The Sunset Lands Beyond Trilogy
Sarah Ashwood
Contents
Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset
Prophecy of the Artan
Prologue
Part One
Laytrii
1. Mysterious Stranger
2. Visitor from Lands Beyond
3. In Aerisia
4. Council
5. The Council Table
6. Moonstones and Doors
7. Legends and Lore
8. Moonkind Magic
9. So Be It
10. Attack!
11. Simathe
12. Night Watch
13. Balcony Incident
14. The Artan?
15. Decisions
16. History over Breakfast
17. Frustration
18. Moonkind and Simathe
19. Drocnords
20. The Joining Explained
21. Unwelcome Intruder
Part Two
Treygon
22. Nighttime Escape
23. Preparations
24. Farewell to Laytrii
25. Aureeyah
26. Suspicions
27. Mystery
28. Fairy Forest
29. Parallel Worlds
30. Morning
31. Attack
32. Deathcats
33. Arrival at Treygon
34. Treygon’s Guest
35. Waking the Artan
36. Dinner
37. Discussion
38. The Joining
Part Three
Joined
39. Confronting the High-Chief
40. Grand Entrance
41. Planning
42. Disaster
43. Softening
44. Cole
45. Telepaths
46. Trickery
47. To Break a Prophecy
48. Protector
49. Nightmares
About the Author
Books In The Sunset Lands Beyond Trilogy
Works by Sarah Ashwood
Aerisia: Gateway to the Underworld
Prophecy of the Artan
Prologue
Part One
Command and Become
1. A Shell
2. First…Kiss?
3. Explosion
4. The Artan After All?
5. Mind Search
6. The Prophecy
7. Visitors
8. Sword of a Queen
9. Swordplay
10. Classifications of Magic
11. Progress
12. Going Back
13. Pain
Part Two
Return to Laytrii
14. Fairy Homecoming
15. Laytrii Once More
16. The Adragon
17. Rumors
18. Reunion
19. Twists and Turns
20. Murder
21. Passion and Fear
22. Inner City Battle
23. The Singing Bridge
24. Their Artan
25. Challenge
26. Sun-borne Promise
Part Three
Discoveries, Dreams
27. The Healing
28. Sacrifice
29. Friends
30. Preparations
31. The Instating
32. Under the Moon
33. Traitor?
34. Disclosures
35. Lineage
36. The Singing Stones
37. The Dream
38. Shared Visions
39. Trapped
About the Author
Books In The Sunset Lands Beyond Trilogy
Works by Sarah Ashwood
Aerisia: Field of Battle
Prophecy of the Artan
Prologue
Part One
Underworld Journey
1. The Gate of Despair
2. Grotto of Crystal Life
3. Heldwyn
4. Knowledge and Secrets
5. Iilane
6. The Interpreter
7. Unexpected Ally
8. Dreams Come to Life
9. Narrow Escape
Part Two
Treachery
10. Betrayals, Confessions
11. Plans
12. Kan
13. Deliverance
14. Traitor Revealed
15. Wakefulness
16. Underlying Causes
17. Farewells
18. Rebellion
19. Punishment
20. The Captain’s Lady
21. Pirate Queen
22. Sea Monster
23. Rescue
24. Shayle
Part Three
Last Battle, Final Victory
25. Dragons
26. Victory and Defeat
27. Torture
28. Awakened
29. Final Farewells
30. Silver Rose
31. Restoration
32. Encouragement
33. Ranetron and Spinner
34. Dark Power
35. The Artan
36. The Encounter
37. The Dark One Revealed
38. Becoming…
39. …yet not
Part Four
Death is not the end
40. Defeat in Victory
41. Broken Stone
42. The Artan’s Return
43. Celebration, Culmination
44. An Artan’s Reward
Note to the Reader
About the Author
Books In The Sunset Lands Beyond Trilogy
Works by Sarah Ashwood
Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset
Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Ashwood
Editing by Red Adept Editing Services
Formatting by Polgarus Studio and Dragonpen Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Excepting brief review quotes, this book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the copyright holder. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, real events, locations, or organizations is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
For Hannah, Mercy, Carol, and Susan: my first readers who patiently endured the original draft.
Prophecy of the Artan
She is of our world and beyond. From another place, another time, she will come. She carries the burden of tomorrow, and her true essence will be birthed with the moon and the dawn. The Singing Stones once more will sing, and she shall unite those long hated with those who long have feared them. Unity with the everlasting will heal her soul, lifting the eternal from rejection and fear. She will be untouched by man and untainted by The Evil. In her will be met all the Powers of Good, and with them shall she defeat The Evil. The Dark Powers she shall overcome by becoming, yet not. Bound to the past, the bond will be broken that she may pass through the vales of shadow and despair to walk forevermore in the light. Wars may rage, kingdoms rise and fall, and monarchs topple, but the Artan will defend her people. Aerisia by her strength will be kept, and in her time peace will prosper.
Prologue
Wealth, power, fame, status, notoriety, prestige.
Magic.
Some people spend their whole lives chasing these dreams. Others purposefully avoid them. Me, I neither sought nor shunned them, but they came to me anyway, unasked and unwanted.
Why?
Because others believe what I do not. Others see me as somebody I don’t know. They want me to become this person, but how can I do that when I’m not even sure she exists? If I’m wrong and she actually does exist, how can I discover her? How can I become her? When you’ve been ordinary your entire life, is it possible to reinvent yourself into someone you’ve never met, never known, never even heard of before? Someone from history? Someone from legend? Someone from prophecy?
Someone with magic?
Part One
Laytrii
Mysterious Stranger
“Hannah, what are you doing? Why are you just standing around? They’ll be here in a little over an hour.”
My older sister’s voice was tight with frustration. She lowered a stack of plates to the dining room table more forcefully than the delicate china deserved. I winced to see our mother’s treasured dishes treated that way, but, thankfully, nothing was broken.
“Everything’s done already,” I reminded Sammie patiently, determined not to answer her in kind and add to her stress. After all, I knew it wasn’t directed at me. She’d gotten engaged to her college boyfriend a few weeks ago, and his family was coming to our family’s home this evening for a meet-the-in-laws dinner. She was nervous, wanting everything to go perfectly.
“What about vacuuming the downstairs?”
“Did it as soon as I got home from work.”
Currently, I worked part-time for my father at the Westman Times, our local newspaper, which he owned and operated. I enjoyed helping out around the place, as well as learning the ins and outs of running a small town newspaper. I was also taking classes from our local community college, and between the two managed to keep myself busy.
“What about the bathrooms?”
“Cleaned and stocked,” I assured her. “Harli Jean took care of them this morning before she left for school.”
Harli Jean was our youngest sister. At fifteen, she was bright, pretty, a sophomore in high school, and well on her way academically to earning a scholarship to Colorado University, where she’d always said she’d attend. She and our dad were huge Buffs fans, and had been since she was a young kid and started watching college football with him.
I wasn’t a big fan of football myself, and had no grandiose dreams such as attending CU or joining the Air Force, like our middle brother, George. He would finish high school soon, and was already making plans to enter the service upon graduating. Sometimes, I felt like the only one of my siblings without a firm direction in life. Sammie had graduated college two years ago, and had been employed as a teacher ever since. Teaching was her dream, and now that she and Jeff were engaged, it seemed her other dreams were coming true, as well. George and Harli Jean, although both younger than me, knew what they wanted out of life, so where did that leave me? With no steady boyfriend, undecided on a career, and still living at home while I figured out the next phase of life. It wasn’t that I lacked ambition: I knew I wanted something out of life, and I thought I was headed in the right direction. I just wasn’t exactly sure what it was that I wanted. My calling was waiting on me. When I found it, I’d throw myself into it wholeheartedly. I simply needed to figure it out first.
“So the dusting’s done, the iced tea is made, dessert is in the oven, and the wine is being chilled. Can you think of anything else?”
My tall, blonde sister straightened from where she’d been leaning over the table, centering plates and twitching linen napkins, making sure everything was perfect.
“Nope, and you need to chill, sis,” spoke up Harli Jean, who came sauntering into the dining room. “Here have a drink. It’ll calm you down.”
I laughed when she held out a can of soda pop towards our older sister. “I don’t think that’s going to do anything except get her more hyper, Harli.”
“Ew, I don’t see how you can drink that nasty stuff,” Sammie said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “Don’t you know how unhealthy it is?”
“Sure tastes good, though.” Harli tipped the can up to gulp down a big swig. “Mmmm mmm, delicious.”
I laughed again, but Sammie didn’t think it was funny. “Stop it, Harli Jean. Why don’t you go find something constructive to do?”
“Hannah just told you everything’s done, and it is,” the teen responded. “Martha Stewart would approve. I’ll go in the kitchen anyway, and see if Mom needs help.
“At least that’ll get me away from you,” she muttered as she sauntered off, stealing another sip from her soda can.
Watching her, I grinned and shook my head, but looked back over at my older sister in time to see worry cloud her vision.
“I don’t know, do you think this looks okay? Jeff said his mom can be pretty picky. What if it isn’t good enough? What if I’m not good enough?”
“Okay, stop.” Grabbing her by the hand, I drew her out from behind the table. “It’s fine. Everything looks great. You’re great, you and Jeff are happy together, and I’m sure that’s all his parents really care about it. Now stop fussing and go upstairs and get dressed. You only have an hour to get all beautified,” I teased, “and it may take you that long to get your hair and makeup perfect.”
She looked like she wanted to protest, but I spun her around and gave her a push in the direction of the stairs to get her going.
“No arguments,” I demanded. “Mom and Harli Jean have everything under control. Go on and get ready. I’m going outside to talk to George and warn him to be nice when Jeff’s parents show up.”
Sammie stopped on the bottom stair, craning her neck to look back at me. “Thank you,” she sighed in relief. “I was going to, but he’ll listen to you better.”
“I know, I have the magic touch with men,” I smirked. “They’re like putty in my hands. You don’t have to worry about him causing any problems. Go on, get going, girl.”
My older sister took to the stairs and I opened the front door, heading outside. George had finished cutting the front lawn, and was putting the mower away when I caught him.
“Hey, George,” I called, waving my arm to get his attention.
He spotted me and extracted an ear bud from his left ear. “Yo, what’s up?” he hollered back, bumping a hip against the big, stubborn door of Dad’s workshop to force it closed.
“I wanted to talk to you for a sec,” I said, jogging over. “You know Jeff and his family are coming for dinner tonight, right? Well, Sammie’s really nervous. She wants everything to go well, and—”
“I know, I know,” my brother interrupted, rolling his eyes. “You want me to be nice to Jeff and use company manners in front of his family. I promise I’ll be good. Jeff may not be my best friend, but I can play nice for Sammie’s sake for an evening.”
“Wow, how’d you get so mature all of the sudden?” I grinned, reaching out to tussle his short, curly hair.
“Stop that,” my brother demanded, shying away. “I’m not a kid anymore, okay?”
“Sorry.” I dropped my hands back to my sides. “What’s your deal with Jeff, anyhow? He’s a nice enough guy.”
“I guess.” Shrugging his shoulders, George shuffled his feet, keeping his gaze downward as if embarrassed about what he was going to confess. “It’s just—she’s my big sister, y’know? I’m not sure he’s really good enough for her…even if she can be a major pain in the butt sometimes.”
I couldn’t disagree with that assessment. “She can be when she gets all frazzled, huh? Like now. Man, she’s been driving me nuts all day. In fact, I was going to escape the madness and go for a little walk before Jeff’s family arrives. That’s why I said I’d come out here and talk to you. It was really an excuse to sneak off.”
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