Strife In The Sky (Book 7) Read Online Free Page A

and winked with life. Orange and blue colors swirled in the metal of the blade. It hummed. Moaned. Angry. Urging Nath to release it.
    “I will not!” Nath said. He staggered in the grove. “You’ll have to burn my fingers off first!”
    Water. Nath wanted water to douse the blade in to cool his fingers. But no stream nor any creek trickled nearby.
    Don’t think about water. Think about control.
    Fang! You are mine! A gift from my father. You serve me. I do not serve you!
    The blade flared with mystic fire and let out an angry moan.
    Nath could feel the scalding heat up to his elbows. His great arms juttered. His teeth clenched.
    Fang! Listen to me! Stop this! Stop this madness now!
    The blade shook in his hands from a force of its own.
    “I will not let go, Fang! Not until you succumb to me!”
    The dragon heads on the hilt started to move. Streams of smoke poured from their nostrils. They let out tiny roars.
    Nath’s hands started to smoke. The white scales on his palms burned.
    “Fang! Enough of this!”
    Nath’s body trembled. His great muscles convulsed. He fell to his knees, with his scales sizzling. His own mind screamed. His fingers begged to recoil.
    I cannot! I will not!
    Nath fell on his back screaming. Birds scattered from the trees. Branches shook. He held on, fighting the pain until his mind began to black out.
    “Fang,” he whispered. “You are my friend. I need you. But you must trust me.”
    The bladed metal swirled with scintillating colors and heated up in one great burst. Nath felt every ounce of its power rush through him like lava, and it swept him across the ground. He held on and on and on. Everything hurt from head to toe, but he held on.
    “Fang,” he managed to say, “trust me again.”
    The blade winked out. The metal cooled in his hands. Nath let out a long sweaty sigh and said, “Thank you, my friend. Thank you.”
    He rolled to his knees and pushed himself up with the blade. He peeled one hand away.
    “Uh.”
    His hand was swollen and it trembled like a leaf, but there was no burn on it. He checked his other hand and it was the same. 
    “Whew,” he said, dashing the sweat from his eyes. “I’m glad you got that sorted out. And I’m gladder to have you by my side. I never would have made it this far without you.”
    He hefted Fang over his shoulder, picked up the scabbard, and searched for his horse. Minutes later, he was riding back toward his friends. When he got there, doubtful faces greeted him, but he was all smiles.
    He stretched Fang out over his head and let the steel blade shine in the sun.
    “Saddle up. It’s time to vanquish evil.”
    ***
    Bayzog rode easy, studying a piece of mystic shard in his hand. The bright fragment’s powers were gone, but some mystery remained. How did the forces of Barnabus harness its power? The crystals were almost impossible to mine and shape, but somehow they managed to do it. It was a grave concern.
    “Worried, I see,” Nath said, riding up alongside him.
    “Is it that obvious?”
    “Well,” Nath said, “you always look concerned about something.”
    “It’s that bad, is it?”
    “For an elf, maybe, but for a man, maybe not so bad. So, tell me, what are you thinking?”
    Bayzog wanted to ask the same thing, but Nath had made his plans quite clear. He was heading straight for the River Cities to find out what was going on with these crystals. Not a subtle strategy but a bold one instead.
    “I’m thinking only one person is capable of making these things,” Bayzog said. “Maybe a few, and the more we close in, the more heavily guarded they will be.” He glanced back at the forest and fields behind him. “Not to mention, we are most likely being pursued from all angles, thanks to your efforts at the bridge.”
    Nath sat tall in the saddle with a calm look in his eyes and said, “The path is broad to where we go, and we won’t be so easy to find.”
    “And when we get there?”
    “We’ll come up with