The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (best novels to read .txt) 📕

sorrowful look she had given Eden before Eden had driven a dagger into her neck. She had laid there and bled for a long while before Valinox had taken off with Eden. Unless Jon could bring back people from the dead, there was no way Remi was still alive.

Until recently, Valinox knew what was going on in and around the castle, and it was thanks to Eden. Now there was little he knew. Valinox was busy traveling between the kingdoms in order to see his plan to fruition, a plan that Eden seemed to be part of but was largely unaware. It was only recently that he’d found out Jon had been traveling around Lycast to offer his healing services. In the time leading up to then, Eden had been traveling in the forest with the rest of Cason’s men who had survived. She was to watch for the elf, who might come across them as they transported the riches of Lycast toward Rohaer, eventually meeting the group from Rohaer.

It had been recently that Valinox had flown down to their group and picked Eden up. He’d told her while taking her through the air that she would now kill Jon to prove her loyalty. She had been shocked, unprepared, and frankly she just didn’t want to do it.

After she had failed, he had returned her to the forest. Endell Gesh, another traitor, had joined the army there. It was he who had told Valinox about Jon earlier. Apparently, Endell and Valinox had been meeting for a long time, even back when Endell was the head guard at the capital, though Eden had heard nothing about it until now.

“You promised you would kill the king, not a fire mage,” Valinox said in response to Eden’s earlier statement about killing Remi.

“I promised I would try,” she said.

“And did you?” he asked rhetorically.

“I just needed more time. I wouldn’t have been able to before.”

“I don’t have more time, and neither do you. Don’t leave me disappointed again, or I might decide you are more trouble alive than dead.” He paused to let his threat hang in the air. “You will find the portal two miles that way.” He pointed north. “Gourfist guards it. He will not wake up.”

Eden had asked Valinox earlier if it was Gourfist they had heard toward the end of the fight with Jon and a girl who had looked somewhat familiar to Eden.

Since that fight, Eden had chosen not to try to remember any details about the girl. Valinox had already asked Eden if she knew who the girl was who’d bitten a chunk out of his neck, and Eden had shaken her head. Whoever she was, she seemed to be a new ally for the sorcerers, and Eden didn’t want to have to lie to Valinox if she did know something that could further endanger the girl.

“What will you do after I open the portal to Fyrren?” Eden asked.

The last Eden had heard of Valinox’s plan, he was going to take Cason to the mountain peaks where Failina—the demigod of erto—had been creating a constant snowstorm. Failina was responsible for blocking the path between Rohaer and Lycast, preventing the massive army in Rohaer from getting to Lycast without losing many troops in the process.

While Cason was alive, Valinox planned to disable Failina with dteria and have Cason kill her so as not to wake Gourfist. He figured his other sister, Souriff would come to help, but he was confident he and Cason could take on the two of them. None of the demigods wanted to use their true power so as not to wake their brother, which meant that Souriff and Failina would most likely have to flee.

There was no other sorcerer as strong as Cason, at least that Eden knew of. But maybe Valinox had his eye on someone in Rohaer. Perhaps Failina would be attacked soon anyway.

“I will be ready to get you as soon as you open the portal,” Valinox said. “I just can’t get too close to Gourfist, or he will wake up.”

As the demigod spoke, a huge beast looked to be headed toward them. Valinox didn’t seem to notice it behind him, as it slowly lumbered between the trees. Eden had never seen a creature like it. It seemed to be more tree than animal, with a face of bark and roots that were shaped into a head, with ears and two glowing eyes.

The thing walked with a bit of a sway, as if it had recently come to life and still hadn’t learned the best way to move. It seemed drawn to Valinox as its gangly body edged ever closer.

The shake of the earth notified the demigod to turn around. The treelike creature bent down in front of Valinox, close enough for Eden to see that it had no visible mouth.

But then it uttered something, and the bark of its face broke in half. “Bruuuraaaa.” Chips of wood splintered out from its mouth. It had a breathy voice, deep and rough.

To Eden’s shock, Valinox ignored the creature and turned back to her. “Here,” he said as he handed her a gem with a curse powerful enough that she could feel it without casting Identify.

“What’s this?” she asked, her gaze on the creature leaning down behind the demigod. It seemed more fascinated with the gem than with Valinox.

“It’s an Induct stone,” Valinox explained. “I’ve cursed it so it exudes dteria. Keep it with you, and the creatures here will think of you as their kin. Now hurry up and open the portal.”

He wrapped dteria around his waist and took off high into the canopy, breaking through and disappearing from sight.

Eden was left, stunned, as the treelike creature leaned down a little lower to investigate the Induct stone she held up in front of her. It was as if Valinox had never existed to this beast, its body creaking as it leaned closer yet.

“Bruuuraaa,” it uttered close enough to kiss the stone.

She didn’t feel