It had been only a week since he set out from the Cascading castle, but he had made good time. The mountains still weren’t in view, but it wouldn’t be long until they are towering in the distance. Pike walked over to the edge of the forest and watched as streaks of lightning shot back and forth across the sky. He had been hiding in the woods since the morning after watching what appeared to be the mark of the dead King over the Cascading castle.
Every part of Pike wanted to run from the woods, back to the castle, and help the others, but the constant reminder of his wife’s suffering kept him firmly planted on his constant course. However, with the streaking and screaming of the dead army across the fields and the explosions in the distance, Pike felt that hiding out for a couple of days would be the safest thing. He turned back toward the fire and sat down on a log, rotating his food above the hot flames. It had been the first time in days that the ground was dry enough for him to start a fire, much less catch anything to cook over it.
The smell of cooking meat rumbled his stomach, and he checked the rabbit to see if it was cooked. He set the rabbit on the makeshift leaf plate he had piled and rummaged through his bag to find some seasonings he had thrown in before he left. His first thought wasn’t a gourmet meal, but when he was grabbing fruit and bread, he figured he might as well grab some seasoning, too. As his hands slid through his pack, he could hear a low humming noise.
Pike stood up quickly and looked around, pulling his cloak back over him and pulling his hood up. The humming got closer and closer until it was so loud he couldn’t hear his own thoughts. He pulled his hands over his ears and flinched. A bright shot of light flashed in front of him, and his feet were pulled out from beneath him. He grasped at the leaves and dirt until finally coming to a stop. Whatever was attacking flipped him over on his back.
Pike pulled his arms down from his face and opened his eyes. Leonetta hovered on top of him, her body glowing and translucent. She put her fingers to her lips and looked passed him at the fire. Pike slowly turned over, still invisible from his cloak and watched as three large beasts trampled through his campsite, throwing his bag to the ground and smashing his fire. The largest of the three turned in all directions, looking for something. He listened closely to their jumbled speech.
“Not here,” the smallest one grumbled.
“He can’t be far,” the larger one growled. “The King wants that sword. My sister needs that sword.”
Pike watched as the three ogerish beasts stomped out into the fields and evaporated into thin air. He breathed heavily, turning back over to thank Leonetta for her help, but she was nowhere in sight. He stood, brushing the leaves off himself and looking around for the fae Princess. However she had gotten to him, she had disappeared just as quickly.
He walked back over to the edge of the woods and out into the field. Invisible to the eye, he looked up as three Wild Dragons sped past him, flew in circles, and then back in the direction of the Vale. What were the Wild doing all the way out here? Thunder shook the ground as red light blew straight up into the air in the distance. Pike squinted his eyes, realizing it was coming from the dead King’s castle. The lights, filled with smoke, seemed to curve and move upward like a giant snake, coming to a sharp point at the end.
Pike backed up into the woods, shaking his head. He knew exactly what that was; that was the symbol of the dead King’s army. He was powerful enough to feel no fear of showing his place among the mountains. An eerie feeling crawled through Pike’s stomach as he ran his hand over the handle of his sword. He knew now that retrieving Shayla wasn’t his only directive. He needed to find the dead King and stop him any way he knew how…but was he walking in alone?
*** To Be Continued***
Book 4: The Journey For Death
Prologue
From the realm of the Cascading Seas, across the billowing hills of Terragon, and through the flowing rivers of Perpetua, the east realms blossomed and birthed the elegance and radiance known across the seas. For centuries, peace has enveloped these prosperous communities, bringing food to its citizens’ plates, warmth to their hearth, and prosperity to their pockets. Since the days of the first kings, the realms have grown and matured, boasting healthy governments, alliances stronger than time, and knowledge beyond the marks of the moon.
The fae, the wizards, the merpeople, the shifters, the humans, and many other creatures call the east realms their homes. Tucked along the green blowing hills and within the cavernous mountain ranges, communities rise with the sun each day to plow their fields, perfect their crafts, and protect their lands. Peace was a word that could describe the last three centuries in the east realms. However, as the ash blew in off Fortune, washing upon the shores of the east, everything began to change.
Thousands of miles of moving tides, crashing waves, and deep-sea creatures stand between the realms of the east and those of the west. It has been widely understood that the west realms operated under more of a tyrannous rule, especially since King Osiris, from the realm of Avalon, stomped and trodden his way across the west realms. He seized and murdered their kings, queens, and commanders, and burned any remaining life to the ground. In a raging fit of anger after his wife was murdered and his daughter, Leonetta – born a fae – deceived him and took flight for the Vale, he pushed the old, creaking ships across the Fortune’s waters and into the Vale ports.
War raged between the Cinder armies and the fae, severely depleting Osiris’ army and driving him back to the ports. However, though the fae had shown their might, it did not come without loss, and the Vale was left to the eldest daughter, Asphodul, her new dragon shifter husband and commander of the fae forces, Tyriad, and her younger sister, Leonetta. Leonetta had been welcomed with open arms into the Vale, her birth father being King Anthurium. Anthurium had given his life for Leonetta after she was pierced through the heart by a rogue Avalon soldier. The fae marched into battle without their King but by the hand of their Queen Seville, who died protecting all in the realm.
Once the dust had settled, across the east realms to the northwest sat the oldest realm in the lands, the Cascading Seas. King Osharus, his daughter, Aralea, and her husband, Georges, ruled the lands in peace, their youth preserved by the powers they held within them. Wizards were known to walk the Earth for centuries, their bodies holding on to their vitality and their minds imbued with the knowledge of time. These three royals were no different, and they found solace in their understanding of the wavering nature of peace.
Just off the shores of the Cascading ports, in the inlet of Illiad, sat the prominent city of the merpeople. Deep below the churning seas was a kingdom bountiful in the joys that humans had no knowledge of. Beyond their prosperous ways, the merpeople had held a lifelong alliance with Osharus, working side by side to keep the east realms and the ocean beyond safe from all intruding forces. King Ebin and Queen Diona were the most recent of the rulers, and they worked hard to strengthen their stance within the realms. Their son, Picarus, or Pike, was a young man, absorbed by the love for his human mate, Shayla, paying little mind to the politics of ocean life.
Pike has grown tired of his fins and tails and longed to marry his human love, something forbidden in the mer-kingdom. In an effort to be released from this burden, he made a deal with Osharus to help command his army in exchange for his legs and his wife. Osharus made good on this agreement and transformed Pike into a human, celebrating his marriage to Shayla within the kingdom’s walls.
As Osiris, with the commanding hand of his once daughter’s love, Holland, regrouped and planned their attack on the port city, darker plots were afoot. Holland had moved as far past his love for Leonetta as he could, finding comfort in the arms of a slave girl, Malaya. Her dark features and trapping stare brought his attention from the days of love in the fields of Avalon to a tumultuous and dangerous love affair – a love affair that would leave him betrayed, left for dead, and back in the life of Leonetta.
At first glance, it would seem the east realms were threat
ened by a foe that held no real strength far from his home. However, as the storms off of the Fortune began to churn, an evil from long before, once sentenced to the depths of hell by the gods themselves, crawled his way back and began to draw his powers from the bubbling volcanic hills of Pero Peaks. As Ghede grows, his dark, demonic gifts begin to surface, drawing the attention of Malaya, who is a known powerful necromancer. She is chosen as the Dead King’s bride, impregnated with the heir to the Dead Throne. Together, they move the dead forward and watch as they slowly begin to build an army.
Upon the Autumn Solstice celebration, a time where all gather in the Cascading realm to ask the gods for their blessings before the dangers of winters arrive, Ghede does not go unnoticed. As the flaming arrow shot from King Ebin’s bow ignites the realm’s floating gift to the gods, Ghede rises from the flames. He calls out to all, threatening their lives and claiming stake over the east realms. Pike steps forward, valiant in his efforts, but punished nonetheless. As he questions Ghede and his powers, Shayla is captured and taken to Pero Peaks to serve the Dead King until her usefulness has run dry.
Pike calls out to the others, begging them to help him find Shayla and bring her home. However, knowing the power that the Dead King has developed, they refuse, turning their backs on any kind of rescue mission. Though Leonetta’s visions show Pike’s death at the hand of Ghede, he still looks to save his bride, even if the journey is made alone. In the final hour, Pike approaches Leonetta’s most trusted advisor and the former Faith of Avalon, knowing he is the man with all of the secrets. Ardontis refuses to go along but gives him two gifts: a cloak that makes him invisible to the naked eye, and the Dead Sword. The Dead Sword is the only way a now-human like Pike could have any chance of defending himself against Ghede.
As Pike quietly sets out on his journey, he watches as Osiris’ troops, with Malaya at their side, approaches the Cascading Kingdom. Tyriad brings fae shifters and soldiers to aid in battle, and just as they think they have brought Osiris to his knees, both parties are bewildered by Malaya’s betrayal of the alliance with Avalon. From the ashes of the cindered soldiers, she rises high into the air, striking down anyone in her way. Osharus, aware that the rest of them will meet their doom, put into motion a plan to get him, his commander, daughter, son-in-law, and Holland to safety. Before he uses his magic one last time, he watches as Holland sneaks into the brigades, gouging Osiris with his sword and sending him to suffer among the Dead Army.
With thoughts of his grandchild growing in his daughter’s body, Osharus holds back the Dead Queen’s advances for long enough to get his family, Leonetta, and Holland to safety in the Vale castle. However, in order to do so, he was forced to leave behind his staff, the source of all of his magic, and containing the answer to his eternal youth. The staff is destroyed in an angry fit of rage by Malaya, and as Osharus teleports to the steps of the Vale throne, his age catches up to him.
Now, with the Dead King raging far off in the mountains, the mer-king disappeared, and King Osharus buried alongside the great fae king, Pike continues forward on a journey to find his bride. Aralea and Tyriad are struggling to find their footing as the strongest royal line left in the Kingdom, and Leonetta watches Pike as he travels, her own plan stirring in her chest. The east realms no longer just face a foe of mere skin and bones, they face an enemy that could end their world as they know it. Their largest hope, still unknown to them, is a human prince with nothing more than a sword and a pack of bread.
As lightning strikes far off in the distance, the Dead King grows stronger and stronger. His army works day and night, creating a force never seen by anyone alive in the realms today. Malaya walks carefully next to the dead, carrying the dead child that will rule the realms next to its father for all eternity.
Pike was looking for an adventure, but this one might be beyond his grasp.
Chapter One: The Farmer’s Bravery
Pike stood up quickly and looked around, pulling his cloak back over him and pulling his hood up. The humming got closer and closer until it was so loud he couldn’t hear his own thoughts. He pulled his hands over his ears and flinched. A bright shot of light flashed in front of him, and his feet were pulled out from beneath him. He grasped at the leaves and dirt until finally coming to a stop. Whatever was attacking, flipped him over on his back.
Pike pulled his arms down from his face and opened his eyes. Leonetta hovered over him; her body was glowing and translucent. She put her fingers to her lips and looked past him at the fire. Pike slowly turned over, still invisible from his cloak, and watched as three large beasts trampled through his campsite, throwing his bag to the ground and smashing his fire. The largest of the three turned in all directions looking for something. He listened closely to their jumbled speech.
“Not here,” the smallest one grumbled.
“He can’t be far,” the larger one growled. “The king wants that sword. My sister needs that sword.”
Pike watched as the three ogreish beasts stomped out into the fields and evaporated into thin air. He breathed heavily, turning back over to thank Leonetta for her help, but she was nowhere in sight. He stood, brushing the leaves off himself and looking around for the fae princess. However she had gotten to him, she had disappeared just as quickly.
He walked back over to the edge of the woods and out into the field. Invisible to the eye, he looked up as three Wild Dragons sped past him, flew in circles, and then back in the direction of the Vale. What were the Wild doing all the way out here? Thunder shook the ground as red light blew straight up into the air in the distance. Pike squinted his eyes, realizing it was coming from the Dead King’s castle. The lights, filled with smoke, seemed to curve and move upward like a giant snake, coming to a sharp point at the end.
Pike backed up into the woods, shaking his head. He knew exactly what that was; that was the symbol of the Dead King’s army. He was powerful enough to feel no fear of showing his place among the mountains. An eerie feeling crawled through Pike’s stomach as he ran his hand over the handle of his sword. He knew now that retrieving Shayla wasn’t his only directive. He needed to find the Dead King and stop him any way he knew how.
He went back into the woods and attempted to salvage the food he was cooking, but the ogres had done enough damage that he would go the rest of the night without food or warmth. He pulled his sack underneath his cloak and curled up in the leaves, attempting to get some rest before the next day’s journey. He had a very long way to travel on foot, and his next stop was the realm of Terragon where he knew he would be able to find food, clothing, and a warm place to sleep. Normally, it wouldn’t be safe for a royal to travel unguarded, but no one outside of the Cascading Seas had seen his face, having spent his life under the crashing waves of the Fortune.
Sleep didn’t come easy, but after a few hours of tossing, turning, and picking bugs out of his cloak, Pike finally fell asleep. Beneath the twinkling stars, just over the edge of the Cascading Seas, the dream world pulled Pike into a deep sleep. He struggled in his dreams, finding himself wandering an old wooden path, the darkness blinding his footsteps. He could hear Shayla’s laughter, and he called out to her, but his voice didn’t seem to travel. He continued down the path, his sword vibrating against his leg, signaling danger ahead – at least that’s what he thought in his dream. The sword in his wake hour seemed to be nothing more than a well-structured blade.
The forest got thicker and thicker until finally, Pike came to a clearing. On the other side of the open space was a young woman sitting with her back to Pike. Her hair was long and golden, and her dress was light with blossoming flowers embroidered down its back. He called out to the girl, but she did not respond. As he crept forward, something in his gut told him to step back, but Pike – being the stubborn kind, even in his dreams – pressed forward. The smell of lavender and roses filled the air around him, and he touched the girl’s shoulder, hearing a small whimper coming from her throat. As she turned toward him, he jumped back in fright. Though he
r body was that of a young woman, her face was twisted and contorted like an old witch. The girl’s eyes were as black as the forest around him, and she smiled, revealing rotted teeth.
Fear flooded him as she stood, reaching her hand toward him and crying out in a painful screech. Through her chipped and tattered teeth, blood began to pour from her mouth and down her chin. Pike reached down for his sword, but it wasn’t there. He looked back up in a panic, and the witch was gone. In her place stood Leonetta, holding the sword of the dead. She shook her finger at him, walking forward with the tip of the sword pointed at his belly. As he stepped backward, he tripped, landing on his back and looking up as Leonetta stood over top of him.
“I told you not to go,” she screamed out, lifting the sword to her chest and then plunging it downward into Pike’s stomach.
Pike jolted awake, sitting up in the leaves, clutching his stomach, and breathing heavily. He looked down at his body, but where the sword rested just moments before was uninjured skin and cloth. He leaned back on his hands and looked up at the sky, trying to calm his breath. Sleep and dreaming were new to Pike, just as new as his strong, tall body and human smile. Merpeople were different. They slept, but not the way humans did; it was more of a restful wakeness. Dreaming wasn’t something Pike had experienced before, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to experience it again.
When his breath had slowed, Pike stood and walked out in the field. To the east, the sky had lightened, and he knew the sun would soon breach the horizon. If he wanted to get to Terragon before sunset, he would have to get going. His stomach rumbled, and he pulled the last of his bread from the bag, dumping the crumbs on the ground. He ate as he walked, hoping his pace was fast enough and looking forward to a real meal and a soft bed to sleep on. He looked back toward the Cascading Seas as he crossed over into the realm of Hornworth, a small farming realm that laid under the control of the king of Terragon. Pike knew once he was out of the safety of the Cascading Seas he would have to be even warier of thieves, beggars, and Ghede’s men.
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