Tales Of Nevaeh: The Trilogy and Backstory of the Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy Series Tales Of Nevaeh: (The 4 Book Bundled Box Set)
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Neleh shrugged. “Some arrived, but I left four days ago.”
Areenna gripped Mikaal’s hand. “This barrier, when was it set?”
“Midnight, the night before tonight. It set off a deep shock.”
“We were beneath the Island. We felt nothing.” As she finished speaking, something clicked within Areenna’s mind and she gasped. “That’s why.”
Mikaal stared at her. “What is why?”
“I was wrong about why I never saw us here in my foreseeing. We were hidden by the Island, by Sophia, so The Masters would not find us.”
Mikaal looked from Neleh to Areenna. “We need to get word to my father and mother. They have to be warned of The Masters’ plans.”
With the powers of the Staff free, Areenna told to Mikaal, there must be a way to warn them.
Neleh cocked her head to the side. When you were with us in our cavern, the… The Speaker came to you. I saw her. How did she do so?
Areenna turned to Mikaal. “This may be our answer, but how?”
Mikaal stared into the night. He pushed himself to think back to the mountains and when they chased the Dark Master. “The Staff gave us the ability. When Jalil used the Staff, the white mist covered us and then we were able to go outside of ourselves.”
Areenna reached across and squeezed his hand. “We cannot. The Dark Masters will sense us.”
Mikaal looked at Neleh. “Neleh will protect us.”
“How?” Neleh asked.
Areenna closed her eyes in concentration. “Do you remember, in Tolemac, when Master Jalil showed me how to… he called it projecting? How he had me project myself when I went to look for the ships? It wasn’t a foreseeing because it was in present time. He called it going to another plane of existence… an ethereal plane. That is how we do this. That is how we followed the Dark One when he escaped us in the Frozen Mountains.”
Neleh frowned. “But how can I protect you?”
“You will bring us within you and then build a block to cover us. At that point, using Mikaal’s power as well, I will do what Master Jalil showed me.” Can you do this?
Areenna held Neleh’s stare for several seconds before the younger woman’s head bobbed.
Good! Prepare yourself. When Neleh’s eyes closed, Areenna’s grip on Mikaal’s hand tightened. “Now,” she whispered aloud.
<><><>
Roth froze when Enaid called his name. Turning, he looked at the small circle of women on the floor. Each stared up, as if they were all seeing someone in the center of the circle.
He stared and a moment later, saw a flickering within the circle, but nothing else. He stood still, watching Enaid’s lips move. When he heard no sound, he realized she was not speaking aloud.
<><><>
Wrapped within the cocoon of Neleh’s block, her power amplified by Mikaal’s abilities, Areenna pushed herself without regard for consequence; the need to warn Enaid and Roth of The Masters’ ploy overrode all caution. All she could do was hope that Neleh’s block was strong enough to hold against the Dark Masters and of the nearby Women of Power Neleh had warned her about.
The air around her shimmered. In the next heartbeat, there was a shift, and she was floating in a pale golden sky. Before she could orient herself, another shift set her in the center of a circle of women. She faced Enaid, who sat cross-legged; Ilsraeth was to her left, Layra to her right, and she sensed Akassia and Laira behind her.
We are safe. Tell Roth that The Masters have deceived everyone. The coming attacks on Freemorn and Tolemac are diversions meant to keep the armies away from Aldimore and Dees. They will attack Dees, believing that is where they seek the entrance to reach the Island. When they learn the truth, and reach us, Nevaeh falls. Roth must bring every warrior to where we are. No matter what, they must be here! This place is the entry The Masters seek: destruction of the nightmoss is their goal. Tell Roth that nightmoss is the bacteria. He will understand. If they succeed, Nevaeh dies.
Where? Enaid asked.
Here, Areenna said, pushing their location to Enaid.
My army crossed from Northcrom to Aldimore before the barrier was set. Ilsraeth projected a mind picture of the location of her warriors.
Areenna turned to Ilsraeth. Warn them. Have them come to me, not Tolemac. Warn Roth as well that they prepare an ambush here. Thousands wait in hiding.
<><><>
The chamber flickered again and, in the blink of an eye, Areenna was gone.
Enaid looked at Roth. “My Lord, there is much news. We need act quickly. Ilsraeth, can you send a message to your army?”
Her eyes closed, the Queen of Northcrom took several seconds before opening them. “I sense them a day or two from Areenna. I need a traimore.”
“The messenger bird cages are on the southern parapet,” she told Ilsraeth as she stood. She turned to Layra. “Gather as many Women of Power and meet me in the courtyard.” She looked at Laira and Akassia. “Help Layra.”
Only then did she face Roth. “Your library?”
Roth nodded, still unsure of what had happened.
In the library, six minutes later, Roth stared at Enaid, his eyes reflecting surprise. “I cannot believe what you’ve just told me.”
“What, that the Dark Masters are going to take Dees?”
“I expected that. No, about the bacteria that stops radiation being nightmoss. How weird is that?”
Confused, Enaid shook her head. “I do not understand your meaning.”
Roth paused, a smile sliding along his lips. “Sorry, it is an old expression my father was fond of using when something was not what you would expect. Nevertheless, it’s logical; the energy from the radiation would have to become… something. You cannot make nothing out of something—energy cannot disappear. It has to change into something else; harmless light is one result.”
“Perhaps you could make sense instead of nonsense,” Enaid criticized.
Roth laughed. “I am sorry, my love. You say Areenna told you The Masters seek a tunnel beneath Dees that leads to the Island?”
“She did.”
“Then the tunnel must be deep underground—too deep for them to reach—I remember well the mapping I did before returning, and nothing showed on my diagnostics… Sorry,” he added when her expression went blank. “I need to know where Areenna and Mikaal are.”
He pulled down a rolled map from the top shelf of a bookcase, unfurled it, and laid it across the table. Enaid leaned over and, a moment later, touched the spot on the map Areenna had shown her.
Examining the area, Roth traced his finger along the path from the mountain to the Island. “If I’m right, I’m sure the tunnel runs along here. In my time, it would have followed along a road we called I-95. The road was always under repair or restructure. No one would have suspected something else below. It was the perfect camouflage.”
“Solomon, your meanings are beyond me. Can we send our people to where Areenna asks?” Her breath caught as she remembered Neleh’s leaving. “This is where Neleh went. She is with them.”
“Why there and not Dees? I’m missing something.” Standing, Roth began to pace the library as he probed his memory. A few moments later, several memories kicked in. In his day, secret facilities were everywhere around Washington, but rarely in Washington. Areenna and Mikaal were outside of Dees, in the mountains of Maryland.
Before he could say anything, there was a knock on the chamber door. “What?”
The door opened to reveal Noslen. “My Lord, King Nosaj and his people are here.”
Roth nodded. “I will see to them.” He stood still for a moment, and then put a hand on the captain’s shoulder. “I need our mounted fighters ready to ride by mid-morning. The foot soldiers as well!”
“My Lord, I—“
Taking in the stricken look on Noslen’s face, Roth squeezed his shoulder. “Gather the Sixes first. Have each go to the fighters of those domains that are here, have them bring their mounts and equipment outside the eastern gate. We have three days to be
at Dees. Have the rest of the fighters form ranks outside between the eastern and southern gates. Send someone to have the domain rulers gather in the council chamber.”
Noslen bowed his head and left. “Let’s attend to Nosaj. We must learn why he came.”
Enaid caught his arm before he could leave. “Wait. You must do what Areenna asks. The army is to go to her, not to Dees.”
Roth did not reply; rather he simply nodded his head as he took her hand and led them out. In the hallway, he turned to his wife. “Join me in the council chamber soon.”
<><><>
Working beneath moonlight, uncaring of the hour, Fasil Abdul-Mu'eid, the reigning Dark Master, watched the ghazi workers cut down trees while the two Masters at the edge of the river supervised the creation of the bridge. Once the bridge was complete, and the army of ghazi across, it would be no more than two days’ march to reach the area he had foreseen as the final battleground leading to the fall of Dees.
His confidence in Lessig was falling; for too many weeks, she had failed to find the two, and as long as they were free, success was a shadow hanging in the future. Still, he knew that when the time came, they would appear. When they did, he would end their resistance and existence.
He turned from the workers below to look across the river. As he did, he sensed something almost familiar. Closing his eyes, he reached out, until he found a kernel of it again. Something about it told him it was she—familiar it was, yet different, as if the essence were more than just a… child.
He pushed harder, and found yet another touch of it, this in the direction of Tolemac. Could she be there and blocked? He shot his senses forward and found some lingering essence. Just as he did, it vanished. He continued to search, trying to understand what it was. A moment later, he smiled knowing she had learned to use the ethereal plane without Jalil’s help. As he inspected the spirit scent, he discovered more. It was three, not just the one that he’d sensed… Who was the third?
He spent the next two hours searching without catching another trace. His anger grew at his failure. Turning, he motioned over a ghazi servant. Forcing the slave to keel, he gripped its head and pushed his nails into the scalp. An instant later, he sucked out every bit of the mutated servant’s life energy and drew it into his own.
<><><>
“Your Highness,” came a low voice from behind.
“Yes?” Enaid turned to find a young brown-eyed woman. The woman bowed, and when she raised her head, Enaid raised a single eyebrow.
“I… I was told to speak with you. I had a… a foretelling.”
Enaid studied the woman, pushing her senses to her. At first, she thought the woman had put up a simple block, but when she tested it, she found something else, something dark. “I know you not. What is your name?”
“I am called Zil. I am from Fainhall; I escaped with the last of the Fainhall’s people.”
“And this foretelling concerns me?”
“The king and his army, Your Highness.”
“Explain.”
“I awakened a short time ago, but before I could get out of bed, a foreseeing took me. In this vision, I watched Dees destroyed by the ghazi fighters. Thousands of people… every person of Aldimore … The Dark Ones were there, the… The Masters…I watched as they killed everyone.”
Zil shuddered, wrapped her arms around herself. “I saw as well, one area the ghazi left open. If King Roth takes his army west first and then north through the mountains above Dees, he can use a little known pass and sneak behind the ghazi and save everyone.”
“You are certain your foretelling sees true? The time? How much time is left?”
The woman nodded slowly. “I have never been wrong. They must arrive four days from now. On the fifth day, the Dark Ones will kill all in Dees.”
“Can you draw out the route?”
“I can.”
“Follow me.” Enaid started off, and as she walked, she pushed a message to her mother and Layra to meet them in Roth’s library.
<><><>
Gaalrie floated high above them, giving Areenna a picture of the surrounding country. As she watched through her aoutem’s eyes, a sense of having been here before caught her. She sent Gaalrie spiraling downward, toward the more level areas and saw, below and southwest of where she stood, a pass cut through the mountain.
Her aoutem dipped lower, flying a few hundred feet above the pass and Areenna took in every inch over which Gaalrie soared. The moment she saw the pass, she remembered her vision of the battle between the Nevaens and ghazi. It was the foretelling where she and Mikaal were not seen.
She sent Gaalrie to scout the woods, and as Gaalrie circled lower, Areenna spotted shapes moving below. With a quick asking, the treygone dove into the mountainside forest and coasted through the treetops. A half-minute later, Gaalrie settled on a large branch. Below her, hidden within the trees, was the huge encampment of ghazi warriors, just as Neleh had described.
There had to be more, but where? Her original vision had been that of a battle at Tolemac, yet she remembered she had been standing on a mountain watching the fighting. She pushed herself to go deeper, to find what she had missed.
She’d not seen herself, or Mikaal, or Neleh in the vision, only the battle at Tolemac. The answer came, not with the strike of a lightning bolt; rather, with the swiftness of a dar running across an open field. She had not seen herself, because the vision was not hers.
Areenna’s eyes fluttered open Her breathing evened. If they had not released the Staff’s powers from within them, she would never have realized the deception. The Master Fasil, the darkest Master, had implanted the foreseeing. She knew so as she knew the beating of her own heart.
She looked for Mikaal and saw him kneeling by the opening to the tunnel. Neleh was next to him, watching intently.
Standing, she went to them. “Neleh, in your foreseeing of the ambush of Roth, was that here?”
Neleh closed her eyes and drew up the memory. We stood on the slope of a mountain, watching the riders of Tolemac enter the pass. As we watched, a band of the Dark Master’s ghazi were above the pass, hidden while others hid in the woods near the entrances to the pass. Her eyes napped open. “Yes, here.”
Areenna smiled. Here too was my foretelling when I watched the battle between the Dark Ones and ourselves, yet I saw Tolemac below. I understand more now—my vision was false… no, not false, planted by Master Fasil. The battle for Nevaeh will be here, not Dees, not Tolemac.
How could he have done that?
I don’t know. Without Jalil, we may never learn. She pulled both Mikaal and Neleh into her mind and showed them what would happen.
It took a few moments before either was able to speak; before they did, Areenna said to Mikaal, “You must intercept the Northcrom army, bring them to us, but stay off any roads. Attacking the ghazi when they ambush Roth’s army is the only way.”
<><><>
Her mother and Queen Layra were waiting when Enaid reached the library. Once inside, Enaid explained what Zil had told them. Then, pointing to the open map, Enaid requested, “Can you show me the route we must take?”
Zil looked at the map, her features confused.
Enaid pointed to Dees. “Here is Dees, here is Tolemac,” she added, moving her finger to Tolemac.
Zil traced the route from Tolemac to the pass in the mountains. “Here is the way they must travel if they are not to be seen.”
Enaid studied the woman. “Thank you Zil, you have done a great thing for all of Nevaeh. When we go to fight, I would like you near me.”
The woman’s face went through several changes before she nodded. “It will be my honor.”
“I will make certain My Lord Roth knows of your help.”
When Zil was gone, and Enaid was certain the woman was not lingering to overhear anything, she turned to her mother and Layra. “She is Lessig’s spy.”
Enna frowned. “She sends our troops to the same place where Areenna told us go to.”
Leaving them, Enaid went to the council chamber and took her seat to the right of Roth. As soon as she had the chance, she leaned into his ear and whispered the last events. When she finished, Roth stood.
“The last of the dark spies has been found. It is late, but there is much to do. Each of you will gather your forces. We leave tomorrow to end this conflict.” He stopped speaking, stood, and stepped into the center of the circle of thrones. “And this how we will defeat them.”
CHAPTER 33
THE CRESTING SUN brought a brilliant day. What clouds floated above Caymir were mere wisps of white adrift in a perfect cerulean sky. The forty men on the parapet of Caymir’s keep had finished their hard bread and salted meat, while ignoring the clouds of dust settling around the keep—dust created by over twenty thousand pairs of feet, most ghazi, mixed with strange creatures The People had never before seen. However, the forces around them fazed none.
Forty places along the parapet were open, the rest of the parapet, except for a narrow space just wide enough for a man to pass, were piled high with stones, none larger than three inches, and most one to two inches in diameter. These stones were the only weapons the forty needed.
Yesterday, when Sirod had gathered The People, and she and Racso the Elder, had explained what they would face, one of the men stepped forward. “To leave half our people would be foolish.”
“How so?” Sirod had asked, after exchanging glances with Racso.
The man, Eli—one of three selected to become Elder in the years ahead—had gazed from Sirod to the parapet surrounding Caymir’s keep. “The only place to hold back the coming army is from the parapets. No more than forty can use their slings. The others would have to stand on the outer wall. They would die in the first wave. Sirod, more than forty is a waste of life.”