by Lorna George
Lorna George lives in a crooked little house in Norfolk with her husband, a lot of books, and a fifty year old begonia named Frank. She spends an inordinate amount of time dreaming up magic, dragons, and bad-ass ladies, and has decided to try and make some sort of career from it by writing them down. She hopes this will give her a reasonable excuse when caught staring wistfully out of windows when she should be paying attention to the not-so-mystical “Real World”.
Since she has become increasingly vulgar with age, she writes predominately New Adult stories, and despite what a lot of people seem to think, she seriously doubts she will ever grow out of fantasy.
She doesn’t particularly want to.
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Copyright © 2015 Lorna George
Illustrations © 2015 Juliette Brocal
The Redwood Rebel, The Redwood War Series Book One
Published in 2015 by Lorna George
The author or authors assert their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author or authors of this work.
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Book One of The Redwood War
By
Lorna George
Acknowledgments
There are a lot of people who deserve huge pots of gratitude for helping me finally get this book out, not in the least my editor, Juliet Bresler at Casa Ceilo, my consultant, Kiera O’Elle, and my illustrator, Juliette Brocal. You have all been a great pleasure to work with, and the book wouldn’t be anything like a book without you!
I would also like to thank Carol Carveth, Tara Chauhan, Kourtney Bradley and Taija Vigilia Seppälä for being the best beta readers on the face of the planet. Thanks especially to Claire Patz and Kayla Lipscomb for being incredibly supportive through it all, as well as Lynne Merrison for reminding me to be kinder to myself when things get tough. Everyone who has ever left me a review on any of my appalling fanfiction, I wouldn’t be here without you, and all of the excellent people from The Dragon’s Rocketship whose wisdom and experience has been invaluable.
Last, but in no way least, I would like to thank my family. My indomitable mum in particular, who taught me the value of always doing your best. Thanks also to my sisters Jody and Emma, as well as my brother-in-law Martin, for listening to me talk for years (literally years) about my writing and characters without ever telling me to shut up about it.
Finally, thank you to my wonderful husband Thomas, who has supported me in every possible way, supplies me with caffeine and cuddles, and forces me to go outside when he notices I’ve been staring at my computer screen for too long.
To Karen Vickers,
the English teacher in year eight who took an interest
in the lonely, slightly dotty girl at the back of class
and planted the idea that she might be worth more than she believed.
Also, to Kourtney Bradley,
who has been with me through the good fanfiction,
the bad fanfiction, the unfinished fanfiction,
and most importantly
every single draft of The Redwood Rebel.
The Redwood Rebel
By
Lorna George
Prologue
'Bring her.'
The prisoner was dragged forward and thrown unceremoniously to the floor. She tried not to flinch as the hard stone jarred her weak body; the bones far too prominent under her pale and dirt-streaked skin. To the unsuspecting eye, she appeared to be no more than a youth of about twelve or thirteen summers, her form so small and feeble, but Naomi was in fact a woman of twenty-two.
The past four years had been cruel, locked away far beneath the depths of the royal castle in a cell with no light and little food, and it showed. She lay where the guards had thrown her, finding herself unable to even move. Her eyes still stung and watered painfully at the bright sunlight pouring through the windows. She dared not admit, even in the privacy of her own mind, that the water streaming down her cheeks could be tears of joy at the sight of the warm, pure light after so many years in darkness. The relief of heated sunlight touching her cold flesh was a balm, and she feared that at any moment she would awaken back in her dark pit of despair. The appearance of the guards and her removal from her prison had been so sudden, so abrupt, that even now she found the situation surreal. She had expected to never again see the light of day for as long as she lived. Now unsure, confused, and afraid, she simply lay where she had been dropped, conserving her strength and savouring the gentle heat.
'Leave us.'
Naomi realised through her hazy thoughts that she recognised that voice. It had been so long since she had heard coherent words from any mouth save her own that she found it difficult to digest. The guard who brought her the meagre amounts of food whenever he remembered she existed never spoke, and the only other voices she ever heard were shrill, grotesque screams from the torture chamber on the floor above. At some point, she had decided those almost inhuman sounds didn't count, and had done all she could to block them out. Her inability to do so had almost broken her mind, she was certain.
Naomi realised with a jolt that someone had quietly approached her prone form. She instinctively clenched her body in anticipation of a kick. A satin-shod foot did touch her, but only to prod her over from her stomach onto her back. With her filthy brown hair no longer shielding her eyes, she gasped and threw her arms up and over her face.
'Ah, I see. The light.' There was a click and rush of magic, and the sunshine was shaded out to something much more subtle. 'Better?'
It was better, but she missed the heat. She still felt disoriented and didn't move her arms. Who was this man with this reedy voice? She vaguely remembered it. Something told her it was important, but she couldn't quite grasp why.
'I must say, my dear, I remember you being far more intimidating than this. Perhaps leaving you in that pit for so long has made you useless to me after all?' He seemed to be pondering aloud rather than actually talking to her. Just as well, as she didn't have the coherency to respond. 'That does ruin things a little, but I dare say our dear Princess Adrienne will be more than happy to finish you off once she gets here. Her hatred seems to have outlasted yours apparently. Pity.'
Adrienne.
Her family. The fire. The deaths. Her parents. Murdered. The screams. The torture. The child. Her father cursing her with his last breath, the blood gurgling up and catching on his words. Master Gerrard... Adrienne. Betrayal. Adrienne!
‘Adrienne,' she rasped, fists clenching as the memories returned in a rush of fury and pain. Her eyes were open. She glared up at the man she now knew. 'Cygnus. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you both for what you've done.'
Naomi knew that she must make a pathetic sight, laying on her back, weak, unable to even sit up, but his laughter at her words filled her with such loathing, she was certain she would die of it. He clapped his hands, apparently pleased, but stepped back as though afraid she might somehow find the strength to fulfil the promise.
'Oh, my dear,' he mocked. 'We haven't even begun.'
Chapter One
'You should have left me down there, Cygnus, killed me while you had
the chance.' Naomi began to cough and rolled over to her side as she curled up and attempted to control it. There was another flicker of magic and a fine crystal glass filled with clear liquid was being offered to her.
'Poison.' she wheezed, trying to push it away.
'Water, in fact,' he said, offering it back again. 'If I wanted you dead, if she wanted you dead, do you really think we would drag you all the way up here just to poison you?'
Naomi only needed a moment to think about this before taking the water and sipping it between shuddering breaths. Of course they wouldn't kill her that way. Keeping her alive had pleased Adrienne, pleased her twisted mind to make Naomi suffer as long as possible. If they ever planned to have her put to death, she knew it wouldn't be anything so kind as poison. She had been living under the torture chamber for the last four years. She knew that there were far worse ways to meet the end, and Adrienne would save all of them for her.
'Incidentally, it's Lord Cygnus, thank you.' He continued to smile. 'Royal Chancellor, you know.'
'Royal.' Naomi snorted, keeping tight hold of the glass. 'She's no Queen.'
'Well, that much is true. There seem to be some laws of succession that are causing us all a bit of trauma, in fact, but it is on that point that we wanted to speak with you...'
There was the sudden, distant sound of fanfare echoing down the hallway outside and Naomi felt sick knowing who it was that approached. She was still too weak to move, but she hated to be laying prostrate at the feet of the woman who had ruined her life, the woman who had murdered all that Naomi loved and locked her away to rot into this feeble husk of who she used to be.
Fixing her red-rimmed and sore eyes on Cygnus, feeding her determination with her rage, she moved her arms beneath herself and pushed against the floor. It was hard going, her body protesting every movement, but she slowly heaved herself up to her knees. Cygnus just watched her, looking somehow pleased.
'Well, now. That's more like it. She'll be happy to see you've made the effort to kneel before her, I’m sure.'
Naomi ignored him, knowing full well he was trying to bait her. Taking a sip of the water to calm her rasping breath and give her hands something to do, she tried to relax. She had to conserve her strength, and that was more important than rising to the jibes of this evil thing. Her whole body was shaking violently, but she tried to quell it as best she could. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath as her teacher had taught her years ago. She would get through this. Breathe in. Breathe out.
'The trick is to keep breathing.'
The old adage Master Gerrard had repeated so often floated back to her, warming her as the sun had done before. It was simple advice. Simple, but powerful. She had never truly appreciated the strength behind the words until the night the traitors had taken her and buried her alive. Through it all, Naomi had kept breathing as he had told her, and she was going to keep doing so.
She barely heard the doors to the Great Hall bang open as Adrienne entered, wrapped up in her meditation as she was and twirling the fine crystal between her fingers back and forth. Her hearing sharpened as the doors closed once again, and she listened closely to the sounds of the guards being sent out, the near silent breath of Cygnus not far to her left, and then the swish of expensive satin skirts slowly approaching them both. She continued to twirl the glass.
'I fear this idea of yours has failed even before it began, My Lord,' said Adrienne, her voice causing Naomi's stomach to clench. 'Just look at her. She's hideous. And she stinks.'
Naomi didn't move, nor open her eyes as the woman stopped in front of her. She almost felt some small glimmer of satisfaction perforate her tightly-controlled rage as Adrienne fell back on such insults. It didn't concern her that she was hideous. She was alive, and the barb meant to demean her had distinctly missed its mark. She knew that she must smell revolting, but this didn't bother her either. In fact, she drew satisfaction from the fact that she was probably making them both feel ill.
'Perhaps, Highness, we should have her washed and fed before we continue this interview?' Cygnus wheedled.
'No, I think I like her better this way.' Naomi heard her turn to walk towards the throne and she grasped the stem of the glass tightly. 'She's certainly less troublesome, and I enjoy seeing her so... Cygnus!'
Adrienne shrieked in fear as Naomi broke the glass in her hand against the stone floor, and rallying all of her strength, launched herself at the woman. She knew her body exploded in pain, protesting the movement, but she didn't feel it. Splintered shard aimed directly at her adversary’s throat, Naomi was almost upon her. Before the split-second of her attack had been completed, her whole body was frozen mid-leap. She couldn't move. Cygnus had her suspended with his powerful magic and she hung in the air, only a hand-span from Adrienne's jugular. So close. So cussing close!
A bellow of fury tore itself from deep inside her and she fought against the magic that held her back. The broken glass had disappeared from her hand, but that didn't stop her from straining forward. Far too soon, her exhausted body won out over the fury of the near miss, and she began to pant and shake all over.
Adrienne looked pale and afraid, a sheen of sweat across her brow as she clutched her hands to her breast. It didn't take long for Cygnus to sweep over to her and pull her into an embrace, shushing and stroking in a way that gave Naomi pause.
'There, there, now.'
'She... she...'
'It's all right. You're all right.'
'She tried to kill me!'
'I know, poppet.' Cygnus looked as though he might smile for a moment, but the impression was gone as soon as he saw Naomi watching him. He didn't look away from her as he answered. 'But I stopped her. She is completely at our mercy.'
Adrienne pushed away from him, face twisted in anger as she rounded on Naomi. 'I want her dead! Now! Right now, Cygnus.'
'Highness, you know I would counsel against such rash actions.'
'I don't care!' Adrienne stamped her foot petulantly and crossed her arms. 'She's useless. She won't cooperate. I don't know why you made me keep her alive this long. Let's just kill her. Please?'
There was something strange occurring here. Why was Adrienne asking permission? She was supposed to be in charge, not Cygnus. He was nothing but a low-ranking lord from a small fief in the North. Now to find out that it was on his recommendation that Adrienne kept her alive all these long years when she had wanted her dead didn't make sense. Cygnus certainly only made his way to royal Chancellor through being in Adrienne's good graces and his part during the civil war, if you could call it that. She was still the one in charge, wasn’t she?
Naomi's body was suddenly moved, so that she was shaken out of her attack position and hanging in the air. Her head hung limply forward, and her strength was waning fast. The adrenaline of her attempted vengeance had ebbed away, and she noticed the pain in her hand where the glass had shattered and cut in. Blood trickled between her fingers and dropped silently onto the floor.
'She is completely at our mercy,' Cygnus repeated with a sweep of his hand. 'The situation is a precarious one and I would caution that my plan is still the wisest option. After all she has suffered, that she can still move is to our advantage. Surely you wouldn't want to offer her up as a substitute if she just lay there?'
The laugh that escaped her cracked lips quickly turned into a coughing fit, but Naomi still couldn't keep her mouth from twisting in amusement. Both Adrienne and Cygnus looked back at her, and she shook her head minimally.
'A substitute? That's what this is about?'
'Be silent,' Cygnus snapped.
'What's the matter? Someone trying to kill you, Adrienne?' Another short, choking laugh. 'I beg your pardon. I mean, someone besides me.'
'I told you to be silent!'
Raising his hands quickly, Naomi didn't have time to blink as her body was hurtled backwards by a surge of magic, and thrown into the far wall. There was a sickening crunch, but the pain was far less than she had expected. The pain
was welcome, in fact. Her body had been all but dead for so long and that she could feel the impact, feel her bones creak and her flesh bruise, reminded her that she was alive. She held onto that.
Naomi slid down the wall into a heap on the floor, but was soon lifted again, as limp as a doll. She didn't even try to fight against the magic this time, and soon she was before Adrienne and Cygnus once more. Her face burned strangely, and she knew she was swelling and bruising, the blood pooling under the skin and warping her features. She hoped that the sight was sickening and didn't take her eyes away from Adrienne as she raised a brow.
'You never were very good at making friends, Adrienne,' she whispered.
The fear that had still been present in the older woman's face was instantly gone, replaced by a cold malice that Naomi knew reflected in her own features. Part of Naomi longed for the death that was being threatened, a release from this hell so that she might find some semblance of peace in the afterlife. It was this sadistic part of herself that smirked as Adrienne struck her across the face.
'Clever Naomi,' Adrienne hissed. 'You think you're so clever. Even now, after I’ve beaten you so completely, after I’ve taken all that you had, all that you loved, you still think yourself my equal?'
Naomi looked through her raw eyes at the woman she had grown up with and shook her head. 'No, Adrienne, I’m better than you. I always was.'
'Look at yourself!' Adrienne shrieked, losing all composure. 'I am Queen! You?! You are nothing! Nothing!'
The words echoed around the Great Hall. Adrienne was breathing heavily, her beautiful face purple and twisted. Naomi knew she would only need one little push to take her over the edge. She drew breath to reply when yet more magic restrained her and held her voice silent. Her eyes instantly flew to Cygnus, standing off to one side.