To Find a God

by Mary Hamilton

  Other Works by Mary Hamilton

  Lost and Found: Book one in the Once Upon a Moonbeam series

  Coming Soon

  Beneath a Desert Moon: Book three and conclusion of the Once Upon a Moonbeam series

  To Find a God

  Book Two in the

  Once Upon a Moonbeam Series

  Mary Hamilton

  Copyright © Mary Hamilton, 2018

  ISBN: 978-0-9997711-8-1

  To Find a God (poem) Copyright © Steven Hamilton, 2018, www.insidepassagebookroom.com

  Cover Design: BespokeBookCovers.com

  Please visit us at www.insidepassagebookroom.com

  For

  Diane

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Many thanks to Diane Luehrs for all her valuable comments and editing of this manuscript. To my wonderful and supportive husband, Steven. I could not have finished this book without him.

  Once Upon a Moonbeam

  Book One: Lost and Found

  Summary

  Teens in Pangrove, on the world of Azyr, delight in riding moonbeams. That is, until the unexpected happens. Two young Azyreans, Marzi Gloam and her brother Tovi, jump onto colored beams and find themselves transported to strange worlds. The beam keeper, Jarek Whit, who is responsible for maintaining the system, immediately leaps on a colored beam himself thinking that he could follow, collect the children, and return right home with them. Then, like the other two, he ends up in a very different and unexpected place.

  The green beam deposits Marzi in Menalor, the land of the dark elves. Her initial confusion turns to despair as she realizes that not only is she lost, but that she is not even on her home world. The hope of getting home dims. Alone, hungry, and tired, she wanders the forest until she is found by a dark elf of the Twilight Bough. Her relief, though, fades when she learns that she is a prisoner rather than a guest. She struggles to fit in while, at the same time, trying to figure out how to get home.

  She decides that the only way to return to her family is to flee the elven enclave known as the Twilight Bough. But where would she go? How would she find her way back? The only clue she has is a group of elves who themselves are seeking to find ways to travel beyond the elven kingdom. Violating the rules that have been imposed on her, she flees the Bough in the company of three young elves who have befriended her. But rather than provide a path home, this escape sets her on a journey that will put her life in danger. Strange beings from another realm, humans, they are called, appear and attack the elves. The cliff elves, with Marzi in company, embark upon a journey to a set of ancient ruins to seek answers. But what little they find in the way of information is overshadowed, at least for the Azyrean, as a goddess appears to her with unexpected and unwelcome news.

  Meanwhile Tovi, her brother, rides his blue beam into the Crystal Sands, homeland of the ogres. At first frightened by the large, fierce-looking beings, he is befriended by Klunk, a teenage ogre. The Azyrean is taken into the kraal, the ogre village, and treated as a guest. He helps Klunk gather food and do chores. The initial desire to go home fades somewhat as he develops a deep friendship with this gentle giant.

  But something else intrudes—a strange voice. Coming at first in dreams and then while Tovi is awake, it speaks in riddles, telling him that he has a task, a purpose among the ogres. The young lad also discovers the power of crystals and begins to understand that they are related to the ability to travel on moonbeams. But the voice warns him of dark times ahead. He sees this first hand as he encounters a deadly fight between a small band of ogres and other strange beings, whom he later learns to be humans. The worst part, though, is that he ends up with the responsibility of traveling throughout the Crystal Sands to tell all the ogre kraals of the coming darkness.

  Finally, Jarek, the beam keeper, finds that his red beam has taken him to the land of the humans. It is here that a small band of rebels fight the growing evil of the human king. By chance, the Azyrean ends up as a guest of this small group. He, like the other two displaced Azyreans, initially just wants to go home. But as hope fades, he becomes involved in the rebel cause and creates bonds of friendship the likes of which he has never known.

  But what do the rebels want from him? Why do they keep him there? The answer, he learns, is related to his knowledge of moonbeam travel. For as it turns out, the only way for beings to move from one realm to another in this world is through portals created by beams. His task becomes a race against time as he searches for the secrets of travel. The fate of the world depends on defeating the human king. But, as the rebels learn, they must travel to another realm to fight this battle. And so Jarek becomes the center of attention. But not all attention is good or welcome. There are those among the rebels whose loyalty lies elsewhere. And for them, Jarek represents both an opportunity and a threat.

  As the three lost Azyreans begin to learn, they are to play key roles in the coming conflict. If only they could figure out what they are supposed to do. To learn this, though, they will have to seek out these gods, these beings that seem to want something from each of them.

  To Find a God

  To find a god

  she walks a broken trail

  To seek a friend

  across a sea she sails

  A sea of endless stars

  A night of shining moons

  A morning filled with sun

  Beneath a sky that pales

  To find a world

  she listens to the rain

  To understand

  a world engulfed in pain

  A pain of endless night

  A wind of searing heat

  A storm of tortured souls

  For here she must remain

  To find a peace

  she walks the path of war

  To save a life

  she seeks what came before

  Tales of time now lost

  A long past tranquil age

  Before the stain of death

  To bring the light once more

  To find herself

  she stands alone at night

  To find her home

  her lonely heart takes flight

  across a sea of stars

  a moonbeam guides the way

  into a glorious morn

  With all that’s wrong made right.

  Copyright © To Find a God, 2018, Steven Hamilton, insidepassagebookroom.com

  Chapter 1: Jarek

  Gods! The last things Jarek wanted to hear about were deities and magic. He needed solid answers—solutions from science and evidence. But so far, these had led nowhere. Reluctantly, the Azyrean agreed to at least listen. He leaned back against a rock outside the cavern and squinted into the morning sun. The sounds of chirping birds and buzzing insects filled the silent vacuum that surrounded the small group as they waited for the speaker to begin.

  Doc Brower, the human medic, eased down into a sitting position, his legs folded in front of him. “Yes, I think perhaps it is time for this story.” After a short pause, he continued. “To my knowledge, there are no written accounts of what I am about to tell you. The narrative has been handed down from father to son over generations. I tell you this so you will understand the possibility that we have gotten it wrong. Tales often grow in the telling and truth distorts with each version.” And with that, he began.

  “In the far distant past, perhaps ten generations, a great war engulfed the people of this world. Counted among these people were principally humans, elves, and ogres. The origins of the war depend on who tells the tale. But a consistent thread is that, at some point, the conflict centered in the desert land of the ogres known as the Crystal Sands.

  “Great sweeping battles were interspersed with episodes of deceit and intrigue. As with the causes of the war, accounts of vile actio
ns depend on the messenger.

  “In an effort to wring a decisive victory from the morass of the war, the human king, Johann, convinced the elven people to band with him against the ogres. But his intentions were laced with treachery, for he desired dominion over all life. With the alliance sealed, the king lured the elves into a trap—convincing them to approach the ogre settlements by way of a narrow canyon enclosed on each side by high cliffs.

  “As the elven troops entered the canyon, the human army blocked off both ends and rained death in the form of fiery arrows and burning oil from the cliff tops onto the elves.

  “As the human army seemed on the cusp of victory, a divine intervention occurred. To understand this, you must first have a sense of how the world worked back then. Stories are told of a deity, Aristan, who cared for and guided the humans. We generally accept that the elves and ogres had their own gods, but there is little evidence one way or the other about this.

  “According to the accounts handed down, Aristan intervened at the last moment. He blinded the human archers and created a heavy rainstorm to snuff out the fires.

  “Before the humans could recover or the elves react, a sundering was visited upon the land in such a way that the different races had no choice but to retreat to their respective homelands. An unseen but unshakable obstacle—the fading, we now call it—was dropped into place, preventing any further travel between the realms.

  “We don’t know what became of the elven and ogre races. Perhaps they have settled into their own lives in their own realms. Or maybe they didn’t survive. We only know that the humans returned to a peaceful hunter gatherer culture and remained so until recent times.

  “Most striking in this story, though, is the absence of any mention of Aristan after the sundering. It is as though he abandoned the human race. Some believe that he was just a myth and that the lack of recent evidence of a deity is due to the fact that he never existed.

  “Still, others continued to believe, at least for a while. There was rumored to be a priesthood dedicated to serving Aristan although I can find no evidence of their existence today. Most likely, the information you gleaned at the abandoned monastery was created by a group of clerics many generations ago.”

  As Doc finished, a hush fell over the group of three. Jarek and Burns stared at the medic as though waiting for enlightenment. Finally, the Azyrean beam keeper spoke, “It is an engaging tale, to be sure, but I fail to see the relevance. How does knowing about this battle and the so-called god help us discover how to use the crystals for traveling?”

  “That I cannot tell you. But consider that the difficulty in moving from one part of this world to another stems from the conflict in this story. Also, the end of open hostilities that produced the fading are reputed to have been initiated by Aristan. It follows that, if you are going to find a way around or through the barrier, you must first discover its nature. In order to do that, I submit that you must find this god.”

  Chapter 2: Marzi

  Marzi Gloam sat in her customary spot at one end of the elongated table directly across from the Empress at the other end, with the remaining six elves of the High Council seated on either side. Ariessa, the dark elf empress, met and held the Azyrean’s gaze as the group waited in silence for the proceeding to begin.

  “I am surprised that you have chosen to return to the Bough. Your behavior has done nothing but rend our people and pit them against one another.”

  Marzi understood clearly that this referred to the complicated series of events involving Ryshara, Ellemareth, and Ran, as well as Lord Rintaur, the empress’ spouse, who was notably absent from the meeting. “I’m truly sorry for the pain that’s come from all of this.” She was careful, though, not to apologize for her own actions. She had, after all, done nothing wrong. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone.”

  The empress arched a brow. “And yet we find ourselves entangled in deception and hurt.”

  Marzi waited and watched. Even at her young age, she knew that arguing with adults, especially ones in positions of authority, was pointless. She felt the burden of her charge from Valyn as well as the cynicism with which Saige had sent her off.

  “Why have you returned to Twilight Bough?”

  The six other members of the High Council sat stone-faced and silent. Marzi recalled Valyn’s caution about speaking and with whom. “I came back to talk to you.” She felt more than saw a ripple of tension over the group. Lothran, Ryshara’s father, sat at the far end and even he flinched at the words and shifted in his seat.

  But Ariessa’s face softened and she tilted her head as if the response puzzled her. “And what is it that you wish to say to me?”

  Marzi tried to find the right words that would start the conversation, knowing that she could only truly discuss the real issue with the empress in private. “Did you hear about the attacks? The humans, I think they are called, that showed up in the forest?”

  “Yes, but I fail to see what concern that is of yours.”

  The young Azyrean squirmed atop the box in her chair that allowed her to peek over the tabletop at the elves on either side. She knew that, very soon, she would need to seek a private audience with Ariessa. She could not say everything she needed to in front of the others. “I was there, and I almost died, along with others. Ryshara is still unconscious. While I understand that I am not, nor will I ever be one of you, I am stuck here for now and my life is just as much at risk as yours.”

  The empress nodded. “Yes. What you say is true.” She paused before continuing, “What is it that you want from us?”

  So, this was it. Marzi could go no further with the conversation in public. She took a deep breath and steeled herself, conscious of the reality that what she said next would matter a great deal. “If I may, Empress, and with all respect to you and the High Council, I need to speak with you privately.” There, she had said it. It was now up to Ariessa.

  Silence descended. Lothran stared down at the tabletop. The other members shifted their gazes between Marzi and the Empress. Ariessa, for her part, stared at Marzi as if trying to read the thoughts behind the young Azyrean’s eyes. After a long moment, she glanced to her left and to her right at the other elves before turning her gaze back to Marzi. “Very well.” She stood. “If the rest of you will excuse us….”

  ◆◆◆

  “Now we are alone. What is it that is so secret or sensitive that my High Council cannot hear?”

  Marzi hopped down from her perch and shuffled across to the door. Gazing out across the canopy at the pale blue plant lights, she wondered how to approach the conversation. She knew that talking to Ariessa would not be like with Saige. She turned to face the Empress. “I want to say that I am sorry for the pain this has caused.”

  “Yes, you said that already.” Ariessa sat, a passive, neutral look on her face.

  “How is Lord Rintaur? I have not seen him since my return.”

  That got a reaction. The Empress’ eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched. “Is that what you came to discuss, Lord Rintaur?”

  “No. I wanted to know how he is and I didn’t want to ask in front of others. But that is not why I am here.”

  “Then why are you here?” Ariessa did not seem inclined to discuss her partner.

  Marzi sighed. Yes, she wanted to know about Rintaur, and she wanted to talk with Empress Ariessa about her daughter. And a part of her even wanted to justify her actions in leaving the Bough in defiance of the empress. But these discussions were apparently not possible. “You know of Valyn?” Might as well jump right in.

  Ariessa’s demeanor changed. The look of contempt softened into one of curiosity. The jaw unclenched and her eyes widened. “Of course, but what has that to do with your visit?”

  “She sent me.” The sound of insects buzzing filtered into the space as Marzi waited for a response.

  The Empress eyed her in silence for a moment before responding. When she spoke, though, the words came out tentative, uncertain. “I would ask
you to explain.”

  “She came to me, that night in the ruins, before the attack. She told me of the danger from the humans. But she said that it is much worse than just a few of them here and there. She said that they will come in force if they are not stopped.” Marzi lowered her gaze. “She told me that I am supposed to talk to you and Saige and try to get you to work together.” She glanced up and quickly added, “Just how, I don’t really know. She also said that I will have to journey to find her. But I don’t know anything about that either.”

  Ariessa exhibited a hint of a smile. “You have, of course, discussed this with Saige?” She arched an eyebrow in question.

  Marzi nodded without speaking.

  “And what did she have to say about all of this?”

  “Not much, except that you wouldn’t believe me.”

  The Empress offered an unusual burst of laughter. “Did she now? How charitable of her.” The words dripped with sarcasm. “Coming from someone who has no respect or trust in anything or anyone, I find that ironic.”

  Not sure how to respond, Marzi felt the inadequacy of her age. This feud between Ariessa and Saige was something beyond her understanding, something that maybe only an adult would comprehend. She struggled to figure out what to do next. After all, this was about as far as Valyn had gone in terms of direction.