Haunted Fortress by Keith Robinson

Author:Keith Robinson [Robinson, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Action & Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult
Publisher: Unearthly Tales
Published: 2017-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

The Beginning of the End

The king’s dramatic announcement elicited quite a few murmurs from the fifteen or so naga crammed into the chamber. Their body heat warmed the room, and now that the hydra’s spell was broken, the block of ice melted all the more quickly. Melinda could feel a puddle of cold water seeping through her smart shoes as she stood there eye to eye with the elderly serpent-man.

She didn't like him much. His breath stank, and his sightless white eyes gave her the creeps. She’d never seen wrinkled reptilian skin before, so the faint scales on his face and neck struck her as weird. Sometimes when he spoke, his forked tongue slipped out and spat a few tiny droplets of saliva in her face, which she tried to ignore. In the presence of royalty, it wouldn’t do to recoil with disgust.

She wished the king would talk to Travis if only to give her a break from his wide-eyed unseeing glare. Besides, it was rude to ignore a person the way he had. Travis had asked a valid question, and the king had almost completely stonewalled him. Something about that irked her, and now his bad breath was making her feel sick.

“All I know is that this block of ice is melting,” she said, finding a decent excuse to turn away. She gestured toward the ice and splashed a few steps through the puddle, distancing herself from the king. “I don’t know anything about terrible demons. Are you sure you don’t mean the goddess or Snake Lady? Because that’s me, and—”

“I speak of something to come,” King Remus growled, clearly perturbed that she’d turned away from him. “A prophecy of a time after the legendary Snake Lady. Your arrival here today marks the end of one era and the beginning of another.”

Melinda looked around the chamber. All eyes were on her, except perhaps the king's, who tested the air with his tongue in an effort to locate her exact position. “But what am I supposed to do about this?” she asked. “I don’t even know—”

“You must deal with it,” the king said simply. “You are the so-called goddess, the Snake Lady. You created an entire legend. You are that legend. And now, because of you, trouble is on the horizon—trouble that is inextricably linked to your meddlings thus far.”

Melinda had the distinct impression the king’s earlier pleasantness had descended into a form of challenging hostility. It was as though his mood had altered along with his perceived change of an era. The good old days were over; now it was down to business.

But what business, exactly? A ‘terrible demon’ wasn’t much to go on.

“I can’t help you if I don’t know what to expect,” she said. “Maybe Travis and I should leave. We’ve done what we came to do, and now it’s time to go home.”

Almost as one, fifteen naga warriors swayed from side to side and rose up high, reaching for their bows. She couldn’t imagine they’d have room to fire off any arrows, but she got the message loud and clear.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.