The Forsaken Saga Complete Box Set (Books 1-4)

by Sophia Sharp

  “Are the two options in conflict with one another?” Nora asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, is there any reason why we couldn’t pursue both at once? If, as you said, you would be able to do it through the dream – that means we could travel toward the sanctuary at the same time.”

  “The first option is too risky,” Hunter interrupted. “It might give everything away. No matter how deft you may be, Madison, there is always the risk of being uncovered. And then we lose whatever advantage we have. If word reaches the elders – even a whisper! – that a movement is growing amongst the Vassiz, they will take drastic steps to stop it. For now, all we can do is pray they believe we are still running from their packs and have not yet turned on the offensive. For if we lose that advantage…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I do not want to imagine what might happen.”

  “Well, there’s Hunter’s opinion,” Madison continued. “And in answer to your question, Nora, no, we could not do both at once. There is a …fault…in the dream realm, in which those who know the dream well may sometimes glimpse your location in real life. For us to pursue the first option, we would have to not only split up, but also travel far in opposite directions before we even dare to begin. If I were to do it, and anybody were to realize I were in this area…it would turn all the packs on us quicker than you could snap your fingers.”

  “Split up?” Nora said, astounded at the suggestion. “No, that’s not an option. Our numbers are small as it is, and splitting the group would mean weakening them further.” She sighed. “It seems like only one choice lies in front of us.”

  Chapter Six

  ~To Find the Tower~

  “These are the markings you saw?”

  Nora looked over to where Hunter was standing beside the white tower, the one that marked the area in front of the sanctuary. He had just approached it to inspect the symbols intertwined along its curvature.

  “Yes,” she said. “They’re the same ones as were on the vault door down in the mine.”

  “Interesting.”

  When Hunter and Madison had followed her and Alexander into the mines outside Nakusp, the vault door had already been open, so neither had seen the intricate symbols that rounded its outside curve. Nora was certain those symbols were the same as the ones on the white tower.

  Alexander walked over to Hunter to inspect the inscriptions. After a few moments of looking at them closely, in silence, he nodded. “They are one and the same, yes.”

  “What does it mean?” Nora asked.

  “I don’t know,” Alexander replied. “But our friends in the dream realm might.”

  By friends, of course, Alexander meant the six angels they had met in the chamber. Their realm was the dream world, and the reflection of the chamber – nobody knew which side of it was the original – was the furthest they dared go in the human world. The reasoning for it was vague, but as best Nora could understand, it had to do with risking losing some part of their being if they stayed in the human world. That’s why the angels hadn’t accompanied them on the expedition here, or back at the mill. They would help them in the dream world when the time came, since that was where they planned to take the battle to the elders. It was the angels’ domain, and they knew the intricacies of it better than even the most proficient Vassiz dream walker. But Nora and her companions had to find the elders in the real world, first, before even thinking of battling them in the dream realm.

  “You can inquire about the markings tonight,” Nora called across the clearing.

  Alexander nodded distractedly as he continued to study the strange symbols.

  Since taking Vassiz blood, neither Nora nor Hunter were able to fall asleep. That being the case, both of them were incapable of accessing the dream realm, so they had to rely on Alexander and Madison to act as convoys between them and the angels.

  Alexander and Madison had to come to the towers – and to the sanctuary – in the human world before they could speak to the angels about it, though. While the angels could have traveled here easily in the dream, Alexander and Madison couldn’t because they had never visited the location in real life. Now, however, that problem was solved.

  “So how far away is the entrance to the sanctuary?” Madison called out. She was busy examining the ground around the clearing for any markings they may have missed.

  “Not far from here,” Hunter said. “Although…” he scrubbed a hand through his hair and blew out deep breath. “Although from where we stand, every direction looks the same. I’m not sure which way we need to go.”

  “If we find the other tower,” Nora suggested, “we’ll be able to figure out the coordinates and make our way to the sanctuary.”

  “Good point,” Alexander said, popping up next to her. “And which way is this other tower of yours?”

  Nora strained her memory, trying to remember where she had gone the last time she was here. But Hunter was right – from where they stood, in the middle of the circular clearing, every direction looked more or less identical.

  “Let’s spread out,” Nora finally said. “That way we can cover more ground.”

  Hunter looked at her seriously. “Are you sure? We don’t know if there are any more of those…guards…left out here, and there is safety in numbers for us. I wouldn’t want you to stumble across a large Vassiz pack without me by your side.” He coughed and added quickly, “I mean, I wouldn’t want any of us to meet a pack alone.”

  That had been the risk in backtracking here. Chances were some packs had been left behind, positioned to keep guard over the entrance to the sanctuary. Stumbling into them would be problematic to say the least. And who knew how large one of the packs could potentially be? Nora considered herself lucky there had been only two guards set to keep watch over the mill.

  “I’ll be fine,” she told him. “And anyway, I’ve got Gray with me in case anything happens. And last time something did happen, he turned out to be quite the capable combatant, remember?”

  Hunter nodded reluctantly, and Nora knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it from him later tonight, in private. But every second they stood still was a second wasted, and she was sure the elders would not be sitting idly by.

  “We can meet back here in ten minutes should none of us find it, but I doubt that’ll be the case.” It was still slightly unsettling giving out orders to beings who had lived more than thirty times longer than she had, but they had taken her on as their leader willingly and seemed to have no trouble listening when she spoke. “If you do find it, just yell for the rest of us. I’m sure we’ll have no trouble hearing you. Let’s go.”

  With that, Nora turned around in the direction she best gauged to be south. She heard Madison and Alexander jostling playfully with one another over who would go north and who would go east, with Madison eventually winning out and settling on her preferred direction north. Nora heard her say that all good things came from the north, although she wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

  Nora whistled through her teeth for Gray, who got up and lumbered toward her. “We’re going to look for another one of these towers,” she told him, when he was close. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his head and felt the connection snap easily into place. Lately, it had become much easier to form the connection and hold it. Maybe it had something to do with Gray growing up, or maybe with her own development of the Vassiz ability. Whatever it was, she didn’t mind.

  With the connection between their two minds fully formed, Nora pictured the tower behind her. Gray responded by sending her an image of the same tower, from his vantage point. Nora sent back affirmation and then quickly changed the color of the tower to a deep black, just as she remembered the other one being. Then she sent a type of wandering feeling, tinged with uncertainty, about the coordinates of that second one. After a moment, she felt affirmation shoot back again, and Gray set forth into the trees in front of her, running fast yet barely making a sound.

  Nora went after him, but she di
dn’t run. The tower, as she remembered, was not very far away, and she didn’t want to miss its shimmering gleam in the sun. She picked her way through familiar forest. It was just as overgrown as she remembered and just as wild. At the same time, it felt strange coming back here, especially when she was so different now. Going back to the mill was the closest she’d been to her home town, but she still couldn’t actually let herself visit. Not yet. Not until the elders are dealt with.

  She passed around a large tree trunk and ducked under some low-hanging branches. All the while, her eyes swept out in front of her and to the sides, constantly searching for that second tower. She kept going, straining to see against the sun, trying to notice any unnatural divisions in the otherwise uniform formation of the woods.

  After a few minutes, she heard something rustling through the woods, coming directly at her. She started to move to the side, to hide against one of the massive tree trunks that surrounded her, when she recognized the sound of footsteps as belonging to Gray. Had he found the tower already?

  She popped back into his path and saw his sleek silver shape approaching her. He was running. When he saw her, he slowed down, and swung his head to the side as if to say, “Come with me.” Nora understood, and started after him.

  She followed as he led her on a path that curved slightly left, then straight, then left again. After a while, she saw the division in the trees marking the clearing surrounding the other tower up ahead. She smiled to herself. Gray had found it.

  She saw the clearing, but something felt…wrong. A sense of urgency gripped her as she increased her pace. The clearing was right there, up ahead, but – she realized with a start – she couldn’t see the black tower. The forest before the opening was still thick, so maybe there were branches or leaves obstructed her view…but for some reason, that uneasy feeling still gripped her in the pit of her stomach.

  She burst into the clearing, and gasped. It was just as she remembered – the perfect circular edge around the space, the completely clean grass fending off the wild reaches of the forest – with just one major difference. The tower that had once stood in the middle of the earth had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the ground.

  Chapter Seven

  ~The Broken Tower~

  She ran up to the pile, a thousand thoughts flying through her mind. Who would do such a thing? Why? The whole thing was smashed to pieces, completely broken. She didn’t even think, the first time she saw the tower, that it could be broken! It had stood there for hundreds upon hundreds of years – maybe even thousands – completely untouched by the passage of time. And now, all that was left of it was a pile of black dust.

  Suddenly, she became very alert of her surroundings. She stilled. Whoever had done it – some of the Vassiz, most likely – could still be around. She strained her ears, trying to hear any unnatural noise from her surroundings, but all she could hear was the faint rustle of the wind through the tall trees, and the occasional far-off bird call. Everything else was serene. She looked at the ground around her, but couldn’t decipher any footsteps. She looked behind her, the way she had come, and saw that she had made noticeable impressions in the grass. She sighed with relief. That meant that whoever had done this was likely long gone.

  Still, just to be safe, she crept back to the edge of the forest. She whistled quietly through her teeth, and Gray came over. Forming the connection with him for a brief moment, she told him to keep watch over the clearing while she went to find the others. She felt affirmation come back again, and he settled down in his spot.

  Nora started back toward the other tower, making as little noise as possible, at the same time watching her path so she could trace her way back to it. She knew if she shouted for the others, they would come, but she didn’t want to risk alerting anybody else who might still be around.

  She ran back to the first tower, letting her instincts guide her. She had no trouble avoiding the shrubs and trees that stood in her way, and moved as expertly and as silently as her Vassiz form would allow.

  When she came out of the woods and into the clearing around the white tower, she found that Alexander and Hunter were already there. They hailed her as she came over.

  “No luck?” Alexander asked.

  Nora shook her head. “Worse. I found it, but…it’s been destroyed.”

  “What?” Hunter exclaimed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go on your own! Was there anybody else there? Did you see anyone?”

  Nora shook her head again. “Don’t worry. I was careful the whole time. And no, there was nobody else around. As best as I could tell, whoever destroyed it is long gone.” She glanced at Alexander. “Where’s Madison?”

  “We were waiting for her and you,” Alexander replied, somewhat passively. He looked to be thinking. “What I want to know is how somebody could have destroyed such a thing. I take it, from your descriptions, that it was a similar structure to this one?” Nora nodded. “That’s interesting. Because I don’t think this tower is made of simple stone. It has lasted generations and withstood the elements without showing any sign of decay or embrittlement. I believe it was made from a source called allurvai.”

  “Allurvai?” Nora asked. “What’s that?”

  “It is a type of mineral, wrought centuries ago by the very first of the Vassiz. I read of it, once. Knowledge of its formation has long since disappeared, and I don’t think any of it remains in this world. It is extremely precious. It is harder than diamond and stronger than steel. Once it is forged, there is no known way to break its shape. It is, for lack of a better word, indestructible.”

  “But, the other tower—” Nora began.

  “I know, which makes its destruction all the more intriguing. To destroy something like that…it means that whoever did it knew of the source. They knew the tower was made from allurvai and had some type of…counter…to it. Otherwise…well, there is no other way they could have damaged it.” He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. Quickly, he went to the side of the clearing and picked up a rather large rock from the ground. Coming back, he positioned it in his hand and held it tightly. Then, he slammed the rock as hard as he could against the edge of the white tower.

  The force of impact was so great that Alexander’s hand ripped back. It was like he had hit a heavy hammer against a metal anvil. A hollow ringing noise sounded for a few seconds and then subsided. Alexander looked to Nora and Hunter, then slowly upturned his hand to drop the rock he just held. When it fell, Nora saw that it had broken in two – a clean cleave in its form. And the spot he hit the tower with immeasurable force? There was not even a single mark.

  “You see?” he asked, looking at the broken rock. “No ordinary tools could have assisted them in breaking the tower.”

  “But then how would they have done it?” Nora thought out loud.

  “My only guess,” Alexander offered, “is that the elders equipped whoever came with the essential tools needed to destroy the structure. But…I have no idea what those tools might be.”

  Just then, Nora heard someone approach from behind her, and she whipped around. Hunter and Alexander had also picked up on the noise, and were looking back as well. It was Madison, walking back toward them with a grim expression on her face.

  “I found it,” she announced. “But what I saw was not what I was expecting.”

  “It’s broken,” Nora said.

  Madison looked shocked. “How did you know?”

  “Gray helped me find it,” Nora explained. “I would have wandered right past it if it wasn’t for him, but he picked up on it. I just came back from there.”

  “We must have just missed each other,” Madison mused. “I take it the men haven’t seen it yet?” Nora shook her head. “Well, let’s go over there then. It’ll be worthwhile to see what we can find.”

  They started back, with Madison leading the way. As they walked, Nora’s mind worked through the possibilities. She shivered. Apparently, the elders knew significantly more than any in her group did. />
  They emerged at the clearing, with the rubble of the tower lying right in the middle. Gray was in the same spot Nora had left him, keeping watch over the entire space. Alexander took a few quick strides and knelt by the dark pieces of rubble and dust before anyone else.

  As Nora and the rest of them surrounded him, Madison spoke. “When do you think it happened?”

  “Not recently.” Hunter was the one to answer. He pointed to the outside of the clearing, where Nora was surprised to see that edges of vines and other small shrubs had started to creep in. “I think the tower is what kept the forest’s growth at bay – kept the wilderness away from the clearing. But with it destroyed…” he shrugged. “Well, you can see what’s happening.”

  “Do you think it was done by the Vassiz who followed us into the mines?” Nora asked.

  “Maybe,” Hunter replied, “or maybe by some who came only a bit later. What I am worried about, in either case, is whether our path back to the sanctuary may have become slightly more muddled.”

  “Do you mean…?” Alexander began, and Hunter nodded.

  “I do. The elders are surely now well-aware of the sanctuary, and they likely have it guarded. In fact, I’m nearly certain they do, especially if they saw the need to protect the mill.”

  “Then how will we get in?” Nora asked.

  “I don’t know if getting in is a viable option, anymore,” Hunter answered. “Although there is one saving grace.”