The Screaming Stone: The Otherworld Series Book 2 Read Online Free Page A

perpetual sour mood was lifted in the presence of Rian’s enthusiasm.  He was the unlikely hero in the room who still thought everyone was better suited to the role than he was.  Rian, for once, deserved the honor of being the center of attention.  Duncan felt a smile split and crack his face and for the first time in days he felt blessed with the feeling of hope.  If this tiny Fae could take on a god and not only survive but succeed maybe, just maybe Annie could too.
    “So if that happens; if all is as everybody hopes, if at all comes true, which one will truly own you heart?”   An evil thought whispered across his mind.
    For a second the joyous smile slipped from his face.  Luckily the happy, positive energy in the room defeated the thought quickly as Rian attempted to demonstrate his new sword skills and became entangled in the curtain’s ripping them from the wall.  The ice blue cloth enveloped him completely creating a comical spectacle as Rian struggled to free himself from the heavy drape.
    Knackers’ uncontrollable laughter was quickly silenced by a harsh rap up side his hairy gray head by Fiona as both Annie and Duncan rushed to Rian’s aide.  When they finally managed to free Rian of his cloth prison his brown little face was tinted red with embarrassment and his newly found confidence had quickly vanished.  Annie struggled for words that would not humiliate him further; but it was Duncan, who surprised even himself by coming to the wee Brownie’s defense.
    “That reminds me of the time I had to fight off a Lob,” he told Rian, who only acknowledged he had heard Duncan by the tiniest of movements as his eyes shifted from his own feet to Duncan’s.  “Vicious, massive, dark blue blobs they are and damn near impossible to kill,” he explained as he examined the cloth that had attacked Rian.  Duncan paused, remaining silent until he found what he was searching for and the room fell quiet around him, as everyone waited for him to continue.
    “Ye see,” Duncan said poking a finger through a tear in the cloth and wiggling it through the hole in the fabric.  “Ye can stab a Lob all ye want and never be rid of it.”  Duncan continued to find tiny tears created by Rian’s blade.  He began warming to his own words and found that his silvery tongue worked best when completely detached from his over thinking mind.  “Lobs are negative hateful creatures that have only one weakness.”
    “What’s that?” questioned a whispering Rian.  The almost child-like sense of wonder that filled Rian’s voice made Duncan smile slightly.
    Duncan laid a gentle hand on Rian’s child-sized shoulder.  “Laughter,” he replied.  “Joy, hope, compassion and love,” he continued quickly as he felt his eyes drawn to another in the room.  Refusing to allow them to find their target he quickly called them back and hurried on with his explanation.  “A Lob feeds off of and exists only where there is fear and hate, doubt and anger.  I did not know how to defeat a Lob and had to be freed and saved myself.”
    A slow, crooked smile brightened the Brownie’s face as Duncan’s meaning sank in.  Duncan could feel the eyes of the room upon him and was suddenly struck by his own case of embarrassment.  He was not used to being the center of attention and had not held the spotlight in quiet some time.  It felt good in a strange way.  A light touch rapidly chased away the ailment and replaced it with a completely different sensation.  His eyes quickly found the source of the warmth that had chased away the darkening chill that had infested his body.  He was rewarded with the smiling face of Annie, free from anger and resentment, filled with only a happy look for him.  He hoped to receive many more in the future as he hated being the one to cause her usually happy disposition to turn sad and bitter.
    “Ye”ve never encountered a Lob,” Knackers said interrupting anything from progressing further.  But