A sudden growl caught his attention, and he realized it was his stomach. He couldn’t remember when he had last eaten.
“Adam, do you have any food in your pack,” he called out.
“Yes, there should be something in there.” Adam looked around the room and then pointed. “Over there by the door.”
Kyle found the discarded pack and set it on a small table. Opening it, he fished through it for some dried fruit or meat. Near the bottom, he felt a cylindrical object and pulled it free.
Kyle examined the ivory cylinder and the silver, engraved caps on both ends. The cylinder itself was encircled by three polished silver bands. Kyle turned to ask Adam about it, but he was busy talking and laughing with Delas and he felt a pang of envy. Turning his attention back to the container, he carefully tried both caps, found one loose and removed it. Shaking the tube, a parchment tube partially slipped out.
“What’s that?” Adam asked, appearing at Kyle’s side.
“You don’t know?”
“No. I’ve never seen it before.” Adam picked up the loose end cap and examined the fine engraving.
“Listen, ‘Adam, I pray this message finds you and your fellow travelers in good health and spirits. For your safety, I’ve placed a phasing spell that will keep the tube housing this message from being viewed while Kurilan is alive. If you are reading this, I am both filled with hope as well as sadness at the death of my once precious friend.’“
Kyle looked up and saw everyone moved closer to listen. He scanned the note for his stopping place and then continued.
“I have told you of the artifacts, and their cursed nature. Each of the pieces is dangerous in their own right, but when brought together, as I suspect Kurilan wanted to do, would enable the rise of a great undead army. An army I suspect would be unstoppable without magical intervention. Kurilan would have spent considerable effort to ensure aid from those trained in the mystic arts would not be available.”
Adam put his arm around the shoulders of Delas and pulled her close. He turned and kissed the side of her head, breathing in the smell of her hair and remembering the moment.
“Adam, I have given you the means in which to find the other artifacts. Be swift in your quest to locate them, but also be wary. There are other forces, ones much more powerful than Kurilan that also seek to gain domination over the worlds of men, dwarves, elves and the rest of the free races. You must not let this happen. Your focus must be on finding and destroying Kurilan’s vile talismans, above all other things, including the bonds with your co-travelers.
“Fair well, my friends. I do not know if our paths will cross again, but I expect not. The filaments that kept Kurilan and I alive this long have already begun to unravel with his death and I feel I will soon follow him into the darkness.
Sacrifice, Adam and Delas, for the greater good and beware of the seduction that is the ancient magics. With Eternal Affection, Thomas.”
Kyle looked up, and found Delas looking at him with tear filled eyes. Adam stood next to her, rubbing his eyes with a free hand. Legan and Amber carried faces of grim determination and didn’t give away anything more than that.
Epilogue
The black crow hopped along the edge of the water toward the rocky outcropping that scarred an otherwise featureless beach. Pressed against the side of the rocks at its base was a body wrapped in a dark cloak, like a burial shroud. The ceaseless rhythm of the waves gently rocked the still body back and forth under the watchful eye of the bird, and the two who watched through him.
“He was arrogant and stupid. He allowed his ego to get the better of him and he was bested by a group of societal misfits lead by a farm boy. A farm boy.”
“A rather unfortunate…unforeseen event. Like a child falling through a weak spot on an otherwise frozen lake. These things…sometimes happen.”
“Don’t try to cheer me up with such imagery.”
There was a moment of silence, and then…
“Bring him back. There is much to do.”
The crow cocked its head in the questioning fashion that they have and listened. A small moan, and then a large gasp as the body pulled in a deep lungful of air. Fluttering off in a flurry of feather and sharp cries, the crow leapt from its perch and flew off as Kurilan pulled himself from the water’s edge and onto drier land. He looked up the rocky shore and saw a smoke rider march toward him from his mount. He felt himself being listed up and carried a short distance. He opened one eye, the world now a rosy hue from a bloody head wound and saw the swirling mass of the smoke beast. The smell of sulfur assaulted his nose and throat and then he was roughly thrown over the saddle and when the creature took flight, the powerless mage lost consciousness.
About the Author
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tony was a prolific writer in his teenage years, but after joining the Air Force, getting married and having two children, his writing gave way to life. Fast forwarding twenty-five odd years, he joined an on-line writers group "Fantasy_Writing", and his desire to write and hone this craft was sparked anew. He is now the Coordinator for the on-line writers group "Short Mystery Fiction Society", annual writing award, The Derringer.
You can find Tony at the following sites:
Twitter: @GroupOfFour
His Blog & Website: http://www.TheUndeadTrilogy.com
Acknowledgements
The folks at Fantasy_Writing during the "Golden Years" when it was special and a tight group of writers who wanted to do better. Todd Diel, Sarah Grimm, and KateMarie Collins: You all deserve to get your names on the covers of well received novels.
You were never afraid to write scathing crits on 500 word pieces of garbage (although you went soft in later years) Hee hee. The truth makes you a better writer, not the warm & fuzzies.
Sarah Grimm, who beta read and wore out her collection of red markers. If you like the ending, it was much tamer before she told me how novels are supposed to climax.LOL
Sherry Derr-Wille: A great editor with Solstice. Her nudges made for a better novel and hopefully a wider audience.
Solstice Publishing: For taking a chance on an unknown guy with a story to tell. Thank You.
Other Fantasy Titles
From
Solstice Shadows
Daughter of Hauk
By
KateMarie Collins
What would you do, if you found out your life was a lie?
After you were dead?
Arwenna Shalian spent her life in loyal service to a God she was never meant to serve. Tricked by her fellow priests, she betrayed a man she thought she loved by binding a demon to him. One that would send him to the brink of madness.
Can she find a way to forgive herself? And what of Hauk, the God she was Marked to serve? Will He find her and give her the chance to undo what she’s done, or leave her at the mercy of the creatures that torture her soul?
Son of Corse
By
KateMarie Collins
It’s been almost two years since Arwenna banished the Demon Corse from her world. Life has been good. Idyllic, almost.
The illusion is shattered in a heartbeat during her sister’s wedding. Not only are once-dead enemies back, but they’ve stolen Arwenna’s only child, Sera.
The price Arwenna will have to pay to save her daughter is high. Can she muster the strength to make a pact that jeopardizes not just her own soul, but that of an entire world?
Quest for the Red Sapphire
By
Rival Gates
Former General Linvin Grithinshield returns home to find his parents murdered and a price on his head. Through his wise Uncle Anvar he discovers his destiny is to find and master the legendary Red Sapphire. In his flight from danger and ensuing quest he must fight man-eating wolves, goblins, bandits, a dragon and worse of all, his cousins. Will he find the gem before the murderers do? Will he prove worthy of the gem at all? Can one half-elf truly make a difference for many?
The Sapphire Crucible
<
br /> By
Rival Gates
Captured! In Book 2 of the Sapphire Chronicles, Linvin and his party find themselves prisoners on the maniacal Lord Mandrean and his Necromancer. Now they must find a way to escape, find the Red Sapphire, and make it home alive. Along the way they must fight ever-growing odds of survival.
Medallion of the Undead Page 29