A Land Of Fire (Book 12) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wings high. Romulus could feel himself controlling
them, could feel himself invincible, able to control anything in the universe.
After all, it was still his moon. His time of power would be up soon, but for
now, nothing in the world could stop him.
    Romulus’s eyes lit up as he watched the
dragons aim for the Upper Isles, saw in the distance men and women and children
running and screaming from their path. He watched with delight as the flames began
to roll down, as people were burned alive, and as the entire island went up in
one huge ball of flame and destruction. He savored watching it be destroyed, just
the same way he had watched the Ring destroyed.
    Gwendolyn had managed to run from him—but
this time, there was nowhere left to go. Finally, the last of the MacGils would
be crushed under his hand forever. Finally, there would be no corner left of
the universe that was not subjugated to him.
    Romulus turned and looked over his
shoulder at his thousands of ships, his immense fleet filling the horizon, and he
breathed deep and leaned back, raising his face to the heavens, raising his
palms up to his sides, and he shrieked a shriek of victory.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Gwendolyn stood in the cavernous stone
cellar underground, huddled with dozens of her people, and listened to the
earth quake and burn above her. Her body flinched with every noise. The earth
shook hard enough at times to make them stumble and fall, as outside, huge
chunks of rubble smashed to the ground, the playthings of the dragons. The
sound of it rumbling and reverberating echoed endlessly in Gwen’s ears,
sounding as if the whole world were being destroyed.
    The heat became more and more intense
below ground as the dragons breathed down on the steel doors above, again and
again, as if knowing they were hiding under here. The flames luckily were
stopped by the steel, yet black smoke seeped through, making it ever harder to
breathe, and sending them all into coughing fits.
    There came the awful sound of stone
smashing against steel, and Gwen watched as the steel doors above her bent and
shook, and nearly caved in. Clearly, the dragons knew they were down here, and
were trying their best to get in.
    “How long will the gates hold?” Gwen
asked Matus, standing close by.
    “I do not know,” Matus replied. “My
father built this underground cellar to withstand attack from enemies—not from
dragons. I do not think it can last very long.”
    Gwendolyn felt death closing in on her
as the room became hotter and hotter, feeling as if she were standing on a
scorched earth. It became harder to see from the smoke, and the floor trembled
as rubble smashed again and again above them, small pieces of rock and dust
crumbling down onto her head.
    Gwen looked around at the terrified
faces of all those in the room, and she could not help but wonder if, by
retreating down here, they had all set themselves up for a slow and painful
death. She was starting to wonder if perhaps the people who had died up above,
right away, were the lucky ones.
    Suddenly there came a reprieve, as the
dragons flew off elsewhere. Gwen was surprised, and wondered what they were up
to, when moments later, she heard a tremendous crash of rock and the earth shook
so strongly that everyone in the room fell. The crash had been distant, and was
followed by two trembles, like a landslide of rock.
    “Tirus’s fort,” Kendrick said, coming up
beside her. “They must have destroyed it.”
    Gwen looked up at the ceiling and
realized he was probably right. What else could elicit such an avalanche of rock?
Clearly, the dragons were in a rage, intent on destroying every last thing on
this isle. She knew it would only be a matter of time until they burst through
to this chamber, too.
    In the sudden lull, Gwen was shocked to hear
the shrill sound of a baby’s cry cutting through the air. The sound pierced her
like a knife in her chest. She could not help but immediately think of Guwayne,
and as the cry,