Swords of the Six by Jennifer Miller, Scott Appleton, Becky Miller, Amber Hill Page A

pain and turned to her sisters. Closing her eyes she reached out with her mind, probing their aches and pains. Of course! She should have realized.In a moment it all became clear and the power she had discovered that day in the palace basement surged within her.
    She opened her eyes. Her hands glowed blue, almost blinding bright. Leaning first over Rose’el, she touched her shoulder. A portion of the energy building within her hands left her body through her fingers and passed into her sister.
    Rose’el stood up, almost knocking Dantress over. “How did you do that?” She turned her hands over and displayed them, fully healed, to the rest of the sisters. They gathered to Rose’el and, one by one, allowed Dantress to touch them and heal them.
    “Now it is your turn, our sister,” Evela said. “Sit down.” Dantress sat down, but though Evela tried she could not perform the same miracle for her. “I don’t understand,” Evela stood back and looked at her hand. “I could feel the power that you imparted. I should be able to—”
    “No!” Caritha beamed as understanding dawned on her. “We five are joined through the swords. Don’t you see?” She drew her rusted weapon and touched its blade to Dantress’s shoulder. “Alone we are weak! But together we are strong!”
    Laura, Evela, Rose’el and Levena drew their swords and touched them to Caritha’s blade. A flash of blue temporarily blinded Dantress, but a warm sensation of healing, restoring energy surged through her body and testified to her sisters’ success. Her hands no longer felt raw, her muscles no longer felt sore.
    Together the sisters faced the dragon. He reached to his right, pushing the boulder that he had carried up the mountain so that it rolled back down, creating an avalanche as it gained momentum; it crashed into other stones and finally fell into a canyon where it broke into billions of fragments.
    Albino swung around, his tail cutting into the cave wall. “Congratulations, my daughters. You have passed the test.”
    Caritha parted the fold in her purple skirt and slid her sword back into its scabbard. “Father, why is it that Dantress can use her power without joining with ours? What happens if one of us is separated from the others? We would be powerless.”
    “Nay, my daughter,” the dragon rumbled. He raised one clawed hand and waved it at the fog, and the moisture raced away from him. “You are all of dragon blood . . . my blood. Each one of you will discover the power that that gives you, but only in time.
    “Dantress will forever be different but you all have the same potential as she does. Strive to exercise justice with mercy and wield with wisdom the swords that I have granted you. By so doing you will learn the things that she has learned and move on to discover things you had never known were possible.”
    He entered the dark cave and they followed.
    “I can’t see my feet,” Rose’el said.
    “Use your sword.” Dantress drew Xavion’s weapon from beneath her skirt.
    But the dragon’s hand settled around her shoulders, and he spoke softly into the darkness. “There is no need of those while you are with me.” To the sisters’ astonishment the imposing form of the dragon glowed surreal beside them, and in that pure white light every step of their way stood out clear as if lit by the light of full moon.
    They followed the dragon deep into the mountain, navigating the myriad of tunnels and caves concealed therein until he brought them to a white stone bridge, broad enough for the dragon and his children, spanning a raging underground river.
    On the opposite side of the bridge, carved into the solid wall of stone, a door at least a hundred feet tall and shaped like a maple leaf, stood out.
    Dantress and her sisters clustered close to the dragon and craned their necks to better see the intricate patterns of vines and flowers carved into the leaf’s face.
    “There’s no need to be afraid, my daughters.” He stood