Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two) by T.L. Clarke Read Free Book Online

it." Orion paused. "Let’s face it; the situation is getting more dangerous. The wards around the academy were completely destroyed when we arrived. And I don’t have to remind everyone that this is the fifth attack in less than a month, and that’s just on the Eternals ."
    "This I know, Orion, but I’m looking for answers, not a detailed tongue-lashing about our ineptness. More importantly, the Elementi Conclaves are looking for answers, and I’ve yet to get any," Helios snarled.
    Chaos’s eyes narrowed coldly. "There are no answers, Helios. The Elementi are not the only ones suffering at the hands of the Banished and Daemons . We’ve lost more Warriors in the last month than we’ve lost in a year, and now our Neophytes are being attacked. We need answers too. We’ve ordered more Guardians for the Royal Elementi Conclaves. We’ve stepped up the number of Gatewatchers, and the Trackers are on twenty-four-seven rotation. What else do they want us to do? Maybe if they put more of their own Warriors out in rotation, then we could actually make some progress in this war."
    "Don’t start, Chaos. Now is not the time for this discussion. Besides, they look to us to do our job; failure is not an option for me or the Eternal Council. Please keep that in mind, or I’ll have to find someone else that can contain this situation," Helios snapped.
    Chaos’s body stiffened defensively. Orion looked at him quickly, shaking his head, indicating not to respond.
    "We are all tired and, frankly, a little on edge, Helios. We are all doing our best with a limited pool of trained Eternal Warriors, and we can’t train our Neophytes fast enough; between trying to protect our own and trying to protect the Elementi Conclaves and the Gates, we are simply stretched thin, and our enemies know this," Orion stated firmly.
    "I know this, Orion, but we are still chasing our tails, and in order to survive, we need solutions. Our survival depends on it," Helios responded with a tinge of frustration.
    "Any survivors?" a woman’s voice interrupted sharply.
    Chaos’s face was grim. "Just Thallo and the Neophytes ."
    There were sounds of people gasping and shouting on the other end of the line. "Impossible" and "By the Goddess" were peppered with the screams of outrage and anger.
    "Silence! Let’s keep calm," Helios barked. "Are you telling me that all of the students, professors, and seasoned Eternals sent to protect the Neophytes were killed?" His voice was cold, almost frighteningly so.
    "Yes," Chaos responded quickly.
    "This is Thallo, and I’m still at the academy. We’re still assessing the damage, but I can confirm that there are no other survivors."
    There was an awkward silence that droned on for minutes. Tension filled the air before someone from the council spoke. "This is
    Queen Nemesis. How could this have happened again? The Banished are systematically attacking our academies by thwarting our protection systems, the Elementi wards. They never had the power to render them useless," she stated sharply.
    Justice snorted sarcastically, "Obviously they do now."
    Chaos shot him a "please shut up" look. "The Banished powers and numbers are increasing. This is a fact that we’ve ignored much longer than we should. We need to change our mode of defense. The stuff we’ve been using for centuries is no longer working; they are gaining strides in the war."
    "I agree with Chaos. They have bypassed all of our security measures by destroying all of the wards; this possibility was unheard of just months ago," Thallo said with frustration.
    "And the possibility of them attacking our academies was also improbable just months ago, but here we are talking about the fifth attack, this time on our students and professors," Orion stated matter-of-factly.
    "I have always thought that having academies for Normals was a bad idea. It is a security risk that we can ill afford." Queen Nemesis spat.
    Helios growled loudly. "Please allow Queen Harmonia to speak