Champions of the Gods Read Online Free Page A

quiver. “Now let’s go and try out this bow!”
    They finished off his bottle and took turns practicing with the bow, and she told her story all the while. When Krentz got to the part of her meeting Dirk on the highway leading from Kell-Torey, she summoned him from the spirit world and together they told the tale. Long into the night they took turns telling the story. Azzeal became so interested in Dirk’s side that he asked him to back up and tell him more.
     
    The next morning, Gretzen awoke Krentz with a stick to the ribs. “Summon the Blackthorn.”
    With that she slipped out of the tent without another word. Krentz plopped her head back on her lumpy pillow and gave a sigh. She hadn’t seen much light coming from outside, and the sky beyond the smoke hole in the top of the tent remained dark, with but a light shade of blue.
    “You want to stay out while Dirk takes his shift?” she asked Chief, who lay curled up at the foot of the bed.
    Dirk had insisted that one of them remain with her at all times, and so he and the wolf hadn’t seen much of each other as of late. The mention of being in the physical realm at the same time as Dirk roused the spirit wolf. He changed into a streaking blue light and solidified above her, licking her face.
    “Alright, alright,” she said with a laugh. “Let me summon him then.”
    Chief obediently sat on his haunches and licked his chops, faintly whining.
    “Dirk Blackthorn, come to me,” said Krentz, holding out the figurine.
    Dirk joined them in the tent and was instantly pounced on by Chief. They flew around each other and solidified, wrestling in the middle of the tent.
    “Gretzen wants us,” Krentz told them both as she dressed. “Quit your fooling around.”
    Outside they found Gretzen sitting by a fire. The village was quiet. In the east the first hints of dawn were just beginning to mingle with the darkness.
    Azzeal sat on a log across the fire from Gretzen, and a sleepy-looking Raene was just emerging from her little hut as well. Gretzen sat with her back to Dirk and Krentz, yet she waved them over all the same.
    Standing back from the fire were six barbarian women and one child—her apprentices. Gretzen didn’t often have her underlings gathered together, and Dirk and Krentz knew that something magical was about to happen. They both sat on a log to the right of the witch, and Raene sat to the left.
    “I has been working on a spell for you all. One that will create weapons for you to fight the undead.” Gretzen tossed a handful of spice into the fire and it flared blue and yellow. “Begin the ritual.”
    The seven apprentice witches began to chant, and the fire grew higher and brighter still.
    “Give to me your weapons of choice, all but Dirk.”
    Raene, Azzeal, Krentz, and Dirk exchanged glances. Azzeal gave to her his curved elven sword, and Raene handed over her long pointed mace. Krentz began to hand over her sword as well, but on second thought, she passed the barbarian witch her new bow, Aennak.
    Gretzen gathered the weapons and put them on the flat stone in front of her and sprinkled them with a sparkling dust. Some of it she threw in the fire. It flared once more, and the chanting of the women grew stronger. From the fire, Gretzen pulled a long iron rod with a glowing shape at the end. Chanting with the others, she brought it down on the weapons one after another and branded them with the strange rune. Another handful of dust into the fire had it roaring bright blue. Slowly, the runes on the weapons began to glow the same shade.
    Gretzen handed the weapons to Dirk one after another. “You are to bring these with you into the spirit realm. You will be summoned back soon. Dismiss him,” she told Krentz.
    Krentz held out the figurine and looked to Dirk, who nodded. “Back to the spirit realm, Dirk Blackthorn,” she said.
    Dirk and the weapons turned to radiant blue fog and were swallowed up by the figurine. After many tense minutes, during which