Son of the Dragon (The Netherworld Gate Book 3) Read Online Free

will need it!”
    Talon was out the door in a flash. The two spirits moved along with him, walking through the slammed door and easily keeping pace with the running boy who was chasing his father down the path leading toward the meadow near their house. Even as a spirit, Talon could only faintly make out his father’s outline as the sun was beginning to drop below the horizon.
    “Talon!” his mother called from behind.
    The young boy shook his head. “Orcs attack at night.” The young Talon sprinted as fast as he could.
    “Come,” Jahre said suddenly. He snapped his fingers and the two spirits caught up with the living memories of Jahre and Talon’s father.
    “Are you certain today is the day?” Talon’s father asked.
    “I am,” Jahre replied. “You know if there was any other way, I would pursue it.”
    Talon’s father turned and smiled kindly to Jahre. “You have always been strange, father. For that I have both hated and loved you. Still, if you say that my boy is the one who can stop the End War, then let’s get on with it. I don’t want him chasing after us and discovering what we are about to do.”
    “I love you,” Jahre said through tears as his voice caught in his throat and his shoulders slumped downward.
    “And I you,” Talon’s father replied with a terrible sigh. “Get on with it then.” Talon’s father turned and put his back to Jahre. “Make it quick.” Talon’s father then dropped to his knees. Jahre pulled a curved knife from his belt and plunged the blade deep into Talon’s father’s back. Then the elf pulled his hair back in one hand and raised his knife to Talon’s father’s throat.
    Talon still felt the same wave of anger come over him that he had as a boy, but now it was mixed with confusion also. His father had not been betrayed as he had thought as a boy. He was a willing sacrifice.
    “NO!” the young Talon screamed from behind in the brief moment before the knife made contact with his father’s skin.
    From the spirit’s close vantage point, Talon saw that his father turned around and put his hand out to stay the young boy. A spark leapt from Talon’s father’s hand toward the ground.
    “No, Talon, stay away!” his father said in a strained voice. “It’s alright, stay back!”
    “I have to finish it,” Jahre said decisively. The elf sage slit Talon’s father’s throat and spilled his blood upon the dirt.
    “You see,” Jahre’s spirit said to Talon’s spirit as he pointed to the spark on the ground that Talon’s father had ignited. “It was your father who called upon the vines to stop you.”
    Talon’s spirit watched the spark enter into a thick, green stem and then disappear into the ground. A moment later, a vine appeared out of the ground and wrapped around the young Talon’s ankle, thrusting him to the ground. Talon fumbled his father’s sword and struggled against the vine as it coiled multiple times around his leg like a massive, wooden snake. As the vines held the young boy, the elf sage continued his ritual.
    “Your father knew what he was doing. He was buying your soul,” Jahre’s spirit said.
    Talon looked back to the living memory of his father and felt the same crippling pain and fear as he watched the knife plunge into his father’s heart. The living memory of Jahre chanted an incantation, summoning forth a god from the underworld.
    Talon watched as a black hole ripped through the air above his father. Through the hole stepped an immensely large figure. His feet were shod with burning coals. Ash fell from his feet as he walked, but the being seemed to feel no pain. His legs were massive, muscular limbs that were each larger than Jahre’s entire body. The being’s left hand emerged to grab onto the edge of the hole, and Talon could see skin hanging loosely from the exposed finger bones of the decaying limb. The arm itself was still encased in skin, though it appeared pale and dead. A hooded vest covered the being’s torso and