Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy by Jerry Hart Page A

Rockne finds out about them.
Otherwise, things will get extremely awkward between you two.”
    “Are you going
to tell him?”
    “No. But he has
ways of finding things out.”
    “I like this
job,” I said, a little sad.
    “Then you
should trust Rockne. I’ve known him for a long time and I trust him. Nalke is
evil; he’s killed so many people, including most of my race. Hell, he killed
the Belles. Champagne is the last of her race, thanks to him. Rockne’s trying
to rid the world of Nalke and save you and everyone else. If Nalke gets his
way, you and your friends and family may die.”
    “Is there some
kind of war coming?” I asked. “This sounds a little like the books I read.”
    “Rockne and I
have been preparing for one. We don’t know when it will happen, but it will
happen. Nalke has been subtle about his actual intentions, and we all know he
doesn’t have many followers to help him. He only has a handful of vampires and
a werewolf or two. That’s why he needs Astrid.”
    “How do you
know he needs her?” I couldn’t help but ask this.
    “Well, Rockne
and Shae told me. Shae is Astrid’s mother, after all. She knows more about
Nalke than I do.”
    “Did you hear
about Cormac and his dad coming into the Village?” I asked.
    Victor laughed.
“Yes. That must have been a sight. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”
    “Is there any
chance Nalke is recruiting the giants to help him?” I hoped I wasn’t getting
Cormac into trouble.
    “The giants are
neutral, so I can’t imagine them helping anyone—us or Nalke.”
    I shrugged. “That’s
good. I’d hate to fight them if they did side with Nalke. I have another
question: Why do you guys hire normal people to guard the whole Village? We
can’t really do anything to stop anyone, obviously.”
    “Sounds like
you’re trying to talk your way out of a job.” He laughed. He seemed to do that
a lot, and it was an infectious sound that made me want to laugh as well.
    “Yeah, I guess
it does sound like that. Seriously, though, why regular humans? I wasn’t able
to stop Tack or Rewan from coming in here.”
    “You’ve been
here for a while, so I’m not too surprised you’re so curious. You ask good
questions. I’m guessing you met Aneela.”
    “Yeah. She’s
really good at making me doubt everything.”
    “She must have
given you the whole ‘you can’t stop us if we decide to swarm the Village’
speech. She’s just worried Rockne wants to take control of the island. She
gives this speech to all the new guards. She even got Mark before he
disappeared suddenly.
    “The reason we
hire regular humans is to show that not all of our friends are magical
creatures. The Dargons are human too, and it helps to have a familiar face.
Human guards at the gate actually add extra protection to the Village, believe
it or not. Nothing that poses a true threat can get in when you guys are there.
Rewan and Cormac are harmless; if they hadn’t been, they would have been pushed
away by the barrier that surrounds us. It’s something Rockne came up with to
reinforce the barrier, since most of his power is tied up in the protection of
the rest of the island.”
    “What about
Tack?”
    Victor
scratched his hairy chin. “Well, that was weird. He shouldn’t have been able to
come in either.”
    “Maybe he
didn’t pose a threat,” I offered.
    I shouldn’t
have. Victor looked at me, a little insulted. I was reinforcing the doubt I cast
on Rockne and he didn’t like it.
    “He killed the
Belles! Like I said earlier, if you don’t like the job you should quit. Rockne
and I don’t take kindly to people who doubt our intentions. We’re fighting for
you and your people. To doubt our work is to cripple us. We can’t have that.”
    I nodded. “I
understand. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t mention
it. Anything else I can do for you?”
    I finished my
soda and shook my head. “Thanks for the chat. I feel better now.”
    “Good.” He
finished his drink. “What do