Sword Bearer (Return of the Dragons) Read Online Free PDF Page B

done.
If it is, they let me out. I get to eat and go out. If not I just have to sleep
and drink here until everything is finished.”
    “Has anyone been by to check on you?”
    I shook my head. “No one.”
    “Then when can we get out of here?”
    “If they don’t make it home, the door won’t be opened until
tomorrow morning, when Giancarlo realizes that I’m still locked in here. And
even then, he’d need an extra key.”
    Kara kicked at the door. “I can’t make a gateway, not
without help, not after that fight with Gerard. And I don’t know who I could
connect to right now anyhow.” She paused, looked at the dark slit of window.
“There’s something else. Something about the light.”
    I looked at the window. “It was day, in the shop, before you
did the spell. And now it’s night. We didn’t just connect different places, we
connected different times.”
    Kara shook her head. “Anders, you make it sound so simple.
What you’re describing, I just can’t imagine it. There’s no way.”
    “When the circle opened here, it was early evening,” I
insisted. “The sun had just set. When I looked in at you, the sun was shining
brightly.”
    Kara looked at me in panic. “Wait, what day is it then,
now?”
    “Friday, or Venerdi, like they call it here.”
    “The winter solstice?”
    I nodded, worried about what she was going to say.
    Kara looked pale. “Then the day was the same, but the time
was different. We just lost three or four hours.”
    I felt a sinking feeling is my stomach. “That means...”
    Kara nodded. “Gerard should be here any moment,” she said.
“Even if he just walks over here, taking his time.”
    There was a rumble from deep down underneath in the castle,
a crash, and a scream.
    I cringed. “I think Gerard just arrived,” I said.
    Kara looked at the door. “How long do you think that door
will hold him?”
    “It’s one of our normal doors.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Maybe an hour? Two hours? Unless he’s brought help.”
    There was a banging at the door. Whoever was out there was
moving faster than any person I knew. The door shook. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a person. I heard a roar of frustration.
    “He’s brought help,” Kara said.
    Something slammed into the door, and we heard another roar.
The door, itself, did not budge.
    “I feel like that myself sometimes,” I said, trying to
smile.
    Kara glared at me. “There’s nothing funny. We’re about to
die, and you’re making jokes.”
    “Sorry.” I looked to Kara hoping she was joking, too. But
her eyes showed me she meant it.
    “We have to get out of here, now ,” she said. “How did
you create the portal?”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “I mean, what did you do right before you saw that circle,
with me in it.”
    “I burned some incense,” I said.
    “Incense? From his store?”
    I nodded.
    “Whatever you do, don’t do that again. All we need is
to make more connections back to him. He’ll get here soon enough as it is.” She
sniffed, looked around, found the brazier by the window. “Is this it?”
    I nodded.
    She took the brazier full of still smoldering incense, and
knocked its contents out the window.
    There was more banging from outside the door.
    “What else did you do?” Kara said. “We need to recreate the
rest of what happened, and fast.”
    I looked around. “Tea. I drank some of this tea.”
    “Drink some, and give me a cup too.”
    It felt ridiculous, to be drinking tea while the room shook
and a monster on the other side of the door roared in anger. But I sipped and
swallowed. The tea was still warm, heavily spiced, and it felt good on my
throat as it went down. I felt clearer headed as it reached my stomach.
    A shock wave hit us then, and I stumbled. The whole room
shook, but the door itself didn’t move. I stood up straight again, and felt
oddly relaxed. I refilled the cup calmly, with the last of the tea. I handed
the cup to Kara, whose eyes were wide