by Tara West
He struggled to his feet while keeping hold of the rope around Tar’s neck. “Ryne!” he shouted, waving his hands. “It’s okay, she won’t hurt you.”
Ryne stopped in his tracks, his mouth hung open. “Markus?”
“Aye,” Markus laughed, as he pulled on Tar’s rope and approached them.
“What are you doing here?” asked Ryne, his voice laced with disbelief. He waved a trembling hand toward Lydra. “With a dragon?”
Markus bent down and scratched Tar behind the ears before breaking into a wide grin. “It’s a long story.”
Ryne looked at him with an expectant glare. “I’m listening.”
EVERYONE GATHERED AROUND the hearth inside Dianna’s hut, with the exception of Des, who stayed outside to play with the dragon. Every so often, the sound of Lydra grunting or blowing curtains of ice caused Ryne and his party to twitch and throw wary glances toward the door.
Markus had to admit that the dragon still unnerved him. After all, only yesterday she had tried to turn him into a block of ice. He filled Ryne in on all the details of his journey, including the real reason why the Ice People were protected from the witch.
“How did you come to believe that the ice repels the witch’s magic?” Markus asked.
Ryne shook his head while frowning into his cup of tea. “I don’t know. It’s what we’ve always believed.”
The others in his party nodded their agreement.
“Well, now we know it was the stones,” Markus said. He nodded toward Dianna, who was sitting beside him. “My sister says there are two more, and we need to find them if we are to defeat Madhea and the Sea Witch.”
Ryne stretched his long legs beside the hearth. “We will inquire about the stones on our journey.” His pointed gaze shifted to Markus. “In the meantime, my people have been left with only three stones since you and Ven have the others. I wonder if three will be enough to shield an entire kingdom from the witch’s eye.”
“I have wondered that, too,” replied Markus, raking his fingers through his hair. His eyes moved to Alec, sitting on the other side of Dianna, and he hoped his brother would be accepting of his plan. “I will return my stone to your father.”
Alec’s mouth fell open. “You are going back to the Ice People?”
“Aye, brother,” he nodded. “You must come with me.”
Since learning of the stone’s role in shielding the Ice People from the witch, Markus had known that he had to take the stone back. Besides, as his fingers wound around the lock of hair in his pocket, he realized he couldn’t be gone from Ura long. He already missed her sweet smile.
Alec’s shoulders fell as he shook his head. “I am stronger brother, but not fully recovered. I wish to go to the sea where the air is warm. Zier has offered to take me this summer.”
Markus clenched the warm mug in his other hand as his focus centered on Alec. “Then we must part, brother?” he asked in a trembling voice. He had not planned for this, certain that Alec would accompany him.
“I’m sorry, Markus.” Alec waved a hand at Ryne. “Can’t one of your men take the stone back?”
Ryne opened his mouth to speak, but Markus interjected, “I wish to do it myself.”
Alec’s jaw dropped and there was no mistaking the hurt in his eyes. “Why?”
Markus bit on his lip as he struggled for the right words. Heat flamed his face when he saw that all eyes were upon him.
“Is there a girl?” asked Alec as one corner of his mouth hitched up in an impish grin.
Markus’s gaze shot to Ryne, who, thankfully, was looking at him with mirth in his eyes.
“Aye, brother,” Markus murmured. “There is a girl.”
To his amazement, Alec broke into laughter, soon echoed by the others.
Dianna nudged Markus and flashed a teasing smile. “I’m just thankful it isn’t me anymore.”
With that, the chuckles in the room intensified. Markus couldn’t help but join in the merriment, even if the jest was at his expense. He’d suffered many hardships these past months and it felt good to laugh again.
Their laughter quickly died as an eerie sound came from outside. The rolling rumble shook not only the walls, but rocked Markus to the core. A few others shared nervous glances. Ven and Ryne leapt to their feet while glaring at the door.
Dianna waved a dismissive flick of the wrist. “It’s only Lydra,” she said with casual indifference. “She is laughing, too.”
Ryne slowly sat back down, but Ven remained standing, his back ramrod straight, hands fisted at his sides.
“Sister, what will happen when the villagers learn of your pet?” Alec asked Dianna.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t very well send her back to Madhea, to be imprisoned in the ice and only released to destroy villages.”
“You must take her far away from the witch’s eye,” Markus suggested.
Dianna tilted her head as her brow marred into a deep frown. “But you told me her mists have been destroyed.”
“That doesn’t mean she cannot build more,” Ryne interjected.
“Des cannot ride astride her.” There was a note of desperation in Dianna’s voice. “He will freeze.”
Alec leaned over and patted his sister on the knee. “I will take Des with me.”
Dianna’s eyes widened and her voice became more shrill. “That will not be until the summer. I cannot leave him here until then. What if Madhea sends her demon pixies?”
Ryne stood and stretched his arms. “They may travel with us. We are heading to Aloa-Shay now.”
Dianna frowned. “Aloa-Shay?”
“A village where the river meets the sea,” he replied, placing his mug in a nearby basin. “It means Haunted Waters.”
“Haunted Waters?” Dianna gasped. “I cannot allow my brother to go through such perils.”
“I have been there,” said Ryne, “and the village is peaceful.”
Alec clasped Dianna’s hands within his own while looking intently into her eyes. “You are my sister, which makes Des my brother as well. I will protect him at all costs. You have my word.” He squeezed her hands before releasing them.
Dianna’s shoulders slumped and she heaved a sigh. “Thank you.” Then her glassy eyes swept the room. “So where do I take the dragon?”
“There is a trade route from Aloa-Shay to The Shifting Sands,” Ryne said as he sat back down beside the hearth. “It is beyond the reach of Madhea and her sister.” He raised a finger and pointed toward the small window. “Fly east from here, over the mountains and beyond the sea, and you will reach it.”
Dianna tilted her head. “The Shifting Sands?” Her voice was laced with doubt.
Ryne shrugged. “It is a vast land, from what I hear, with many clans who live in caverns beneath the ground. They trade spices with Aloa-Shay.” He leaned nearer to Dianna, his eyes narrowed. “I have also heard that a great dragon lives among their people.”
Dianna jerked back. “A dragon?”
Ryne nodded. “He is a deity of sorts. I think they should be more willing to welcome another dragon.” After Dianna nodded her agreement, Ryne turned to Markus. “You must give the Eryll clan some news about Bane.”
“Bane?” Markus straightened his shoulders. “Have you seen him?”
“No, we found only his cloak.” Ryne’s mouth was set in a grim line as his eyes darkened. “It was caked in blood. Snowbear tracks were nearby.”
A deep gloom settled in Markus’s heart. Though Bane was cruel and a coward, it was not long ago that his own character had been similarly flawed. “I know Bane deserved to be punished, but I feel sorry for his family.”
Ryne sighed as he leaned back in his seat. “As do I.”
Markus glanced at Ven. His face remained impassive with the exception of a single tear that slipped over the rim of his eye.
“When will we all see each other again?” asked Markus, looking around the room.
“In a year’s time,” Ryne replied. “We should meet between here a
nd Aloa-Shay, at the edge of Werewood Forest, far away from Madhea’s eye. I need time to find somewhere safe for my people. Our glacier will not hold forever.”
“Aye,” Markus added, “and when it melts none of our villages will be safe.”
“Sister,” Alec said to Dianna, “mayhap you could find a haven for us in the Shifting Sands.”
“I will look,” she said, before slowly rising to her feet.
The others rose as well.
“Until next spring then,” Ryne said to the group. “We must be on our way. How soon can you be ready, Alec?”
“I will pack my things,” Alec replied, before turning somber eyes on Markus. “I fear that even if we try to hide, we must eventually face down this witch. If Dianna is destined to take her place, she will need our help.”
“Aye, she will,” Markus added.
The others voiced their agreement.
MARKUS WATCHED HIS sister fly away on her dragon with a heavy heart, not just because he worried for his sister, but because he’d have much to explain to the Ice People after Dianna had convinced him to give her the stone. Though he was loath to part with the Ice People’s treasure, he realized she needed it more than they did, especially since the stone had told her she’d need to find them all if she was to defeat Madhea.
Once again, Alec and Markus stood face to face, exchanging emotional goodbyes. Ryne’s party was waiting for Alec at the clearing.
“It is not fair that we have just been reunited only to part again,” Alec spoke through a shaky voice. Reaching out, he clasped Markus on the shoulder and his lips curled up in a subtle smile. “But I am proud of the man you have become.”
“Your support was what helped me through my trials. You are the reason I am alive today. Thank you for your faith in me.” Markus’s voice cracked with emotion before he hung his head. “Even when I was a monster.”
Alec cupped Markus’s cheek while shaking his head. “You were never a monster to me, brother.”
Markus embraced his brother, as a few tears of both sorrow and joy slipped down his face. Aye, he would miss Alec, but at least their parting was on his terms, and he would make sure he saw him again next spring.
“I will miss you,” Markus said, pulling away to look into his brother’s eyes once more. How much different their last parting had been, with Alec’s face disfigured by cuts and bruises.
“And I you,” Alec replied, squeezing Markus’s shoulders before dropping his hands to his sides. “Stay safe.”
Markus shrugged Zier’s shield off his back and handed it to his brother. “Will you give this to Zier when he travels to Aloa-Shay?”
“Aye.” Alec hoisted the shield into his arms and slung it across his back. “This might prove useful on our journey.”
Markus smiled as he watched his brother handle the heavy weight with ease. He hoped Alec would grow much stronger on his journey to the sea.
After they had parted and walked a while, Markus spared one last glance at his brother, who had reached the other side of the clearing. He was not surprised to see Alec stare back at him before he disappeared into the forest.
Markus felt inside his pocket for Odu’s letter. As he did so, his hand came to rest on Ura’s lock of hair. He would deliver the letter to Dafuar and then visit his favorite hunting glen.
The tulips would be blooming this time of year. Markus’s heart warmed as he envisioned Ura’s smile when he handed her a bouquet of spring flowers.
THE END
Spirit of the Sea Witch, Keepers of the Stones, Book Two is available now!
**A scorned woman’s revenge burns hotter than a pyre. The vengeance of a goddess is more destructive than a thousand fires.**
Desperate to escape the wrath of the vengeful sky goddess, Madhea, a group of brave young explorers flees to the sea in search of safe haven for their people while the apprentice witch, Dianna, steals away Madhea’s dragon to the Shifting Sands. Though they are an ocean apart, the future of humanity lies in their entwined fates. Before they can defeat Madhea, they must stop the vindictive sea goddess, Eris, from destroying the world.
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The Beginning of Time
In the beginning there was chaos, with no division between the land, sea, and sky. Only the Elements reigned: air, soil, fire, and water, colliding in discord, making Tehra a volatile, miserable planet. The Elements were unhappy with the constant state of unrest and change on Tehra. Since none of them could exist together in harmony, they knew they needed something stronger and more powerful to rule over them and bring peace to the planet.
The Elements called upon the vast magic of the universe and created the Tryads, immortal keepers of the Elements. Their names were Madhea, keeper of sky and spirit; Kyan, keeper of land and breath; and Eris, keeper of water and life. But the Elements made one fatal mistake. They used magic, and only magic, to create the sisters. The Tryads were not of the Elements, and so they had little regard for the safekeeping of the planet, save for one of the sisters, Kyan, who loved her land and the people who inhabited it.
The Elements had believed the Tryads would rule Tehra peacefully, keeping the distinction between air, land, and water, and ending all chaos. The Elements, being simple in nature, had not planned for avarice and greed.
Eris, keeper of the fin folk, was unhappy with her station below the surface of Tehra. She did not enjoy living among sea creatures and being tethered to an unsightly fish tail. She felt slighted by her air-breathing sisters who lived above her.
Madhea bemoaned spending her days among the sky creatures, peering down at life below. Her land sister lived with beings called humans who had built a shrine in her honor. But the bird folk gave Madhea no such special treatment. Thus, she wished for nothing else than to shed her wings and take her sister’s place as ruler of the human world.
Kyan, keeper of the land, felt no such resentment toward her sisters. She had fallen in love with Orhan, a handsome mortal. Together, they had conceived six daughters, each one the exact likeness of her mother and bearing magical powers. Kyan knew of her sisters’ envy, but did not fear them because, along with her daughters, she was more powerful than Madhea and Eris combined.
If Kyan had one weakness, it was her love for Orhan. Though he had wealth, power, and love, he was still unhappy with his lot in life. He desired sons. Kyan, as a daughter of Elemental magic, could only conceive a likeness of herself. In order to give him sons, she would have to use a different magic, a dark magic — one that came not from land, sky, or water, but from the darkest recesses of the soul.
Kyan loved her husband and could not deny him his ardent wish, so she birthed him twin boys, Dafuar and Odu. But something changed within Kyan after she’d called upon the dark magic. Her soul had been compromised and her powers weakened. Her daughters’ magic had been tainted as well.
Madhea was the first to seize upon her sister’s weakness, flying fast from the heavens and striking Kyan and her daughters with great thunderbolts, sending their souls into the great abyss and reducing their human forms to mere stones. Heartbroken and distraught, Orhan fled with his young sons to the shelter of the Shifting Sands.
When Eris learned of Madhea’s treachery, she rose up from the waters, demanding her fair share of the land. Madhea refused, and thus began a war between the two sisters. Madhea pelted the waters with thunderbolts and hurled great gusts of wind. Eris retaliated with monstrous waves that eroded the soil and swept away entire villages.
All the while, the Elements mourned the loss of Kyan and the ongoing destruction of their planet. The world had become chaos once more — something that the Elements had sought to prevent by creating the Tryads. Now they had to act before Tehra was lost
forever.
As each sister was consumed in destroying the other, the Elements manipulated wind and water and pollinated their wombs. Eris and Madhea each bore six daughters, the Elementals, who grew into adulthood before the first full moon. And though the Elementals had inherited their mothers’ magical powers, they were children of the Elements as well, and owed their loyalty to them, and thus to restoring peace and tranquility.
The Elementals forced their mothers to sign a truce. Eris was made keeper of the sea, as well as all of the islands and shorelines. Madhea would rule the sky and the mountains. The land in between was given to Dafuar and Odu. But though Kyan’s sons were immortal like their mother, the dark magic used to conceive them had robbed them of their inherent magical powers. They feared they would not make good keepers.
The Elements presented Dafuar and Odu with seven sacred stones; each stone had once been the body of their mother and sisters, and they possessed great power. Through these stones, Dafuar and Odu could rule as keepers of the Elements. But soon it became evident that the sons had inherited their human father’s weaknesses, for though they lived forever as immortals, they aged as men. Their bodies became more weathered and decrepit with each passing year, and their memories began to fade.
The Elements, fearing Eris and Madhea would find a way to seize the stones from Dafuar and Odu, stole the stones, hiding them in the darkest recesses of Tehra. The Elements then divided the remaining land between Madhea and Eris.
Dafuar and Odu left their homes and wandered the land for ages, searching for something they’d lost, not remembering it was the stones they sought. They lived a cursed life, wise but unwise; immortal, but old and frail.
Although Madhea and Eris were tethered by the Elementals, their powers grew. Displeased with the shrines built to her by the mortals, Madhea built one to herself; a giant palace of ice, rising up from the ground and reaching as far as the heavens. Eris built a palace out of fire, which rose up from the ocean; a towering cylinder, shrouded by plumes of smoke and guarded by molten lava.