Realm Keepers 01 - Realm Keepers

began whipping at us, sending my hair flying back and forth in the tempest.
    With a crash, a blue wave of energy erupted from the columns, spreading across the landscape in a horizontal wall and speeding away into the distance in either direction. The first wave of Shadows crashed into the wall, and they dissolved into clouds of black smoke on contact. Rank after rank of the creatures slammed into it, dissolving instantly into dust and scattering to the wind. They tried to stop, but the momentum of the horde was too great, and the creatures in the back shoved their brethren forward as they tried to stop, casting them to their deaths.
    Finally the horde managed to slow, then stop, gnashing their teeth and slamming their weapons against their shields on the other side of the wall of energy. Their voices couldn’t penetrate the barrier, however, and suddenly it was all oddly quiet on our side of the wall.
    “Ha-ha-ha-holy cow!” Calvin screamed, laughing maniacally. I grinned.
    “We did it!” Blade said, sounding the happiest I’d ever heard him in his life.
    “You did,” Greystone said, his eyes alight and a smile on his wrinkled old face. “You have undergone your first trial as Rune Holders, and a pressing trial at that, and you have passed. To, I must admit, a slight amount of surprise on my part.”
    “Tess!” cried someone. It was Blade. I whirled to see Tess lying on the ground where she had fallen. She wasn’t moving, and her eyes were closed.
    “Oh my God!” I cried, running over to her. I lifted her head up to cradle it in my lap and put three fingers on her neck. I could feel her pulse, strong and thumping against my fingers. I looked up at Greystone. “Is she all right?”
    He nodded. “She is merely exhausted. I fear this one has forgotten the parts of herself that suited her for her gift. But she will recover them in time.”
    “What do you mean, the parts of herself?”
    Greystone sighed. “There is much to say. It can wait for later. But see? She is not harmed.”
    I looked down, and sure enough Tess was smiling in her sleep. It was a little smile, but it reassured me. Blade, crouched beside us both, rested back on his haunches with a sigh of relief.
    I stood before Greystone and smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you. Truly. We wouldn’t have made it without you.”
    “Of course not!” he said gruffly. “That is my purpose.”
    “And thank you, too,” I said to Cara. “You and your men risked your lives for us today, and I know many of them were lost. We’ll never forget it.”
    She nodded in acknowledgment. I suddenly felt that I should do something. I didn’t know why; I only knew that it felt right. So despite the shock on her face, I stepped forward and grabbed her in a hug. I felt her tense up, obviously uncomfortable with embracing one of the Rune Holders. I didn’t care.
    I released my grip and stepped back, looking into her eyes. She still looked incredibly awkward, but there was something else there, too: a deep sadness, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I didn’t see any trace in her eyes of the jubilation the rest of us obviously felt at surviving.
    I decided to let it go. It could wait for another time. I stepped past her and went to the men.
    “Will you remove your helmet?” I asked the first one.
    He started, clearly surprised, but then he reached up and pulled the gleaming metal from his head. He was older than Cara, though not nearly as old as Greystone, and he had a full beard. His dark brown hair was flecked with grey, and his nose was wide and red.
    “What’s your name?” I asked him.
    “Barius, my Lady,” he said respectfully, bowing his head.
    “I’m Sarah,” I told him. “Thank you for what you did for us today.”
    Barius fell to his knee. “It was my duty. I swore an oath.”
    I gripped his shoulder plates and pulled him back up. “Not to me, so I’m still grateful. And you can say, ‘you’re welcome’ now.”
    Barius looked at Cara nervously. She shrugged. “Very well…you are welcome. My Lady.”
    I smiled and went to each of them in turn, asking them to remove their helmets. I learned each of their names. Samuel. Melaine. Nora.
    The last knight removed his helmet, and I gasped.
    He looked like Kurt Masterson. Exactly like Kurt Masterson. It was uncanny. The same blonde, curly hair. The same bright blue eyes. I noticed, though, that this knight had a scar on his left cheek that Kurt didn’t have. Other than that,