Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  2

  As Elora walked down towards the cluster of the homes that she could see in the distance, she was sure as hell very surprised and shocked by the sights of this world. She could see that the forest was greener and more fresh then any forest that she had even seen. It was so beautiful and so amazing looking that she could hardly believe her eyes.

  Green trees sprouted from the ground, towering above her with all sorts of fruits on them, some of them even having nests of birds that she had never seen before. Small flowers were clustered around on the road, of various colors with bees and insects everywhere and she could actually see that the flowers were like those from her own home. But she couldn’t recognize any of it. Looking at the houses, she was either in a really deep forest, or was in a world which hadn’t moved past the Stone Age because the house was made out of mud, like those that the humans hundreds of years ago lived in.

  Wow! She thought as she walked slowly down the very, very rough road that she had found herself in. It was so rough and so out of the ordinary that she couldn’t believe it at all. This road— this road is so beautiful! This entire world is so beautiful!

  Looking around, suddenly she looked at something else. There were lanterns all over the side of the road. But that wasn’t right. Houses like those and lanterns like this didn’t mix! They didn’t mix at all! That wasn’t possible! No way was that possible!?!

  But that is not right; those lanterns are not of the time period those houses are! Looking back at the houses, she noticed something else that was looking really peculiar to her. There were mirrors outside of the houses. She didn’t know who the mirrors belonged to, but there were mirrors outside of the houses. Mirrors? Where in the world am I? Am I even in my world? What is going on?! Why is this so confusing?! What the hell is happening?!

  Nope, she still didn’t have any answers, at all. She didn’t even know what she had to do, or where she was going at this point. All she knew was that she had to find that man that had saved her and ask him for some help to find out as to where she was and what did she have to do to get home.

  But the main question that remained was would he help her? After how he had treated her for giving him money, she doubted that he would, and she wasn’t going to give up her virginity to him just like that. That is what she thought he wanted, to be honest. He looked as if he would take advantage of some girls as well, and unlucky for him she wasn’t like that. Sure he had a big pointy sword, but that was for another day.

  As she walked down towards the houses, she wondered where she would start to look for the man, but then she spotted an old man looking at her strangely, namely at her clothes. She noticed his own clothes. He looked as if he was wearing clothes made out of animal fur, cotton and the design was so very old it made her head spin. The design wasn’t of any timeframe that Elora could recognize, and it wasn’t anything that she ever remembered reading or hearing about. She didn’t know what was going on in this strange world that she had landed in, as it turned out that most of the things didn’t fit into the picture of a time-line that she had in her mind.

  “Excuse me.” Hoping with whatever was inside of her left enough that he would understand her language, she started to ask. “Can I ask a question?”

  The old man didn’t react at first, still very surprised by her appearance. Elora thought that either he didn’t know who or what she was, or it had been a long time since he had seen someone so young alone in the forest. Either way, she needed some answers, and she needed them as quick as possible. Finally, the old man nodded and inwardly Elora sighed in relief.

  “I am looking for a man,” Elora said. “He is tall and wore a cloak with a hood. I don’t remember his face but he had brown skin and short hair and brown eyes. He came from the direction I came from. Do you know where he is or where he went?”

  The old man once again didn’t react, he just looked at Elora deep into her eyes. Elora felt as if she was being stripped naked out of her clothes, of her skin, of her very body and soul as the old man stared at her so intensely. Finally, finally he spoke.

  “The man you are looking for...” His voice was rusty, croaky, as if he had seen a lot of things that she had never hoped of watching and seeing. She had never ever thought that someone could act as if he had seen so much that his voice was reflecting it so. “Is a very dangerous man. He fought off against the king’s soldiers.”

  That very sentence floored Elora.

  K-King?! Elora exclaimed to herself. K-KING?! Oh hell, I really am at a different timeline aren’t I?! How did I get here and what is the exact reason for me being here?! I knew that there was something wrong with that tapestry, I just knew it! I didn’t think it would be this bad!

  Shaking her head, she looked intensely at the old man, her eyes pleading, demanding to know where the strange man was.

  “His name...shadows are the ones that whisper about him. Not many even know about him,” The old man continued in that same, crackly tone of his. “Some call him the warrior, the protector, the monster, the murderer…”

  With every name he took, Elora’s heart trembled. How was a man, who had so many names, even going to talk to her without killing her? Or ravaging her? She didn’t know what she would do if either of those things were a possibility.

  “His name is Kieran. No one knows his truth, no one knows where he is from or who he is.” The old man continued. “He lives in the forest of M, that way.”

  “Forest of M,” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. “What does that mean? Why is it called the Forest of M?”

  “It is because of the creatures that live in there,” The old man replied. “And to find Kieran you need to walk through that forest, it is the only way that you can possibly find him. But, I don’t think you should go.”

  “Why?” Elora demanded, her irritation rising with the old man. “Why should I not go? What is in it for you if I go in there? You barely know me.”

  “A girl like you has no chance of surviving the forest.” The old man said, condescendingly and flatteringly. He didn’t wish to offend her, but he wasn’t putting her on a high pedestal as well. “It is too dangerous for girls, and you should go back home and stay inside.”

  Elora’s temper was rising harshly. This old man was looking down on her for being a girl?! Was he really so stuck in the past that he thought females didn’t belong outside? Like he thought that she needed a man to keep her safe and grounded?!

  But the Old man didn’t say anything more, turned away, ignoring her. Elora simply fumed and snorted, walking towards the forest.

  ‘Right, you think that I am a girl don’t you?’ She thought furiously inside of her head as she kept on walking towards the forest. She saw a sign with the word ‘M’. ‘Really subtle. Still, I don’t know why it’s called the forest of M because of the swiftness of the creatures that live there. Perhaps there is something wrong that I’ll find out? Either way, I guess it’s time for me to walk inside of the forest.’

  Gathering up her massive courage, she without fear walked into the forest, unaware of the fact that she was all alone inside of one of the most dangerous forests in this strange world. But she had some serious courage to be able to walk down the entire road as she had been doing right now. She sincerely didn’t know where the road was leading her to, she only knew that if she didn’t go down this way then things would be bad for her and she didn’t want that to happen at all. She didn’t want things to be bad for her. Not with the way that she was lost in this strange world. Where apparently, girls were looked down on.

  ‘This forest is really dangerous.’ Looking at the strange claw marks that she could see in the distance, she shuddered. Elora knew that she shouldn’t be in the forest alone, but there was nothing else that she could do. She needed to find that man and perhaps the only way that she would be able to get out of this world alive was when she got some answers from him. That is why she was walking down the strange road. But she should say a lantern every twenty meters w
as a bit of a giveaway to their location. ‘And there are creatures inside, no doubt. I just hope that I get to where that man is soon enough.’

  Shaking her head, she continued to walk through the path through the forest, her heart thumping in her chest. As a woman she knew that there were a lot of things that could go wrong with her but as a proud woman she was not going to admit it out loud and admit to herself that she was scared. She was not scared, not at all.

  ‘What is that?!’ She yelped slightly as she saw a brown blur near the lower parts of a tree. She gulped whatever fear was writhing up inside of her and walked towards the blur, slowly as to not attract any attention. She didn’t want to go up against it if it was a deadly creature of sorts. It turned out that it was no creature. It was a small furry animal, hardly the size of her forearm, but it had two flaps under its hands. It looked very, very scared of her and instantly backed up into itself looking up at her with beady black eyes containing pure fear. It was a small, little flying squirrel. “Hello.”

  The flying squirrel looked confused as it realized that this being was more afraid then it was. It slowly crawled out, and then cried. Elora gasped as she saw it’s clearly broken wing.

  “You’re hurt!” Bending down to grab a hold of the little animal, she quickly scooped it up in her arms and looked at it, her eyes wide. Guessing him to be a male, she wondered what to do about the little flying squirrel. “You’ve broken your wing.”

  The little squirrel mewled, or purred, Elora didn’t know what type of a voice it was. But she didn’t dare try to make it go away. Instead, Elora just cuddled the little squirrel close to her and thought of what to do.

  I can’t exactly let him die around here, some bird will probably come up and scoop him off...what should I do...I think I am going to just take it with me, yes! Getting the Squirrel to wrap around her neck under her jacket’s collar, she knew that she had to find that man, or some sort of a shelter quickly. Luckily she still had a bag or something with her, as she slowly walked ahead on the path.

  And little did she know she walked right into where she needed to go. She was slowly coming close to a large clearing where she could strangely see tents, but no signs of people. Quickly running over to where she saw the tents, she came out, only to find herself surrounded.

  They were waiting for her, undoubtedly. She hadn’t even taken two steps into the camp area and four soldiers had surrounded her. Others were looking at her with distrust, swords in their arms, ready to strike her down, while the ones that had surrounded her already had their swords drawn.

  “Who are you?!” One of the soldiers asked, the most experienced, it seemed. “And why are you here, woman.”

  At least this one didn’t call her a simple ‘girl’. She would have been proud of that but right now she didn’t care. She was surrounded by possibly dangerous people and she could die. She didn’t want to die. She was confused, of course, as to why they were treating her as if she was a threat, and she was only a girl, after all.

  “I am not here to fight,” Elora replied, surprisingly not stuttering. “I was pointed here by someone that a man named Kieran lived here and I needed to meet him. Rather, he saved me and I wanted to find him.”

  “Why?” The familiar voice of Kieran instead stopped everyone, as he stepped out of a tent. This time his hood was down and she could see his brown eyes and clearly emotionless face. He raised a hand and all the soldiers backed up, sheathing their weapons, and came to stand in front of her. In fact, this was the first time she was looking at him clearly. He was tall and broad shouldered, with an aura around him. It wasn’t an aura of a warrior, well, not only of a warrior, nor the aura of a murderer, or a shadow, or a demon, or whatever else the people called him. Instead, she could clearly see the masculine aura around Kieran and the pure strength that he seemed to emit. She could see the very power, kingly power that he had, and the way his single gesture had calmed all of the soldiers, his men, down like it was nothing. Clearly this man had to have done a lot of things that had raised his respect to have such loyalty and such obedience amongst his men. “Why did you come to find me? When you uselessly tricked me by not even paying me for my services. What is your reason to come here, to torment me again with your vile words? With your knavish tricks?”

  A sudden burst of fury once again rose in Elora, and before she could even say anything, though, there was a gasp. Elora turned instinctively towards where the gasp came from, and her eyes widened. She looked exactly like Elora remembered. Brown hair, brown eyes, and really pale skin. The girl that Elora had rescued from being harassed by the soldiers in the forest, the king’s men, it would seem.

  “You!” She suddenly rushed at her and wrapped her arms around Elora. Elora was surprised by her gesture, but she was quick to reply to the hug. “Thank you so much!”

  Now that did surprise everyone inside of the clearing, and Elora was smug to see Kieran falter as well as he also looked at the scene in shock.

  “Don’t hurt her, Kieran! She’s the one that saved me!” The girl said suddenly, turning towards Kieran and staring at him defiantly. “She saved me from the king’s men and stood up to them without a single sense of fear and looked ready to fight them off. She was ready to actually fight them and I have no doubts that she could actually fight them off.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you to keep your attitude in check, Kieran?” An unfamiliar female voice called out as she emerged from the same tent Kieran had come out of. She had similar hair to the man that she wanted to find, and similar eyes. She was really beautiful, as he could see. Her body was defined by the silken battle robe that she was wearing, which Elora was sure that no human had the craft of possessing. The blue colored gown went to her knees, but her pants took over from her hips, her shapely hips now that Elora saw her properly. She had a really curving body and looked properly matured, the image of what a woman should be. She had a welcoming and a pretty normal expression on her face. “I am sorry for my brother’s attitude, friend. Anyone who saves a girl from the king’s men is a friend of ours.”

  Looking at Kieran meaningfully. Kieran huffed and barked a few orders to the men. The men quickly scampered off, leaving Kieran, the woman and Elora alone in the center of the camp.

  “I am Chaiya, Kieran’s sister.” The mystery woman introduced herself. “And I am sorry for my brother’s attitude. He is a bit…single-minded when it comes to offering his ‘services’. I am sure you must have noticed that.”

  “By single minded you mean that the urge of using guilt and pride against someone to get him what he wants, then yes. I am Elora, by the way, Elora James.” Chaiya instantly burst out in giggles at Elora’s dry words as she glared at Kieran. Kieran looked away from the gaze at being caught, unknown to him as to why was he being so subdued by this ‘girl’. No, girl wasn’t right. Woman. She was definitely a woman.

  “Indeed.” Giving her brother another playful glare, Chaiya looked at the strange woman, to her, properly. Chaiya could see that she was beautiful, with her soft red hair, ruby red lips and fiery eyes. She also had an attitude to match those looks and undoubtedly would attract a lot of attention. Her clothes were also the strangest that she had ever seen in her life. It looked like a strange blue colored pants made out of really thread material, like small strings of cotton that were so closely knit together no human hand could possibly do it. Her upper body was covered by what she could only resemble to a man’s upper-body attire, but instead of made for a man, it was made for a woman, over which she wore a coat of some sort but not reaching her knees or anything, instead ending off by her hips. Chaiya would admit that the ‘coat’ that she was wearing looked really good and she wouldn’t mind having one of them herself. It didn’t look heavy and looked proper as well. Then she spotted the slightest bit of movement under the collar, and looked closely to see a flying squirrel around her neck. “Why is there a flying Squirrel around your neck? And why does it look hurt?”

  “Oh this.” Elora quick
ly removed the little squirrel from around her neck. “I found him near the side of a tree, terribly scared he was. I just couldn’t leave him there so I took him along with me.”

  “That is good indeed.” Elora didn’t know what that particular glint that passed in Chaiya’s gaze was, or the speculative glint in Kieran’s eyes was. She just knew that the very fact that she wanted to save the squirrel made her much friendlier towards the siblings in front of her. “Come on, you are going to be around for a while, let me show you around.”

  Grabbing her hand, Chaiya lead Elora away from Kieran and towards the tents. Kieran simply looked at Elora’s back, lost to his own thoughts.

  ‘She came here, not to thank me, or give me my reward, but to find me for some other reason.’ For as long as Kieran knew that technique always worked to get him his earned keep. ‘She also called me out on my trick and wasn’t afraid of me at all. Who is that girl?’

  Remembering the fury, the disgust and the utter irritation that Elora had on her beautiful face, Kieran strangely felt excited. He had never met a woman like her, but before that, though, he ruled out the suspiciousness of the strange girl that had appeared.

  Elora...Kieran thought, his eyes glinting. Is she a spy of the king? No, the king’s men would never hurt a king’s spy, especially a woman who is possibly marked by him. Is she...yes...is she a witch? But witches also serve the king, or at least some that I know do. She can’t be a witch, she is actually helping a poor animal. Who exactly is she?

  Not knowing of what to think of her, instead, Kieran simply walked back towards his tent, lost in his own thoughts, not knowing what to think of Elora James.

  What a strange woman... Kieran thought as he walked in the tent.

  Meanwhile, Elora and Chaiya had just completed a round around the camp-site, and was shown to an empty looking tent. She had never seen a tent like this, back home all tents were made out of some sort of water-proof cloth like material, or plastic, or something of the sort. But this, this was made out of pure cotton. Cotton actually absorbed water, so it would offer no protection against the rain, but it was not made out of cotton. It had something else on it as well. Maybe some sort of a silk? Some sort of a cloth that was only available here? She knew that those nails that had been used to properly stomp down the tent into the ground was definitely not of her time.