The Comyenti Series Book Bundle, Volume 1 and 2 (Epic Romantic Supernatural Fantasy)

by Natasja Hellenthal

  Free…

  She raised her brows and blinked a couple of times, trying to move away from the man staring at her, even if he did have a kind face.

  ‘Go away,’ she managed to say with a husked cracked voice.

  Shazar knelt down by her and the boy came to sit beside him. They waited patiently for her to recover. Shazar offered her some water from his flask. She blinked her eyes a couple of times and refused. He tried again; her throat and mouth were dry but this time she swallowed. Her chest moved irregularly up and down underneath the blanket and her breathing sounded raspy.

  ‘Who are you? Where am I?’ She quickly glanced around but she could only make out dark trees around her; she could hardly see a thing in the light of the crest of the new moon.

  ‘Take it easy, you’re badly hurt.’

  ‘Mr W…er Shazar freed you and brought you to safety,’ Twello spoke with big eyes gesturing at Shazar.

  She glanced at the boy and wondered what was happening. A man and a boy in the woods? This man freed her?

  ‘The door was… solid wood,’ she whispered as talking clearly hurt her. ‘I’ve…tried many times, even when I was still…strong.’

  ‘You should have seen him! He is so powerful and a w-’ Shazar held a hand to the boy’s mouth and gave him a warning look. The boy held still instantly, fearing him.

  But then she remembered the ruckus downstairs and her own cries for help and hoping it had been a rescue team. Her memory was blank from there on; so she must have blacked out. Her throat was still dry as paper and she felt it itch. Starting to cough she tried to sit. Shazar helped her. At his touch she flinched so he moved back instinctively with the palms of his hands towards her.

  The young priestess continued coughing and he gave her some more water. She drank until the coughing eased off.

  When she could speak again with tear stung red eyes she stared at him.

  ‘You came… for me?’

  ‘I carried you away from that dreadful place,’ Shazar said softly. ‘Now lie back and rest some more. Are you in pain?’

  She shook her head, even though her whole body ached, but she was getting accustomed to it. Pain had become her trusty friend.

  She is strong for a human, Shazar thought.

  ‘Are they dead?’ she asked in a dull voice.

  ‘They are.’

  She closed her eyes a moment and said thanks to her gods, but not to him.

  ‘Where are the others?’

  Her cheeks had gained some colour and her green eyes shone fiercely as if she was still fighting demons.

  Shazar and the boy exchanged looks.

  ‘It’s just us.’

  ‘No, I mean the villagers; where are the others who helped you?’ She sounded restless and uneasy.

  ‘I needed no help.’

  ‘That’s true.’ The boy nodded proudly for being there and having witnessed the scene. Now he had something to tell his parents about.

  Incredulously the priestess stared at them. She knew how many bandits there had been.

  Suddenly she spotted the stone; her gem, dark this time, in the boy’s lap. Her mouth fell open.

  ‘You found it,’ she gasped.

  Twello glanced at it and back at her face.

  ‘I don’t know how to thank you,’ she spoke without moving her eyes from the stone, ‘but I’m sure you’ll be properly rewarded by my people.’

  She stretched her hand to the gem as emerald green as her own eyes with the light of the moon on it. The boy immediately wrapped his body around it. She knotted her brows in confusion.

  ‘I know it’s a beautiful stone, boy, but you can give it back to me now. It’s mine.’

  Twello looked at Shazar for help.

  ‘That is true, but I am sorry, my lady…’ Shazar spoke calmly, not knowing what to say next when he saw the hurt in her eyes. The priestess stared at him a short moment with empty eyes, then a look of understanding appeared before she answered in distress, ‘I had not thought the villagers to be this cruel; to save me first and then to keep the Truthstone from me because I am no longer...’, she added in anger, lower lip trembling, ‘You should have let me die in there!’

  ‘Better to die whilst free,’ Shazar spoke with his eyes clouded. ‘Anyway, the villagers and their business are of no concern to me. Only the stone matters.’

  ‘What? You two are simply thieves who came for the stone just like…them; not for me at all?!’

  ‘I suspected you were still alive… Ashanna. It’s been months and the villagers did send armies, but these rough savages were stubborn and strong.’

  ‘You’re telling me? The Truthstone made them blind, blind for power! They defended the thing they thought was going to give them just that! Just like the villagers who think the stone more important than me. Of course I should have known…’ her voice waned and she looked up at the trees.

  ‘They had found so much blood in your temple,’ Shazar gingerly spoke. ‘That they presumed you were dead, Ashanna. If they had known-’

  ‘Blood… yes, they wounded me alright. As for the villagers….All this time I thought they respected me, honoured me. Me; the oracle, the priestess, the guardian of the Truthstone…while it was the damn stone they worshipped, not its reader; its link to the world. They needed my abilities. Not me at all,’ she whispered with such sadness Shazar felt it in his own heart.

  ‘You are the only one who can hear the stone.’ He glanced at it; he had not yet had the opportunity of examining the precious gem himself. For a human to communicate with a stone was highly unusual; even if it was not a normal stone. Only she was able to hear the stone as a priestess and that intrigued him; she intrigued him.

  ‘Without you it is just a rock, right?’

  She nodded and stared from Shazar to Twello in the dusk of the night.

  Twello rubbed the green gem like a pet. Shazar had seen it glow in his hands, so he knew it was more than just a rock outside of the priestess’ hands. He didn’t need her.

  ‘You keep it, for all I care! I don’t want to see that thing again for as long as I breathe!’ And she tried to grab it from the boy to throw it away. Twello backed off and the priestess fell on her stomach on the forest floor. There she lay crying, her whole body shaking. It had been her gift and curse; this stone.

  Twello looked worried but Shazar shook his head as if to say not to worry as he placed a soft hand on her shoulder. Ashanna shook him off, not caring about her gown, or what was left of it, coming undone.

  ‘Leave me!’ she whimpered and he and the boy sat down a few feet away.

  ‘She is mad,’ Twello said with big eyes.

  ‘No, not mad, but hurt, very hurt,’ he put an arm around the boy. ‘and her wounds need time to heal and not just on the outside.’

  ‘But we must go soon!’ Twello whispered.

  ‘We will, I promise.’ Shazar crossed his heart like he had done before.

  Chapter 13 The Truthstone

  ‘They did try to rescue you. Not just the stone,’ Shazar explained.

  ‘Save your petty story, please. I know better than that. They know I’m…violated and worthless to them.’ Ashanna’s voice was cold and distant again as if he knew she had to be in order to survive, for that was what she was doing still.

  ‘Then… you’re no longer able to hear the stone?’

  ‘What’s it to you? Oh…I get it.’ She narrowed her eyes at him with loathing.

  ‘No! I’m sorry, I’m just trying to understand this oracle thing,’ he responded apologetically.

  The priestess tried to avoid his olive green eyes with the golden specks; it was as if he could see her clearly even in this dim light. She however could only see the contours of his face and body and those kind eyes; dark but very green. They reminded her of the stone.

  They were seated under an oak tree. Ashanna had calmed down and regained some strength. Shazar made movements to leave.

  ‘They will find a new priestess just as easily.’
she said staring into nothing.

  ‘So there are others who can-’ Shazar started.

  ‘No, we are very rare! It will be hard to find a new priestess, but she will come. There has always been one.’

  ‘You are upset.’

  Ashanna tried to read his face and in doing so narrowed her eyes.

  ‘You would be too if they placed the stone in the centre instead of you as a person. My body and wits have been used and abused in a poor excuse to get me to tell.’

  He swallowed away the knot in his throat.

  ‘Yes, human - er… men can be cruel. So the villagers will come after you to get their stone back?’

  ‘Not me, only the stone. They need it to help find a new priestess,’ she sighed.

  ‘Well, we have to get going now.’ Shazar stood and called for the boy who waited impatiently nearby, biting his nails. Shazar quickly explained where they were going.

  ‘But we won’t leave you here of course,’ Shazar said whilst packing the few things in his rucksack which he had hidden, including his iron staff, and hauling it on his back; it looked heavy.

  ‘Why not? Don’t tell me you need me to answer one of your questions for I won’t!’

  Shazar ignored her. She had more life left in her than he’d realised.

  ‘I don’t think the villagers will be that harsh on you when they find you. You have always served them well and after all it wasn’t your fault. You merely protected the stone. But I am surprised there was no one to guard you in your temple.’

  ‘There was never any need for that. Everyone knew that I was the only one who could communicate with the Truthstone. These outsiders thought there was a secret I was hiding from them, but there wasn’t. The stone only works with the chosen one linked to it. I never protected the stone. I was trying to save my own skin, though rather poorly I’m afraid.’

  ‘Hmm. They…hurt you because they could not find out how the stone worked, even though you told them that?’

  She nodded. ‘And I can’t lie as long as I am bound to the Truthstone but they didn’t believe me. They didn’t believe I was the only one who could work with it. I wanted to prove it to them, offering to answer any question they might have. But they wouldn’t give the stone to me, saying it could be a device or weapon in my hands.’

  ‘So they feared you; that’s why they hurt you.’

  He understood that all too well. It had hit home; all of this. His kind was used and abused like this in order to get the magic out of them. Feeling a connection with the priestess, he walked over to her with Twello by his side, wanting to do something to make her see that he understood. He extended his hand but she ignored it, turning away from him.

  ‘It’s a male thing,’ she said through clenched teeth, her anger rising, misunderstanding his gesture. ‘Power and dominion that sort of thing. That’s why the stone chooses its own owner, or link as we prefer to call it. And those have all been women throughout time. So it would be in safe hands.’

  ‘Knowledge is power.’ Shazar nodded.

  ‘Something they could never possess without me. Instead they were killing me while I could have answered all their questions. All of them.’ Tears were shining in her eyes.

  He held his silence for a moment out of respect before he asked, ‘All?’

  She sighed at that, rubbing her dirty forehead and he was sorry he asked. ‘Within reason, but sometimes vague and in riddles, but trustworthy.’

  He was silent again for too long, because she felt him thinking. He looked away, embarrassed.

  ‘Of course you have a question too. That’s why you came, didn’t you? Not for me, not for money or fame but to have one question answered.’

  ‘I did.’

  His honesty struck her. ‘Well, no such luck for you there I am afraid,’ she said with a tight face, holding her emotions in. ‘Good luck with your quest.’

  ‘With all due respect, I would never force you to give me an answer to my question. Surely you need time-’

  ‘I will never answer any questions again.’

  ‘Why? Is your link with the stone broken now because of your loss of your er… maidenhood?’ He was sorry he mentioned it, for it made her feel awful and the memories were still so fresh.

  ‘I…’ she stammered, Say yes, say yes! To make him stop asking! But she found it hard to lie, even now that she was allowed, for she no longer served the people of Karashne. But there was still a link and he suspected it. Why was there such a stupid rule that she could no longer be a priestess then? He dared not ask, but surmised it was yet another of the primitive rules found all over Bhan.

  ‘I don’t want to keep you from going, please leave,’ she mumbled.

  ‘You still have a link don’t you?’ Shazar did not need her himself, for he trusted he could establish a link with the stone himself, but he would not let her think that either.

  He gently took her arm. ‘Please come.’

  ‘No. I will answer all the questions you have and after that leave me alone.’ Ashanna said suddenly, too weak to refuse.

  ‘I’m most grateful, but the boy’s parents don’t have longer to live than dawn, so we must go now.’

  She stared back at him. ‘You can’t make me come with you. I’d rather die here.’

  ‘You don’t mean that. Look, I don’t want to hurt you. I want you to be safe whether you believe me or not. Just in case the villagers won’t be as kind.’

  ‘Who said I will allow them to find me? I will go…that way.’

  Shazar smiled faintly at her courage and stamina.

  ‘Same direction we’re heading!’

  ‘Then I’ll go that way!’ And she stood up and started walking slowly through the trees in the opposite direction.

  Twello urged him to come and pulled at his breeches, but somehow Shazar would not let this woman go. With all his heart, he couldn’t.

  He was right, for she stumbled; too weak to walk after a few steps. He lifted her up over his shoulder.

  ‘What are you doing?’ It sounded soft, but still strong. ‘Let me go.’

  One stroke of his hand and a whisper, ‘Sleep.’

  And she fell into a deep slumber while he carried her effortlessly.

  ~~~

  ‘How many men are there, Twello?’ Shazar asked while walking.

  ‘Three.’ The boy stared with big eyes at him. The man grew higher and higher in his awe; he was his personal hero now and he wanted to be just like him when he grew up.

  ‘Pah! That should be easy.’

  They made their way to the men’s camp without need of the boy’s directions as Shazar could smell them from afar.

  They looked at the small camp amongst the trees. There was an old haggard brown tent and a fire with one man seated and one standing, on the look-out, waiting for Twello to return. Their horses stood nearby and looked nervous because of the smells of cooked meat on the fire. It nearly made Shazar gag as he was so sensitive to such smells. Not just because it was human flesh he smelt; the men were cannibals, but any meat had the same effect on him. Shazar feared the worst for Twello’s parents.

  He covered Ashanna with his robe, to keep her warm and hid her well. Then he thought about the boy. It was too risky to let him approach these brute men by himself. They might kill him on the spot. No, Twello would have to hide and wait. He told him so. Twello entrusted him with the stone. Shazar placed it in his rucksack and took his iron staff as he concentrated, unafraid, breathing slowly, watching the two men near the fire.

  Jumping in front of them he pointed the staff at them and even before they could respond they were electrocuted, dropping dead to the floor.

  ‘For Twello,’ he whispered.

  The flap of the tent opened and a third man, ran out growling, grabbed a crossbow and confronted him. In one heartbeat Shazar stood next to him and touched the brute with his staff, which was not a weapon or device, it only looked that way to outsiders. Shazar had no need for weapons. The staff was merely for show, ru
nning the electricity coming out of Shazar’s hands. He didn’t want people to know his secret. And that was only one of them. The man fell to the ground, dead.

  ‘Good old faithful electric eel, you make it so easy!’

  It was from that creature that he gained the ability to deliver the lethal strike. But he had used up most of his energy as it took a lot of strength to be able to do this. In nature the electric eel would be able to issue such a powerful strike only once before requiring some time to recharge. Shazar had broken contact with the eel now but still felt drained.

  Quickly he stepped into the tent. It was dark and smelly. It had the stench of death and with a pang in his heart he instantly knew he had come too late. Sharpening his sight he saw the sad scene of two lifeless bodies; a man and a woman, Twello’s parents.

  Great Yentil!

  Why hadn’t they waited? It wasn’t dawn yet. Once again mankind had proven not to be trusted; never to be bargained with, but the boy had had no other choice. Guilt struck Shazar’s heart; what if he had been quicker, would they have lived?

  What was to become of Twello now? Shazar knelt down and felt the woman’s neck; she was already cold, killed early in the night. He would have been too late anyway, even if they hadn’t rescued Ashanna. Twello’s mother had been ravished, by the look of her and afterwards her throat had been cut. The father had been heavily beaten before he had been stabbed to death. Their limbs had been cut off and were missing. The sickening smell of the meat outside became worse. It reminded him of other times long past.

  The boy was not to know how his parents came to meet their end, or he would grow up with hate in his heart. He was too young. Shazar had been young himself when he witnessed the loss his parents to brutal men.

  Feeling for the boy and thinking about Ashanna as well, he returned sadly. How could he soften this heavy news?

  ~~~