Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
You wish the sun to scorch your old friend? The dragon laughed again. This time he didn’t sound quite so rusty. He actually managed to sound amused. I stand by my advice, he added, the amusement fading quickly.
Benedek didn’t protest. Sometimes when he was speaking with the ancient dragon it felt as if they were talking in riddles, but as a rule, Szelem gave excellent advice. He simply had to puzzle out what he meant. The frog trembled and took another long leap away from the lizard to the closest tree.
He was to look through the eyes of a hunter, not be the hunted. Benedek contemplated just how to do that while the frog made its way from tree to tree. He continued to direct the small amphibian to the ancient oak from the map in his head. Looking around him did no good. It was disorienting to see a rainforest in place of the gorge with the stand of old-growth native trees and flora. Better to look with the eyes of the frog until he got to the tree with the sap running.
The answer dawned on him, and despite the gravity of the situation, he found himself sharing his amusement with the ancient dragon. He’d had it in his head that the vampire-beast was so much more powerful. How close was he to that same power? So close. He didn’t like to think of those scars on his soul, or his love of battle, but in all truth, those very traits were assets to him. He persisted in believing the worst of himself. But who better to stop the vampire than him?
I see you have come to your senses.
I am uncertain I have much in the way of sense at this point.
Why do men make things so complicated?
Benedek somewhat agreed with him. It was one of the reasons he preferred the wild. Preferred battle. Things were simple. Black and white.
Lightning forked across the sky, lighting up the forest around him in vivid deadly flashes. With each flash, the aftermath of sheer power burned bright through the fog. The momentary streaks of light illuminating the forest revealed the tropical plants and vines everywhere.
We are using the lightning to prevent Emil from escaping via the sky, Mataias said, but I feel his presence when I use the whips.
He is up to something, Lojos agreed.
Can he wrench the lightning from you? Benedek asked. The vampire was already controlling the fog. If he had special skills controlling weather, they could be in trouble. Mataias was adept with weather, and more than once he had stolen the lightning out from under a master vampire.
As more jagged forks rent the air, sparks scattered across the sky and rained down. The little frog stayed under the cover of a large leaf, waiting for the lightning to subside. The storm built in intensity rather than ebbed. Power moved in the fog. It was distinctive. Disturbing. Building with every flash of lightning.
Seal the sky without using lightning, he counseled. I believe he feeds off the lightning.
That can’t be, Tomas objected. We incinerate all vampires with lightning. If that’s true, how do we destroy this one?
It was a fair question. One Benedek had been asking himself ever since the thought entered his mind that Emil’s power was amplified by the lightning. Already, fortune seemed to favor the vampire. He was in command of the terrain, the weather and illusions. The vampire’s illusion of a rainforest was so perfect that it was difficult not to believe he was in one. The little frog certainly had to fight for its life as nearly every predator, animal, reptile, bird and plant seemed to be after him.
Weave the safeguards stronger in the sky so he cannot escape that way. Should I fail, it will take all of you to prevent him from being let loose into the world.
He stalls to force us to go to ground, Nicu observed.
Emil knows I hunt him. He will be drawn out. Benedek poured confidence into his voice, into their minds. He had to believe it because they had no other choice.
Benedek directed the frog forward, keeping every sense alert for predators. If his internal map was correct, the ancient oak with the running sap should be straight ahead. Pitcher plants grew in abundance on the forest floor surrounding a large kapok tree. The air smelled sweet, the plants giving off the scent to attract insects and frogs to their doom. The plants covered the narrow game trail that had been the only path to the ancient oak.
Waves of evil rippled in the mist the closer he got to his destination. The little frog trembled but crept forward, drawn by the scent of food. A kapok tree rose up, the fog distorting it, giving it the look of a monster. Spines and conical thorns added to the menacing appearance. Many thick vines hung off the branches, dangling from the canopy like massive snakes. Instead of green leaves and flowers surrounding the trunk, vines of thorns and flowers, blackened and withered, climbed toward the canopy. The flowers emitted a foul smell calling to the frog, drawing in bats. A few had tasted the poisonous brew and staggered around on the forest floor or lay dead in the leaves and dirt in the cage of roots.