Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) by Marcus Alexander Read Free Book Online

mouth, while in the ceiling a shaft led to an overcast and turbulent sky far above. Silent guards, shadowy and helmeted, stood about, shuffling in obvious discomfort, although whether that was caused by the cold or by Bane’s presence, it was hard to tell.
    ‘Guard, how have they been?’ asked Bane.
    ‘Restless, my lord. It has been some time since they tasted fresh meat,’ replied one of the heavily muscled guards.
    ‘Well, that is about to change,’ said Bane, walking over to the pit. He looked into the darkness below, then pulled out something from his pocket, brought it near his face and sniffed at its scent. It was one of Charlie’s T-shirts. Bane addressed the pit’s occupants. ‘Bring me back that squirming, squishy little Human girl. Bring her to me, kicking and screaming, writhing and wriggling. Bring her to me and I will feed you fresh, succulent meat. Little Treman children shall be your feast, yours to suck upon and gnaw, yours to chew and gnash upon. Bring me the disgusting little maggot and I shall show you my delight and endless gratitude.’
    Bane stepped up to the lip of the pit and dropped the T-shirt into the darkness below. A loud hissing and clicking noise boiled up from the hidden depths.
    The walls of the pit shook as they were struck and beaten from within.
    ‘Open it,’ said Bane.
    Two of the guards began to turn a huge winch. Chains hanging from the ceiling pulled taut as the grate slowly lifted upwards in an arc, then fell to the floor with a thunderous clang. The guards edged back from the gaping hole and pressed themselves against the walls.
    The things in the pit, smelling their fear, began to simmer in the darkness. Faster and faster they moved, repeatedly striking the walls of the pit until the whole room started to shake. Soon the hissing was so loud that the guards were forced to press their hands to their ears in an effort to dim the blistering noise.
    ‘GO!’ roared Bane, flinging his hands towards the shaft above. ‘Go and do not return until you have the girl! GO!’
    The pit erupted as a tide of taut muscles and serrated teeth flashed in the air. The sinuous predators were long in body, grey and worm-like. Slime-covered scales festered along the length of their bodies and ragged dragonfly wings hummed as they beat powerfully against the air. Bane’s robes were swept up around him and flapped in the wind. The creatures spun and coiled around the room, the sound of their scales brushing and rubbing against one another with a deafening screech. Spinning once more around the room, they brushed against Bane’s outstretched hand, then they were gone, flinging themselves up through the shaft and out into the darkening twilight sky.
    Bane stared up through the shaft at the dwindling silhouettes.
    ‘Maggot, I do not think your luck will last much longer …’
    ‘Bless me Leaf, Charlie, but ya never seem ta shut up!’ moaned Jensen. ‘All right, I can see it might be a little hard ta understand if ya’ve never been ta Bellania, but listen for a bit before ya start having another tantrum.’
    Charlie stopped walking and crossed her arms. ‘Tantrum?’ she squawked. ‘I don’t have tantrums! I … uh … merely like to be vocal when I express my displeasure.’ Her foot was impatiently tip-tapping on the leaf-littered forest floor and a terrible frown was plastered across her face.
    Kelko laughed loudly. The whole party of Tremen had ground to a halt and now they stood around waiting to see how Jensen would react.
    ‘OK, OK! Look, if I start answering yer questions, will ya please stop all that stompin’ and carry on walking?’ pleaded Jensen.
    Charlie pulled a face, but continued along the path.
    ‘As I was saying,’ continued Jensen, ‘once upon a time, Bellania and Earth were the same place. However, many thousands of years ago, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and all sorts of terrible things happened. We called dis time the Great Cataclysm and that was