Phoenix of Hope: Complete Series — Books 1-4

by Zora Marie

  Zelia couldn’t help but stare at the liquid as it slid from one side of the vial to the other as Linithion uncorked it.

  “Just get it over with,” Rogath said.

  Zelia took the vial from Linithion. “Have you ever tasted it?”

  “No. I’ve never needed it.”

  “Be glad.” She tipped the bottle up and the stuff slid into her mouth before she could change her mind. She swallowed it in one gulp. “Yep, just as horrible the second time.” She tossed the vial back to Rogath and he dropped it into the pocket dimension.

  “That good?” Rogath laughed.

  She could feel his presence at the edges of her mind, and she pushed the taste towards him. Rogath’s face twisted in disgust and Zelia smirked in satisfaction.

  “Oh. Stop that.” Rog batted at the air as though he could push her away. Their connection broke off as he raked his tongue across his teeth.

  “Now you know what it tastes like.”

  Erolith had a hint of a smile and Linithion asked him, “What?”

  “They remind me of the shenanigans Eleanor and I got into growing up.”

  “You and Auntie Eleanor were troublemakers?” Linithion asked.

  “I wouldn’t call us troublemakers, but we were certainly a handful.”

  “Mhm.” Linithion gave him a very unconvinced sidelong stare as she took a bite of a breakfast roll.

  The mention of Eleanor made Zelia’s thoughts turn to how Eleanor had been when she last saw her. Rogath had dragged Zelia and Linithion into a battle that was meant to be a trap for Yargo and all the others. They were in the tunnels below the Darkan Mountains. The blue light of magic lit the passageways and blood poured from Eleanor’s side as Erolith frantically tried to stop the bleeding. Zelia hadn’t even stopped to try to help, she had gone straight to Xander, to save Yargo. A sense of guilt nagged at her for not asking after her more, Eleanor had been like a mother to her after all. “Have you heard how Eleanor is doing?”

  “She is fine. We spoke through the scrying bowls last night, after you arrived. Eadon is about to drive her mad with his fussing, but she is recovering well.”

  Zelia nodded, unsure what else to say. She could feel Erolith studying her and she forced herself to eat a few nuts from her plate. The lingering taste of the pernion juice made them hard to stomach, made everything hard to stomach.

  “I will be speaking with her again this evening, you may join me if you like.”

  “I…” Zelia chewed her bottom lip. It felt wrong to take time for herself when so much else was going on. “No. You should focus on working out defenses against the Fenari. Oh, we forgot to mention last night that Yargo is going to send some mages to help reinstate rune weapons with the humans.”

  “They won’t listen. I tried sending representatives when we found out what happened to you. Xander and the others have brainwashed them and the Dwarves into believing the runes are unnecessary.”

  “Do you think they would listen to me? With the rumors that have spread from The Hold?”

  Erolith’s lips pursed. “Perhaps, but not with you in this state.”

  “Then help me. Please.” She hated having to ask for help, but she was desperate to keep Linithion safe and people had to be able to defend themselves. Especially if she couldn’t.

  “Yalif has been working with her on exercises to help with rebuilding and training muscle. Who do you think would be best to help her here?” Linithion asked.

  “Donavain would be best, but we have a lot to do today if someone is going to go after Terik. And this is something you all need to know, though I hope you never need to use the knowledge again.” Erolith sighed as he looked at each of them in turn. “Eat and then meet me in the scrying room.”

  He left, his breakfast only half eaten and Linithion’s gaze lingered on the doorway.

  “He hasn’t been the same since he sent me to Auntie Eleanor,” Linithion said.

  “I’m sure he is just worried.”

  “He’ll try to send you back to Eleanor and Eadon when spring comes. That’s how he’ll separate us.”

  Linithion’s hand was warm in Zelia’s grasp as she squeezed it. “We’ll get him to come around, to accept us, in time. But we need to focus on getting Terik back and preparing as best we can.”

  Linithion nodded and glanced at their plates. “And you need to eat more than a few nuts.”

  “Yeah, well, everything tastes like pernion juice.”

  “I’ll leave a note with the bottle asking for some of the cook’s pallet cleaner,” Rog said and swallowed the last bite of his breakfast. “Would you like me to feed Raven and Orvi while you two eat? They were asleep next to my room when I left.”

  “No. Father will have already arranged for someone to handle that. I’m fairly certain he did not sleep last night.”

  “Oh. Okay,” Rog said and awkwardly settled back in his chair.

  “Go. Father will want to find out what spells you know before he starts. He won’t mind you being early.”

  Rogath left, his usually easy gliding step rushed and haphazard. Zelia felt for her connection to Rog and tunneled down it as she ate, using the task to distract her from the taste. She tensed as feelings of dread, regret, guilt, and worry seeped from Rog’s mind. He was antsy, ready to go the moment he had the information he needed.

  “Is he alright?” Linithion asked.

  “No. He is upset with himself and I’m afraid he may do something rash.”

  “Like diving headfirst after the Fenari, as my Grandfather did? From what I understand, being unpredictable is a good thing when around the Fenari.”

  “So, the opposite of Erolith?”

  Linithion smiled. “Yeah.”

  6

  “Good morning, Raven. We’re going back into the shielded room to train. Do you or Orvi need anything?”

  “No, but thank you for asking and for letting me know.”

  A pulse of positive energy, of encouragement, came down their bond and Zelia smiled.

  “What?” Linithion asked.

  “Nothing. I was just letting Raven know we would be out of contact for a while.”

  “Oh. Good idea. Should I go tell Orvi?”

  “Raven will tell her.”

  Linithion’s shoulders sagged slightly with her disappointment.

  “We can go tell them good morning, if you like.”

  “No, they’ll be waiting on us.”

  An Elven guard nodded to them as they came to the shielded room and Linithion knocked, then paused for a moment before opening the door. It struck Zelia then that Linithion had probably done this a thousand times as she came and went from helping and training with her father.

  Erolith and Rog sat cross legged in the middle of the floor, seemingly paused in the middle of a conversation as they stared at one another.

  The moment the door clicked closed, Erolith continued, “You’re not accessing their power correctly, that’s why your shields keep buckling. You need to feel the energy of the world around you, open your mind to it until you can see it, and then weave it into the spell. Not pull the energy into yourself. You will burn yourself out if you keep doing it that way.”

  Rogath sighed. “I’ve never been able to see the energy around me.”

  Linithion led Zelia to sit beside Erolith, so that Rogath sat by himself with a wide empty area ahead of him.

  “Zelia, were you ever taught any of this?”

  “No.”

  Erolith nodded. “I figured as much. The other members of the guild never were any good at using Fenari magic.”

  “They never even tried to teach me any of it. The first time I remember seeing anything about it was through Rog’s eyes.”

  “Alright. Then I want both of you to close your eyes. I want you to feel the hum of the stone and air. Let them speak to you and when you feel their energy with your soul rather than your mind, open your eyes.”

  Zelia let out a long slow breath as she closed her eyes and forced he
rself into that calm center of her being, in that space beside her powers. She felt the stone beneath her vibrate with a calm, predictable energy. The air swirled and spiraled in haphazard patterns, spurred on by the breeze that came through the window. Even Erolith and Linithion buzzed with energy on either side of her and when she opened her eyes, she found that they glowed with energy green as the forest’s leaves in the height of summer. Rogath glowed with gold energy but his was dull, as though he repressed it. She glanced down at her hands and her glow shifted from gold to blue.

  “Does everyone’s energy change colors?”

  “No, but yours always has. When you’re by yourself and think no one is watching, your energy pulses between blue and green. As a child you were usually green. Eleanor suspected it was because of you being raised by us. The colors tend to follow species, though there are always a few outliers.”

  “I give,” Rog said. “I’m not seeing anything.”

  “Because you are not opening yourself up to see,” Erolith said.

  “I’m trying, I just…”

  “Let me in, maybe I can help,” Zelia said.

  She felt the path between their minds open to let her in. She closed her eyes and slipped quietly into his mind.

  “I have to do this for Terik,” Rogath thought to himself. She could feel him push to sense the energy around him, but worry and guilt clouded his thoughts.

  “You need to let go of the worry. We are going to save him, but you need to relax. Here,” she pushed a feeling of peace, of separation, of oneness with the world around her towards him, “that’s what it felt like when I began to feel the energy.”

  Rogath’s thoughts calmed and she slipped from his mind so she wouldn’t disturb him. She studied him as he sat there, the tension in his body seeping away. He took in a deep breath, opened his eyes, and stared at each of them in wonder. “It actually worked.”

  “Good,” Zelia said.

  “Try to weave the energy of the air into a shield,” Erolith said.

  Rog drew a set of shapes and squiggles in the air and turned it like Linithion had when they were in Hyperia. A dome shimmered to life around Rogath. Erolith drew a different symbol in the air and pushed it towards Rogath. His shield shuddered under the opposing force, but held.

  “Good,” Erolith said. “Zelia, I’ll work with you on Fenari magic later. Someone has to go after Terik by tomorrow if we want there to be a chance of saving him, but first we need to talk about how to become unpredictable. Linithion, would you walk pattern three around the room?” Linithion stood and began walking as Erolith continued, “Watch her energy.”

  Zelia stared at the green energy around Linithion, at how little tendrils of it swirled out in front of her then it shifted and a moment later she turned to follow it.

  “Notice how it reaches out in the direction she plans to go. If you have ever had the feeling that someone was coming up behind you but didn’t know how you knew, it was your energy feeling out your surroundings and feeling their energy approach. Your energy will reach out farther when you plan your movements. Your energy will even mimic your movements during a fight. It is meant to keep you from running into things, but it gives away your next blow before you make it.”

  Suddenly the energy around Linithion shrank back to her and her steps became more relaxed.

  “Linithion, explain what you just changed.”

  “First off, I pushed the pattern from mind and filled my thoughts with where I am presently rather than where I am going.”

  “Doing so asks the energy to stick close to you rather than asking it to reach out and ensure nothing is in your path. Most of the time thinking this way would be a poor decision, but the Fenari train to predict actions by reading energy so it is crucial when fighting them.”

  “So, when I made a split-second decision it caught the Fenari off guard. That’s how I was able to get in a blow?” Rog asked.

  “Yes. You caught him off guard, but you won’t be able to come back if you rely on last second decisions, because you will have to retrace your steps to get back to where you can make a portal. Finding Terik will be the easy part. As far as we know, they hold all prisoners in one place for a week before sorting and sending them off.”

  “So, it is learning how to become unpredictable that is key?”

  “No. You have to learn how to tell your energy to go one way and then actually go another way, but to do that you have to understand what part of your mind controls your energy. In a fight, merely being unpredictable works fine, but to walk as though you are one of their slaves is different.”

  “They let their slaves walk freely?”

  “The ones you’ll be around have no minds of their own.” Erolith rocked forward and sprung to his feet. “Linithion has been doing this for a while, so I will let her teach you both. Come get me when Rogath has mastered it.”

  The moment the door shut behind Erolith, Rogath asked, “So you already know what you need to go get Terik?”

  “No. Father asked about your ability to telepathically communicate with Terik last night, there is a reason for that. Grandfather had the gift, it must have helped him save Grandma. I, on the other hand, do not have telepathy.”

  Rogath groaned and paced the room end to end, then sighed. “Alright. Can you explain to me how to do this?”

  “Have you ever feinted left and then struck right?” Linithion asked.

  “Of course.”

  “It is kind of like that, only you have to subconsciously think that you are going left and then physically go right. The easiest way to do it the first time is to follow behind someone and once your mind is set on following them, just change directions. The hard part is not thinking about changing directions.” Linithion turned to Zelia. “Are you up for walking most of the day? Or would you rather go find Donavain and we can work on this later?”

  “Erolith is right, I need to know this sooner rather than later. The Fenari are not waiting for me to heal, and I need every advantage I can get.”

  “Just sit down if you need a break, alright?”

  “I’ll know if she’s struggling.” Rog gave Zelia a sidelong glance.

  “Not if you’re focusing on what you’re doing.” Linithion smirked at Rogath and began the pattern again. She hummed a little song as she went, a happy tune to make the day go by.

  7

  Zelia managed to walk for all of an hour before her legs shook with the effort to move and support her. Thus far, nothing had worked, but what if she treated it like her ice magic. She sighed and gave herself one last chance to get her energy to go a different direction from her, as she sagged against the wall.

  “You almost got it.” Linithion pointed to where Zelia’s energy flowed along the path for just a moment before it snapped back to her. “Just follow the pattern,” Linithion said to Rog, then sat beside Zelia. Her own energy led Rogath away as though it took no effort at all to propel it without her.

  “You make it look easy,” Zelia said.

  “Father made it into a game when I was little. What did you do differently this time?”

  “I treated it like I did the ice when I lost my vision, I just pushed it away from me. I think I may have been using my energy to feel out people’s movements when Lobo started teaching me.”

  “Lobo?” Linithion asked

  “A wolf on Hyperia.”

  “So that’s who you kept going off to see when Steffon refused to train you,” Rog said.

  “Him and Donequen.” A pang of sadness hit her at the thought of Donequen. She was his only friend and she had left him without saying goodbye, again.

  “You know, he has an affinity for magic. He turned down training so he could watch after his mother. Now that she’s gone, maybe he could join you two as part of the new guild. Part of why he never fit in is because he’s so good with spells, and not so good with elemental magic. A lot of the city folk don’t like spell users.” Rogath was so focused on following the pattern and talking, that wh
en he finally turned off the path his energy continued on without him for a moment. Until he walked headfirst into a wall. “Freg,” Rog cursed and rubbed his forehead.

  Linithion and Zelia couldn’t help but snicker before Linithion said, “Well, you finally did it, but you also found the hazard of using this method. Your energy feels out in front of you to help forewarn you right before you walk into something, so you have to use your other senses to be aware of your surroundings at all times. The first time is always the hardest, so you should both pick it up faster from here.”

  “Fantastic.” Rog continued walking the double diamond pattern around the room.

  “Would you like to go see if Donavain is busy?” Linithion asked.

  Zelia shrugged and told her energy that she was going to get up and leave the room, and it did. Until her own surprise had her energy snapping back to her.

  “Or not. You could just practice that way.”

  “Wait, so you’re saying I don’t have to walk around the room?” Rog asked and spun to face them.

  “Well, since your energy is still going on without you, yeah.”

  Rog glanced over his shoulder. “Of course, now it decides to work.” He flung his hand out in frustration and the energy snapped back to him.

  “Perhaps you were trying too hard,” Linithion suggested.

  Rogath groaned and plopped down in the middle of the floor.

  “Is he always like this?”

  “Y—” she cut herself short. He wasn’t usually like this. Yeah he hated spending all day practicing, but he was usually planning some prank to play on Terik. “No.”

  Linithion seemed to understand her unspoken thoughts as she nodded.

  “You know, Mother won’t let me go. There’s no point in me learning this, I’ll never see Terik again.” Rog hung his head and that connection that spanned between them dwindled with his despair.

  “When have your mother’s wishes ever actually stopped you? You can do anything you set your mind to. You didn’t forget about me when she told you I was just a figment of your imagination. Instead you convinced Yargo and Lumid to look, to see that I was real. I’d still be trapped, and I don’t think I would have been able to get over it if Asenten had forced me to kill Connan and all of his people.”