The Legacy (The Darkness Within Saga Book 1)

by JD Franx

Giddeon frowned as he stood up from the fire. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” he barked. “You have to start explaining some things, Yrlissa. I’m really beginning to worry about your motives and where you get your knowledge from. Every damn time we’re stuck, you have an answer. Why is that?” he demanded.

  “Nola ona, wizard. I told you before, my secrets are my own. They must stay that way. I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t accept that, Yrlissa. I won’t!” Giddeon yelled. “I am the only living ArchWizard. I have seen you do the impossible several times now. You are not normal, even for the Elvehn. That Whisper called you a Daughter of Dyr. I know what that means and it’s not possible. The Dyrranai Forest was lost during the Cataclysm. My wife can trace her lineage to that forest and she has only a trace of Dyr blood. You need to explain yourself and how it is you can cast spells so long lost that no one alive can draw enough power to cast them, let alone know the trigger words.”

  “I can’t and won’t tell you, Giddeon. Your eyes are blinded by the unknown. You cannot force me to tell you as much as you might like to think you can. I am here to help them,” she said, pointing to Ember and Max, “not you. There is nothing more I will tell you. There is nothing more that I can.”

  “Sooner or later, Yrlissa, you’re going to have to trust me. I believe we both want the same thing here. Don’t you?”

  Shaking her head, it was clear Yrlissa couldn’t disagree more. “For right now, yes, but I know your true agenda, Giddeon, and it is the exact opposite of ours. When the time comes for you to act on your orders you will learn exactly what I am and what I am fully capable of. And you will learn what a Fae is able to do. You might want to remember that. Now that we know what she is, things have changed. All of our priorities have changed, even yours. Nothing is more important to me now than keeping her safe. Her priority is finding Kael. A true Fae is in our world again, and things are going to start changing in Talohna. Quickly.”

  “Like what, Yrlissa? Is she a target now?” Max asked.

  “Not yet. But she will be before long. Once word gets out or magic begins to change...”

  Max shook his head in disbelief. “How? What’s going to happen?”

  “Magic more than anything else will begin to change, spells will become stronger, especially those based on healing or hexes. Once it does, people will know, and they’ll come looking for her. Some people worship the Fae like gods, Max. The Fae were beings capable of staggering power. There are groups and political factions here that’ll want that power for themselves and stop at nothing to get it. We’re going to have our hands full just keeping her safe before long.” Max stared down at Ember as Yrlissa spoke, but his focus soon shifted to the ArchWizard.

  “Giddeon?” Yrlissa said, getting his attention. “Now you can try to see if you and your daughter’s magic will be a match for mine and whether Max is stronger than Kasik, or you can shut up and help us find Kael. There’s no reason to see the DragonKin’s Queen.”

  As Yrlissa finished yelling at Giddeon, Max jumped to his feet and slowly, as if reluctantly, drew both of his swords from their sheaths by his bed roll. Giddeon flexed his fingers, as if seriously considering Yrlissa’s challenge, but as Max twirled his blades and stretched his back, he decided against it.

  “Fair enough,” Giddeon said with a sigh. “But the day will come when we discuss what happened here tonight.”

  “Ona, Giddeon. Nola ona,” she answered, using the Elvehn terms for no and never. Using the Elvehn words emphasized the conviction behind their meaning.

  It was abundantly clear that Giddeon and his experts had misinterpreted the meaning of the prophecy they had worked so hard to avoid. With no way to fix that mistake, and with Fae magic back in the world, Talohna would indeed start to change, and soon, as it moved into a new era. One that hadn’t been seen in over ten thousand years.

  Queen Superior, Shelaryx WhiteScale, stared at the mirrored table in front of her as it reflected back images from every corner of her domain and beyond Talohna. She had watched the progress of Giddeon’s group since they had entered her lands. When they sailed into BlackFang Harbour, for a time, she had debated killing all but two of them; the unknown identities of the two stayed her hand. The fact that they were in the Dragon Isles could ruin everything she had spent many millennia planning.

  After she had talked with Commander Zatassa, Queen WhiteScale was positive which of Giddeon’s companions was her daughter, but the Fae monarch’s daughter hadn’t been revealed to her until she witnessed the Whisper’s surprising revelations. Two others in the group had also caught her eye, one of which she was positive she knew quite well, but the passage of so many centuries changed people’s appearances and she couldn’t be sure. Killing them all was no longer the best idea. She had even sent a squad of Talons, lead by four of her most powerful Zephyrs, to help the small group deal with the wyverns. However, they had been called back to Crystalis City the moment the Whispers appeared. Even the offspring of the once-mighty dragons wouldn’t interfere with the forest guardians.

  So it would be as they had hoped, so many years ago. The DragonKin and Fae daughters would have to lead Talohna’s fight against the coming darkness. If full Dragon or matured Fae powers were active in Talohna, they would be used to destroy everything the Fae and DragonKin had worked so hard to avoid. The shield that surrounded the island did a lot more than just protect the DragonKin from the elements of the ocean. It shielded their power from the world and kept out a certain undesirable named Sythrnax. Suppressing all the DragonKin’s power had aged their queen to a drastic extent, but the DragonKin were unable to shift their islands to hide them between dimensions like the Fae had done. Keeping the DragonKin magic quelled and protected from those in Talohna who would use it to their own ends was all Queen WhiteScale could do. For the moment.

  Now that her daughter’s group was headed back to the mainland, she didn’t have to worry about Saleece’s genetic Dragon-memory activating. Sending her only daughter and the sole heir to the Dragon throne to Giddeon all those years ago was the hardest thing she had ever done. Controlling the Dragon genetic memory was a difficult and dangerous thing to do. Memories had to be kept locked away while some knowledge was left accessible to instinctive need. Years later she had helped Eva ThornWing, the Fae Monarch with the spell to suppress Ember’s genetic memory before sending her across the dimensional bridge. Though they both knew that it had to be done, it still hurt to do such things to their daughters, but the alternative was so very much worse.

  With Ember and Saleece out in the world, there was at least a chance that the prophecy could be avoided. It left both young women free to continue helping Giddeon and the others, especially with Saleece’s heightened magic that would continue to grow in power as the spell that locked away her memory continued degrading. It was the chance they had hoped for, but there was still a long ways to go. The Queen knew her power should hold out long enough to see the prophecy’s end; the shield drained more every day it was active. It wouldn’t be long before she would pay the ultimate price for protecting the Lesser races for the Gods. A price worse than death. Desperately needing rest from the weariness caused by the scrying mirror, she headed for the luxurious bedchambers far in the back of her castle in the Crystalis City.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  June 5, 2026. Sam’s Bay, Washington

  Dear Diary,

  I talked to Kael’s doctor this morning. She told me that she’ll clear him to come home this afternoon. Sheriff Maxwell Soryn has agreed to meet me so he can help. He’s been there every day since the shooting to check up on Kael, and I think they’re becoming friends. Kael’s still in a lot of pain from the nerve damage and the surgery but has refused the painkillers they prescribed at the hospital. Dr. Lyma told us that she has never seen anyone suffer without complaint like he does. Though I know he’s depressed because he’s lost the use of his arm, he has said nothing and has yet to complain, even to me. I have known him my whole life and I know t
hat he won’t. Kael has never complained about anything. I remember when we were twelve and were playing downstream from the dam at Rockton reservoir.

  I fell on the slimy rocks and broke my ankle, knocking him into the shallow water at the same time. When I couldn’t walk on my ankle, Kael carried me piggy-back every step of the two miles back home. Even though we had to stop twice so he could catch his breath, he never complained, the only words I heard from him were that everything would be all right, or to breathe easy when he felt me panicking and crying. I’ll never forget the look on my mother’s face when Kael gently set me down on dad’s skinning table beside the garage and she saw his swollen, purple-bruised shoulder. He smashed it on the rocks when I knocked him into the water, fracturing both his collarbone and his shoulder. It wasn’t broken and the fractures never opened but he still carried me the whole way without a single groan. I knew that day he would always be there for me.

  EXCERPT FROM EMBER TOLLEN-SYMES PERSONAL JOURNAL, FOUND ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHER PAGES ON THE BEACHES OF THE BLACK CAULDRON OCEAN NEAR SOENA. 5025 PC

  ARKUM ZUL, TAZAMMOR MOUNTAIN

  It didn’t take long before Kael lost track of how many days he’d spent in captivity. The Dead Sisters now worked in shifts, constantly bombarding his mind with illusions and nightmares to the point where he sometimes could not tell the difference between illusion and reality. They spent less time tearing up his body, but still made sure he suffered sufficient physical pain. N’Ikyah was relentless in trying to use her magic to keep his mind whole, and Lycori did everything she could to anchor him to reality, but it was becoming a losing battle.

  The last time he slept, it became more than clear to him that Arabella had finally managed to fully manipulate his dreams. He awoke in his dream laying in the lap of his wife. Knowing that he was being manipulated, like so many times before, Kael quickly lost control of his emotions. It didn’t last long before the dream state shifted and he was swallowed by darkness. This avenue of mental torture continued for what seemed like weeks, the dreams or illusions changing places and details, but they seldom fooled him any more, even though a small piece of his soul died every time he was forced to kill Ember or Lycori and sometimes even N’Ikyah. Kael chalked it up to Arabella’s inexperience with controlling the dream state he was in. After so many months of agony, the dark nothingness of his unconsciousness was becoming a welcome friend, a gentle reprieve from the physical pain and psychological nightmares.

  When Kael finally came around, it took several seconds for him to orient himself and realize where he was. The only good thing was that the vile women that called themselves Dead Sisters were gone from the cell. Lycori was right by his side, the same as she had been the entire time they had been captured.

  “Galen?” Kael croaked.

  “Kael, what can I get you? You need something?”

  “Water, please…” His voice cracked under the mild strain of speaking. He swallowed hard and tried again. “How many days have passed since the Cardessa left?”

  “As best I can tell,” Galen said as he got up and headed over to the water bucket, “the thirty days are up. I don’t know what that means, but at least that hag’s dark magic should be out of your body, if nothing else.”

  “Thanks, all of you. I’m sorry I can’t help us get out of here.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for, my friend,” Galen said, as he knelt beside Kael and offered him the stale water from the mouldy bucket. “We’re all still alive because you suffer like this every day. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” He helped Kael up so he could swallow without choking and then along with a hand from Lycori, eased Kael’s broken body back against the blanket-wrapped bars of the cell.

  “I’m still sorry, all of you,” Kael sighed.

  “I know you are, Kael,” Galen replied. “That’s what makes you who you are.”

  The rest nodded or smiled, but Kael knew, now that with the thirty days had passed, things were likely going to get much worse, fast. There was very little any of them could do, weak and suffering from malnutrition, their physical strength was almost non-existent. The Orotaq guards had reduced their meals to once a day weeks ago, and they supplied Lycori with animal blood, but only a fraction of the amount she needed to stay healthy. Her enhanced speed and reflexes had suffered greatly, weakening her beyond that of a normal human. It gave the group no options for escape. Time was running out, even if the others didn’t know it.

  Kael’s returning magic was a lot more noticeable now, but he was still a long ways away from the power he needed to shatter the Gyhhura collar and effect an escape. The seventy-eight days since they had been captured had given his body sufficient time to heal the wounds in his neck caused by the collar’s spikes still set deep into the core nerves of his central nervous system. All that remained were four scarred-edged holes in his neck. The daily abuse from the torture had done the most damage, taking its toll on both his mind and body.

  Kael realized some time ago that the mental torture they were putting him through continued to expand his magical power just as much as the physical torture to his body had, perhaps more so. His body acted like a syphon, drawing magic from the pain inflicted on it and replenishing what was stolen from him by the Dwarven machine. Though he was sure it was probably important, for the life of him, he couldn’t force himself to focus on what it could mean. The only thing that mattered was to increase that power as much as possible, which meant tormenting the Dead Sisters, goading them into more torture and more mental suffering, which in turn was causing him to lose his mind and his self while his magic slowly returned. His hatred for them continued to grow at an uncontrollable rate, even as he tried his best suppress it. Thoughts of revenge and payback would only cause his sanity to flee into a delirium-based fantasy sooner than it already was.

  A couple of hours passed as Kael rested. The guards returned to the cell long enough to leave a bucket of fresh water for the prisoners, just like they did every day, though it quickly went stale in the disgusting, mold-covered bucket. It would be hours before they brought the day’s ration of food. After Lycori finished helping Kael drink some of the fresh water, she left to offer the rest to the other prisoners.

  N’Ikyah knelt by his side as she watched Lycori help her grandfather on the far side of the cell. The old man had grown steadily weaker as the months progressed. N’Ikyah had to use her magic daily in order to keep the rampant infection under control that had been caused by his Gyhurra collar. Even so, they all knew she was fighting a losing battle; not trained in conventional magic healing, it was only prolonging the inevitable. Luckily, Kael and Galen had no such problems with their own collars. N’Ikyah told Kael some time ago that she attributed Gabriel’s decline to his advanced age.

  Looking at Kael with intense scrutiny, she whispered, “Why have you not told her?”

  “Told her what, N’Ikyah?” he asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Your magic returns, at least your underworld magic. You are hiding it very well, but I sense small parts of it when I heal you. It retracts from my magic. Worry not,” she said, putting her hand on his chest as he tried to rise. “Mistress Arabella will never notice. Only a healer could tell. I thought you would have told her by now.” She nodded towards Lycori and then sat down beside him, crossing her legs as she waited for his response.

  “I don’t want to get her hopes up. I can’t tell if I can break free from this collar, even given a lot more time. Until I can, there’s nothing to look forward to. Even if I do manage to get past this collar, my magic has been far from reliable. It won’t be enough to get us out of here. I doubt if it ever will.”

  Lowering her voice, she took his hand. “She loves you, Kael, even if just as a sister loves a brother. I thought you would want to ease her worries a small bit, especially now that Gabriel is sick.”

  Kael shook his head, disagreeing, but said nothing.

  “Perhaps I can help with your magic then,” N�
��Ikyah added. “I have never seen anyone resist the Sister’s influence as you have. It gives me hope. If you can help us escape, I will try to do what I can.”

  Kael frowned at her as he joked, “You have experience unlocking a DeathWizard’s power, do you?”

  “Would you like to try or do you want to joke at the expense of my feelings?”

  She stared at him with her big silver eyes and he quickly apologized for his rudeness. “I’m sorry, N’Ikyah. That wasn’t fair. I just assumed you had no interest or desire to escape.”

  “I am eighteen years old and I have been a slave since the day my mother was forced to conceive me. I can look forward to the same future that she had. The same pain she suffered, and the same death the Dead Sisters gave her when their use for her was at an end. If there is a way for me to help, I will try. Your courage makes people care about you, helps them to find their own courage. Most importantly, it makes people want to follow you. Do you understand? Not one person in this cell, or even in this world, could have suffered what you have and not given in. I can promise you that, Kael. I have seen it first hand. Everyone breaks at the Dead Sisters’ hands, most sooner than later, but always, everyone. Everyone but you. You have given me the courage to help, if you want it,” she said, as touching his heart with her other hand.

  Kael was choked with emotions, but still managed to answer. “Okay, it’s worth a shot, I guess. I can feel my underworld magic growing with the more pain I suffer, and there’s an emptiness where I think my normal magic should be.”

  N’Ikyah glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot and then whispered in his ear. “Close your eyes, and listen to my voice.” Kael nodded and did what she asked.

  “All bonded magic users draw their power through their cruus. Whether their bond is with the earth, the underworld, or even the Void between life and death as necromancers do, it matters not. A wizard’s nervous system allows them to manipulate this power and yours should be no different. The Gyhhura Torque seems to interrupt that flow of power. Now, for some reason, your power has begun flowing past or over or maybe even through the blockages. I cannot guess which. But this should allow you to use that power you feel to push the Gyhhura’s spikes back out of your neck. That might give you back both sides of your power. It is clear that for some reason your crua are both still intact. The ancient one’s machine did not work on you. Try to see the magic as it flows through your body following your nerves. Then use your mind to direct where that power goes and visualize what you want it to do. Your esoteric sight should help with this, focus it inward instead of out into the world,” she explained in detail, while trickling magic into his body in an attempt to calm him enough so that his attention wouldn’t waver due to pain.