by David Ekrut
This is an original publication of David Ekrut.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Taming the Elements
The Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1
Copyright © 2014 by David Ekrut.
Cover design and book layout by Jennifer Ekrut.
Map Illustration by Rebecca Sumerall.
Edited by Melinda Lanigan.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage privacy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
ISBN: 978-0-9863202-0-0
For Jeremy K. Hardin, whose creative genius is a force yet to move through this world. Our two-man writer’s workshop has been almost as invaluable to this book as his friendship has been to my life.
And for my wife, Jennifer Holliday-Ekrut, whose patience for my passions are more than anyone deserves. She has given her love and support through every “final” draft of this book without ever questioning my pursuit of the craft that is writing.
Prologue
Chapter 1: It Begins
Chapter 2: The Hounds Unleashed
Chapter 3: Elwin Escari
Chapter 4: Summer Solstice
Chapter 5: A New Path
Chapter 6: The Journey
Chapter 7: A New Life
Chapter 8: Unexpected
Chapter 9: Escaping the Inquisition
Chapter 10: A Soldier’s Life
Chapter 11: Mind’s Eye
Chapter 12: A Direction
Chapter 13: Regrets
Chapter 14: Haven
Chapter 15: Visions and Bargains
Chapter 16: Consequences
Chapter 17: A Light in the Darkness
Chapter 18: Hunted
Chapter 19: Compromises
Chapter 20: Trials
Chapter 21:The Fate of the Accused
Chapter 22: The Enemy
Chapter 23: The Stones of Seeking
Chapter 24: New Friends
Chapter 25: The Darkness Awaits
Chapter 26: The Battle for a Soul
Chapter 27: Hunting Grounds
Chapter 28: The Hunger of Giants
Chapter 29: Goldspire
Chapter 30: The Capture
Chapter 31: Defeat
Chapter 32: Hope
Chapter 33: Traitor
Epilogue
Prologue
The rest of the castle of Alcoa had yet to stir as a man walked down the steps into the library. Natural light had just begun to shine through the opaque glass of the domed ceiling to touch the corners of the expansive room. The entrance gave way to a central passageway. Tall shelves lined the walls and formed wide aisles. Polished with lacquer and clear of objects, long tables of redwood led down the center to the southern wall.
The man passed countless, leather-bound tomes that filled each shelf on the rows and along the walls. He walked to the farthest edge of the library, until the musky smell of old leather became the strongest odor. Most of the books in this wing had no markings to name them.
One of these forgotten texts would soon change the world.
Bain Solsec reached the rolling ladder, moved it into place, and took each step to the very top. Standing with his knees against the highest rung, he reached for a book on the upper shelf. He could just touch the cracked, leather binding with his forefinger. Stretching on his toes, he pulled the tome from the shelf and wiped thin dust from the cover. If there had ever been any painting to mark the book, the script had long since faded.
How long had it sat there? How many times had the castle librarian ran the feathers of his duster across the tome without giving it a second glance?
Cradling the old book close to his body, Bain climbed down the ladder and walked back to the center aisle. He placed the book on the polished table in front of a chair and looked at it in disbelief. The pages had yellowed from age, just like his dream. It had been a long time since he had dreamed, so he had known the dream to be special. The man in blue silks had shown him where to find the tome. He had said that finding it would lead to greatness.
Bain had always known he would one day find the greatness he deserved. He had always known he was different than the others. His black hair and dark eyes had always set him apart from his peers in Alcoa. He got his appearance from his father, who was from Norscelt to the far north. His mother had been born to the Alcoan royal line. Had he gotten her blond hair and sky-colored eyes, he would have looked like every other Alcoan.
Though his mother had been sister to the king, Bain would not sit upon the throne. Thirod, his cousin and childhood companion would be the next to rule all of Alcoa. Being cousin to the heir had placed him in the shadow of an inferior man, a man without vision. The Awakening would come, and the world would not be ready.
“Without me,” his words echoed through the empty rows, “the dragonkin will rise and rule us all.”
He sat down and looked at the book. Even as a boy he had loved to read. His mother and father had always been busy with the courts, so his older brother had taught him to read and write. How many books had he read in this library over the years? A hundred? A thousand? More than most men would even see in a single lifetime.
Mostly, he read the histories. There were many volumes on the Shadow Wars and all the wars that followed. As long as there were men, there would always be war. And to win a war, a man needed power. There was only one power greater than taming the Elements. That power was knowledge.
During the Shadow Wars, many nations had fallen, and new nations had risen. After the Shadow Wars had ended, the chroniclers of the great library of Tanier were nowhere to be found. But new chroniclers had emerged to make records of the events. All had wanted to forget the atrocities, and none had wanted to relive them. But, he who did not learn from the past was destined to repeat it. So, copies of the histories had been scribed and spread to every land.
Heroes from the wars had become revered, while their villains had been despised. Tales had been crafted and told to children as bedtime stories. For generations, feats of battles had been shared around campfires and taverns. One name above all had been remembered.
Abaddon, the Seeker of Souls.
In the years following the Shadow Wars, the castle of Abaddon had been abandoned. None had wanted to live where the undead had walked. Though the location had been recorded, over three thousand years had passed, so the whereabouts of the castle eventually fell to apathy.
Only one book remembered the castle of Abaddon. He looked down at the faded cover. This was the last book from the library of Tanier before its disappearance during the Shadow Wars. The tome that would start it all.
“My legacy begins now.”
Bain eased the cover open, but despite his efforts to take care, he felt the leather on the binding crack further. His fingers trembled as he held the book open. The first page named the tome, The Book of Erudition. He turned each page with a gentle hand, as he read every word with great ca
re.
Chapter 1
It Begins
Every heroic tale has but a hint of Truth, hidden by the ages. With the passing of time, the defeated is always the Villain, as the victor is ever the Hero. Their story is told and retold with each generation losing Truth with each telling.
Hero and Villain inexorably obstruct the other’s path by acting in his own nature—a nature that is formed by a life rarely revealed in full. Tales of their actions may survive the test of time. But feats of strength are weighed and measured as good or evil by an unbalanced scale.
Thus, stories are made by partial observers.
The Villain arises in the land of plenty, bringing hardship and pain. The Hero is wrought by the struggle to defeat the Villain’s malevolence. As well, the Villain’s malice reaches its paramount in desperation to destroy the opposition, the Hero. Nations and castles rise and fall, as kings and queens are drawn to the cause of his or her own choosing.
The great cycle is told and retold by the victors without kindness to the Villain, the catalyst for this great tale. Yet it is a rare epoch, indeed, when a Hero is born without a grand Villain in the making. Thus begins the tale. Perhaps, Truth may be revealed by impartial observers.
Betrayal.
The word stuck in his thoughts as the man sat upon the rocky beach. The tide lapped at the shore several paces in front of him, sparkling in the noonday sun.
Behind him loomed the Curst Mountains with their brown and grey jagged rocks jutting into the sky between lush evergreens. One could stand upon the shore, staring at the massive stones and never see the mountainside for what it truly was.
After centuries of lying empty, he had been the one to find Abaddon’s castle. Thick spires wrought from the mountain’s rock stretched toward the sky in natural formations. Its grand halls had been formed by taming the Elements called Earth and Fire in an age far removed from most memories.
The reef spanned miles up the shore, giving further protection to his castle. A ship could be within a mile of the shore and see nothing more than a mountain. And the reef kept ships from coming within five miles of the shore. Only those well versed in the location of the castle would dare traverse Abaddon’s Reef, making this an ideal respite for a king not wanting to be found.
Now, he alone held the secrets of its power. It was his destiny to hold the world in his hands. He alone could remake the world as it should be.
Bain closed his eyes.
He could feel the crash of the powerful tides against the shoreline. The Elemental power of Water made war with the Elemental power of Earth. There was a beautiful peace in this struggle. A battle as old as time and life raged right before him. These powers balanced one another.
Bain looked back out at the waters. The tides would push closer to him, winning the present battle only to lose the next. The sounds of the tide breaking the shore should have soothed him. That was why he had come here.
But it couldn’t. Not this day. He had known upon seizing power that betrayal would be inevitable.
“Seizing power always starts with betrayal,” he told the empty beach. “Mine and others yet to come.”
The beach may have been empty, but he was never alone. Bain was well aware that He could hear him. That He was always listening, even if He remained silent. Bain looked down at the pendant resting on the crest of his leather breastplate. The armor had been touched with the powers of creation, created by taming the Elements. The pendant and his crest were one in the same.
The symbol was that of a black-gloved hand clutching a red dragon with the palm facing upward. Its long, sinewy head protruded between the hand’s middle and forefingers. The dragon’s head rested upon the tops of the fingers, eyes closed as if sleeping. The dragon’s long, spiked tail wrapped around the small finger, like a snake around a tree.
Without touching the pendant, he could feel the power within. Powers that were his to command.
“Soon. So very soon, it will begin.”
Bain stood and felt the cool breeze bounce across the surface of the ocean and touch his face. It too held power. The power of Air was the first he had known. He could feel it with his soul, his essence. Relaxing his thoughts as he had done a thousand times before, he opened his essence and allowed the power of Air to enter him.
The salt in the wind became more crisp, and he could sense every ripple in the breeze around him.
Bain tamed the power in his essence and manifested his desire. His body rose into the sky like a bird with no wings. Wind rushed by, roaring in his ears as he ascended. He turned north and west toward the capital city of Alcoa.
This time he would be the tide. Soon, the world would know Bain of Solsec.
Athina tried to ignore her racing heart as she glanced around her chambers one last time. The stone walls seemed darker in the dim light. She only had the lanterns on the southern wall lit, giving enough light to see her canopied bed at the center of the room.
The northern side of the room had an open doorway with darkness beyond. Drawers to clothing chests laid open; otherwise, her room was tidy. She had been forced to maintain pretenses until he had gone. Tapestries depicting battles from the Shadow Wars hung on every wall. Her bookshelf on the western end of the room had every tome in place. Her wooden writing desk on the opposite wall had ink and quill upon the upper-right corner and a blank parchment, ready for scribing.
Everything had its place. But she no longer did. Summer solstice, a month from now, would mark seven years she had lived in this dank castle.
She took a deep breath.
“I have no choice,” she said aloud, knowing her resolve sounded weak.
She turned back to the bed. Its canopy was a bright turquoise. Thadia, her chamber maid, had acquired it for her because it was her favorite color. She would miss Thadia.
Athina took a deep breath and said with more force this time, “I have no choice.”
Travel supplies littered the top of her feathered mattress. She looked over her stock once more. Other than the pale, grey dress she wore now, she had one extra cream-colored dress split for riding and a green gown. The three tiny shirts and two swaddling cloths would have to be enough. She had a bulls-eye lantern with a tenday’s worth of oil, flint and steel, and a small bedroll.
The tenday’s supply of trail rations and a single waterskin would get her through the mountains. She had no room for a travel tent, and she doubted she could sacrifice the energy to carry it at any rate. The journey would be long.
Lastly, she had her coin purse. She had filled it only with her heaviest coins of Alcoan mint, platinum and gold and a few precious gems. The rubies and sapphires would all go to pay for her passage through the Stones of Seeking. The handful of remaining coins and diamonds would charter further passage, not leaving much for food or shelter.
She took a deep breath. “This will have to do.”
Taking her knapsack, she began to fit the materials into it.
The door to her massive chambers banged open, and she jumped from the sudden noise. A woman in a blue gown with flowing hair the color of the sun entered and closed the door behind her with the same force that had opened it.
Athina held her breath and glanced to the darkened doorway at the northern wall. No sound.
“Lana,” she gave her twin sister a scowl, “are you trying to wake Elwin?”
Lana stood in front of the door for a moment, her smooth features and beautiful face blemished by a scowl of her own. Even in the dim lighting, Athina could see her sister’s blue eyes narrow in anger.
Lana’s long strides brought her across the room with a dancer’s grace. She stopped an arm’s length away and stared at Athina with wide eyes. “You mean to go through with this then?”
It was more of an accusation than a question.
Athina felt her heart racing. No one was supposed to know. “How did you f
ind out?”
“Thadia saw you setting aside the knapsack. When she asked me if I would need one too, I knew. How can you do this?”
“What would you have me do?”
“I would have you stay and let your son have the glory that he was born to.”
“I cannot.”
Lana’s voice was tight. “We will be a part of history. Do you not see that?”
She closed her eyes. “I will not sacrifice another son for Bain’s selfish ambitions. Donavin is only six, and already, he is becoming something I do not recognize as my son. And I can do nothing to stop it. I will not see the same happen to Elwin.”
“You cannot oppose Bain. No one can!” Lana snapped. “What would you do?”
She closed her eyes for a moment. Would her last conversation with her sister end in a fight?
“I am leaving, Lana,” Athina said, proud of the resolve in her voice.
Lana’s mouth opened to speak, and then it closed.
Silence.
The harshness in Lana’s voice stabbed like a dagger. “You would be a rabbit running from a dragon. Do not be so daft.”
“I thought of all people, you would understand.”
Lana took a step toward her. “I understand. I do. But what you speak of will get you killed, or worse.”
“I know the risks,” Athina said, “but I must go. I have already made some arrangements.”
Lana’s jaw poised open. Athina knew she had hurt her sister. She had mentioned leaving to Lana, but had made it sound more like in idea, rather than something she would actually do. She had told Lana nothing of what she had planned. The first fight over the idea of Athina’s leaving was mostly a shouting match that had not ended well.
“You kept this from me.” Anger and pain resounded in Lana’s voice.
“I planned on telling you today, but I did not want it to be like this.”
“Where will you go that Bain cannot find?”
Should she tell her? No. It would be better if she didn’t know. Not unless …
“You could come with me,” Athina offered. “Together we will be able to hide from him, even in the shadow realm. I have seen to that.”