“Yes, they did. But they took the stone to keep it as theirs, and they paid the price for that —the whole town did. But you withstood its call enough to return it. That’s a feat most wouldn’t accomplish; not only because they couldn’t touch it, but also because the call of its power would prove to be too much for them to resist.
“They’d want to keep it for themselves, just as the amsirah who stole it from us tried to do, but the stone isn’t meant to be controlled by only one. It’s too powerful for that. It needs its energy to spread out, like it is between us. When only one or two of your kind hold it, its power is more concentrated and harder to resist. It is alsofarmore destructive. Yet, even with its powerful allure, you returned it to us instead of keeping it.”
“I almost kept it,” I admitted in an ashamed whisper.
“Oh, I am sure it was very tempting, but you relinquished it. The trees were right to bring you here.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’ll help you… if you withdraw your lightning.”
“You’ll help me free Ryker and defeat those who are imprisoning us?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t open portals in and out of Tempest; the duke and his cohorts have ensured that.”
I sensed his surprise when the gargoyle lifted his head to look at his friends. “How did they do this?” he asked.
“With the help of the warlocks,” I told him.
“You are prisoners too, then,” another said.
“We are. We may not be frozen and trapped beneath the earth, but we are prisoners. The nobles can still leave, except for Ryker, but we can’t.”
“Well, things have most certainly changed,” the one I’d given the stone to remarked. “We will help to fix that too… if we can.”
“Why? What’s in it for you?”
“We are the guardians of this realm. At one time, we looked over it and protected it. That was our duty, and we upheld it with great pride. Then those we trusted betrayed us and locked us away. They paid the ultimate price for that.”
“And why would you help me and Ryker when we could take the stone from you again?”
I wasn’t sure if it was possible or how to do it, but if it happened before, it could happen again.
“You know what will happen if you try to do the same as your ancestors,” the gargoyle replied.
“The stone will destroy the realm… or at least it will ravage everything close to it.”
“Yes. While it is with us, the stone cannot unleash such power, but once free of us, it will build in strength until it ravages the land again.”
“What will stop you from killing me the second I relinquish my lightning? I’m a threat to you.”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
Ellery
The gargoyle’sclaw clicked off the ground as his head tilted to study me again. “I forgot you said they erased our history and existence from your world. We were once partners and the protectors of the amsirah.”
My gaze went to the panel in the ceiling above. My lightning didn’t illuminate enough of the cavern for me to see it, but I knew it was there and that it led into the temple housing our history. Or, at least, it held the history our ancestors meant for us to see.
“The temple is above you,” I said.
“We’re aware of that. We built our home beneath it because it was once sacred to us and the amsirah.”
“It’s still sacred to the amsirah. Did they know you were down here when they built the temple?”
“They did. And while the door above used to always be open, they sealed it after stealing our heart.”
