Into a Dark Realm Read Free Page A

then turned to see how his two younger companions were doing. In the dark he could make out Tad and Zane huddled against the cliff face behind him, ready. In the months he had lived with them, he had come to feel a kinship, and he found himself adopting the role of eldest brother more often than not. Their family had welcomed him and made him feel at home—even though home was far from ordinary; but he had come to accept the extraordinary as a matter of course since meeting Caleb and his adopted sons. He knew he would die defending them, and knew in turn each would be willing to lay down his life for him.
    Abruptly a shout echoed from within and the sounds of combat followed instantly.
    The first assassin to bolt the cave was met with the flat of Caleb’s blade across his face. Blood fountained from a broken nose as Jommyclubbed him on the side of his head with the hilt of his sword. Zane grabbed the stunned assassin by the collar and hauled him out of the way by main force.
    A second assassin saw his companion fall, even if he couldn’t see exactly what occurred in the dark, and hesitated before leaping forward, sword at the ready. Caleb barely avoided a thrust to his side, his parry ringing like an alarm. Jommy stepped forward to club the man on the head. He felt something tug hard at his tunic and realized he had almost been skewered by another assassin’s blade as he crossed before the threshold of the cave. There was a burning sensation across his lower back as the swordsman pulled back his blade.
    Ignoring the pain, Jommy slammed his hilt into the back of the head of the man facing Caleb, and in turn felt another burning cut as the swordsman behind him attempted to disengage his sword from Jommy’s tunic.
    Caleb reached out with his left hand, grabbed Jommy by the shirtfront, and yanked hard, pulling him away from danger. Zane hit the man trying to kill Jommy as another man leaped past him, attempting to run down the beach.
    “Stop him!” shouted Caleb.
    A sizzling sound, like a nearby discharge of lightning, filled the night and a bolt of energy sprang from Magnus’s hand. Blinding blue light illuminated the cave mouth and beach for an instant as a sphere of energy sped after the fleeing man, overtaking him in an instant. The man screamed and fell, his body contorting in pain as tiny bolts of energy danced over his body, a sizzling sound punctuated by crackling adding a sinister note to the display.
    Caleb and Magnus hurried to the fallen man, while the boys and the other agents of the Conclave subdued the remaining assassins.
    “Coming out!” shouted a familiar voice, and a moment later Chezarul came out of the cave. “How did we do?” he asked.
    Jommy motioned toward the fallen man as Caleb reached him, shouting, “Light!”
    A pair of lanterns, one above them and another a short way downthe beach, were uncovered, and they could see the form of a man writhing on the sand as the energy display faded from sight. Magnus said, “Bind him before I release the spell. He is unable to use any poison secreted upon him. Search him well.”
    Caleb looked down on the man for whom he’d been searching for weeks. Jomo Ketlami lay in agony, his face contorted. His fists flailed uselessly in the air, his elbows hard against his sides. His back was bowed and his legs kicked feebly against the sand. Caleb went through the man’s clothing quickly and found two poison pills and an amulet, the iron Nighthawk emblem they had come to know so well. He pulled a cord out of his belt pouch, turned the quivering man over as easily as he would a felled deer, and trussed him up in the same manner.
    “Check his mouth,” suggested Magnus.
    “Get me a light.”
    A lantern was fetched and held above Ketlami’s face. Gripping his captive’s jaw with his right hand, Caleb forced his mouth open and motioned for the lantern to be moved closer. “Ah, what is this?” he said.
    He held out his left hand, and a pair of iron tongs were