The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

had theusurper’s men in Albamarl. Caught off-guard, he was stillincredibly powerful. His will reacted instinctively against theassault on his core, and our minds wrestled for a moment. It wastoo late for him though, I had taken too much in that moment ofsurprise. Laughing with a dark delight, I felt him weakening and Itore great pieces of his essence away. The process accelerated asthe scales tipped irrevocably in my favor.

I drained him until all that was leftwas a dwindling spider’s husk. Within it, the spellweaving thatmaintained his awareness still pulsed. I could feel it, but evenwith my newfound strength, it was impossible to destroy. I hadreduced him in much the way Mal’goroth had done with the others,until there was little left other than his ‘god-seed’.

The cubes around methrobbed oddly, and I felt them begin to crumble.They still have enough power to destroy most ofthe region! Desperately I pulled the powerfrom them, but I knew it could not happen quickly enough. Expandingmy body, I felt the aythar rippling within them, unstable. With asudden snap the diamond cubes disintegrated, releasing the powerstill in the enchantment.

Clenching my mind, the worlddisappeared in a blaze of swelling light and burningpain.

***

Penelope Illeniel,Countess di’ Cameron and widow of Mordecai Illeniel, stood in thecastle courtyard, staring helplessly as the man she loved walkedaway. She had been dismissed. She felt the pain keenly, a messagethat hardly needed words. You betrayed himwhen he needed you. There will be no forgiveness. Be grateful andsave the children.

That was the gist of it. That was allthat remained.

Gritting her teeth she started moving.People had begun arriving, and among them were her children. Elise,Elaine, Lilly Tucker, and countless others were unloading. Movingquickly, mechanically, Penny began her task.

Get them to ourapartments. Once there they would be safe.If she opened that door it would lead to their secret home, faraway in the northern Elentir Mountains. It was their bolt-hole,their sanctuary. Mordecai had created it to keep his family fromharm, whether he was present or not. They could survive there,isolated and hidden from the outside world.

We don’t have room forseveral hundred people, but I’ll be damned if I will leave thembehind, she thought.

Moments later the shield went up.Walter had activated the castle’s defensive enchantment, a massiveshield powered by the God-Stone.

Racing along the corridor, Pennyreached their apartment door long before the others and threw itopen. So long as the door stayed wide it led to their sanctuary.Once the doors were shut, the automatic portal would close andanyone who opened it afterward, other than Penny or her family,would find only the decoy apartment that they had maintained withinthe castle over the years.

Heading back down the stairs she gavedirections to everyone she passed. Some of them knew the castlealready, but most were from Arundel or Lancaster. Elise Thornbearpassed her, tightlipped as she carried her granddaughter Carissa.Rose was close behind, leading Gram and carrying Penny’s daughter,Irene. Conall was holding Gram’s hand.

My family,thought Penny.

Lilly Tucker was climbing the stairsawkwardly, holding Moira’s sleeping legs while one of the mencarried her torso. Two others followed with Matthew.

“Where’s Peter?” asked the Countess.He had been helping with Matthew when they arrived.

“Mordecai took him aside in thecourtyard,” answered Lilly. “I don’t know what heneeded.”

Moira Centyr was next, and she heardtheir conversation. “He’s still down there, guiding people into thekeep.” Gareth Gaelyn walked beside her in his draconic half-humanform.

Penny frowned.Maybe he gave Peter some task?She didn’t like being left in the dark. “I needto talk to him,” she said as she continued to make her way down thestairs against a constant stream of people.

“Let me help,” suggested Gareth,baring a mouth full of sharp teeth. His unnatural appearancefrightened most who saw him and they instinctively moved to givehim as much room as possible. Following him down the steps becamealmost as simple as if they had been alone. People fought to avoidany proximity with the scaled mage.

The courtyard was clearing rapidly.Doron and Millicenth had just arrived with the last civilians fromthe camp. Peter Tucker stood to one side of the great double doors,ushering people into the keep. “Head down the left-hand corridor,”he shouted. “Follow the others to the stairs, and go to the thirdlanding.”

He gave the Countess a guilty lookwhen she took his arm. “What did he tell you?” she asked, withoutpreamble.

Peter’s thin façade crumbled intotears. “Forgive me, Your Excellency.”

“What?!”

“He knew. I’m not worthy to serve you.Please forgive Lilly; she never wanted to hurt anyone. It was onlyme,” blurted her head chamberlain. In all the years since he hadjoined their service, Penny had never known Peter Tucker to breakdown in her presence. She understood immediately what must be thecause.

“Please hush, you stupid man,” shetold him, using harsh words, but a gentle, forgiving voice. “Wealways knew. The debt was ours, and you have only increased it overthe years. You are family now.” She hugged Peter then, squeezinghim tightly. “Get upstairs, Lilly is waiting for you.”

Taking a step back, the chamberlainproduced a moderate-sized kitchen knife. Openly crying, he offeredit to her. Penny had never seen it before, but she had heard thestory of it long ago from her husband.

“Put that up before you hurtyourself,” she rebuked him. Waving him away, she ignored hisgesture. “Keep it Peter. Mordecai never wanted you to forget, justto forgive.”

Hands trembling, he stared at hernumbly for a second before nodding and putting it back within hiscoat. He was shaking like a leaf, and the Countess worried he mightcut himself on the enchanted blade before he could safely store it.“Go,” she reiterated. “Make sure everyone is inside before youclose the door to our rooms.”

Gareth Gaelyn still stood beside her,silent but with a pensive look. “That knife…” he said letting hiswords trail away.

“Mort told me it was one of the firsthe enchanted,” she explained. “It’s a long story. Don’t worry aboutit now.”

The draconic archmagefurrowed his brow but nodded. It was not the first time he had seenmagic that he didn’t understand, especially where Mordecai wasconcerned. But the stone, it didn’t looklike a human enchantment.

Penny’s mind was alreadyworking on other things. Peter’s outburst had solidified her gutinstinct. Telling him