The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online Page A

the
mist rose. He blinked, wondering if he were seeing things, as the outline of a
distant land appeared on the horizon. His pulse quickened. It was land. Real
land!
    The
land appeared in a most unusual shape: two long, narrow peninsulas stuck out
into the sea, like two ends of a pitchfork, and as the mist lifted, Thor looked
to his left and right and was amazed to see two strips of land on either side
of them, each about fifty yards off. They were being sucked right down the
middle of a long inlet.
    Thor
whistled, and his Legion brothers arose. They scrambled to their feet and
hurried over beside him, standing at the bow, looking out.
    They
all stood there, breathless at the site: the shores were the most exotic he had
ever seen, densely packed with jungle, soaring trees clinging to the shoreline,
so thick that it was impossible to see beyond them. Thor spotted huge ferns, thirty
feet tall, leaning over the water; he looked up and saw yellow and purple trees
that seemed to reach into the sky; and everywhere, there were the foreign and
persistent noises of beasts, birds, insects and he did not know what else, snarling
and crying and singing.
    Thor
swallowed hard. He felt as if they were entering an impenetrable animal
kingdom. Everything felt different here; the air smelled different, foreign.
Nothing here remotely reminded him of the Ring. The other Legion members all
turned and looked at each other, and Thor could see the hesitation in their
eyes. They all wondered what creatures lay in wait for them inside that jungle.
    It was
not as if they had a choice. The current brought them one way, and clearly this
was where they needed to disembark to enter the Empire’s lands.
    "Over
here!" O'Connor yelled.
    They
rushed to O’Connor’s side of the railing, as he leaned over and pointed down at
the water. There, swimming alongside the ship, was a huge insect, a luminescent
purple, ten feet long, with hundreds of legs. It glowed beneath the waves, then
scurried along the water’s surface; as it did, its thousands of small wings started
buzzing, and it lifted just above the water. Then it went back to gliding along
the surface, then it plunged below. Then it repeated the process all over
again.
    As
they watched, it suddenly rose up, higher in the air, to eye level with the
boys, hovering, staring at them with its four large green eyes. It hissed, and
they all jumped back involuntarily, reaching for their swords.
    Elden
stepped forward and swung at it. But by the time his sword reached the air, it
was already back in the water.
    Thor
and the others went flying, crashing on the deck, as their boat came to a
sudden stop, lodging itself on shore with a jolt.
    Thor's
heart beat faster as he looked over the edge: beneath them was a narrow beach made
up of thousands of small jagged rocks, bright purple in color.
    Land.
They had made it.
    Elden
lead the way to the anchor, and they all hoisted it and dropped it over the
edge. They each climbed down the chain, jumping off it and landing on shore,
Thor handing Krohn to Elden as he went.
    Thor
sighed as his feet touched the ground. It felt so good to have land—dry, steady
land—beneath his feet. He would be fine if he never set sail on a ship again.
    They
all grabbed the ropes and dragged the boat as far onto shore as they could.
    "Do
you think the tides will take it away?" Reece asked, looking up at the
boat.
    Thor
looked at it; it seemed secure in the sand.
    “Not
with that anchor,” Elden said.
    "The
tide won’t take it," O’Connor said. "The question is whether someone else
will.”
    Thor
took one long last look at the ship, and realized his friend was right. Even if
they found the sword, they might very well return to an empty shore.
    "And
then how will we get back?" Conval asked.
    Thor could
not help but feel as if, every step of the way, they were burning their
bridges.
    "We
shall find a way," Thor said. “After all, there must be other ships in the
Empire, right?"
    Thor
tried