AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Squalls,” Quye said as the sound of the bubbling magma grew louder. An orange light appeared up ahead, signalling the end of our journey. “How do you dragons survive this? I’m being cooked alive here!”
“You’re telling me,” Adara panted as we emerged. A sense of déjà vu swept over me as we stepped onto the bridge that spanned the length of the volcano. It was some fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, sturdy enough to bear the weight of a dragon. “It feels like I’m evaporating.”
Had it only been twenty years since Kiryan and I had stood here? Since I’d said my goodbyes to Ylena, then used my blood to seal the portal my people had used to escape?
And was I really about to open that portal again?
“Dragons are built to withstand much higher temperatures than fae,” I said, trying to bring myself back to the present. “Adara might be able to tolerate this if she was in dragon form, but as you both are now, you probably wouldn’t last more than thirty minutes in here.”
“Well, it’s a good thing it won’t take you thirty minutes to open the portal then,” Quye remarked, stepping past me. She walked to the center of the bridge, stopping in the exact spot the portal had been, then crouched down and placed a primal stone Kiryan had given us there. It pulsed with the light magic the Radiant had imbued it with, which would help power up the portal again. “All you have to do is spill your blood over this and recite the incantation Kiryan told us to use, and we should be good to go.”
I nodded, swallowing against a sudden surge of nervous energy. “Four weeks,” I said to Adara as I placed my hands on her shoulders. “We’ll meet back here in four weeks' time.”
“Yes,” she agreed. Her voice was firm with resolve, but the emotions that surged through the bond told a different story. Eyes bright with unshed tears, she threw herself into my arms, her lips finding mine. The kiss was hard and desperate, bursting with hope and love and longing, but with the sharp, metallic bite of fear at the edges. I held Adara tight as she clung to me, and though I never wanted to let go, all too soon, she was slipping from my arms, stepping aside so I could approach the primal stone Quye had placed on the ground.
Crouching down, I drew a knife from my belt, then slashed my forearm in the exact place I’d done all those years ago to close the portal. Blood welled immediately, and I turned my arm down so it could drip onto the primal stone. It flared to life the moment the first drop hit, and I slammed my eyes shut against the burst of blinding white light.
With no time to waste, I backed a safe distance away, then recited the incantation Kiryan had made me memorize. The language was clumsy and unfamiliar on my tongue, but I must have gotten it right, because as soon as I spoke the last word, a fey wind whipped through the inside of the mountain, stirring up a cloud of volcanic ash. The three of us ducked and covered our faces against the burst of debris, but the wind whipped it away from us just as quickly as it came, forming a vortex above the primal stone. It spun faster and faster, sucking the light magic from the primal stone into it, and the portal burst open in an explosion of violet light that shook the bridge and seared our eyes.
“Hurry!” Quye shouted, grabbing Adara’s hand. “We only have a few moments!”
She raced across the bridge to the portal, tugging Adara along with her. My heart lurched, and I took an unconscious step after them before I forced myself to stop. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t cross the portal with them. I was the gatekeeper, bound by blood to remain on this side for as long as I lived.
Adara gave me one last lingering look over her shoulder as Quye stepped over the threshold, her expression fierce.I love you,she mouthed, the portal whipping the sound of the words away before they could reach my ears.
And then the two of them were gone.
Agony exploded in my chest, driving me to my knees. The bond between Adara and me stretched nearly to the breaking point, and I threw my head back and roared, desperate for an outlet for the pain. Tears ran down my cheeks, and if I could have, I would have reached into my chest and ripped my heart out just to relieve myself from the sheer torture.
A few heartbeats later, the portal closed with a deafening thunderclap as the last of my blood evaporated from the primal stone. A heavy silence fell upon the heart of the mountain, and I braced my hands against the stone bridge, panting hard. As the seconds passed, the pain gradually receded, until it reduced from searing agony to a dull ache in the center of my chest.
My breathing evened out, and I swiped a hand across my face, mopping at the sheen of sweat there. The bond was still there, stretched thin but stabilized, and I could still sense Adara’s presence on the other end. The connection wasn’t strong enough for me to feel her emotions, just that she was alive, but that would have to be enough.
At least for the next four weeks.
6
Adara
Traveling through the portal was unlike anything I'd experienced before.
The violet light pouring from the vortex fractured the moment we stepped through, splintering into a thousand rainbows that scattered all around us in a dizzying display of hues. Time seemed to stretch endlessly as we passed through it, and as I stared into the strands of color, random scenes flashed by depicting foreign landscapes and creatures. Were they figments of my imagination, glimpses into other worlds, or something else entirely? I snatched at them, wanting to know more, but they scattered into fragments of light, my fingers passing through them as if they’d never been.
I had no clue how much time had passed when the portal spit us out. One moment I was staring at an image of a huge, shaggy creature with tusks, the next I was flying through the air. My breath exploded out of me as I crashed into the ground, and only the grassy cushion beneath me kept me from breaking any bones.
A thud sounded next to me, and I assumed that was Quye’s body also hitting the ground. My suspicion was confirmed when she groaned, the grass rustling beneath her as she rolled. “I think I’m going to throw up,” she said.
I opened my mouth to respond, but a burst of agony cut my words off. Crying out, I rolled onto my back as I clutched at my chest, the pain so intense I felt like I was being cleaved in two.
“Adara!” Quye was at my side at once, snatching up one of my hands. “It’s all right,” she soothed, a cooling breeze carressing my sweaty forehead as she spoke. “It’s just the bond between you and Einar. You'll adjust in a minute.”
The bond. That’s right. Kiryan had said I would feel the strain as well once we separated, but I hadn’t imagined it would be this agonizing. I pulled in deep breaths, forcing myself to relax, to breathe through the tearing sensation. Was Einar feeling this too? He had to be, but unlike me, he was all alone in that mountain. My heart ached at his absence, but as the pain faded into a dull ache, I realized I could still sense him through the bond. It was a bit like having a scrap of clothing in my pocket with his scent on it I could pull out whenever I needed comfort. The thought eased me, and I opened my eyes, looking up into Quye’s worried face.
“I’m all right now,” I said, releasing her hand so I could push myself up into a sitting position. “That was just… intense.”
“Looked like it,” Quye agreed. She got to her feet to inspect our surroundings, and I followed suit, doing a slow turn to take it all in. I’d expected the location of the portal in this world to also be in a mountain, but instead we stood atop a grassy knoll amongst a landscape of rolling hills. The elevation, though much lower than Mount Furian, nevertheless gave us a good view of the land below—miles of fertile fields, and beyond that, a big, broad river glinting beneath the sun. A small town nestled along the far side of the river, the bright blue rooftops of the buildings a welcoming sight.
“Well, this is disconcerting,” Quye said. “This hill we’re standing on is identical to the others. It’s going to be a pain to find the exact location when it’s time to return.”
