Dire Sparks (Song of the Aura, Book Five)

Dire Sparks (Song of the Aura, Book Five) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Dire Sparks (Song of the Aura, Book Five) Read Online Free PDF
Author: Gregory J. Downs
NO!” she shrieked, twisting so violently she dislodged Gramling’s foot and kicked his other leg out from under him. The Pit Strider fell as she leaped up, hands swinging in Stride-claws toward him as he scrambled back, shocked at her sudden move.
     
    No water came… but fire did. She brought her hands together in a cup, and pure-white flame shot out at Gramling in a flowing torrent of soul-searing power, obliterating everything it touched in a storm of pale ash-dust.
     
    “ Die…” she whispered. “Just die… forever…”
     
    She felt so dry . Like a fish forced to breathe air; like a vine with the water sucked out. Hate, and fear, and pain all racked her, until she felt sure she would fall apart… but she did not, and the fire kept flowing until her exhaustion returned in such force that she dropped to her knees, head bowed, unable to cry, as the flames died out.
     
    Gramling stood, singed but unharmed, where he should have been burned to a crisp. His hands were crossed in fists in front of him, and he wore a strangely awed look.
     
    “ So… powerful,” he breathed, and she looked up. He walked slowly towards her, black cloak billowing, but Elia made no move to fight or flee. She was so tired…
     
    Gramling came and knelt in front of her. She stiffened, expecting torture, or a painful awakening from this deathly dream, but he did nothing of the kind.
     
    “ Look at me,” he said. She looked away. “Look at me,” he said again, and again she ignored him. “Look at me!” he said urgently, and for a moment he sounded so exactly like Gribly she had to look. It was a mistake.
     
    He didn’t just sound like Gribly… he looked like him. In this dream world, he could probably look like anything… but to look like the one person she loved, the one person she wanted to embrace in her pain, and kiss… and… No… she pleaded silently. Don’t hurt me like this. I can’t take it.
     
    But again she misjudged the Pit Strider. He did not hurt her, only met her eyes. No matter what she tried to make herself think, she saw none of the evil in those eyes that would have driven him to torture her in the metal chamber… She could only see Gribly, and not Gramling.
     
    Only Gribly… not Gramling.
     
    He stood up slowly, and drew her up with him. She felt too weak to stand, and evidently he sensed it, keeping hold of her to stop her from falling.
     
    “ Why won’t you bend …?” he whispered.
     
    Then he pulled her close, holding her as she’d always hoped he would. No! Not him… Gribly! What was… why… He held her, and stroked her hair. He encircled her with his arms, protecting her, making her strong… but it wasn’t him! She had no strength left to struggle, especially against this… but she tried. She struggled in her mind, trying to wrench her heart away, trying to believe the truth…
     
    He. Was. Not. Gribly.
     
    “ I love you,” he whispered, and she heard only Gribly’s voice.
     
    And Elia broke.
     
    She told him everything. She whispered, she wept… but she told him. He had hit a wound she could not heal. When she was finished, she stayed silent, resting against him, hating herself and hating him, hating Gribly for opening this hole into her heart in the first place… but she could do nothing. Nothing.
     
    Gramling stayed silent until she was done, and then he stepped back, holding her by the arms and gazing into her eyes with an expression between desire and laughter, love and contempt, humility and arrogance.
     
    “ I knew it,” he said quietly. “I knew you could be moved.” Then he smiled, that same cold smile that would make him different from Gribly, no matter what he looked like.
     
    “ I hate you,” Elia spat, but she did not and could not move away.
     
    Gramling shrugged. His eyes grew misty and distant…
     
    … and the dream faded.
     

Chapter Three: Beginning
     

     
    As a small child, Gramling had often thought the Golden Sepulcher the worst place
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