Rising Thunder (Dynasty of Storms Book 1)

by Brandon Cornwell

  Elias called over one of the warriors, who was looking for more survivors. He instructed him to stay with Marl until Geoff could arrive to treat the seer's wounds. Once he was sure Marl would be cared for, he sprinted across the beach towards the site of the hut he had shared with Coral. Smoke and wreckage obscured his path, but it didn't take him long to find it amongst the ruins.

  It was destroyed. The platform that the three-sided structure had been built on was nothing more than a few charred posts barely sticking out of a bed of embers and burned wood. On the sand, half burned, was Coral's embroidered skirt of white leather, and the silver and pearl necklace that Jayd was fond of wearing.

  Elias's mind raced. There were no bodies nearby, none that looked like Jayd or Coral in view. There were definitely signs of a struggle, as the sand was tossed and turned by footprints, some of them enormous. Those would be the orcs or the ogre, more than likely, but the sand was a horrible medium to preserve tracks. Searching over the area for a moment, he was able to find a pair of smaller tracks, barefoot, that led southeast through the village, towards the ridge that separated Seagate from Port Greenreef, and the pens where the sea elves kept their herds of swine.

  The larger tracks followed them.

  Elias broke off at a dead run, leaping over burned wood, fallen trees, bodies, whatever got in his way. He thought his heart would explode in his chest. The sound around him felt like it was dimming; all he could hear was his own ragged breath and heartbeat in his ears.

  He crested the low sand dune that separated the animal pens from the rest of the village and froze in his tracks.

  Tied to each one of the tall, thick posts that made up the enclosure, was an elf. From what he could see, they were all females, at least a hundred of them. Stripped naked and tied by the wrists to the posts, some had their arms high, facing away from the fence, while others were tied low, curled into fetal positions.

  Two warriors crested the hill beside him, and let out a cry. Elias ran down the hill, followed and then passed by the faster elves, drawing a dagger from his waistband to cut the captives loose. By the time he got there, though, he saw that most of the women had been killed, their throats cut, or run through the heart or stomach. He started searching, frantically, for survivors.

  Every elven maiden he reached was carefully cut free and laid on the ground. His heart pounded every time he approached one of the bloody bodies, praying that it wouldn't be Coral.

  The fifth elf he came to was Jayd. Her wrists had been tied high over her head, and her ankles spread apart. Blood ran down her legs, and hundreds of cuts covered her stomach, chest, and neck. He went to cut her wrists free when her eyes snapped open and she gasped.

  “Elias! Elias, they came for us! They came for you!”

  He lowered her to the ground, laying her back. She started struggling. “No! No, Elias, Coral! You have to save her! You have to stop them!”

  “Jayd! Jayd, calm down! They're gone! They've been gone!”

  “Where is Coral!? She was tied next to me! Where is she!?” She looked back at the fence and froze, then let out a single, loud wail. Jayd's screams pierced Elias's ears, bringing his panic back. He looked back at the fence, where Jayd was looking, and his heart shattered.

  There was Coral, her leather halter cut loose and hanging askew, stained red with her blood. She had been tied with her wrists and legs spread on the fence next to Jayd, and like her mother, blood ran down her legs. Her face was bruised and beaten, and her fair blue skin was covered in cuts and abrasions. One of her arms was twisted at a strange angle, obviously broken.

  Through her stomach was a long sword, not a cutlass or saber, but a straight, double-edged weapon favored by soldiers. It had been driven into her stomach just below her breasts and out her back. A black medallion, an eight-pointed star with a red stone set into the center, hung from the handle.

  Numbly, Elias approached her body. “No... no... no no no no no no no...“ he whispered, taking her face gently in his hands, lifting it gently. “No, you can't be dead, no...“ Her half-lidded eyes were unfocused, no breath came from her lips.

  Carefully, slowly, he drew the sword from her stomach with one hand, cradling her head with the other. “Shh, shh, it'll be okay, don't worry, Geoff will be here soon.” Turning to face the village, he screamed. “Geoff! Geoff, I need you!” His throat hurt from the effort. He was vaguely aware of Jayd's continued screaming, as well as the cries of some of the other women who had survived the assault and were being cut down.

  Elias dropped the sword and medallion into the sand and cut Coral's bonds. He cradled her in his arms as he sank to the sand. “Geoff!“ he screamed again, as the man crested the hill. “Get over her now, she needs you! I need you!“

  The young man sprinted up, carrying his bag of healing supplies, but stopped short. He dropped the bag and took a few steps closer. He saw Elias cradling Coral's body, tears streaming down his face, and dropped to his knees in front of the giant elf.

  “Elias... she's gone. I can't bring her back from the dead.”

  Elias wept, burying his face in the crook of her neck, next to her head and shoulder. Throwing his head back, a wordless, keening cry tore out of his throat, loud enough to be heard throughout the whole of Seagate and beyond. It continued until his breath ran out and the sound strangled itself in his lungs, then he took a deep breath and did it again.

  His last words to her had been goodbye. The last thing she had seen was him walking away from her. He had never told her he loved her, he had never told her he was sorry, and now he never could.

  ~ ~ ~

  2nd Waning Summer Moon, Year 4369

  Elias stood on the beach, looking out through the Seagate. Marl stood next to him, his stomach wrapped in linen bandages, his face wrapped with a strip of gauze. There had been only a handful of survivors, mostly the women who had been left for dead, tied to the fences. Marl was the only male who had survived.

  Elias, along with the rest of the crew of his ship, had laid the bodies of all of the fallen on the beach in preparation for their burials at sea. In some situations, they would have instead held a funeral pyre, but there were far too many dead, and most of the wood had already been burned.

  An envoy had been sent to Port Greenreef, to see if they had been attacked. As far as Elias could tell, Seagate was the only target. From what he had been able to gather from Marl and Jayd, as incoherent as her words were, it hadn't been a pirate envoy as they understood it; it had been a detachment of the Felle Army. The medallion left on the handle of the sword that had pierced Coral was proof of that, as well as the presence of ogres and orcs. Where they had gone, nobody could say. No ships had been seen leaving the island, but it was a big island. There was no telling from where they came or where they went.

  Elias stared to the south, watching the waves rolling across the decimated beach. What had once been a paradise was now a graveyard, spoiled by the slaughter that had taken place.

  “I should have been here. I should never have sailed for the Cursed Island.”

  Marl leaned on his staff. “That may be true. Maybe if you and our warriors had been here, they would never have attacked. Perhaps they would have been repelled.” He sighed and slouched. “Maybe they would have brought more men, more soldiers. Maybe you would have been killed too. Maybe I would have lost my wife as well as my daughter. Maybe I would have been killed.”

  He shook his head. “Fuck maybe.” It was the first time he had ever heard Marl use that word. “Now all that remains is retribution. I know that you were successful in your attack against the Cursed Island. Tell me about it.”

  Elias recounted the battle on the island, as well as what he had learned of Jonas's battle. He told Marl about the dragon in the caves, and the naval battle where they lost the supply ships and the Iron Oar. “All told, we lost about a third of our warriors. We rescued almost seven thousand slaves from that island.”

  Marl shook his head. “In the game of numbers, this is st
ill a victory.”

  Elias looked down at Marl, his eyes narrowing slightly. “How can you say that?”

  Marl looked up at Elias, meeting his eyes. “Do you not think that every mother, every wife, every son or daughter, every father of every elf that has fallen during this war feels as you do? When they learn that their son, their brother or husband, their father will never come home? This village is not the only one to have been attacked in this last year, Elias.”

  “I know that.”

  “Then you know that the pain you feel now is the pain that my people have felt since the men from the mainland came here.”

  Elias turned back to the sea. “So. Now that we have taken as much of a blow as we have. What do you suggest we do now?”

  “We destroy them. Every last one of them. Nobody survives. No prisoners. No bounties. No trades. No escapees. Everyone dies.”

  Elias nodded. “Those are my thoughts exactly.”

  There was a cry from behind them, and Elias and Marl turned to see what it was. A group of elves was clustered around Coral's body. Elias ran up the sloped sand, leaving Marl behind. He pushed through the crowd to see Jayd laying over Coral's body, a woven shawl over her shoulders. She cradled Coral's head in her hands and wept. Rising to her feet, she turned on Elias and Marl.

  “This is your fault! You did this!“ She drew a long obsidian knife and pointed it at Marl. “You convinced her to force the prophecy! You couldn't even wait for the very gods you serve to deliver us a warrior who would save us!“ She turned to Elias, pointing the knife at him. “When she came to you to tell you the truth, you scorned her! You pushed her away and went away to fight your war! You used her body and broke her heart!“

  Marl stepped forward, “Jayd, listen to yourself! You don't know what you're saying!”

  Jayd brought the knife back to bear on Marl, making him stop short of her. “I know exactly what I'm saying. I would rather follow my daughter to the afterlife than live here in a world where people discard lives like pieces in a game!”

  She turned the knife in her hand.

  Marl rushed forward. “Jayd, no!” he screamed as she plunged the knife into her chest.

  Elias stood, shocked, over the bodies of his betrothed and her mother. Marl caught Jayd's body as she fell. He dropped to his knees, and fell to the ground, cradling her head in his right hand, as his left clasped Jayd's hand. He did not wail or cry out but instead wept quietly into the sand.

  ~ ~ ~

  Elias and Marl sat side by side in front of the fire, Geoff across from them. The night was cold on the beach, with no huts to stop the wind, no trees to slow it as it blew west along the beach. The scouts they had sent to Port Greenreef had returned. The city had been attacked as well, but had fared much better. The security force there had been able to repel the attackers, and the ships of the Port Authority had joined in the battle with the ship Elias had left behind.

  Jenna had taken command of the defense efforts and led the warriors at the port to victory. There were some minor repairs needed due to fire and arrows, and they had lost three score of warriors, but they had made the soldiers pay dearly for them.

  There had been no sign of Jonas; he had not captained the ship that had escaped the battle. The elves on the north coast had started settling in, retreating from the coast and camping along a river where they could still reach the sea with their shallow canoes.

  Marl had been right. Number for number, life for life, the operation had been a success.

  The fire crackled in the darkness, the silence of the beach only broken by the sound of the waves. Jayd and Coral had been buried at sea at sunset. There were no flowers left to adorn their bodies, no wine or honey to anoint them with. Marl spoke the words that his people spoke, but Elias did not hear them. All he could see was Coral's face, shrouded as it was, sinking into the water. He memorized every curve, every line. The way her jet black hair framed her cheeks, her fine cheekbones, her delicate nose, large, doelike eyes.

  It was Marl who broke the silence. “When will we strike the Hollow Island?”

  Elias held his gaze in the flames. “As soon as we have enough blasting powder to fill a ship with. We need about three tons.”

  Marl nodded. “The alchemists have been working since you left, almost ten days ago. They have a good amount of it, but not that much. They need more time.”

  Geoff tossed a chunk of wood onto the fire. “Time enough to let the pirates starve a little more. They sank two-thirds of what they had stored up, and we took all of their slaves.“

  Elias nodded. “I have an idea that will make it easier to fill the barrels. We need fragments of obsidian, the size of a fist.“ He stirred the coals with a stick, causing sparks to roll into the night sky. “We break them into shards and mix them throughout the powder. When the barrels explode, it should throw the stone through the air. Anyone caught in the path will be cut.“

  Geoff looked up at Elias. “Bloody hell, Redwood. That... that would cause some devastation.”

  Elias nodded. “No survivors. No prisoners. No bounties. All of them die.”

  He turned to the side and took his bedroll, which he had brought from the Leviathan before he sent it on to rendezvous with the rest of the elves. “In the morning, I'm going to Port Greenreef. I assume the Slingstone is still moored there. It's our fastest ship now. I will sail to the Cursed Island, and free the dragon. I will return here with him... that should give the alchemists another week and some days to complete their task. I want as many assistants as they need to help them.”

  He lay the bedroll out near the fire. “I leave as soon as the sun clears the horizon in the morning. Who is coming with me?”

  Geoff nodded. “I will.”

  Marl spun his staff in his hands. “I will, as well.”

  Elias looked over at him. “Are you sure? You're no warrior.”

  “Don't underestimate me, son. There are more ways to fight than with steel or stone if the gods allow it. Right at this moment, I do not care what the gods do and do not allow.“

  Elias nodded. “As you will, then.”

  Elias lay down, and pulled the blanket over himself. Sleep was faster in coming than he thought it would be; his body was exhausted, but his dreams gave him no rest that night.

  ~ ~ ~

  The view of Port Greenreef from the ridge overlooking the city was a sorry sight indeed. Though the level of destruction was nowhere near the totality of what happened at the Seagate, smoke still rose from several piles of rubble that were once buildings. The tavern where Elias and Coral had stayed when she was not at Seagate had taken heavy damage, having been gutted by fire, the stone walls still standing, but scorched and blackened by fire. One of the docks was broken and submerged in the bay, and several ships were moored to the remaining piers for repairs.

  As he had hoped, the Slingstone was anchored out in the bay, seeming relatively untouched. Further out, past the boundaries of the bay, the Leviathan was anchored, looking like the behemoth it was named after.

  Men and elves were bustling about, cleaning up the damage and starting on repairs. As Elias, Marl, and Geoff approached the docks, they found Jenna and Martin supervising the efforts, directing the workers in the distribution of the scant remaining materials. They were in the process of sending a team of lumberjacks into the forest to hunt for trees that could be cut into beams for rebuilding when Jenna noticed Elias approaching.

  She stopped midsentence, setting down the parchment she held. “Elias. Welcome back.”

  “I wish I could say that it is good to be back.”

  She nodded, looking down at the list in front of her. “I heard what happened in Seagate. By the time we were able to send anyone to check on the village, you were already there.” She looked back at him, her face weary. “I am sorry, my lord. I couldn't save her while you were away.”

  He shook his head, setting a hand on her shoulder. “It is no fault of anyone here. All we can do now is finish our task.”


  She set her hand on top of his, squeezing it gently. “As you wish. What is our next move?”

  Elias filled her in on the plan, the dragon, and his upcoming voyage. She listened in silence, taking notes with a quill and parchment. When he had finished, she looked over the new list.

  “We have these resources to spare, enough food and water for the journey. How many men will you be taking with you?”

  “Myself, Marl, and Geoff, and well as twenty-two volunteers.“

  “Twenty-one,“ Martin spoke up from the side, where he had been listening. “They killed Jonas. I'm going with you.“

  Jenna handed the list to a dock worker, and instructed him to start the preparations. “Twenty. I'm going with you as well. This lot here already know what they are to do, and the Port Authority here can supervise the rebuilding as well as I could. I'm tired of sitting here on land.” She looked up. “Besides. I have a feeling that we'll find someone there that needs me.”

  Elias furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? We took every elf off of that island.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn't explain it if I tried. But this is a voyage I need to go on.” She looked up at him again. “You and Jonas and the rest of the men left me behind on every single voyage you've gone on. All due respect, Elias, but it won't happen again. You're not going to leave me behind like some wilting flower.”

  Elias nodded. “As you will, milady.“

  She chuckled mirthlessly. “I'm not a lady.”

  “And I'm not a lord.”

  She smirked. “You are here. When will you accept that?”

  Elias frowned. “When I am done with these pirates, I'm done here. I'm going back to the mainland. There's nothing left for me here. I need to go somewhere and be nothing for a while.”