by Teri Barnett
www.teribarnett.com
Published Internationally by Teri Barnett
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Copyright © 2019 Teri Barnett
teribarnett.com
Lucky Crow Press
Previously published as Shadow Dreams © 2010 LBF Books Inc.
Significantly revised and re-released as Shadow Dreams
© 2019 Lucky Crow Press (Teri Barnett)
Exclusive cover © 2019 inputux.com
Interior design by Tamara Cribley www.deliberatepage.com
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the author, Teri Barnett, is an infringement of the copyright law.
EBOOK ISBN 978-1-7328138-4-7
PRINT BOOK 978-1-7328138-5-4
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to the Indiana Writers’ Workshop. Your insightful critiques and unwavering support have kept me going over the years and made this book possible.
For my parents, Frank and Margaret Barnett,
my biggest cheerleaders
and the ones who told me I could do anything.
You are both deeply missed.
Contents
Also Available
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Part Two
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
Near Paran
The Plane of Keilah
“We have a visitor, Ma’am.”
The High Priestess Liazar licked her lips in anticipation as the guest was ushered into her chambers. She moved quickly to her simple, carved wooden chair, and sat down. “My, my. What have we here? Come, stand in front of me child. I’d like to have a better look at you.” With long, thin fingers, she motioned to the girl, her pearl and garnet ring glistening in the candlelight. “How old are you, Cherub?”
“Seven, Ma’am.”
Liazar openly displayed her pleasure with a wide smile, her teeth shining in the candlelight. Seven! So young! Surely, the little one had many years ahead of her. She looked the girl over, admiring the sweet rosy cheeks and long silver-blonde hair.
“What do they call you?”
“Sarah, Ma’am,” the child answered solemnly. “Sarah M’Doro.”
“And you have no kin here in Paran?”
The girl wrinkled up her forehead as she thought. “Well, there is my mother. And my grandfather. Papa died long ago. I don’t remember much about him.”
Liazar looked sharply at her maid, Esther. “I told you to bring only orphans, didn’t I?”
Esther glanced down, studying the squat shadow she cast onto the floor. “I’m sorry, Ma’am. When I found her playing in the woods, I assumed she belonged to no one. Who would let their child run free like that?” She rushed over to the girl as quickly as her bulk would allow and knelt at her side. “But she is a pretty one, isn’t she? Just look at the life in her eyes.”
The High Priestess shifted in her chair. This was a dilemma. If there were relatives to miss the child when she didn’t return home, there could be trouble. She looked again at Sarah, feeling her need growing. Of course, the absence of one child could be easily explained, particularly if she were left to run alone. Perhaps wild animals might have dragged her away. Liazar smiled again. She leaned forward, her long red hair spilling over her shoulders.
“Come nearer to me, Sarah M’Doro.”
Sarah hesitated for a moment. Esther gave her a little shove from behind. “Go on, girl. You don’t want to make the High Priestess angry now, do you?”
Sarah shook her head. Slowly, she took a step toward Liazar. She stopped, the candlelight casting deep shadows around her slight form. “I’m afraid. Please let me go home.”
“Now, now, Cherub. There’s no need to fear. I only want to give you a hug before I send you on your way.” Liazar reached for the child. “Is that all right with you?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose that would be all right. As long as you promise.”
“I promise I will let you go as soon as I’ve hugged you.”
Sarah moved to stand directly in front of Liazar. She held her arms out, innocent, waiting for the embrace.
Liazar sucked in her breath as she noticed the downy softness of the child’s skin and the long lashes that brushed her cheeks. She raised her hands and placed them on either side of Sarah’s head, the thumbs resting over the girl’s eyebrows. Murmuring quietly, she closed her eyes and uttered an ancient incantation.
Suddenly, Sarah swayed and fell with a soft thud to the thickly carpeted floor. Liazar opened her eyes and took a deep breath. “Put her form with the others, Esther,” she bade. “Take care she’s kept safe.”
As the maid carried the child away, Liazar eased back into the chair, smiling. She lifted her hands, feeling the flushed warmth of her face and the firm, smooth skin. Blood pounded in her temples and her heart raced. The transference was complete. She now possessed the little one’s soul and the years it had left to live.
Soon, she thought, soon I will be immortal!
Part One
Chapter 1
The rain poured down, beating incessantly against the freshly turned dirt. Small rivulets formed, carrying the water into the excavated pits of the Diggers, the ones who searched for historical artifacts for their world.
“We should stop for the day,” one of them grumbled.
“I’m soaked clear through to the bone,” another joined in. “Ian,” the man called to the expedition’s leader, “can we hit the tents?” The workman gestured with his head toward the small encampment.
“Hold up a minute. I found something,” he called back as he unearthed a metal object. “Bethany, com
e take a look at this.”
Bethany M’Doro stepped carefully over the grid of strings that marked the area where the Diggers were working. The ground was slick, and she had to be careful not to slip and fall into one of the holes. Reaching Ian Johns, she ducked under the tarpaulin covering his work area and squatted down at his side, feeling a comfortable familiarity in his presence.
Ian, tall and solid, had been at her side as long as she could remember, through the birth of her child and the death of her husband. Now they worked side by side. She felt a great kinship for the man she called friend. He handed her the medium-sized silver filigree box he had just discovered. She gingerly turned it over in her hands, carefully washing the red mud away with water from a nearby bucket.
“Did you find the key?” she asked, noticing the container was locked.
Ian shook his head. “What can you tell me about it? If there’s anything worth saving inside, I don’t want to destroy the contents trying to get it opened.”
She closed her eyes as several of the workers gathered nearby, eager to hear what the woman had to say about their latest find. Knowers always accompanied them on the digs; they used their ability to read the vibrations left behind on an artifact to tell of its previous owner. This was one of the more important parts of an excavation as it was the Digger’s duty to help the people of Paran learn of their past through the science and magic of archeology.
When Bethany opened her eyes again, the light topaz color had turned a deep azure blue, a sure sign to the men and women around her that she was in the Knowing. She ran her fingers over the elaborate carvings of the box.
“This contains a manuscript,” she started. Then the expression on her face turned from wonder to fear as hundreds of cuneiform letters ran through her mind. “I thought this was only a legend,” she whispered.
“What is it, Bethany? Tell me what you see,” Ian demanded.
“It’s the Book, Ian. The Book of Eitel.” According to legend, the Eitellans were a fringe group who practiced in secret, stealing children and young adults away from their homes, never to be seen again. Some said they lived forever and still roamed the forests of Paran.
“That’s impossible. The Eitellans are the stuff of myth. A story told to make children behave.”
“I know this well—my own mother would threaten to sell me to them when I misbehaved.” She smiled, her eyes misting at the memory of Mama and how she always tried to be strict. She shook off the melancholy. “But I tell you, real or not, this is what the Knowing says about this box. Were there any other items with this?”
Ian motioned to one of the workers. “Hand me that bucket over there.”
When the worker returned, Ian spread a cloth on the ground. Then, he slowly poured the contents out in front of Bethany. He looked through the dirt and stones until he found a woman’s hair comb. He handed it to the Knower. “Only this. It was located in the layer above the box.”
“Was there anything else?”
Ian leaned over and began sifting the soil between his fingers. “Well, if you look closely at the composition of this dirt, it looks quite a bit like there’s ashes mixed in. I sifted through some of it and I think there are bone particles here as well, but I can’t be certain.”
Bethany nodded. She scooped up a handful of the dirt and closed her eyes, waiting for whatever images presented themselves. But there was only darkness. “It’s no good, Ian.” She brushed one hand against the other, cleaning the dirt away. “There’s not enough substance left to the bones for me to be able to identify them.” Bethany turned her attention to the comb, moving her fingers over the thin tortoise shell teeth and the slightly raised mother of pearl inlay. This time, the images came.
“I want you to have this, Elizabeth.” A tall man, with thick black hair and piercing eyes, handed the comb to a woman. “I love you,” he whispered.
“Thank you. I’ll wear it always,” Elizabeth replied, a smile playing about her lips. She rolled her long brown hair into a knot on top of her head and fastened it with the comb. Turning her back to the man, she bade, “Unfasten the buttons for me, Connor. I’d like to show you just how thankful I am.”
Connor ran his hands along Elizabeth’s arms in a sweeping caress. He paused at her back and began to remove her dress.
Bethany shook her head to clear it. “I feel like I’m eavesdropping,” she whispered.
“I couldn’t hear you, Beth. What did you see? I’ve never seen you looking this… this… embarrassed? Is that the word I’m searching for?” Ian asked, his lips twitching.
She glanced at him, irritated at his amusement of her discomfort. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Bethany answered, a little too quickly. If Ian expected her to admit to something, he’d have a long time waiting. She held up the comb. “I’ll tell you what I saw. This belonged to a woman. She had long brown hair. Also tall and thin. It was a gift from a man.” She took a deep breath and looked around at the circle of Diggers. “She’s not native to our land. Her clothing is strange.”
Bethany paused as she struggled to interpret the new images that began spinning before her mind’s eye.
A light flashed bright in her vision and Bethany unconsciously held up her arm, shielding her eyes. There, within a Paranian kiyolo, a sacred cave deep in the earth, the same woman who had received the comb appeared from nowhere. It was as if she came on the very wind itself.
Elizabeth looked around. She was in an altar room. In the middle of the space sat a large stone statue. “An odd place,” she commented, looking over the figure. “I never saw anything like it on Earth.”
Then, as if she only just remembered her purpose in coming, she clutched the box to her breast and spoke words that were foreign to Bethany. When Elizabeth was finished, she held the container out in front of her and admired it. “There now.” She smiled. “If anyone opens you, they’ll die for certain. A curse you’ll carry until I say otherwise.”
Suddenly, another light flashed, and a man appeared at her side—but it wasn’t the same handsome, intriguing man Bethany had seen Elizabeth with earlier. He was much plainer, much paler, and didn’t look at all well.
“Oh, Michael,” Elizabeth cooed, “I’m so happy you decided to join me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. Kissing him soundly, she continued to murmur endearments softly into his ear.
Michael pulled away slightly. “I don’t know about all of this, Lizzy.” He looked around the room. “Maybe we shouldn’t have come.”
“No, no. Don’t say that. Think of all the riches we’ll have. And immortality, Michael. We’ll live forever.” She glanced over to where she’d laid the box down. “I’ve memorized the book. It tells how.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling. Open up that book and say the words that’ll return us to Nevada. Please.”
Elizabeth rested her head against his chest. “I’m not going back, Michael,” she said, her voice low.
As Elizabeth spoke, a light flashed, and the room filled with flames. Michael screamed. The vision ended with the sounds of Elizabeth’s laughter.
Bethany sat still, her face ashen. Never had she heard such a blood-curdling scream. And that laugh; as long as she lived, she’d never forget it.
“Are you all right, Beth?” Ian asked. “What else did you see?”
Bethany ran the impressions through her mind again, focusing on the details. The kiyolo looked like the ancient meeting caves the group had just finished digging earlier in this moon’s cycle. Most of those caves appeared the same on the surface. It was the secrets they held within that made each one different. The kiyolo’s location wasn’t far from their current site and would explain why the book was found here.
The woman’s manner of clothing was indeed strange, foreign actually; a long, ankle length dress with high neck and long sleeves. Her hair, piled high on her head, was held in place by the comb. She
’d mentioned something about Earth. Bethany shook her head slightly. No one could travel from there to Paran. Moving between the planes was simply not possible. According to legend, a person would incinerate. Of course, that could explain the final flames that engulfed the pair.
“I need some more time to study what I saw. What I can tell you is that she said something about the Earth plane. When she came here, she brought the manuscript with her.” She leveled her gaze. “And she didn’t come alone. A man followed. It looked to me like they both died after their arrival. The entire kiyolo went up in flames.”
“That’d explain the layer of carbon we scraped off the ceiling during our excavation. But the Earth plane? C’mon.” Ian caught Bethany’s eye. He cleared his throat. “Oh, you’re serious. Can you tell us anything else about her?”
“Only that her name was Elizabeth. She placed a curse on the box. Whoever breaks the lock will die.” Bethany closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they had returned to their normal topaz color.
Later that evening, Bethany and Ian huddled near the fire under a handspun woolen cloth. It was getting late in the year and the time for winter was drawing near. The rain had stopped and Bethany ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, trying to dry it out.
She and Ian had grown up together. He was her best friend and her rock, always there to support her and her work. Since the death of her husband Joseph, five years ago, Ian had become even more protective, almost to the point of stifling.
He loves me, and I love him, but not in the same way. He is more brother than anything else.
She looked up at him, the stubble of whiskers on his firm chin glinting red in the firelight. She shivered and he put his arm around her, drawing her close. His presence was comforting. What am I going to do with this man? Bethany asked herself, half smiling. I don’t want to risk our friendship by becoming lovers. Besides, she just wasn’t ready to give her heart again.
And then there was Sarah, her daughter, who was currently tucked away safely with Bethany’s father while Bethany worked. The child had suffered deeply after Joseph’s death. They both had. She was grateful for Papa and his healing ways.