by TR Cameron
A Flush of Diamonds
Magic City Chronicles™ Book Three
TR Cameron
Michael Anderle
Martha Carr
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover by Fantasy Book Design
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, March, 2021
ebook ISBN: 978-1-64971-597-5
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-598-2
The Oriceran Universe (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright (c) 2017-21 by Martha Carr and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
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
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Author Notes - TR Cameron
Author Notes - Martha Carr
Other series in the Oriceran Universe:
Books By Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
The A Flush of Diamonds Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Dorothy Lloyd
Wendy L Bonell
Larry Omans
Diane L. Smith
Dave Hicks
Angel LaVey
John Ashmore
Paul Westman
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Skyhunter Editing Team
Dedications
For those who seek wonder around every corner and in each turning page. And, as always, for Dylan.
— TR Cameron
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
— Michael
Chapter One
Ruby growled curses under her breath as she swung from the tiny ledge by the cramped fingers of a single hand. Cold wind tried to push her off the side of the mountain, but she grunted and with a Herculean effort of will, wrenched her body up to slap her other hand into position on the protrusion. Once her grip was secure, she complained, “You know, it would be really stupid to be called again, only to die trying to get where I’m supposed to go.”
From below her, Idryll replied, “The venamisha does assume a certain level of competence.”
If Ruby could bring herself to look down the mountainside they’d been climbing for the past half-hour without falling, she would surely see the familiar sarcastic smirk on her companion’s face. “Shut it. You suck. This mountain sucks. Everything sucks.” She pulled herself up and reached for the next ledge.
It all seemed so much easier when they’d planned it. She’d woken up in bed with her headache gone and her mentor Keshalla at her bedside. The Mist Elf warrior had clued her in about what little knowledge existed on the events to come. Apparently, the second calling of the venamisha was rare enough that almost no one knew of it, and visiting the mystics at the summit was the only universally agreed-upon part of the ritual. As soon as her teacher had mentioned it, Ruby had felt drawn toward the mountain, something inside urging her to ascend. She’d dressed in her training gear and headed for the slope with Idryll and Keshalla at her back. A moment of decision arrived much earlier than expected when the pull led in one direction, but the easiest path to the mystics lay in a different one.
Keshalla had advised, “Follow your instincts.”
Idryll had immediately replied, “For anyone else, that would absolutely be the right path. Ruby’s instincts aren’t really the most reliable things on either planet.”
Ruby had offered her partner an obscene gesture and started up the easier route. She’d only made it about one minute forward before a deluge of stones from small to giant came down the path and tried to kill her. She dodged the rockslide, but when the second had followed a moment after she resumed the ascent, she’d realized the truth—that she needed to go with the feeling. Use the Force, Ruby.
That truth had led her to this place, climbing up the side of a mountain with precarious footholds and handholds, not enjoying a moment of it. Her leather armor wasn’t enough to counter the cold, and her weapons hung heavy. Although she pumped out a little magic to keep her warm and lighten the load, she was wary of taking too much concentration away from ensuring she didn’t plummet to her death. The voice of logic inside her head reminded her that she could probably blunt a fall using force magic. Her internal pessimist replied it would be difficult to do so if she was knocked unconscious from bouncing off the mountainside. The two voices agreed to disagree, lapsed into a sullen silence, and left her in peace.
She looked up and spotted what appeared to be an opening about twenty feet above. “All right, about time.” She paused to calculate the best approach, then climbed with purpose. No further issues complicated her ascent, and she sat in the tunnel to regain her breath and composure. The tiger-woman slipped in beside her, clad only in her fur and seemingly oblivious to any elemental discomfort. Ruby remarked conversationally, “I hate you. You know that, right?”
Idryll laughed. “I love you too, darling.” The sarcasm oozed from her words, pulling a laugh from Ruby.
“So, what do you think lies ahead? Spiders? Giant ants? Cave bats? Trolls? I can go on.”
The other woman shook her head with a long-suffering look. “Perhaps instead of imagining bad things, you should see what’s actually there.”
Ruby sighed. “Oh, but that would ruin the mystery.” She forced herself to her feet and brushed off the back of her trousers, feeling the dust and gravel from the seemingly rarely used tunnel rasp against her palms. Lifting her right palm, she summoned a sphere of fire above it, drawing upon her magic only enough to maintain the flame and a force orb to contain it. She would have to continue to thread power to the ball, but the draw was low and wouldn’t impair her ability to fight if she needed to.
Given that she spent most of her life subconsciously maintaining a magical disguise as a human, such minimal expenditures weren’t too worrisome. She rolled the orb down the tunnel as if she were in a bowling alley, and it revealed a corridor about eight feet high and four wide
that ran uphill. “Well, at least it’s going in the right direction.” Her previous experience with the venamisha had taken her deep into the mountain. A descending route would be demoralizing, since as far as she knew her goal was to reach the top.
Idryll nodded. “It does indeed. One wonders what dangers lie between us and the mystics.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up.” She advanced with the other woman’s laughter at her tail. After several minutes of walking, re-rolling the orb every time it bounced back to her or they reached the spot where it had stopped moving, the object struck an unexpected wall. She approached it with a frown, thinking the tunnel had ended without delivering her to her destination but instead found a narrow square shaft leading upward. “Awesome. This looks safe.”
Idryll stepped up behind her and observed, “Climbable.”
“Maybe if you have claws that can pierce rock, sure. For the rest of us, it seems a little dangerous.”
“Want me to go first?”
Ruby shook her head. “No, but come up fast after.”
“Will do. Be careful.”
She reached over her shoulder to make sure the draw of her sword was clean, checked the dagger at her hip, and chuckled. “Aren’t I always?” She used a thread of force magic to grab the orb and hurl it up the shaft, then discharged a blast of the same power into the ground to propel herself up after it. The claustrophobic walls whipped past in a grayish blur, and she broke out into an open space, landing nimbly beside the opening and drawing her sword. She positioned the weapon before her in a diagonal guard and slowly turned to survey her surroundings.
It was unmistakably an arena. It resembled the places she’d seen in history books on Earth where gladiators fought in a lower ring, and people crowded the stands to watch in the hopes that they would win, or perhaps that they would die. Probably both would have been the top choice for those bloodthirsty crowds. A diffuse light grew from the curved ceiling high above to show the arena's dirty stone floor, seemingly hewed from the natural bones of the mountain. The rising tiers of seats appeared to be the same material. It would’ve been bland and boring if not for the ubiquitous carvings. The seats, the walls, the roof, all of them glowed with illuminated etched shapes and symbols she couldn’t penetrate the meaning of but were familiar from her previous experiences inside the mountain. The scientist part of her brain wondered if it was a language, if maybe Keshalla might know what they were trying to convey. Not important right now, Ruby. Focus.
Idryll emerged from the shaft to take position beside her. “Smells like danger.”
A melodious voice from across the arena floor replied, “Only for those who are inadequate to the task they’ve taken on.”
Ruby turned toward the sound. A tall woman stood in a casual pose, left hand on her hip, right hanging loosely at her side. She wore chain armor, silver links married to ebon plates at chest and thighs and gleaming in the growing illumination. Black leather boots reached up to her knees, and polished metal gauntlets covered her forearms and hands. Her skin was light, her hair the snowy white typical of the Mist Elves, and her face was sharp-lined with cheekbones drawing a “V” to the thin-lipped mouth. Her expression seemed simultaneously caring and severe.
Ruby replied, “Well, hopefully, we’ll turn out to be adequate. I’m Ruby. This is Idryll.”
The other woman inclined her head. “I am Kaeni. I am the guardian of this place, and only by defeating me shall you continue.”
She nodded seriously. “Very well. So, checkers? Parcheesi? I mean, we can play Monopoly, but it takes a long time, and it’s always a problem making sure the banker doesn’t cheat.”
Their opponent laughed and indicated the surroundings. “You would deny our audience a true contest?”
Ruby frowned and shifted her gaze to the stands. She hadn’t noticed the ghostly figures filling in, but they became more solid as she watched. None of them reached a full presence, at most a half-state, but male and female Mist Elves in various eras of clothing, all adults, filled the rows. “Who are they?”
Unexpectedly, Idryll provided the answer. “Those who have previously undergone the venamisha. I recognize many.” Ruby had never delved into the tiger’s past beyond what she’d chosen to reveal, but it made sense that she would have been part of the trial for others before Ruby’s attempt.
“Awesome.” Turning back to Kaeni, she said, “I don’t know, a good game of chess could be scintillating.” The other woman shook her head. “Okay. Ground rules?”
Her opponent smiled. “This is a test of might and power. Defeat me however you can, if you wish to continue.”
Ruby nodded again. “Perfect. Let’s do it.”
Chapter Two
Kaeni extended her hands, and a large two-handed sword materialized in them, a silver blade with shining runes that matched those on the surrounding stone. The other woman twitched the weapon in an invitation, and Ruby stalked slowly toward her, clothing herself in a full-body force shield an inch from her skin. She pushed all thoughts that weren’t relevant to the fight from her head, discarding her wonderings about what came next and her frustrations over the climb to reach this place. She sensed Idryll moving off to her left. Together they should easily be a match for the lone woman at the far end, which triggered an immediate suspicion about what sort of trap they were walking into.
She drew her enchanted knife with her left hand and said a quiet word of thanks to Shentia for providing her with the dagger that allowed her to cast spells through it. She sent a beam of fire at Kaeni, doubting it would mark the end of the battle but needing to suss out her opponent’s defenses. If it scored unexpectedly, so much the better.
The other woman nonchalantly shifted her sword's angle to intercept the beam, and the magic was sucked into the weapon, causing it to glow slightly afterward. I need to get one of those. Ruby’s desire must have shown on her face because the other woman’s lips twitched upward in response. Her foe extended that overly large sword in front of her in a two-handed grip, stepped into a back stance, and centered her weight. It was clear she was aware of Idryll and ready to defend against an attack from either side.
Ruby moved forward and flicked her gaze at the tiger-woman. Her companion had shifted into her natural form, and four massive paws prowled nimbly toward their opponent. When they neared enough that a quick run would close the distance, Ruby shouted to distract their opponent and slashed the dagger in the air to send a line of force at the other woman’s feet. Instead of blocking down with the sword, which Ruby had hoped for, Kaeni nimbly skipped aside and countered the simultaneous rush from the tiger, intercepting the slashing claws with the flat of her blade. She sliced the weapon at Idryll as she disengaged, and the tiger roared in anger as the tip scored a small wound along her flank. Ruby said, “Oh, now you’ve done it. Pissing off the tiger is a bad idea.”
Kaeni wove the sword in a graceful pattern with a low laugh. “Somehow I doubt my odds are any worse now than they were a moment ago, as the goal you seek can only be achieved by going through me.” She rushed at Ruby, shifting the giant blade unexpectedly to her left hand and whipping her right out at Idryll, who was circling to that side. A blast of magic sent the tiger careening away, tumbling to slam against the far wall.
Seeing her partner injured eliminated whatever playfulness remained in Ruby. She slipped in with a snarl and whipped her sword across in a wide arc to knock the other woman’s weapon inward. She spun to her left, reversed the dagger in her hand, and stabbed it back at her foe’s unprotected head. Kaeni bent forward to avoid the attack, put her hands on the floor, and kicked back with both heels at Ruby. The blow caught her in the stomach and sent her sliding backward several feet, more stunning than painful.
By the time she regained her balance, the other woman was wading in. The two-handed sword was now cleanly wielded by her right hand alone, and Kaeni threw magic with her left. Ruby sheathed her dagger and summoned a force shield on her arm in a single motion. She intercepte
d bolts of shadow easily, then made the mistake of lifting the shield to block the downward slash from the other woman’s sword. The impact numbed her arm from fingers to shoulder, and it went instantly limp. She avoided the follow-up strike by throwing herself in a roll to the side, turning an awkward landing into a fairly graceful rise to her feet. Idryll padded to stand beside her, and the tiger looked as dazed as she felt. Ruby offered, “So, she’s a bit of a challenge, eh?”
Her companion’s big furry head nodded. The tiger’s mouth moved weirdly as human speech came out of it. “Indeed. One expects competent foes in the venamisha.”
“So you say, rabbit,” she replied, her jangled mind calling up cartoons she’d watched as a child. “Let’s take her together.”
They surged forward simultaneously, and their opponent grinned widely. Kaeni raised her weapon into guard position, but as they drew near, fired a blast of force at the floor and went flying over their heads. They skidded to a stop and turned in time to meet her attack from behind. Their foe shot another force bolt at Idryll, but Ruby dove in its way, getting knocked back but avoiding actual damage due to the shield that still lay an inch away from her skin. Her left arm was starting to feel like it was on fire, that in-between stage that was the bridge from numbness to usefulness, and Ruby welcomed the pain.