Chapter 35: Caraurogon River

Givontair:

Nathaniel wants power. I can feel it in the way he always has the cursed crystal on his person. Normal people would have thrown it away in the temple of Harika, and been done with it.

It is what I wanted from him. Yet, he refuses to part with the trinket. We have to keep on going forward. I feel as if something big is going to happen in Corum. Everything leads to that city.

Was the champion of the Dread even heading there? I should have asked him more questions. Instead, I let him get away with all his secrets. We reach the Caraurogon River. Now, Gorax and his boat would have been dead useful.

I shake my head. It is not ok for me to want for a fellow dragon to get mixed in with necromancers. It is not ok to let Erik tag along, either.

Yet, what else can I do? Erik doesn't have parents anymore. I tried asking him about his father, and he said that the man is unknown to him. His mother, Sylvie, was the only parent in his life.

Erik worries me as much as Nathaniel. He claims that the plants whisper to him. That they urge him to wake them, whatever that means. I don't want to doubt the boy, but I know his kind.

Innocent, until someone pushes him over the edge. I think that, if I hadn't found him, he would have grown bitter. He is taking the death of his mother well enough, even if he wakes up at night to cry away from the camp.

"What are you thinking about, Nate?" I hear Erik ask. It seems that Nate is just as lost in his thoughts, as I.

"Nothing much. Just that we need to find a jeweler," Nathaniel places his hand inside the pocket of his coat. I know just what he is holding at this moment.

I bite on the inside of my cheek, so I won't say what I am really thinking. Let him get burned. I will be there to stop him. And if he shows some self-restrained, then all the better. Nothing is stopping Nate from proving me wrong.

"I know just what you are thinking," he begins, but then the river begins to bubble. I take out my dagger, and get Erik behind me. Even as wounded as I am now, I can still fight. Nathaniel steps before me.

What comes out of the river, is something I can hardly put into words. It seems it is a turtle, one as big as the river bed. The being eyes us with a hunger, that I know all too well.

"Erik, run and climb a tree. Take this with you," I place a barrier stone inside Erik's hands. He wavers, but then I turn around, and give him a hard stare. "When you grow up, you will be the one protecting people. But for now, leave that to the grown-ups."

"I don't want to leave you behind. I can get the trees to fight," the poor boy likes us enough to not think about his own survival. Yet, I can't let him do this. He got his powers not even a week ago. The possibility that the trees are going to rebel against him, is a big one.

You are reading story The Dread Scrolls at novel35.com

"Just go," Nathaniel says, as he takes out the crystal. There is a glint in his eyes, that I don't like.

"Are you really going to use this to fight?" I ask him. If he floods this area with the mana gathered at Istaquila, then Erik might end up getting hurt. After all, the boy commands nature mana, and the necromantic mana that he didn't feel all that strongly the last time, will eat away at him.

"I want to try something. You spoke about how I had to be more understanding. Now, you have to do the same, Giv," Nathaniel gives me a soft smile, and the next thing I know, there is a black beam coming out of the crystal, and flying towards the turtle.

The animal hides in its shell, yet, there is now a big crack on it. I take Erik's hand in mine, and run towards the trees. I hear Erik cough behind me. When I turn back towards him, there is a trickle of blood on his lips.

With wide eyes, I pick up the boy. Doing my best to take all the residue mana into myself, I keep on running. When we finally reach the forest, the trees seem to bristle at something.

"Don't wake them," I tell Erik, who looks almost out of it. "They will just attack Nate."

"They are screaming. Their roots are rotting," Erik murmurs. I wonder if he is even still talking to me. I place him on the ground, right next to a tall birch. Furthermore, I try to see how the battle is going on, from this spot. While, at the same time, I clear the air of the foul mana Nathaniel is using to fight.

The clouds gather in the skies, and turn black. Not the stormy gray, that a rainstorm would bring. But black. Not even the sun's rays can break through them. There is a big hand moving out of the clouds. It looks like the hand of a demon, as if made from smoke.

I begin to power the barrier stone with all my mana. When I am done, I place it in the roots of the tree, and run back to Nathaniel. As I reach him, he is changed.

He looks like that thing we fought back in the graveyard. He has the same crazed look, and even has the same tentacles made from smoke. I move, so I can stand before him, and take a hold of his collar.

My hands begin to burn from the necromantic mana. Yet, I haven't lived for as long as I had, without knowing pain. This is my soulmate. I have to bring him back.

I bring him closer to me, and lock our lips in a kiss. Nathaniel's hands grip at my back, with all the desperation that a dying man possesses.

I don't give him time to push me away. Instead, I gather all of his necromantic mana, both the one from the crystal and his own, and shoot it up to the skies. The last thing I see, before I collapse on the ground, is the hand being pierced by the mana, and the stormy clouds disappearing.  

You can find story with these keywords: The Dread Scrolls, Read The Dread Scrolls, The Dread Scrolls novel, The Dread Scrolls book, The Dread Scrolls story, The Dread Scrolls full, The Dread Scrolls Latest Chapter