CHILD OF DESTINY (The Rising Saga Book 1)

by M. K. Adams

  “Focus,” he said through a ghoulish grin. “We can do this all day if we need to, it’s only going to cause us both more pain. You need to focus.”

  Lyvanne tried to recall how she had cast the demon from her mind the other night, what it had felt like, how her body had reacted. Even if it had been with the help of Turiel’s spell, it had to be a good place to start. Turiel was striding in her direction, his every step a warning that if he touched her, she’d lost this horrific game and it would all be for nothing.

  Come on, think! She told herself as the flames licked at her face.

  Then, as if struck by a moment of genius, it all started to come to her. The feeling of power over this god-forsaken realm she’d felt when she banished the flames and pulled herself out. The feeling of anguish and frustration the shadow creature had experienced as between Turiel and herself they extended his stay, increasing the pain and stress on his real body, wherever in The Rive that may be.

  She opened her eyes, not being entirely sure when she had closed them, saw Turiel’s demonic shadow advancing on her, and as if she’d just snapped her fingers in banishment, the whole world began to vanish around her. Sinking in on itself until there was nothing left. Suddenly, she was back on the small clearing, high above the Rive’s countryside.

  “You did it!” Exclaimed a grinning Turiel. “I knew you could do it,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

  She returned the hug, although weakly, already exhausted from their day’s work.

  “Come on, let’s go in again,” Turiel insisted.

  Lyvanne frowned, her arms heavy and her legs weak. “You don’t let up, do you?”

  They repeated the exercise three more times until they were both sure that her control over her mind was complete. Each time, Turiel took them into that realm of shadow and fire Lyvanne forced them from their prison quicker than she had done before.

  “I think you’re ready,” Turiel said as if he was speaking to a student of years. “I’m going to leave up my spell just in case, but don’t forget it will only work whilst I’m nearby, so if you choose to leave us you’ll be on your own. If you don’t mind?”

  She didn’t. Although she wouldn’t admit it, having that extra bit of protection did make her feel more secure and she wasn’t quite yet ready to make her decision as to what she wanted to do with her life. Not before she’d seen Jocelyn again.

  They spent the rest of the day just enjoying each other’s company. It had been far too long since they had spent any real time together, alone and without the worry of having to train her mind to defend itself.

  “Do you like The Spring?” Turiel asked her as they sat around the campfire, the horses neighing calmly to their right and the sun setting off in the distance.

  She had to think about her answer. She certainly liked some of them, Greyson and Davidson, Oblib and Kwah most of all had been especially nice to her when she let down her walls to let them in. But there were others who seemed distant, who didn’t want her there and that made it difficult for her to outright say she liked the insurgency. As childish as she thought Turiel might find that. The one called Drystal had made her feel particularly unwanted and ostracised, but he himself seemed out of place among the others.

  “Yes,” she decided. “I don’t think they all like me though.”

  “Yeah, some of them are like that. They weren’t all overly fond about me bringing someone being actively hunted by the king into camp.”

  Lyvanne nodded, that seemed fair enough. But at the same time she couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter over the fact that she would never have turned away someone from Abella’s, even if they were being hunted the way she was.

  “You enjoy learning about our world, don’t you?” Turiel acknowledged as a period of silence grew between them.

  “Always have done, the person whose house I used to live in was once a librarian in the king’s library. She knew all sorts.”

  “I wish I’d met her, but I dare to say that the king’s library wasn’t exactly my scene. I always preferred to learn things through experience, so I guess I didn’t learn too much whilst I was in the castle. But I learned a whole lot in the years after I left…”

  Lyvanne nudged closer, she could always sense when a good story was about to start.

  “As you know, Sinjin and Jocelyn were the ones who looked after me, without them I’d probably have ended up in the same place you did. After a while, I wanted to see what else lay beyond the walls of Astreya, and as part of The Spring I had my excuse. I travelled through The Rive like I owned it, like it was mine to learn and study, and in a sense I guess it was,” he continued. “Once or twice, I even found my way to countries further abroad, searching for allies who felt the same way about our great monarch that we do. I had to be careful of course, sometimes I wasn’t and got into trouble for it. Believe it or not, not all of these scars are the result of magic.”

  The two laughed together, of course it was no laughing matter, Lyvanne stared at the scars and not for the first time. At first they’d both fascinated and scared her, but looking on them now she saw that they were a part of Turiel as much as anything else. They were his own story written into his body, and once she saw it that way the fear began to drift away.

  “Then one day I was rifling through a tomb I discovered up in the White Mountains to the South, don’t ask why I was in a tomb, some adventuring just seemed like a necessary part of the job,” He said, waving an arm in the air like it was the stupidest decision he’d ever made. “And buried deep in this tomb, after all the skeletons who came back to life to try and kill me, after all the booby traps…”

  Lyvanne wasn’t quite sure if he was joking or not.

  “… I found the person whom the tomb belonged to. Rachel Goldheart, the brightest person of her age and buried alongside her body was a pile of books. Turned out they were her personal journals,” he said with a smile on his face. “they documented everything she knew about magic and its uses.”

  “That’s where you learned it all?” Lyvanne asked, it felt obvious but she just wanted to be sure.

  “Yes. Over the past few years, I’ve learned everything there is to learn in those books. They were my teacher, and I consider myself lucky to have had them. Many warlocks are born and die without ever knowing how to control what they have.”

  “Do you still have them?”

  “Not anymore. As I said, I learned everything there was to learn, so about a year ago I went travelling and put them back where I found them. Hopefully some other warlock will find and use them in the future.”

  For the first time since knowing one another, Lyvanne truly admired Turiel. Despite his age, he had seen and done things that some men wouldn’t even be able to dream of in their entire life. But more than that, he’d had the will power to leave it all behind for someone else to use in the future. They spent the rest of the night with Turiel teaching Lyvanne about the various stars, their constellations and where they lay in relation to the landmarks on The Rive. Climbing to the other side of the rocky hillside, Turiel pointed at one star in particular, it shone brighter than any of the others.

  “That star there is Icrayus, and it lies directly above Avagarde,” He moved his hand down to point towards the vague shadowy outline of a valley far off to the South. “I would bet you a large wager that if you were to travel to Avagarde you’d find Jocelyn.”

  Lyvanne’s ears perked up. “Jocelyn? How do you know?”

  “She’s always loved Avagarde. It’s a city entwined with nature, where Astreya is all walls of stone, dust, and sun; Avagarde is filled with trees, the houses encased with vines, the river Tia that runs just outside its wall a home to all manner of creatures that I couldn’t even imagine until I saw them in person. She has friends there, and she’s gone there before to blow off steam when we’ve fallen out.”

  “Why did you fall out? You still haven’t told me what about your strategy you disagreed on.”

  Turiel placed a
hand on her cheek and made to walk back towards their camp.

  “Not yet, that’s for members of The Spring only I’m afraid,” he said cuttingly. “She never disappears for much longer than a week, so she should be back soon. Maybe then we can speak, when we’re all together again.”

  Turiel’s eyes averted her gaze and flickered out towards the countryside surrounding them. Lyvanne’s mind began to wander as she pondered what exactly had driven her friend away.

  Chapter 19

  “I will come back,” Lyvanne whispered quietly to the carvings on the wall as Turiel readied the horse.

  A heavy downpour of rain forced the pair to pack their belongings in a hurry, and it didn’t appear as though it was going to relent any time soon. The wet ground underfoot made it more difficult for the horse to travel back down the hill and Lyvanne was scared that she might die of pneumonia before they ever made it back.

  “This is your fault,” she shouted through the rain toward her friend.

  “Mine? I don’t control the weather.”

  “Your father did!” She replied, proud of the joke, even if she had spent the past hour coming up with it.

  She could just about make out Turiel laughing underneath his hood. “Well played. Guess Rachel Goldheart never took the time to learn how to control the weather.”

  As they made their way through the meadows and plains, they passed a herd of cattle; cows of varying sizes, colours and patterns. They were just lying on the grass, as if the rain had no effect on them. Lyvanne wasn’t sure, but she felt pretty confident that it was the first time she had envied cows. Even in the rain though, she had to admit that the countryside was endless times more beautiful than Astreya had been. Whilst she admired the work that had gone into building such a city, and especially some of the larger or more ornate structures, she had never deemed it to be particularly beautiful. There were too many people crammed into too small a space, and seeing the open world around her Lyvanne wondered why anyone would ever want to leave.

  As the day drew on, they grew steadily closer to the edge of the woodland area that concealed the encampment. Lyvanne welcomed the return to her hut and the canopy that kept away the rain, but at the same time she was going to miss spending time alone with Turiel. Despite the pain he had put her through, she dared say it had been fun.

  “Promise you won’t become distant again?” she asked him as they approached the edge of the woods.

  Turiel looked over at her, “I promise. You know I have business to attend to whilst I’m here, fighting against the king doesn’t come easy, but I promise that I’ll make more time for you and for Jocelyn when she returns.” The additional comment about Jocelyn made her happy; she wanted the two to be happy and hadn’t enjoyed the idea of them being anything else.

  The pair passed through into the threshold of the wood early in the afternoon, waving at the various guards on patrol at the woodland edge as they did. Both of them noted that there were more than usual.

  “Why so many?” Lyvanne asked, noting at least half a dozen armed men and women spread sporadically throughout the tree line.

  “Just a precaution, I guess,” Turiel said limply.

  Upon entering the woods, one guard spotted them and ran over in their direction. He was shorter than most in The Spring, but his shoulders were wide and strong. Lyvanne thought he had the look of the Dwarves from the old stories, but figured it polite not to mention it.

  “Turiel, I’m glad you’re back,” The man said, barely acknowledging Lyvanne. “Kwah wants to see you immediately. There’s been news from Astreya.”

  Lyvanne’s stomach sank.

  “Don’t play games, man! What news?” Turiel replied.

  “I don’t know, been kept between the Council, just know it’s important.”

  “Thank you,” Turiel replied before spurring his horse on into the trees.

  Lyvanne tried to spur her horse on in the same manner, but it was more timid and her control less profound. She ended up falling significantly further behind Turiel, but never quite out of his sight. The pair made good time through the rest of the woods and soon broke into the clearing.

  Lyvanne dismounted her horse shortly after Turiel and watched as Kwah put an arm around his shoulder and guided him to the larger wooden structure towards the edge of the camp. After tying up her horse and making sure everything was in order, she quickly followed the pair. The structure was filled with the same people it had been the last time she barged in, evidently they were the people considered leaders. Seeing her making a bee-line for their table the lean man, Drystal, who had been quick to voice his concerns over her place in the camp during her last visit moved to intercept.

  “Hold there kid, this ain’t for you,” Drystal said, holding out a strong arm to prevent her from entering.

  “I want to know what’s going on. I have friends in Astreya!” She said as forcefully as she could, hoping it would help her cause.

  “It’s okay, Drystal, let her in,” Kwah said, but the man wasn’t about to listen.

  “What’s the point, eh?” Drystal shouted back, not caring that he was causing a scene and numerous people around the camp were pretending not to listen in. “Why keep this from the others but let this child know?”

  “Precisely because she isn’t one of us,” Kwah said, his voice deep and commanding. “She has a right to know.”

  Neither broke their gaze from the other. Drystal licked a venomous looking tongue over the few teeth he had left and cursed before letting Lyvanne into the structure.

  “She’s trouble,” he said bluntly, before taking his leave.

  Lyvanne noted that Turiel had stayed out of it this time, probably for the better to let Kwah fight those fights she thought. Her hands shook, she didn’t know why Drystal hated her so much, but she wasn’t about to let him get in her way.

  “What’s happening in Astreya?” Lyvanne asked, turning her attention to Kwah.

  The other Islander, whose name Lyvanne didn’t know strode to the front of the structure where she was stood. Using his height he reached up to the roof and unleashed a small hook, which sent a sheet of leaves tied together with twine tumbling to the floor, closing up the open wall of the structure.

  “Welcome to the Annex, Lyvanne,” The Islander said. “If you are to be in here and to share in our secrets then you may as well know its name. My own is Shri’ook.”

  Shri’ook stretched out his hand in offering and Lyvanne shook it, more confidently than she thought she would have done. The Islander didn’t exactly seem pleased to be permitting her into their circle, but he wasn’t arguing the point either.

  “The man who just left is Drystal, and this here is Tublik,” Shri’ook said pointing towards the final man in the structure.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Lyvanne said.

  Tublik didn’t say anything, but he nodded and showed the briefest of smiles. She would have to determine his stance on her later, but she didn’t get the warmest of vibes. Besides, as far as a “leader” went Shri’ook appeared to hold the most seniority, so she’d passively decided to try and win him over the most.

  “Together with Kwah whom you seem well acquainted with already, and Turiel when he leaves Astreya to pleasure us with his presence,” Shri’ook shot a short and well-hidden smile in Turiel’s direction. “Together we make up the Council of The Spring, the leaders of this branch if you will.”

  Lyvanne looked around at the mass of men around her and nearly keeled over as a sudden purge of nerves swept through her body. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, Turiel this is why I asked for you to come and see me immediately,” Kwah said, holding up a short piece of parchment that had once been rolled and adorned the remnants of a small wax seal. “Whilst you were gone we received word from Sinjin. Things in Astreya have turned sour.”

  Kwah passed Turiel the letter. Rathe, Turiel snatched the letter from Kwah’s hands.

  “Turns out the king did find new depths to sink to,” Kwa
h continued as Turiel read over the letter. “What do we do?” Kwah asked as he saw Turiel finish reading the letter.

  “We have to stop them,” Turiel replied, putting the letter down on the table. “They’re killing people. If there’s anything we’ve stood for, if there is any reliability in what we stand for, then we can’t let the people of Astreya continue to suffer.”

  Turiel had an anger in his voice that Lyvanne had never heard before, but the glint in his eyes told the same story of the night the king’s men burned down Udnak’s house.

  Not wanting to play the waiting game anymore ,Lyvanne reached across the table and picked up the letter for herself. The handwriting was untidy, but she thought she could just about make out what it said.

  Dear Jocelyn,

  I hope this letter finds you well. I am pleased to hear that you made it to The Spring with little trouble, I am sure they are treating you well. Please do send my regards to both Turiel and Lyvanne, the house is quiet and lonely without you all here, but I do often enjoy being able to focus on writing my book in my spare hours with little noise.

  I wish I had good news to convey regarding the situation in Astreya. My contact in the king’s Castle has gone quiet over the last few days, the last I heard was that a warlock - unsure which - had arrived back from the front lines and had been tasked with finding Lyvanne. I hope that she has handled that okay.

  I presume their efforts were in vain because ever since then things in the city have only grown worse. The king has started taking in adults as well as children for questioning. None of the adults that I know of have come back. Hangings have grown in frequency as well. I’ve seen at least four over the past week alone. Three of which happened over the past two days.

  The king is convinced that the girl is in Astreya, and it is starting to seem like he is willing to burn the whole lower level to the ground in order to find her.

  I asked some friends to keep an eye out for Lyvanne’s friends in the Upper level like you asked, but as of yet, nothing. I will write again if I hear more.