The Mark of Chaos

by K. N. Lee

  Copyright © 2019 by K.N. Lee & CJ Jordan

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduMoira in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Introduction

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  A Look at The Blood Lottery

  A Look at Quest for Dragon’s Fire

  About the Author

  Also by K.N. Lee

  About the Publisher

  Introduction

  They taught us that there was light in the beginning. They said that all good things, and all things were good, came from that light. They spoke to us of grace and happiness. They put it in our prayers, they etched it into our pillows, and they sank it into our lives.

  They did not prepare us.

  Chapter 1

  Three days before the darkness.

  I shouldn’t have been there that day—I knew that.

  These lush, green grounds were off limits for hunting. Whether it was for foul, deer, or hogs, it was strictly prohibited.

  I wasn’t there for either of those.

  Wild gryphon were my target.

  When you’re starving and—more importantly—your mum and sister are starving, you’re willing to do crazy things to make sure they get fed, even if that crazy thing entails convincing your best friend to sneak past palace appointed fences and poach in the emperor’s own backyard.

  A gryphon would not only feed my family, but the feathers, claws, fangs, and fur would bring enough money into my life to provide for the entire cold spell. I wouldn’t have to hunt again for months. For once, I could be free to truly live.

  If only for a little while.

  That was all wishful thinking, though, because the guards were onto me after only a few minutes inside the grounds. I was up in a tree, arrow nocked and ready to be released when the branch gave way and deposited me on my backside against the cold hard dirt. I should have known better. I wasn’t the hunter in the family. That sort of thing was left to my older brother.

  Eden had been my superior in nearly every way that counted. Now, he had also been in the ground for nearly three weeks, and that meant things like this were my responsibility.

  I cursed as the gray gryphon catch sight of me and outstretched its magnificent feathered wings. Frustrated, I watched it fly off into the blue-green sky with ease toward the mountains, taking all promise of a new life along with it. I was going to have to get better at this if my mother and little sisters were going to have a chance of making it through the cold spell.

  Even now, as I stood and dusted my worn leather pants, I felt a chill in the breezy air.

  It wouldn’t be long now. In the coming weeks, the clouds would grow, obscuring our suns and sending the entire Empire of Embers into our yearly lockdown.

  The gates of the kingdom would be shut tightly. Any assistance, which had never been much, would cease until the thaw came. We would be on our own again, and this time without Eden to carry us.

  I swallowed hard, realizing I had no time for excuses or the like. My brother used to tell me many things, but one always stuck out to me.

  Life is hard, Moira, he would say, even though he had a way of making it all look easy. We have to be harder if we’re going to survive.

  “Be harder,” I muttered to myself, looking at the sky and wishing to the Creator that it had been me who had breathed her last instead of my brother.

  A tear escaped my eye.

  It should have been me.

  Two imperial guards were upon me in an instant, sidling up to me on hoverboards that looked absolutely nothing like the third generation hand-me-down flyer I’d received when my dad died nearly a decade and a half ago. Where what was worn, a little rusted, and embarrassing to fly on, these were sleek, small, and emblazoned with the royal crest of Odin; two dragons poised and ready for attack.

  The crest was supposed to have something to do with the twin kings who ruled Freyr eons ago.

  “By the royal order of Prince Teagen of Freyr, you are hearby-”

  “Eat dirt,” I said.

  My jaw tightened as I fumbled for something in my pocket. Tossing out the tiny metal orb, I shut my eyes tightly and turned away.

  The guards were all decked out in metallic silver. Even their heads were covered with the sleek and bright armor, their faces shielded from both sight and the elements by a tinted black glass piece. That tinting wouldn’t help them now, though, not against the glow of a sun orb.

  I felt the rush of heat as the thing exploded in front of me, sending out a blast of harmless, but very debilitating light. With my eyes still closed, I scrambled to my feet, hearing the guards scream behind me. They probably didn’t expect me to have one of these beauties. I didn’t blame them. After all, orbs and weapons of the like were for official kingdom use only and on the dark market, they were so expensive that there was no way I could afford one.

  It didn’t hurt that before my dad died, he worked as a weapons engineer for the empire. It also didn’t hurt that he’d taught Eden some of his skills. With my brother gone now, the weapons I had in my possession were finite.

  Finally opening my eyes, I darted out of the way of a tree I was about to slam headfirst into.

  Though I had been turned away from the explosion of the orb, and though my eyes were still closed, there were spots in my vision. It would keep the guards out of commission for at least a few minutes. They’d probably have to go to the infirmary. And, if they were the only guards on these grounds, it would mean I would be able to slow down.

  I knew the world better than that, though—I knew my luck better than that. So, I kept running. My legs kept pumping toward the gates—toward the hole that had been burrowed into it in secret, probably by some foolish kid as hungry and desperate as I was right now. It had been something of an open secret for as long as I could remember, and for just as long I’d imagined anyone willing to risk their lives like that must have been an idiot.

  I had never been this desperate before—never this hungry.

  The gate was in my line of sight now. I would pass it, slink off into the thicker, but emptier, woods outside and hope my friend would be out there as well. He had to hear some of what had gone on.

  Before I could reach the gate, though, something struck me at my back. It send me winding forward and crashing into the ground. I felt my nose crack as it hit the hard rock and leaves too quickly for me to brace myself. Spinning around, I tasted the sharpness of blood in my mouth.

  Looking up into the early morning light of the suns of Odin, I saw a young man standing over me. He stood on a hoverboard too, though he wasn’t dressed in the garb of the guards. He wore golden armor. His hair, as black as the evernight, wavered and rustled with the breeze. There was something about his crystalline blue eyes that tugged at me, though.

  I didn’t have time to worry about that right now, though, not when he had a glowing sword pointed directly at my he
ad.

  A steeled look crept over his face as he looked me over, pausing at the ragged shoes barely covering my feet.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he said in a voice that tugged at faint—distant—memories. “You should have never-”

  His voice stopped suddenly as he made his way up to my face. Silence passed between us as his eyes widened and the sword dropped to his side

  “What is this?” he asked, his voice panicked. “I had no idea. What are you doing out here?”

  I fumbled for something else in my pocket. I wasn’t sure why this man hesitated the way he was, but I wasn’t one to complain about good fortune, especially given how unfamiliar I’d been with it.

  “You’re not a guard, are you?” I asked, swallowing hard.

  “I am not,” he answered, obviously confused. “You know this.”

  “I know I’m trying to survive,” I said. “And that I’m sorry about this.” Feeling the copper shard in my pocket, I tossed it out. It latched onto the hoverboard carrying him, and did its job instantly. Reversing the workings of the machine, it shot him backward.

  I grinned as he went yelling off into the distance, going reverse at full speed.

  I watched him for a second longer than I should have given my situation, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off of him.

  He was shouting something, but I could no longer hear the words coming from his mouth.

  A ripple of warning rose from my belly, and up my throat.

  Why did he look at me in that way?

  Chapter 2

  I turned back to the gate and wriggled my way through, catching branches with my hair.

  A rush of relief moved through me as I made my way out of the palace grounds. Still, I couldn’t stop. Instead, I ran, desperate to put as much distance between me and capture as I could. I finally stopped to catch my breath with my eyes pinned to the ground, waiting for the dancing spots from the sun orb to fade.

  “Thinking about sunflowers?” a familiar voice asked from across the way.

  Tearing my eyes from the sky, I took in the sight of Ian. My best friend in all the world strode toward me with a grin on his face and three rodents across the belt strapped to his back.

  At least one of us was successful in the hunt.

  “Of course, not. Why would I be thinking about sunflowers?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted, shrugging. “You’re you. You’re always thinking about something ridiculous.”

  He had a point there. For most of my life, my head had been planted firmly out of reach of the sorts of things people tended to worry about in reality. While others were hunting and gathering, I was writing sonnets and performing them in the town square for anyone kind enough to listen.

  Without Eden to carry me, I was living a life I was completely unprepared for, and I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do about it.

  “We need to keep moving,” I said, still breathless. “I took out two guards. But, I lost a sun orb and a rover disc in the process. I don’t have anything else on me if they come.”

  “They’re not coming,” Ian said, shaking his head. “We’re three leaps away from them now. Besides, the grounds surrounding the palace are filled with hunters. There’s no way they could prove it was us.” He patted me on the back. “Take a minute. You’ve earned it.”

  “I didn’t earn anything,” I said, pulling twigs from my long, brown hair. “Not one thing.”

  “Another one got away?” Ian asked, smirking as he shook his head. “You have to pick your branches more carefully. Otherwise, you’ll spend your days on your back, and not in the fun way. I’d imagine you stepped on a branch way too thin for you, Moira. Even if you are all skin and bones, it was never going to hold your weight.”

  I looked down at the myself. All legs, as my father would say. Sadly, long legs wouldn’t feed us during the darkness.

  “Another couple of weeks like this one and I won’t have to worry about my weight,” I said, shrugging.

  “You are looking a bit worse for wear,” Ian said, eyeing me up and down. Then, he reached forward and stroked my cheek.

  I stiffened, and met his dark eyes as he revealed blood on his knuckles.

  I clamped a hand over my cheek. “Must have scrapped it in the brush.”

  He wiped his knuckles on his pants, and nodded. “You know what? Maybe I should stop giving you advice. A couple more hard days, and you might start catching the eyes of some of the lads.”

  “Let’s not be ridiculous,” I said, shaking my head and letting a smile that had become too rare these days cross momentarily through my lips. I wouldn’t dare to address the way I’d noticed him looking at me as of late.

  “Here,” he said, pulling one of the felled rodents from his belt and offering it to me.

  “I can’t do that,” I said, shaking my head and stepping away.

  “You can and you will,” he said, his hand still extended to make the offer.

  “It’s yours, Ian,” I answered. “You barely have enough to feed your own family.”

  “My gran is making stew. Two will be plenty,” he answered.

  “I didn’t mean for tonight,” I replied with a sigh. “You can feel the air, too. You know the cold snap is coming, and when it does-”

  “When it does, I’ll be fine,” he cut me off.

  “When it does, your family will need all the meat it can get,” I corrected him. “They don’t need to worry about your failure of a friend and your misguided need to save her.”

  “You’re not a failure,” he answered quickly, a bit of hurt coloring his tone. “And, you’re not a failure.”

  “Four days,” I answered. “That’s how long it’s been since I caught something. What would you call me?”

  “Unlucky,” Ian said, chuckling just a little. “Inexperienced.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “A bit too hard on herself. It’ll come, Moira. We all have growing pains. You’re just having yours a little bit later. That’s all. So take the rodent and stop being so dramatic about everything.”

  “I’m not taking the rodent,” I said, pulling away from him. There was a cemented nature to my words this time, and I knew from the look on his face that he wouldn’t press the issue anymore. “I’m going to stay out here for a while longer. I’ll catch one myself.”

  “No, you won’t,” Ian said, his mouth turning down. “You couldn’t get in the kingdom grounds and you’re not going to get it out here. You don’t think I know what you’re going to do, Moira?” He walked forward and grabbed a chunk of my hair. “You’re going to sell some more of this. How blind do you think I am? You think I don’t notice how short it’s getting lately?”

  I blinked hard, pulling away from him and pushing him back at the same time.

  “It’s my hair, Ian. I’ll do what I want with it,” I said. “Besides, it grows back as fast as lightning.”

  Ian looked me up and down, his eyes settling on the flame-shaped birthmark on my forehead. Most people stared at it when they saw me. Even my best friend was sometimes in awe of odd mark that looked more like a mystical tattoo than a natural formation.

  “Yes,” he said, nearly breathlessly. “But, that’s not the point. There’s something special about you—something the witches deem worthy of paying you for parts of your body that should not be sold. You ever wonder why your hair grows unnaturally fast?” Ian ran a hand through his own dark brown locks. “What’s next? Selling some of your fingernails for their dark spells?”

  A surge of guilt ran through me, strong enough to send my eyes to the ground. I had sold parts of myself to the witches, but never thought of what they were doing with my hair, nails, and sometimes my tears.

  What made me special? I never cared to wonder, I just wanted the money that came along from a sale.

  “We have to eat, Ian,” I said. “Without Eden-”

  “Think about what Eden would want,” Ian said. “Why do you think he let you live the life yo
u did? Why do you think he died the way he did? It was to save you, Moira. It was the make you the best version of yourself, because he knew something none of us did. He saw something special in you.” He tapped the mark on my forehead, as if drilling in the message.

  I took a step backward, and rubbed where he’d poked me.

  “He saw the Light inside of you.” Ian shook his head and started to walk away. “Even if you can’t see it in yourself.”

  If I’d have known what was coming, I wouldn’t have let Ian walk away like that. I would have told him he was right. I would have taken the stupid rodent and kept as much of myself intact as possible for the days ahead. But, more than anything, I would have taken my brother’s advice.

  I would have fought to make myself a little stronger—a little harder.

  Chapter 3

  There wasn’t much to be said for Freyr at night.

  While, even in the daytime, the lands outside of the empire’s main province were quite bare of vegetation, and stacked with monstrous buildings and sub-cities.

  The dark, however, brought an entirely new sense of desolation.

  Anyone with the sense the Creator gave them knew better than to walk around after the twin suns went down. What little help the Wind-Walkers gave us by patrolling during the day, they took their hoverboards and went back to the relative safety of the palace gates come nightfall. That meant that, even though the Wind-Walkers were known to turn their heads and pretend not to see at least a third of what happened here during working hours, there was no one here to even ignore it now.

  If I was smart, I’d have taken the rodent and gone home. Ian was right. Two would have been plenty for his gran’s stew. The stupid stuff was mostly water and potato plant anyhow.

  “I can’t believe you’d actually come back here,” a voice said from beside me the instant I walked through the door of the Cove. Garnering quick attention from at least one of the people in this backwater drinking hole didn’t surprise me.

  I was a fairly decent looking girl, alone, and the seedy bar was full of dangerous men.