Tales Of Nevaeh: The Trilogy and Backstory of the Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy Series Tales Of Nevaeh: (The 4 Book Bundled Box Set)

by David Wind

  “There are many, but you’ll still have to climb the rubble.”

  Areenna, at the side of the boat, leaned forward to study the shoreline. Oh, Gaalrie, she thought, how we need you now. She closed her eyes and extended her senses. Pushing herself carefully, she sought a bird of any sort, but found nothing. Then she remembered the fight with the Master and the chase over the sea.

  Wondering if she could recreate what they’d done, she searched the edges of the Island. A few moments, she called silently to Mikaal. Join me.

  With Mikaal, she pushed again, this time using his energy and her own. There was a snap, and she floated over the Island, scanning the shoreline until she found the exact spot they needed—a wide road, black like the road to the Landing on the western side—where the land met water. Piles of rectangular red blocks lined each side of the black road. She released the power quickly.

  “Timon,” she called. “Ahead you will find a place to leave us off. Perhaps a thousand yards. It is marked with piles of reddish blocks. We go there.”

  Ten minutes later, they stood at the boat’s railing, ready to leave. Timon stared at their backs. “Are you sure you do not want me to wait?”

  Mikaal turned to him, grasped his arm and insisted, “You are needed in Northcrom, and then in Tolemac. Prepare your people and yourself. We will see you there.”

  Timon searched their faces, imprinting them on his mind as if he might never see them again. Then, he stepped back.

  Areenna exhaled loudly. “Are you ready?”

  At Mikaal’s nod, they climbed over the side of the boat, stepped onto solid ground, and walked forward. The pathway, if such it was, was strewn with debris, but as they moved deeper inland, the destroyed buildings grew sparse.

  “We must be close to where the missile fell,” Mikaal speculated, bringing up the vision of the silver missile The Speaker of The Eight had shown them on their first trip to the Island.

  Yes, Areenna agreed, taking in the difference in the devastation. Instead of just twisted, rusting and decomposing metal, much of it appeared melted and hardened. Ahead, in stark contrast, was a high wall of debris stretching as far as the eye could see.

  That is not natural, Mikaal warned. A barricade? Off to their right came a clicking noise, like nails clicking upon metal. Footsteps.

  They stopped. Mikaal reached for his sword, but Areenna’s hand caught his. Remember the last time we drew weapons here.

  Mikaal’s hand fell away. “What do you suggest,” he asked aloud as he looked around.

  Without warning, dust and small pieces of metal rose from the ground and with a loud hissing began to spin wildly. An instant later, the dirt and metal fell to the ground, leaving a tall gray robed figure on a standing before them.

  Go no further, The Speaker of The Eight commanded. Her red-rimmed eyes and amber irises locked on Areenna. The black skin of her face was barely visible within the hood. She raised her right arm, a long pointed finger flicked from Areenna to Mikaal. “Think you I see you not. Go no further!”

  CHAPTER 26

  “YES!” ENAID SMILED at Neleh as the smaller woman-child put Duv through his paces. They had entered Enaid’s ‘Haven’ an hour before, just at the point of sunrise. Enaid’s days were becoming longer, and her time more constricted.

  Duv had just finished another growth spurt, and now stood as tall as Neleh’s hip. His eyes reflected intelligence, his manner was gentle, yet alert. His coat was thicker, longer, and his body broader. His paws were huge, and the claws, unsheathed, curved out four inches. “Forget not your responsibility to protect Duv, just as he will never forget his responsibility is to protect you.”

  “How can we do both?”

  Enaid smiled. “When you are in battle, certain things change in your body and mind, and two important things transpire. When you face your enemy, you join with your aoutem, not as you do now, but differently: it is a natural happening during danger. You guide him, he guides you. It is not like ‘asking’ Duv; it is more a becoming of each other even as you remain yourselves. You know what Duv does, he knows what you do at any instant in time.”

  Enaid paused at the confusion painted across Neleh’s features. “It sounds complicated, but it’s not; your aoutem is a part of you that is so connected you need but think yourself joined and you are. Yes?”

  Neleh nodded. “Join him, feel this,” Enaid commanded, winding her fingers through Duv’s short male mane until her fingernails reached his skin and began a gentle scratching at the base of his head.

  Neleh closed her eyes and joined Duv. She tried but could not feel Enaid’s nails. Shaking her head, she looked at the powerful woman. “I feel nothing.”

  “Because you are waiting to feel. Stop; do not try to feel anything except Duv. Become part of him, flow through his veins, feel his heart in your chest.”

  Neleh closed her eyes again and settled her breathing. She relaxed, letting her thoughts float away. Soon she became aware of the hot pulsing of Duv’s blood though his veins. Then she was looking at herself through Duv’s eyes, seeing her light hair, her pale amber-yellow eyes, and then something happened at the base of her neck. She explored the sensation. It was gentle, nice, and warm and...the feeling at her neck stopped. She opened her eyes and saw Enaid smiling at her, the high queen’s hand now in her lap.

  “How felt that?”

  “Wonderful.”

  “Good. Practice this form of joining every morning and evening. Do not let up until it happens naturally. Only then will you have the necessary protection in battle.”

  <><><>

  “You have no business here,” The Speaker snapped, an aura of anger darkening around her.

  Suddenly, dozens of creatures appeared on the rubble, more sticking their heads through openings, others squeezing out from beneath the ruins and slipping onto the road. Each was perhaps three feet tall, all were thin and resembled nothing Areenna or Mikaal had ever seen before.

  Their heads were round and shaped like a person’s, but their mouths where triangular and their teeth uneven. Their round eyes were brow-less and spaced far apart; they had flat ears and a silvery-blue cast to their skin. What hair they had was white and thin. Each of the creatures stood upright, their arms disproportionately long in comparison to the legs. Each hand had three fingers and a thumb, and a short knife-like weapon hung at their sides. While they looked menacing, they made no movements toward Mikaal or Areenna.

  Go not where you seek. It will lead to disruption.

  We must.

  You risk our lives, your lives...all life of Nevaeh.

  We have no choice.

  The Speaker shook her head. We will not allow this.

  Areenna drew herself taller; she took a step closer to The Speaker.

  Allow it you will, Areenna stated, for Jalil gave his life to make certain this would happen. Tell me, Woman, she pushed the thought like a blow aimed at The Speaker’s head. How is it you live so long? Tell me Woman, how many creatures have you stolen life energy from? Is that why some women do not return from here?

  The Speaker arched backwards, her snuck-like body elongated, her robe falling about her feet. She hissed angrily and shot forward, stopping a hairsbreadth from Areenna, her face an unreadable mask. “Challenging me is not your purpose in this life!”

  “No, it’s mine!” Mikaal volunteered. You asked us to trust you. We gave you our trust! You asked us to believe in you. We gave you our belief! Yet you stand in our way. Challenging you or anyone who would interfere, is our purpose. Fire coated his hands as he pushed between Areenna and The Speaker, his controlled anger so strong The Speaker backed away.

  Stop! Challenge is not what we seek, passage is, Areenna intervened.

  The Speaker turned from Mikaal to Areenna. Never have we taken anything not freely given. Never have we taken from a woman who cannot hold power. Our life force comes not from theft, but gifting...a very different gifting. To do otherwise would be to become like them.

  Then why
do you stop us? Mikaal challenged.

  Because what you seek can destroy all.

  “You mean destroy you? Master Jalil warned us, just as he sent us here. Do not stop us from doing what is necessary.”

  “If you make a mistake, if you do what you should not, it will not be just we—The Eight—who die: all of Nevaeh dies.”

  “No, Ruth...Nevaeh dies if we do not do this,” Mikaal corrected. He leaned toward The Speaker. “You will let us pass.”

  Areenna placed a hand on Mikaal’s shoulder and then stepped close to The Speaker. “I...we know not what will happen next, what we do know, is that everything from the moment I first was called, every minute of my life, of our lives,” she added, sweeping her arm toward Mikaal, “Have we spent on Nevaeh’s behalf. To stop now, means to fail. This I am as certain of as I am that I breathe. Trust us you must, just as you trusted us with the powers you bestowed upon us.”

  Mikaal interrupted them. “In this very moment, there can be no more arguing. You either protect yourselves and your fears, or protect Nevaeh. There is no other choice.”

  The Speaker held Mikaal’s stare for several seconds. Then she reached out and placed three fingers placed over Areenna’s heart.

  Turning, she made a sweeping motion and the creatures stepped to the side of the path. She pointed to a spot in the wall, waved her hand, and a doorway appeared. “Through there is what you seek. Find the way to the old power, if you can. Forget not, what you do may destroy Nevaeh in so terrible a way The Masters will celebrate your act for all eternity.”

  Areenna stared at The Speaker, not in fear or anger, but in the understanding of The Speaker’s own fears. “I forget nothing. Why are so many women being called?”

  The Speaker blinked once. “We do what is necessary for Nevaeh. Think you what comes will not decimate too many Women of Power in the coming days? More need be prepared to rebuild what life may be left. Some we return, others stay and wait.”

  Before she could respond, The Speaker ordered, “Go now!”

  Solidly joined, their minds working as one, Mikaal and Areenna went to the door. Before they reached it, the door swung inward. He put out his hand, took Areenna’s, and lifted her up and through. He followed quickly and, as he planted his feet, heard Areenna’s gasp.

  Areenna’s intake of breath was loud as she stared about her. She stood at the edge of a huge glass bowl, the glass reflecting the faint sunlight that filtered through the red mist and onto the multi-colored glass, which looked as if a mad artisan had dumped buckets of different colored paints everywhere; some were running downward, others sideways.

  “I...I have never seen the likes of this,” she whispered.

  “Yes we have,” Mikaal reminded her. “When we were in the tunnel beneath the needle. It is the same glass. The missile created it. But what we seek...where is it? What is it?”

  Easy thought you? So simple to find the power’s source? And like the test, once within, you must find the way...because your magic, will not you control below.

  Ruth! He turned and shouted, although in her mind only. Do not play this game. It is the way to save all.

  Calling me by my name gains you nothing.

  It gains me much, for it reminds me that although you are powerful, you are a woman, and as a woman, you have more than just your ability to control magic, you have the instinct and intuition of a woman. What does your instinct tell you?

  To beware of men who seek power!

  Yes, Mikaal replied, and who are those men who seek power?

  The Speaker stared at him for several long seconds. Then The Speaker’s eyes changed and she favored him with a strange stare. The Eight of the Dark, The Masters...There are two methods of entry: the first is at the southernmost edge of the crater beneath the rubble of millennia. The second is directly across from you.

  Thank you.

  Thank me not, Son of Enaid, I grieve for what you must face. Remember the first time you came to us. Then she was gone.

  Mikaal turned to Areenna. Which way?

  She looked south, then east. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “East.” When the single word left her mouth, an icy chill raced through her.

  Although the distance was not great, the floor of the ‘bowl’ was slippery enough to slow them. It took almost an hour to walk and at times crawl across to the eastern edge. The memory of their first visit to the Island—when they saw the vision of what happened three thousand years before—haunted them as they walked upon the once molten ground that had changed the world forever.

  They stopped at the eastern edge of the glass bowl, searching everywhere for entry, but finding nothing. Hidden. We need to search differently. Sit beside me.

  Mikaal sat and Areenna took his hand in hers. Try to look ahead.

  Mikaal’s fingers curled tightly around Areenna’s hand. You know it doesn’t work like that.

  Try anyway.

  Mikaal closed his eyes and drew on his power. The heat grew slowly at first, and then more rapidly, until his body vibrated with power. He pushed: nothing happened. Then he settled his thoughts and looked back on the times he had seen ahead. As he did, his muscles relaxed. Before he could attempt the push again, the world wavered and he saw Areenna lifting a huge slab of rock from a place not ten feet distant.

  Then he was back, sitting on the ground next to the glass bowl. You saw?

  I saw. Areenna stood and walked to the spot Mikaal had foreseen. There was a slab of what appeared to be rock, yet she could see some sort of mesh within it. Bending to where a rusting piece of mesh stuck out from the rock, she touched it. The rusting metal disintegrated between her fingers, and at the same time a piece of the rock crumbled free.

  This metal somehow holds the rock together.

  Studying the long rectangular rock triggered a long forgotten memory. He’d been a child, watching his father adding something to the keep of Tolemac. Roth had made a mixture of mortar for the outer wall and, as the men followed Roth’s direction, they added metal rods as they applied layers of mortar. His father had explained how the metal added strength and held the mixture together. Staring at the thin metal within the rock, he was certain it had the same purpose.

  Mikaal repeated the words of The Speaker. “…and magic itself will not you control.” He shrugged. “How else can we move this monster?”

  “Those were not her words.” Areenna closed her eyes. …once within, you must find the way...because your magic, will not you control below. “Once within. Those are the words referring to the use of magic. Once within. Not here, not where we now stand.”

  Try to lift it.

  She stared at the rectangular block for several seconds, taking in its length and width and then knelt at the edge, ignoring the bites to her knees from the litter-strewn ground. “Lift it so we pass beneath or move it away?” she asked.

  Mikaal, shrugged. “If it is only lifted, and we cannot use magic below, how do we return?”

  She went deep within herself, to the very spot where her powers lay. Heat burst through her abdomen. Calling up her ability to move objects, Areenna concentrated on the block, but instead of trying to lift it, she pushed at it, testing both herself and the block. After a few seconds, the block moved an inch and they could see the edge of an opening.

  She drew forth more power, lifting the block a few inches above the ground. Then she pushed it. The block shuddered, but did not move. Small pieces of the stony surface crumbled and fell. She pushed again, and again, and a third time...and failed. Shaking off the letdown, she closed her eyes and concentrated on re-gathering her power. When she was ready, she opened her eyes and stared at the block. Slowly and carefully, she used the ability to lift the block a fraction and then with her hands as a fulcrum, tested the direction by turning the stone sideways instead of pushing it away.

  There was a bit of resistance, followed by a low snap, and the block rotated. She continued until there was enough room for both to get through. Then she moved it another fe
w inches, and set it down.

  She looked at Mikaal, who praised, “Perfect.”

  Without speaking, Areenna pushed her senses into the opening, reaching out with her mind, seeking whatever might wait there. Five minutes later, she withdrew and shook her head. “You sensed it?”

  “I sensed nothing.”

  “Exactly.” Areenna stood and looked down into the darkness, and then with her powers still high, she created blue-white balls of light and sent them into the darkness. The light revealed a circular staircase made of metal steps and dark, rusting rails. She looked from the hole to Mikaal. “You first,” she said to Mikaal.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Really?” he shrugged and put one booted foot into the opening. The ladder vibrated beneath his boot.

  “Wait,” Areenna said.

  Pausing with his foot on a step, he tested it by pushing down, and then brought the other to join it. “What?”

  “Be careful.”

  His brows drew together. “You’re not coming?”

  “Of course I am. Although, never have I gone to a place where I sense nothing. You, on the other hand, spent most of your life that way.”

  He grunted and went down the stairs. Above him, Areenna followed.

  A moment later Mikaal called out, “Thirteen steps and you reach the floor."

  When her boots left the last rung of the ladder, there was a scraping above her and, looking up, she saw the block rotate, drop, and seal the opening.

  In the exact same moment, the globes of blue-white light went out.

  “What…” she heard Mikaal call as the walls and ceiling glowed with nightmoss. She looked around and saw they were standing on a landing, and a few feet away was yet another opening.

  I thought we were leaving the top open, Mikaal said.

  What?

  The stone. Mikaal pointed above them.

  I saw.

  You didn’t...How? It’s a building block.

  She stared at him, puzzled. I thought it was you.