The Story of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book One

Chapter Forty-Two

"Sorry, Matt," he said in a dejected tone.

"Nothing to apologize for. Luke barely got through as well. Why don't you head back down and get some food ready for us?" I touched his cheek with the palm of my hand, and he leaned into it.

"You got it!" he said brightly, though I could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"We'll climb some mountains together until we both get good at this, okay? There are a lot of things I want to do together, Dom."

His face lit up, and he dropped a kiss on my lips. "Okay. Deal."

I blushed at the display of affection and cleared my throat. Adrian was shaking his head as he watched Dominic make his way back down. "The man's bold. I give him that. He doesn't care what people think of him, he goes ahead and does it." He sounded a little envious, I thought.

"Yeah, it's what I love about him."

"Huh." He looked contemplative for a moment but eventually grinned. "I can see why." He slung his arm companionably over my shoulder. "If you go climbing with him, I want to come too."

I glanced up at him, checking for any hidden meanings, but simply found a friendly smile. "Sure."

We continued up the steep path, getting more winded as the slant of the mountain became more vertical. Elsie twisted her ankle on a hidden rock under the snow and also had to descend. We eventually reached the spot where we would need ropes. After a water break, Luke climbed up ahead and placed pitons in sturdy areas for us to attach our rope. We got our harnesses out of our packs and strapped ourselves in. With Luke guiding us, the trek up the face of the mountain was arduous but doable.

We found ourselves at the summit and, with shaking muscles and gasping breaths, stared at the shrine in front of us.

The shrine was a simple, rough-hewn structure made of rock. It had twelve pillars, with a circular stone floor and roof. The roof had the names of thirteen Edentree written on it. On a pedestal was the coin. Stationed at each pillar was a gargoyle. Someone had created the gargoyles from the same gray stone as the shrine and they were grotesque versions of common animals — monstrous lizard faces, menacing eagles, snarling dogs.

"You're the only one that can take the coin from the pedestal and once you take it, the guardians will activate and we'll have to battle them. It would have been good if we'd brought more forces, but we will prevail." Luke gritted his teeth and gave a stoic nod.

Great. Well. Guess I had to go get our butts kicked.

I walked up to the shrine and picked up the coin. That was the simple part.

Stones started creaking, then sliding. Rumbling growls from all around me vibrated my bones. I turned slowly to my left and right and saw that it was as Luke said. The gargoyles were waking up en masse.

Realizing this was the underworld, I said, "Skeletons, ghosts, anyone, if you're able to help us, come here!"

A lizard-like gargoyle stomped forward while a clattering of bones swarmed up the side of the mountain. Skeletons clambered over to the shrine, along with the blue glow of spirits. They gave me just enough time to run from the shrine before a silver glow emanated from the guardians. The glow dispersed the spirits and turned all the skeletons to ash.

Crap! I guessed that these ugly dudes were holy or something. That was too quick! I felt horrible about the blue spirits that lost their afterlives and decided not to try that again.

Luke pulled me behind him, then took the sword that he'd strapped against his side. Then he smacked at three of the gargoyles that had lunged forward with alarming speed, considering how heavy they seemed to be. The screech of metal on rock rang out, and I winced at the sound. It distracted them from coming at me for a moment, and I shuffled farther back. Erick and Beth had changed to their big cat forms and bowled over a couple.

All around, my friends battled the gargoyles, but a large eagle faced one pinned Jeanne. She touched the talon that held her, and it dissolved into golden coins. It fell over on its side and made an ear-splitting screech. She had escaped the hold, but the creature still came at her and it swiped at her with its wings. Before the wings could hit her, she ducked. Afterward, a dog-faced gargoyle cornered Adrian. He was hollering and shouting as he struck the monster, but the gargoyle was unfazed as it slung a fist at my friend.

In a panic, I thought we would not make it. We would die on this mountain, inches from victory. I was going to fail, and that was that. Then Luke let out a blast of fire that melted two of the gargoyles, and a sliver of hope rose. A pillar on the shrine was flaming because his fire had been that hot. Beth screamed as she narrowly missed being engulfed by the stream of fire. She hissed at Luke, then gave a powerful swipe at the head of a lizard-headed gargoyle. Her claws found purchase, and she made a deep gouge. Blue fire poured from her, and the gargoyle exploded. She glanced at Luke as if to say, "That's how you do it, chump."

Despite their efforts, they'd only got rid of three gargoyles. As a lion-headed gargoyle made its way toward me unimpeded, I put up my left hand in a reflex.

The beautiful ring glimmered on my finger, then glowed brightly. I winced from the light as the tiny dragon rose, then grew into a massive twelve-foot dragon. It flapped its wings powerfully, bowling over both the gargoyles and us as well. The gargoyles forgot about my friends and all approached the dragon at once, growling, roaring, and hissing. They tried the same trick they did with the skeletons, but this time, it didn't work.

The dragon screeched, and we all cowered and put our hands over our ears. Then the gargoyles roared louder in defiance and barreled towards it. The dragon reared back its head, and I knew what was going to happen next.

"Fire in the hole!" I screamed as I flattened myself.

My friends leaped out of the way toward the edges of the mountain.

The dragon let out a white-hot stream of flame. As it did, a blue force field flashed around all my friends.

I looked behind me and saw Dominic struggling on the edge of the mountain. He was holding one hand out. I grabbed his hand and helped him over the edge.

"I couldn't let you guys have all the fun," he wheezed.

When it was over, not one gargoyle remained, and the dragon had turned the shrine to obsidian. It snorted and smoke billowed from its nostrils. Finally, it looked back at me, and that was when I noticed.

There was a root between me and the dragon. I had found my seventh consort.

The dragon flapped its wings again, and I realized it was going to leave, just like that. It lifted into the air and flew away with a screech.

"Wait!" I cried out. "Wait!" I ran uselessly after the receding dot until Dominic caught up and held me.

"It's the dragon! It's number seven!" I cried as I tried to pull away from him.

"Shh, yes, I know," Dominic rubbed my back soothingly as we both stared at the part of the sky where the dragon had fled.

Why had it flown from me? Who had planted the ring in the mansion for my birds to find? Had they found it or was it given to them? I looked at the ring. It was just a bluish gold band upon my left ring finger, and it looked like a wedding band.