AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then they haven’t killed him for sport. I don’t want to leave Akoni longer than we have to, but we cannot charge into the middle of a war lost eons ago. I may be rash.” He raised a brow. “But I know something of conquest.”
“Let us go back for the bag,” Keon said. “It contained samples, measurements, research. Things we need.”
“Can you get the Gate open in your state?” Sorren asked me.
More like Iwould. I nodded.
Gettingthe Gate open again was at the edge of my stamina, and the not-hole in my “vision” made it incredibly difficult.
But I was getting to Akoni, and Auryn’s searing power flowed through me as he offeredeverythinghe was. I held on to Keon, precariously balanced without Akoni’s proximity, and made it work.
If you can’t find it, grind it.
I shoved my way through the cosmos for the other leystone.
Knock knock, fuckers…
Keon pulled me out of the way as I collapsed into a heap, and Auryn and Sorren stood guard at the Gate, with the rest of the soldiers positioned outside the tunnel just in case we had company.
Nothing came through the portal.
“It did not seem intelligent,” Auryn was telling Sorren as I drained magic off him to replace my own. It hurt and burned, but neither of us cared. “I doubt that any will be waiting for us.”
“Hunters that have moved on,” Sorren rumbled. He dipped his head and tensed the arch of his neck as his scales smoldered.
“They did work in concert, though,” Keon said. “They hunted us like a pride of lions. Sophisticated predators, if nothing else.”
I dragged myself up, forcing my body to work.
“Get the bag,” Sorren said. “Come back. Do not try to rescue him, or it will end badly. We need reinforcements.”
Auryn bumped his cheek along Keon’s, then caressed his other cheek along mine.
He went through first.
Keon, back in dragon form and audibly wheezing, went next.
I flapped off the cavern floor.
Sorren nodded to me.
I ducked through.
Homeworld was chilly twilight.And stank of thatthing. A breeze had picked up from the snowball side, sending a chill over the complex.
I flapped through the Gate and nearly bumped into both Auryn and Keon. They made room for me, and my aggravation hit a hard stop.
The carcass—because there would have had to have been a carcass—had been removed. It was somewhere nearby from the stink, but from the smear stains and bits on the stone pad, it had been moved.
Now, scattered all over the gore, were the petals from the jasmine-like blossom, mingled with large crystal salt. The scent of salt and then a fainter, spring scent swirled in the wind, and I only caught traces of it before the breeze blew it away. There were nine small clay bowls on the very top step, and each bowl was a seed pod with a sprig of the jasmine flowers: nine flowers on each sprig, nine petals on each flower. One of the bowls had been turned upside down, with its contents arranged around it.
Andpeoplewaited, seated, on the lower part of the temple.
Like living people.
I stopped dead, my wings flapping back and forth slowly in the breeze.
For a second, I thought I had gone crazy, but the people gasped upon seeing me.
