Shadows of Uprising (Guardian of the Vale Book 2)
Page 35
“Did you have any control at all?”
Jayme sighed and impatience tinged his voice. “I had boundaries. I could wander around inside those boundaries to a certain extent. Answer some questions on my own, talk to people about certain things. But it was a tight rein. I couldn't step outside the boundaries, and the boundaries were tighter some days than others.” He closed his eyes. “Still, it was all dream-like. I can't remember much.”
Footsteps in the grass turned Alayne's attention from Jayme. Marysa walked close, a wet rag dripping onto the ground. She glanced at Alayne as she knelt by Jayme's head. “The others want to know what we're going to do, Alayne, where we're heading. Do you have any ideas?” Her hands smoothed Jayme's hair back from his forehead, and she laid the cool rag across his skin. Instantly, the tension in his body eased.
Frustration shot through Alayne. Why don't my healing powers work on him? Why can Marysa calm him and I can't? She shook her head. “I don't know yet. I—I want to talk to Daymon first. See what he thinks.”
Marysa nodded. “Why don't you go do that, then? I'll take over here for a bit.”
There was nothing in Marysa's tone to indicate dismissal, but Alayne couldn't help but feel dismissed. After a minute's pause, she stood and turned her back on them, struggling to push her thoughts behind her.
* * *
The night found the group again, the darkness feasting on the flickering edges of the campfire circle. Alayne watched the students from the outer edge, her eyes traveling to Kyle's face more than once. Stubble darkened his jaw as he stared at the fire. Why? Why did you do it, Kyle? She turned away and walked out into the moonlight.
She tilted her head back, counting the stars. Somewhere beneath them were her parents—if the EA hadn't killed them. Alayne wiped a single tear. She jumped when she heard a movement next to her.
“Sorry.” Daymon's voice slid softly through the air around her. “Didn't mean to scare you.”
“It's okay.” Alayne shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest. She sighed and started to speak, but Daymon interrupted her.
“Did you ever figure out how to trigger your visions?” he asked.
Alayne glanced down at her ring where it sparkled in the moonlight. She stroked it gently. “I think it had to do with me turning it. It didn't hit me until the last vision that each time I had one, I had been playing with the ring, twisting it around on my finger just before.” She stared at the sparkles for another moment before pulling it off and shoving it into her pocket. “I can't handle the visions it shows me; they're too painful and confusing.”
Daymon paused and then asked, “Your first vision, the one you saw in the commissary, came true. And the one where you saw army arriving at Clayborne. Do you think any of your other ones will happen the way you saw them?”
Alayne shook her head. “The future is so changeable, you know? Things lined up just right for those visions to happen, but then you and I made the decision to go in and rescue Jayme. I think the next several visions are things that would have happened if we hadn't made that decision.”
Daymon grunted. “Maybe.”
Silence surrounded them again. Alayne chewed on her lip, her fidgeting fingers now rubbing the bare spot where her ring had rested all year. At last, she spoke again. “What do we do now, Daymon? About Kyle?”
Daymon shrugged. “I gather you're not going to let him know you know about him?”
“No, not yet, anyway. I want to see what he's going to do first. In the meantime, though, we need to be careful about making any plans in front of him.” She paused. “Do you think that's wise?”
Silence wrapped them both in a sheath. At last, Daymon spoke. “He's going to know very soon if he doesn't already, Layne. It's obvious something's off between you. But that's not all that important right now.”
“What do you mean?” Alayne's gaze cut to Daymon's.
“What are you going to do next, Layne? About your parents? About Natural Humans all over this Continent... skies, even all over CommonEarth?”
“What do you mean, what am I going to do about them? What can I do?” Frustration filled her voice.
Daymon put his hands on her shoulders, turning her to him and massaging them gently. The moonlight reflected off his eyes. “Natural Humans need a leader now, Alayne. They have no champions left in the High Court, at least no one prominent enough to make a difference. They have no hope of surviving the upcoming holocaust unless they have a leader—a powerful one who will lead them through the fires.”
A laugh of disbelief dropped from Alayne's mouth. “You think I should be a leader? For Naturals? But I'm an Elemental, Daymon.”
“Exactly. An Elemental whose sympathies lie heavily in the Natural Human camp. An Elemental who has stood up to Pence and Sprynge and Tarry and Malachi and all the rest. An Elemental who wields all four elements, Layne. You've got a lot of leadership potential. Can't you see that?”
Alayne swallowed hard, wishing she could run from the responsibility that spread itself before her, but realizing that Daymon was right. No matter the cost, no matter how dangerous, no matter how much Alayne ached to shelter in obscure darkness for the rest of her life, Daymon had laid a higher purpose at her feet. It was her responsibility to take up the weight of it. Because she, the possessor of the Vale, could fill the need.
“Okay.” She squared her shoulders. “Where do we start?”
Relief spread across Daymon's face. The smile in his voice crossed the distance between them. “Maybe the first step should be to find my uncle. I know he's in the Capital—hiding in plain sight, you might say. With his connections to the Last Order, we could find your parents and get people mobilized and prepared for war soon enough.
“War?” The quaver in Alayne's voice gave away her insecurities. She wished she could unhear the word.
Daymon stretched his hand across the darkness, his fingers finding hers and sliding between them, interlocking like a perfectly cut puzzle. The warmth of his hand sent shivers of heat through Alayne's cold one.
He had done that often recently.
Alayne flushed in the darkness, her thoughts scattering.
“War, Alayne. This isn't going to go away without one.”
Neither of them said anything for a long while. There was nothing more to say. Alayne closed her eyes, pushing away all thoughts of the Alliance, impending war, her parents, Kyle, Jayme, her worry over him, her disappointment that their reunion had been so unlike what she had imagined.
“Daymon?”
“What?”
“I'm scared.”
His thumb stroked the back of her hand. “I know. I am, too. But I won't leave you, Layne.” In the darkness, his arm circled her back and pulled her close, and she listened to the steady thud of his heart beating in his chest.
Alayne's world had ended; Clayborne was a mere memory now. Yesterday was gone. Tomorrow was war.
A Message from the Author
Thank You for Reading
What did you think of Shadows of Uprising?
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Thanks so much!
Acknowledgments
As I have two trilogies in progress, I live in constant fear of the dreaded “middle book syndrome.” So you must imagine my relief when my editor sent back a note after her line-edit pass that said, “Middle book syndrome successfully avoided!”
It's always a struggle to successfully maneuver my way through a trilogy, creating an overarching story plot that encompasses three books as well as three minor story plots that encompass only one book, and yet still bring the trilogy to a satisfying and climactic ending. I'm quite proud of this little trilogy, and I hope you find as much thrill and adventure as I have as you wend your way through Alayne's world.
To my readers, thank you for you support, for r
eading my work and loving it, and for telling your friends about it. It's people like you that make an independent author's job into a dream job.
To my fellow writers in the Shenandoah Valley Writers and the Shenandoah Christian Writers, thanks for your hours of support and encouragement, especially those who “acquiesce to my requests”—many, many requests—for critique. Particularly, Margaret Locke, Foy Iver, Annika Keswick, Taryn Noelle Kloeden, and Christy Gill, I appreciate your patience and support.
To my editor, Emily June Street, thank you for your hours of hard work and your dedication to creating a masterpiece out of the pile of muck I hand you the first time you see one of my manuscripts.
To my children, who tell their friends that their mommy is a “book-maker:” I love you. Thanks for putting up with Mommy when she's staring at the wall and seeing visions of book plots swirling in never-ending circles. To my husband, thank you for your understanding on the nights when I come to bed at three in the morning with a whispered, “My book's finished.”
And thanks to my Creator, without whom I would be lost. I owe you everything.
About the Author
Tamara Shoemaker lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband, three children, a few jars of Nutella, and a never-empty carafe of coffee. She authored the best-selling Shadows in the Nursery Christian mystery series and Soul Survivor, another Christian mystery. Her fantasy books include the beginning of the Heart of the Dragon trilogy: Kindle the Flame, as well as the Guardian of the Vale trilogy.
@TamaraShoemaker
tshoebooks
www.tamarashoemaker.org
Also by Tamara Shoemaker
Guardian of the Vale, Book One:
Mark of Four
In a post-apocalyptic world where Elemental abilities can save or squander all human life, a teenage girl with unique skills seeks to protect her family, her friends, and the source of elemental power from an escaped criminal and his followers.
Heart of a Dragon, Book One:
Kindle the Flame
Three young people are tangled in a web of political intrigue and corruption: Kinna, a teenage girl, struggles to find her place in a Clan that doesn't want her; Ayden, a lonely man, faces a bitter, loveless life enforced by a dark curse; and Cedric, an innocent youth, seeks answers about his mysterious past. Sebastian, their conniving king, manipulates their destinies with wicked intent. Will the three survive Sebastian's plots when their fiery heritage is revealed?
Shadows in the Nursery Series:
Broken Crowns
Pretty Little Maids
Ashes, Ashes
Soul Survivor
Coming Soon
Heart of a Dragon, Book Two:
Embrace the Fire
The battle for the thrones of West Ashwynd and Lismaria intensifies as usurping King Sebastian faces off with a foe from his past. Meanwhile, the true heirs to the throne are trapped inside impossible circumstances: an unwanted betrothal and a desperate captivity. Only Ayden, an erstwhile Dragon trainer, can help them, but a old curse reignites and waylays him. As war looms on the horizon and the lives of creatures and commoners grow ever cheaper, rebellion rises in the hearts of the rightful heirs to the blood of the Dragons.
Copyright © 2016 Tamara Shoemaker
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. This is a work of fiction.
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Book design, glyph illustration, and book production by Emily June Street at Luminous Creatures Press.