Shock of Fate: A Young Adult Fantasy Adventure (Anchoress Series Book 1)

by D. L. Armillei

It took them a day and half to reach Araquiel. When they arrived, Balish soldiers still mobbed the town. The surviving three members of team Delta hid on the outskirts and planned their next move.

  Van eyed Paley, lying on the ground, unconscious. “I think the luck of the Coin is keeping Paley alive.”

  “Let’s hope the Coin has enough luck to go around.” Brux had dark circles under his eyes from exhaustion. “There’s no way we can make it through Araquiel without getting questioned, not with all these soldiers around.”

  Brux’s comment triggered Van’s memory. The Law of Abundance. She brightened. “We already have what we need to make it through the town, and it’s not luck.”

  “What?”

  “Friends.” Van took out the Coin and held it in her palm. “Show me the safest way to the Troll’s Foot Tavern.”

  They used the Coin to inconspicuously weave their way to the edge of town, back to the dirt street with the lonely stone building. The familiar parchment that read “Closed for renovations” remained nailed to the door.

  Brux knocked.

  The tiny horizontal slat in the door slid open. Van smiled, as she recognized the sparkling blue eyes peering out.

  Noam whooshed open the door. “Quick! Get inside!” he said, scanning the street for onlookers.

  Zane stood just inside the door. “Van! I was hoping to see you again!” He gave her a big hug, while Brux scowled.

  “Zaney, go get Healer Hollycap,” Noam said. “Go.”

  Zane dashed away.

  Noam led Brux and Van down a back hallway to a small, dim room and pointed to a worn cot.

  Brux laid Paley down, while Van brushed away the overhanging cobwebs.

  Noam looked over Paley. “You got here just in time,” he told them, his expression grave. “Looks like this one’s circling the drain.”

  “Will she be all right?” Van asked. The room had obviously been prearranged for triage.

  Noam sighed. “That’ll be the healer’s call.” He closed off Paley behind a curtain, and the motion caused dust to shake loose.

  Van snapped the back of her wrist to her nostrils, hoping to stifle a painful sneeze, but the movement itself caused a sharp pain through her ribs. Then she sneezed anyway.

  “Ouch,” she stated meekly.

  Noam turned his eyes toward Van. “Hollycap will need to look you over next,” he said. “None of you will be okay if you stay in town. Balish soldiers cut up Roguey’s gut real good. Interrogated him, looking for spies, Manikists. He didn’t tell them a thing.” Noam beamed proudly. “If he had, none of us would be here right now.”

  “Is he okay?” Van and Brux both asked.

  “Holly says he’ll recover.”

  “We need to get moving as soon as we can,” Van said.

  Before Noam could answer, Zane returned with a bob-haired, apple-cheeked healer who immediately went behind the curtain to examine Paley.

  Brux, Zane, and Noam left the room to give Paley privacy.

  The healer pulled an ampule from her bag and put a few drops of tincture in Paley’s mouth. “Potent. Lodian-made,” Hollycap said to Van. “Best stuff on the market to treat internal injuries. Bought it meself at the marketplace in Hod.”

  The healer pulled a needle and thread from her travel bag and began stitching a wound on Paley’s forehead.

  “Isn’t it unusual for a woman to be a doctor?” Van asked, given the Balish occupation of the town. “I mean, a healer?”

  “Yup,” Hollycap said, snipping the end of thread. “Times are a-changing.” She motioned for Van to help her remove Paley’s battered pants. “She’s got some things in her pockets.”

  Van reached in Paley’s pants pockets and found her Twin Gemstone, along with several pairs of spare contact lenses. She grinned.

  Hollycap stitched up Paley’s thigh. Next, she pulled out a salve and rubbed it over the stitches and then wrapped the leg in gauze. “Should fix her up well enough.”

  “How long until Paley is strong enough to travel?” Van asked.

  Hollycap gave Van a once-over and said, “Not just your friend here. You and the boy, too. Both of you need a look-see.”

  The healer sat Van in a wooden fold-up chair next to the cot and examined her cuts and scrapes. She treated Van’s abrasions with a soothing balm and then focused on her collarbone, ribs, and ankle.

  “Ankle is sprained, ribs are cracked.” Hollycap wrapped both in strips of sturdy canvas. “You have a headache?” she asked, staring into Van’s eyes.

  “Yes,” Van replied without nodding, fearing the movement would set off pain.

  Hollycap raised her fingers in front of Van’s face. “Follow my fingers with your eyes.” The healer moved her fingers back and forth. “You may have a psi spasm.”

  “A-A what?” Van asked, raising her eyebrows. The movement triggered a throbbing ache throughout her scalp.

  “A mild case of brain bruising,” Hollycap replied. “Enough time has passed since your injury, don’t need to keep you awake. Your body is scraped and bruised pretty bad, too.” She gave Van several drops of pain-relieving medicine under her tongue. “May make you sleepy.”

  Elated, Van wanted nothing more than a few good hours of rest and then to hit the road again.

  “Now, the boy.”

  Van turned to Paley, still lying there unconscious. “I’ll be right back.” She followed Healer Hollycap into the adjacent room, where Brux sat in a fold-up chair next to the cot. Noam stood next to him.

  “Is Paley well enough to travel?” Brux asked, as Hollycap looked him over.

  “Not yet.” She applied a salve to his abrasions and placed several drops of liquid under his tongue.

  “Paley and I have to stay together anyway,” Van added, thinking of the Twin Gemstones.

  “How long?” Brux asked.

  Hollycap considered the situation for a moment. “Your friend in the other room won’t be well enough for travel ’til the day after tomorrow. Then, I think it best you get going, given the military situation happening in town.”

  “Okay, then.” Noam clapped his hands. “Let’s figure out the best way to get these kids back to Lodestar!” He left the room, and the healer followed.

  Brux stood up to leave, too, when Van grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the room.

  She excitedly whispered, “What about using the private portal in my father’s study?”

  “We don’t know how to attune ourselves for transport. We need a code or a key to use it. And the Temple of the Cross is in the southern woods of Tipereth. That is much farther away from here than Lodestar.” Brux noticed Van’s pout and quickly added, “It was a good idea, though.”

  Brux went to the main room to ask Noam how to best smuggle them out of town, and Van walked back to Paley’s room. Her friend still slept soundly. Or remained unconscious. Van couldn’t tell. She nabbed some blankets and sheets from a nearby linen closet and snuggled into a nest she made on the floor next to Paley’s cot.

  She yawned. The pain medicine had kicked in. She wished Wiglaf were there to make them feel better. Then her heart tore, causing more pain than her physical injuries, as she remembered what had happened to her poor little bunfy. She could barely wipe the tears from her cheeks before she slipped into a deep, medicated sleep.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  Days 28, 29: Living World

  By nightfall the next day, Paley claimed to be well enough for travel. Van doubted that this was true. Not as severely injured as Paley, she barely felt ready for the road herself. But everyone at the Troll’s Foot knew that if Van, Brux, and Paley didn’t get moving, they would fail in their mission by not reaching Lodestar before the next full moon—an impending deadline now less than two days away.

  Zane brought them a pouch full of coins and each a fresh change of clothes.

  Van wept tears of joy when Zane handed her a pair of hand-sewn, leather walking shoes. She couldn’t care less that they were used hand-me-downs.

  A
s they washed and changed, Van told Paley what had happened while she lay unconscious. She wasn’t sure Paley believed their tales about Solana, until Paley changed her eye color to a warm blue.

  “I’m so glad the spares I carried in my pocket survived the journey,” Paley said, smiling.

  They ate an excellent meal of fire-baked yams and something Zane called “wild mundo legs.” To Van, they looked, and tasted, like charbroiled chicken legs. When they felt satiated, they said their good-byes.

  Van offered to donate Zachery to the underground Manikist movement, as repayment for their help.

  Noam’s eyes glistened as he accepted the gift, and he told them it would be proudly displayed in the Troll’s Foot Tavern for everyone to admire.

  Van sensed Jorie’s spirit smiling—happy over Van’s generosity and proud that Zachery would have a home and be held in high esteem.

  They said a prayer to the Light for their lost teammates, including team Echo and Wiglaf, and one for Daisy, being held in the dungeons of Balefire.

  Brux tolerated Zane’s lingering hug with Van. Then the trio set off for Kezef, hidden in Roguey’s modified hay wagon, driven by Jeb.

  At the Fomalhaut-Kezef checkpoint, Jeb explained that he had special permission to deliver much-needed hay to a farm in northern Kezef. The soldiers ran their swords through the hay but didn’t discover the secret compartment below. With the help of the underground Manikist network, his paperwork was in order and the lie, successful.

  The concealed travelers napped through the brisk night, keeping warm by being squashed together. Van found the rocking motion and Brux’s body heat soothing and comforting. She slept the whole way.

  By morning, Jeb had driven into Kezef as far as he dared. He needed to return to Araquiel to avoid suspicion.

  Once out of the wagon, Van consulted the Coin for the best way back to Lodestar. They slipped on their mittens, bundled up in their jackets, and then moved on.

  They walked under a near-full moon, which glowed brightly through a thin layer of clouds drifting across her face, as if trying to hide her beauty from the unworthy mortals below. Van smiled at the enchanting image, feeling fortified.

  The Coin led them to a village called Lone Rock, where they planned to stop briefly, in desperate need of food and rest. Their deadline loomed, and time was ticking away.

  They checked into the only bunkhouse in the small town, which had a large shared room for sleeping. After washing in the community bath chamber, they went downstairs to the bunkhouse’s busy eatery for dinner. They overheard some locals talking about Balish troops gathering along the Salus Valde border, preparing for an invasion.

  “Forget taking naps, we have to keep going,” Van whispered, then crammed a piece of deep-fried jasmine bread into her mouth.

  “No,” Paley said. “I need rest!” She still hadn’t recovered from her injuries.

  Paley looked peaked, and Brux dreaded the thought of having to carry her again, so they decided to take a short nap.

  Brux and Van had an unspoken agreement to continue keeping their budding relationship a secret from Paley, especially now, not wanting to upset their friend and cause her more distress.

  Van didn’t feel safe napping in a shared room and wanted to sleep close to Paley and Brux.

  He pushed three cots side by side, close together. That way, Van and Paley could get some solid rest, knowing that he napped in the middle.

  Van pressed her back as close to Brux’s as humanly possible without waking him. She needed to feel his warm body next to hers, to be lulled by the soft, rhythmic in and out of his breathing. She couldn’t fall asleep any other way.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  Day 30: Living World

  The sun’s morning rays reached in through the window, waking Van. She shook Brux and Paley.

  “Let’s get going,” she declared. “We overslept!”

  They each gobbled down a quick egg wrap for breakfast, as they hurried to the supply store.

  Brux said, through a mouthful of egg, “We have the opportunity to use the money Zane gave us to buy horses and just a bit of food. It’s the only way to make it back to Lodestar in time.”

  “How much do horses cost?” Paley asked, liking the idea. “Do we have enough?”

  “Let’s find out,” Van agreed.

  Brux walked to a nearby barn, while Van and Paley purchased a bare minimum of dried food sticks and one wineskin filled with water at the local supply house.

  Brux returned with two stunning horses, one black and the other brown with a white nose, both of them saddled. “We had enough money for two.”

  The girls rode on the brown horse, Brux took the other one, and they trotted away from Lone Rock.

  At mid-day, they stopped near a small pond to rest the horses and take a break.

  Van slid from her horse, helped Paley down, and then stretched her aching back. The trio devoured apple-infused dried mundo strips from their food supply, while the horses lapped up the fresh pond water and grazed in the meadow.

  The sun shone in the sky directly overhead.

  “It’s high noon,” Brux guessed. “We’ve got about twelve hours to reach Lodestar.”

  The weary travelers gathered their two horses and continued onward, across Kezef toward Salus Valde.

  Blackness had crept into the sky hours ago, when the trio crossed the unguarded Kezef‑Altithronia border. Van figured it was close to midnight but hadn’t yet heard the faithful chimes from Uxa’s odd grandfather clock ring in her mind.

  “This is part of Blackwood Forest,” Brux announced. “The TAVs should start up again here.”

  “On it,” Van replied. She reached in her pocket to grab the Coin, while Brux and Paley unsaddled the horses and set them free in the lush grass fields of Altithronia.

  They didn’t have Jorie’s magical skills to make a TAV work, so Van consulted the Coin to find the best working TAV to Salus Valde.

  Within minutes, they stood in front of a giant oak with a large knobby knot in its trunk. They piled into the TAV and eagerly studied the illuminated curved map on the wall.

  Brux pointed to a tree icon on the panel map. “This TAV will land us on the wedge-shaped piece of Tipereth bordering northern Salus Valde. It’s about an hour’s walk to Lodestar and doesn’t look like a checkpoint. Hopefully, no guards will be roaming the border there.”

  The TAV delivered them so close to the Salus Valde border, they could see the boundary signs.

  Along with the five Balish soldiers who stared as three disheveled kids walked out of a tree.

  Van heard Uxa’s grandfather clock chime in her head. It was midnight.

  Their time was up.

  They had failed.

  She had failed.

  The Balish soldiers closed in.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Midnight: Living World

  Van and Paley were each nabbed by a soldier.

  Brux struggled against the remaining soldiers, but it was a losing battle of three to one.

  “We’re doomed,” Paley groaned.

  A low, blood-curdling growl grabbed everyone’s attention.

  The hair prickled on the back of Van’s neck, as she scanned the woods.

  The forest was still, except for the soft rustling leaves from the gentle night wind.

  Suddenly, twigs snapped, as something barreled toward them.

  The brush parted. Horrible red eyes emerged from the blackness. A guttural growl rolled out from the shadow.

  “W-What in the bloody name of Darkness?” muttered one soldier.

  It was as if the darkest shadow had come to life. Although this, this . . . thing was darker than dark. Blacker than black.

  Van recognized the same monstrous, wolf-like creature she had seen in Amaryl’s vision. The one that had killed Amaryl’s husband, Rowen. The creature that had never stopped hunting Amaryl. Now, it had come after Van.

  The shadow-wolf hunched and sprang at Van, its teeth bared.

>   The soldier holding Van pushed her aside. The beast swatted him down before he had a chance to draw his sword.

  Brux came hurtling in, hip-checking the beast.

  Van screamed, remembering how the shadow creature had ripped apart Rowen.

  Brux tumbled across the ground, entwined with the beast.

  The terrified Balish soldiers slashed their swords, and Brux broke from the beast’s hold.

  Van rushed to Brux to make sure he wasn’t seriously wounded, but before she got to him, he picked up the dead soldier’s abandoned sword and dashed back into the fight.

  “Brux, no!” Van cried.

  Another soldier yelped and went down, as the beast tore him apart. The other three continued swiping their swords.

  Even as they held it off, the creature watched Van, alert for the first clear path to her.

  When she took out the Coin, the beast grew more enraged and tore through another soldier. Van fumbled and dropped the Coin.

  She fell to her hands and knees, searching the leaf-covered ground for the Coin, but she couldn’t find it.

  “Why are you crawling on the ground?” Paley asked, shaking. “We have to help Brux!”

  “I have to find the Coin.” Van frantically ran her fingers through the leaves, dirt, and grass.

  “Brux!” Paley yelled. “Fighting this thing is a losing battle. Come on.”

  Breathing heavily and splotched with blood, Brux kept his eyes on the beast. “If we run, it will follow. It has to die.”

  The beast tore through another soldier, leaving only one.

  “Van, do something! Hurry!” Paley shouted in terror. “Brux will come if you call him.”

  “The Coin!” Van said, frantically. “I have to find the Coin!” Then she paused. She remembered Amaryl’s vision, her ancestor’s obsession over the Coin, and how it had led to her husband’s death.

  Van shot to her feet. “Brux!”

  Brux and the soldier fought side by side against the creature, slashing and stabbing their swords.

  The shadow-wolf swatted Brux. He screamed and went down.

  Numb, Van didn’t care about the Coin or the mission or Paley. Only about Brux. In that moment, she realized life without him wouldn’t be worth living. She knew of only one way to stop the beast before it killed him.