The Lost Sun Series Box Set 1: Books 1 and 2 (Lost Sun Box Set)

by Riley Morrison

  The knife was pure. She wouldn't have hesitated; she'd have killed the scion and been done with it.

  That knife deserved a better fate than to be tortured and eaten by half-naked savages.

  I should have taken her with us. The words brought pain. I should not have allowed Erinie to hurt her.

  She probably deserved whatever pain Erinie had caused, for she may have slaughtered Erinie's kin at Sunholm and might have slaughtered Minard's brethren during the assault on the temple. But still...

  The thoughts wouldn't leave him, so he let them keep him awake until it came time to wake Erinie for her turn on watch.

  TWO DAYS LATER, ERINIE stopped him as they entered a chamber. "Wait, don't move."

  He held the torch up to see what had caused her alarm. Before them were skulls impaled on stalagmites. Some looked human, and many belonged to the beasts of the Great Dark. There were hundreds, placed all around the chamber, stretching beyond the reach of their guttering light. A foul smell wafted from a nearby opening.

  Death.

  Minard backed away, taking up one of the guns and getting ready to load it. Erinie retreated with him.

  They made as little sound as they could until they were some distance from the strange chamber. Only when they'd gone back several passages did they speak. Minard took in a shallow breath. "What was that place?"

  "I don't know, but whatever lives there isn't something I'd want to meet."

  She got out her map device and found them another path. "I hope you like crawling around on your belly, because we've a lot of that ahead of us."

  Minard gently touched the lumps on his scalp. "My head's still sore from the last belly crawl. It's like Ibilirith enjoys watching me bash it on every low-hanging rock."

  Erinie climbed into the passage. "Even if she doesn't, I know I do. It's payback for calling my people heathens."

  "Hey, that's not fair. I already—"

  He heard her sliding down and hurried in after her. "Are you alright?"

  No answer.

  His heart raced. "Erinie? Where are you?"

  "I'm down here," Erinie said, her voice sounding like it was some distance away. "Slide down. It was fun."

  Fun? He grinned. I'm into fun.

  With a child-like surge of excitement, he got onto his backside and slid down the slippery rock. He got to the bottom and came to a sudden stop. Still grinning, he got to his feet and hit his head on the low roof. "Grrr." He rubbed the bump. "You could have warned me not to stand up."

  Erinie chuckled. "I told you I liked seeing you hit your head." He frowned at her, rubbing yet another lump. "Hey, don't give me that look. How was I supposed to know how high the roof was? You're the one with the torch."

  "That's not nice." Minard winced. "I've got a headache now."

  "Aww," she mocked with an infuriating smirk. "You always riled Aemon up, so now it's your turn to see how it feels."

  He motioned her forward. "Let's keep going before I wring your neck."

  She laughed, got onto her belly and slid into the next passage.

  CHAPTER 19

  KARA

  Kara hurriedly backed away. Dozens of servants poured in from the stairs. They caught sight of the two sisters, and the front ranks slowed. In the bright electrical light, Kara could make out a little of their features. They appeared to be human, but with a layer of distorted black haze all around them, obscuring their features.

  "What do you want?" she demanded of them.

  Semira held the branch before her, as the two sisters continued to walk backward toward Arden's room. Two of the servants hunched down and spread their arms, moving ahead of the rest. "Doesn't look like they're going to talk." Semira swiped her branch to keep them back. "What do we do? There's too many to fight."

  "Maybe I can hold them back with my power."

  Glancing around, Semira said, "If you think you can, then do it, but I suggest we fall back to the doorway to father's room first. It's narrower, and they will only be able to fit through one at a time."

  That made sense, so Kara turned and raced for the door. Semira followed a step behind her. The servants began to call out to one another in a strange buzzing language. Reaching the door, Kara let her sister pass, then planted her feet about ten feet inside the room. Arden and Sasha watched on, the former armed with another branch.

  Kara raised her hand and waited impatiently for the tingling feeling to start. The first of the servants had reached the door before it came to her. Without a moment's thought, she blasted it with a bolt of energy. It was hurled back down the corridor into its brethren and disintegrated in a cloud of dark dust. More came one after the other, and Kara blasted them too. She'd killed at least ten when the first servant made it into the room. She fired her energy at it, but it dodged and the bolt struck another enemy coming through the door. The servant quickly circled around while more struggled to get inside the room.

  "Someone kill it before it reaches me!" Kara cried. "I can't stop blasting the ones coming—"

  Semira charged it, wreaking havoc with her wooden makeshift club. The servant let out a buzzing scream and collapsed to the floor. It disintegrated as Semira stamped on its head with her boot.

  Kara continued to send bolts of energy tearing into the ones coming through the door. They began to overwhelm her and she quickly grew weary. There are too many. I can't stop them all.

  "Get back to the tree," she heard someone cry. Was it Arden or Semira?

  "Come on, half-blood." Semira grabbed Kara and dragged her back.

  "No, I can—"

  The servants were already through the door and spreading out. "Let me go." Kara fought her sister.

  Semira held on and kept dragging her.

  "There's no way out." Sasha's voice was a panicked shriek. "Mommy, where are you Mommy? Help me!"

  The two sisters reached the tree and Arden moved in front to protect them. Kara wrenched her arm from Semira's grasp and sent more bolts of energy flying into the servants. Three more died in a cloud of dust but more pushed forward, now in a widening mass. To Kara's surprise, the tree branches started moving. Soon the longer branches had become giant clubs that pounded the ground, crushing servants beneath them. Each time the branches struck the floor, the ground jolted with the immense impact.

  A whispering voice began to speak to Kara. Put your hands on my trunk and feed me your energy. I am too weak to end this on my own.

  Kara stopped fighting and stared at the tree. Who are you? How are you speaking to me?

  There is no time. Put your hands on my trunk. The wild ones will take you to their lair and you will never escape.

  "What is it?" Semira asked as she swung her branch to keep the servants at bay. "Keep using your power; they're about to overwhelm us."

  Ignoring her sister, Kara went to the tree and placed her hands on its rough, gnarled trunk. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and channeled the energy into it. The effort drained her, but she continued to feed the tree her energy. A small hand touched her arm and Kara sensed Sasha channeling his own energy through her. With his help, they infused the tree with great power. Soon its leaves glowed radiant white, almost blinding her even with her eyelids closed.

  She heard Arden cry out and Semira scream his name, but the energy pulsed through Kara like a living thing, holding her in place as firmly as if she had been encased in stone. Then the tree spoke again. He is swept away. I lost him, I lost him... The voice ended in a long wail.

  The light reached a crescendo, and both Kara and Sasha screamed. It felt as if her very soul was being sucked out of her by the hungry being inside the tree. The pain was so great, it became everything. Unending, ceaseless, soul-breaking.

  Then it was over. The light was gone, and the sucking with it.

  Kara collapsed. The last thing she saw was Sasha falling beside her. Then there was nothing.

  CHAPTER 20

  AEMON

  Royce came to walk beside Aemon as they passed the gates of E
bon Shelf. "We are still about six miles from Jalarfed," he said, glancing down at Aemon's leg.

  "I do not need her help." Aemon limped along with his walking staff, not taking his eyes off the road in front of him. I hate you Imogen. I hate you.

  The captain sighed. "You two are making things uncomfortable and my soldiers are becoming concerned that there might be more to your story than you're letting on. Your noble lady journeyed with you into the Great Dark, and now you return and will not even look at her?"

  Why did the other man feel the need to butt in on something that had nothing to do with him? I just want to be left alone. "There is nothing wrong. Can we talk about something else?"

  After Imogen's threats the previous night, Aemon was doing his best to avoid her. That meant no pain relief for his leg or his arm, and awkward silences when she came anywhere near him. At first his leg had not been so bad, but after a few miles it had begun to throb, and leaning on the walking staff was making his shoulders stiff and sore. His world had already fallen apart and now his body was too.

  I hate you Imogen. I hope once the patriarch sees who you are, he makes the Inquisitors take you away and you are never seen again!

  Kara was gone. It was Imogen now. What did it matter if the Inquisitors took her?

  He no longer believed Imogen was here to save humanity—she was here for her own ends. But what could he do to stop her? Her Secondborn seemed to be Stelemia's only way to fight the enemy on equal terms. Without her aid... What chance did they have?

  Questions like this only added to his rage. I hate you Imogen. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.

  "What would you like to talk about then?" Royce asked.

  Aemon had forgotten the other man was there. "The war. I want to know more about what is going on." Right then, Aemon did not care about the war, but hopefully talking about the conflict raging in Stelemia would stop the other man from prying too deeply into the rift between him and Imogen.

  Royce put his arm around Aemon to take some of the weight off his injured leg. "Let me support you, at least until we reach Jalarfed."

  Aemon gave him a terse nod. "Where is most of the fighting now?"

  "As I said when we met, there is only so much I can tell you. At least until we confirm that you are on our side."

  "I understand."

  The two of them walked for several minutes in silence, then Royce said, "The worst of the fighting is at the Flowstone Gates. It is so bad there, it amazes me they have held out. The enemy routinely fires volleys of their explosive projectiles at them, causing a lot of damage. The Priest King has sent the best of his engineers to the gates to shore up the defenses. But one has to wonder how long they can keep repairing the damage."

  Royce shook his head. "After the fall of Celestial Rest, the remnants of the garrison along with Lord Laython's second in command, Lady Crisola, put up a heroic defense of the entrance to the Twisting Highway. Only through her actions was the enemy prevented from moving on Rylore Bellholes and Echo Hollow."

  Aemon was surprised by that. "How did she stop them? I saw what the enemy is capable of."

  "This might come as a surprise to you, but explosives seem to hurt them. They charged into the tunnel at the defenders and ran right into a trap the sappers had left them. The sappers had rigged the floor of the tunnel with explosives and detonated them right under the front rank of enemies."

  "And what happened?"

  "Several of the metal beasts were torn to pieces; others were crushed under tons of falling rock. The defenders did not get to see much after that, as the tunnel was filled with smoke and dust. When it cleared they found half the tunnel collapsed, and bits and pieces of the enemy. The rest had fallen back into the cavern to regroup."

  They passed around a bend in the road and a sign carved into the wall that read: "Jalarfed, three miles."

  "Did they try to launch another attack?" Aemon asked, riveted by the possibility there might be another way to fight the enemy other than Imogen and her Secondborn. It seemed improbable that explosives alone could win the war, but it was a start.

  "Well, before they could, one of the mushroom towers at Celestial Rest came down and sent a huge shockwave tearing through the tunnels. We lost dozens of soldiers, including Lady Crisola, to the pelting debris that came with the shockwave. Half the defenders were knocked senseless on the ground, many more blinded by the dust cloud, others pinned under fallen rocks." He grimaced. "Even some of the defenders at the Flowstone Gates were hurled from the wall."

  Aemon recalled having survived the same shockwave and then having to face the jamalgana right after. "How many enemies did it kill?"

  "We do not know. But they came at the defenders in the Twisting Highway again. This time their attacks were halfhearted and so far, last I knew, we were holding the junction to Rylore Bellholes and Echo Hollow. How long that situation will last is anyone's guess."

  "I wonder why they have not led an all-out assault on the front." That seemed strange to Aemon and made no tactical sense. "If they survived the shockwave, why not go straight on the offensive while the Stelemian lines were in disarray?"

  The captain shrugged. "The consensus is they are up to something. Perhaps they are trying to find a way around our defenses. There might still be routes for them to get into the main cavern of Stelemia through any one of the plugged up holes leading into the Great Dark. All they would need to do would be to excavate the rubble filling them, and they would have a back entrance into our most populated and productive cavern."

  If the enemy got into the main cavern in significant numbers, Stelemia would be doomed—and with it the human race. Aemon glanced at Royce. The man's bearded face was grim, his eyes heavy with fatigue. How long had it been since the captain had a good night's sleep? "Have you heard anything about my family?" Aemon asked. "One of my older brothers is an officer in the Royal Fleet."

  "No, but I do know this. Many mid- and lesser-ranked families have sent off their sons and daughters to defend Stelemia against this threat, while the upper-class nobles carry on as if nothing is happening." He spat at a mushroom weed growing beside the road. "Damn fools."

  Aemon was surprised at the captain's openness about his distaste for the upper nobility. If the wrong ears heard him speak this way, he could face Inquisitorial wrath. Perhaps, in time, Royce could become another ally. If Aemon told him the truth about what he knew of Imogen and how she might be the Scion of the Prophecy... Royce might try to kill her.

  But he lacked the soldiers to defeat Indalius and the other children, who would defend their mother to the death. Imogen would kill Royce and his soldiers, and then who knew what she would do? There was a whole army of Secondborn out there with Mordahi, all under her command. She could attack the Stelemian army from behind and—

  Closing his eyes, Aemon calmed his mind. He needed to bide his time and wait for the right moment to tell Royce the truth. In the meantime, Aemon would observe Imogen and learn what he could of her plans so he could give the captain more information when the time came to reveal it. Perhaps Indalius could tell him more, but the machine-man had not left Imogen's side all day. Even with the power she had over Indalius, the machine might be able to help them when the time came to stop Imogen or kill her.

  One of the soldiers walking vanguard raced back to report to Royce. "My Lord Captain. High Commander Yafa bids you make all speed to Jalarfed. Captain One Eye—" The guard cleared his throat awkwardly. "I meant to say, Lady Captain Harven is in town and is beside herself with rage. The high commander knows you and she—"

  "Melody." Royce sounded both surprised and horrified, more the latter than the former. "What is she doing there?"

  "I don't know, my lord. But Lord Yafa beseeches you hurry. Captain Harven respects you, and you might be able to calm her down."

  Royce called over one of his men to take his place at Aemon's side. "I will meet you at Jalarfed," he said to Aemon before hurrying off.

  Aemon leaned on the soldier, who
did not look pleased with his current assignment. Who was Captain Harven? He could not recall reading about her in the bank's intelligence reports. One Eye, the vanguard soldier had named her. Yet that name was unfamiliar to Aemon too, and he was normally good at remembering names.

  Intrigued, he increased his pace, gritting his teeth against the pain. He would not give in and beg Imogen for more pain relief. She would see her medicine as another way to control him.

  "Why is Captain Harven called One Eye?" Aemon asked the soldier beside him.

  The man glanced at him, with a look that said what a dumb question. "Because she only has one eye."

  "Oh..." Silly me.

  CHAPTER 21

  KARA

  "You are awake."

  Kara blinked, then sat up, putting her hand to her forehead. "Gah, my head." She looked around. There were dead plants around her and a blackened stump of a tree, parts of it still smoldering. She moved away quickly, trying to come to grips with the world around her.

  "Are you alright, Imogen who is Kara?" It was Sasha, his little face covered in soot. "Please be alright."

  Shaking her head to clear it, Kara forced a smile. "I'm—" Her voice caught. The dead tree. The plants. She searched for Semira and Arden. They were not there. "Where are they, Sasha? Where is everyone?"

  The boy sobbed. "The man from outside is gone."

  Kara's heart lurched. "Gone? Where?"

  His lip quivered. "Mother is looking for him."

  "Where is your mother?"

  "She... She is outside with Semira. They are searching for signs."

  Kara quickly got to her feet. "What happened to the tree? Where are the servants? Are we safe?"

  "I am not sure." His voice was small and frightened. "I think they are gone. I think the tree killed them but—"

  "Shhh, little one. I understand." She glanced at the charred stump. The energy they had fed into the tree must have been too much for it and the tree burned from the inside out. "Let's find the other two. Come on."