Free A Land Of Fire (Book 12) by Morgan Rice Page B

way,” she finally said.
“One way you can prove it to them.”
    Alistair looked at her, her heart
pounding.
    “Tell me,” she said.
    His mother sighed.
    “We Southern Islanders have a right to
challenge. If you challenge Bowyer to the Drink of Truth, he will have no
choice but to agree.”
    “What is that?” Alistair asked.
    “It is an ancient rite, practiced by my
forefathers. On the highest cliff, we have a fountain with magical waters, the
waters of truth. Whoever lies and drinks from it will die. You can challenge
Bowyer to the drink. He cannot refuse, or else be assumed to be lying. And if
he is lying, as you say, then the waters will kill him—and prove your
innocence.”
    She looked back at Alistair
meaningfully.
    “Are you prepared to drink?” she asked.
    Alistair nodded back, elated at the
chance to prove herself, elated that Erec would live, and knowing that her life
was about to change forever.
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    Romulus opened his eyes slowly, awakened
finally by the sound of crashing waves, and the feel of something crawling
across his face. He looked up to see a large, purple crab, with four eyes,
crawling slowly on his face. He recognized it immediately: it was a crab native
to the mainland of the Ring. It narrowed its four eyes and opened its jaw to
bite him.
    Romulus reacted instantly, reaching up,
grabbing it in his palm, and crushing it slowly. Its claws pierced his flesh,
but he didn’t care. He listened to it scream, and he delighted in the sound of
its pain, continuing to squeeze it deliberately and slowly. It bit and pinched
him, but he didn’t mind. He wanted to crush the life out of it, to prolong its
suffering as much as he could.
    Finally, its juices dripping down his
palm, the creature died, and Romulus chucked it to the sand, disappointed its
fight was done so quickly.
    Another wave crashed, this one rolling
over the back of his head, over his face, and Romulus jumped up, covered in
sand, shook off the freezing water, and looked around.
    Romulus saw he’d been passed out, washed
up on a beach, and recognized it as the shore of the Ring. He turned and saw
thousands of corpses, all washed up onto shore, as far as the eye could see.
They were all his men, thousands of them, all dead, all washed up, unmoving on
the beach.
    He turned and saw thousands more
floating in the waves, lifeless, slowly being washed up with the others. Sharks
nipped at their bodies, and all up and down the shore was a blanket of purple
crabs, feasting, devouring the corpse’s flesh.
    Romulus looked out at the sea, so calm
now, at the sunrise of a perfect, clear day, and he tried to remember. There
was a storm, that wave, greater than anything he imagined could exist. His
entire fleet had been destroyed, like playthings of the ocean. Indeed, as he
scanned the waters, he saw it littered with debris, wood from his former ships
floating up and down the shoreline, what remained of his fleet butting against
the corpses of his men, like a cruel joke. Romulus felt something on his
ankles, and looked down to see the remnants of a mast smashing against his
shin.
    Romulus was grateful and amazed to be
alive. He realized how lucky he was, the sole survivor of all his men. He
looked up, and even though it was morning, he could see the waxing moon, and he
knew his moon cycle had not ended—and that was the only reason he had survived.
Yet he was also filled with dread as he examined the shape of the moon: his
cycle was almost up. That sorcerer’s spell would end any day, and his invincible
time would come to an end.
    Romulus reflected on his dragons, dead,
on his fleet, destroyed, and he realized he had made a mistake to pursue
Gwendolyn. He had pushed too hard, for too much; he had never expected the
power of Thorgrin. He realized now, too late, that he should have been content
with what he’d had. He should have stayed on the mainland of the Ring.
    Romulus turned and looked out at the
Ring, the Wilds framing