Phoenix of Hope: Complete Series — Books 1-4

by Zora Marie

  Eragon. The Hold… Zelia’s heart raced as her thoughts were thrust back to that battlefield. A sword stuck out of Eragon’s chest and the hammering beat of her own heart thrummed in her ears as Darkans all around her crumbled to ash, burnt from the inside out. Her vision blurred with a tinge of red and then… a hand pressed against her cheek.

  “Zelia?” Erolith’s magic swept through her mind like a gentle breeze to shake her from the memory.

  She wiped tears from her cheeks as she tried to ground herself back in the present. “The pyres had already been burned when I woke up after that.”

  “Eleanor told me what Eragon did for you. He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for what happened and burning the pyres wouldn’t have changed anything.”

  Zelia nodded. He was right of course, but she still felt guilty for having convinced him to fight. She hadn’t really given herself time to mourn his loss either, she’d just pushed the memories away. He had been there for her, like Linithion had, and now she was going to lose her, too.

  She shook herself from that line of thought. She couldn’t keep allowing herself to go down this path. She had to learn this and bring Linithion home. The thought of home made Zelia miss Alrindel and Skylar. The moment they returned she would ask Linithion to go with her, to stay with Eleanor again, at least for a while.

  “Zelia?” Erolith asked.

  “Sorry. What’s next?”

  “This time make a shield and don’t over feed it. Once you’ve got that, I’m going to see if I can break it. If I can’t, then I’ll teach you some simple offensive spells.”

  She drew the rune in the air and like the last time, the shield grew but she tapered off the energy she fed it until it slowed and stabilized.

  “Good, now pull it back closer to yourself.”

  She fed it a little less, but instead of shrinking, the shield just weakened. So, she used her energy to pull the rune closer to her and the shield shrank until it was just a couple feet from her.

  “Very good. Now try to hold it steady. I’m going to start out small.”

  Erolith drew a rune in the air and it glowed faintly as it fizzled out against her shield. It wasn’t until the sixth attempt that she finally had to feed the shield a little more as the spell hit it. Erolith did several more, then gave her a tentative smile.

  “Very good. I should have Loboran come try to break it.”

  “Are you saying that you give up?”

  “Yes, and that means it is your turn to try to break mine. Just keep in mind that you are only trying to break the shield so start small and work your way up.”

  Zelia let her shield drop and studied the runes Erolith drew in the air. Like before it was a series of marks that each half mirrored the other. This time it was six rather than five symbols. She waited for Erolith to raise his shield and was fascinated by how his energy barely separated from him to feed energy to his shield, unlike her energy that practically became its own entity. Erolith gave her a slight nod so she began to draw the rune. It glowed so bright that she paused midway through.

  “Remember, you only want to break the shield.”

  Zelia nodded and pulled the energy back out of the rune as she drew the rest. When the rune glowed a little less than most of the ones Erolith had drawn, she pushed it forward. Erolith’s shield shuddered under the assault, but held as he hurriedly poured more threads of energy into it.

  “Good. I’ll go get Loboran to practice with you more since he is better at shielding.” Erolith dropped his shield, and paused as he reached the door. “Zelia, we will get them back. I won’t stop until we do.”

  “I know,” Zelia whispered as he closed the door behind him.

  14

  Zelia sat back against the wall as she waited for Loboran. She ran her fingers across the embroidered edges of her tunic. It was one of Linithion’s tops and was a little loose on her. It even smelled faintly of pine, just like Linithion. When did I become so reliant on her presence? When did I go from pushing her away to feeling lost without her?

  She smiled a little at the memory of their first kiss, even when she was a broken mess Linithion loved her. It felt like ages since that had happened. How long has it been? A few months? Winter will be over soon. We haven’t even had a full year together. And at this rate…

  The door opened. She turned away from it, to blink back the tears that threatened to spill. I’d only just told Linithion that I love her. I’ve only told her twice, what if I never get to again? She couldn’t live with that, with the hollowness and what ifs. With all the things she’d never get to do or say.

  “Zelia?” Loboran sat beside her on the floor. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll get them back. Starling will do everything he can to protect them and bring them home safely.”

  “I know, I just…”

  “The first time apart with the unknown between you is always the hardest.”

  “I already almost lost her once. Why didn’t I tell her I loved her more often?”

  Loboran let out a long sigh. “She knows you love her. Even when we first met, and you were busy pushing her away, she knew. You don’t have to say it for her to know.”

  Zelia nodded. He was right and worrying wouldn’t help. It was just so hard to shake the doubt that ripped at her heart, the pain worse than the shrapnel that had once lived there. She took a deep breath and pushed her emotions away. She had to focus if she wanted any chance of seeing Linithion outside her memories again.

  “So, I’m supposed to try to break your shield?” She swallowed and blinked to clear her vision.

  “Yes.” Loboran created a small domed shield in front of them. “Have at it. Just try not to blow a hole in the floor when the shield breaks.”

  “Has someone done that before?”

  “Yes. Starling did. He was having problems breaking my shield, so he threw everything at it. We both ended up exhausted after that since that was before we were good at feeding the spell’s energy from the environment.”

  Zelia drew the rune in the air and fed it a little more than she had with Erolith. She pushed the rune towards the shield. It flared against its surface and fizzled out as though it was nothing.

  “Erolith really isn’t very good at this kind of magic, is he?”

  “Manipulating energy has never been his strong suit. He probably understands the fundamentals better than anyone, but applying them is a little different. Go ahead and pour a lot more energy into the spell this time.”

  Loboran drew a second shield rune and Zelia watched as he shifted it to sit below the first shield. He seemed to tell it where to go by changing where on the rune he fed the energy.

  “Go on. I’ll keep you from making a hole in Erolith’s precious floor.”

  Zelia drew the shield breaking rune in the air, and this time she only held back a little bit. She could feel Loboran tense beside her as the rune’s energy glowed so bright that it nearly hurt to look at.

  “Too much?” she asked.

  “Uh… maybe a little less.” He fed his shield more energy, asking it to thicken.

  She pulled a bit of energy off of her rune and pushed it lightly towards the shield. The moment the spell was on its way, she drew the shield runes and maneuvered it over Loboran’s in the same way he had moved his. It had barely formed when her first rune crashed through it like it was nothing. A slight twinge of pain, like a muscle cramp that lasted just a moment, caught her off guard as the shield fell apart.

  The shield breaking rune hit Loboran’s first shield and pulsed against its surface before it too buckled. Then it hit the last shield and Loboran poured all the energy he could gather into it, until her rune finally fizzled out against it.

  “Alright. That was good.” Loboran turned his remaining shield rune around and let it fade from sight. “And brings up a word of warning. Unlike your fire and ice, rune spells like that one cannot be recalled once they are sent.”

  Zelia nodded. “Could two people feed a single shield?”

/>   “As far as I know, the only way it has ever worked is with soulmates.”

  “So, you can Starling can?”

  “Yes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you and Linithion can too.”

  “So, once we find Linithion, I could theoretically just feed her runes even though I don’t know them?”

  “Theoretically. Just keep in mind that too much power can make the spells go out of control and not knowing the runes adds a little more risk to that.”

  “Noted,” Zelia said and yawned.

  “How about we go get some dinner and then some sleep? I think you have these two runes down well enough to use them.”

  “Alright.” She wanted to keep training, but she knew she couldn’t risk burning herself out. Not when they’d likely need to leave in the morning.

  After dinner, Loboran carried her to Linithion’s room and set her on the bed. She was so exhausted she could have fallen asleep on the spot, but instead she stared at a shelf littered with little glass sculptures of animals. Linithion had mentioned wanting to make her a glass sculpture of a wolf that first day. Zelia wondered if Linithion would get to now.

  “She’ll be fine. You two have so many more years together,” Raven said.

  “How is Orvi holding up?”

  “Better than you and I plan to keep it that way. She’s spent enough of her young life worrying.”

  “And has lost too much.”

  “You both have, but Linithion is not going to be among those you’ve lost. Now get some rest.”

  Zelia sighed, unlaced her boots and shucked them off. By the time she got her armor off she was too exhausted to bother changing. So, she climbed under the covers in that day’s clothes. The bed felt far too big and empty without Linithion. She hugged a wad of the blanket to her chest and curled up. She’ll be alright. They’ll be alright. She repeated the silent plea until exhaustion overtook her.

  She drifted through a world unlike any she had ever seen, a place full of buildings that reached for the sky. The air buzzed with energy, but it just felt wrong, as though bent out of shape. Then she saw them.

  Terik’s body laid twisted out of shape on the grey dirt, a pool of dark liquid spreading around him. Rogath held his side and favored a leg as he fed a shield rune energy.

  Panic coursed through her as she realized she didn’t see Linithion. Zelia spun, frantically scanning her surroundings. Starling kneeled over a small heap at the edge of Rogath’s shield, silver hair sprawled at his feet. No. No. She can’t be.

  “Zelia? Zelia, wake up.”

  Warm hands shook her, and the blanket crunched as she shot up. “Where is she?” Zelia frantically scanned the room. But it was just her and Erolith, and that phantom lump caught in her throat, making it hard to breathe. It felt like the room, the world was closing in on her.

  “She hasn’t come back yet. What did you see?” Erolith asked.

  “I… I saw them.” She yanked the bedding back, ignoring the cracking of ice and her protesting muscles. “We have to go, now.”

  She fumbled with her boots, her hands shaking as she tried to tug them on. Erolith kneeled on the frost covered floor and slid the boots onto her feet, and laced them for her. She tried to ignore the way her heart hurt at the thought of losing Linithion. They couldn’t have survived the wizards only for this. They couldn’t have survived Xander only to have mere days together.

  “Tell me what you saw.”

  Zelia rubbed her hands over her face and grabbed wads of her hair, fear fueling her frustration. “Terik was dead. Rogath was bleeding, but keeping a shield up. Starling knelt over Linithion. I don’t know…” she broke off, unable to voice her fears. Unable to voice that she wasn’t sure if Linithion was still alive in her vision.

  “I’ll go get Loboran. Do you think you can put your armor on by yourself?”

  “I don’t know. Just go get him.”

  “I will be right back. Alright?”

  Zelia nodded and he left with deliberately measured steps that quickened the moment her door closed. Alone in Linithion’s room again, she glanced around at the frost covered room. If they saved Linithion, she’d have to get a handle on the magic that ran rampant while she slept. She began clumsily doing the ties on her armor. If Linithion survived, if they both survived, she didn’t want to chance ever hurting Linithion.

  She’d barely finished one side of her armor when Loboran knocked lightly and entered. “Erolith went to let Eleanor know we’re leaving.” The bed crunched as he sat beside her and set to work helping with her armor.

  “Good.” She had completely forgotten about Eleanor asking to speak to them before they left.

  “Tell me, what are we walking into?”

  “I… I don’t know.” Guilt washed through her. She had hardly bothered to assess the situation. She had been so busy looking for Linithion that she hadn’t bothered to note how many Fenari they faced or even where they were. She couldn’t even describe what their surroundings had looked like other than really tall, strange buildings.

  “Alright. Tell me what you do know.”

  She repeated what she had told Erolith and Loboran nodded. He paused, as though he debated what to say. “You’ve been able to change all your visions before, right?”

  “Yes, but… someone else always dies in the process.”

  Loboran stood, the last of the ties on her armor done. “Don’t worry about that. As long as you, Linithion, Rog, and Terik get out, that’s all that matters.”

  “No. You and Starling matter, too.”

  “Zelia, Starling and I have lived well over a thousand years already. We’ve had our time to live, in peace even. As long as the two of us are together, that’s all that matters.”

  Zelia nodded. She knew she could not persuade him otherwise. “Just try not to add yourself to the list of friends I’ve lost. Please.”

  “I’ll try.” Loboran gave her a faint smile as he tossed her cloak to her. “Now let’s go save our soulmates.”

  “Would you carry me?”

  “Of course.”

  He scooped her off the edge of the bed and went to the room where they had been training. Once there, he nodded at the door for her to knock and after a moment they entered. Again, Erolith stood leaning over the scrying bowl. Loboran nudged the door shut and set her down.

  “You’re both ready?” Erolith asked.

  “Yes.” Zelia didn’t really feel ready, but she was as ready as she could be given everything that had and was to happen.

  “Good.” He turned to stare down at the bowl. “We’ll let you know when we get back.”

  “Thank you,” Eleanor’s voice sounded from the bowl. “Zelia?”

  Zelia went to the scrying bowl and looked over its edge.

  “You’re right to trust your dreams. Don’t let your fears get in your way. I have faith in you.”

  She nodded, unsure of what to say. She didn’t know how long they had to save Linithion and the others, and she couldn’t help but stare at Erolith, waiting for him to decide it was time to go. It seemed he was struggling to come up with what to say to Eleanor so instead of a goodbye, he nodded and waved his hand over the bowl, breaking the connection.

  “Let’s go.” Erolith walked from the room, leaving Loboran to help Zelia follow after him.

  The full moon cast haunting shadows across Raven’s scales as she met them in the clearing.

  “Do you want me to come or stay here with Orvi?” Raven asked as she sat behind Erolith.

  Zelia asked Erolith and he seemed to contemplate it, but shook his head. “We can’t risk starting a war, not yet.”

  Raven nodded, satisfied with his reasoning. Then she nuzzled Zelia’s cheek. She blew out a slow warm breath that tickled against Zelia’s skin. “You’ve got this,” Raven said and retreated back to where Orvi slept curled up against a building.

  Erolith drew a set of symbols in the air and Zelia shuddered at the energy that pulsed from it. It just felt wrong. A swirl of darkness opene
d in front of Erolith and he glanced back at them before stepping into it, the tail of his cloak trailing in after him. Had Loboran not held her she may have hesitated, but as it were, they followed Erolith without a moment’s delay.

  15

  Everything went black as they entered the portal. Then they were surrounded by dull light. The ground was an ashen grey and the sky a muted blue. A foul taste lingered in the air, like unwashed bodies. Even the energy here felt wrong. It felt brittle, as though one powerful twist would shatter the world around them. Even the buildings that surrounded them didn’t feel right with how they towered above them.

  Loboran set her down and nodded to a group of slaves that ambled between buildings. She had never seen creatures like many of the beings in the group, but she recognized a few humans, Elves, and Dwarves mixed in among them. Their eyes were cloudy and vacant, their minds and bodies no longer their own.

  “Reach out to him,” Erolith whispered. He bent, scooped up some of the powdery dirt and tossed it over their group. The dust settled on them, giving them a poor excuse for a disguise with how dirty the world was around them.

  Zelia reached out to Rogath, feeling for the connection to him. He was there, though faint in the back of her mind. “Rogath? Where are you?”

  “Zelia? You’re here? Please don’t tell me you’re alone.”

  “I’m not. Tell me where you are, somethings going to happen…” She trailed off not wanting to worry him and possibly make things worse.

  “You had another dream, didn’t you? Do I even want to know?”

  “No. Have you found Terik yet?”

  “Yes. Hang on a second, let me see where you are. We can’t portal from here and haven’t found a good way to get back to where we came in.”

  A long moment passed and then Rog’s presence strengthened. He felt tired and worn out, as though he’d been on the run all night.

  “Good, you came in at the same place we did. Go out to that main road and join a group of people. Don’t worry about hiding where you are going, almost all of those groups are headed here.”