A Guardian of Shadows (Revenant Wyrd Book 4) by Travis Simmons Page B

do back there?” Cianna asked. It appeared she was the only one flummoxed by what Clara had done with the kelpies.
    “Just a protection that extends to any sorcerer in their trials,” Flora waved a hand at Cianna as if to silence her. “Now hush, I’m scanning her to make sure she’s okay.”
    She leveled a look at Clara, and her eyes grew unfocused, distant, as if she were seeing things none of them could. A few minutes later Flora came back to herself. “She will be fine,” she told them.
    Pi slumped to the ground, relief etched on her face. She looked up at Cianna.
    “Thank you,” Pi told her.
    “No need to thank me. I’m sorry I acted like an ass.”
    Pi shook her head. “You have a task at hand. An important one. It’s natural to be consumed with that. I think your pilgrimage isn’t so different from our trials after all.”
    Cianna thought of the nightmares, the gruesome images she saw in her sleep. The way the dead would come to her, harassing her when she wasn't moving fast enough for them. She thought of the power pulling her on. She looked down at Clara, who appeared asleep, but was deep in the grip of something Cianna couldn’t understand.
    Cianna hoped that nightmares and wythes were the worst of what she would have to face. She looked toward the Barrier Mountains on the distant side of the Realm of Fire and shook her head. Who knew what she would find when she entered the Necromancers’ Mosque?
    “I hope you’re right.”

The hecklin gathered at the fence of the Haunted Graveyard, not bothering to try to enter the cemetery. Still they barked, still they howled. It was different seeing them in their natural habitat. When they were in the Realm of Earth, Angelica hadn't been able to see them, since their white fur blended with the surrounding fog. Here, in the total darkness only split by the occasional pool of sunflower light, their fur nearly glowed with power. A chaotic power.
    Their inaction put Angelica on edge.
    “Should we be bothered that the chaotic creatures are afraid of this place?” she wondered aloud.
    “Do you think this is like the Mirror of the Moon?” Jovian asked, looking around at the vine-covered tombstones, crumbling in disrepair. It was evident by the long clumps of grass and the accumulation of sunflowers further in that no one took care of this graveyard. In fact, there were so many sunflowers growing on a building at the center of the Haunted Graveyard that it radiated like the sun had come to rest there.
    “What do you mean?” Joya asked, gazing at the brightness in the middle of the graveyard.
    “Well, the Mirror of the Moon is the heart of the Sacred Forest; what if the Haunted Graveyard is the heart of the Haunted Forest?” Jovian asked.
    “Hmm, I hadn’t really thought about it,” Joya told him. “I want to know what’s in that building.” Joya's feet carried her closer to the center.
    Uthia grabbed her, her black and white bark almost glowing in the darkness of the graveyard. She pulled Joya away from her current path, and closer to the group.
    “No you don’t, sorceress.” Uthia warned her. Overhead a sizzle of lightning flitted between the racing clouds.
    “What's in it?” She turned to the dryad.
    Uthia didn’t break her gaze from the building. She started shoving dirt into knotholes on her legs, holes that Angelica didn’t remember seeing before. Could it be that Uthia could alter her shape to suit her purposes? It was unnatural. Angelica shivered, trying to envision a person doing that, and couldn’t help seeing bloody pockets filled with dirt and worms.
    “There is a protector in this graveyard. A powerful dalua.” The dryad told them all.
    “And that's what lives in the building?” Joya said, turning back to the glowing structure.
    “No, she rests on the altar just before it.”
    “The statue?” Angelica asked.
    Uthia nodded. “If you get too close, she will come alive.”
    “So a gargoyle,” Jovian said.
    Uthia nodded