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

Whatever the reason, it didn’t seem to bode well for us.

“Jon,” Hadley called as she rushed after me. “Can I go with you so I can collect some of Gourfist’s blood from your pants? If so, we better hurry before it dries more.”

“What can you do with it?” I asked.

“I have no idea yet, but I’d like to find out. Can we?” She gestured at the apartments. “My empty vials are in my room.”

I nodded.

“Be quick about it,” Aliana called after us.

“Charlie,” Hadley said. “Can you collect anything outside the castle that might have Gourfist’s blood on it—Jon’s spears, maybe broken pieces of wood, or a feather I missed? In fact, grab any feather you see no matter if it has blood on it or not.”

“I will.” Charlie hurried toward the open portcullis as Hadley and I went the other way.

“We might as well help,” Aliana told Reuben.

He let out his breath then started after Charlie with Aliana.

I was ahead of Hadley as we made it up the stairs of the apartments. I was rushing down the hall with her behind me, but she stopped suddenly outside Eden’s room.

“I’m staying in here.”

“Why?” I asked as I turned and went back to her.

“She left a lot of ingredients here,” Hadley explained as she entered. “I figured I would take it rather than the empty one at the end.”

She collected an empty vial from one of the shelves and crouched in front of me. There was one large stain of blood on my right thigh. I took hold and was about to wring it out but stopped.

“You’re sure this is Gourfist’s blood and not mine?”

“I can tell that it is.”

I wondered how, but she was already holding the vial up against my leg. I squeezed and twisted. Two red drops ran down my pant leg and then slid down her vial. I twisted harder, but nothing else came out.

“I think that’s it,” I said.

“It should be enough for one curse.” She stood and gaped at it.

I watched as she put the vial up to her face and closed her eyes. At first I thought she was sniffing it, but I didn’t hear the sound of air moving in through her nose.

She opened her eyes. “I already have some ideas of what it might do.”

“Just from that?” I asked.

She nodded.

I was impressed. “You really do have a gift.”

She grinned up at me. “I better meet the others in the courtyard to see if I can gather more.” She gave a gentle touch to my arm.

“Right.”

I hurried off to my room to change.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Eden found herself on the ground. Had she passed out? She couldn’t remember much of what happened. Suddenly remembering Gourfist, she tried to get herself up, but she was too dizzy and fell back down.

The recent events slowly returned to her memory. She had fled into the portal to Fyrren. It was her only way of escaping Gourfist. She had awoken him by following Valinox’s command. Did Valinox know this would happen? Did he want it to happen? Why, though? It didn’t seem likely.

What was Gourfist doing now? Could he be off flattening cities just because of Eden?

No, whatever happened next was Valinox’s fault.

When the world stopped spinning around her, she lifted her head and looked around with blurred vision. She was clearly in a forest, but all the colors seemed unnatural. The trees were green, but of a bright shade she’d never witnessed on the bark of any tree. All had colorful leaves of blue, white, and red. The dirt of the ground was not dark but of a golden hue. Bushes and other shrubbery were blue in color, with an assortment of pink, red, and white flowers. There was so much color everywhere, she felt like she was in a dream.

She found the portal behind her. She could see the dark forest she had come from in the middle of it, a white glow around the edges. Eden didn’t feel that she could close the portal if she wanted to. She didn’t have the power.

She still had Valinox’s Induct stone in hand. It had done nothing to stave off Gourfist’s aggression. She put it in her pocket, keeping the smaller Induct stone she had made in her sock. It had moved around during her tumble through the portal, so she rearranged it so the smooth side was against her skin again. It would still be uncomfortable, but she had a feeling it would prove useful.

There didn’t seem to be any Induct stones around the rift in Fyrren as there were in Dorrinthal. She still felt that she was in danger here, but not from Gourfist. She didn’t know why he couldn’t get through the portal—perhaps he was just too big—but legends said Valinox had tried to get to Fyrren to escape Gourfist. After everything else had been proven true, that certainly was as well.

Eden made a sweep around the portal. She couldn’t find Gourfist no matter which angle she used to look back into Dorrinthal. He was too big to miss, even in the dark and misty forest. He had surely left from his sleeping spot. She imagined the screams of people as he descended on towns, or he might already be on his way back to the portal.

Eden didn’t want to keep deflecting blame to Valinox. Was she really to blame for any destruction he caused? She had to start taking responsibility. The choices she made mattered to more than just herself. Why had it been so hard for her to accept this until now?

I thought that I couldn’t ever make a difference in the fate of the kingdoms. I thought it was up to those who had power, the narcissistic nobles, and intractable kings of old who shaped the world.

Eden had wanted to disrupt this paradigm of power, however she could. She had figured sorcerers of dteria couldn’t be any worse than the rich. Not even Valinox could care about