Shadows of the Realm (The Circle of Talia) (37 page)

You haven
’t told her who I am, have you?

“
Who, the queen? She wouldn’t recognise your name, don’t worry.”

Not her. Bronwyn
.

“
No. Your secret’s safe with me, for the moment. I’ll see you later.”

Agmunsten locked the door. The two dragons who waited were staring at him, willing the information to come pouring out.
“I wasn’t able to get much out of them, except Bronwyn admitted to killing Symbothial.”

“
Was it in self-defence? What were they doing down there?”

“
Neither of them would tell me, Zim. I do know that other forces are at work here and I need time to think about it before anyone decides to start executing. If we do the wrong thing here, Drakon himself won’t be able to save us and we might as well put out the welcome mat for the Gormons tonight.” Agmunsten noticed the worry on his associates’ scaly faces. “I know it sounds like we’ve lost before we’ve barely started, but we’re not beaten yet. Despite our problems the situation is looking more promising than I could have hoped.”

“
How?”

“
I can’t say.”

“
Getting anything out of you is always like pulling teeth.  So what happens now?”

“
I’d better check on Arcon. In the meantime, make sure your mother doesn’t make any rash decisions.”

Agmunsten walked with a measured pace to Arcon
’s room. How much more complicated could their situation get? Avruellen would not be happy when she found out who the creature was that had taken her niece away. Drakon was her least-favourite god; this wasn’t going to increase her fondness for him. His creature had managed to get Bronwyn into a precarious situation. The queen could not be allowed to kill them. That was the one thing Agmunsten could decide on. How to stop that happening was altogether another matter.

He was not far from his fellow realmist
’s room. Blayke came rushing out and almost collided with him. “Is everything alright young man?”

“
It’s Arcon. I think he’s waking up.” Agmunsten increased his pace as much as he could. Finally, some good news for a change.

EPILOGUE

Klazich ruled the desolate Third Realm with unrelenting cruelty, a thing that suited the inhabitants. His lifelong ambition, as passed to him by one of his two fathers, was to take the Gormons out of this Realm. Their destination was Talia, a world that had callously shunted them out countless lifetimes ago. Many Gormons had been lost, the battle the most bitter in all their history. The pathetic dragons and their lapdogs, the humans, had handed Klazich’s people a mortifying defeat. How they had managed to do this was a puzzle to the new leader, and he didn’t intend to duplicate his forefathers’ mistakes.

Klazich was charged with the job of taking his and his brothers’ and sisters’ unrelenting cruelty to the citizens of the ill-fated world. Revenge would be so very sweet. He salivated at the thought; tasty, tasty humans. He couldn’t remember the last time he had feasted on such delicacies. His ancestors had managed to bring some humans with them when they had fled Talia, and they were housed in small cages. They weren’t prolific breeders, and as such, were a great treat, only enjoyed rarely and by few.  Some always had to be left alive so more could be bred.

His hideous claws scraped the floor as he paced back and forth. The latest report from one of his high priests indicated High Priest Kerchex was continuing to wreak havoc. He was satisfactorily metamorphosing the boy’s body. He would not remain an infant for much longer. High Priest Zuk was taking a subtler, less enjoyable approach. He had possessed the mind of a young princess. By all accounts she was not as difficult to coax as one would imagine. She appeared to be partial to some of the Gormon’s depraved tendencies. A drop of putrid saliva oozed down his leathery chin.

The process was longer than he had originally planned.  Klazich
’s creatures were beginning to starve. No food remained within the Third Realm, and soon they would be forced to eat the remaining humans. Gormons could survive for maybe two months without food. He had thought they would all be feasting on Talia by now. Unfortunately, the corridors between Realms had been reluctant to let them pass, and many of Klazich’s Gormons had perished in the attempt, their precious bodies salvaged to feed their remaining brothers. More would be sent out when what passed for evening, in this wretched twilight place, came.

He hoped when High Priest Kerchex was fully matured he would be strong enough to manipulate the corridors.  They would then rush through in their thousands and take Talia for themselves. Until then, Klazich kept watch. The humans had made many mistakes. When he reached Talia, they would pay for them. Klazich showed many rows of small, pointed teeth when he smiled, scaly cheeks rustling with the effort. He called one of his servants; a hunched, leather-skinned monstrosity skittled to his feet.
“Fetch me one of the humans. Tonight I will feed as I deserve.” 

A low cackle shredded itself as it passed through hundreds of teeth. Klazich delighted in hearing his own raspy voice.
“Children of Talia, I’m coming. We will soon feast together. Won’t that be fun?” 

The old human woman, who up until now had been kept for breeding, was dragged into his presence. Her mother had told her stories of Talia, stories that had been passed on by countless generations of humans who had suffered before them. To know this disgusting creature was going to destroy her ancestral home extinguished her own small hopes of one day returning. Tears of loss streamed down her face. At least she wouldn’t be alive to see it. Her last moments in this realm would be spent in defiance. She would not give the monster, looming over her, the pleasure. When Klazich commenced his meal by ripping off her arm with his razor sharp teeth, she bit her tongue, stifling the scream. In the instant before her death, she gurgled a prayer to the Gods instead, and asked that this disgusting creature choke to death on her bones.

Klazic finished his meal without choking. Kneeling on the bloody floor, he licked up the last of the captive’s red juices. He stood and burped, patting his distended belly, and made his way to his chambers. Gormons were born of a cruel and hard world where comforts meant nothing so lying on the hard stone floor was all the rest he needed.

Klazic grinned as he drifted off, imagining what it would be like to eat one or even two humans every day. It wouldn’t be long now. Soon, maybe within days, the Gormons would suffer no more; now it was Talia’s turn.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dionne Lister, that’s me.  I know these things are supposed to be serious, but I prefer silly. I’m from Sydney, love animals and spend way too much time on Twitter. I’ve always wanted to be a writer and now, thanks to the Associate Degree of Creative Writing at Southern Cross University, I am living the dream (obviously).  If you want to see more of my ‘stuff’ I have a website: dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com, drop by and say hello.  I’m on Twitter @DionneLister and I have a facebook page too and don’t forget, if you liked
Shadows of the Realm
, the sequel,
A Time of Darkness
is out now.