A Dark Tide (Book of One) (35 page)

As Laurana walked through the trees, tiny little lights appeared around her, like hundreds of candle flames, flickering and glowing in the darkness and lighting her way. One of them landed on her hand, and she saw that it was a small beetle, then it flew off again, joining the hundreds of others that followed her through the forest, lighting her way. She came to a place in the forest where the ground was littered with dark shapes that she knew from the scent were slain Darga, and sitting alone at the center of the carnage, was a horned figure, with sharp, bone like limbs and an angular face beneath an elven mask that she recognized when it turned to look at her.

"Quenta?" she called out his name as the flickering flies gathered around him, many of them landing upon his body and coming to rest upon the horns that protruded from his head.

"Mother," he said, his voice sounding strange and distant.

"What has happened to you?" she asked.

"I have taken the power of our enemies," Quenta replied. "It has changed me."

"Why do you not come back and let the healers look at you?"

"I do not need healing," he said. "I speak to the forest and I am content."

"You will be needed at court," Laurana told him. "There will be much to discuss once this night has passed."

"If I am truly needed, then I will come," Quenta told her, then he rose to his feet, standing almost twice as tall as her. "The trees will let me know."

Quenta walked away from her, with a trail of flickering flies following him as he disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Laurana looked down at the sword she carried, the jeweled blade the goddess Ehlena had give her, and she wondered if she had used it as Quenta had, if she too would have changed in such a way. The trees told her that Quenta was fine, that they were pleased that he could talk to them, and they promised to let her know where to find him, so she turned and walked back toward the palace, realizing that she was very much in need of rest. Now that the immediate danger had passed, whatever problems there might still be in the forest, could be dealt with by the light of day.

The seas were completely calm and it was as though the wind itself had fled the skies, but the small, fast ship and the pirate fleet that followed her, moved with the powerful current toward a place where the sea was deep and cold, and yet steam rose from the surface, filling the air with a dense and murky fog. The ships stopped at the edge of a place where the currents were askew, twisted by a powerful vortex that swirled in the water, where the bottom of the sea dropped to depths that were beyond any anchor.

Carly took a deep swallow from the bottle of sweetwater and handed it to one of the men, who took it gladly. Much to the surprise of the ship's crew, she pulled off her loose shirt, kicked off her boots and dropped her trousers to the deck of the ship, then, wearing only a long dagger strapped to her thigh, she leapt up onto the ship's rail, with one hand hanging from a rigging line.

"Wait here. I won't be long," she said, then she dove into the dark water.

The crews of the ships all leaned out over the rails and those lucky enough to possess a spyglass thought they saw their beautiful captain, the leader of their people, turn into one of the mythical ladies of the sea as she disappeared into the depths.

"I sure hope she won't be long," said one of the men. "I could look at the Cap'n all the long day and night."

"Cap'n catches you starin' at her, you'd be a sorry wretch," said one of the women of the crew.

"'Mayhaps," the man said with a grin. "But it'd sure be worth it."

"Well, why don't you strip down past yer skivvies an' see how you like bein' stared at?"

"Why? Would it wet yer decks?"

"It just might," she replied with a sly grin, and the pirate crew broke into boisterous laughter.

Deep below the sea, Carly swam through the icy cold water, following the twisting jets of steam that bubbled toward the surface, and as she moved deeper, she noticed the water growing warmer, which was strange but not surprising, given what she expected to find. The pull of the vortex grew stronger as well, and she drew her power to calm the water around her as she swam deeper and closer to its center. Many leagues beneath the surface, where the water would be dark and cold even during the full light of day, the sea was bright and the water boiled from the intense heat emanating from the center of the swirling current. Carly gathered a greater amount of her power than she had used in many long years, using the sea to disperse the heat and her fins turned back into legs as she stepped onto the dry, and blazing hot ocean floor, that swirled with a blazing inferno.

Even with her power protecting her from the heat, Carly was surprised at the sheer amount of truefire and though it was painful she pressed forward until she reached the center of the fiery vortex.

"Zachary," she yelled over the rushing of the flames, and he tilted his head down and looked at her with his eyes full of fire.

"Get away," he rasped through gritted teeth, then he turned and looked upward.

Carly saw that he was holding his left arm up over his head and the flames of his power were coming from his right hand, blasting away at the dark shadows that covered his left hand and his wrist. She realized what he was trying to do, and she was astonished at how long he had been here in this place, burning his power.

"You can't do this forever," she said.

"I have no choice," Zachary told her. "I won't let it have my power."

Carly stared at the dark shadow that covered half his arm and though it was almost imperceptible, with her power she could see that it was slowly winning.

"How much of your arm was black when you first came here?" she asked, and Zachary stared at her again, his face trembling and shaking.

"It was just my hand," he told her, as he drew even more power and tried to burn the shadow from his arm, but his expression turned to a frown. "I will not win this battle."

"It has been within you for too long," Carly told him. "It feeds from your power as quickly as you burn it away."

"Is there nothing I can do?" Zachary asked, and Carly shook her head.

"There is only one thing that can be done, but you are not going to like it, and neither am I," she warned him. "I will have to take your arm."

"Do it," Zachary said.

Carly drew the long dagger from its leather sheath on her leg and she stepped closer to him, wincing from the intensity of his heat.

"I am sorry," she said as she held up the knife.

"Don't be," Zachary told her with a desperate grin. "Just do what needs to be done."

Without further warning, Carly sliced her dagger through his arm, just below his elbow. Zachary cried out from the pain as the flesh and bone of his forearm and his hand separated from him. His flames guttered for a moment, and the shadow tried to leap across the gap to latch onto his bleeding stump, but Zachary blasted it with his power, burning it and the missing limb to ash. Carly put her hand on his shoulder.

"It is done," she said. "You can let go of the fire."

Zachary slowly released his flames and Carly used her power to create a bubble around them and she reached out and caught him as the mage slumped down upon the smooth ocean floor that had turned from sand to glass, from the heat of his fire. The flames disappeared completely, and Carly called her own magic, turning the water around them luminescent, and now that the flames no longer obscured him, she could see that Zachary was very badly burned from using his power for so long, his clothing in tatters and his skin burned and charred. He looked up at her wearily and tried to crack a smile, then his eyes fluttered as he fell unconscious upon her lap. Carly put her arms around him, then she willed the waters to carry them slowly upward, toward the surface of the sea, which had calmed, turning smooth as glass, a glittering reflection of the starlit sky above.

'A Dark Tide' is the sixth novel of the 'Book of One' novels. The seventh and final book in the series is expected to be ready in Fall 2014.

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PERSONS

Aaron Coromay
- a young warrior plagued by mysterious magical headaches

Aria
- (deceased) Princess of Elvanar, House of Solari, Queen of Maramyr, mother of Ariana

Ariana of Maramyr
- House of Coromyr, Princess and heir to the throne. Half human, half elf and has magical talent.

Berant
- Lord, lesser noble of House of Belamyr

Borrican Akandar
- Prince of Kandara, second son of King Eric.

Bo
rric Akandar
- Duke of Kandara

Brian
(of Ashford) - boyhood friend to Aaron

Calexis of Xalla
, Queen of Xalla and Empress of Xallan Empire

Calthas
- a mage of Maramyr, tutor to Ariana

Carlis
- Lord and Magistrate to the Court of Maramyr, Captain of the Al-Andor

Cerric Coromyr
- Regent of Maramyr, King of Maramyr, uncle to Ariana

Crag Avandra
- a drake of the line of the Avandra

Coraline
- mage of the priesthood

Dakar
- mage of the priesthood, first disciple of the one god

Dash Larian
- former assassin, protector of the Maramyrian throne

Diller
- Brian of Ashford's younger brother

Draxis
- half-Darga Prince of Xalla, son of Calexis

Elric Akandar
- Prince of Kandara, first son of King Eric, heir to the throne

Erik Akandar
- King of Kandara

Ehlena
Al-Aran Valamyr
- heir to the House of Valamyr, and birth daughter of King Toren Al-Aran of Aghlar

Elaine Valamyr
- Lady Duchess and Princess of House of Valamyr

Elara Valamyr
- (deceased) Lady Duchess and Princess of House of Valamyr

Gregor of Maramyr
- (deceased) House of Coromyr, King and mage, father of Ariana.

Jax Larian
- a thief and Ranger

Kaleb
Alaran
- Lord of White Falls, Maramyrian military commander

Kaledra,
Duke of Eastern Kandara

Kasha
- Ansari warrior

Kaz Vakandra
- younger line, cadet branch of Akandra

Keira
- Ranger of Elvanar, member of the Queens' Guard

Kiva Vaalandra
- drake of cadet branch of Alandra

Lexi
- half-Darga, Princess of Xalla, daughter of Calexis

Matthias
- brother to King Toren, adopted father of Ehlena

Margo
- Ranger of Kandara

Manfred
- Baron of Kellern - minor noble

Milli
- Innkeeper at Rivergate

Mirdel
- Duke, house of Daramyr, landholder

Nathas
- Senior Captain of Maramyrian Academy, Ranger, Maramyrian commander

Petra
- an elven healer

Quenta
- Prince of Elvanar - House of Solari, son of Laurana, Queen of the Elves

Raz Vakandra
- younger line, cadet branch of Akandra

Rene
- an elven healer

Rolan
- member of the Elven Court, and speaker

Shadar
- mage priest of Xalla

Stavros
- the last Head of the Council of Mages, and twin brother to Tarnath

Storm Akendra
- drake of the line of Akendra, cadet branch of Akandra

Talon Akandra
- legendary dragon, founder of the Dragon Throne of Kandara

Tarnath Coromay
- Aaron's uncle, former Armsmaster of Maramyr, granted title as a lesser branch of the House of Coromyr

Tash
, a young Ansari

Toren Al-Aran,
King of Aghlar, Captain of the Al-Dea

Vale Aledra
- wyvern of dragon line of Aledra

Vana Aledra
- wyvern, queen of the Aledra line

Yanick
- mage priest

Willem
- a mage of Maramyr

Zachary
- former Head of the Council of Mages

PEOPLES

Aghlar
- seafaring people of the southwest

Ansari
- the ancients of the desert, an elder people though not a race

Bashane
- the people of the desert, who are not of the Ansari

Darga
- lizard people of the northeast

Dragons
- creatures of the northern wastes

Elves
- forest people of the west

Kandaran
s
- the people of the mountain lands to the north

Maramyrians
- inland people, in the land of lakes and rivers

Mistrani
- lost tribe of Ansara, seers of the past

Maerans
- pirate people of Meer Island

Xallans
- people of the east