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Sonia responded before Karen could and a shield of wind – like black tinted smoke – surrounded them, sweeping the ice shards away. Karen blinked and frowned. Hadn’t Ystelyan said he had a life affinity? The fact that what appeared to be a whip of thorny vines was growing from his wrist certainly suggested he did, but then why was he throwing ice around?

Worry about that later, Kaz! Her mother snapped in her head as she swept aside a second blast. We’ve more important things to worry about right now.

Mitakrian scowled at Sonia but didn’t have time to launch a third attack before Rilletta and Ystelyan both took advantage of his distraction to attack him. It was a good job as well, Karen decided, because Sonia’s shield collapsed almost as soon as the second attack died. She gave a pitiful groan and collapsed in Karen’s arms. A quick scan confirmed Karen’s fears: the amount of power she’d used to block the attack had torn the wounds in her nearly healed essence open again. Not as badly as it had been, but enough to hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

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It didn’t take Karen long after she woke up in her bed at home to spot the gaps in her memory. Whatever had caused them had tried very hard to paper over the cracks to leave no trace, but it had failed abysmally. Something bad had happened to her and she wanted to know what. She lay on her bed and picked at the edges of it with her own mind affinity.

“Ah, you’re awake,” her father said from where he was sat by her bed. “And stop that. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“There’s a giant gap in my memory!” she said. “Something terrible happened… but…” she trailed off and looked up at her father. “Do you know what happened?” Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Eleven Part Three | Index | Chapter Twelve Part Two

David eventually decided on a cowboy outfit for the party and spent the afternoon trawling through charity shops looking for the things he needed. When evening came around he paced nervously in front of his window. He wanted to see them arrive so he could save Sarah from getting wet. The storm which had broken earlier showed no signs of abating. It was going be a wild night weather wise. Hopefully the party would be nowhere near as wild. Thinking about it made his mouth dry and his legs wobble. He didn’t get many invitations to parties and the circumstances behind this one were making him twitchy.

As promised it was exactly eight pm when Michael’s Range Rover pulled up outside his house. David immediately grabbed and umbrella and headed out into the rain. Michael, who was dressed as Tarzan, reached back and opened the door. Read the rest of this entry »

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The sound of something shattering below them made Mela jump. She looked across the bridge and saw that Ystelyan had tensed and was staring alertly down the stairs.

“W-was that–” she began.

“Mitakrian shattered the door wards,” Rilletta said before she could finish. “Lyrrekka-ida, will you defend the bridge in case he gets past Yst?” Read the rest of this entry »

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“How long do you think it’ll be?” Mela asked. She was sitting on the bridge Lyrrekka had built from her essence with her back against the slick surface of the wards around the Heart. She could feel it in her head and it didn’t seem too concerned about the delay, though it was definitely impatient to be free and that was making her twitchy.

“Probably not long,” Lyrrekka said. “It depends how much that Laxmi person manages to delay them. The warding itself shouldn’t take too long.” She laid a hand against the glowing silver wards. “You’ll be out soon, but why are you so impatient? You could have waited until you finished healing.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“Sean!” It was Kyle who broke the silence. He’d gone pale and was staring at the spot where Sean had been standing only moments before. “D-did he… why…” He broke off with a sob and glared at the glowing gate. “Damn, I wish I could destroy you!” He gasped in a few breaths and waved his hand, releasing the others. “We’ll just have to find some other way to rein you in.” He turned towards the exit, clearly intending to leave.

The Core made a shrieking sound and fired another blast at him and Darya. Both of them attempted to jump out of the way but this time, neither was fast enough. The blast ripped through Kyle’s shield with only slightly more difficulty than it had Sean’s.

The double scream clawed at Karen’s nerves as she closed her eyes tightly in an attempt to stop her tears. As the echo of the screaming faded, Karen opened her eyes cautiously and immediately wished she hadn’t.

Kyle and Darya had left bodies, it seemed. They were lying together at the centre of the chamber and there was blood everywhere. She steeled herself and walked over to Kyle, reaching down to feel for a pulse – there was none. She looked at the others who were gathering around her and shook her head.

It’s lucky for you creatures that I still need you, the Core said. But I can’t have you talking about what happened. A roaring noise filled Karen head and the world faded to black.

***

When Kyle came to, he was lying on something soft and the scent of something delicious was tickling his nose. His stomach rumbled at the smell but he didn’t open his eyes. Instead, he lay there trying to work out where he was and how he’d got there. The last thing he remembered, the Core had killed Sean and had been trying to kill him and Darya… Darya!

“I’m right here,” his heart friend said.

Kyle opened his eyes cautiously and found Darya seated beside the bed he was lying in. The delicious smell was coming from a covered bowl sitting on the table next to him. His stomach rumbled again at the sight but he forced himself to deal with more important questions first.

“Why aren’t we dead?” He paused and looked at his heart friend. “Why are you wearing goblin silk?” He sat up and looked around. The room he was in was decorated with water themed tapestries and had no windows. He had the distinct impression they were underground. “Where is this?”

“Eat your stew and I’ll tell you everything – though I think you’ll be mad at me,” Darya said.

“Why, did you make a deal with a dragon to save me or something?” he said jokingly, then frowned when Darya looked away guiltily. “You mean you did? I don’t feel any dragons nearby.”

“The room is warded.” He seemed surprised that Kyle wasn’t yelling at him. To be honest, Kyle was surprised himself. “Like I said, eat your food and I’ll tell you the whole story. He says there’s no strings and he’ll get us back to Earth if we want.”

“And the unicorn you mentioned confirmed this?” Kyle asked as he took the lid of the bowl to reveal an appetizing looking stew – it even had vegetables in it.

“She did… and that the stew isn’t poisoned.”

“Hmm… I suppose you’d better tell me the whole story then. We can’t make a decision without both of us having all the facts.” He picked up the spoon and began to eat.

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Start | Chapter Eleven Part Two | Index | Chapter Twelve Part One

 Anna was vaguely aware of being tucked up in a bed but could make no sense of what David and Tanya were saying to each other. She just wished they’d be quiet and sighed with relief when they left the room and went downstairs.

Her mother was still there, though, standing at the foot of the bed. Even through the headache she knew that was wrong somehow, but she couldn’t remember why. She just stood there regarding her with the smile Anna remembered so well. Read the rest of this entry »

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“What happened?” Andrew asked.

Laxmi looked up at him with a wan smile. “Your family won this one, thanks to the help they got from the first dragon,” she replied. “I don’t think there’s any way for Jayden to stop them placing the wards back on the Core now.” She didn’t sound disappointed about that. “I’m just glad that he’s not ang-” She broke off as the door opened and a young black man not much older than Andrew came in. For some reason, he looked a bit nauseous when he saw Laxmi. He also seemed to be studiously ignoring Andrew. Read the rest of this entry »

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Laxmi’s brows knitted together in a worried frown as Alaryia leapt between her and Ema. Hannah had the distinct impression that the Indian woman really did not want to fight the dragon. Indeed, she backed away rapidly.

“Oh, now don’t go running away,” Alaryia said. “We need to ask you some questions.” Ropes of light span from Alaryia fingers and flew towards Laxmi. Read the rest of this entry »

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Stop him, you wretched humans! The Core’s mental scream tore along Karen’s nerves like fire. From the groans she heard from the others, it was affecting them the same way. Only Kyle seemed unaffected as he stalked towards the now open gate.

“They’re a little tied up,” Kyle said mockingly. “It’s just you and me now.” Water swirled around his hands as he charged extra power into his next shot. He leapt to one side as a glowing blast of energy shot at him from the gate. “Tsk, you’ll have to be faster than that. Now why don’t you tell them about how you only haven’t killed off humanity yet because you need them to fight the dragons for you?” Read the rest of this entry »