Dragon Blood 5: Mage Read Free

as she recalled Vikki’s last moments. “The hounds are coming.”
    Ronan nodded.
    “I thought she was talking about your son. Why would you name your son after these?”
    “A Hound to catch a hound.”
    “What are they?”
    “When humans first saw them, they called them demons, evil spirits, but the name that stuck was Hell Hounds.”
    “The hounds are coming.” She spoke the words softly. “Why now? Why are they coming now? What has changed?”
    “Nothing has changed. They’ve always been coming. What the Knights did to keep them out of this world could never last. But they didn’t want to believe that.”
    “What did they do?”
    “They bound our worlds together. Ours, the Pliethins’ and yours. It kept the Hell Hounds from coming through the Void. When they first bound our worlds, it lasted a century, but now each binding is lucky to last a decade.”
    “What has this got to do with us?”
    “Look at that picture again, kitten.” When she continued to leave the book closed, Ronan gestured towards it. “Go on, open it up.”
    She reluctantly opened the book and stared at the picture. It was a photocopy of a hand drawing. The markings faded and smudged in places. “Who drew this?”
    “My grandfather. He was the first one to tell them that their plan wouldn’t work. And when I saw everything he’d learned and read some of the information he’d written down I knew he was right. But they wouldn’t listen to me either. I was only a child.”
    She could easily imagine how that would have annoyed him. “But surely someone else must have realised?”
    “If they did, they didn’t want to know about it or do anything about it. The binding is what caused the fall out between the Knights, mages and dragons. They didn’t have to sacrifice anyone. Only the dragons did. And at first the Dragon Mages were sacrificed too, but they eventually learned how to use Pliethins instead.”
    “They?”
    “The Knights.”
    “My grandparents know about this?”
    Ronan shook his head. “Most people don’t know about this. At least not all of it. I’m the only one left alive who knows the full story.”
    “But all this was ages ago. Maybe it’s different now.”
    “Have you listened to anything I’ve said? When they first sealed our Voids together it lasted a hundred years. Now, it barely lasts ten years. Eventually it won’t hold at all. Look at that picture.” He jabbed a finger towards it. “Do you really want something like that coming after your mother?”
    She slammed the book shut. There was no way she was about to let anything come after her mother. No dragon, no Knight and certainly not the large fanged creature that looked like an upright, rabid dog. “So all this is because you want to save the world?”
    Ronan threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t go making a hero out of me, kitten. I’m not hero material. Like I’ve told you before. This is all about survival. When the binding shatters, if we’re not prepared, those hounds will destroy our worlds and everyone in them.”
    She remembered him telling her, months ago, that he’d leave his journals to her if he died. “Is all this in your journals?”
    Ronan nodded. “Yes.”
    “Where are they? Your journals. You told me the journals were mine if you died. So where have you hidden them?”
    He held her gaze a moment longer before nodding to the place in the wall where he’d replaced the stone. “In there.” His expression hardened. “If you read them before I die you are asking me to kill you. Understand?”
    She nodded, knowing it was a promise he’d keep. “So you wanted to make sure someone would deal with this even if you couldn’t. I thought you said you were no hero.”
    Ronan laughed again. “No. It wasn’t about dealing with it. I wanted to make sure they didn’t win even if I’d died. None of them listened to me. Or my grandfather. We weren’t Gold so we didn’t matter.”
    “Is that why you wanted a Council seat?