Read Realm Keepers 01 - Realm Keepers for Free Online Page B

she spoke there was a popping sound, and one of the Shadow creatures fell to the ground before her. Three of the soldiers leapt forward, burying their blades in the thing. Another three came through, and were hacked down.
    I turned to Greystone. “Close it!” I shouted. He ignored me, his eyes closed, his fingers twisting in and around each other and quiet murmurs coming from his lips. He either couldn’t hear me, or couldn’t answer. Several more Shadows popped through, and this time two of them managed to find their feet before Cara’s men could take care of them. One of the soldiers was struck down, his armored form clattering to the grass and his sword sliding from his limp grip.
    Desperate, I ran forward and picked up the weapon. Miles and Blade came with me, looking unsure of what to do without blades of their own. One of the Shadows was fighting Cara, and it slammed a black-mailed glove into her gut, causing her to double over. I leapt forward with a cry, swinging the sword desperately. I didn’t even hit it, but the creature reeled away from my wild attack, allowing one of Cara’s men to take it down. Cara straightened and looked at me. I was shaking, adrenaline pumping through my body as I tried to keep the sword up. It was much, much heavier than I’d thought it would be. She reached over and removed it gingerly from my grasp.
    “… dremarcus boreath! ” cried Greystone suddenly from behind us, his chanting suddenly rising to a fever pitch. There was a flash that made me close my eyes, and when I opened them again the blue portal was gone.
    Stunned and still shaking, I fell to my knees in the grass. All around me, the others from school and the soldiers were breathing heavily. Only Cara still seemed fresh, wiping her blade clean on the grass before re-sheathing it. She went to one of her soldiers, a man clutching a wound in his side, and knelt to inspect it.
    “I think you cut that a little close, old man,” said Blade.
    Greystone looked at me and pointed a finger at Blade. “This one is exceptionally rude.”
    I nodded, still breathing heavy. “Takes one to know one.”
    “I, at least, have some right, what with having saved your lives…” Greystone made a show of counting on his fingers. “…Three times now,” he finished.
    “Our lives weren’t even in danger before you brought us here, bro,” said Miles testily. His chest was heaving, and his limbs were twitching. “I can’t believe…that was nuts.”
    I knew what he meant. Images from the battle were frozen in my mind. I’d never seen someone die in my life, but just minutes ago I’d been in the middle of a real life battle.
    “Why are you doing this to us?” Raven practically shouted. “We’re just kids, man.”
    Greystone shook his head, making his wild white hair spin like helicopter blades. “Perhaps once, but no longer.”
    That was it. Now that the portal, along with the monsters, was gone, I was ready to find out what this was all about. “It’s time you told us what’s going on,” I said to Greystone.
    He shook his head firmly. “We don’t have time yet. There is one more thing—”
    I stood up, shook my head even more firmly, and folded my arms. “No. Make the time.”
    The old man glowered at me, his fingers twitching on his staff. But I wasn’t having it. I’d been kidnapped to who knows where, thrown into the middle of a battle in which I couldn’t even defend myself, nearly killed, and then thrown through an apparently magical portal to yet another who-knows where. We must have been in the middle of some national park or something, since I didn’t see a city or even buildings around for miles, and I had no idea how we were supposed to get home. My glare back at Greystone was just as firm as his, and twice as nasty.
    Finally he broke the staring contest, looked uneasily at the horizon, and reached into his robe. “Very well. Make the time, you say?”
    He produced a crystal globe. It was nearly