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

you, I had always been taught that their race was longextinct. Do you know anything of these ‘Kriteck’?”

Moira Centyr stepped forward then,“Your Majesty, I was with Mordecai and Gareth when he first metwith them. The Kriteck, as I understand them, are the sterileprogeny of the father-tree. They live but a span of a few monthsand they only exist to protect the She’Har. They come in myriadshapes and forms, according to the will of the father-tree thatgrew them. Some of them are powerful magic-users, while others aredesigned as fierce warriors. The powerful remnants of the DarkGods, which you have faced recently, were probably created from theKriteck of antiquity.”

Ariadne took a moment to digest theinformation before asking a new question, “Can we trustthem?”

Moira shook her headnegatively, “Probably not, Your Majesty, but they owe Mordecai agreat debt. The question should probably be, dare we trusthim?”

“By that logic we should say the sameof the Shining Gods,” inferred the young queen.

“Absolutely,” agreed MoiraCentyr.

Karenth spoke again, “You should alsoknow, Your Majesty, that Mordecai instructed them to placethemselves at the disposal of either you or the Countess. They willanswer to no one else.”

“Then I suppose I had better meetthem,” said Ariadne. “Gareth, would you be willing to provide mewith transportation?”

The dragon made an odd noise. Itsounded like the beginning of a growl, but Moira glanced sharply athim, and it cut off suddenly. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too muchtrouble, Your Majesty,” he replied after a minute.

Chapter 36

With a word and a thought, I releasedthe enchantment that held Albamarl in my perfect, timeless moment.The tension in the air vanished, and the world snapped back intomotion while I drew the aythar back from the diamond cubes of theenchantment and returned it to its proper home—me.

My strength was even greater thanbefore. When I had begun, I had commanded something close to twoand a half Celiors worth of aythar. Reclaiming most of that fromthe enchantment, along with what I had garnered from my wonderfulslaughter, put me closer to four.

And it still isn’tenough.

Of course, withoutspending some time with my tools back in my workshop, I couldn’t beprecise, but I trusted my guess to be roughly correct. Based onwhat I knew of Mal’goroth, I needed more than ten times what Icurrently held to face him on even footing. That’s easy enough, Ithought, take the rest of Lothion’spopulation, toss in some extras from Dunbar and Gododdin, and Imight have enough—so long as I’m not too picky.

No!

My conscience had decidedto speak up again. He had been strangely silent since Tremont’sslow demise. Relax, I wasn’tserious, I told myself. Something aboutthat seemed humorous to me, and I began to laugh.

I stopped when I heard thescreams.

They were soft and in the distance,but they gave the impression of being multilayered. Using a hastyspell I increased my hearing, and then the true symphony began tomake its way to my ears. All across the city people were reactingwith various degrees of shock, dismay, and delightfully, sometimeswith screams.

It must be rather disconcerting tosuddenly find everyone in your vicinity inexplicablydead.

“Mal’goroth should be fairly peevedwhen he finds out how many of his toys he lost here today,” I saidto myself. I suppressed the urge to walk back in. Hearing thesounds of chaos within made me desperately want to go and see thereactions of the people first hand.

Once everyone has calmeddown, they’ll probably want to throw a parade for me.It was a pleasant thought, but my pessimisticinner voice wouldn’t shut up.

No, the reason you’releaving is because Mal’goroth will be drawn here now. We mustn’tlet him discover us here. It’s time to reclaim yourhome.

“Shut up!” I yelled at myself, notcaring if anyone saw my odd behavior. “I’m in charge, notyou!”

If you are looking forexcitement, all the action is going to be back at CameronCastle.

That was true, I had to admit.Sometimes my inner observer had a point. “Penny will be there,too,” I said aloud with a feeling of sudden anticipation. Thinkingof her filled me with a distinct craving. It was a sensationsimilar to the mixture of intense hunger and sexualtension.

Stay away from her!My inner demon was particularly emphatic, almostdesperate.

“You’re so easily riled up. I wouldn’thurt her. I still love her after all,” I told myself with a clevergrin.

Reaching into one of my wondrouspouches, I withdrew my staff and used it to etch a complex circulardesign in the dirt. It was a teleportation circle, and I set thedestination key to one of the circles in the courtyard of CastleCameron. Whatever was happening there at the moment, I doubtedanyone would be expecting me to reappear there justthen.

Uttering a word, I attempted totransition myself to my destination, but nothing happened. “That’sodd,” I said. I tried one more and again, nothing. The onlyexplanation was that the destination circle had beendestroyed.

I tried one of the circles inLancaster, and after that failed I tried another in Arundel. Bothwere completely non-responsive. “That doesn’t bode well for myfriends and family,” I noted dispassionately. Deeper down though,my inner self was growing panicked.

Considering my options, I knew I couldstill use the World Road, but I didn’t really want to travel bysuch an obvious route. If Mal’goroth were watching for me, thatwould be one of the prime locations to keep an eye on. I still hadone circle in the foothills near Lancaster, a secret location I hadset up for evacuating Cameron Castle, but I was too paranoid to useit now.

What if my opponent had destroyed allthe other circles just to force me to use that one? What if he waswaiting there? My head was full of shadows, and it was difficult tothink clearly. Was it really a bad idea, or was I seeing trapswhere there were none?

If you’re that nervous,just fly. You can still reach it within a day if you use your bestspeed.

“Yes,” I replied, “That is a goodidea.” I started to withdraw the enchanted stones that would formmy flying craft, when I noticed that I still had the diamond cubesin my right hand. After disassembling my enchantment they had flownback to the center stone and formed a larger cube. It seemedslightly hazy now.

Looking closer