Shrouded Sky (The Veils of Lore Book 1)

by A. Akers, Tracy

  “As did we all,” Edrea said.

  “I go with the Imela,” Tygg said, stepping forward.

  Ren did not argue. “You and Orryn must get her back to Sister World,” he said.

  “Sister World?” Chandra couldn’t believe it. Since landing in this place she’d wanted nothing more than to escape. Now she wanted nothing more than to stay. “But I don’t want to go back!” she said.

  “We have no choice, Chandra,” Tygg said. “The stars are shifting and—”

  Edrea gasped. “Shifting?”

  “Yes. Time grows short.”

  “Are you able to ride?” Orryn asked Tygg.

  Tygg nodded, and Orryn leapt onto his horse and settled behind Chandra, while Tygg mounted another. Orryn took the reins.

  Ren hurried onto his horse and took his place behind Tiersa in the saddle. “Safe journey,” he said, and kicked in his heels.

  “We’ll be fine, son,” Mayra said to Orryn. Then she commanded her horse in the direction of Ren and Tiersa.

  Gage mounted and looked down at Orryn. “Ye’ll find us in the clan seat of Stonehold,” he said. “If the Basyl lands is where Jhon wanted yer family to be, then that’s the place ye head after, hear?” He reached down and grabbed Edrea’s hand, pulling her behind him into the saddle. “You, too, Tygg. If ye wish to come, ye have a place with the Basyls.”

  “Thank you,” Tygg said, “but Adjo is my home.”

  “You know that will be Marcassett’s first target,” Edrea warned him. “If you or your people are ever in need of sanctuary or aid, remember the Three realms are your allies.”

  “I am grateful.”

  “Chandra, you take care,” Edrea said, wrapping her arms around Gage’s thick waist. “And remember: Use what you Know, but be discreet.”

  “I will,” Chandra said.

  Dar and Gage spurred their horses, and the emissaries galloped into the forest.

  Suddenly the door in the wall burst open and a host of Shield swarmed through.

  “To the coast, Tygg!” Orryn shouted, and the horses bolted.

  CHAPTER 32

  Chandra held tight as Orryn raced the horse through the forest. The pounding of hooves vibrated through her very bones, while the sound of those crashing through the underbrush at their backs told her Tygg was not far behind. For a long while the forest was an endless blur of green and blue and gray, until at last they plunged down a gulley and clambered onto a sunlit road on the other side of it. The horse hit the road hard, kicking up clods in its wake, but Orryn spurred it on, commanding it full speed.

  They soon reached a fork in the road. Chandra caught sight of the others disappearing to the right, but Orryn jerked the reins, steering the horse sharply to the left.

  “Where are we going?” Chandra asked over the thundering of hooves.

  “To the elementals graveyard,” Orryn answered.

  Graveyard? She twisted her head, risking a look at him. “What the hell, Orryn?”

  But Orryn did not reply. He shouted at the horse and leaned his body forward, forcing her to bend with him as the horse increased its speed.

  The scenery began to change, morphing from towering trees to towering rocks. The smell of the sea hit Chandra’s senses, bludgeoning her with fear. The last time she’d seen the sea, she’d barely survived a storm that had left her wounded and her father dead. An ominous feeling swirled in the pit her stomach, and the thought of leaping from the horse seemed preferable to going anywhere near the water. She closed her eyes and clung to the pommel, knowing such a stunt would likely get her killed. But even if there had been no risk of it, there was little chance of her leaping or falling from the saddle. Orryn had one arm grasped tightly around her waist, as he had throughout much of the ride. Maybe he didn’t want her to leave any more than she did, she reasoned. Unfortunately, the speed of the horse told her his goal was to get her off the island sooner rather than later.

  The road gradually became a trail, until it stopped altogether. Orryn pulled tight the reins, halting the horse at the lookout point of a high cliff. “We climb down from here,” he said, dismounting. He lifted Chandra off and planted her on her feet.

  Chandra turned her eyes to the horizon, seeing only blue upon blue, sea upon sky, and the occasional flash of whitecaps drawing close to the shore. The sun was easing low in the west, and the dull roar of waves could be heard crashing against the rocks below.

  Tygg slid off his horse as Orryn grabbed Chandra’s hand, pulling her after him.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked, eyeing the cliff ledge to their left.

  They rounded a massive boulder that hid them in momentary shadow. “There,” he said, nodding downward toward a narrow cove.

  Chandra froze in her tracks, causing her hand to slip from his. Below them, within the jagged shoreline, was an inlet filled with piles upon piles of battered boats. “The elementals graveyard,” she whispered. Orryn again grabbed her hand, but she yanked it from his grasp. “No!”

  He spun to face her. “We must, Chandra. It’s the only way.”

  Chandra stared at the carnage of vessels shifting and groaning in the waters below. How many lives had the elementals claimed over the years? How many innocents had felt the terror of being sucked down their throats?

  “I won’t go down there,” she said, backing away.

  “Chandra. Please.”

  “No! I won’t.” She spun, intending to head in the opposite direction, but found herself bumping into Tygg instead.

  “Chandra,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “We must have the Kee!”

  “I don’t care about the stupid Kee!” she said, trying to squirm away.

  “Then you do not understand its purpose,” he said, letting her go. “Which means your heart is not in the retrieval of it. And if that is true, then we may as well say our goodbyes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The gods are returning. The Kee is what keeps us hidden from Sister World, and Marcassett confined to our shores!”

  “But your world is still hidden, and she’s still here.”

  “I fear not for long,” he said. “Not only is the protective element of the Kee moving farther from us, but Marcassett now knows of its purpose.”

  “What?” Orryn asked with alarm. “She knows?”

  “When the Sovereign was in me, for that horrible, eternal moment, my thoughts were in her thoughts, just as hers were in mine. I know the purpose of the Kee, which means she now knows it, too. And if it is not returned—”

  “Sister World will learn of us,” Orryn said.

  “Yes,” Tygg said. “And when they do, they will come.”

  “But Sister World already has come,” Chandra argued. “They stole the children didn’t they?”

  “Yes,” Tygg conceded. “But to this day no one knows how.”

  “That is why the elementals guard us now,” Orryn said. “To see that it doesn’t happen again.”

  “But if the descendants of the children now live in Sister World, why not just let them stay there?”

  “Because their souls, our souls, cannot reach illumination without A’niha,” Tygg said.

  “A’niha?” Chandra asked.

  “The pathways to salvation. Our pathways are here, Chandra, not the same as those in Sister World. For our souls to pass through, we must be here, in Aredyrah. As must you.”

  “So what does the Kee have to do with it?”

  “Without the Kee, A’niha will be closed to us forever.”

  Chandra knew there wasn’t time for a history lesson, but she also knew there was more she needed to know. They wanted her to find the Kee, fine, but she wasn’t about to risk her life over something she didn’t understand.

  “How does Marcassett figure into all this?” she asked.

  “If it is lost and we are found, Marcassett may see an opportunity to move on to Sister World,” Tygg explained. “That is why the gods, through Bastet, gifted the Kee to us when they le
ft.”

  “We may seem primitive to those of Sister World,” Orryn added, “but the fact is, we are the children of our gods, just as the people of Sister World are the children of theirs. All gods leave traces of their abilities, in some cases granting great powers to those chosen by them. Sister World’s weaponry is great, for the talent to develop it was gifted to them by their gods. But the skills of Marcassett, though different, are equally effective. You would not want to see them combined, Chandra, for if you did, you would see wars the likes of which you have never seen before.”

  Chandra’s thoughts flickered back to the grainy black and white news reels she had seen in History class, the ones of Hitler and genocide and atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. As horrific as the carnage had been, it was nothing compared to the capabilities of modern-day weaponry. And if Marcassett was capable of worse . . .

  “Why has no one killed her?” Chandra asked, thinking it an obvious solution.

  “Many have tried.” Tygg said. “Even the gods she mutinied against long ago tried to capture and destroy her. But all failed.” He lowered his eyes. “As did I today.”

  “And I, as well as my father,” Orryn said.

  Tygg looked at him questioningly.

  “It was always my family’s plan, as it was our ancestors’ before us. Yet Marcassett still lives.”

  “The gods will be angry,” Tygg said.

  “That is why Chandra must find the Kee.”

  “But why must I go alone?” she pleaded.

  “War is upon us,” Orryn said. “Our place is here. But even if it were not, the elementals would never let us pass. You, however, are a True One of two bloods, both Taubastet and Tearian. That is why you are here. And that is why you will return.”

  A cascade of pebbles bounced down the cliffside toward them, causing Orryn to glance up toward the spot where they had left the horses, on a ledge barely within sight, yet visible enough to see a host of Shield men making their way down it and toward them. “They’ve found us,” he said.

  “We must go,” Tygg said. He grabbed Chandra’s hand and if his words had not been able to tempt her toward the cove before, his grip seemed better prepared to do so. The wind picked up, whipping his wild hair as he worked his way further down the cliff side. Having grown up in the rocky perches of Adjo, Tygg proved to be well-skilled when it came to navigating vertical terrains. Chandra, on the other hand, could barely put one trembling leg in front of the other.

  The sky suddenly darkened.

  “What’s happening?” Chandra asked, her eyes darting overhead toward an ominous swirl of storm clouds.

  “The elementals know we are here,” Tygg said.

  “What?” Chandra jerked her hand from his. “No! Tygg, please!”

  Lightning flashed as a boom of thunder split the sky, ushering in frigid air. Chandra recalled how icy the water had felt against her skin when she’d toppled from The Seeker, how it had stung and burned and numbed every inch of her. She turned her eyes to the cove below and to the boats that were now crashing against each other in the building turbulence. Was there anything amongst the wreckage that would keep her out of that horrid water? Was there anything that could transport her through this carnage of timber and ferocious waves? Chandra shook her head. “I can’t do this,” she said.

  More pebbles rained down on them.

  “We have no more time for this. Or’n, take her!”

  Orryn grabbed Chandra and threw her over his shoulder.

  “Let me go!” Chandra screamed. “Orryn! Stop!”

  But he did not stop. He zigzagged down the rocks, oblivious to her screams and the pounding of her fists upon his back.

  They reached the cove and Orryn set her on her feet. The water churned like a cauldron as the sky morphed to a sickly green. Everything around them swirled, the energy enveloping them like an evil spell. Images of what Chandra had experienced on The Seeker, of the loss of her father and the suffocating sea flooding her lungs, filled her with horror. Perhaps the elementals had spared her life before, but that didn’t mean they would again. She glanced at the skeletal boats gnashing and groaning in the water and against the rocks. “Orryn, no! Orryn, please,” she begged.

  He gathered her face in his hands. “If I thought for one instant they would harm you, I would not have brought you here!”

  “Then why this?” she said, motioning to the storm swirling around them.

  He let go his hold. “The cove and all within it belong to the elementals,” he explained.

  “That does not make me feel any better!” Chandra glanced toward the cliff face and the guards still making their way down it. “I—I know I told you I knew who had the Kee,” she said, wringing her hands. “But the truth is I only know part of his name. I don’t know what he looks like, where he is.”

  Tygg stepped forward. “You will find it. I know you will.”

  “I’m not even out of high school, Tygg!” she said. “How in God’s name am I supposed to find a sacred relic and pry it from the hands of pirates?”

  “Use what you know,” Orryn said.

  “That’s just it! I don’t know anything!”

  A volley of arrows bounced off the rocks around them, some impaling the earth, others thunking into boats.

  “Come!” Orryn shouted, and with Tygg dragging Chandra behind him they made their way around the churning cove toward an eroded arch of granite that jutted toward the open sea.

  Orryn hurried in, struggling to keep his footing on the slick moss that covered the wet slab of rock. He ducked beneath an overhang just as a spray of water showered over them. “It’s still here,” he said as he attempted to pull a small wooden dinghy from beneath it. The dinghy was weathered, its rickety interior empty except for a pair of oars tucked beneath its boarded seat. It looked none too sturdy, certainly not strong enough to survive a battering of waves like those crashing against the cliffs.

  “How did you know it was here?” Tygg asked.

  “I once patrolled these shores,” Orryn said, “though never entered the cove itself. I spotted it a couple of years back, when the light was angled on it just so.” The bottom of the boat scraped against the rock as he dragged it further out.

  The sky grew darker. “Hurry Or’n,” Tygg said, glancing over his shoulder for a sign of the guards.

  “Help me get it to the water,” Orryn said, lifting it at the bow. Tygg picked up the other end and together they made their way over the pile of rocky rubble and toward the waves.

  They reached the edge where the sea splashed over the rocks and set down the boat. The sky thundered, then opened, sending a sudden deluge of rain.

  “Get in,” Orryn said. He looked at Chandra, his eyes pleading, the blood on his skin running in rivulets down his face and heaving chest.

  But Chandra could only stand as if rooted to the rocks, wet and shivering and gaping at the dinghy. Against the vast, roiling sea, it looked even smaller than before. Surely Orryn didn’t expect her to escape in that! She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “You must.”

  “I—I can’t! Please. I’m scared.”

  “The elementals will let no harm come to you,” he assured her.

  “Please don’t leave me,” she said. “Please.”

  He turned his eyes to hers. “I will never leave you, Chandria,” he said. “How could I?”

  Orryn swept her up and cradled her in his arms, then spun toward the boat and tossed her into it. She landed with a thud.

  “Orryn!” Chandra cried. She scrabbled to her knees, then to the edge of the boat, intending to throw herself out of it, but Orryn had already shoved it off the rocks.

  The current dragged her away. She turned her eyes to Orryn and Tygg, who stood on the shore watching her through the rain.

  “Please don’t do this!” she pleaded. At first neither of them moved, but then she saw Tygg lift his hand slowly, as if in farewell.

  The boat rocked back and for
th, the waves slapping it from every direction. Water spilled over it as it rose and plunged. Chandra clung to the side, trembling as she was pulled further from land. “Orryn!” she cried, searching the shore for him. “Tygg!”

  She saw them move along the rocks then, their shapes barely visible as they made their way along the shoreline and in the direction the sea was now taking her. She thrust a hand toward them, wishing more than anything they would hear her pleas and swim out to rescue her. But all she received was a boom and a sizzle of lightning over her head, and the smell of ozone in her nostrils. Chandra dropped to the bottom of the boat and curled into a ball, not knowing which was worse: drowning or frying. Either way it would be painful. And either way she would be dead.

  She covered her face and sobbed into her hands, angry that Orryn had said he would never leave her then had cast her out to sea. And Tygg? He was no better. How could they have done this to her? How could they just shove her off with nothing to guide her? Use what you know. Her sobs subsided. She had been told that more than once, twice by Orryn and once by Edrea. Maybe it was time she considered their advice.

  Chandra thought back on all that had happened, struggling to piece it together. She now knew, or thought she knew, that the elementals had allowed her onto the island not because of what she had learned from a book, but because the blood of the gods ran through her veins. She scoffed at the unlikeliness of it, but something deeper than her brain told her it was true. Hadn’t she been able to read Jhon and Edrea’s minds and they hers? Hadn’t she fought like a warrior against Marcassett’s minions? But where was that courage now? Tygg said the stars were shifting, that the gods, whoever or whatever they were, were returning, and that Marcassett was now a greater threat than ever. To him, to Orryn, to all of them, the Kee was, well, key. She knew what it looked like, though she still did not completely understand what it did. But maybe she didn’t need to understand. Maybe she just needed to know.

  She pulled herself up, holding onto the side of the violently rocking boat, and scanned the distant shoreline, straining to catch a glimpse of Orryn and Tygg through the rain and mist, anything to tell her they had escaped the guards and were safe. But she knew in her heart they would never be safe, no one would—not as long as the Kee was missing and Marcassett was still alive.