The Chronicles of Lorrek Box Set

by Kelly Blanchard

  “Borrowed from Jechorm,” Theran dismissed it as he stepped toward her. “The important thing is we need your help...”

  But she wasn’t listening to him. She kept darting her gaze around like a lost, frightened animal. The presence of Theran had reminded her of another, and she sought him out. “Lorrek...he was here. He was just here.”

  “He’s still here.” Vixen stepped aside, allowing Mordora to see the unconscious form of Lorrek.

  Seeing the questions in Mordora’s eyes, Anelm took matters into her own hands. “I will care for Lorrek, but Mordora...” She waited until the princess locked eyes with her. “Do you recall Skelton?” It took a moment for the name to register, but finally Mordora nodded, and Anelm went on, “You’ve cast a dangerous spell over him, and it is slowly killing him. Only you can reverse the spell, and you must do so. Theran and Kinnard will take you to him.” She motioned to the men.

  Mordora still looked confused but nodded, and this gave Theran the opportunity to address Anelm. “What exactly are you planning to do?”

  “Simple. I will magick Vixen, Lorrek, and Zoyra’s body to Jechorm, and then I shall return here to assist the thymords on their quest to track down Rykeldan.”

  Not keen on this plan, Theran crossed his arms then jutted his chin toward the thymords. “Why should we trust them? I should stay here—protect you.”

  Anelm shook her head then smiled at him. “You need to take Kinnard and Mordora to Skelton. His life depends on it, and you’re the only one who knows where he is.” She shifted her gaze to Reven and Draben with her smile still frozen on her features. “I believe we will come to an understanding as to why it is important that we work together. However, in the meanwhile, Lorrek is in critical condition. Allow me to care for him, and we will be on our way.” She paused then looked back at Theran, Mordora, and Kinnard. “The three of you may leave whenever you wish, but if you would...” She motioned for Kinnard to bring her Zoyra’s body. “Bring her closer to Lorrek. It is easier to magick her with us.”

  When he nodded and brought her over, laying her on the ground beside Lorrek, Kinnard sighed as he let her go. He didn’t like this idea at all, but Princess Anelm seemed to have a better understanding as to what was really happening here than the rest of them, so he conceded by stepping back.

  Vixen crouched between the two bodies and placed her hands on each of them then looked up at Anelm. “I thought pure magic users didn’t magick from one place to another.”

  Anelm shrugged as she lowered herself to place her hand on Lorrek’s shoulder. She smiled at Vixen. “We use our magic for the good of others. This qualifies as that.” With that, she tapped into Vixen’s memories for a safe location in Jechorm to magic them, and they vanished.

  Watching them disappear, Kinnard shook his head. “Before meeting Radella, I would have thought such magic was...” He paused, trying to find the right word. “Outrageous, but now...now it seems ordinary.”

  Theran sighed. As much as he didn’t wish to leave these thymords alone with Anelm, she had been right. Skelton’s life depended on them getting Mordora back to him as quickly as possible, so he looked over to her. “We need to move.” Then he glared at the thymords. “And if you so much as harm a hair of Princess Anelm’s head, I will break you.” He clenched his gloved hand into a fist—leather creaking.

  Draben grinned at the threat. “The challenge is quite welcome!”

  In her office in Jechorm, Ceras sat down after an incredibly long day that had dragged on for a good portion of the night. She had just begun to pour herself a drink when someone magicked into her office. Without looking, she continued pouring the drink and shook her head. “I would expect Prince Lorrek to have better manners...” But she trailed off when she lifted the glass to her lips and saw Vixen with an unconscious Lorrek and Zoyra along with someone else Ceras didn’t recognize.

  Lifting her brows, Ceras lowered her drink to her desk. “What’s going on, Vixen?”

  Anelm locked eyes with Vixen. “I trust you have the situation under control?” When Vixen nodded, Anelm magicked away, leaving the assassin to explain.

  “Zoyra is dead. Lorrek needs to go to a hospital.” Vixen motioned from one person to the other.

  Upon hearing one of her Guardians was dead, Ceras shoved herself to her feet as her eyes widened. “What happened?”

  Vixen sighed. “I’ll explain on the way. I need to get him to a hospital.”

  “I’ll get someone to help.” Ceras reached across her desk and paged several Guardians. Once they were on their way, she stood back and crossed her arms, giving her old friend a look.

  Vixen saw that look and sighed. She knew what it meant, but she wasn’t sure how to explain it in simple terms.

  Back in the forest, Anelm reappeared and was pleased Theran and Kinnard had not provoked the thymords. She gave the men a stern look. “Go on your way with Mordora.” She softened her gaze as she approached Mordora. “I understand you have much anger within you, and there is much confusion. There is much you wish to right, but at this time, you cannot. You must be patient and trust me. We will help you, but first, you must save Skelton.” She quieted her voice so only Mordora would hear her next words. “He cares for you.” Then she stepped back toward the thymords. “Come, we shall track down Rykeldan.” And she didn’t offer them the chance to argue as she headed off in that direction.

  Theran narrowed his eyes—still disapproving of all of this. He stepped toward the thymords. “If she’s hurt in any way, you will both pay.”

  Draben chuckled. “There’s more than just the two of us, you know!” But Reven grabbed him by the shoulder and steered him to follow after Anelm rather than get into an argument with Theran.

  Watching them leave, Kinnard waited for them to step out of sight and for Theran to turn back around. “Well?”

  With eyes narrowed, Theran took his helmet from the ground, and he put it on. Once he commanded the computer to retrace their previous path, he watched a digital path snake through the woods. “We’re leaving. Now.” He moved to take the lead but halted in front of Mordora. “Do not make me hurt you.” Then he kept walking.

  Mordora stared at his departing form, and she didn’t know what to think. Part of her wanted to demand what right he had to order her around, but then she reminded herself that he too was royalty. They were equals.

  18

  Lorrek snapped his eyes open when he finally woke, and he stared at the ceiling above him. It was a strange tile he’d never seen before, so he furrowed his brows, confused. Where was he? Then he heard beeping sounds and lowered his gaze to see the machines around him, monitoring his breathing, his heart rate, and other things. He frowned when he saw them but then noticed the catheter in his arm, attached to a thin tube, which was hooked up to one of the machines. What was going on here?

  He moved his hand to pull out the catheter, but someone else’s hand reached out and stopped him. When he looked, he saw Vixen sitting at his bedside, and she shook her head. Lorrek frowned. “Vixen?” He settled back onto his pillow. “Where?” He glimpsed around, only to wince at the headache pounding in his head, so he closed his eyes. “Where are we?”

  “Jechorm.” Her response only caused him to open his eyes again and look at her even more confused, and Vixen nodded. “What do you remember last?”

  With a sigh, Lorrek cast his memories back, trying to recall the last clear image he had before things began to blur. “My arm...it was broken.” But it didn’t hurt anymore. He looked down at his arm to see it was no longer in a handmade sling, and it didn’t appear to be broken. This only perplexed him further. “What...?”

  Vixen decided to start from the beginning. “Anelm came and healed you. Apparently the infection was too far spread, and she couldn’t eradicate it entirely. That’s why we’re here—in a hospital in Jechorm.” She gestured to their surroundings before looking back at Lorrek, only to frown when she saw him yanking the IV catheter out of his arm. Vixen straightened when s
he saw this. “What are you doing?”

  “I need to go back. I remember now—Rykeldan, Mordora...the thymords. They need my help.” He tried to get out of bed, but Vixen rose to her feet, crossed the floor to his bed, and shoved him back down onto the bed. She held him there with a firm hand on his chest and gave him a stern stare. “You are staying here.”

  Lorrek shook his head. “You do not understand.”

  Arching her brows, Vixen crossed her arms. “I beg to differ. You need to rest, and you will rest because you’re not going anywhere.”

  He stared at her. He knew he could magick out of here, but Vixen was being stubborn on this matter. If he did magick away, Vixen would hunt him down and stab him. This perplexed him, yet he eased back onto the bed and conceded to her with a nod. As he did this, he felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, and he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, but he didn’t want Vixen to see just how tired he was. “What happened?” He opened his eyes and looked at her with furrowed brows. “In the woods, I mean.”

  Vixen nodded her understanding and began to move about the room, pacing. “Where to start? Well, Mordora came upon us and attacked me, but you managed to lock her into a sleeping spell, only to collapse afterwards. Princess Anelm arrived. Zoyra attempted to remove the bracelet from Mordora’s wrist, and she succeeded, but the defense of the bracelet shot a blast at her, killing her.” Vixen motioned to the window as if to Jechorm. “We brought her back here, so she could be buried among the other Guardians.”

  Lorrek bowed his head. “My condolences.”

  Nodding, Vixen went on. “However, the planned worked. Mordora no longer wears the bracelet of Rykeldan, but Theran got his hands on it and broke it.” She winced when she said this because she knew the consequences, and she turned back to Lorrek with a shrug. “Rykeldan is free now.”

  Lorrek slammed his fist onto his bed then pushed himself back up. “I need to stop him.”

  “No.” Vixen marched up to the side of the bed and glared at him. “You are going to stay here. Anelm is tracking him down with the thymords.”

  This only caused Lorrek to growl. “I don’t trust them.”

  “Well, neither do I!” Vixen spat. “But you are not going anywhere. Anelm can handle herself.”

  “I can do this, Vixen. Don’t try to stop me.” Lorrek sat up, swung his feet over the edge of the bed, and closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness and fatigue washed over him. However, it passed in a moment, and he began removing all the connections to the machines from his body—causing the machines to begin to sound their alarms.

  Vixen remained where she stood with her arms crossed as she willed herself not to strike him. “Lorrek,” she spoke with measured voice. When he looked at her, she continued. “What are you trying to prove? That you are the most powerful sorcerer in all the lands? That you have no weaknesses?” She marched up to him. “You have your limits, and you have recently hit them, yet you insist on pushing past them as if they don’t exist. You think you’re the only one who can resolve any situation. You think you’re the only one who can help others. You. Are. Wrong. And you need to sit back and let others resolve this. It is not your responsibility.”

  A nurse hastened into the room to check why all the alarms were sounding, but she paused in the doorway when she saw Lorrek was awake and sitting on the edge of the bed with Vixen standing in front of him.

  Lorrek stared at Vixen with hard eyes. He didn’t understand why she was insisting he should do nothing. He had the ability. He should use it.

  Recognizing that look in his eyes, Vixen knew what he was going to do, and she shook her head. Uncrossing her arms, she walked up to the nurse and said something to her in a low voice. The nurse locked eyes with her, smiled, but then left, and Vixen exhaled a heavy sigh as she turned back to Lorrek just as he attempted to stand. His knees buckled under him, send him crashing to the floor, although he grabbed the edge of the bed to catch himself. He ground his teeth as he pushed himself back up onto the bed, and Vixen finally approached him with a knowing look.

  “Well,” she told him. “That was foolish. Now you see, you are not as strong as you think you are. Your body is recovering from a lot of trauma, and you need to let it heal.”

  “I need to find a magic user who will more thoroughly heal me rather than this technology!” He gestured sharply, but then he sighed and lowered his head into his hand as a wave of fatigue and dizziness watched over him.

  “This is what we have right now, so you will simply have to make due. The world will wait. You don’t have to save everyone.”

  Lorrek chuckled as he shook his head. “You have no idea.” However, he had to concede to the fact that he was unwell at this moment, so he eased back onto the bed and closed his eyes just as the nurse came back with several other nurses. He didn’t open his eyes when they came, ready to restrain him if necessary, but he didn’t flinch when they inserted another IV in his arm. He said nothing as they injected him with a sedative, and he felt it pushing its way through his body.

  It was only a matter of time before it got to work, and he slowly lifted his eyelids to look at Vixen. He wanted to tell her there was much more at stake than merely his pride. There was an ancient power on the loose now, and since he had already encountered Rykeldan, he knew what to expect. This was his advantage, but he knew it meant nothing in his weakened condition. His eyes remained locked with Vixen’s until the sedative kicked in, and he closed his eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.

  Vixen held her breath for as long as Lorrek stared at her, and she let out a sigh of relief when he slipped into slumber.

  “Is he always this stubborn?” One of the nurses asked, and Vixen chuckled.

  “That was him conceding to defeat,” she told him and waited until the nurses left the room once more before returning to her seat to keep vigil. Knowing he would be out for a while, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to think over everything that had happened.

  19

  The noonday sun wore on as Therth found himself on a familiar path. “Watch your step,” he warned as he turned to help Gremina over a tree that had fallen on the path to Cuskelom. Once she had climbed over it, he turned back to the way once more and sighed as things were becoming more and more familiar to him. This was the road he took every time he traveled between Cuskelom and Serhon.

  He hadn’t wanted to return to his home. He had found a new life among the thieves and bandits of Serhon. He didn’t want to think about his former life and all he had lost, or how he would never be able to see his child grow up. All of this hurt too much, so he shunned it from his thoughts. Princess Gremina had also taken company with the bandits, and Therth found in her a companion. Both shared the loss of Princess Atheta, and they grew close to each other in expression of that loss.

  However, Gremina approached him with a request that was hard for Therth to hear. She wanted him to ask a favor of his cousin, King Heldon—a favor Therth was certain would be dismissed. Yet Gremina insisted, so Therth found his way back to his homeland, dreading every step.

  He reflected on the last time he had seen Heldon. It had been shortly after his coronation. After the Battle of Cuskelom. After the death of Heldon’s twin, King Honroth. Due to these events, Therth didn’t remain in Cuskelom for long. He had no reason to stay, so he had left and wandered from land to land until he found a place among the thieves. He had never considered himself a man contrary to the law of the land, but he had done much worse in the service of Countess Verddra. He couldn’t see what difference it made. He had no loyalty to the thieves until Gremina showed up.

  That changed everything.

  He wasn’t sure how it had changed, but it did. And now he walked alongside her back to the one place he did not wish to visit.

  For some reason, he doubted this was a good idea.

  Later that afternoon, King Heldon dismounted from his horse in the castle stable. He had spent most of the morning and well into the noonday inspecting new the Black Cast
le of Cuskelom, which had been erected in a single day with magic during the Battle of Cuskelom. King Caleth of Athorim had gifted Cuskelom the rare gift of a Black Stone, which, when placed on the ground, would immediately construct whatever structure was desired. When King Honroth had fallen in battle, and the tide of the war turned against them as they were open in the field, Caleth set that stone on the ground and stepped back as the structure began to grow under their feet. Since the battle, that castle had remained standing although Heldon wasn’t certain what to do with it.

  A few people began to occupy it, and the High Court insisted Heldon seize absolute control of the castle and perhaps even move into the Black Castle itself and conduct his court there. However, Heldon remained undecided because he felt the Athorians could come and dismantle the castle as quickly as it had been built. Therefore, he left it largely unoccupied.

  “Sire,” a squire from the palace called to the king, causing Heldon to pull out of his thoughts and look at him. The young man bowed to him and quickly fell into step with him as Heldon made his way into the castle. “Sir Therth is here.”

  This caused Heldon to falter in his step. He had gone on the ride to try and forget what his uncle had revealed to him about his past actions, but now it seemed another part of Heldon’s past had returned—his cousin Therth.

  He hadn’t seen his cousin since the Battle of Cuskelom. He hadn’t heard from him and had no idea where he had been this past year, and he was quite curious to know why Therth had decided to return, so Heldon resumed his walk, lengthening his strides to go to the council hall.

  “He brings a guest,” the squire continued as he walked beside him. “Princess Gremina of Serhon.”