Page 115 of Blood of Ancients

I turned around, clutching Sven while he dragged Magnus to the door—the bloodrender still holding onto a bleeding Whisperer.

Grim strode forward, hauled Arne up in a bear hug, and stormed around into the portal, leaving the iceshaper kicking and screaming over his shoulder, trying to get at the descending dark elves.

Corym, with Elayina in his arms, was the last to enter the portal.

Chapter 32

Ravinica

ALONE IN THE COLORFULportal tunnel, I had no idea how the rest of my mates would make it.Can you carry a body—Elayina and Arne—through the realms? What about dragging someone like Kelvar?

My journey took me longer than the first two excursions, the directions and space all muddled with my warring thoughts. At one point, I thought I’d be trapped in this otherworld forever.

At the end of it, when the light finally showed itself and allowed me to grasp it, I had no idea how long I had walked through the magical hall. It could have been five minutes or five months.

I ended up tumbling through the sky again, dropping a few feet onto the soft grass of Kiir’luri’s forest floor. For a moment, I was utterly alone. Anxious as I got to my feet, glancing around at the fluttering trees and swaying branches of this alien planet.

Then Sven appeared from nothingness, with Magnus still holding onto Kelvar. Grim and Arne arrived next, falling from a point in the sky above my head and landing next to me in the circle of elfstones. Corym came last, minutes later, holding Elayina tight against his chest like a frail babe.

We were silent as the usual wave of dizziness swept through us, one and all.

Hersir Kelvar hacked a cough. Blood trickled down his chin. He held a hand to his side, which seeped with red through the fingers of his black gloves. The Whisperer winced when Magnus let him go, falling onto his back to stare up at the sky with a dazed expression.

Grim let a writhing Arne go, and the iceshaper flopped to the ground in a bed of leaves, crying and shouting incoherently.

Corym glanced down at Elayina in his arms. Greenish color came to her cheeks—much better than the gray before. She looked to be healing before our eyes.

Our group was in a sorry way. The mayhem of our multiple situations arose all at once in a rush of voices and concerns.

Magnus started the tumult, gripping Kelvar by the lapels of his dark tunic. “Why did you do that, old fool?!”

The Whisperer only responded with a rattling cough, more blood dripping down his sharp chin. His gray eyes were losing color fast. I knew he was on the way out.

It was one of the most intense outbursts I’d seen from Magnus. His indifference was what had stuck him with the title of “sociopath.” This was entirely different. He showed true worry on the lines of his pale face, and our group huddled in—save Arne, who was sobbing in his own world off to the side.

The odd relationship Magnus had formed with Kelvar was clearly reaching a boiling point, driving him mad with questions the older man refused to answer.

And now he might never get them.

My heart hurt for my men. Arne, Magnus, Corym. The utter loss that threatened our group hollowed out my soul. I didn’t want to make this about me—to blame myself for their troubles because of my rebellious act of opening the portal.But Elayina would be fine if the portal hadn’t been opened to let in the dark elves. Frida would have never gone looking for their assistancewith her ill-advised plan of redemption and vengeance. Kelvar wouldn’t have taken a sword in the gut.

Magnus shook the Whisperer again, yelling, “Why do you continue to help me?!”

Kelvar groaned from the jostling of his wounded body, screwing his eyes shut. I wanted to reach out and calm Magnus—

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