Hex Breaker (The Fenearen Chronicles Book 1)

by Taryn Noelle Kloeden

  Nero expected the guards to crash in behind them, but none came. Perhaps Rhael had cast a silencing spell, or maybe they were used to hearing terrible things from the Overlord’s quarters. Just when Nero thought that something had gone wrong with Rhael’s ritual, the mud-covered, steaming body moved again, sitting up in one swift motion. Its hands wiped the muck from its face, revealing shimmering, black eyes.

  The newborn Da’ Gammorn surveyed its surroundings with quick, spasmodic movements, settling last on the three people standing by the tent’s exit. It stood in a blur of motion and more mud slid from its body. Its nostrils flared as it approached them, onyx eyes unblinking.

  “Humans.” The voice had its own echo, as if a crowd of people spoke through a single mouth. It paused, jerked its head to the side, and massaged its temples. When it spoke again, it was like the other Da’ Gammorn–many voices speaking as one. “Who brought us here? For what purpose are we risen?”

  Rhael stepped toward his creation. “I, Rhael II of House Demetrian, Overlord of Maenor, mage in service to the one True God Razorn, have brought you forth. You are risen to serve me and to bring death to all who would oppose me.”

  The demon cocked its head to the side, listening. It came closer when Rhael finished, inhaling deeply. “Rhael Demetrian. We will bring death.” It switched its gaze to Nero. “Shall we start with this one? It has a coward’s heart and stinks of wolfkind.”

  Panic chased rational thought from Nero’s mind. Before he could decide whether to run or fight, Rhael shook his head.

  “This is the one wolfkind you are not to kill. The rest are yours to slaughter when we face them in battle.”

  It turned away, and Nero breathed again. “Very well, Lord Rhael.” Its gaze alighted on Morna, and a twisted smile transformed its dead features. “This one’s heart is true, too much so we think. The magic of the False God grows strong within her, but that’s not all that grows.”

  “Enough,” Rhael said. “You will join the other Da’ Gammorn. But first, tell me what you can remember of the man whose body you now hold?”

  “The human soul who polluted this vessel is gone. He has been pulled from the upper world, languishing at the entrance to our realm now, but there are traces of his memory left.”

  “Good. I may ask you to use that soon. For now, join the rest of your kind.” He stood aside, and both Nero and Morna were quick to follow. The Da’ Gammorn bowed and exited, leaving muddy footprints in its wake.

  Nero shuddered. “He’s even worse than the others.”

  “Yes,” said Rhael, “he’s perfect.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Vivid sunlight shone through Rayna's salt-encrusted eyelids. She lifted her head from Sudmaris’s bumpy skin, swallowing against her rough throat. The day of ocean travel had taken its toll on them. Channon rubbed his temples and Mina slept fitfully. Rayna grabbed her waterskin and took a long drink as Channon did the same.

  “How much longer?” she asked as her voice cracked.

  Do not lose hope, little ones, a voice replied in her head. We shall arrive today.

  “Thank Wolnor,” Rayna said. “We’re very grateful, Sudmaris, but I don’t think we could go much longer like this.”

  I understand. You were made for the land. You have fared much better than I would have if our roles had been reversed. If I ever touch dry land, it would mean my certain death.

  Mina roused and glanced at Channon and Rayna. Her sunburned face crinkled in worry.

  Do not worry for me, my Mignonette. I will let you three off well away from shore. You will have to swim farther, but I assure you that no creature in my ocean shall harm you for as long as the three of you live.

  Time passed between sleep and lucidity. Between the rocking, the waves, and the spray of saltwater, Rayna had to close her eyes just to keep from retching. At sunset, Rayna risked another look. A solid shape rose along the horizon, much larger than any of the islands they had passed.

  “Is that…” she rasped, squinting to get a better look.

  Alvorn, Sudmaris answered. Soon you three will swim, so wake your friends.

  “I am awake,” Channon said, his eyes opening. He leaned over Rayna to nudge Mina, who responded with a slap across his arm.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” Mina groaned as Channon snatched back his hand.

  They collected their belongings into the girls’ packs and waited. Alvorn. It felt impossible that they were so close when only two days earlier, they had been hundreds of leagues away in the frozen north. Lumae had warned that Rayna would not make it in time, but now it was possible that she might. Though Rayna was not sure how they would help Fenear. Could the addition of three more fighters really make a difference? If not, was there any possibility they could convince the Alvornians to reforge their alliance? Bayne and Silver must have tried, and if they had not succeeded, then Rayna could not see how she would.

  All right. Sudmaris coasted to a slower pace. Rayna sniffed the currents, finding strong traces of shorebirds and trees. This is where I leave you, my friends.

  “Thank you so much, Sudmaris.” Rayna smoothed her palms over his skin. “We never would have made it without your help.” She still did not understand how she had called the Guardian to them, but Rayna accepted that there were a great many things about her own powers that she did not understand.

  “You saved our lives. We will not forget that,” Channon said as he swung his legs over Sudmaris’s side.

  “Will we see you again?” asked Mina.

  There are questions I cannot answer, Mignonette. I hope our paths may again cross, but perhaps under different circumstances.

  “Agreed. I’d rather not be captured by an evil sorcerer again.” Mina gave Sudmaris one last pat and joined Channon near the water. “Ready, Wolfie?”

  Rayna nodded, turning her thoughts once more to Sudmaris. I’ll try to take your advice about Channon.

  Do, but let me give you one last piece of counsel, Rayna Myana. The battle you are about to fight might cost you your life or the lives of those you love. There is another battle, one we all must face–a battle fought not with swords or claws, but with deeds and judgments. There are those who can arm you, guide you, and give you something to fight for, but in the end we all fight this war alone. So arm yourself Rayna, know yourself, and above all, prepare yourself, because there are risks much greater than death.

  Rayna blinked, sorting through his words. She glanced at Channon and Mina, finding both their faces a mystified mirror of her own. They must have each received one last, cryptic message. Channon broke his blank stare first. Rayna followed his gaze over the leviathan’s side. In the deep, cerulean waters, dark shapes filtered by below them. Despite Sudmaris’s assurances that nothing in the ocean would harm them, Rayna’s heart raced.

  Channon gripped her hand. “You ready?”

  “I hope to the gods I am,” Mina said as she jumped in. Channon dove in after her, and with one last look over the Guardian’s gray form, Rayna followed.

  Sudmaris had disappeared as soon as she looked back. The water was not even disturbed, as if he had never been there. They were truly on their own to swim the last stretch.

  Rayna sputtered as her legs crashed against the hard sand, and she fell forward. She looked around. A white sand beach extended far out of sight on either side of her, dotted with shells, driftwood, and marram grass. A forest of cedars and leafless poplars loomed twenty tail-lengths from the shoreline. Channon and Mina were nowhere to be seen.

  She sniffed the currents, but between the salt and the cedar fragrance, Rayna might not have smelled them even if they stood beside her. She turned back to the ocean. The setting sun’s reflection blinded her, but she squinted through the pain. She tried to call out, but only a cough emerged from her dry throat. The water had disoriented her. It had proved impossible for them to stay together. Channon had shouted for them to meet on shore just as a wave had engulfed her. When she had fought to the surface, she'd found no sign
of her friends. Desperate and terrified, Rayna had battled over the waves and onto shore.

  A golden shape appeared above the water with another darker shape connected to it. Channon swam with an unmoving Mina swung across his back. He struggled to keep above water.

  “No!” Rayna ran into the water. The weight of it forced her movements to agonizing slowness as she waded toward them. Then the shelf fell off, and she was swimming again. Salt water burned her throat and eyes, but she moved more quickly. Channon waved his free arm, using his other to hold up Mina.

  “Ray!” He called over the roar of the waves. “She’s not breathing!”

  Rayna did not remember shifting forms, but she paddled toward him as a red wolf. The current sucked at her paws, but she battled against it. Channon used an awkward, one-armed breast stroke to close the distance between them. He buried his fingers in her fur as she dove beneath both him and Mina. The water displaced most of their combined weight, but still Rayna could barely keep her muzzle above water. Channon rolled off of her, sliding Mina farther onto Rayna's back, holding her face up as best he could.

  “Hurry!” Channon’s water-warped shout echoed. Rayna had no strength to respond. She could only keep paddling. The salt blazed across her healing wounds as more recent ones re-opened, but Mina was not breathing. Channon was right. Rayna could feel no rise and fall, nor the thud of a heart. Rayna’s paws brushed sediment. She shifted human, and together with Channon, dragged Mina to shore. They fell onto the beach, panting, Mina between them. Rayna grabbed her shoulder and shook.

  “Mina! Wake up! Come on!”

  “Get out of the way!” Channon pushed Rayna aside, lowering his mouth to Mina's. Confusion warred with shock until Rayna understood. He was not kissing her; he was resuscitating her. Thera had done it once when a child had fallen into the lake. After a few breaths, Channon pushed on Mina's chest as Rayna scrambled around to her other side. Mina stirred and coughed.

  “Turn her on her side!” Channon yelled. Rayna helped him, watching as Mina came back to life, blue and hacking, but alive. Channon pulled her to a sitting position, and Rayna fell onto her hands and knees in relief.

  “How did you know what to do?” Rayna asked as Mina shook her head, rubbing her eyes.

  “I trained to be a healer for a few weeks before I switched to hunter, remember? It was one of the first lessons Thera taught.” He stood, surveying the beach.

  “You all right?” Rayna asked Mina with as much clarity as her dry throat allowed. Mina nodded, and with Rayna’s help, stood. Rayna suddenly touched her belt, panicked as she searched for Coer's knife, but it had remained in its sheath. She silently thanked Wolnor.

  “Wolfie, you’re bleeding.”

  Rayna followed Mina’s bleary hazel gaze to her side. Dark blood stained her torn leather shirt, trickling down her legs. “I think I lost a stitch or two. I’ll be fine.”

  “Still, we should take a look at–”

  “Shh!” Channon grasped Mina's arm.

  “Oi!” Mina opened her mouth to protest, but Rayna held up her hand.

  “The trees,” she said. “There’s someone moving.”

  “Right you are,” said an unfamiliar voice on their right. They spun to see six willowy men, each armed with a longbow.

  “How did you do that?” Rayna asked as they all raised their hands.

  The Alvornians gave no answer, but lowered their weapons.

  “Is this a welcoming party?” Channon gestured toward the Alvornians, but six arrows pointed at him before he could lift his foot to approach them.

  “What are you doing here? How are you here?” One of the men, a stern-faced youth with striking violet eyes scanned the horizon.

  “We swam,” said Channon.

  The Alvornian’s lips twitched, and he nodded to his men. “Restrain them.”

  There was no use struggling. These men were Alvornians, not Kyreans or Maenorens. Rayna told herself not to panic or resist as they took Coer’s knife, checking her for other weapons.

  “You said these people were your allies?” Mina grumbled as one pulled her arms behind her back while another removed her bow, quiver, and daggers.

  “Used to be,” Channon said as they checked him for weapons. “Won’t find any. I don’t need them,” he said with a flash of partially extended canines.

  “I asked you how you came to be here.” Two of the Alvornians gripped Channon by the shoulders as their leader approached him.

  “I told you. We swam—after the Sea Guardian dropped us off, anyway.”

  The Alvornian, who was maybe a few seasons older than they were, produced a dagger of gleaming Alvornian steel, holding it to Channon’s throat. “Perhaps my blade can loosen your tongue.”

  “I've told you everything. It's not my fault you don't believe me.” Channon smiled, the curve of his mouth at odds with the dangerous glint in his eyes. Rayna reached for his hand to steady him, but the Alvornian restraining her pulled her back.

  “Do not tempt me, boy,” the man said as a small red line appeared and dripped down Channon’s throat.

  “Please don’t hurt him!” Rayna cried. The man motioned for the others to hold Channon back. He walked to Rayna with easy grace. His demeanor had changed. His eyes were soft and his posture less stiff, as if he did not want to frighten her. Alvornians treated women more gently than men. She could use that to their advantage as long as Channon kept quiet.

  “My name is Rayna Myana, niece to Alphen Bayne and Silverine. Please, we need to go to Sinthahelm.”

  The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re Bayne’s niece? I don’t believe it.” He searched Rayna’s baffled face as if trying to ensure she was telling the truth. “My name is Jayden, son of Kane.” The harshness of his face disappeared as he smiled, like jagged rocks softened into smooth river stone “Let them go. We will take them to the capital.”

  “What? Really?” Mina asked as her captors released her. “Just like that?”

  “Yes, my lady. I apologize for the manner of our welcome.” He glanced at Channon. “But we mean you no harm. We feared you were spies, but we were wrong. Miss Myana,” he switched his gaze back to Rayna, “we are under orders to bring you to Sinthahelm, should you make an appearance.”

  “Orders? From whom?” Rayna’s head rushed. Between her still bleeding side and the sudden change in the Alvornians’ behavior, her mind struggled to keep up.

  Jayden and his men exchanged surprised looks as if the answer were obvious. “From the Priestess, my lady.”

  “The Priestess?” Channon crossed to Rayna. His nose twitched, and his fingers touched her abdomen. “Ray!”

  “I’m fine,” she said, but her body had other plans. Her knees buckled. Channon caught her, but her head spun from blood loss. Had her wounds re-opened so much? She had not felt it, but now she was underwater. Her chest was heavy, darkness clouded her vision, and everything slipped away.

  Rayna awoke on a bed of moss. The cool scent of freshwater and periwinkle flowers surrounded her, and she inhaled deeply. A sense of calm she had long forgotten overtook her. Her pains—the still-healing punctures along her back, the hoarseness of her throat—were gone. She sat up, positioning herself cross-legged in the peaceful glen. Fireflies lit the creek-side forest patch, which, given that it was winter, made no sense at all.

  By their pulsing green light, Rayna glimpsed another figure a few tail-lengths downstream. She wore a gown of shimmering blue and stood with her toes in the water. For a moment, Rayna thought the woman was Lumae. Then she saw her hair was not white, but rather a pale shade of blonde.

  “Who are you?” Rayna stood, feeling her peace fade.

  “Welcome, Rayna Myana, twice-blessed seer of the Blackclaw line.” The woman turned toward her. A semitransparent veil crowned her blonde ringlets, covering her face, but her intense blue eyes shone through. “I am Marielana, Priestess of Alvorn.”

  Rayna gulped as the uncanny woman slid her toes from the water and walked toward her. S
he had heard many stories of the line of Alvornian Priestesses who had ruled the water-loving nation. They were an order shrouded in mystery even to their own people, and were said to have many strange powers. “What do you want?”

  Marielana paused only a tail-length away. “To meet you, of course. I had glimpsed you many times in my dreams, but now that you have crossed into my realm, I reach out.”

  Rayna backed away, and the Priestess did not stop her. “Where am I?”

  “Caelist Silv. A holy forest at the center of Sinthahelm. Or, at least, my version of it. I prefer summertime, you see,” she said, cupping a magnolia blossom and inhaling its scent.

  Rayna remembered how Lumae had shown her a version of her den, a place to go in her dreamscape that was hers to control. “And my body?”

  “It is a league to the north of where you left it. My people and your friends have treated your wounds and are carrying you toward Sinthahelm. Forgive me, I did not want to wait any longer to meet you.”

  Rayna's eyes widened. “You made me pass out?”

  “You were weak and exhausted. I merely gave you a push. Do not fear; Jayden son of Kane is gifted in the healing arts. When you awake, you will feel whole and refreshed.”

  “I don’t know whether to thank you or run away.” Rayna gestured to the forest surrounding them, “But seeing as I have little choice, I suppose I’ll thank you.”

  “On the contrary. You have the power to change this place or expel me from your thoughts and wake now. But I ask you to forgive this intrusion for a little longer.”

  “Why?”

  “You have traveled to the Eye of Heaven and the Mouth of Hell. Miraculously, you have returned, and not alone.”

  “I did what I had to, to save my friend. Why is this important?”

  “You are Awakened, Rayna. If you survive the battle you are to fight, I will tell you what that means. But first, you intend to ask General Pheros to join you.”