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

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  The Yogis, once they had drugged her and gotten her into a deep sleep, got ready to pull her nails out. The one way to start looking for her roots was using her DNA, which they already had. Now it was the time for them to actually start pulling her nails out.

  “Prepare her,” Velaya commanded, as she started to chant something. “We must find out answers and only then will the greater powers properly bless us.”

  The other Yogis nodded. They knew what they had to do. It had been drilled into them after years of practice and years of discipline as to pain didn’t matter to them, when it came to destiny, and if this girl felt pain, then so be it.

  But of course they weren’t expected her to wake up just as they ripped off one of the finger-nails off the girl.

  Elora screamed, loudly. Her scream was so bad, and so loud that it pained everyone. The feeling of her entire fingernail being ripped off by that strange, clip looking...thing was enough for her very being to freeze. She could feel the pain travelling up her hands and through her spine into her body like it was a volcano erupting in every single one of her nerve endings. She could feel every single throb of the veins where her nail had been as blood spurted out of the new incision, like it was a waterfall. She writhed around, her key necklace slowly glowing and appearing towards her from where it had been on her bag-pack right behind them. It settled around her neck, just as her entire form glowed, and the armor of Tarith overtook her form, protecting her from the onslaught of the Yogi.

  This was only the second time that she was using the armor, and she didn’t like it this time. She could feel the heaviness of it in her bones due to the pain and she could feel that it wasn’t properly worn. She hadn’t casted the spell for the armor to appear, it had come on her out of desperation to protect herself, and she would have to eventually protect herself.

  Unknown to anyone here, there was an entire new type of the can of worms that was being opened back in the Castle of Claw Worth. A completely new and big can of worms. As Princess Vanessa and Prince Italus are having their ‘romantic’ intimate dinner which has Sinara feeling as if her stomach is going to pop out, the news comes in.

  “—and then I ripped it apart.” Italus laughed, describing his latest bout of torture as a ‘romantic’ thing. Sinara was impressed that Vanessa wasn’t puking her dinner away yet, in fact, she seemed to be rightly approving of Italus’s actions. The girl desperately wanted this marriage, it would seem, and Sinara wanted to know why. She wanted to know what was going on in Vanessa’s mind and then she wanted to find the mage who was strong enough to keep her out of Vanessa’s mind.

  “My, that is definitely impressive,” Vanessa said, hiding her disgust and praising him. It was what she would have to do. For now. “How about you tell me about your latest night with the girls? I would like to know what I am to prepare for.”

  “My, you definitely are an eager minx,” Italus said, a very perverted and eager look on his face. “Very well-.”

  The room was perfect for a dinner like this. It was dark and properly lighted by candles, giving an ethereal light to the two who were ‘bonding’ on the table. Sinara was on another table, looking over them, with them ignoring her, when the door was knocked. Italus looked strangely and angrily at the door.

  “Come in, and it better be good,” Italus said, a warning tone in his throat. A soldier enters inside of the room. Lady Sinara watches the soldier stumble and sighed, looking into his mind to find out about what he wanted to say. Her eyes widen and she perhaps realizes it was time she got out of here.

  “If you would my prince, I will handle this,” Sinara said, looking at Italus and walking towards the soldier. “Come, leave them.”

  The soldier eagerly nods and leaves behind Sinara, closing the door behind them. Sinara walks in front, and the soldier behind until they reach a considerable distance away from the room where they are having dinner.

  “Tell me,” Sinara commanded, her eyes glowing softly. The soldier shuddered in his metal shoes as he looked at the beautiful witch. “What has happened?”

  “W-We received intelligence from inside of Velia, my lady. It was one of your insiders, who sent the message. They say that they saw a very, very strange girl being carried into the Yogi hut, with that said girl collapsing the second she entered Velia.” The soldier replied. “A...and, she also says that she spotted Kieran and Jeremy Windgate with them.”

  Sinara’s eyes narrowed down. So the foolish mind was right, there was indeed a strange girl inside of the Yogi of Velia’s grasp. And this girl, undoubtedly she was the reason why Sinara couldn’t read into anyone’s minds inside of the Camp, or see it. It was the only way that this would work. Perhaps...yes, strict actions now had to be taken. It was interpretive that this girl got in her grasp, such magical talent didn’t belong in anyone. It belonged to those that appreciated it, like her.

  “Good.” Sinara turned around and briskly walked away. “Leave and don’t show your face to me for a while, I have things to do.”

  Sinara knew what she was going to do. She was going to send the best of the soldiers from the castle of Claw Worth, the White Tiger Soldiers that would bring her the girl.

  “Commander Breston.” Sinara walked inside of the Commander’s office. The Commander looked up from his work-desk, and got up, bowing. “I have a job for your men. Send out a team to Velia instantly, there is a strange girl there that the Yogi have. I want her to be brought to me.”

  “As you wish my lady.” The Commander nodded and appeared to move. “What about the village and the Yogi if we get there and the girl is gone?”

  “Then you may destroy everyone in the village, and kill them all, even the Yogi.” Lady Sinara said, a dark look on her face. “And if they see any rebellion soldiers, they should go first.”

  Elora was whimpering off to the side as she brought her hands up. Clangs of silver met her hands as the Yogi attacked her with their spells and weapons.

  “You shall not leave this place alive girl!” Velaya cried, her eyes glowing, all of them, even the ones on her headpiece that looked like a spider. Her hands glowed as a blob of fire shot towards Elora, who cried out as the fire literally impacted her face. But it didn’t do anything good. Her armor was enchanted so it would absorb and protect her from all types of elements and all types of elemental magic. Fire and all wasn’t going to work. “Her armor is protecting her! No magic! Weapons! Use Weapons!”

  Damn it! Where will I go from now?! Elora thought as she blocked herself from more and more weapon strikes. She was surrounded, she didn’t know how to escape and her hands were burning and itching, she knew that this was about to be bad, very, very bad. There was something coming and it wasn’t good.

  And just as she said that, the back of the hut was sliced open. Velaya turned around and growled at the figures standing there, rushing inside of the hut.

  They stood tall, all of them wearing white armor. Their figures were also covered by the cloak of a white tiger, or the actual fur of one at least, and their heads had a white-tiger like helmet on them. Their faces were covered by scarves that also held the same mark on them, the mark of three black claws on a white background, signifying their post as what they were, and their black hilted swords were sharp and ready to be use.

  “Surrender the girl to us, Yogi of Velia!” The leader of the forces boomed. Elora recognized this, these were the White Tigers of...Claw Worth! They were here for her! They knew that she existed! “And you all shall live”!

  “We shall never surrender our prey to you, barbarian!” Velaya cried as all of the Yogi turned their attention towards the White Tiger forces. “Onto them!”

  “Kill them all!” And the madness started. Two of the Yogis, who were standing on the other side of Elora, jumped over her and into the fray, leaving her unguarded. She watched as the white tigers blocked strikes by the daggers of the Yogis, all of them with their swords. A Few of the Yogi were shooting fireballs and magical spells at them, but they were protected. It w
ould seem that Lady Sinara had already protected them from magic.

  In the middle of all this madness, Elora’s armor finally disappeared, leaving her defenseless against this all. And Elora knew that she had to run now, or she was definitely dead. The Yogi would kill her, the Soldiers would take her to Claw Worth, to Lady Sinara and Prince Italus and she would be killed there. No, she couldn’t go there, she had to escape. It was not exactly a matter of luck that at the same time, Jeremy and Kieran came into the hut as well.

  “Elo—” Jeremy instantly slammed his hand on top of Kieran’s mouth to stop him from shouting out. He tilted his head towards the battle that was already going on, and towards Elora. Elora looked behind her, and at a slice in the hut from where the White Tiger Soldiers had come in. She looked at the two and nodded, and quickly ran out of the slice, unseen by anyone as the two forces fought it out. Kieran and Jeremy ran out from the other side, not wanting to get into the battle just as the entire hut came falling down upon those that were inside still fighting.

  Elora had seen everything now. She had seen soldiers wearing an armor resembling white tigers fight so called Yogi, actually witches, who were wielding and throwing magic left and right to counter the armed soldiers. She saw one of the Yogis being sliced down by the White Tiger soldiers, only for him to go down by the dagger of one of the Yogis. Another one was using the same contraption she had used to rip out Elora’s nail to fight, and finally was the queen, with her spider like headpiece glowing, as she fought in the midst.

  And unseen, Kieran, Jeremy and Elora along with Mati, Verav and Muhal, ran away from Velia, unseen, as the battle raged. They were very lucky to do so as from the other side more White Tiger soldiers popped in, hell bent on destroying everything to get the girl.

  What just happened, Elora thought, her hand clenched tightly around Jeremy’s who was leading her own, transferring some magic into her to keep her awake and afloat. Her hand had stopped bleeding for now, but it still pained, especially the nail, and she could feel other pains in her body as well, undoubtedly because of what the Yogi had done. Who was that? How did she know I was in trouble? What is going on here?!

  And all of it was left to the mysteries of this world.

  13

  Elora felt as if she had never, never run so fast in her entire life, but she had to. The last encounter had been close, very close, as she almost had been caught, or killed, either by evil, megalomaniac witches that called themselves Yogi, or by the White Tiger Forces of Claw North, supposedly the strongest of all the forces of any single nation or country.

  The White tigers are fast, strong and are protected by Lady Sinara’s enchantments. Elora remembered Chaiya talking about it. And they won’t have mercy. We only hope that Prince Italus doesn’t send them towards us, though they listen to Lady Sinara more than him. That is why we are very lucky that Lady Sinara didn’t find us to be...strange...when we encountered her outside of Nokidora.

  She shuddered in thought as she remembered what had almost happened to her, and in pain. They had come in the night, all of them tired beyond belief and Elora close to exhaustion. It had been an hour and her finger was still paining, especially now that Chaiya was done cleaning it properly.

  “Right situation you were in there, it seems,” Chaiya said, rubbing Elora’s finger delicately. Elora nodded, too tired to say anything. “You’re lucky, very, very lucky.”

  “I know,” Elora muttered softly. “And I don’t know if I like the luck or not. I would rather trade my luck with good fortune for all of us.”

  Chaiya chuckled as she wrapped Elora’s finger in bandages, the one which had the nail ripped off. Elora was still in shock over what had happened. She didn’t remember much as to how fast and how did they even get to this point, but she liked it, a lot. They had managed to get out of the vicinity of Claw Worth, and towards the camp. Just as security, they were going to move from the camp, and all the way to near the kingdom of the Elvin, but not touching them. The Elvin were not exactly allies to anyone, or so they hoped, or so Elora hoped. She didn’t want to deal with them. But Kieran was sure that they would be safe there. And so, knowing that something only too powerful and emotional enough would drag her out of that state, Chaiya started her own tale.

  “I think it is time I told you about it, you know,” Chaiya said, looking deep into Elora’s eyes. “There was a time when I was a princess, of Feather Grove. I know you know about it.”

  Elora nodded, wondering where this was going.

  “I was happy, with Kieran. It was the two of us, mother and father. We were happy in Feather Grove, all of us,” Chaiya said, her voice haunted and filled with feeling. “And then I was engaged, or was going to be married to Prince Italus of Claw worth. He was at the time so kind, so gentle. He said to me he loved me, he said to me he would make me the queen of the world, he would make me the most amazing woman that there ever was, and my young, little heart actually believed in him. I was so madly in love with him, so madly in love that I also gave him my ancestral ring that he wanted. He got it, and then it all started.”

  Chaiya was now starting to cry, her eyes were tearing up as she remembered all that had happened to her.

  “He...he told me that he never loved me. After all those words he said, he told to me that he was always tricking me into giving him what he wanted, and he then came in...with his army to kill my parents. He killed them, and told me to bow down to him.” Chaiya was now crying heavily. “I...I was pregnant, at the time, I was pregnant and was with his child. But he didn’t believe it. I told him that the child was his, instead he had magic to remove the child, and...and...”

  Elora knew that now was the time that she needed to hug Chaiya, for she was going to break down, heavily. So she hugged her, and she was right to hug her. Chaiya instantly sobbed as hard as she could in his arms, unable to control herself.

  “He had me cursed Elora! He had me cursed so I can never be a mother! So I can never have a child of my own.” Chaiya sobbed into Elora’s collar, as a few tears escaped Elora’s own eyes. She knew that things were bad in the past of Chaiya, she didn’t think they would be this bad. “He...he...he was such a bastard about it! He played with my heart and deceived me into getting what he wanted and eventually...he took the greatest gift that I had been given!”

  Chaiya sobbed so harshly against him that her sobs rang out through the room. Elora just clenched her hand, patting her on the back again and again, muttering words of comfort and sweetness to her ears so she could cry out her frustrations and cry out her own troubles.

  “Italus is a Grade A Asshole, we all figured it out,” Elora said softly, her voice not wavering yet tears escaping her eyes. “And he deserves to die. And somehow, anyhow, I promise to you, he will die.”

  Chaiya only nodded, still crying, acknowledging her promise, while Elora smiled darkly. No, Prince Italus of Claw Worth was not going to only die. He was going to be brutally murdered for all that he had done, one day, some day, she would make him pay for all lives he had taken and for all lives that he played upon.

  It took some considerable amount of time for Chaiya to calm down. She told Elora to sleep in her hut for the night before leaving, and going towards her brother’s hut to check on him. Elora, tired by the emotional roller coaster that she had been through in the day, decided that perhaps it was time for her to go and answer some questions, or at least try to talk to her friends back home. So she decided to return to her tent first, to get the communication bowl.

  “Come on, Bram, Marine, answer the call damn it,” she muttered under her breath as she looked at the communication bowl in front of her. She had an idea and brought out one of her bloodied rags and put it inside of the bowl. The bowl instantly goes smoky, and then goes pure white. Slowly the image of Bram Barabu falls on it, and she smiled widely. “About time!”

  “Elora?” Bram’s eyes were wide, and he looked ready to jump inside of the crystal ball to get to her. “Elora are you alright? Goodness Elora! Do y
ou know how long has it been? It’s been almost twelve hours!”

  “For me it’s been a lot more than that,” Elora chuckled, looking at Bram with a smile on his face. “How are you Bram? Are you alright? Are you okay?”

  “Y-Yes, yes I’m alright,” Bram replied, his eyes tearing up. “Both me and Marine miss you though, Elora. I don’t even know what to say, you’ve been there for so long, for such a long time, I don’t even know what to say.”

  “So just say nothing about it,” Elora replied, his face set into stone. “Listen, Bram, there are things I need to talk about. Where is Marine?”

  “Sleeping. It’s early in the morning here,” Bram said, looking at the sphere in front of him and at Elora’s serious face. “What is it Elora? Is something wrong?”

  “There are things that need to be done for me to get back home,” Elora said, taking a deep breath. “When I first came here, I met a man by the name of Kieran, a total jerk and an asshole. He demanded payment from me when he saved me and he didn’t recognize fifty dollars as payment. But I didn’t stop and found him out again, explaining why I was here. Turns out a girl I saved before he saved me was a part of his camp, and lo-and-behold, Kieran’s sister, Chaiya, welcomes me to the camp. Kieran and Chaiya inform me of a strange...legend, about a person from another world, coming to theirs to save their kingdom from peril, and promise to help me get back to earth.”

  “Wow! So how far you’ve reached?” Bram asked, excited at the same time serious. “You look as if you’ve matured a lot, Elora. What happened to you?”

  “Let’s see, the first night an assassin tried to kill me but a flying Squirrel I saved blinded him so he stabbed himself in the neck and got killed choking on his breath. The second night me and Kieran and Chaiya went to a castle to get some armor, got attacked by Gargoyles, then I got a cool armor and came back to the camp with four of our team members dead. The next time I foolishly entered a village which was blocked and quarantined with magic because of the fact that Zombies lived there and almost got eaten and now, I was almost dissected to death by a group of cultist witches of sorts and almost captured by the personal force of the worst king or prince you could find,” Elora said in one breath, deadpanning. Bram’s mouth opened at what she had just said. “So yes, I have been through a lot; let’s not talk about it. But what I mean to say is, all this, it’s out of my league, I can’t handle it and I want to seriously come back home, as fast as I can.”