Ephemeral and Fleeting

by Patricia Reding

Lilith, Rowena’s sister, a sixth-born of the Select, tried to murder Reigna and Eden when they were infants, Broden’s mother, Marshall’s former charge, follower of Daeva, deceased

  Lucy (Haven), Oathtaker to the last two seventh-born daughters of the Select before Rowena, her blade is Vivacitas

  Macall, Oathtaker, stays at the compound in the event of Carlie’s return

  Mad Dog, one of Zarek’s men

  Mae, married Max, Rowena’s mother, Reigna and Eden’s grandmother, deceased

  Mara (Townsend), (formerly Mara Richmond), Oathtaker to Reigna and Eden, married to Dixon Townsend, her blade is Spira

  Mariella, unknown person

  Marshall, Oathtaker, Lilith was his charge

  Max, married Mae, Rowena’s mother, Reigna and Eden’s grandmother, deceased

  Mercurial, (Merc), a flit

  Mildred Crane, a Council member, in charge of health and healing

  Mouse, Broden’s nickname for Carlie

  Mugger, chosen by Zarek’s mother to be his teacher, a child molester, deceased

  Nadine, a young woman captured to be sold into slavery in Chiran

  Nancy, a barmaid at The Clandest Inn

  Nina, married to Jules, mother of Carlie, Caden and Calandra

  Odin, a child at Camp Cark, in Darth, Chiran

  Ozel, Oathtaker, makes arrests under the Council’s authority

  Percival (Ferreolo), Oathtaker, healer

  Pestifere (Brother), chief priest in Chiran, Zarek’s closest advisor

  Petrus Feoras, Oathtaker, Lucy’s former love interest

  Piers Hamilton, Council member, specializes in matters of business and finance

  Pina, Rowena’s fourth-born daughter, Reigna and Eden’s sister, mentioned in passing

  Pretty Boy, one of Zarek’s men

  Prismatic, (Prissy) a flit

  Rafal, Oathtaker, goes with Liam into Chiran to spy

  Raiden, Oathtaker, assists Trumble

  Raman, Oathtaker, one of the training leaders

  Reigna, (whose name is derived from the word reign), seventh-born daughter of Rowena, Eden’s twin, Mara’s charge

  Saga, helps Lucy with her books at the compound

  Sally, Rowena and Lilith’s sister, a fifth-born of the Select, resides in Chiran with Zarek, a follower of Daeva

  Salus, Oathtaker, healer, engaged to Willow, meets someone in need of his help at The Swindler’s Cup

  Samuel, cousin to Jules

  Scarface, one of Zarek’s men

  Scintillation, (Cindy), a flit

  Shadow, one of Zarek’s men

  Sheva, Rowena’s first Oathtaker, deceased

  Sij, one of the three lords of Sinespe, the underworld, along with Daeva and Aka

  Skelly, gave Rowena a white cashmere cloak years ago, was thought to be mad

  Skylar Hadwin, a professor, the most renounced historian in Oosa, studies prophecy, a member of the Council

  Sola, an addict to bibulous nut, who Salus is asked to aid

  Spectral, (Spec), a flit

  Striver, tutor to Broden in Chiran

  Succedunt, Chiranian soldiers who, like Zarek, are descendants of the Hazarik, dress all in black

  Sugar, one of the four teens the Oathtakers meet on their way to the palace, seeks to become a succedunt bride

  Tam, Petrus Feoras’s former charge, deceased

  Tanith, Chaya’s mother, advisor to Zarek, runs the concentration camp for women prisoners in Darth, Chiran

  Therese, Rowena’s sister and aunt to Reigna and Eden, a third-born of the Select, Basha’s charge

  Tivona, Rowena’s fifth-born daughter, Reigna and Eden’s sister, mentioned in passing

  Trixie, one of the four teens the Oathtakers meet on their way to the palace, seeks to become a succedunt bride

  Trumble (Alexander), Oathtaker to Felicity, his blade is Amora

  Valentina, Oathtaker, healer at the palace

  Velia (Bettina), Oathtaker, wife to Jerrett, mother to four boys, her blade is Justise

  Vida, Rowena’s first-born, Reigna and Eden’s sister, her Oathtaker is Clarimonde

  Wade, a child residing with Vida and Clarimonde in Ethanward before they leave for Shimeron

  Willow, an Oathtaker, arms-trainer, engaged to marry Salus

  Yasmin, a slave in Chiran that Zarek gave to Broden

  Zarek, leader of Chiran, Broden’s father, a follower of Daeva

  Synopsis – Oathtaker: The Oathtaker Series, Volume One

  Mara, an Oathtaker, trained to protect Ehyeh’s chosen, the Select, those designated to carry His ways of life and freedom through the ages, is drawn from her intended path. She discovers a wayfarer’s hut. Thirteen grut, underworld beasts, surround it. As she kills each, it goes up in a flash of fire. Thereafter left with a single weapon—her Oathtaker’s blade—a weapon infused with a magic that will live for so long as she does, Mara steps inside. There, she discovers Rowena, the current ranking member of the first family of the Select, in labor. Rowena bears twins, although no Select had ever before had twins. She names them Reigna (derived from the word “reign”) and Eden, releases her power as leader of the Select to them, and then dies.

  Though Mara knows of no Oathtaker with more than a single charge, she swears a life oath to protect both infants. In exchange for her vow, Ehyeh bestows upon her, “continued youth” for so long as her charges live, and attendant magic—powers that will make themselves known to her over time. Upon the death of her charges, Mara may begin her life anew, but in the meantime, she may not be unequally yoked—she may not bind herself to another. Ehyeh confirms Mara’s vow with an earthshaking.

  The hut door bursts open and a man, Dixon, enters. Upon finding Rowena, his former charge, now dead, he blames Mara. The two enter into a weak alliance to work together to usher the infants to safety. When they find grut teeth on the ground, they collect the trinkets, as the creatures cannot harm anyone who possesses one. Then, seeking to hide all evidence of Rowena, they set the hut, with Rowena’s body inside, on fire.

  The Oathtakers make their way to the home of an old couple, Drake and Maggie. From them, they learn of an Oathtaker-run mission home in Polesk for young women fleeing to Oosa from a neighboring empire, Chiran. As the women often arrive at the place pregnant, or with newborns, the Oathtakers plan to head there to find a wet nurse for the twins. Although tempted, Mara restrains herself from thinking on her past, which seeks to worry its way into her thoughts.

  Previously on Rowena and Dixon’s trail, Gadon and his men, who had called up the grut, arrive at the home of the oldtimers who lead them to believe that Dixon and Rowena had visited them, and that Rowena had born her child. In fear, the oldtimers tell the men that the two left for Polesk. Gadon sends one of his crew ahead in search of them, then kills the couple.

  When Gadon’s man intercepts the Oathtakers, they learn that someone from the palace of the Select at Shimeron, home of the first family, enlisted Gadon’s assistance. Mara and Dixon dispose of the man, then stop for the night. Mara, now weary of Dixon’s surly behavior, tells him to leave her. He apologizes for having unfairly blamed her for Rowena’s death, then swears he would die for the twins. To Mara and Dixon’s amazement, Ehyeh confirms Dixon’s vow with an earthshaking. Since Mara is already the twins’ assigned Oathtaker, the two are troubled as to the meaning of the confirmation. They make peace, then Dixon suggests that his friend, Edmond, might be of help. The two grew up like brothers after Dixon’s father led a successful prosecution against Edmond’s father for treason against the Select. Enamored with Mara’s strength of spirit, Dixon allows her to believe he had loved Rowena, as he thinks it will help to keep a distance between them.

  The Oathtakers arrive at the mission home where they meet Nina, a young Chiranian. Grieving over the death of the child she bore while escaping Chiran, Nina swears to protect the twins with her life. The Oathtakers are shocked when Ehyeh also confirms her oath, with an earthshaking.

  While in Polesk,
meeting with Dixon’s old friend and mentor, Ted, Mara is startled when a compact she carries that had belonged to Rowena, starts “buzzing.” When she opens it, a woman’s visage greets her. Dixon recognizes Rowena’s friend, Lucy, who reveals that she has prepared a safe place for Rowena. Mara informs Lucy of Rowena’s death, and of the twins’ birth, then makes plans to join her.

  The Oathtakers head for sanctuary. There, they discuss the significance of the first- through seventh-born children of the Select, and ponder over the difficulties that one who is a sixth-born—one most interested in pursuing his own desires—could cause. Mara comments on a dream she had the night before, in which a woman took the infant girls from her. She had not recognized the dream as the working of some attendant magic, bringing her a warning, but Dixon does. He insists she leave immediately. As she exits through a back door with Nina and the twins, Lilith a sixth-born of the Select, Rowena’s next older sister, arrives.

  Hearing of her sister’s death, Lilith assumes Rowena’s child also died, and that she, Lilith, is now the ranking member of the Select. She bands Dixon, cutting off all magic getting to or from him. He, now sure Lilith sent the assassins after Rowena, willingly accompanies her to the palace in Shimeron, so as to avoid raising her suspicions, although he grows fearful that she intends to make a scapegoat of him.

  At the palace, Dixon finds his friend, Edmond, who insists he is friendly with Lilith so as to keep the peace. Dixon also discovers another friend and fellow Oathtaker there—Basha. Dixon meets Basha at the falls where her charge, Rowena’s sister, Therese, was believed assassinated some years back. Her body was never found. After a rustling in the underbrush momentarily interrupts Dixon and Basha’s conversation, the two speak freely. Basha believes Therese still lives, because she occasionally feels her bond to her charge. Further, she believes Lilith was behind the assassination attempt on Therese’s life. Dixon reveals nothing of his suspicions about Lilith, or about Mara and the twins.

  Mara and Nina check into an inn. They learn from the local fliers, that Lilith holds Dixon, and that he will be tried for treason. Then Mara discovers more attendant magic powers: she can taste and smell color. As a consequence, she believes a woman who watched her earlier that evening during dinner, is outside her door. Fearing for the infants, Mara arms herself, then opens the door. The woman standing just outside, introduces herself as Therese. Recollecting details from a dream, one in which she rustled through some brush, then felt as though she was physically present with Dixon and Basha at a falls, Mara tests the woman with information she had learned from her “dream.” When Therese proves true, and discloses that she has been staying with Lucy, Mara reveals her true identity and that of the infants. Joyous over the children’s survival, Therese swears a life oath to protect them. Once again, the earth shakes with Ehyeh’s confirmation.

  Later, while seeking rest, Mara “awakens” in a room where Dixon soon arrives. He informs her that Lilith captured him, took him to the palace, and will have him tried, but Mara disappears before he can think to have her remove the band Lilith put on him to block his magic powers. Back with Nina, Mara discovers she returned from her “dream” carrying Dixon’s flint.

  Lilith meets with her spirit guide, Daeva, lord of the underworld. He informs her that Rowena’s child lives, and that Rowena released her power to her child before she died. As a consequence, Lilith is not the legitimate new ranking member of the Select. Then he assures Lilith that there is still a way for her to become the ranking member so that she may reign over Oosa, and he endows her with dark magic.

  Lilith, furious to learn the true facts, questions Dixon. When he refuses to tell her of the child’s whereabouts—as Lilith is unaware that Rowena bore twins—she tortures him with her dark magic.

  Mara and Nina, with the infants, travel toward Lucy’s with Therese and her bodyguards, Jules and Samuel. When the group stops to rest, Mara again finds herself magically transported to Dixon’s side, although now he is in a cave of sorts, and unconscious from a severe beating. When Basha shows up there to see to Dixon, Mara recognizes the woman from her dream, when Basha spoke with Dixon at the falls. When a maid arrives to warn Basha that Lilith is on her way to see Dixon, Mara returns, magically, to her friends. Moments later, she discovers more magic—the power to heal. She longs to return to Dixon to heal him. Then, realizing that she magically traveled back from her first visit to him carrying his flint, Mara surmises that she might rescue him from Lilith’s clutches. She ponders whether she wants him with her to assist her with the infants, or because of her growing interest in him. Later, Jules and Samuel swear to protect the twins with their lives. Each receives Ehyeh’s confirmation of his vow, when the earth shakes.

  When a storm erupts, the travelers find shelter in a barn built partially into the ground. There, Mara discovers a grut guarding a path that extends deep into the earth. As the grut tooth she wears protects her from the beast, Mara nears, then kills it. Then she finds, back in the cave, a shrine with an oracle—a book—that refers to a seventh seventh “and she who is but is not.” Mara recollects something that Rowena had said when Eden was born—that the child was of a seventh pregnancy, but was not a seventh-born child.

  Mara discovers that the book provides the identical message on every page: “Go.” Thinking it means she is to go to rescue Dixon, she magically travels again, back to his side. Once again, she finds Basha with him. Although Mara tries to heal him, and to take him away, she is unable to do so. To test her powers, she urges Basha to travel with her. Upon Basha’s agreement, the two instantly return to the barn. There, Basha and Therese are reunited. Basha then recollects that Dixon is banded. Therese informs Mara that as Oathtaker to the twins, who are the rightful ranking Select, she possesses the power to remove the band.

  Mara magically returns to Dixon’s side. She removes his band. Just then, the maid, Adele, arrives to warn Basha, who she knew had gone to see Dixon, that Lilith is on her way to see him. Moments later, Lilith enters. Adele grabs Mara and is caught up in the Oathtaker’s magic. Back with her friends, grateful that Lilith did not also tag along for the magic ride, Mara heals Dixon and then, passes out. Later, he awakens her from her magic hangover.

  Mara learns that a few years prior, Lilith had a son, and that when circumstances suggested the child was not safe with her, Rowena took him away. No one knows his father, but Therese informs the others that the child stays with Lucy. Both Basha and Adele swear life oaths to protect Rowena’s infants. Each receives Ehyeh’s confirmation of her vow.

  Lilith meets with Daeva. He agrees to have the Chiranian leader, Zarek, who also serves the underlord, provide her with an army. When it arrives at the palace, Lilith tells the soldiers her plan: she will tell the people that someone is trying to pawn off a fraud as a new seventh seventh, then will encourage the people to give up the child she seeks. If they do not, she will kill all the infant girls. Her venture will begin in Polesk, but she will travel throughout Oosa to do the same elsewhere, as necessary, in her search for the child.

  Erin, Nina’s sister, and a slave to Zarek’s soldiers, breaks free and runs to Polesk. She meets a woman, Hattie, who rushes her to the mission home where they find Dixon’s friend, Ted. They inform him of Lilith’s plan. Ted relays that Lilith could cut off the twins’ rightful line of rule if she kills them with a living Oathtaker’s blade. Then, believing that sanctuary is the only safe place for the children of Polesk, Ted attempts to save them, but he is unsuccessful. Lilith’s soldiers begin to follow through with her plan.

  Wanting to dedicate the infant twins at a sanctuary, and to confirm that one of the three artifacts intended for the ranking member of the Select, the great crown, is still in the City of Light where Rowena left it, Mara leads her group to the city. They arrive at The Clandest Inn, owned by Dixon’s friend, Ezra, a spymaster. Mara worries over the attention the barmaid, Celestine, pays to Dixon, though she reminds herself once again, that while he is now free of the oath he’d sworn to protect
Rowena, she is still bound to her oath to protect the twins. For the first time since the girls’ birth, Mara allows herself to think on a child she had abandoned in her past.

  Mara and Dixon learn, along with Ezra, that Lilith travels with an army, that she seeks Dixon, and that she claims someone is trying to pawn off a fraud as a new seventh seventh. Mara tells Ezra about the twins. Delighted, he swears a life oath to protect them. Ezra receives Ehyeh’s confirmation of his vow in the form of an earthshaking. Then the three make plans for Ezra’s spies to spread false rumors of Dixon’s whereabouts throughout Oosa, so as to lead Lilith astray.

  When Mara takes the twins to sanctuary, two oldtimers, Leala and Fidel, intercept her. They recognize the twins as fulfillment of prophecy and swear life oaths to protect them. Ehyeh confirms the oldtimers’ oaths, and they join Mara’s entourage.

  A guest arrives at Lilith’s camp. He believes he can find Dixon, that Dixon will trust him, and that he can deliver the man to Lilith. She uses her dark magic on her guest, so that he cannot reveal his true intentions, and then sends him off in search of Dixon.

  Meanwhile, seeking information about Lilith, Mara and Dixon travel magically to Polesk. There, they learn from Ted, of Lilith’s venture, and of the deaths of many infants.