The Obsidian Arrow

by Craig A. Price Jr.

  “What?” Andron asked.

  “I know what the faeries want in exchange for aid,” Searon said.

  “What?” Andron repeated curiously.

  “Where is the woman I asked you to watch over before I left?” Searon asked.

  “Berethana? She is in the kheshlarn medical room. She is very pregnant—it is the safest place for her,” Andron said.

  “I never told you why.”

  “Searon, I have three children. I do believe I have a good idea why.”

  Searon laughed. Oh, how great it felt to laugh. “No, not that. Karceoles’s child is in her womb. The seed of fire, and the rarest thing in Calthoria.”

  “They want the child, why?” Andron asked.

  “There is a high likelihood that either the mother or child will die. The seed of fire is not easy on a woman. They want to ensure the child’s survival. Faeries have magic that can save them both. Without the balance of magic—the dark has a chance to prevail.”

  “Why don’t we call out to them, ask them to heal her?”

  “It is not that simple. They will not intervene if it is against Berethana’s will. We must find her and convince her to call out to the faeries. Only then will they come,” Searon said.

  Andron nodded and motioned with his head. The two of them slipped through an alley toward the medicine rooms. Before they could reach the door, a nacropis dropped from a building to stand in their way.

  “I hate scorpions,” Andron muttered through teeth pressed together.

  Searon stepped in front of Andron to block a pair of pincers with his claymore. He fought back with intensity, slicing off one of its six arms. The nacropis swiped at Searon with its two claws in a rage. Searon blocked each claw with ease. He took three steps back, staring at the creature for a moment, before slashing his claymore in the air and releasing a burst of ice through his weapon from inside of him. Ice hit the creature’s chest and swiftly spread across its entire body, encasing it. Searon grinned, stepping forward to shave the scorpion’s limbs from its body before slicing its head in two.

  “Magic?” Andron cursed.

  Searon turned to see Andron’s face twisted in utter disbelief. “There is no time to explain, come.”

  The two of them entered the medical building, or tree rather, and quickly paced to Berethana’s room. Searon knocked lightly with no response. He knocked again much harder. Searon heard shuffling inside and the sound of a struggle. Searon signaled to Andron to watch his back as he knocked down the door. Inside, he saw Berethana in the middle of two draeyks who pulled her in different directions at the arms, as if fighting for her. She looked Searon in the eyes and screamed. The sound was so loud, it caused Searon to drop his claymore in order to clamp his hands over his ears. He tilted his head to look at her in horror as her blue eyes turned deep red and flames came out of them. Her entire body caught flame and burned the two draeyks, causing them to drop her. When the draeyks recovered, she stared at them until flames came from her eyes, burning them to ash at her feet.

  “Berethana?” Searon whispered nervously. “Berethana, it is all right, I am a friend.”

  Her body relaxed and her eyes transformed into their normal hue. She looked worn, with black under her tired eyes. Searon took a deep breath as he strolled over to sit on her bed. He took her hand in his and squeezed it. She glared at him, but made no attempt to move his hand. Her stomach stretched so far out, it could be used as a table for her food and drink. He smiled at her. Any day now, the child would be born.

  “I am here to help you. The child inside of you is from a wizard. Its magic could kill you,” Searon said.

  “As long as my child survives, I do not care.”

  “Berethana, do not say that. The child could very well die too.”

  She stared at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “Say it is not so.”

  “Listen, there is help out there. You can go to the care of the faeries. They will protect you and your unborn wizard. They have a magic of their own. It can save you both.”

  “Faeries?” she asked skeptically.

  “Yes. They saved my mother and me.”

  “You are a wizard?”

  “I choose to be Searon. I have only just discovered what I can do. Whether it will change me or not, remains to be seen.”

  “All right, what do I have to do?”

  “Call out to them. Ask them to help you.”

  She sucked in a deep breath. “Faeries, help me. Please keep my child safe.”

  In a matter of seconds, two faeries appeared at her bedside with smiles. Searon blinked a few times to process the pink hair of the girl with dragonfly wings and the blue hair of the butterfly-winged boy. Cheering came from outside, bringing relief to Searon’s mind. He rushed to the window to peer outside.

  The colors were overwhelming. Human-sized faeries of every hue appeared outside, flying in the sky. Each held bows, and they loosed arrows at the draeyks, daerions, and nacropi. Whenever the creatures released back at them, they simply shrunk to their true size to dodge the bolts. After only a few minutes, the creatures broke and fled through Sudegam in an attempt to escape.

  “We’ve won.” Searon grinned. “Now I must find Arria.”

  Andron walked over to him, putting his hand on Searon’s shoulder with a smile. A scream suddenly shattered the silence. Searon turned around to notice Berethana with eyes wide and mouth open. Wrinkles scattered all over her face from the pain.

  “It is time,” the faerie with pink hair whispered.

  “Time? No, this is not a good time at all,” Andron said.

  “I believe it is a good time for us to go,” Searon said.

  “Don’t you dare leave me!” Berethana yelled with deep anger in her voice.

  Searon froze and nodded, not daring to argue with her tone. The last birth he had been present during had been the birth of his son, Kellen. His wife, Victoria, had not been her normal sweet self during the experience. The two faeries seemed to have everything under control with her breathing. They gave her a few colorful elixirs to ease the pain and to protect her and the child.

  After a few more screams, the pink faerie brought a child from the woman’s womb. An expression of concern painted her face. She turned to Searon with bulging, watering eyes.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Rare indeed, there has not been a witch born in over a thousand years.”

  “A witch? It’s a girl?” Searon blurted.

  “All right, what is wrong with the child being a witch?” Andron raised a brow, shivering.

  “Dangerous,” the faerie replied.

  “How dangerous?” Andron asked.

  “A man is guided by knowledge, fact, and most importantly, logic. Women feed off emotion. Very dangerous.”

  “Rarer than gold. This is rare indeed.” Searon whistled.

  Epilogue

  In the center of a large tent sat Elainya with legs crossed and head bowed. Starlyn had resided in the same tent before she abandoned them. How little the high kheshlar knew still amazed Elainya. She should know by now that there would be nowhere to hide from the Ikchani. Soon, all of Calthoria would be ruled by them.

  She pondered Starlyn’s presence. The kheshlar had a unique way of bringing people together, but she cared naught about women’s rights. Had all of her words been false? Besides that, had she been truly ill? Kheshlars were not supposed to grow ill. Many questioned her apparent weakness, but Elainya had been there, had seen the pain in Starlyn’s eyes.

  The reason question remained—was Starlyn in league with the men in the south? She went through an awful lot of trouble to convince them not to attack. Elainya felt disgust crawl from her toes like a caterpillar. She sprang to her feet to grab her scarlet cloak and draped it over her near-bare body.

  Tent flaps opened as she secured her cloak in a seductive fashion. Two men wearing rags as clothes entered, holding trays of fruit. Before they could get too far, the chains around their necks pulled tightly.
They stopped abruptly and clenched their teeth from the pain.

  Viero entered, scepter in one hand and chains in the other. A smirk graced her lips. She glared at Elainya with eyes of hatred and respect. She brushed her flaring blonde hair from her eyes and coughed.

  “Please tell me you’re not still upset over losing your kheshlar pet?” Viero asked.

  Elainya’s eyes sparked with rays of ice at the other woman. Her fists clenched around her scepter in honest consideration of burning her to ash.

  “Tsk … tsk. Now, now—don’t be hasty. You don’t even know why I’ve come,” Viero said.

  “If you’ve come to taunt me, please, spare me.”

  “That is only part of my coming here.”

  Elainya shot a glare toward the woman.

  Viero laughed. “Very well. However, don’t get mad at me because you couldn’t talk the kheshlar into your bed.”

  “She played us all … especially me.”

  “I have news that will cheer you up.”

  “The scouts have found her?” Elainya asked, desperation flooding her shaky voice.

  “As if you would be that lucky. No, this news is not good for you, but for me. I have found someone who will be of great use to us.”

  The curtains opened once more, and with them, a chill in the air crept shivers through Elainya’s spine. A woman clad in black-and-silver plate mail stepped inside, her charcoal skin gleaming in the candlelight. She wore a flamberge at her hip and a grin on her face that wouldn’t allow Elainya’s chill to depart.

  Her beauty astonished Elainya. She fell, hypnotized, to her knees. The woman smiled, showing pearl-white teeth to match her wavy hair. Her purple eyes showed amusement. She reached her hand out and gently lifted Elainya’s head. Elainya stared, perplexed, into her terrible eyes.

  “Child, I hear you have failed to contain my sister.”

  “I am sorry, mistress, truly I am,” Elainya blurted.

  Cruel laughter tore through the tent. The woman unsheathed a dagger, pressing it to Elainya’s throat firm enough to draw blood.

  “Normally, I would find your failure punishable by death. However …” The woman trailed off, removing her dagger. “Today I am feeling generous.”

  “Who are you?” Elainya gasped.

  An eyebrow rose on the fierce woman’s face. “My name is Arria, and I am your new master.”

  “Master?” Elainya asked.

  “Do you prefer death?”

  Elainya hesitated for only a moment. “No.”

  “Good. I have been told the Ikchani desire power over these weak nations of Calthoria.”

  “Yes, Lady Arria.”

  “There is a powerful man in Calthoria. He has destroyed a warlock and most of the draeyks and daerions of this land. The rest are in hiding, never to return in this century. His name is Searon,” Arria whispered distastefully.

  “I have heard of him.”

  Arria grinned. “I have someone he wants.”

  Elainya stared at the woman, head tilted and lips half scrunched. Arria tugged a chain at her side roughly and it screamed back at her. A woman stepped through the flaps, a thin silver chain choking her neck. Her ears were pointed like Starlyn’s had been, but not as extensive, and she stood without a trace of clothing, leaving her flawless pale green body exposed, except for her shoulders, which were curtained with matted brunette hair. Red welts covered her body from shoulders to ankles, but even so, her body gleamed perfection. Elainya felt a warm feeling in the pit of her loins as she yearned to touch the woman.

  “Who is she?”

  “Her name is Anaela, and she is the only known wood kheshlar. With her, the others may come out of hiding and bow before us. She is Starlyn’s friend, and so we can also win the high kheshlars. And last, she is Searon’s romantic interest. He is the general of the human alliance, and his brother, Noraes, is a leader in the south.”

  “With her we can control everybody …” Elainya whispered.

  Arria grinned. “Yes … yes we can. But first—we must find my darling sister.”

  Empowering women? Women wanting to break away from the male-led government? Read more about these amazon women called the Ikchani in my novella based in the same world as The Crimson Claymore and The Chronicles of Starlyn.

  You can get it FREE Here

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  As an indie author, reviews are really important to me. If you enjoyed this story, please leave a Review. I would really appreciate it.

  Why are reviews important?

  When a potential buyer goes to an author’s book’s Amazon page, one of the first things he or she does is look at the star rating and the number next to it (number of reviews). The higher the number, the more likely the trust in taking a chance on a new book he/she hasn’t heard much about. Social proof.

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  You can say what your favorite part is. Did you like the plot? A particular character? The themes of the book? Did you think it was well written? If you feel like you read it too long ago, just think back, and if you remember you liked it, try to remember the general feeling. Did you read it all at once? Did it make you cry or laugh? When you were finished, did you want to read more? Who else might enjoy the book? Give a recommendation (e.g., If you like___, you will love this book, or I recommend this book to anyone who likes___)

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  If you like this story, please check out my others:

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  “Diamonds Under a Hickory Tree”

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  The Chronicles of Starlyn

  The Crimson Claymore

  The Obsidian Arrow

  The Flamberge

  Undiscovered Origins

  Angelic Sins

  or

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  Acknowledgments

  There are a lot of people I am thankful for as I begin my journey as a writer. The first person I want to thank is my Aunt Ann Kriss. Without her ever belief that I can make it as a writer, her kindness, and her donation to help me get all of this done. I am very grateful and thankful to have her support. My wife, Amanda, for being so supportive of me, and being with me every step of the way. My mom, for always believing in me and for showing me what it means to love and never give up on my dreams. My son, for being my inspiration. All of my followers on Wattpad, for all the wonderful comments and critiques that have made me a better writer. My son insists that our cat Tiger is a large inspiration as well. I would like to thank my critique group for their invaluable help. A very special thanks to my editor Tamara Blain at A Closer Look Editing; she did a fantastic job with this novel. I would also like to thank Treasure Scarbrough for creating this wonderful cover for me. And last but not least, thanks to my followers on Wattpad, a few in particular have been very helpful: Emily Klimczynski, Carl Alvey, and Lilia Loewenberg. And to the following Wattpad users who left wonderful comments on my novel: @roostergirl56 @AaronMeadows4 @redbirds96 @JanetBates @kirley3656 @sueqqqq @FranklinCherry @JedMolyneux3 @UwannaVaughn63 @TerryKenny @mankloy @borjieporgy @Sean68 @SandraEjeh-Eze @graverage1973 @
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