“Welcome,” he panted.
I need to help. They are starting to tire.
She watched Keron rampage, swinging his broad sword in wide arcs over each shoulder. He took the feet off the wizard with his back to Keron, to the head of another. The square was filling with blood.
“Wow, he’s a really good fighter,” Izzy said breathlessly behind Fale. She stayed astride her mount, looking ready to bolt if any action came her way.
“Yeah, but he’s outnumbered,” Fale saw a circle of wizards around Keron realize he was a threat and turn to surround him. He was suddenly on the offensive, defending rather than attacking.
“Are you almost done?” Fale screamed at the woman frantically.
“Yes your Highness, I just need to- “
“Good,” she jumped up and grabbed her swords from her saddle. “Put the shield on Izzy, I have to go,” she yelled behind her.
Immediately, a wire thin man with an amulet the size of a pear stepped in front of her. He smiled with the same gross teeth as the other wizard. Ick. More importantly, he held out a sword straight at her heart. In Fale’s need to get to Keron, she swung her blade up to knock his out of the way and stepped forward, but he was already there. His sword rising to her throat, she leapt into action and countered his swing with her own. Blades crashing together, edge to edge, she used the force of his push to her advantage. She pulled her sword back and stepped to the side as he shot forward taking a few steps. He spun, weapon out, and again she met his thrust with a wide arcing blow.
There was clanging and chinging and booming surrounding her. She could almost taste the sour tang of the blood she smelled. Fale could feel the pommel of her sword, hot and slippery in her fist. Grunts and cries rang out like a death song. And she began to dance. Lightly she stepped over hands of the fallen, bringing her blades in front of her, and twirling as she swung. She remembered being a child and holding sticks with long ribbons that flowed as she moved, up and down, back and forth, in circles. She felt the same way. The blood rushing in her ears held a steady drum beat for her macabre performance.
When opponents struck high, she swung low. When they came at her heart, she batted them away with twin swords blurring. When she had decimated a halo of dead wizards around herself, she took a deep breath, and remembered her friends. Scanning the square, Fale desperately searched for Keron. He wasn’t in sight and panic rose in her chest.
Where is he?
She saw Lisle back at the horses, holding Izzy’s reins, trying to calm both animals, and pulling an amulet from his bag. With one hand, he slipped the necklace over his head. It lit up with a bright red light as he spoke words she could not hear. Cries of pain and triumph arose from the square. She turned to see Keron swing his valezsan arm in a great arc and plant his fist in the chest of a man who flew backward, his arms and legs thrown out in front of him. She ran to help him, a new light blue shield encapsulating her. Power. She felt a surge of strength run through her veins, a jolt of electricity, her head felt like she had a caffeine rush. She was invincible. Fire shot from her outstretched palms and the men in front of her screamed as they fell, burning from their clothes, their skin crackling.
“Keron, look out!” she called.
He ducked under a wooden pole with an iron axe at the end. Fale was furious. She pushed the man back with her fire and slid into his chest with her shoulder. He fell backward, dropping the axe. She reached down and picked it up, throwing it to Keron.
“Thanks,” he said, his face a mask of concentration. He put his back to Fale’s, and they punched and kicked the men surrounding them. One fell away and another one would arrive. The square was shrouded in smoke, streaks of fire and colored balls of light flying overhead like lit arrows. The wizards were ringed by mages, the fight was evenly matched, and their power was failing. Lucien ran up to Fale and Keron, along with several other men and women who began to take down the henchmen.
“You need to leave. NOW.” He grabbed them both by the arm.
Keron nodded, but Fale took in the fight just beginning to slow.
“We can’t leave you,” she yelled, reaching up to disintegrate a wooden object flying at her.
“You have to,” Lucien insisted. “I have seen them. More wizards are coming. We can hold them off, but you need to go.”
“NO!” Fale’s impassioned voice wasn’t her own.
Keron turned to her. “Fale, listen to him! We can’t fight the wizards yet, you aren’t ready.”
She shook her head frantically. “What if you can’t hold them?”
Lucien pleaded with her desperately, “We can’t protect you from what is coming. We weren’t prepared.” He turned to Keron. “You must take her.”
Keron picked Fale up around her middle and lifted her feet off the ground. She reached out to Lucien. “Keron, no. We have to help them.”
“Think Fale,” he shouted. “They are buying us time.”
She stilled in his arms. “Okay, put me down! Let’s go! Get Lisle!”
Keron set her down and they ran to the horses. She would let them fight her battle this time, but when she returned, she was going to mete out justice. Fale angrily swung her leg up into the saddle. Keron jumped onto his mount and spurred it toward Lisle who was in front of Izzy, his amulet shooting bolts of red energy down his outstretched arm. Fale had never seen him so lethal before. His hand shot out red balls like a canon. Keron pointed him toward Fale.
“Let’s go!” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Keron, which way?”
He pointed down the hill and galloped to her. “Northwest. This way.” His animal sped by in a brown blur, tearing up clods of dirt.
“Yah!” She kicked her heels into her horse’s side and ran behind him.
Lisle and Izzy raced to her side, their hoofbeats thundering along to the rhythm of Fale’s heartbeat. She tried to slow her breath as they galloped down the mountain. Facing forward she understood the weight of her new responsibilities. The scenery a blur, she could smell her own burnt hair and taste the bitter bile that rose in her throat at the thought of the mages dying in the square for her. The noise of battle faded away as she faced her next challenge.
The wild. The unknown. The machine.
End Book One
Acknowledgements
The first one I need to thank is God, for giving me all I have and all that makes this book possible. Thanks to my agent, Stephanie Hansen- thank you for late nights out and a gazillion questions. Jessi Cole, my first reader for this series- you made me think this was a good idea. Katlyn Purkapile, whose encouragement, and friendship make me think I can do this. Kristin Freeman, Holly Henderson, Gail Russell, and all my best friends over the years.
Thanks to my Monday writing group: Zachary, Virginia, and Lucas. Thank you for helping me brainstorm. All the student’s in Dr. Luthi’s creative writing classes, thank you for all the input and the critiques that made my books stronger. I appreciate every one of you who read my book and left a review! I know who you are. Thanks, to GV-ART, who made my maps into something cool. And to an awesome author, I couldn’t have finished without. A big thank you to my editor, Jessica DeBruyn. Thank you, the reader, for choosing this book. I hope you enjoyed your time in Algea, because we are off to Everligne!
Thank you, Mom and Dad, for always encouraging my writing, my happiness, and my success. Also, Morgan and Oma for making my family complete. My family unit: David my hubsalot, Ben my bright shining star, Noah my mighty mountain, Jayna my jewel, Zachary my little warrior, and Emily my rose. Thank you for all the late nights, the dirty house, the frozen dinners. I appreciate you all, especially Dave’s flexibility and Ben’s story ideas and drawings. And to my sisters, Beca, Jaime, and Mindy; You guys support me with great advice, family time, and most of all, wine. Thank you everyone.
About the author:
Jennifer Haskin is author of the YA fantasy/romance series the Freedom Fight Trilogy. She is also a portrait artist and literary consultant. Jenn lives
in the Midwest with her hubsalot and five children. When not attending writer workshops, she leads her own creative writing groups. She is a member of Savvy Authors, and Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas City writers’ guilds. Actively publishing her debut trilogy and creating a new series, she is writing full time.
www.JenniferHaskin.com
www.amazon.com/author/JenniferHaskin
Also by the Author:
~*~
The Queen’s Heart
Freedom Fight Trilogy Book Two
I’m a warrior, a princess, and a mage.
And war awaits me.
The Source Wizard Gasten is using my visions to find the machine. The race is on. He only knows what the cave entrance looks like, not the location. But I do. When I find the machine, I will go to Garrith and set my people free.
But if he finds it first, the slaves will die- or be turned into machines that he will order to march into new dimensions, enslaving the people there, while Gasten sucks their magic dry. And it will be my fault.
I can't afford to lose before the war.
Chapter 1
The wild ride from the mages’ estate pushed the wind through Fale’s hair and her heart pumped so forcefully, she brought her hand to her chest to make sure it wouldn’t escape her body. Leaving the battle, their horses plunged down the side of the mountain at breakneck speed for ten minutes, but the adrenaline coursing through her system made it seem like an hour. Barely hanging on, the girl warrior held tightly to the reins and gripped the powerful horse’s sides with her thighs. Finally, her guard and recently her past-love, Keron, slowed his animal to a walk.
“Everybody okay?” Keron turned in his saddle to see the other horses following his lead.
“I think we’re fine now,” Fale called, twisting around to watch Lisle and Izzy pulling up beside her. Lisle looked unsettled by the horse, but he had fought bravely as their wizard-in-training. Izzy’s eyes were bright as she answered her best friend.
“Yeah,” Izzy let out the lungful of air that had been trapped since the battle.
“What’s the plan now?” Lisle pushed his horse forward to hear Keron better.
“Now, we ride down the mountain,” he said.
Their journey to Everligne just beginning, they would need to find the machine said to open dimensions. Fale’s people waited anxiously for her return to save them from the dimension they were trapped in. The Source Wizard Gasten wanted the machine as much as they did, but he wasn’t about to set her people free. He wanted to open new dimensions to enslave the people and steal their magic.
“Oh.” Lisle let his shoulders drop. “Do you think the they’re following us?”
“Don’t think so. Lucien said the mages would hold them off, and I don’t know for how long, but I don’t see anyone.” Keron checked the mountain behind them for any sign of the evil wizards. Gasten’s henchmen would take Fale if they had the chance, and they weren’t averse to hurting her if it got them the location of the machine.
“Better get moving though, just in case,” Keron said.
“Won’t the horses get tired if we keep going?” Fale mused.
“When we find the river, we’ll give them a break.” Keron stroked the neck of his stallion.
The other three nodded in response. They were reeling from the morning’s attack. Keron took the lead, and Fale followed in front of Izzy, then Lisle. The sun rose higher and its rays were warming Fale in the crisp spring mountain air. It wasn’t long before she let her mind drift as she swayed with the cadence of her ride.
Fale felt responsible for the fight at the mages’ estate. She had wondered, in the back of her mind, if the wizards would come while they were there. Her thoughts were heavy as she remembered her dream from last night. It was the same dream she’d had for days now. The one on the battlefield.
The implications of Fale’s complicated origins haunted and overwhelmed her. She had lived many lives as Princess Effailya. She could have lived a hundred lives, but she didn’t want to be anyone but herself. Just Fale. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Tapping her heels to her white mount, aptly named Snowdrop, she docilely followed Keron’s horse, Courageous. Izzy and Lisle spoke softly at the rear. Keron proved to be a natural in the saddle and he was the only one after several hours at a walking pace who didn’t complain of aching in his legs and back.
“My legs are falling off at the hip,” Fale said about eleven o’clock.
“This saddle kills my butt,” Izzy rubbed her offended flesh.
“I think my back is broken,” Lisle added, mimicking her.
“You guys are pathetic,” Keron shook his head.
“How do you know where you’re going?” Fale clicked her tongue and urged her horse up next to Keron’s when they came upon a level bit of ground. Traveling single file was so boring. The wounds left by his breakup remained fresh. However, after the trauma of the mage fight, her need to be with him was instinctual. Keron’s job as the Wardsman was to protect her and that assurance gravitated her towards his protective presence.
“I have a compass,” Keron explained, showing her. “I keep pointing us northwest and we should come right down the side of the mountain closest to the coast.”
“Did you know how to use that before we came here?” she asked.
“No, the mages showed me how this morning,” he said. “There’re a lot of tools we need that I didn’t know about.”
“You make a good Wardsman,” she chuckled nervously. “Being a guard and wilderness guide comes naturally to you.”
“Is that a compliment?” Keron’s brows rose.
“Don’t get a big head. Or I’ll go ride with Lisle and Izzy.” He laughed at her teasing. “When are we stopping for lunch?” she asked.
“In about an hour,” he said, looking back. “Think you can make it?”
“Yes, but my poor horse probably needs water more than I do.”
“I’ll look for a place to stop. We aren’t too far from the river. About five minutes or so,” Keron explained.
“I’ll tell the others.” Fale held back to let Lisle and Izzy know the plan.
“Oh, thank the stars,” Izzy said. “I need to get off this animal.”
“I’m with Izzy,” Lisle sighed, swaying side to side against the motion of the horse.
“Try moving with the horse, not against him,” Fale laughed. “You’re going to get saddle blisters.”
“I think I already have them,” Lisle winced, “and I don’t want you to heal them, either.” He added the last part before she could offer.
Izzy laughed loudly. “I would love to soak in a hot bath,” she said. “Why can’t your gift be to produce hot water? Maybe you’ll get that one soon, if I’m lucky.”
“I have a feeling I’m done receiving gifts,” Fale said.
“Why?” Lisle cocked his head in wonder.
Fale looked at Keron’s back. “No reason, just a feeling.”
She could never tell Lisle how intimate the process of making magic was. She was aware Keron knew she needed him to protect her through the process; and he knew that he was keeping her from growing in her powers by not bonding with her and the Ondah. They both knew she still needed him, but he’d placed a barrier between them. For what? To clear her head-- or maybe his? Whatever the reason had been, now it just seemed like torture.
After half an hour, Keron decided to give the horses a thorough rest and turned their party toward the river. They soon stopped and got down from their mounts. Izzy’s legs barely held her, and Lisle gave her a hand. He turned to help Fale.
“I’ve got it.” She jumped down by herself.
The northern face of the mountain was green and alive with butterflies in fields of grass. Fale had never seen anything so lovely in the midday sunshine. They were in a sparsely wooded area near the river and enormous rocks jutted from the water and the surrounding riverbed. Keron searched for some relatively flat stones upon which to perch. He brought the horses to water, then too
k their leads and tethered them nearby so they could graze and rest in the dappled sunlight.
Fale and Izzy unpacked a picnic lunch the mages had prepared for them that morning with sandwiches, fresh fruit, leftover carrot salad, and cookies. “The mages have been so generous,” Fale said when they were all seated.
“Yeah, you’d think they were your people or something.” Izzy said.
“They are her people, Iz.” Lisle munched on his sandwich, “Mmm. This is good.”
“How so?” Keron asked.
“To the ones who know the truth, the people are still divided. They are either loyal to the source wizard or to the queen. Fale is the rightful heir to the throne and she is queen of the mages. Remember, she is a mage.”
“I keep forgetting,” Izzy said.
“How do you forget this?” Fale shot a two-foot-tall purple flame out of her palm.
“Watch it with that.” Izzy put her hands up to shield her face, laughing. “Well, at least we don’t need a fire starter.”
After eating, they refilled their canteens, adding a couple drops of iodine tincture. They were tending the horses when Fale heard a faint drumming noise. “Does anybody hear that?”
The others got quiet. Keron’s brow was wrinkled in concentration. “I think I hear something,” he said.
“It sounds like…” Izzy could hear it now too. It seemed like it was getting louder.
“I hear horses coming,” Fale said. “Everybody hide!”
They pulled their mounts into the shade, hoping whoever it was would pass them. At least they could ambush the followers if they weren’t friendly. But who else would be following them? The hooves thundered down the hill. Fale caught a glimpse of the riders through the trees.
The Key of F: a young adult fantasy romance (Freedom Fight Trilogy Book 1) Page 31