Forged In Death, Book 1 of The Death Wizard Chronicles

by Jim Melvin

  Vasi master (VUH-see): Martial arts master who trains Tugar novices to become warriors.

  Vedana (VAY-duh-nuh): 100,000-year-old demon. Grandmother of Invictus and Laylah. Mother of King Lobha.

  Vinipata (VEE-nee-PUH-tuh): Central shrine of Senasana.

  Warlish witch (WOR-lish): Female witch who can change her appearance between extreme beauty and hideousness.

  Wild men: Short, hairy men who thrive in the foothills of Kolankold. Their women do not fight as warriors and are rarely seen. Longtime enemies of Nissaya.

  Worm monster: Nameless beast with more than a thousand tentacles that lives beneath Asubha. Largest living creature on Triken.

  Yakkkkha (YAH-kuh): Magic word from the Realm of the Undead that brings corpses and skeletons temporarily back to life.

  Yama-Deva (YAH-muh-DAY-vuh): Ruined snow giant that became Mala.

  Yama-Utu (YAH-muh-OO-too): Snow giant. Brother of Yama-Deva. Husband of Yama-Bhari.

  (Continue reading for an excerpt of Jim’s next book and more about the author)

  Coming Soon by Jim Melvin

  Chained By Fear

  The Death Wizard Chronicles

  Book Two

  Prologue

  From his hiding place among the trees, the teenage boy had spied on the little girl for months. Though darkness was not his friend, he had endured it to be near her. How daring she was to leave her house all by herself in the middle of the night, seemingly undeterred by the specter of ghosts and goblins. How foolish of her, too. She would learn one day that monsters did exist, and that some of them were far deadlier than any her imagination might conjure. She would learn that it was better to stay locked in her room than wander the wilds after dark. She would learn because he would teach her.

  Though she was little more than four years old, she already was beautiful. He admired her golden hair, which so matched his own. And though her gray-blue eyes were in stark contrast to his deep-brown ones, he permitted her this fallibility. No one was perfect. Well, almost no one.

  When they were king and queen, she would birth many of his children. The first would be a son whom he would mold in his own image. After that, he didn’t care so much about the rest. But the more products of his seed who walked the world, the better.

  Yes, the little girl would become his bride—whether she liked it or not. He was a god, after all. And who in their right mind could refuse the hand of a god?

  Not even the god’s sister could do that.

  Brother

  1

  Laylah first met her brother when she was five years old. He found her at the rope swing that hung from an ancient sycamore tree on the outskirts of the village known as Avici. With so many children flocking to the swing, Laylah sometimes had to wait forever for a turn. But she knew the best time to go. While her parents slumbered she snuck out her window and scampered through the darkness. The swing hung there—lifeless but inviting—and she had it all to herself. When morning came, she returned home to sleep.

  On one especially beautiful night when the moon was full and the sky clear, Laylah sat on the swing and basked in the reflected light. Phosphorescent streaks emanated from her body as she swept back and forth. When she held up her arm she could see that her skin glowed magically. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t really care, either. To her, it was normal.

  But the boy who came to her that fateful night was by no means normal. He wore calico robes embroidered with little golden suns, and when he lifted his hood to expose his face, Laylah saw something in his expression that felt familiar. He smiled at her, exposing perfectly white teeth and disturbingly clear brown eyes. His hair was an even deeper yellow than hers, hanging long and silky about his shoulders. He sat cross-legged in the grass near her feet and rested the palms of his hands on his knees.

  “Are you afraid?” he said, whispering huskily.

  “No,” she said, telling the truth.

  He smiled again. “Do you know me?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  The smile lessened. “I’m a stranger to you, but you’re not a stranger to me. Do you understand?”

  “A lot of the old people know my name, but I don’t know theirs. Is that what you mean?”

  He chuckled, but with a slight hint of irritation. “Not exactly. But it’s obvious you’re a very smart girl. And so pretty. I like you. Do you like me?”

  “How old are you?” she said.

  “I’m fifteen. And you’re five?”

  “You do know me,” she said. “But I don’t remember seeing you. Are you new here?”

  “Yes . . . in some ways. I was born here, but I grew up someplace else.”

  “Have you come back here to live?”

  “No . . . just to visit. With you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I like you. Do you like me?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Well, that’s a good start. I hope you’ll like me more when you get to know me. But I have to ask you an important question. Can you keep a secret?”

  “Yes!” Laylah loved keeping secrets. It made her feel like an old person.

  “Good. Well, the secret is . . . me. I don’t want you to tell anyone, not even your parents, that you talked to me tonight. If you tell them, do you know what will happen?”

  “You’ll be mad at me?”

  “No . . . no. I won’t be mad at you, but your parents will. They’ll stop you from going out at night. They’ll barricade your door and window. You won’t have the swing all to yourself anymore and you won’t be able to enjoy the moonlight without anyone around to bother you.”

  Tears welled in Laylah’s eyes. Being imprisoned in her room at night would be the worst punishment she could imagine.

  “But if you keep our secret,” the boy continued, “you’ll be free to come and go whenever you like. Tomorrow night, the moon will be round again. I’ll come to visit. If you’re not here, I’ll know you broke our secret.”

  “I won’t . . . I promise.”

  “Thank you, Laylah.” He smiled so wide she could see his thick red tongue. “And I won’t tell anyone, either. See you tomorrow night?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  She went home before dawn and slept until almost noon. Her parents, Gunther and Stēorra, constantly told her how amazed they were that she slept so much. They put her to bed every night after dark, but she rarely got up on her own before lunch. Yet she was healthy and happy, so they didn’t bother her about it too much, enabling her to continue to get away with her nightly wanderings.

  He met Laylah at the tree again that night, lavishing her with praise for keeping their secret. He talked to her for a long time and asked many questions: What was her favorite food? He was an excellent cook. Did she have any pets? He had lots of them. Was she satisfied with her clothes? He could buy her some really nice gowns and shoes. Would she like that?

  “Yes . . . YES!”

  The third night, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Do you love me, Laylah? Because I love you.”

  The kiss made her feel uncomfortable, and she didn’t answer.

  He became annoyed. “I won’t be around for a while.” And he walked away in a huff.

  For several weeks afterward he didn’t meet her at the swing. Laylah became used to being alone again. She once tried to tell her mother about the boy, but her tongue dried up and the words wouldn’t come. She hated the feeling of helplessness.

  When the moon rose full the following month he appeared again, strutting out of the darkness with a grin on his face. He gave her a light hug and another kiss on the cheek. Whatever anger he had displayed when she had last seen him was gone. He told her how much he had missed her and how much he loved her. Did she love him? She still didn’t answer.

  Four days a month around each full moon, he visited her at the swing. He taught her things, such as how to talk to him without speaking; or how to scorch patches of grass with fire from the tips of her fi
ngers. He told her magical words. Ratana, repeated three times, turned pebbles into gems. Khandeti caused pottery to crack. Avihethana healed cuts and bruises. This delighted Laylah.

  “Do you love me?” he asked.

  “I like you, a lot.”

  “I love you, a lot.”

  One time, he taught her the word Namuci, which he told her had been conjured in a time eons past by the ancient demon known as Vedana. When a demon—or a human with demon blood—spoke the word, it gave life to invisible spirits called efrits, thousands of which dwelled in the Realm of the Undead. In that eternal darkness they were harmless. But when summoned to the Realm of Life, they became voracious meat eaters, gorging themselves on the internal organs of any living being unlucky enough to be near. The speaker of the word—because of his or her demon blood—was safe from harm.

  If Namuci was whispered, one efrit responded and one person died. But if a being of great power screamed it at high volume, thousands of efrits emerged, and any human or animal within several hundred paces perished.

  When Laylah said it, a sparrow tumbled from the sky and lay dead at her feet. She screamed and cried. He called her a “little baby” and stormed away.

  For several months he did not appear. Laylah began to think she would never see him again. In some ways she was relieved. More than once she again tried to tell her parents or some other old person about her mysterious visitor. But the words would not come. She tried so hard, her eyes filled with tears. When they asked her what was wrong, she couldn’t speak. Her tongue felt meaty and swollen.

  By the time she was six years old, she had learned to spell quite a few words, but when she attempted to write something down about the brown-eyed boy, the quill smeared the ink. She even tried to draw his picture, but the same thing happened. It made her sick to her stomach.

  Out of nowhere he appeared again, smiling as if he had never been gone. She told him she still was mad at him for making her kill the bird. He said he was sorry and wouldn’t do it again. Instead he taught her good words like Loha-Hema, which turned copper to gold; and Tumbî-Tum, which caused vegetables to grow from seed to full ripeness in just a few days. He showed her how to conjure small spheres of flame that floated in the air, and the two of them tossed them back and forth like toy balls. When an adult villager, perhaps trying to walk off a bout of insomnia, wandered by the swing in the middle of the night, the boy blew smoke from his mouth and said Niddaayahi. The man collapsed on the grass, his insomnia cured.

  Laylah worried about the old person. He was one of her father’s many friends and often had been nice to her. The boy assured her he would take the man back to his house, and he picked up the old person and carried him away as if he weighed less than a feather. Laylah never saw the man again, but the boy came back the next night in a better mood than usual.

  When she turned nine years old, the boy handed her an envelope, sealed with an insignia of a golden sun, and told her to wait until he was gone before reading the letter. He also told her to burn it with her special white finger-fire as soon as she was finished. When he disappeared from sight, she tore it open.

  The letter was written in gold ink on a single sheet of silky white paper.

  My dearest Laylah:

  You are so smart and pretty. When we are not together, I feel sad. I miss you all the time. I love you very much.

  Do you love me?

  We have known each other for four years, but you have never asked my name. Why is that? Aren’t you curious about me? Don’t you care?

  Remember our secret. Never tell anyone about me. Our parents will be angry at you if they discover we are friends.

  Your brother, Invictus

  P.S. Here’s my present—another secret word. This one is very precious. The next time you are in bed or taking a bath, say ‘Raaga’ several times—but only if you are alone. It will make you feel good, but Mother and Father wouldn’t like it.

  Our parents? Your brother? Mother and father? Laylah read the letter over and over. She decided not to burn it. Instead she would show it to her parents the next morning. But the moment that thought entered her mind, the paper burst into yellow flame. She cried again.

  “You are not my brother,” she said to him the next night. “I don’t have a brother. My mom and dad would have told me.”

  He stomped around the swing, staring at her with fury in his eyes.

  “You dare to call me a liar?” His body, now almost twenty years old and fully grown, glowed like a miniature sun. “Listen to me carefully, little one. I allow you to live because you’re my sister, but even you need to be careful. Your powers are just a fraction of mine. Compared to me, you’re merely a reflection.”

  Laylah was terrified, and she burst into tears and ran all the way home. She didn’t return to the swing for months. Instead she trembled in her bed until morning, when sleep finally took her, temporarily releasing her from misery. During that terrible stretch of time she never saw Invictus, the boy who claimed to be her brother.

  Just a month shy of her tenth birthday, she relaxed in a warm bath while her parents made dinner in the kitchen. The magical word Invictus had written in his letter still teased her curiosity. Until this moment, she had managed to resist its supernatural lure. But the compulsion finally overcame her.

  “Raaga,” she whispered, guiltily.

  Laylah felt a strange but enchanting sensation between her legs. She touched herself with her hand and the pleasure intensified.

  “Raaga,” she said again. “Raaga. Raaga!”

  Afterward she lay panting in the bath, her face slathered with sweat. Her mother assumed she had come down with a fever, and she tucked Laylah into bed with a cold cloth on her forehead.

  The next morning, Laylah said the word again. And then the following afternoon and evening. She said it every day, several times a day, several times a night. The sensation grew greater each time. But it took a severe toll on her prepubescent body. She lost her appetite and an excessive amount of weight. Dark circles formed under her eyes and her cheeks collapsed.

  Her parents were convinced she was deathly ill. Shamans studied her but could find nothing wrong. She tried to tell them about the boy and his terrible powers. But no intelligible words came forth.

  One shaman, who was filthy and stank, told Laylah’s parents that he needed to be alone with the child to properly diagnose her condition. Out of desperation, they agreed. When they closed the door the shaman leaned over Laylah and told her that evil spirits possessed her. If she kissed him, the spirits would flee from her mouth into his, where he would devour them.

  Laylah saw through his guise. Without thinking, she whispered, “Namuci!”

  The shaman fell to the floor, spit out a glob of blood, and died. Her parents rushed back into the room and found her in hysterics. The shaman’s death shocked the village, but no one thought to blame her.

  For whatever reason the horror of what she had done strengthened Laylah’s resolve, and she was able to resist saying the nasty word. In a few weeks her health was restored—and with it, her good humor. Her parents seemed so pleased.

  It all fell apart for her the morning after her tenth birthday, when Invictus crept through her window and entered her room. She tried to cry out but could not manage more than a few weak grunts. Still wearing his golden robes, he lay next to her on her bed, pressed his chest against her back and then placed his hand on her stomach. She hated being so close to him, but somehow his presence froze her to the bed. A short time later, her parents entered the room and found them together.

  “What are you doing?” her father said. “Get away from my child!”

  He attempted to pull the young man off Laylah, but Invictus was far too strong, swinging his arm and knocking the older man against the far wall. Her mother lifted a small wooden table and smashed it against Invictus’ shoulder, but it did not seem to hurt him at all.

  He stood and faced her. “Mother, don’t you recognize me?” Invictus said.
r />   “I recognize you, but I wish I didn’t,” she said. “Why have you returned to torment us?”

  “I love you, mother. Do you love me?”And then he spit a sizzling ball of sputum at her brown eyes.

  Laylah’s mother howled and pressed her hands to her face, staggering backward. When she removed her hands, most of the flesh on her skull was gone, though strands of long yellow hair still clung to the exposed bone.

  Her father regained his senses, staggered to his feet, and pounced on Invictus, all the while yelling, “Laylah . . . run!”

  “Father,” Invictus said. “I love you. Do you love me?”

  Invictus pressed his lips against her father’s and blew hot breath down his throat. Her father collapsed and went into a wild spasm. Smoke exploded from his ears, nose, and mouth—and his tongue swelled absurdly. When he blew apart, flaming patches of tissue splattered across the room. This terrified Laylah and shook her out of whatever spell Invictus had put on her to keep her still. She sat up and screamed.

  Though her mother was maimed and blinded, she continued to grope for Invictus. But she was no match for him. He grasped her disfigured face and kissed her too, and she met the same fate as her husband.

  Afterward Invictus raised his arms and bellowed. Golden flames erupted from every pore. As if struck from within by dragon fire, the house exploded. Sizzling shards flew several hundred paces, casting Laylah into the yard like a piece of broken furniture. When the conflagration cleared, she saw Invictus standing naked amid the smoking debris, his robes incinerated but his body unharmed. Her parents were gone.

  Laylah managed to stand. Amazingly she wasn’t injured, but her clothes had been incinerated and she was now naked. The commotion drew hundreds of villagers, who rushed toward her. But when they saw Invictus they also ran. Only one man hesitated, as if daring to issue a challenge. For him, it was a death sentence. Invictus blasted a bolt of golden flame, ripping off the man’s head.