Children of the Sun and Moon Read Online Free Page B

this out.”
    Slowly they
backed away from the advancing trees, turning away the blows and
trying to avoid making any cuts. They had almost reached the middle
when some clouds rolled in, and there was a rumble of thunder. The
two turned and looked at each other, both wearing a confused
expression. When they turned back to face the trees, a bolt of
lightning came from the clouds. It landed between them and the
trees, knocking both Eric and Koral off their feet. Eric scrambled
to get up and noticed the trees were avoiding the spot where the
lightning had scorched the earth. “I know what to do,” he hollered
to Koral. Not waiting for a response he ran toward the trees and
threw down his sword.

    Koral gathered
herself and stood, watching Eric as he ran away from her. She
thought she heard him chanting something, and he began to sway his
arms back and forth. Koral, felt the hairs on her neck stand up,
and started to move closer to him. The air appeared to have a
sizzling sound to it. Just as she drew near, there was a loud
WHOOSH and the trees went up in flames. Koral could not believe
what she was seeing. The faces of the trees appeared to be
screaming in pain, and as fast as all of this had started, it was
over. They disappeared from in front of them, reappearing in the
forest, back to normal. Eric, exhausted, collapsed to the
ground.

    The clouds
which had blown in, were now gone and Eric suspected it was
Gillock’s doing. He heard Koral yell his name, then felt her arms
around him, but could not respond. The spell had taken more out of
him than he had expected. Eric felt the ground under his head and
assumed Koral had laid him down. He was feeling quite dizzy and
decided to close his eyes and rest. The last thing Eric heard
before drifting off was the distant sound of a galloping horse,
which appeared to be drawing nearer.

    Gillock watched
the twins approach the clearing. Judging by their expressions, he
gathered they had not been able to unlock the secrets of the book.
Not that he had expected them to. It had been a diversion to get
them to, at the very least, think about magic. Gillock sat and
listened to them, and of course was not surprised by Eric's
impatience. After sending out several searching spells, Gillock was
quite relieved to discover that no Magima had followed them
today.

    When some time
had passed, Gillock decided to set his test into motion. Quietly
chanting his spell, the trees around him began to move. He decided
this would be a simple test; nothing too complicated, and was not
at all surprised to see Eric start slashing right away. He was,
however, disappointed to hear Koral suggest it. Just when it looked
like the twins were getting the upper hand, Gillock changed the
weapons of the trees. Eric and Koral reacted accordingly, still
clumsily slashing and chopping away. He almost stopped the test
when Koral was hit, but decided to see how she would handle it.
Gillock was quite stunned when he saw Koral unharmed, except for
maybe losing her breath for a moment. “She has more power than I
thought,” he muttered to himself. When they started to retreat,
Gillock decided he would have to give them a bit of a hand. Calling
up a minor storm, he tried to show Eric what to do and was
pleasantly surprised when it worked. Watching as Eric cast his
spell, Gillock became worried. The spell he cast was very powerful
one, which he should not have been able to do. Once the trees were
back to normal, Gillock left his hiding place and rode off toward
the twins.

    “Eric, wake
up,” came a voice in his head. Eric opened his eyes to see his
sister and Gillock hovering over him. “Can you speak?”
    Eric slowly sat
up. “Yes, I am fine now.”
    Koral sat back.
“Good to hear. What was that anyway?”
    Eric looked at
his sister, then to Gillock and realized things had now been set in
motion, as he had been told they would. Jumping to his feet Eric
said, “I am sorry Koral, but I cannot explain it. I have