Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  Elora looked deep into the yellow eyes of the gargoyle and nodded.

  “I shall forgive you, in due time,” Elora said, surprising Kieran and Chaiya. “First, answer me how would someone that has come from another world go back home.”

  Blayne looked up, his eyes wide, but he nodded. He seemed to recognize Elora and started to speak instantly. The rest of the gargoyles were shocked by the question.

  “It is difficult, but possible,” Blayne said. “There is a rumor. A rumor that across the northern land affected by the plagues, there is a village, where the only last wise mage lives. He is known as Sanatori. He knows a lot of things, a lot, and he can help you. But the only way you can get there, is through the ravagers of Nokidora.”

  Kieran groaned in pain at that very word, and Chaiya winced. They knew about them, it would seem. But Elora would ask the questions later, first, the gargoyle’s.

  “Thank you, for your help. You truly are faithful to your cause,” Elora said, tilting her head in a gesture that she had seen. “We will leave now, but you will have to pay for what you have done to us. You will have to give Kieran and Chaiya a gift as punishment, and you shall be forgiven.”

  “As you may ask,” Blayne said, taking out a bow from the side of a wall. No one knew why it was kept there, belonging to an old guard, perhaps. There was also an arrow set, all of it was made out of a strange gold material that looked like real gold. Chaiya accepted it, looking at it with wide eyes. “These bows and arrows are enchanted. The arrows never run out, no matter how many you use of them. The bow is also adaptable to the user, and will shoot as per the user wants.”

  Then Blayne turned to Kieran, and stared into his eyes. After some thinking, he removed two arm-blades out of his own hands and gave it to Kieran. Kieran groaned in pain but accepted the arm blades and looked at it strangely. They were strange, purely made out of metals, but strange inscription on them.

  “These are the Heart Blades. Wherever you throw those blades, you will be able to track them through your heart, wherever they are. And you will always find the item the blade is stuck to. Even if you give them to someone, you will always be able to find the person,” Blayne said, bowing. “Now please...”

  “You are forgiven,” Elora said, nodding, and looking at Chaiya. Chaiya was quick to catch on and she grabbed Kieran from the other side so they could walk properly. Kieran groaned in sheer, crippling pain and utter hysteria due to the pain.

  “Ouch.” As they were walking quickly, they stopped to walk slowly once they noticed the drawbridge come up. Elora held onto him tightly, still in her armor, as she looked at him worriedly.

  “Sh... calm down Kieran, you won’t be harmed. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” Elora comforted him. “I will heal you as soon as we are safe.”

  “Yeah, don’t trouble yourself, let us take you to safety,” Chaiya also agreed, feeling pity at looking at her brother’s state. He had surely broken a rib or two, or had various other injuries on him as well. “You’ll be alright...you’ll be fine...don’t worry.”

  As they walked out of the sight of the castle slowly, the gargoyle’s returned to their position on the top, looking at each other. Finally Blayne spoke.

  “The armor has found its host,” Blayne said, as he looked at his brothers who were glowing. “It means we no longer are cursed anymore. We are free to live our lives.”

  And then, all the gargoyle’s turned into humans, tall, strong humans with a similar set of strange armor. Blayne was now a handsome young man with short hair and a scarred face. His eyes were really sharp and he had a forever serious look on his face as well.

  “But that woman...” One of his ‘brothers’ said, looking at Blayne. “She was...”

  “Yes, the armor finding its host means that one of the keys is here, and that girl was one of the keys. She needs to be protected, her life is in danger, and will always be in danger,” Blayne said, his tone much more like a human now. He removed a third set of the Heart Blade, and looked at it. “And now, we have a new task, a better one. We have a key to protect, brothers.”

  7

  It had taken them three hours to find the camp. It was a nice, considerable distance away from the castle and it wasn’t a fun journey, not with Kieran so injured. Sure, they did have a little help from here and there to get to the camp, like for example a trail left by the campers, and the small signs that they had left for them to find the camp, but they finally made it.

  “Kieran.” The eldest of the campers, Johan, his name was, a middle-aged man, ran over, his eyes pooled in worry and pure business. He looked at Elora and was surprised to see the armor on her. “Are you alright? Where are the four?”

  “Dead.” Kieran winced, his body in sheer and utter pain. “Naik and the…other one ran off. Lou and Vali were killed by a gargoyle.”

  “But you got the armor still. I am glad that you three returned back alive,” Johan said, taking over from Elora and Chaiya to help Kieran get to his tent. “And you should probably get out of the armor, Elora. It looks really tacky to wear, and armor is only to be worn when in battle. If you want something from protection we can find something in the next town.”

  “Yes, yes, I just had it for battle.” Elora rolled her eyes at his tone. Damn men and their overbearing personalities towards women. She couldn’t make out if the men of this world wanted to even be overbearing of her, or wanted to protect her. But she didn’t care. She had a lot of things to worry about either way. One of the things was getting Kieran safe and secure, and then she could worry about the armor. ”Now I’ll just get it off.”

  And that is where her newest problem took root. No matter how hard she tried, and no matter what she did, her armor wouldn’t budge. It just wouldn’t come off! It was right there, unmoving, unable to come off, no matter how much she tried to remove it. Her hand-straps were budged stuck, and her shoulder traps weren’t even visible. Her leg-guards were also completely and utterly stuck, meaning that this armor, once worn, only could be removed if someone knew the trick to remove it.

  “Let me help.” After looking at the trouble that Elora had in removing the armor, Chaiya tried to remove it as well. She pulled, tried to break, remove and even cut down a few straps, but nothing worked. Eventually, half of the camp tried their hand of it, none of them could even get close to removing the smallest of the hand-guards. “Nope, it’s not budging, it’s stuck.

  “Do I have to endure this for the rest of my life?” Elora complained, looking down at her armor pitifully. “I can understand wearing this armor, but this is getting too much and too hot for me. I can’t just wear this armor! I need to get it off!”

  “I know, you look ridiculous and stand out like a fire in the dark,” Chaiya agreed, rubbing her chin. “It’s the strangest armor I’ve ever seen though, it’s specially made for a women, more like for you, how did you even get it on so quickly in the first place? It takes hours to get it on.”

  “I...” Suddenly, Elora remembered what the words were. She remembered what she had spoken and she remembered how the armor had gotten onto her. “I recognized the markings on the armor. They were in a language I knew and I spoke them. The chant went like this. ‘Helm of Fire, Metal of Light, flow through my veins and shroud me in light. Protect me from the darkness, armor of fire, and shine upon my enemies, thy power asunder.” As soon as she said that, all the red lines on Elora’s armor glowed and right in front of everyone, the armor started to come off, piece by piece. Chaiya squeaked and took a step back as the armor started to become one, glowing, crimson figure, joining into one, and then the small ‘shards’ slowly joined up inside of Elora’s pendant around her necklace. Chaiya noticed the rose gold Key necklace and wondered why it looked so familiar, and felt so familiar, but she shrugged. It was hanging very close to her heart. Right now, though, she needed to tell Elora what had happened, as she looked too stunned to talk.

  “That armor bonded to you,” Chaiya said, smiling widely. “It is only for you, it cho
se you. You are now its wielder and by calling out that chant, only you can ever wield it, and its sword.”

  Elora was dumbfounded by what she was hearing, as it seemed to be too much like a magical fantasy then real life. She never thought that something like this could even exist, and she didn’t think it should exist in the first place, but it did, and that was alright, but still, Elora would like an explanation at least.

  “But...but...I’ve seen magic armor, gargoyle’s, a tapestry that took me to another world. None of this is real! It is beyond the boundaries of whatever has made us!” Elora said, stuttering out her shock. “How can this be true? There has to be some sort of a scientific reason or solution behind all this!”

  Her voice trailed off as she spoke, Elora started to look at a Confused but amused Chaiya. Elora sighed and shook her head, not knowing what to do now. There were a lot of things that she needed to make sure of, but first, though, was the important task of curing and healing Kieran. He was injured and would need all the help that he could get, after all.

  So as Chaiya walked away to look after her own injuries, Elora instead walked towards Kieran’s hut. She knew that there was nothing stopping her from entering, so she did enter inside.

  “Kieran?” Elora called out to her, looking around. “Are you here? Are you alright? I’ve come to help!”

  This was the first time that she had entered his tent, and she should definitely admit that it was just like what she expected of a typical man. She wouldn’t expect this room belonging to someone that was matured and appeared like Kieran was. There was a simple leather armor that was hung up off to the side, and a sword that was lying near a bed. There was also a bucket with water and a few pots and pans. His bed was made out of wood and straw, and there was an oil lamp, the same one that she now had in her tent, that was lit up.

  ‘What a typical man.’ Elora snorted and shook her head as she looked at Kieran, as he was trying to get his t-shirt off on his bed. ‘He’s such a child. He has a head of a man, the attitude of a man but deep down he’s a petulant child, a big man-child at that. Jeez, do I really have to actually put my trust in him?’

  Elora shook her head and sighed, taking deep breaths as she walked close towards Kieran. She noticed more messy things around the tent, but she had to help him get out of his shirt.

  “Jeez, don’t try to be too manly all the time, it is not weak to ask for help,” Elora said softly, as she slowly helped him out of the shirt. His ribs were undoubtedly hurting badly, as he groaned out loud as he moved, and tried to take his shirt off. “Here, let me help.”

  She put her arm on him, and he stopped, looking at her. His face was pained, but he was definitely glad for her help, as she slowly and delicately removed his shirt. As she did, his eyes never, never left her face.

  She’s beautiful, Kieran thought, looking at her features more closely. So damn beautiful. I didn’t know that she was so beautiful.

  Her long hair was flowing behind her back, cascading down into curls like a waterfall. Her skin was delightfully tanned but still pale, and her lips, by gods were those lips filled with pure passion. He had felt those ruby red lips once and yes it was wrong of him to steal a kiss, he really wanted to kiss her, and he had done as she wanted to.

  What a minx, Kieran thought as he continued to stare at her, unknown to what Elora was doing. She had already bandaged him, and all of his wounds with an unknown paste. When he did come out of his stupor, he looked to see the bandages, and the tourniquet that his arm was tied in so he couldn’t hurt himself. How fast did she do this?

  “Here, take this.” She fished into the strange box she had, and removed a small piece of...a container of sorts? She broke the strange container that looked like silver paper off and removed a white object of sorts. It was small, fitting between her fingers, round, and looked absolutely disgusting. “It’s a painkiller, it will numb the pain; it’s from my world.”

  Kieran looked surprised, but did take the strange ‘pill’ as she called it and popped it in his mouth. He crunched down on it, and his eyes widened at the bitter taste.

  “Don’t chew it!” Elora cried and instantly shoved a few sips of water down his throat on the glass that she had given it. “You have to swallow it!”

  Kieran coughed once he had drunk the water, and groaned in pain at the sensation in his ribs.

  “It didn’t help much...” Kieran groaned. Elora snorted as she started to pack her ‘equipment’.

  “It will take twenty to thirty minutes to take effect. You’ll go to sleep in an hour, but it will help you heal. If you need more, tell me. I can only give one for severe pain though, and not for anything else. I have a limited supply of them.” And in this world, Elora was sure she was going to need them. She was glad she had a full medical kit, a small one, but full. It had a lot of things inside of it. Kieran didn’t say anything more and Elora felt her earlier shyness return. She remembered the kiss that he had stolen from her and even if she should be feeling extremely, extremely offended, she turned towards the exit, but smiled at him shyly before that.

  “You know, kissing someone when you could have died is not funny, not funny at all,” Elora said. Kieran felt himself blush at that. “But…I am glad you are okay. No matter how big of a jerk you are, you still are a friend.”

  Elora smiled and was about to exit. She hoped that this would clear things and it wouldn’t bring up any awkwardness towards her.

  “So you are saying that you didn’t enjoy it?” Kieran asked, hopeful in his tone. “The kiss, you enjoyed it didn’t you?”

  Elora knew that had she been the one that was back in the world, she wouldn’t have responded. She was too proud to respond. But considering all that she had been through in this world, and all that was going to happen, she felt that there was only one response that she could give.

  “Well, men don’t know what happens in a girl’s heart, and you’ll never know,” Elora said, leaving the tent. “And by the way, I never said anything about my enjoyment.”

  Chaiya, as she was coming over, noticed a smile on Elora’s face, which she was curious about. So she walked over to her brother’s tent and walked inside. As she did though, for the first time in years, she noticed the smile that he had on his face. His eyes were lit up as a night’s sky with the stars and all, and he looked content, as if something was finally lifted off him. And it had been years since she had seen this sort of an expression on his face.

  ‘What did you do to him, Elora?’ Chaiya wondered, as she slowly walked over to him. ‘And why is he like this?’

  Meanwhile, back with Elora, she now needed some food. She was getting hungry, and she needed to sit down for some food. She went to sit in the big camp-fire in the middle, and looked for a plate. A girl slowly came over with a large plate of some meats and stew, and she smiled at the girl. The girl smiled at her, and Emily recognized her.

  “I am Emily, by the way.” Emily, the girl she had saved, said. Elora nodded and raised her hand to shake hers. Emily was surprised, but she realized that the difference between the worlds was what made her strange. So Emily shook Elora’s hand and sat down beside her. “I heard about the mission you had in the Castle of Tarith. Was it a success? I saw only you, Chaiya and Kieran come back.”

  “Well...if you haven’t heard the tale.” Elora was hesitant at first, but she knew that she had to tell it. So she went into great detail about the entire journey to the castle, and how the entire process of finding the armor began. Soon enough, though, she was so immersed into the story she didn’t see almost the entire tent come over to listen to the tale of the journey, and how it had gone. Emily, though, was in awe that the armor of Tarith had chosen a woman. Women didn’t get much credit around in this world, and that was their sad fate, and here was Elora, who along with Chaiya could be the biggest opposes of all that.

  Finally, when Elora was done, she was surprised and slightly embarrassed that everyone was praising her and cheering her up. They all went into excited
cheers and talks about the tale that Elora had just said, and Elora meekly ate her food alone, not used to being the topic of conversation for everyone.

  “That’s so cool!” Emily said, smiling brightly, so brightly that Elora was reminded of Marine. “Now we finally have something that can counter and deal with Prince Italus’s forces!”

  “What exactly makes this Prince Italus so evil?” Emily was surprised by the question that Elora asked, and didn’t know how to answer it. “I mean...why is he so bad? And what has he done?”

  “It... is a long tale, between Claw Worth and Feather Grove. Prince Italus was a mad and evil man. He only wanted power and the destruction of his enemies, and he got it by trapping Chaiya. Chaiya was the princess of Feather Grove, our home, and he came to her, proclaiming his love for her, making her fall in love with him, and making her see how good she was. But then she...she was heartbroken because Prince Italus only wanted to use Chaiya’s trust to destroy Feather Grove and he did. He killed everyone inside of Feather Grove, and he destroyed all that came in his way, and we are the only survivors that lived of that massacre, but Chaiya and Kieran lived through it all.” Elora was surprised and shocked of what she as hearing. The sheer level of the suffering that Chaiya and Kieran had gone through must have been beyond anything she herself was capable of going through. It was...strange to hear so much about other people’s suffering that she herself forgot about her own suffering. Her eyes teared up as she shed some tears for Chaiya. “And what was worse was-.”

  “Please, stop,” Elora said instantly, stopping Emily in her words. “I don’t want to hear anymore. I can’t hear anymore.”

  Emily nodded in sympathy, watching as the older woman completed her meal and took a big bite of her sweet, some fruit that she had been given, and a gulp of juice. Finally, Elora was done with her dinner which was much larger than anything she had ever eaten.