by H. M. Clarke
‘I’d be careful Kalena.’ Adhamh’s voice intruded into her mind. Kalena ignored him. Adhamh was always telling her to be careful.
“He told me that Prince Garrick had left a large sum of money with my parents after I was safely delivered to Darkon. Justicar Videan found it strange for a Prince to pay for a Kalar who rightfully belonged to the Empire.
“Is that all he told you?” Vosloo’s body relaxed as he spoke and Kalena felt all the emotions wash out of him. Was there something else that Videan could have told her?
“Yes. What else is there to tell?” Kalena let her anger strike out in her voice. “I am only Kalar, taken by the Empire when I was ten. What secrets could I hold?”
“Every person has their secrets Kalena. Even you though you say you don’t-”
Vosloo and Kalena grabbed for their saddle pommels as Adhamh bellowed an ear-shattering roar and banked steeply to turn on a Wing tip back the way they had flown.
“What is going on?” Vosloo shouted at Kalena. Kalena echoed the question to the Hatar.
‘Something just shot at us,’ the Hatar replied as he busily scanned the tree slopes below.
‘How can an arrow hope to hit us up here?’
‘It was not an arrow – Hold on!’
Kalena and Vosloo still clung to their saddle pommels and were not taken by surprise when Adhamh swung suddenly to the left.
“What is happening?” Vosloo shouted.
“We are being attacked,” was all Kalena could say. Adhamh had warned her but Kalena saw nothing for the Hatar to dodge.
‘What is attacking us?’ Kalena asked as Adhamh put on a burst of speed that sent them sailing quickly over the tree tops back to the grasslands.
After a few minutes of anxious flying, the Hatar answered her.
‘Something below us was throwing Mind Bolts at us.’
Kalena leaned forward over Adhamh’s neck and she felt Vosloo do the same. It helped to cut down the drag for Adhamh and it also protected the riders from the lashing wind that tried to rip them from their seats.
‘Mind Bolts? Who would have the capacity to throw Mind Bolts at us?
A cold shiver ran down Kalena’s spine at the thought of someone, or something, throwing mind bolts at them. Mind Bolts are an invisible ball of thought energy that is projected into the physical world and then directed at a target, knocking them unconscious. Hatar are the only creatures that Kalena knew of that could create one, though Adhamh had always told her that she was capable of it. It is a skill that the reptiles used while hunting. But there was no Hatar hunting below. Adhamh would have sensed them.
Kalena felt a tug on her jacket. She looked under her arm to see Vosloo gesturing for her attention.
“Something below us was throwing a type of mind energy at us,” Kalena shouted back to him. “If it had hit us, we would have been knocked out of the sky.”
Adhamh’s wings worked to gain all the speed from the wind that it was possible to get and Kalena nestled herself in the feathers of the Hatar’s neck. The high whistling of the wind now made it impossible to make any conversation with the Captain as the words would be torn from her mouth to disappear on the wind.
As the last of the trees made way into the grasslands Kalena breathed a sigh of relief. Adhamh slowed as the grass flowed solidly beneath them.
“Thank The One, we are safe,” she whispered to herself.
‘That was too close for comfort. Harada needs to hear of this straight away, but his wing is too far out of range for me to reach them.’
Kalena closed her eyes and let her mind cast about for another Hatar but could find no one. Not even a member of her own Wing. That was strange. She should have been able to contact one of her Wing Lieutenants. It felt as if nothing at all was out there.
‘I think something is blocking us Adhamh.’
Kalena sat up straight in the saddle and shouted without turning to the Captain. “Adhamh cannot contact any of my or Harada’s Wing. We are being ‘blocked’ from contacting anything outside our area.” Kalena heard the Captain swear a string of profanities making her turn back in surprise to look at him. Half of them Kalena had never heard before.
“What in Bellus is down there!”
“Can you see anything Adhamh?” Kalena spoke aloud so that Captain Vosloo could at least hear half of the conversation.
‘No, I cannot see anything below that is capable of doing these things.’ Adhamh’s frustration’s sounded clearly in his mind voice. ‘Whatever is doing this can either travel as fast as we can or there are many of them and they knew we were coming.’
“Blast it,” Kalena thumped her thigh with a clenched fist before turning back to Vosloo. “He can’t see anything down there. Adhamh feels that whatever is down there knew we were coming.”
Captain Vosloo swore again.
“It’s too dangerous to try to get a closer look. We’ve got to go back and warn the Wings and the March.”
“Yes Captain,” Kalena turned forward and took a firm grip of Adhamh’s neck feathers.
‘You heard him Adhamh, let’s get out of here.’
Adhamh’s wings began to stroke the air, and both riders felt the increase in pressure from the air flowing over them.
It was on Adhamh’s fourth massive wing stroke that Kalena felt a tickling in the back of her mind. It was the same feeling she had just before she had the vision last night. Instinctively Kalena knew that it was a warning.
‘Adhamh-’
At that moment, the Hatar shuddered as if they were being rammed by a giant.
‘Kalena!’
The pain and ferocity in Adhamh’s mental shout made Kalena’s head feel as if it had been cleaved open by an axe. She frantically grabbed at her head, as if the pressure of her hands through her helmet could control the pain. Faintly, through the fog of pain, Kalena could hear a man shouting. But she ignored it as she suddenly felt Adhamh’s muscles relax.
Kalena felt her stomach lurch, and she opened her eyes enough to see Adhamh’s inert body spiraling towards the ground. Panicking, Kalena mentally called out to Adhamh, but the Hatar did not respond. There was a blank nothing where usually Adhamh’s presence was. Then Kalena screamed as the pain in her head intensified.
Through the pain came the now familiar ‘click’ and then she fell unconscious.
To Be Continued in
Part 3
The Awakening
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THE KALARTHRI
The Way to Freedom, Book One
“This Hatar Kalar has more natural Talent than any Second Born found in the Empire.”
Every ten years the Imperium Provosts travel the provinces of the Great Suene Empire and take every second-born child as the property of the Emperor. His Due for their continued protection.
Kalena, taken from her family and friends finds herself alone and scared in the imperial Stronghold of Darkon. And when she cries out to the darkness for help, Kalena is shocked when it answers her back.
If you found out that you were different from everyone else, what would you do?
The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) Digital Boxed Set
An accident of birth holds the future of a nation
MEET KALENA. TAKEN under the Empire’s Second Born rule, she is now a part of the Hatar Kalar, the Emperor’s flying corps. Being paired with a large, feathered, carnivore is not all it’s cracked up to be, and Kalena and her new Hatar partner find themselves embroiled in affairs way beyond their pay grade. Ice Tigers, enemy nations, internal strife and the fate of an Empire are now balanced precariously on Kalena’s shoulders and s
he has no idea which way it will fall.
This collection contains the first five books of the epic fantasy saga, The Way to Freedom (Does not include book 1.1 - The Cavern of Sethi). Save 40% versus buying the individual books!
The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season Two (Books 6-10) Digital Boxed Set
An accident of birth holds the future of a nation
THIS IS THE COMPLETE collection of Season Two of The Way To Freedom Series.
THIS BOX SET CONTAINS books 6 to 10 of the fantasy saga, The Way to Freedom. Save 40% versus buying the individual books!
Book 6: The Searchers
Book 7: The Whisperer
Book 8: The Deceiver
Book 9: The Great Game
Book 10: The Gathering
HOWLING VENGEANCE
John McCall Mysteries, Book One
John McCall just wanted to get a surprise for his men. Instead he got a disemboweled body.
A man is arrested for the murder but McCall is sure that they have the wrong person.
And when McCall starts digging around for the truth, he unearths a whole lot more than he bargained for.
Howling Vengeance. A supernatural mystery in the Old West.
Available now at your favorite Online Bookseller
THE ENCLAVE
The Verge, Book One
Katherine Kirk lived only for vengeance.
Vengeance against the man who destroyed her home, her family and her life.
Sent on a babysitting mission to Junter 3, RAN officer Katherine Kirk, finds herself quickly embroiled in the politics between the New Holland Government and the Val Myran refugees claiming asylum.
After an Alliance attack Kirk and her team hunt the enemy down and discover that they have finally found the lair of the man they have been searching for...
And the captive who has been waiting patiently for rescue.
“What would you do to the man who destroyed every important person in your life?”
PROVEN
The Blackwatch Chronicle, Book One
Something is rotten in the city of Brookhaven. And it is up to the Blackwatch to root it out.
ALL RYN WEAVER EVER wanted was to be a warrior. To protect others unable to protect themselves. But on her Proving to join the prestigious Blackwatch Order she finds herself accidentally Paired with Dagan Drake, a Tribunal Mage. Theirs is a reluctant partnership. Given no choice in the matter, Ryn must now work with Dagan to complete his mission to capture a traitor to the realm.
With rogue mages and brutish blades coming at her from every turn, will Ryn be able to gain the respect of her new partner and prove herself worthy of her blade? Or will Ryn and her Order fall to the machinations of the evil set against them?
Proven is the first instalment in a new epic fantasy romance series. If you like electrifying action, rich characters, and magical battles, then you'll love H.M. Clarke's series starter.
Winter’s Magic
Book One of The Order
Kaitlyn Winter is biting at the bit to become an active agent for the Restricted Practitioners Unit. And on her first day in the job she is thrown into a virtual s**t storm (to put it nicely).
First, she gets targeted for Assassination by The Sharda’s top assassin
Second, her Werewolf best friend decides that her being ‘Straight’ means she can’t protect herself and places her in protective custody
Third, the love of her life still won’t notice her existence and the Tempus Mage who’s set to keep an eye on her is infuriatingly attractive....
You can find out more information and sign up for Hayley’s monthly newsletter on her website
http://www.hmclarkeauthor.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
IN A FORMER LIFE, H M Clarke has been a Console Operator, an ICT Project Manager, Public Servant, Paper Shuffler and an Accountant (the last being the most exciting.)
She attended Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, where she studied for a Bachelor of Science (Chem), and also picked up a Diploma in Project Management while working for the South Australia Department of Justice.
In her spare time, she likes to lay on the couch and watch TV, garden, draw, read, and tell ALL her family what wonderful human beings they are.
She keeps threatening to go out and get a real job (Cheesecake Test Taster sounds good) and intends to retire somewhere warm and dry– – like the middle of the Simpson Desert. For the time being however, she lives in Ohio and dreams about being warm...
You can find out more information and sign up for Hayley’s monthly newsletter on her website – http://hmclarkeauthor.com
http://eepurl.com/SPy61
Or catch her on Twitter - @hmclarkeauthor
Also by H.M. Clarke
John McCall Mysteries
Howling Vengeance
The Order
Winter's Magic
Marion - An 'Order' Short Story
The Verge
The Enclave
The Way to Freedom
The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5)
The Kalarthri
The Dream Thief
The Cavern of Sethi
Watch for more at H.M. Clarke’s site.