Runes of Redemption by Deirdre O'Dare

Author:Deirdre O'Dare [O’Dare, Deirdre]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2019-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Aron seemed to hang in the vast vacuum of darkness for a measureless time. His senses were gone, shut down or erased. Only the most shadowy fragment of self remained. He clung to that, one small spark of will seeking an exit, a release, a doorway back into existence. Any ability to direct his passage seemed to be gone. Right now, it did not matter where he ended up—he only wanted to see, feel and be again.

When the time came, he almost regretted his fierce instinct to survive. He broke though into a freezing, soggy, miserable somewhere. For a time, he just lay where he’d landed, aching in every atom of his body, cold, battered and raw. He felt as if he’d been flayed alive, as if every major bone had been shattered and a crushing weight of contempt flattened him into the featureless ground. Who or what could despise him so badly?

As memory returned, he prayed silently that he’d successfully sent Clay out of the maelstrom into the perpetual spring and relative peace of Elvenheim. It was time his partner learned about the other half of his heritage anyway. He missed the Texan with a spirit-deep pain, but he wasn’t sure his halfling lover would even have survived this ordeal. Waking to find Clay dead at his side would have been even worse than this separation.

His next real thought was simple. Where am I? Until he knew, he could not begin to plan how to get out of here and back to the effort of finding and sealing the possible master gate, at least the controlling one of this network. First, he’d need to return to the Shags’ world—if he could find the way. He was not sure now if the gate they’d used to depart was the master, but he had to find out. He did not think they had completed the sealing anyway. Had he inadvertently left out or misspoken one key syllable, one sigil of the spell? He thought he had memorized it properly, In spite of that, something had certainly gone very wrong. Whether it was his fault or mere chance he did not know.

He wasn’t positive how to locate a master gate, wherever it might be. Certainly not here, but something would come to him. This mode of travel and habit of going among worlds to deal with evil was bred into him from countless ancestors who’d borne the duty. From the genetic and racial trove the needed memory would come in time.

Finally, he sensed a faint trickle of earth-energy. He wriggled around until he reached a rough parallel with one of the lines and then drew what he could from the flow. The power felt strange and weak, very different from the magnetic frequencies of Earth or Elvenheim, but beggars could not be choosers. He had to regain some strength before he could do anything.

After enough power built within him to allow it, he started a careful mental probe, ranging in an ever-widening spiral from the spot where he lay.

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