Page 53 of Oaths & Vengeance (Realm of Zadrya #1)

“Glad to hear that,” I said, but then something dark and sinister crept at the edges of my senses. My stomach turned at its malevolence. I pulled on his hand, bringing us to a stop. “Wait.”

Orran gave me an amused look. “What is it?”

“Something is out there.”

He still wouldn’t let go of me, so I needed to choose between using wind power or a blade as a weapon. It would help if I knew what I was facing, but it hadn’t shown itself yet. I kept my free hand next to my sheathed knife. If necessary, I could pull it fast .

Movement darted between the trees to my right, roaming swiftly. It was barely visible as a grayish figure floating off the ground. It came closer, perhaps fifty feet away now. I squinted, and when it shifted again, I realized I could see through the creature. It was a wisp.

Most were green or blue and harmless as long as you didn’t follow them.

There were some, though, that came from evil spirits.

They were either gray or red. The fact that this one was gray meant that it hadn’t fed from anyone’s energy in a long time and must be ravenous.

If it touched either of us, it would devour our magic and then our life force until we died.

Physical weapons were useless against them. Most of the time, when one saw a wisp, the best thing to do was run or start a fire because they hated flames. I had another option—my light power. While I still hadn’t mastered using it with pinpoint focus, that wasn’t necessary in this case.

The hungry creature darted straight for us—now only twenty feet away.

I drew on my light magic as I did every time I opened a portal, except I didn’t funnel my wind powers with it.

As I lifted my hand, bright illumination spread from my palm, and the wisp ran straight into it.

A loud, screeching wail sounded before it faded to nothing.

Most likely, it wouldn’t be able to regenerate for weeks.

I dropped my hand and let go of my magic with a sigh of relief.

“Impressive,” Orran said, looking down at me with surprise. “I expected you to drag me into a run.”

This was all a game to him, of course. He hadn’t seemed worried for a moment.

“Could you have taken care of it yourself?” I asked.

The corner of his lips lifted. “You’ll never know now, will you?”

He gestured forward, and we resumed our walk through the woods.

I kept my eyes open for anything amiss. It wasn’t long before another creature came along—a leprechaun with bloody teeth and a deer haunch he threw at me.

Orran and I dodged it. As he came closer, I used my wind power to slam him into a tree.

The Prime Chief still wouldn’t let go of my hand, so I had to pull him along as I dashed for the snarling creature.

I stabbed the leprechaun in the throat and didn’t pull my blade out until he breathed his last breath.

This one must have had a gold stash somewhere nearby because they didn’t attack so viciously without cause.

I had a feeling that despite the clear trail, few ever entered these treacherous woods.

Perhaps they only used it for tests like mine.

For the next hour, I ran into several more attackers of various types as we covered at least a mile. Then, we stepped into a sunlit clearing. The blue-green grass was soft as we walked through it. I sensed no danger, relieved to leave the oppressive darkness of the woods.

“Few make it through that walk without my assistance,” Orran said, finally letting go of my hand.

I rubbed my palm, attempting to wipe away whatever magic he’d used on me. “Has anyone ever died during your test?”

“Yes,” he admitted, regret in his golden gaze. “About one in four. It is not only used for potential chief brides but also for those who wish to be elite warriors. With them, they must travel alone to this point.”

“Where do we go from here?” I asked, glancing around me.

He headed toward a boulder where a large sack sat atop it. “Normally, we’d take a trail on the other side of this clearing to reach the village, but you are going to open a portal for me to the Andalagar tribal lands in Juvarn.”

“What?” I frowned, calculating the distance. “If I do that, we’ll have to stay there for two hours until I regain my strength.”

I would barely have enough power to make it that distance now since I’d had to use a little fighting the various creatures who attacked us.

It never occurred to me that I’d need to open a portal this soon, much less one so far away, but perhaps I should have known.

My gift would always be the factor that made me valuable to everyone.

“That’s all the time it will take?” he asked, stunned.

I nodded. “As long as I don’t have to use my powers for anything else.”

“You won’t, but the question remains whether you can open this one or not.” He gave me an inscrutable look. “It is far more difficult than others.”

I straightened my shoulders, tired of everyone doubting me. “There is no portal in Paxia I can’t open. ”

“That remains to be seen.” Orran grabbed the cumbersome sack from the boulder and brought it to me. “Here are the supplies you’ll need, and this is the rune sequence.” He also drew a folded piece of parchment paper from his pocket, giving it to me.

The bag was so heavy I nearly dropped it.

I dumped the contents onto the grass. A thin, four-inch-wide metal coil with fused algodonite stones fell to the ground, along with a pouch of Holmium.

I pocketed the small bag and spread out the other item, finding the silver circle stretched to a ten-foot diameter.

It was slightly smaller than the temporary portal ring I kept stored away at Ivory Castle for occasional use.

Since this type was not grounded to a specific place, and the metal that linked the runes was much thinner, it required more power and concentration to travel far.

It didn’t even have its own rune address since it wasn’t permanent, so we couldn’t use it to return and would need to use the main ring by the sea when it was time to come back.

“Do you have a channeler here?” I asked as I adjusted the circle to smooth it against the ground. Every minute that passed brought me closer to fully recharging, so I didn’t rush the setup. “My uncle said you were short one.”

He nodded. “I took one from one of my other territories since the other passed, but he cannot open a portal for long distances more than once daily. I must always plan to stay the night if I visit other lands.”

“At least he can do it. Most of ours can only channel within Therress, except one who is like yours. She can open to longer distances but needs about eighteen hours to recover,” I said, standing back to check my work. It looked perfect.

He lifted a brow. “Is it ready?”

“Yes.”

I pulled out the parchment to study the rune sequence. I realized I didn’t have it in my records, though I did have another for the Andalagar tribe in Juvarn that led to their main village, so there must have been more than one ring there. Where would this one take us?

After pinching a healthy dose of holmium powder, I gathered the necessary elements together.

Orran kept his gaze focused on me as I worked.

I extended my hands and pushed the light magic toward the runes on the ring.

It struck each of them, one after another, until all five stones glowed, and then I intertwined my wind to begin channeling.

I pushed more power to form the connection to the other side. My hands shook, and it took all my attention to force the magic to reach the desired destination. It was so much harder than with an established ring that was properly grounded and had better conductive metal.

My muscles ached and strained as I pushed and pushed as if trying to move a mountain.

When I finally reached the receiving end, I found layers of glowing, intricately woven wards.

Gritting my teeth, I quickly began working my way through them before I ran out of energy.

My power burned through me faster than usual because these couldn’t be broken or bypassed like most others, but rather, had to be solved like a riddle.

I’d only run into a few like this in my life, though not nearly as complicated.

I was grateful for the practice I had with them since the experience helped guide my intuition now.

These wards were more complex, but somehow, I could easily visualize how to unravel each one with a little concentration and patience. It wasn’t a skill that could be taught.

After nearly a minute of furious work, a pop sounded, and a blue glow formed over the grass where the circle sat. “Hurry, go!”

“See you in a moment,” he said, giving me an impressed look.

Orran stepped into the ring, sinking downward until his body disappeared. Heaving for breath, I pushed the last surge of power remaining in me. Weakness assailed my body. I stumbled forward and entered the portal, grateful to let go of my magic as my feet disappeared into the swirling depths.

The distance was quite far since it spanned much of the continent. As my body glided through a swirling tunnel of light, I had more time than usual to study the beautiful color patterns. They were incredible, like a rainbow surrounding me and dancing to a silent tune.

I estimated that thirty seconds had passed before I exited the other side of an upright ring.

Stumbling over rocks, I managed to right myself and get my bearings.

We were high up in the Sobaryan Mountains, with their lavender peaks and hazy clouds surrounding us, making it impossible to see the land below.

The ring had to be in the northeast corner of Juvarn, which was near the ice giant territory of Hisgar.