The Realm Rift Saga Box Set by James T Kelly

Author:James T Kelly [Kelly, James T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skerry Books Limited
Published: 2019-08-04T22:00:00+00:00

But Six was babbling by the time they reached the entrance to the tunnels.

“I knew they were intelligent, but reasoned? Able to speak? Dank, how does it work? If we could learn to communicate, just think how much we could learn!”

And the more he spoke, the angrier Tom became. Six had put them all in danger. Nearly ruined everything they’d been working for. And he had experienced something sad and beautiful, but was already turning the dragon into a beast again, to be studied or valued or used. He felt his anger reflected in Caledyr.

Six had lied.

“Perfect foresight!”

Six had risked all.

“And perfect memory too!”

Six was a threat.

“So much to learn.”

Six couldn’t be trusted.

“If only I could study them again!”

Six was one of them.

Tom swung.

It was an ugly swing, wild, with no finesse, no care. But it sent Six to the ground.

The others were crying out, but Tom couldn’t hear them. He heard only the roar of blood in his ears and a single voice.

Fight the enemy.

“You disgust me,” he growled.

Six lay on his back, shock clear on his face, looking at Tom like he was a stranger.

“You’re no better than the rest of them.” He drew Caledyr, pointed the blade at the elf. “Are we all just curiosities to you? Things to be laid out, studied and discarded?”

Six nodded, then remembered himself and scowled. “What’s the matter with you?” He moved to stand but Tom placed Caledyr’s tip under his chin.

“I told you we couldn’t come here. Neirin told you. We all did. And you came anyway.”

“I had to,” Six replied. His lip curled back in a sneer and he mocked him with, “I did what had to be done.”

“We could have all died,” Brega said. “You, in coming here. Us, in trying to stop you. The others, in not having a Westerner to explain their presence.”

“You risked all our lives,” Tom said.

“But you saw why I did it,” Six said. “Tell me those dragons shouldn’t be free. Forever.”

Tom couldn’t disagree. Of course he couldn’t. But that didn’t make Six right. “Then you should have talked to us.”

“I did.”

“Then you should have tried again.”

“Tom.” Katharine was angry. Furious. “Put the sword down. Now.”

She helped the enemy.

“Don’t.” He didn’t take his eyes off Six. “You helped him. You helped him sneak off.”

She had lied.

“You wouldn’t listen.”

“I listened.”

“Then why didn’t you help him?”

“Because it would undo everything we’ve done.”

“Terrorising Westerners in the night?” She was creeping closer, hands spread. Appealing? Surrendering?

Or ready for a fight.

“Destabilising the Kingdom,” Tom said.

“Is that what you want?” she asked.

“I want to break the monoliths.”

“No, you don’t.”

He couldn’t help but laugh, but it was an empty thing. “I can’t say it if it isn’t true.”

Six was wiping blood from his lips. It had stained his teeth. “Then tell me I didn’t do the right thing,” he said. He looked pointedly at the sword. “You heard the dragon. We don’t need to overthrow Idris. Maybe we don’t even need to go to Cairnagwyn.”

Tom shook his head. “We don’t know what we need.

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