Chapter 38: Making decisions

Givontair:

I read the message out loud, so that Nathaniel can hear it. His brows are furrowed.

"How can that Lich demand something like that from you?" I can understand Nate's disgruntlement. We are soulmates. For someone to demand me like this, must irk him to no end. "Is the Dread Lord still in that meadow?"

"You are not going after him," I say. Nate takes the scroll from my hands, and throws it into the fire.

"We need to get this Dread Lord into one of Harika's temples. I bet he will burn to a crisp," Nate says. I blink at that.

"How are we going to do so, if you can't go inside the temple?" Does he expect that I act as a bait? To lure the Dread Lord to his death.

"Norrix, you can go into the temples, right?" Vampires were not as cursed by Harika, as they were cursed by the Sun Dragon.

"I don't think I will survive such a meeting," Norrix says. I don't want to ask him to lure a necromancer of this caliber, either.

"We can run to Corum, and then take a ship for Bhakh in the Vun Empire. The priests there know how to battle necromancers," I suggest. Nate frowns at me.

"I will be a target there," he counters.

"If I may, I think I have a suggestion for this problem," Norrix says, and we all turn towards him. "If Nathaniel stops being a necromancer, and denounces the Dread, then he will be welcomed in the Vun Empire."

I turn to stare at Nate.

"How did you become a necromancer, even? You don't even worship the Dread," I ask my mate. He bows his head.

"I wanted to dabble into necromancy, so I could kill Ajax," he admits. I place a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want to be the one who tells you this, but Ajax is important for the peace between dragons, and other races. If you kill him, there will be chaos," I tell Nate. He brushes off my hand.

"He needs to pay," his voice rises by the end, which only serves to wake Erik.

"Why aren't you all asleep?" The boy asks. I go, and tuck him back into his bedroll.

"This is not for your ears. Just sleep," I tell the boy. Yet, Erik doesn't seem to want to do so.

"I have the right to know. Aren't I a part of this group?" At times, I tend to forget that Erik is a determined young man. Yet, when he says such things, I am always reminded. "Is this about mom?"

"No, it is about the Dread Lord, who tried to slaughter everyone at Istaquila," Nate tells Erik. Erik gets out of the bedroll, even though I try to tuck him in again.

"What did the thing want?" Erik asks. Nathaniel's frown deepens.

You are reading story The Dread Scrolls at novel35.com

"Giv as his consort," Nathaniel says. He sounds almost possessive.

"Giv can't become that. Where are we going to hide?" Erik asks. I blink at him.

"You don't want to make a stand against him?" I ask. The boy attempted to use his newfound powers before, during the battle with the turtle. I felt him gather mana into his hands.

"We are not strong enough to face him. I don't want for Giv to be forced to become anyone's consort. So, we have to hide," Erik says. Nathaniel sighs, and then pulls out a map from his bottomless bag.

"We have little choice. The Dread Lord knows we were headed to Corum. Norrix, now that the being has seen you, you are in the same boat as us," Nate says.

"Wait, we need to escort Norrix to Corum," I protest. I gave my word that we will see him safely there. I pride myself with seeing things through.

"I don't think we should lead the Dread Lord to Corum," Norrix says. "It will be a hostage situation. Rather, we can do a double back, and go to the grass lands."

"There are horse tribes in there. What makes you think that Sorix won't hold them hostage?" I ask. For, I don't tend to make any distinction between the normal civilians, and the horse warriors.

"They can protect themselves better," Norrix says. "Look, I know that not everyone is as strong as you, Givontair, but that doesn't make them defenseless."

"So, we hide in the grasslands? Until when? What if the Dread Lord purges the world of everyone who drawls breath?" I protest. Surely, they can see that it is our duty to save as many lives as we can?

"I am not convinced that Sorix is strong enough to do so. I mean, he just emptied a graveyard the last time. We have to have time to train. To raise Erik in a calm environment," Nathaniel says, as he looks straight at Erik.

"I can fight too," Erik says. I can feel him gathering mana into his hands. Yet, I don't let him wake even a single blade of grass.

"I should be the one to confront Sorix. I can eat his soul, and then he won't be any danger to us," I suggest. Nathaniel shakes his head.

"Once you have eaten a single soul, you won't be able to stop. No, we will train, and then drag the Dread Lord to the nearest temple of Harika," his tone doesn't allow for any arguments. I sigh, then.

"My fire did some damage to the necromancer," I remind Nate.

"Yet, he is back in the land of the living," Nate counters. Norrix clears his throat.

"I think that, if I keep on getting Givontair's blood, I will become strong enough, to hypnotize the Dread Lord," I nod at that. It will probably take some time, but I believe in Norrix. He has survived so much. If he wasn't prone to evolving, he'd be dead by now.

"That doesn't mean we don't have to hide," Nathaniel insists. I bite my lower lip, and look at Erik.

Am I willing to trade the lives of all the potential victims of the Dread Lord's, for the sake of a boy I met not even a week ago? I would like to say no, but my inner dragon roars at the very thought, that I might endanger my child.  

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