Read Online The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) by J. J. Thompson - Free Book Online
Authors: J. J. Thompson
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someplace, but where?
He walked forward carefully, little
puffs of dust rising as he moved. What could this room have been used
for? Offices? A soldier's mess hall? A social center? Perhaps all or
none of those. But its age hung heavily in the air and was a powerful
reminder of just how ancient the elven race really was.
“ Come on,”
Simon murmured as he nervously looked around. “Where the hell
are you?”
He was here and the time was now.
Ethmira was out there in the forest somewhere, running for her life
to buy him enough time to cross back to his own world. He spared a
fervent prayer that she would be all right. So where was the damned
portal?
A crackling sound, horrendously loud
in the dead silence, ripped through the air. At the apex of the
central pile of detritus, an oval hole appeared. Its jagged edges
snapped with arcing streaks of light, like small bolts of lightning.
“ Oh crap,”
Simon said in disgust. “Great place to stick it, folks.”
The pile of ruined metal was about
ten feet high and riddled with pointy, rusted pieces of metal. It
looked unstable and dangerous as Simon moved to its base and looked
up at the shimmering portal. It was also the only way to reach the
magical gateway.
With a wince at the thought of
getting lockjaw, he began to try to climb the debris without slashing
his hands and arms to shreds.
It was like trying to climb a pile of
ice pieces. The rubble began to cascade down as soon as he put a foot
down on it and Simon was forced to ignore his fear of injury and dig
into the rubbish to find something to hold on to.
He could feel the old, strange metal
slashing his fingers and the sharp pain of it cutting into his flesh.
In any other circumstances, he would have stopped but the pulsing,
flashing portal kept him climbing. It was translucent and fading in
and out of existence and he knew that it would only remain open for a
few minutes.
Progress was slow and exhausting, not
to mention painful, but Simon was within a couple of feet of the
portal when a spine-tingling howl echoed through the massive hall,
bringing a rain of metal flakes and a few heavier pieces of the roof
tumbling down around the wizard.
“ Oh crap,”
he muttered.
He looked over his shoulder just in
time to see the metal door slam open, smash into the wall and tear
off of its hinges. The kallorian stood there, its horrible head and
heavy torso filling the doorway.
Blood painted its jaws, but whether
it was its own or Ethmira's, Simon couldn't tell. Horribly, the arrow
still stuck out of its ruined eye as it looked around the room,
searching for its prey.
The single glowing red eye locked on
to Simon's and it howled again, a sound of hatred and hunger, and it
leaped forward, maw agape.
“ Crap. Crap,
crap, crap!” the wizard shouted as he scrambled toward the
portal, cuts and slashes be damned.
It was a near thing. His frantic
scrabbling and shoving feet got him to the fading gateway just as the
kallorian made a great bound upward, slashing at him with its
razor-sharp claws.
Simon staggered through the portal at
the same time as a horrific wave of pain shot up his leg. He stumbled
forward and fell on his face, expecting the sharp metal to slash him
to ribbons.
Instead, he landed in thick, sweet
grass and rolled a few times before he came to a stop, staring up at
a clear blue sky.
Waves of pain that pulsed up his
right leg in time with his heartbeat made him sit up and look down,
expecting to see himself bleeding out. But, although he did have a
long cut that had ripped open his pants and ran down from the side of
his leg from knee to ankle, the wound was shallow and the bleeding
was light.
He lay back and closed his eyes,
breathing a long sigh of relief. The smell of crushed grass and rich
earth filled his nostrils and he sucked in the scents, feeling almost
intoxicated by the sweetness.
Home, he thought. I'm home.
Chapter
5
It must have been early in the day
because the sun was still rising
He walked forward carefully, little
puffs of dust rising as he moved. What could this room have been used
for? Offices? A soldier's mess hall? A social center? Perhaps all or
none of those. But its age hung heavily in the air and was a powerful
reminder of just how ancient the elven race really was.
“ Come on,”
Simon murmured as he nervously looked around. “Where the hell
are you?”
He was here and the time was now.
Ethmira was out there in the forest somewhere, running for her life
to buy him enough time to cross back to his own world. He spared a
fervent prayer that she would be all right. So where was the damned
portal?
A crackling sound, horrendously loud
in the dead silence, ripped through the air. At the apex of the
central pile of detritus, an oval hole appeared. Its jagged edges
snapped with arcing streaks of light, like small bolts of lightning.
“ Oh crap,”
Simon said in disgust. “Great place to stick it, folks.”
The pile of ruined metal was about
ten feet high and riddled with pointy, rusted pieces of metal. It
looked unstable and dangerous as Simon moved to its base and looked
up at the shimmering portal. It was also the only way to reach the
magical gateway.
With a wince at the thought of
getting lockjaw, he began to try to climb the debris without slashing
his hands and arms to shreds.
It was like trying to climb a pile of
ice pieces. The rubble began to cascade down as soon as he put a foot
down on it and Simon was forced to ignore his fear of injury and dig
into the rubbish to find something to hold on to.
He could feel the old, strange metal
slashing his fingers and the sharp pain of it cutting into his flesh.
In any other circumstances, he would have stopped but the pulsing,
flashing portal kept him climbing. It was translucent and fading in
and out of existence and he knew that it would only remain open for a
few minutes.
Progress was slow and exhausting, not
to mention painful, but Simon was within a couple of feet of the
portal when a spine-tingling howl echoed through the massive hall,
bringing a rain of metal flakes and a few heavier pieces of the roof
tumbling down around the wizard.
“ Oh crap,”
he muttered.
He looked over his shoulder just in
time to see the metal door slam open, smash into the wall and tear
off of its hinges. The kallorian stood there, its horrible head and
heavy torso filling the doorway.
Blood painted its jaws, but whether
it was its own or Ethmira's, Simon couldn't tell. Horribly, the arrow
still stuck out of its ruined eye as it looked around the room,
searching for its prey.
The single glowing red eye locked on
to Simon's and it howled again, a sound of hatred and hunger, and it
leaped forward, maw agape.
“ Crap. Crap,
crap, crap!” the wizard shouted as he scrambled toward the
portal, cuts and slashes be damned.
It was a near thing. His frantic
scrabbling and shoving feet got him to the fading gateway just as the
kallorian made a great bound upward, slashing at him with its
razor-sharp claws.
Simon staggered through the portal at
the same time as a horrific wave of pain shot up his leg. He stumbled
forward and fell on his face, expecting the sharp metal to slash him
to ribbons.
Instead, he landed in thick, sweet
grass and rolled a few times before he came to a stop, staring up at
a clear blue sky.
Waves of pain that pulsed up his
right leg in time with his heartbeat made him sit up and look down,
expecting to see himself bleeding out. But, although he did have a
long cut that had ripped open his pants and ran down from the side of
his leg from knee to ankle, the wound was shallow and the bleeding
was light.
He lay back and closed his eyes,
breathing a long sigh of relief. The smell of crushed grass and rich
earth filled his nostrils and he sucked in the scents, feeling almost
intoxicated by the sweetness.
Home, he thought. I'm home.
Chapter
5
It must have been early in the day
because the sun was still rising
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