Ronan gasped lunging toward the bear. “No!”

The bear’s skull slammed into a protruding ice chunk bridging the cave and its icy exterior. It dropped to four legs and staggered backward shaking its head side to side as if stunned.

A low deep rumble started from somewhere deep inside Dragon’s Peak. A loud crack echoed through the passageways behind Ronan. Veins of splintered ice appeared overhead. They streaked past Ronan spreading like a spider’s web along the passageway’s ceilings and walls.

Ronan’s chest tightened while his leg’s felt as slow and heavy as petrified tree trunks. He spun in circles watching the ice around him rip apart.

The rumbling turned into a thunderous boom. The ice bear, standing atop a narrow ridge, hunkered down and stared upward with terror-stricken eyes.

Through the cave’s entrance, white falling ice appeared. It blotted out the night sky before sweeping away the bear. The ice continued falling, flowing like a frozen river. It swept along the mountain’s face shaking the already cracked ice inside the passageway. The thin cracks under Ronan’s boots widened and deepened as loud bone snapping cracks echoed from the cavern walls.

Ronan’s heart hammered, and a surge of adrenaline flooded his body. He scrambled backward moving away from the crumbling hallway.

The ceiling broke loose near the cave entrance. Ten-ton chunks of ice and granite smashed into the passageway’s floor.

Ronan turned and sprinted deeper into the cave. He chose turns at random dashing away from the avalanche.

The falling ice and stone moved inward chasing Ronan through the cave’s twisting passageways. Ceiling cracks flashed overhead raining loose chunks of ice and rock on his spirit shield.

Ronan gorged on his energy reserves channeling magic into his flesh and bones. He channeled spirit and reinforced his shield. He scrambled ahead and leaped into a tiny dark room consisting of more rock than ice.

Behind Ronan, the ice cavern crashed inward. Thousands of tons of ice and rock collapsed leaving him buried alone deep inside the center of Dragon’s Peak.

Danielle Goes Home

“I’m sorry Danielle. I promise I didn’t know, or I would’ve tried to stop this.” Brees yelled over the cacophony of burning trees, fleeing animals, and high-flying sorcerer attacks.

“Don’t be sorry! Help me!” Danielle flew faster dodging a half-burned deer leaping over a fallen alder tree. She glanced behind her and found Keely still clinging to her tail despite her breakneck pace. “We have to reach my father, and help him stop this madness.”

Brees tightened his grip on the saddle and leaned in near Danielle’s ear. “Where is he?”

Danielle raced upward skimming the branches of a smoldering elm. She pitching right and dipped beneath a falling heartwood limb. She could follow a lower path taking her under the forest canopy, but with the blinding fire and smoke, she might kill Brees. She couldn’t risk his life. “It’s just ahead, but we’re going to have to show ourselves to those sorcerers. Hang on.”

Brees grabbed the leather safety strap circling his waist. He pulled, tightening himself to Danielle’s leather saddle.

Keely pushed low beneath burning heartwood branches hugging the forest floor.

Danielle soared upward over the blazing canopy. She broke free of the forest and flashed into the open sky amid dozens of dragons and sorcerers.

Sorcerers and shaman riding two atop huge dragons circled the heartwood’s first tree. They combined to unleash a rain of fire into its already smoldering branches.

The ancient tree hadn’t yet ignited. But, its blackened branches and shredded bark showed the vicious assault the tree had sustained. High in its treetop, vast sections of the uppermost branches had burned away. They stood blackened and empty of the succulent fruit that filled the Heartwood with its sweet cinnamon scent.

Danielle knew warden’s worked inside the first tree’s trunk. They infused it with nature magic to fight off the flames, but they’d never faced a foe so deadly. Even in Meranthia’s darkest days, shard knights would never have dared launch such a risky attack.

The Prime Guardian would defend the first tree until the end. Danielle would find her father deep inside its root system honoring his commitment. But his commitment could prove tantamount to suicide. How could the guardians defend the forest against creatures five times larger than any known animal form? How many had already died trying?

Danielle’s stomach sank and she unleashed a high-pitched wail. She tore her gaze away, unable to bear watching further. How could these monstrous people destroy a forest that offered the world food, medicine, and shelter? Ayralens understood little of these magical trees, and humanity couldn’t afford their loss.

The heartwood tree bordering the first tree and home to Ayralen’s Prime Guardian, stood in flames. Its treetop burned without mercy sending black smoke high into the clear morning sky.

Danielle forced down hot bile threatening to spill up from her churning stomach. She grew up in the Prime Guardian’s home. Her mother gave birth to her and Ronan inside its protective trunk. She’d spent every night of her childhood safe in its branches.

A burst of gleaming silver flashed in the corner of Danielle’s eye, and shook her from her thoughts.

A sorceress riding atop a silver dragon beat a glowing crystal rod against its flank. The beast adjusted course hurtling toward Danielle.

Brees directed his raised palm toward the sorceress and mumbled a few disjointed words. The amulet around his neck glowed a dim shade of silver while the dragon closed fast.

Danielle dove trying to avoid the dragon’s open mouth while the beast closed within striking range.

Lighting spit from sorceress’s outstretched finger and streaked toward Danielle.

Brees mumbled something under his breath, and his palm flashed bright silver.

Wide-eyed, the sorceress screamed commands into the dragon’s ear. She continued to beat it with the long glowing rod showing no mercy. The dragon pitched its feet forward flapping its massive wings as if to reverse course. The sorceress’s lightning attack bounced off a silver wall appearing from thin air a few feet in front of her. Her lightning attack ricocheted backward striking her square in the nose. As if yanked by an invisible hand, the girl launched backward. She dropped the glowing rod before sailing over the dragon’s jeweled saddle. The sorceress plummeted into the fiery treetop of the Prime Guardian’s heartwood home. Her muted screams faded as the fire she’d helped create engulfed her.

The silver dragon turned and retreated ignoring Danielle and Brees as if they never existed.

Danielle didn’t dare take a direct approach to the first tree. Not with a dozen dragons and sorcerers swarming its treetop, but she could use the underground access tunnel from her home. She dove gliding through black smoke toward the Prime Guardian’s home.

She raced past the heartwood tree where the Assembly had gathered monthly for the past two-thousand years. Flames engulfed the tree from top to bottom. Nothing could save it now.

Flames licked at the upper terrace of Danielle’s family home. The same terrace where she’d stood a few short months ago. She, Ronan, and her father watched the strange lights flicker over the desert sky. The same spot she, Rika, and Ronan had danced, sang and laughed until dawn rose the next morning. That seemed a lifetime ago.

Danielle’s chest tightened as she streaked toward the open terrace. How had this happened? Why now? Despite their good intent, she couldn’t shake a horrible feeling. Had she and Ronan somehow unleashed this horror? Had restoring Elan and Lora’s magic allowed for this atrocity?

Through a fleeting patch of clear sky, Keely appeared near the forest floor. She streaked toward an open door in the first tree’s trunk before disappearing inside.

Danielle extended her talons and touched down on the terrace among toppled chairs and flipped tables. Smoke boiled from the trunk’s interior. The tree’s natural light couldn’t compete with the heavy soot and ash soaking every inch of its interior.

Brees climbed off Danielle’s back and tore away the leather saddle.

Danielle shifted into human form and covered her body in a suit of flame-retardant living armor. She flipped open her pouch and pulled free her staff growing it to ten feet tall within seconds.