Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

the exit gate.
When I looked back at the house, I saw that Florence was no longer watching us
from the window.
    “Do you live on
the island?” I asked Ernie. “Or do you drive across the ocean every day?”
    He laughed
again. “I moved here twenty years ago, completely left all my belongings on the
mainland. This island has everything I need. I live in town, ten minutes from
here.”
    I looked back
at the community as we passed the guard shack. “What is this place? Why is it
here?”
    “Well, that’s
an interesting, complicated story.”
    “My favorite
kind,” I joked. I hated complicated stories.
    “It started a
long time ago, when Rockne lived on the mainland. Believe it or not, he’s the
last living wizard in the country, one of the last living in the world. Back
then, there were a lot more magical creatures. Almost all of them have died
out, unfortunately.”
    “How did they
die out?”
    Ernie looked at
me for a long moment. “Murder.”
    “Murder? Who
murdered them?”
    “His name is
Nalke.” He pronounced it now-key.
    Ernie continued
driving, but said nothing more. He seemed to not want to talk about it anymore,
so I prompted him. “Who’s Nalke?”
    “A very
powerful nature demon, the last of his kind. There used to be more, and they
were responsible for some of the worst natural disasters Earth has experienced.
It’s sad to say the magical world has dabbled in war, same as the human world.
    “Over the
centuries, wizards tried to put an end to the travesties of the nature demons.
A lot of lives were lost on both sides. Wizards joined with vampires and
werewolves to battle the nature demons, and, well, the world almost ended.”
    “When was
this?” I asked, my heart racing.
    “Well, it was a
few decades ago, before you were born. Every time the two sides fought,
earthquakes and tsunamis followed. Toward the end, there was only Nalke, Rockne
and a few other creatures on the good side. Unfortunately, Nalke went into
hiding and slowly took many of the remaining good guys out. Those who survived
feared for their lives and didn’t trust in Rockne’s ability to protect them, so
they did what any coward would do—they joined Nalke.”
    “Rockne was
alone?”
    “Not
completely. He had one sorceress on his side. Together, they came up with a
plan to infiltrate Nalke’s realm. The sorceress attempted to assassinate the
demon from the inside but before she could...she got pregnant with his baby.”
    “What!”
    “She didn’t
love him, mind you,” Ernie added quickly. “It was an unfortunate mistake on
both their parts, and she barely managed to escape with her life. She and
Rockne have been able to keep hidden from Nalke, and Nalke from them.
    “They encounter
each other every now and then, and a tiny fight may ensue, but neither can seem
to finish the other.”
    After Ernie
finished, we sat in silence for a long time. I didn’t even realize we were at
the rail station until he told me.
    “Nalke doesn’t
know about this place?” I asked.
    “Not to my
knowledge, no.”
    “But we’re
surrounded by water and air. How could he not?”
    “He’s the sole
remaining nature demon. He is weak, his attention scattered. He only expends
his energy if he knows it will benefit him.”
    I thought about
the nightmare, about the tornado, with the face telling me to help find Dargo.
I told Ernie about it. He seemed unworried.
    “Oh, I’m sure
he knows the name of this place, but not the location.”
    “That’s good.”
I laughed. “And, despite all of that, with the war and everything, you trust
regular people like me to protect you?”
    “Who else is
there?” he asked.
    “The
government?”
    Ernie shook his
head. “No way. The less people know about us, the better. Besides, if the
government knew about the super-humans living here, what do you think they
would do?”
    “Study them?” I
guessed.
    “Exactly. No,
things are better this way.”
    “But you and I
would be no match against Nalke,