King Of Souls (Book 2)

by Matthew Ballard

  Jeremy’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of crimson, and his eyes widened. “If I’ve ever implied anything inappropriate —”

  “Relax.” Keely said cutting him off. “It’s just an observation. But, I’d have to be blind not to see the way you look at her, and I’d wager a fair bit of gold on it too.”

  Heat spread through Danielle’s cheeks and sweat formed on her palms. She’d never considered Jeremy a romantic interest, but she couldn’t deny his good looks. A twinge of guilt pricked her conscience as her thoughts drifted to Brees.

  “Danielle…I mean…Your Highness, I —”

  Danielle raised her hand cutting him off. “You don’t owe me any explanation Jeremy.” She glared at Keely. “Keely has a way of saying whatever pops into that tiny little head of hers no matter the consequences.”

  Keely’s grinned turned mischievous. “I figured someone should have guts enough to break the ice between you two.”

  Jeremy’s jaw slackened, and he stared at Danielle through cool blue eyes. He rubbed the two-day growth of blond stubble spreading across his chin and sighed.

  “Are you going to stand there and deny it?” Keely said.

  Danielle’s pulse raced as Keely’s question caught her off-guard. Her eyes flickered toward Jeremy, and she kept silent wondering what he’d say.

  Silence hung heavy in the old heartwood’s shadowy root system while Jeremy stood wearing a numb expression. “I —”

  A tiny warm hand grabbed Danielle’s fingers and tugged.

  Danielle jumped. She’d forgotten Ferris. She knelt before the boy and calmed her pounding heart. “What’s wrong Ferris?”

  “What’s wrong with the trees?”

  Jeremy cleared his throat seizing on the boy’s words. “Yes, I wondered the same thing.”

  Keely gave Jeremy a sideways stare and mumbled. “Chicken.”

  Danielle pretended not to notice Keely’s insult. “I’m sure this tree, like the others we’ve traveled through, is under stress from the attacks. It’s no different than a human expressing worry just as I feel for my father and —” She cut off her words before she added Brees’s name.

  Keely folded her arms and raised an eyebrow while a slight knowing smile showed on her face. “And who Danielle?”

  Danielle scowled and anger flashed behind her eyes. “And the citizens fleeing for Meranthia,” she said through a clenched jaw.

  Ferris bit his lower lip and frowned. “Is the tree going to die Miss Danielle? Please say it won’t die.”

  “No sweetheart. It won’t die.” She embraced the boy. “We’ll stop the bad men and the dragons then the trees will be just fine. You’ll see.”

  “Is there any way to know for sure?” Jeremy said.

  Danielle stood and faced the shield knight. “I know how these trees react. I can feel their stress.”

  “So you’re just guessing?” Keely said.

  Danielle sighed. “No. I’m not just guessing. I can prove it.” She moved to the wall and flattened her palm against its smooth surface. She closed her eyes and channeled nature magic reaching for the tree’s consciousness.

  The heartwood tree remained still and silent ignoring her call.

  Danielle’s chest tightened. Maybe the tree didn’t appreciate her prodding, but her worry deepened. She channeled a deep flow of magic and bright green light spread beneath her palm extending far into the tree’s root system.

  The floor rumbled, and the tree groaned low and deep.

  Danielle gasped and felt the blood drain from her face. She yanked her hand from the root wall, and her legs buckled.

  Jeremy slipped his hand around Danielle’s waist as she swayed.

  Danielle wrapped her arm around his shoulder trying to steady herself, but her head spun. Her breaths came in short ragged pulls, and she leaned into Jeremy’s body for support.

  “Something’s wrong with the tree. Isn’t it?” Panic touched Ferris’s words, and his eyes welled with tears. “I knew it was sick. I could feel it Miss Danielle.”

  Keely scooped Ferris into her arms, and he buried his head in her shoulder, his tiny body quaking with sobs. She walked off with Ferris speaking quiet words of comfort.

  Danielle spoke in a low whisper. “The tree’s dying Jeremy. It’s hanging on by a thread.” She steadied herself and stood straight.

  “Maybe the tree’s under attack,” Jeremy said.

  Danielle shook her head. “No. It wasn’t pleading for help. The tree is sick.”

  “How could that be?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. To see a healthy heartwood tree turn sick so quickly is rare, but it’s not just this tree. Every tree we’ve passed has grown worse the further we travel from the first tree. It’s almost as if…” As Danielle spoke the words, a sickening realization pounded in her head like a bass drum. Somehow the first tree kept the others alive. As the first tree struggled for life, so did the heartwood trees it spawned. Her legs buckled again.

  Jeremy’s hand tightened around her waist. “I’ve got you Danielle. Stay calm and explain what’s happening.”

  “I’ve got to go back Jeremy. I never should’ve left.” On trembling legs, Danielle turned toward the first tree. She wobbled ahead moving toward the forest’s heart.

  “Hey!” Keely stormed ahead cutting off Danielle’s retreat and glared. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’ve got to go back and save the first tree. It’s the only way.” Danielle mumbled through a hazy fog of shock.

  Jeremy jogged ahead before stopping beside Keely. “What’s the only way? We can’t help, if you don’t explain what’s happening.”

  Danielle took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. “I think the heartwood trees are linked.”

  “Linked how?” Keely said.

  “Linked to the tree that gave them life,” Danielle said. “It’s the only explanation that makes any sense.”

  “It might make perfect sense to you, but it’s a little fuzzy to me,” Keely said.

  Jeremy gripped Danielle’s shoulders and held her gaze for several moments. “Why do you need to reach the first tree? I’m sure many heartwood trees have spawned saplings over the centuries.”

  Danielle’s lower lip quivered and tears welled in her eyes. She shook her head. “The wardens have carefully governed the planting of new heartwood trees over the years. The council takes saplings only from the first tree whenever they plant a new heartwood. Lora created the first tree, and wardens consider it perfect in every way.”

  The color drained from Jeremy’s face. “You mean the existence of the entire forest might depend on the first tree’s survival?”

  “Of all the stupid decisions!” Keely glared at Danielle but lowered her voice as Ferris flinched. “Haven’t we learned the hard way, this past year especially, that diversity allows us all to thrive? Why would the trees be any different?”

  Danielle’s shoulders sagged as she hung her head. She couldn’t bring herself to look at them. “It’s been that way for so long nobody ever questioned the ancient warden’s wisdom. We assumed they knew best.”

  Jeremy placed himself between Danielle and Keely. “It’s easy to second-guess their actions now. But you can’t hold Danielle responsible for that decision.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Danielle said pushing past Jeremy. “I can’t let the first tree die. There’s no sense arguing.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Keely grabbed Danielle’s shoulder holding her in place. “I don’t know much about that glowing ball strapped to your back, but I know you’re linked to it in some strange way. And that means everybody’s life could depend on yours. Everyone Danielle.” Keely’s voice trembled as she paused letting her words sink in. She raised her free hand and pointed at Danielle’s chest. “You don’t have the right to sacrifice your life.”

  Danielle face prickled as if slapped, and she stared aghast at Keely. She started to argue then stopped. She understood the truth, no matter how ug
ly. “What if I’m the only person that can save the forest? What then Keely?” Her words came out soft and low, free of vitriol as tears streaked her face.

  “What if you’re not?” Keely said with compassion lacing her voice. “We’re less than a mile from Elan’s Gap Danielle. We’re almost there.”

  Danielle nodded. She’d find Ronan. Maybe he’d have some idea, but she didn’t think her father could hold on much longer. She wiped the tears from her face and stood tall. Self-pity wouldn’t help anyone, and her father had trusted her to carry Lora’s Sphere to safety. “Okay, but let’s hurry.”

  A few minutes later, they climbed a dark narrow staircase leading to the surface. The heartwood tree stood less than a half-mile from Elan’s Gap marking the last great tree near the forest’s edge.

  Danielle emerged from the tree and glanced upward.

  The heartwood’s branches clattered in the stiff breeze bare and naked of their giant green and red leaves. Near its base, half-rotted fruit lay amid piles of shriveled dead leaves and broken black branches.

  Danielle faced the forest and stifled a gasp.

  An unbroken chain of dying heartwood trees stretched toward the first tree like a parade of wounded soldiers.

  “I can see the Gap ahead,” Jeremy said. “We’re almost there.”

  Danielle dropped her head and followed Jeremy and Keely.

  They pushed through dry, waist-deep grass and high uneven shrubs. The group emerged among throngs of Ayralen refugees pushing toward Elan's Gap.

  Danielle raised her hood covering her face and hair. She didn’t want to draw the crowd’s attention. Finding Danielle Deveaux fleeing the forest would only serve to weaken Ayralen resolve.

  Jeremy nodded toward a battle knight standing beside a makeshift highway.

  The knight’s nervous gaze shifted between the refugees and the gray clouds hanging over the forest. A quiver filled with arrows hung from the knight’s shoulder while he held an Ayralen longbow loose in his right hand. He caught Jeremy’s eye and returned his nod with a slight bow before resuming his watch.

  Danielle lifted Ferris holding him tight so not to lose him in the throng of refugees.

  Three-hundred yards ahead, iron gates, built to keep Ayralens out of Meranthia, stood wide open. Refugees flooded through Elan’s Gap into Meranthia beyond. A dozen knights stood atop high stone walls carved into the mountainside a hundred and twenty feet over the forest floor.

  Ferris sat upright in Danielle’s arms craning to catch a glimpse of the battle knights standing on the high walls.

  Blue spirit shields surrounded every battle knight, each equipped with a longbow and a full quiver of arrows. Their telltale shard blades hung still while the knights scanned the low-hanging clouds.

  The knight’s numbers had dwindled to dangerously low levels since Ronan took the throne last summer. He hadn’t found a way to infuse Elan’s magic into new recruits. Only those who had already held shards could hold the magic. Ronan had relied on those knights who’d served under Queen Arianne to step forward. But, Merric Pride had murdered many men and women who served under Patron Tyrell’s command, and few remained.

  Visions of dragons and sorcerers rampaging Freehold raised a chill along Danielle’s spine.

  High above the dying forest, a distant roar echoed from the mountainside. Sharp gasps rose from the clustered refugees. Necks craned skyward as the crowd froze nervously scanning the sky.

  Along Elan’s Gap’s high walls, blue shields sprang to life around the dozen knights manning the lower gates. Battle knights pulled arrows from quivers and readied bows bracing for attack.

  Two dark masses appeared in the sky descending likes thieves from thick gray cloud cover. With pinned back wings, twin dragons sliced the air setting a collision course for the Ayralen refugees.

  Among the stunned refugees, a piercing scream cut the air. Ayralens scattered like sand in the wind pushing and shoving past those in their way. Refugees nearest the gates ran ahead pressing into their fleeing countrymen.

  A tall broad shouldered man led two children past Danielle pushing her aside almost knocking her over.

  Danielle’s head buzzed as she staggered backward clutching Ferris to her chest.

  Keely pressed in behind her hooking her arm around Danielle’s waist keeping her upright.

  On Danielle’s right side, blue light flashed in Jeremy’s palm, and she snapped her head toward him. “Jeremy, no shields! What if these people run into them?”

  Jeremy shot a glance skyward and nodded. “We need to find a place to hide.”

  “Come on!” Keely tugged Danielle’s arm pulling her sideways into the tall grass and shrubs.

  A jade dragon swooped over the scattering horde unleashing lightning from its open mouth. A second dragon, the shade of an autumn pumpkin, flew in low spraying a wide arc of fire six-feet above the fleeing masses.

  Danielle’s heart raced while her feet flew forward. She stomped through waist-high grass and slipped past tall shrubs following just behind Keely.

  Fifty yards away, hundreds of screams merged into a mass jumble of terror. Atop the walls at Elan’s Gap, battle knights fired volleys of arrows that raced toward the swooping dragons.

  The knights’ opening shots fell short, and the dragons climbed over the Heartwood.

  Danielle ran haphazard through the tall grass cradling Ferris’s head and body. She embraced her warden's magic and the grass parted as she raced forward toward the nearest heartwood tree. Despite its crippled health, she would find safety inside its trunk.

  As Danielle ran ahead, tall grass swirled and moved as if turned aside by an invisible hand.

  A tall thorny shrub moved and grass parted. A blond haired child stepped through wearing the garments marking him as an Obsith sorcerer. Silver bands circled tightly braided strands of hair, each clipped with strange crystal ornaments. Exotic tattoos marked his cheekbones and eyelids, and his lips curled into a thin smirk. The sorcerer raised his index finger pointing it toward Danielle. An oversized silver ring circling his index finger glowed red. His lips moved chanting strange unintelligible words.

  Danielle screamed drawing on a well of nature magic. She commanded the grass near the sorcerer’s legs upward wrapping his legs in a vise-grip.

  Grass moved near the sorcerer’s ripping his index finger away. It wrapped his body in long dried grass leaving him bundled him in a tight cocoon. She hugged Ferris close, and he burrowed his face into Danielle’s shoulder clutching her blouse in his balled up fists.

  Three more blond heads bobbed above the swaying grass.

  Danielle twisted the grass beneath their feet pulling them to the ground before wrapping them tight.

  Behind Danielle, the chilling giggles of a prepubescent child set her flesh crawling. She whirled and gasped as Aren Broderick, Brees’s older brother, stood three-feet away.

  The stench of burned ozone clung to the cool air at the forest’s edge. Around Danielle the air warped and shimmered. A dozen columns of sizzling blue lights flashed forming bars of pure electricity.

  Danielle placed Ferris on the ground and reached for her belt pouch.

  “Take care with your next move Danielle,” a familiar voice said. “Don’t give them a reason to hurt you.” Arber Stroman, traitor to Ayralen, stood from where he’d crouched in the tall grass. He stepped forward and stopped outside Danielle’s electric prison.

  Moira’s Story

  The dragon’s golden scales gleamed beneath the rising sun as she crept forward and hovered over her egg. She craned her neck forward and roared. Energy ripples cascaded over Ronan’s spirit shield.

  The short hair on Ronan’s neck rose while his body stiffened. A steady river of sweat ran along his chest and between his shoulder blades. He stepped backward wiping rivulets of perspiration from his forehead. In his right hand, he warned off the advancing dragon with his sheba blade while he held enough energy to level a small village in his left.

  A high-pitched growl
came from the white mound of shaggy fur behind Ronan as the bear cub did her best to invoke a threatening posture.

  Ronan shot a quick glance over his shoulder praying he’d find his bear friend still in one piece.

  The red dragon tipped his head upward, and his nostrils flared while he sniffed the air. He settled his hindquarters atop the sand and curled his thirty foot tail around his forelimbs and stared blankly at the bear cub.

  By Ronan’s estimation, the red dragon appeared content watching the confrontation unfold. But, he harbored no doubt the beast wouldn’t hesitate to intervene if any harm came to his mate.

  The gold dragon lumbered another step forward. But her mouth closed, and she glared down her long snout at Ronan appearing more angry than hostile.

  Ronan’s shoulders eased, and he lowered his arm holding the stored spirit energy.

  “Tiamat! Abzu! That will be enough!” A creaky voice radiating authority spoke from somewhere behind Ronan.

  The red dragon’s tail flickered, and he glanced downward wearing an almost bored expression.

  The gold dragon’s ears perked, and her head jerked toward the voice before she lowered her neck in a gesture of obedience.

  Despite the warmth, a sharp chill danced along Ronan’s spine. A wide grin split his face, and he whirled tracking the voice’s source.

  Seated atop a giant silver snow eagle, Moira glared between the two dragons. “You’re scaring the boy half to death. You both know better than to treat one of my guests with such ill manners.”

  The gold dragon lowered her body until her hindquarters and belly rested atop the sand. She curled her tail around her body mimicking the red dragon’s indifferent manner.

  Ronan’s gaze locked on the eagle and her distinct gray eyes. But, he didn’t need to see her eyes to feel her presence. His heart surged with pure unfettered joy as he sheathed his blade and released his magic. “Rika!” He sprinted ahead while relief filled his body.

  Sensing the easing tension, the bear cub’s fur returned to its normal shaggy rag-top appearance. She hopped along the hot sand behind Ronan struggling to keep pace.