Venom and Song Read Online Free

Marshall Brynn, Goldarrow, and Tommy had all but given up hope when they heard a familiar voice.
    â€œHail, Goldarrow!” Grimwarden shouted. “Look who I found!”
    â€œOh, thank Ellos,” Goldarrow replied, seeing the large group of Elves returning.
    Tommy saw as well. “Kat!” He ran to her but stopped short. Whoa, he thought. I almost hugged her . “What happened to you?” he asked instead. “You were behind me one second . . . then whoosh!”
    â€œIt’s a long story,” she replied, glancing at Mr. Wallace.
    â€œWe waited as long as we could,” said Goldarrow, hugging Grimwarden, which earned curious looks from Flet Marshall Brynn and the other Sentinels.
    â€œProbably too long,” said Grimwarden, clearing his throat and squirming until she let go.
    â€œWhere’s Autumn?” Johnny asked, looking around the group.
    â€œClaris took Autumn through,” said Brynn.
    â€œGood,” said Grimwarden.
    â€œMr. Grimwarden, sir?” Johnny said.
    Grimwarden laughed. “Lord Albriand, ha! To think that a lord would call me sir. What is it, lad?”
    Albriand? Johnny ignored the strange name he used, then pressed himself past the others. “My sister”—he said lowering his voice— “how far is she from wherever the help is?”
    â€œQuite far,” Grimwarden replied.
    Johnny’s tired eyes widened, panic starting to edge into his expression.
    â€œIf Claris and the others were taking Autumn by foot, then we would be right to worry, but they are not traveling by foot.”
    â€œThey’re not?” Johnny frowned.
    â€œThey’re not?” asked Goldarrow.
    â€œNo,” said Grimwarden with a hardly perceptible wink to Goldarrow. “And neither are we. I told you, this is a shortcut.”
    â€œForgive me for before, Guardmaster,” Goldarrow said, adding rather formally, “. . . for questioning your path.”
    â€œElle,” he responded, “do not waste another moment thinking of it. Thank Ellos the seven young lords are all alive. Thanks to Johnny . . . and the Kyrin, I don’t think there are any Gwar coming behind us, but we dare not linger in this part of the world.”
    He led them behind the fold of rock and kindled a torch. Then he made a turn where it seemed there was no passage, yet disappeared into blackness. The others followed until all the Elves disappeared into the mountain.
    Like a serpent of fire, a long line of torch-bearing Elves—flet soldiers, Dreadnaughts, Sentinels, and the lords—followed Grimwarden down into the winding depths of the black abyss before them. The path into the underground alternated between great high chambers and cramped tunnels with ceilings that were shoulder height at best. In some of the low places, Tommy noticed the rock above was stained with black soot from the torches. Their party was clearly not the first to have traveled this way.
    After an hour or more of twists and turns, their war band entered a cavernous chamber. “What’s that shushing sound?” asked Kat.
    No one answered. And as they traveled on, the shushing blossomed into a full-fledged roar. “I don’t like this,” said Tommy.
    â€œI hear you,” said Jett.
    â€œWhere are we?” Kiri Lee asked.
    â€œWait here,” Grimwarden commanded, moving away from the group with his torch in hand. They watched as he edged along a narrow ledge and eventually stopped beside a rope tied off to an iron ring protruding from the wall. He raised his torch, revealing what Tommy thought resembled a large, horizontal wagon wheel on the other end of the rope. Grimwarden set the chandelier ablaze and then released the rope from the iron ring. The brilliant light swung out into the middle of what was once a majestic hall, the ceiling held aloft by water-worn columns of sandstone that plummeted into a churning tumult of water. They all looked on in awe