by Toni Cox
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Trilogy
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Glossary - Shadow Hall
Braern
Thala Yll
Alea Yll
Tarron Heights
Rathaes
Dragonfort
Stoneloft
Crook Harbour
South Point
Arrow
Warrior Houses
Moons of Elveron
About the author
Copyright © 2016 Toni Cox
Copyright © 2016 Toni Cox - Maps
Cover design by Poppet
Artwork (Midnight) by Soné Botha
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the written permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are all used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, are coincidental.
The Elemental Trilogy
Elemental Rising - 2016
Elemental Betrayal - 2017
Forbidden Elemental - 2018
Elemental Rising was a journey I could not have gone on by myself. It was a team effort and some people in particular deserve special mention.
Joshua Cox, for being my biggest critic and his vivid imagination.
Inge Kuhn, for proof-reading the manuscript and her (much appreciated) constructive criticism.
Darren Cox, for all his patience even when I worked long into the night or over weekends and for his editorial services.
This second edition would also not be what it is today without the support of Ashleigh Giannoccaro, Sian Claven, Deborah Du Plooy, Poppet and all the wonderful Indie Authors who I have come to meet over the past year. Thank you.
For my father
The air was thin at this altitude, but her lungs were used to it. It was thrilling to fly so close to the sun. She rose a little higher, beating her wings faster and faster as the resistance dwindled. Then, once the air could not sustain her any longer, she folded her wings and dove towards the ground. Wind stung her eyes as she raced downwards. She whooped with joy, but the sound was snatched away by the wind before she could hear it.
About a mile from the ground, she spread her wings and levelled out. The forest below was just a green blur as she sped past and the mountains in the north were still too far away for her to notice. She focused instead on the many lakes that dotted the land below like so many diamonds sparkling in the sun.
She made a turn, circled one of the lakes below, and then carried on towards the north. The sheer speed at which she travelled, took her breath away, but that too, she loved. She covered miles in an instant, but it felt like she was flying for eternity. Nothing could ever compare to the thrill of swooping low, brushing the treetops, nor the peace and tranquillity of gliding above the clouds, warmed by the closeness of the sun. She felt whole, at peace with the world. She had everything she ever desired right here, right now. This was where she truly belonged.
As she made her way north, she slowly became aware of another presence. She craned her neck to see behind and above her, but saw no-one. The strange feeling of unease intensified, until she eventually realised that the other presence was in her mind. She fought her panic as it started to probe her consciousness.
It felt immense and dangerous. Alien, yet strangely familiar. It showed her images of strange creatures, twisted and tortured. Faces of people, hurt and confused. Death and pain everywhere she looked. She tried to fight the presence, evict it from her mind, but as she struggled, she started to realise that it was not her that was invaded, but rather that she was the one invading another. The realisation hit her like something physical and with it came an unpleasant tingling in her body. She was overcome by a sudden, terrible weakness. She beat the wings she knew were not hers, but they no longer listened to her command. Wind rushed past her face as she lost altitude. The tingling in her body intensified, until it was almost unbearable.
Her vision dimmed and her head pounded. She tried to suppress the nausea she felt as she fell, but she felt the bile rise to her throat, burning. Faster and faster she plummeted, driving the air out of her lungs. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. The ground rushed closer and closer, the moment of impact only a heartbeat away. In her panic, she milled her arms, trying desperately to keep herself airborne, but she kept falling and falling, faster and faster. Then she hit the ground…and ceased to exist.
Aaron stretched. He had not slept this well in years. He thought that he should be feeling angry, but he felt strangely elated and was looking forward to the day. Pulling on his suit and shoes, he wished he had something clean to put on and then climbed out of his tent. As he opened the strings that held the opening together, he marvelled again at the softness of the fabric. He had never seen the like of it before.
The air outside was crisp and clear, the grass a little damp with early morning dew and the campsite was a bustle. Horses were being groomed, tents were being folded and stashed away, and everyone seemed to be busy with something. He noticed his kids were not up yet, so he found himself a place to sit around the now extinguished fire. Someone wished him a good morning and brought him a cup of tea. He nodded his thanks to the stranger and took the cup gratefully. As he sipped the strange tasting, although pleasant, liquid, he thought about the last three days. It was hard to believe that so much could have happened in such a short time.
Thursday had been one of the toughest days in his entire life. Lisa had called him, and the kids, to her sickbed. She had told them all how much she loved them and then told them that it was her time to go away. The kids had cried. They had known it was coming, but one could never prepare for such a thing. Aaron had resigned himself to the fact that his wife would die and there was nothing he could do about it. Lisa had been diagnosed with cancer about three years ago.
The doctors had been hopeful though. Over the last fifty years or so, there had been such advances in medicine, that there were now very few things the doctors could not cure. Lisa had first gone though Chemo, twice. Then had several operations, which had failed. They had tried every drug on the market to suppress the cancer, so that she could lead a normal life. But, none of the treatments had worked on her and she had steadily become worse. Her pronouncement had therefore not surprised him, but it had not made it any easier to handle.
Then he had woken up on Friday morning to the sound of the vintage Mercedes starting in the garage below. It was a relic from the days when there were still roads through the countryside. It was built back in 2094. His great-grandfather had bought it direct from the factory and Aaron had kept it out of nostalgia. He had been very fond of his Gramps. But, the Merc was decrepit and unreliable. They never used it any more.
So, when he had heard the engine turn, stutter and then rev noisily, he had thought someone had broken in and was stealing it. He had run downstairs in his sleeping shorts, but by the time he had arrived in the garage,
the Mercedes was gone.
He had sprinted into the street and watched as the car turned the corner into Main Street, Lisa behind the steering wheel. His heart had beat wildly in his chest as he contemplated what she probably intended to do. It had taken him only a few minutes to get the kids out of bed. They had dressed hastily and then jumped into his Lexus to track the Mercedes with their GPS. Lisa was driving along the A36 towards Salisbury.
They lived in Southampton. It was one of the smaller suburbs of Greater London. Although Salisbury was not far away, it could take two to three hours to get there because the area was now so built up. Concrete, high-rise apartment buildings covered every square feet of ground that was not covered by some shopping mall or business.
He’d put his foot on the accelerator and the electric engine whirred as it sped up and weaved through traffic. The Merc was slow. He had expected to catch up with it quickly. He’d thought it would even run out of fuel. There should not have been any in there to begin with. Aaron had wondered how Lisa had managed to acquire fossil fuel for the car. It was not manufactured any more.
Then, an agonising three hours later, they had spotted the Mercedes ahead of them in the distance. They had passed Salisbury a while ago and where by then close to Shrewton, another suburb of Greater London. Aaron could not fathom where she was going and had then been even more confused, when she turned east. They had followed her, steadily catching up, but it wasn’t until she’d turned down the narrow lane towards the museum, that they realised where she was going. Stonehenge! It still stood, preserved as a natural history museum, amongst the glass and concrete city around it.
They had reached the parking lot a few moments later. The Mercedes was already parked close to the ticket office and they could see Lisa limp up the path towards the stones. Aaron had watched as she handed one of the armed guards her ticket. The kids had jumped out of the car quickly and run after their mother. He’d followed close behind, not bothering with buying a ticket. They had argued with the guards for a moment, but after explaining the urgency, the men relented and let them through.
Lisa had reached the middle of the circle of stones by then. She had looked haggard, in pain and utterly exhausted. She’d turned towards them, but her eyes had been closed. Jasmin had called out to her and Lisa had opened her eyes. Aaron distinctly remembered the look of horror on her face when she saw them. They were only a few feet from her, when, suddenly, everything had gone crazy. It had felt like he was yanked off his feet, tossed into the air and then tumbled and thrown about. Then he had blacked out.
He can’t remember how much time passed before they had woken up here. Wherever here might be, he could still not quite believe it. The first thing he felt when he woke up, was the pain. His head pounded and his body ached everywhere. He noticed Luke, Jasmin and Lisa lying a few feet away from him.
When he looked around, he found that they were in a strange place; open grasslands stretched as far as the eye could see all around them, and the west was dominated by mountains so big he could hardly believe it. The air was cool and fresh and the sun was dazzlingly bright. However, the most astonishing thing was the stones.
It was Stonehenge as it had probably looked like when it was first built many hundreds of years ago. It was made up of three rings within each other. The outer circle were tall, upright blocks of stone, each connected to its neighbour by a slab of horizontal stone laid across the space between the uprights, like a lintel. The second circle was made up of smaller stones, still each the size of a man, but small compared to the stones of the first circle. The stones of this second ring also stood upright, with their flat surfaces facing the interior of the ring. In the middle of the circle stood five massive columns, each made up of two uprights and a lintel. These stones were larger even than those of the outer circle. Each of these columns also had three smaller stones placed in front of it. The five columns formed more or less a semi circle, leaving a bigger space facing towards the east, giving the impression of an entrance. An oblong, flat stone, somewhat like an altar was placed almost in the middle of the circle, but closer to the centre one of the five columns.
He struggled into a sitting position; he shuddered now as he remembered the pain. Luke helped Jasmin to sit up and then checked her to make sure she had no injuries. But when Luke came to assist him to his feet, he declined.
“First Mom,” Aaron croaked; his voice rough and his throat sore.
Luke made his way over to his mother, cursing under his breath about his sore body. When he reached her, he put his fingers just below her jaw line and checked her pulse while Aaron watched from a distance. He felt very strange at that moment and he was concerned that his wife might be dead.
“I can feel her pulse. It was weak, but steady. But…”
“What?”
Aaron scrambled to his feet and limped over to his wife.
“Dad…it’s not Mom.”
He felt his heart skip a beat as he covered the last few feet. Then he knelt down next to the woman that was not his wife.
The girl was young, maybe a little older than Jasmin’s seventeen years. She was extraordinarily beautiful, even though her ears had a slight pointiness to them that was rather strange. She had long, auburn hair that was spread around her face like a halo. Her eyebrows curved elegantly over her eyes. Her full lips were relaxed in sleep, but there was a slight frown on her forehead as if she was having a bad dream. She seemed familiar somehow, but he was certain he had never seen her before.
“Lady, wake up,” Luke said softly and shook her gently by the shoulders.
The girl did not react.
“She seems to be sleeping, but I cannot wake her.”
Jasmin made her way over to them, sat down on the grass next to the sleeping girl, and gently brushed her hair back.
“She looks like Mom,” Jasmin said in her usual chirpy voice.
They argued for what felt like hours afterwards. Aaron was adamant that she looked nothing like Lisa and Jasmin argued that she felt like mom, even if she didn’t look exactly like her. But the woman was of little concern to him; he was sure it was not his wife and they had bigger problems. They were in a strange place, without food, water or shelter, or even another person in sight. Luke had lost his glasses. Jasmin was dizzy and Lisa was nowhere to be found.
The kids assumed they were at Stonehenge, nothing else made sense, but Aaron more felt, than knew, that they were very far away from where they had parked the car that morning. He walked around the stones periodically throughout the day, calling Lisa’s name, hoping they might still find her. But as the light started to fade, so did his hope.
He felt helpless, exhausted and worried. He had never been so unsure about anything before and he did not know how to cope with it. There had always been method and order in his life and he always tackled life with a self-assuredness others admired. This he did not know how to deal with.
“Papa, look,” Jasmin whispered as day turned to evening.
What Aaron saw then shocked him to the core.
“Two moons,” Luke said in awe.
The kids thought it cool; in general, they seemed to cope with their situation better than he did. He sat down on the grass next to the strange girl and put his head in his hands. Everything was wrong here. Back home, there were no meadows or fields with grass, the air was thick with smog and the world was never silent; cars, machines, fourteen billion people all contributed to the decay of their world. Here, everything was different, and he did not know what to make of it. The two moons had been the final straw for him. He reasoned that it might be a projection, the kind the big companies used for advertising, but even he had to admit that they looked real.
He was about to lie down on the grass to get some rest, when Jasmin called out.
“What is it, Jaz?” Luke asked, joining them by the sleeping girl.
“Look at the tag on her suit,” she held the collar bent back to show them.
“Lisa Nightingale,” Aaron whi
spered and almost threw up.
It took the kids half the night to calm him down. He ranted and raved, shouting at the two bedevilled moons and only when they finally sank behind the mountains in the distance did he curl up next the girl who wore his wife’s suit and fell into a fitful sleep.
The morning came with a startling suddenness; one moment it was still cool and grey, the next the sun broke over the horizon in the east and bathed them in warm sunlight. It was the first time in his life he had seen a real sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful. Nevertheless, the beauty of their surroundings was not able to distract them from their problems; they were hungry, thirsty and alone. They did not want to leave the girl in search for water, so they sat, backs to one of the tall stones, enduring the heat of midday.
It was very early in the afternoon when they heard it; the menacing growl of a wild animal. He feared that there might be animals here, but they had so far not encountered any, besides some birds. Now, their luck had finally run out and they found themselves staring at a large, shaggy-haired wolf, his russet fur bristling around his neck, his long teeth bared.
The wolf stalked towards them, all the while growling and never breaking eye contact. Aaron sheltered the kids behind him, but he was as terrified as they were. It seemed like hours that the wolf stood there and when the wolf eventually stopped growling and turned away from them, he sunk to the ground, his legs too weak to hold him up any longer. Then, Jasmin screamed and, when he looked up, he saw the wolf standing over the sleeping girl. He struggled back to his feet, unsure if he would be ready to defend the girl if the wolf meant her harm, but then the wolf licked the girl’s face, nudged her a few times with his nose and then he curled up next to her and closed his eyes.
They stayed by the pillar of stone, watching the sleeping wolf and the girl until the sun finally touched the tips of the mountains so far away. Then, the wolf suddenly sat up, wagged his tail and howled. His voice as he howled into the fading sun, sounded so sad and yet so elated at the same time, that Aaron had difficulty explaining the feelings it woke within him. He felt like crying. He put his arm around Jasmin, who then put her head on his chest and sobbed quietly.