Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Author's Note

  Realm Keepers: Episode Eight

  Explanation

  Life Rebuilt

  Kirsch

  Vultures

  Taken

  Realm Keepers: Episode Nine

  Captured

  Nap Time

  Strangers

  Out of Sight

  The Troll

  The Goblins

  Realm Keepers: Episode Ten

  The Cave

  Lost

  The Elves

  Reunion

  Counsel

  Infiltrated

  Realm Keepers: Episode Eleven

  The Colony

  Found

  A Ruined Picnic

  Drowning

  Waterfall

  Realm Keepers: Episode Twelve

  A Column of Smoke

  Frith

  The Statue

  Preparation

  Meridia

  Realm Keepers: Episode Thirteen

  Medicorp

  Giant's Gate

  Naughty Children

  Flight of the Trolls

  The Peak

  Realm Keepers: Book Two Finale

  Dragons

  Wyrmspire

  Commitment

  Temple

  A Rare Honor

  Elder Redwing

  A Double Life

  The Council

  The Waiting

  Doom

  Pronouncement

  The Mountain Pass

  Trapped

  Faith and Destiny

  Something New

  Gifts of the Alliance

  The Old Man

  Get More

  Join Us Online

  Other Books by the Authors

  About the Authors

  WYRMSPIRE

  BOOK TWO OF REALM KEEPERS

  Garrett Robinson & Z.C. Bolger

  Copyright © 2013 by Garrett Robinson & Z.C. Bolger. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.

  Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

  The authors greatly appreciate you taking the time to read our work. Please leave a review wherever you bought the book, and tell your friends about Realm Keepers to help us spread the word.

  Thank you for supporting our work.

  Visit: garrettbrobinson.com

  zcbolger.com

  Published by Living Art Books

  and Story Road Publishing

  So many people have helped make the journey of the

  Realm Keepers incredibly special.

  Our families

  have comforted us at night,

  soothed our frustrations,

  and made it possible to keep doing this.

  And our best friends,

  Our Readers,

  Have read every word,

  and have kept up the unflagging call:

  “Give us the next one.”

  Author’s Note

  by Garrett Robinson

  Hey, Realm Keepers. This is Garrett.

  Well, this has certainly been an adventure.

  The first episode of Realm Keepers came out in July of 2013. Now, more than half a year later, we’re releasing the second volume, Wyrmspire.

  There have been a few adventures along the way, and I’m not just talking about the story contained in this book.

  Writing is usually a lonely adventure. And even though Z. C. and I co-write, it doesn’t completely mitigate the fact that we’re the only ones plotting a course through an entirely unknown, made-up world. I consider that we’re “alone together.”

  When we’re making up a story, we have no idea what’s going to happen next whether fictionally or in real life. We’ve written outlines for entire episodes before, gotten halfway through the first draft, and then scrapped the whole thing because it wasn’t working. Other times, we’ve been absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent certain that the story was going to go this way—and then we’d hear something from a reader, and realize that the story actually had to go this way.

  I alternate between feeling like I’m hacking my way blindly through a jungle and feeling as though I’m part of the best mass-collaboration team ever. That team very much includes you, all the thousands of people who have downloaded or purchased the book (more than ten thousand at the time of this writing).

  As indie, low-budget, self-published authors, we rely heavily upon our fan base. We expect you to tell us when we’re drifting off the rails. And if this whole big experiment is a waste of time, we expect you to answer us with silence.

  Thankfully for my sanity, since I couldn’t see myself enjoying a life where I did anything else, instead of silence we have heard a bedlam. Fans have argued with each other (and with us) about their favorite characters. Vast, intricate hypotheses have been formed about “what it all means,” the Six, Terrence, and other characters of note within the world. And Z. C. and I have seen and enjoyed all of them, even when we’re giggling behind our hands because we can’t wait for the massive revelations coming at you throughout the series.

  Now, I’d be a bit of a jerk if I didn’t acknowledge that there was a pretty massive setback on Wyrmspire, too. This book was supposed to come out in December of 2013. We’d planned out our whole schedule based on a very tight, very strenuous level of production.

  And then, life intervened. Both of us had major family situations arise that threw buckets of wrenches into the gears. Both of us have had to spend some time doing things other than writing this book for you—because, after all, we do have tables that need food put upon them.

  When we realized that we were going to miss our publishing deadline, we prepared to announce it on our podcast and our social media, and we both braced for impact. We realized how big of a deal this was to us, and we were terrified about what it would mean to you, our readers, the only reason we do any of this nonsense in the first place.

  To our great surprise (and total relief) the response was incredibly supportive. Even those who griped (rightfully so) were good-natured about it. And in the end, you gave us the time we needed to make this book what it needed to be. Which, in my own humble opinion, is pretty fantastic.

  In short, we do not deserve the amount of grace you showed us. We are thankful for it, and in return we will we never disappoint you like that again.

  Our audience is our team. We’re all fighting this fight together, this brutal, desperate war against a force that wants to devour us, quite literally I’m afraid. I don’t see our audience as numbering in the thousands; I see our audience as one person—you—thousands of times. My life is exciting and meager and threatening enough for me to feel this way, to feel as though every word I put down (and subsequently edit out) is a thrust, a parry or a riposte. It’s very much like fighting a battle, and it’s very much as though you’re right there with me.

  Then again, my mind does tend to embellish things. If it didn’t, I’d be doing something else. So if all of that sounds flowery and ridiculous to you, and you just like reading the books, well I don’t blame you.

  And I’ll let you get on with it with a final, quiet, heartfelt “thank you.”

  See you next time.

  Garrett Robinson

  EXPLANATION

  SARAH

  MY NAME IS SARAH PRESTON, and I’m living a double life.

  I used to be a normal high school kid, just like any other. Okay, maybe not just like an
y other. I had better than average grades. I was class president. I did well in school, and I worked hard at it. I had my whole life planned out, everything laid out before me. I knew exactly what I was doing with my life and exactly where it was going to take me.

  And then I became a Realm Keeper, and my plans were destroyed in the whirlwind of panic, violence and magic.

  Then I had two lives, and it was hard to stay focused on Earth when in my other life, my life in Midrealm, I was battling for survival. Whenever I slept on Earth, I awoke in Midrealm. There, I was a powerful wizard with absolute command over earth and stone. The others, five kids from my high school, were each masters of their own element.

  It should have been amazing. And it would have been, if so many people weren’t trying to kill us. The Shadows, mindless creatures of Chaos, amassed in armies and tried to storm the walls of our cities. Elanor, the queen of Athorn, turned out to be a traitor in disguise. Her collusion with Chaos took the life of her husband Nestor, Athorn’s king. Then she had the nerve to try and arrest us for his death. And every time we stepped out beyond the barrier, more and more threats popped up, until it seemed like half the people in Midrealm wanted to kill us.

  In truth, more than half of them probably did.

  We were traveling across the world in search of Wyrmspire, the ancient homeland of the dragons. The one advantage that we had was that Terrence, the human leader of the forces of Chaos, had no idea where we were or what we were doing. And despite the days spent traveling and wondering if we would be discovered, we had relief when we awoke back on Earth. Because just as we traveled to Midrealm every time we slept in our beds on Earth, so too did we return to Earth every time we rested on the road in Midrealm. For at least eight hours a day, more often fourteen, we could shrug off the cares of our extraordinary lives in another world. We didn’t have to worry about the enemy discovering our plans. We didn’t have to keep a watchful eye for bandits on the road, and we didn’t have to scan the skies for the black wings of crows.

  We were high school students. We went to class. We muddled our way through our least favorite subjects. We had crushes and friendships and we gossiped.

  And for a while, at least, we could forget all about Midrealm and the terrible danger we’d face there at night.

  Except that now, we didn’t even have that.

  Which is why I was so ticked off when I woke up in Midrealm, in the cave that we’d chosen to spend the night in. When I’d drifted to sleep wrapped in my bedroll, Cara and Nora had been on watch. Now it was Barius and Darren.

  I threw off my blankets and stood up as they turned to me in surprise. I was angry. Plenty angry. It must have been obvious in my face. The two of them looked at each other, clearly not understanding a thing.

  “Lady Sarah,” said Darren. “We were not expecting you for another few hours.”

  I ignored him. On most occasions, Darren had a way of making me awkward, putting me off my game, due to how much he looked like Kurt back in high school. Not now, though. The rising rage inside of me pushed all thoughts of Kurt and Darren aside as it fought to come out in a scream.

  “Has Greystone contacted us?” I asked.

  Barius shook his head. “No, my Lady,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything. Why? Is something wrong?”

  “Oh, something is plenty wrong,” I snarled.

  I stomped over to Cara and shook her. Hard. Cara had become a close friend over the months that we’d fought side by side. But close friends didn’t withhold things from each other like I knew Cara had withheld from me.

  Cara started awake in a flash, her arm snapping around as if she would seize my wrist and flip me over. I had no doubt she could have done so if she’d wanted. But the instincts instilled by her training were outmatched by her reflexes. She saw it was me before her fingers could clamp down on the pressure points in my forearm, and she stilled her hand.

  “Lady Sarah,” she said, confused. “What’s wrong?” She scanned the cave entrance, then the other Realm Keepers sleeping on the cave floor.

  “Up,” I said.

  Cara frowned and rose. I was grateful that she and the other Runegard were sleeping in their armor while we were on the road. The others and I had learned, thanks to a few startling and embarrassing incidents in the Runehold, that it wasn’t normal in Midrealm for people to sleep in full clothing. Or any at all, in fact.

  “All right,” she said, her voice betraying her uncertainty. “Now, what is it?”

  “I woke up on Earth in the hospital yesterday,” I said. “And I saw something on TV. Or rather, some one. Care to take a guess as to who I saw?”

  “What’s TV?” Darren asked Barius behind me, his voice scarcely above a whisper.

  But Cara either knew the answer, or didn’t care. Because as soon as I’d spoken, her face had taken on a rigid, stony mask. She stared back at me, not angry, not defensive. She just stared.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” I said. “You knew all along. How could you? How could you possibly keep something like that from me?”

  “It was not my place to say.”

  “Whose place was it, then?” I screamed, my voice echoing from the stony cave walls all around. “Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be protecting me? How could you not tell me that Terrence, the most dangerous person in Midrealm, who seems to have no other objective in life than to kill me and the rest of us, is on Earth, too?”

  “Whoah, what now?”

  Calvin’s voice jerked me from my rage and made me turn around. He was looking up from his bedroll at me with wide eyes. On his other side, I noticed Miles coming awake as well.

  “Good,” I said. “You’re here.”

  “Um, yeah,” said Calvin. “You texted all of us to come as soon as possible. So what’s up? What are you talking about with Terrence?”

  “He’s on Earth, Calvin,” I said. “I saw him on the news. He’s some kind of British business guy or whatever.”

  “Wait, Terrence is on Earth?” said Miles, now fully awake and sitting up. “How is that even possible? I thought only the Realm Keepers could go back and forth between the worlds.”

  I heard the rustling of blankets and soft footsteps. I turned to see Raven and Blade behind me.

  “Hey, boss,” said Blade. “What’s the big deal?”

  In my agitation, I didn’t even bother telling him not to call me “boss.” Instead, I turned to Cara. “I don’t even know what to say to you,” I told her. “I thought we had become friends.”

  Instead of seeing hurt in her eyes, something to match my own, I just saw another stony, emotionless wall spring up. “My Lady, if I could explain—”

  “Forget it,” I said. “I don’t want to hear it from you. I want to hear it from Greystone.” I turned away from her. “We need to call him.”

  “Okay,” said Calvin. He looked hesitant, as though he still wasn’t sure what to make of everything yet. “Give him a ring on the telestone.”

  I blinked. “The what?”

  “The telestone,” said Calvin, looking at me like I was the one talking gibberish. “The stone he gave Tess. Where you can call someone using your mind. Get it? Like a telephone, but it’s a stone. So a telestone.”

  “It’s difficult to explain the extent to which this is not a time for stupid jokes,” I growled. “Where is the freaking stone?”

  “It’s right here,” said a quiet voice. It was Tess. She was standing half-hidden behind Blade, looking even more secretive behind the curtain of hair that covered half her face. “Why do you want it?”

  “I need you to call Greystone,” I said, my voice inviting no argument. “Now.”

  “Why?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “He’s probably asleep.”

  “I don’t care if he’s asleep,” I snapped. “He’s the one who didn’t tell us about Terrence. We can wake him up.”

  “Sarah, slow down,” said Raven, holding up her hands like I was a frightened or wounded animal. “How can you be sure the guy you s
aw on TV was Terrence?”

  “Because he’s Terrence!” I shouted. “He’s one of the first people we ever saw when we came here. And in case you’ve forgotten, a couple of days ago we saw him on the big screen, live transmission, in HD, hovering in the sky. You know, about five seconds before the barrier went down and Nestor died.”

  “Okay,” said Raven, her voice soothing, like she was trying to talk down a panicked horse. “Maybe the guy you saw just looks like him?”

  “If that’s true, then why is he looking for kids with sleep disorders?”

  That shut up everyone in the cave.

  “What exactly do you mean?” asked Cara, her words coming slow and deliberate.

  “He’s looking for teenagers with sleep disorders,” I said. “They’re running a program internationally, trying to ‘help’ people with sleep disorders. It’s totally obvious he’s just trying to find us so that he can kill us on Earth without having to bother with us here in Midrealm. He’s got a whole corporation behind him, looking for people with sleep disorders. People like us.”

  I saw Raven’s face go deathly white, as though we were on Earth and she’d slathered on her goth makeup. “What’s it called? The corporation?”

  My brow furrowed. “Medicorp. Why?”

  She began to shake. “Oh, no.” She sagged where she stood, but Barius was there to catch her. He lowered her to the corner of the cave floor and the wall, as careful as if she were his own daughter. Raven leaned back, looking like she might throw up.

  “Raven, what is it?” I asked, feeling panic rise in my chest. “What’s wrong?”

  “My parents want to take me there,” she said, her voice quivering. “They want to go the day after tomorrow. I already told them I would.”

  My stomach did flip-flops. “What? You can’t!”

  “I didn’t know!” she snapped “Duh!”

  “Okay, everyone, let’s all just take a second here,” said Miles, trying to calm us. “This is fine. Raven, just tell your folks you don’t want to go.”