That return will be somewhat delayed, however. I am sure you understand.
Are you taking care of Albi, as I asked? Tell her an exciting story about her brother Momen wandering the landscapes of far distant kingdoms—and make it sound better than it is, for in fact I am fat and happy.
I miss you, little brother. Kiss Mother for me. I will see you soon, though later than I would like.
With love,
Momen
* * *
22 Maius
Dear Flip,
I do not know what under the sky is happening.
I know I am only an apprentice. I know I am not in charge of the caravan. But you have done this before. Please, if you can, offer me some advice—or at least some reassurance!
Our navigator has vanished, and his charts are gone with him. The caravan head, darkness take her, insists on taking us farther west, but I know we should be heading north. That is where you are, for one thing. But also, we are supposed to travel from Garsec, and from there to the Seat. The caravan head wants to take the road north through Cabrus and then south of the Birchwood. Why add weeks to our journey? She is a fool, and the navigator is not here to tell her otherwise.
Where in the dark below did that fool go, anyway?
I would be lying if I told you I was not worried, but then again, this is hardly the worst fate that can befall a caravan. It seems we must wait quite some time before our reunion, but I still have that bottle of wine.
If you have any wise words, send them as quickly as you may. Otherwise, watch out for me.
Yours,
Momen
* * *
26 Maius
Father,
You know I would not write you like this unless it was urgent, so please, listen to me.
Something is wrong. We are in strange, backwater lands in the southeast of Selvan. The caravan leader is leading us west for reasons I do not understand. We should be heading north towards the Great Bay, not deeper into Selvan. And it is not as though she has looked up a better route; as I am sure you have been told, our navigator and all his maps are gone. We have not seen a city for days, only meager little towns where we can leave letters like this one, hoping a King’s messenger arrives sometime soon to carry it your way.
There is something afoot, but I do not know what. The caravan head is behaving most oddly. Could she have been paid off by one of our enemies? I do not know. All I know is that we are in more danger the farther we proceed on this reckless course. I have tried to speak my mind in this matter, but Halab only made me an apprentice. The caravan head will not listen to me, and I cannot strip her of her authority.
I know you will think me weak, but I will admit it: I am frightened, Father. Something is wrong, and it is a problem I have never been trained to solve.
I do not know what you can do, but if you have any ideas, please. Help me. Mayhap you can send Mako to investigate, if that dark-damned man has reappeared—we still have not seen him.
Your son,
Momen
* * *
28 Maius
Dearest Halab,
Our ability to send letters has been hampered, and I do not know if you have received any word of the caravan’s progress for the last few weeks. In any case, I must write you now, and urgently. Something has happened. The caravan was attacked.
These were no bandits. We do not even know if they were human. They came in the night, but they bore no torches. It was like they could see in the dark. They slew the caravan head and two of her guards, and then they vanished again. No, that is not entirely true—they destroyed the wheel pins of three of the wagons before they left.
Do not think I am in despair. I am now in charge of the caravan, and as is my duty, I am simply informing you of what happened. We mourned our caravan head, burning her and her guards after wrapping them in muslin. I beg of you, deliver my heartfelt sorrow to their families until I can return home and do it myself.
I have decided to abandon the crippled wagons. I will transfer as much of our goods to the other wagons as I can, but I must save our people. We are too far west—a matter I tried to resolve with the caravan head, but could not. I will say no more, for I wish to speak no ill of the dead.
I know my duty, dearest aunt. I will not shirk it. I will save every life I can, as well as every coin for the family. I mean to lead us east again and then north once we have cleared the mountain range, making for the Great Bay as we were supposed to do in the first place.
You will see that your faith in me was not misplaced. I swear it.
With love,
Momen
* * *
5 Yunis
Father,
We have been waylaid in eastern Selvan. I cannot say exactly where, for the maps are by now a distant memory.
Last night was the third attack so far, though I have no doubt they will strike again—whoever they are. No, I do not say whatever, but whoever. It was a human, I am certain of that. They moved in the darkness. There were few of them—I think, in fact, one.
Father, I cannot write more plainly. But you must send aid to us, now, at once. And you must do it yourself. I am certain that by the time this reaches you, the family will have mobilized to come to our aid. Do not rely on them. I cannot tell you why, but you must come. Please, if you value my life at all, if you ever have, trust me.
We have taken shelter atop a hill just a few leagues away from the main road. There are many standing stones and trees behind which to take cover. We have enough supplies to hold out almost indefinitely, and I have set a constant guard.
I am sending this letter with a messenger and hoping they survive the journey. If you receive this, do not wait. Come as soon as you can.
And if you are too late, please try to find out what happened. Do not stop searching. Our family has the means. Use them, and see what results.
A final request, if indeed this letter does not save us, as I fear it might not. Look after Ebon for me. I know you too well to ask you to be kind to him. But see to his safety, if nothing else. He may be in danger, just as I am, and it may threaten him from anywhere.
Your son,
Momen
* * *
5 Yunis
Dear Filip,
Do you despair to see me use your real name so formally? Well, I am about out of concern for such things.
Flip, I think I am doomed. And I think our family is to blame.
Your words to me have never rung more true in my memory. Something dark has taken root in the family Drayden, and it is that darkness that circles me now, that I fear will claim me in the end.
If this letter ever reaches you, it will have been seen by no one else. So I will speak plainly to you, when I could not do so in my last letter to my father.
Mako is here.
It is he who has been attacking the caravan, darkness take him. I caught only a glimpse of him, but it was enough. There may be others with him, other members of the Tabarzin, but Mako is here for certain.
I will do my best to survive. We are taking every precaution to hold out until rescue can come. But you know the Tabarzin as well as I do—perhaps better. I have little hope left.
But Flip, there is something more. Something I am only just now coming to realize: Mako cannot be acting alone. It is impossible. The shadowed messages we have both caught wind of, the strangers who appear in our homes only to vanish before daylight, all of it. All this could not be carried out by the Tabarzin without help.
Halab has something to do with it.
I am sorry, Flip. I know she is your mother. I am certain of my guess, though I wish I were not. Everything we have seen—and all the things we have only begun to suspect—they are happening by Halab’s orders.
I think that if I die here, you will come to pay your last respects. If you are reading these words, then I have succeeded in hiding the letter in such a way that only you will be able to find it. If I did it right, then heed my advice, dearest Flip: run
. Leave the family and never look back. You owe them nothing. Neither of us ever did. Make for yourself the life you have always wanted—that we have both always wanted.
Do it for me.
Love,
Momen
* * *
7 Yunis
Dear, dear Ebon,
If you are reading this … well, I do not need to tell you what has happened.
I would do anything to see you one last time. But we are under attack, and I am not likely to survive. These things happen to caravans, little brother. This is part of our life. A life I hope will be gentler to you than it has been, in the end, to me.
I find myself in the odd position of having to give you one final piece of advice. It is unfair. You are so young, and I do not know the sort of man you will grow up to be—what advice you will need the most. And I am so young myself. How can I tell you how to live a good life, when mine has been cut short so soon? I am no wise old man with an abundance of wisdom to share. So take what I have to say and use it, or not, as you see fit.
But Ebon, I do not think you are suited for the life our family has laid before you. You are too fond of books, and not fond enough of numbers; too interested in peace, and quiet, and friendship, and not interested enough in travel and adventure.
You have a gift, Ebon. I will write to you of it freely now, though neither of us was permitted to speak openly of it when I was at home with you. That gift should not be squandered. And if you get the chance to use it, you should. You are a wizard. Be a wizard. Be a learned master of lore, be an alchemist of renown. Do not waste your days driving caravans across the nine kingdoms.
But above all, be who you wish to be. You have a better heart in your breast and a better head atop your neck than I do—or, I should say, I did. I think you know, in your heart, what sort of man you should grow up to be.
I only wish I could see it.
You have all my love, even from the darkness.
Momen
* * *
7 Yunis
Listen here, you sow.
I know the truth. I know what you have done. I know that Mako is coming to kill me—to kill all of us—and that he is doing it on your orders.
I am sickened to think of how I always trusted you. How Ebon still trusts you, and Filip. We idolized you. And now you have cast me away, because—because what? Because I had begun to suspect the truth about you? Because I had caught some faint inkling of what you and Mako were up to? And because you feared I would tell what I knew to Filip? I do not know for certain, but that would be my guess.
Well, you have won. Filip will never hear what I have to say about you. He will never learn the truth. He will continue to idolize you, and that will make you very happy, I am sure.
I know Mako will come for me. It may be tonight, it may be days from now. I will wait for him. And before he slits my throat, I will give him this letter for you. I will make him give it to you, so that you know I see you for what you are—worthless, faithless, and deserving of nothing but the deepest scorn and dishonor. Know it, and remember it always.
I will also give Mako another letter. It will be for Ebon. You will see to it that Ebon receives the letter. You will not withhold it. Do not worry—I will tell Ebon nothing of what has happened, of what I now know to be true about you and Mako and the whole sorry, rotten heart of our family.
But I am Ebon’s brother. He always needed me, with the way Father treated him. And you will not stop me from doing the most I can for him, even now.
You will follow me into death, one day. That is the only thing that comforts me as the sun sets on what might be my final day. And in the darkness below, I will torment you forever.
Momen
—It should be noted for the reader that Halab did not, in fact, prevent Ebon from reading Momen’s final letter. But Shay, Ebon’s father, did.
KEEP READING
More books in The Academy Journals are coming. But this is not the only tale of Underrealm. The Nightblade Epic tells the story of Loren of the family Nelda, known to many as the Nightblade.
Either story is complete on its own—but together, they form a greater part of the tapestry of Underrealm.
Contained within the Nightblade Epic are answers to many of the mysteries laced throughout The Academy Journals. Just why did the Shades come to the High King’s Seat? Where did Xain come from, and why does he hate magestones so?
And just how does Mako know as much as he does?
Find out in The Nightblade Epic volumes, which get dozens of pages of bonus materials just like you found in this book.
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THE BOOKS OF UNDERREALM
BY GARRETT ROBINSON
To see all novels in the world of Underrealm, visit:
Underrealm.net/books
THE NIGHTBLADE EPIC
NIGHTBLADE
MYSTIC
DARKFIRE
SHADEBORN
WEREMAGE
YERRIN
THE ACADEMY JOURNALS
THE ALCHEMIST’S TOUCH
THE MINDMAGE’S WRATH
THE FIREMAGE’S VENGEANCE
TALES OF THE WANDERER (COMING SOON)
BLOOD LUST
STONE SKIN
HELL SKIN
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
NIGHTBLADE
MYSTIC
DARKFIRE
SHADEBORN
BLOOD LUST
THE ALCHEMIST’S TOUCH
THE MINDMAGE’S WRATH
WEREMAGE
STONE SKIN
THE FIREMAGE’S VENGEANCE
HELL SKIN
YERRIN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Garrett Robinson was born and raised in Los Angeles. The son of an author/painter father and a violinist/singer mother, no one was surprised when he grew up to be an artist.
After blooding himself in the independent film industry, he self-published his first book in 2012 and swiftly followed it with a stream of others, publishing more than two million words by 2014. Within months he topped numerous Amazon bestseller lists. Now he spends his time writing books and
directing films.
A passionate fantasy author, his most popular books are the novels of Underrealm, including the series The Nightblade Epic and The Academy Journals.
However, he has delved into many other genres. Some works are for adult audiences only, such as Non Zombie and Hit Girls, but he has also published popular books for younger readers, including The Realm Keepers series and The Ninjabread Man, co-authored with Z.C. Bolger.
Garrett lives in Oregon with his wife Meghan, his children Dawn, Luke, and Desmond, and his dog Chewbacca.
Garrett can be found on:
BLOG: garrettbrobinson.com/blog
EMAIL: [email protected]
TWITTER: twitter.com/garrettauthor
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/garrettbrobinson
The Academy Journals Volume One_A Book of Underrealm Page 83