Trial By Fire (Avalon: Web of Magic #6) by Rachel Roberts Read Free Book Online

pointy-eared fairy musicians.
    “We are spellsingers,” the siren singer said.
    The drummer jumped to her feet, tapping a fast rhythm with her boots. “Maybe you’ve heard of us. We’re B*Tween.”



I CY BLUE WATERS rolled past the sleek sea dragon as it sped along the surface, leaving frothy waves in its trail. Powerful fins and a long tail skimming like a rudder kept the riders on its back steady and sure. Adriane and Storm sat in front of the sleek dorsal fin. They watched the green-skinned boy from the sea talk to his mount as he gently stroked tapered fins behind the beast’s scaled head. It made Adriane think of Zach and the way he had been with Windy, his brave griffin friend.
    The merboy’s clothes were sea-green and blue, like a diver’s wetsuit. Around his neck hung an opalescent star-shaped jewel. His long, green hair was pulled back and tied with several cords strung with shells. Pointy ears peeked from his kelp-like hair.
    “How did you know we would be here?” Adriane asked the boy, whose name was Jaaran.
    “We were told you would come,” Jaaran explained.
    Adriane noticed the boy’s eyes had two sets of lids. She guessed one was for protection underwater. He had webbing between his fingers, and his bare feet formed natural fins of webbed toes.
    “Told by whom?” Adriane asked.
    “The mistwolves.”
    Before she could react, the sea erupted. Geysers of water spiraled high into the air around them. Adriane and Storm watched, astonished, as several sea dragons leaped, arcing high into the air and gracefully diving nose-first back into the water. They were amazing creatures. And atop each rode a merboy or mergirl! One sea dragon cut through the rolling ocean currents, swimming alongside Adriane and Storm. It snorted and opened translucent lids to reveal large turquoise eyes.
    On its back sat a girl, long green hair flowing in the wind. Like the merboy, she had webbed fingers and toes. A sea-green shell sparkled around her neck. “Meerka sends her thanks to you. As do I, mage,” she said. Her webbed fingers formed a fist and tapped her chest.
    Adriane noticed the ragged wounds along the creature’s side. This was the one they had saved from the snow monsters.
    “I am Kee-Lyn,” the mergirl said, pulling Meerka close alongside Jaaran’s sea dragon. “The beasts caught us off guard and attacked.” Her voice lilted like waves lapping on the shore. “They are not from this realm of Aldenmor. They appeared out of nowhere.”
    “I know the feeling,” the warrior said. “I’m Adriane and this is Storm. Is Meerka all right?”
    “If not for you, Meerka would have been killed.” Kee-Lyn hugged her sea dragon’s thick, scaled neck. “The sea heals her now.”
    Meerka turned her eyes on Adriane. “You fight well. The magic is with you.”
    Adriane gazed into the dragon’s deep eyes.
    “She is a warrior,” Storm said.
    Satisfied, Meerka turned back to the sea.
    “When did the mistwolves call to you?” Storm asked.
    “Two days ago.” Jaaran swung his mount in a tight circle as the others slowed to a stop. “The packleader told us their wolf sister would come under the rain of lights.”
    Salt spray stung her face as Adriane turned her gaze skyward. Bands of light shimmered under roiling clouds.
    “How could Moonshadow have known that?” Adriane asked Storm.
    “The lights may be a reaction to the portals Kara opened with her spellsinging,” Storm mused. “And he has the other fairy map.”
    “How magnificent to bond with a mistwolf,” the mergirl said with reverence and awe.
    Adriane nodded proudly. “Stormbringer and I are from Earth. We both run with the pack.”
    “The sea dragons and mistwolves run the same path now,” Jaaran told them.
    “How so?” Storm asked.
    “Once, long ago, there were thousands of sea dragons as there were mistwolves. Not anymore.”
    “The Dark Sorceress hunts them for their magic,” Kee-Lyn explained, her ocean-blue eyes full of grief.
    Adriane