Not All Heroes Are Guiltless

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Dungan’s POV

I hold back everything and watch with a cold expression. But I truly want to scream out when he grabs my Nadar, but he would kill her so quickly if I broke down. He only saw the slight glimpse of my eyes to her still form lying on the ground, and even that short glimpse was enough to find my weakness. Why couldn’t she understand she was a handicap and now I’ll get her killed because he will learn she’s special to me.

Tian used to be someone I could depend on. One of Belva’s sons, and at one time a good resource for information about the mage war from millennia’s ago. He was knowledgeable and compassionate. He was searching for a source that could restore balance after the mage war, which ravaged the white forest. That’s when he learned and then found the moon altar. I even helped him build the spells and machines, which brought it up from the depths of the deep glacial lake. I can feel the course of a darker and more sinister power leaking from him. His once joke to wear owl feathers to be blessed by knowledge has created a different purpose now. His head is so corrupt with the power he’s gained from the altar. I missed what Belva said. I should have understood when Belva thought I was orchestrating the Hou Ndours conquering because she obviously could feel the corruption seeping on her own son and blamed me for it. Now, he has some alliance with Hou Ndour to help him with sacrifices.

He lifts my Nadar by her ankle and pulls her over his head. I have never been so frightened in my life. She looks almost like porcelain in his hands, almost like he can shatter her at any given second. Tian wouldn’t have ever resorted to killing of children, let alone an innocent, beautiful maiden. I have to be careful, or he will know what she is to me. Because right now, I’m not strong enough to defeat him in his current enraged power-lusted irrational condition.

Ripples of energy from the moon altar make me shiver, as the shield and protection I have around her fall apart. In a mad dash, I try to reinforce them, but nothing seems to be going through because of the interruption of the moon altar. Tian starts to smirk proudly as himself as he starts to realize I’m trying to save her. That’s when a bright light blinds me, and loud boom erupts from her, and I have to put all my effort into saving myself. The impact shatters around me, and its force breaks even some of my longest placed spells. Quickly, I scan around me. There are white flames with blue heat devouring the ground around me, and everything it touches incinerates. Grateful one of my shields seems to keep the flames from reaching me.

Tian shrieks and screams in agony, and I can see him moving with her flames ripping into his back. He’s still able to summon a portal since the altar is so close, and I regretfully I watch him escape through and close it before I can bare to stand up in the white heat.

I try to move closer to her, and I fight every instinct in me to shrink away from the flames. My demon, the vengeful sprite, feasts on all my pain and sorrows as I painstakingly take more steps towards my Nadar. It seems to feel sated, and I can already feel my reserve replenishing and even enlarging with the influx because something more bizarre is occurring. The sprite seems almost remorseful about the idea of Nadar being hurt. It wants the feast but doesn’t want the consequences. Must be what she referred to as my spells stroking her and pulling her close like the tendrils have their own consciousness.

It’s been since my stay in the dungeon in Redland since I was able to feed my sprite. I’ve starved him, and my energy has been running low. If I was at full strength, then Tian wouldn’t have been able to run away from me. I don’t even have the strength to go tracking him, and the fear he’s still killing children for more power makes me concerned.

The ground is smoldering when I finally reach my Nadar. She’s face first in dirt and ash. I scoop her up and hold her to my chest. Her body is severely scared from the fire, and my heart drops slightly. Easily, I cast spells to shield her from the few flames left, heat, and smoke. My sprite almost seems driven to try to heal her, and I can feel the flow of energy moving to surround her in a seamless strain.

I surveyed the damage she caused, and the entire island is up in flame. The only thing standing are the trees, which are on the verge of toppling over. The lake water has been warmed to possibly near boiling because dead fish are floating on the top of it.

What was left of the mercenary camp was smoldering ashes. I won’t be able to investigate the deal he had with Hou Ndour. I’d rather not guard this place for the off chance he will return because he would be ready, and I’m not going to be able to leave her behind again.

I should be angry she didn’t listen to me. I should be annoyed. My spells couldn’t hold her down until I was able to reach the other children. He only had one child on the altar, not the dozen or so more in the wagons. He must have moved them to the portal for protection.

Now, the child was incinerated with everything else. I look at the smooth altar stone, and I’m furious. Nowhere in the legends was a mention or concept of children sacrifices made at this altar. It was able to amplify one’s reserve for some of the greatest enchantments, and I would hate to see it desecrated if I might have a need for it in the future.

One of Neith’s descendants must be behind the corruption. This means this moon altar was overtaken by one of the vengeful sprites. If I used it, maybe it wouldn’t harm me because I already have a sprite myself. Yet, if anyone else found it and learned how to use it, they would be susceptible to its corruption.

I carefully lay my Nadar down in the safest place I can find and then walk up closer to the moon altar. I place both hands on the smooth whetstone. I concentrated on the spells, which bound it to the gods that created it. I have tried to live my life without provoking the entities who like to delve into our lives. I truly hope they would understand the magnitude of what this altar will do if it lies in the hands of someone who could corrupt the erudite Tian.

The stone shatters into thousands of pieces under my hand, and all the pieces fall into a big rumble pile in the middle of the burned-out island. Appraising the lingering strands of spells, I can tell most have been separated from the stone, but I’m never certain. Nell was always able to confirm, and maybe my mate would be able to find the strands I missed.

She’s still comatose from the flux of her own energy, and it might be several days before she can recover. She is so much stronger than her parents, and that’s causing most of her trouble. I just hope I have enough time before I’m indisposed to ensure she won’t kill everyone around her again.