Darkstone - An Evil Reborn (Book 4)

by Guy Antibes

  Bishyar laughed after Yushidon translated. “You have done much, much more than I ever could today. Your Lotto Mistad was the son of Serytaran nobility and it seemed our continent took care of the threat, with your help.”

  Anchor slapped his hand on Bishyar’s back. “Well said. As soon as our Red Rose friends have strengthened their powers, we will be leaving Ayrtan.”

  “Kenyr will command the Valetan forces on their way back across the ocean,” Mander said.

  “Yes, please make sure that you maintain the chain of command all the way back home for all of the troops. Shiro and I will return to Foxhome.”

  Shiro stood and stepped to Anchor, clapping him on the shoulder. “I will take you to Learsea first, so we can pay our respects to King Willom and then to Foxhome. I have come to the decision that I will return to my new home on Ayrtan, Anchor. The land has healed and will grow again. My Red Roses will thrive in their new home. I always counted myself as a good farmer.” He nodded towards the Guildmaster. “Yushidon will send his rejects to me rather than kill them as he has in the past. They will sign the same pledge that we of the Red Rose have. I hope I have no similar restrictions about visiting Besseth?” Anchor, Lessa and Mander Hart all shook their heads. “Good, then we will transport the ones we know and love to Besseth. Lotto will be buried soon.”

  Chika walked to Shiro and hugged him. “Our home,” she said to Anchor, with tears in her eyes.

  Restella didn’t cry for Lotto. She grabbed onto Lessa and asked a Ropponi to take her home with Armand.

  Lessa wouldn’t have a moment of it. He told the Ropponi to take her home by herself with the good news.

  “Good news!” She turned, shaking her head and stalked off.

  “I wouldn’t worry about her,” Mander said. “We’ll see if she still has the heart for warfare. I am of the opinion that with little persuasion, she can still serve in the army. Few have her courage. Without the Moonstone, perhaps her irascibility will be leavened. Come to the funeral, Anchor. If the Ropponis won’t mind, they will still perform transport. Bring your Sally.”

  Anchor started at her name.

  “She stayed at my house in Beckondale and said we could call her that, too. It reminded her of happy days.”

  It did, indeed, thought Anchor. He thanked everyone for the quick meeting and had Shiro transport him to his tent some distance away to wash and change his filthy clothes.

  ~

  Anchor stood in the main hall of Learsea castle. The body of Prince Peeron was wrapped tight in enchanted shrouds at his feet. King Willom shook, as he leaned on one of his servants to stand and look at the remains of his only son.

  Willom took Anchor’s hand. “He was of my flesh. I cried when the Ropponi brought his body. Did he disgrace me?”

  Anchor said, “Let us say that he joined us on our successful campaign and died, as we all fought to save our world.”

  Willom raised his other trembling hand. “That is enough. Thank you. Remember, you are the son of my heart. My adoption remains in effect. All on my council agree and your rise to prince is with their acclaim as well as my own. My heart soared when I found out you didn’t shrivel into Unca’s form.”

  Anchor gave the king the barest of smiles and shook his head. “I fully expected to, but no. I’m as I appear. It will be many years before I become old Unca again.”

  Willom chuckled and coughed. “Without power, you will never be the Court Wizard again, my adopted son. Think of me as you rule my people.”

  Anchor made to object, but Willom grasped his forearm. “Besseth needs you. Serve them well. I go to grieve in private,” the king said as the servant helped him shuffle from the hall.

  “Besseth needs you, and Ayrtan has the Red Rose, even if it doesn’t want me,” Shiro grinned. “Chika and I have found a place where we can live without worrying about politics or smelly neighbors.”

  “You’ll have to civilize your Ayrtan friends,” Anchor said. He knew that Shiro would thrive in Ayrtan. He would help the savages and bring green grass and laughing, healthy children back to the once-dead continent. “I hope you’ll let me visit you, from time to time.” He smiled through pursed lips. “You can generate building funds by using your Red Rose as transporters.”

  “I’ve already thought of that,” Shiro said, grinning. It was good to see the reserved Ropponi in such a good mood.

  ~

  Anchor paused to absorb the scene of Sallia sitting in a garden, now saturated with the colors of leaves starting to turn. The sun shone on her light blonde hair while tiny insects buzzed around in the afternoon warmth. She held a rose and sniffed its fragrance. Anchor remembered her liking the roses at his holding, when he first took her there.

  He walked out of the open door and into the sun. “I’ve returned as Anchor, I’m afraid,” he said, holding out his arms.

  Sallia turned and threw her rose down and ran into his arms, burying her head into his chest.

  “No one told me. We succeeded?”

  “When you slept, we fought on Ayrtan in the sunlight. Lotto is the real hero.”

  “I don’t want to speak of Lotto.”

  “We must. He died, valiantly saving us all.”

  Sallia pushed away from him. Her radiant face darkened for a moment. “I will grieve for him tomorrow, but I will love you today.”

  “I can’t become your consort,” Anchor said.

  “What? Has something happened? I won’t allow you to change your mind.”

  Anchor nodded. “King Willom has adopted me as his heir. It seems Prince Peeron was caught playing with fire and he didn’t survive.”

  “That sounds like something Unca would say.” Sallia looked at him sideways.

  “Something that Anchor will say.” He smiled and turned serious. “King Willom’s health has declined even further and I may soon inherit the throne of Learsea.”

  “Then…” Sallia’s eyes filled with tears and looked away.

  “Then,” he cupped her chin in his hands and lifted up her face. “You know with the Bloodstone gone, the kingdom could use a name change. I never could figure out what ‘lear’ meant, so perhaps we can, at the right time, put the two domains together and call a new combined kingdom, Redsea.”

  “It has a certain ring,” Sallia said. “The Red Kingdom needs a king and Learsea needs a queen. I like it.” She closed her eyes and lifted her chin.

  Not to be haughty, but to be naughty, thought a smiling Anchor, he gave his girl a long, passionate kiss.

  ~~~

  EPILOGUE

  DAKKOR

  ~

  THE COLD UNYIELDING STONE FLOOR FELT WONDERFUL as Vishan woke in darkness. He took a deep breath. How long had it been since he had done that? To what kind of hell had he been cast? He didn’t like being naked, but still he stood carefully, not knowing if his head would hit a low ceiling. Nothing. Daryaku’s voice had, at long last, disappeared from his mind.

  He stretched and wriggled his fingers. At least being in control of his body felt wonderful. He happily faced any physical infirmity that hell might throw at him after decades of banishment in his own brain. He wondered when the demons would come to torment him.

  He remembered Daryaku’s screeching as he jerked her hand, making her drop the Darkstone. The young blond man somehow had successfully resisted Daryaku’s sorcerous trap. Good for him. He deserved a kingdom for his act. Vishan remembered the man picking up the Darkstone and putting it in his other hand along with the other Warstones. Everything instantly became a smothering blackness and now this.

  He found the wall and felt his way along until he came to a straight-edged seam. A door! He found a bar sunk into the rock and pulled. Light screamed into the room. He jammed his eyes shut, seeing brilliant red through his eyelids. Vish smiled. He could control his eyes! Wonderful. He squinted in the bright light as his eyes adjusted. He remembered this view. He stood in the Grand Emperor’s cave. Whatever power had captured him had done the favor of returning his body to
the place where it had been stolen. He pushed the door open to let more light.

  Another body lay on the cave’s floor. He remembered the flowing black hair. Fateem, just as he remembered her, except she, too, was naked. Vishan was consumed with relief when he could see her chest rise and fall. He spied her sack and pulled out musty clothes over two decades old. He looked around for something to cover his own nakedness. None of her pants fit him, but he found one of her skirts and wrapped it around him. He knelt and began to dress Fateem.

  He felt her stir in his arms.

  “A little forward aren’t you?” She sat up, putting a hand to her forehead. “What happened?”

  “Uh, I think our bodies have been sleeping for a long, long time.”

  She furrowed her brow. “The Darkstone—”

  “Is gone.” Vishan smiled as he produced a sorcerer’s light. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. He had restored power and youth! He felt wonderful. He walked over to the stone bier. It sat empty. “The Empress is gone.” Perhaps the Darkstone had taken her back to the place where she had made it. Vish would be ecstatic if Ayrtan received the awful woman’s bones. He had the time to find out, but he really didn’t care. The woman had to have perished.

  “Really gone?”

  Vishan nodded. “You have nothing to obsess over now, except me.”

  Fateem smiled. “That sounds like a good idea.” She drew her finger across his chin and looked at him, sleepily.

  He led her outside. In the distance, he saw a village in the distance that had popped up over part of the ruins of Onkyr. “It has been twenty-five years since we last walked through this little valley,” Vish said as he picked his way, barefooted. At least Fateem had dry, cracked boots to walk on, although they didn’t look like they’d last long. “You might have slept, but I didn’t, not really. We have much to talk about while we trudge back to Baku. It won’t be an easy trip.”

  “I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.”

  Vish squeezed her hand. Fateem might have lost her purpose, but Vishan had gained his. He would find General Bishyar and Polymeer the Cuminee. He gazed at Onkyr in the far distance and wondered if his feet would last for the trek. Perhaps they could get horses, since she had hidden a goodly sum of dreks in the bottom of her pack. They would make it. Vish still remembered all of his scout survival skills. He laughed at the thought of being able to use them.

  Vishan Daryaku would ascend the Throne of Three Hundred Eighty-Two Steps for the second time. To the many hells with all of the lies he had seen in his life. He would remake Dakkor into a land with as little ‘perspective’ as he could manage.

  Fateem snapped her fingers. “You’re thinking too hard. Twenty-five years, you say? My Prince doesn’t look like he has aged a day,” she said.

  Her comment drew him out of his reverie. “I’m happy to say the same to you,” Vish bowed to her and laughed. He threw his arms out feeling great. “The irony!”

  “What?”

  “The Grand Empress left the cave dressed as a man, and I leave her tomb dressed as a woman!” He twirled in his skirt. They both laughed and took each other’s hand, ready to walk back into the world.

  ~~~~

  And so ends the Warstone Quartet.

  ~~ ~~

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  MAP

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ~THRONE OF ONE THOUSAND STEPS~

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  ~ALL FORCES CONVERGE~

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  EPILOGUE

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  GUY & HIS BOOKS

  Darkstone | An Evil Reborn

  Copyright ©2015 Guy Antibes All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the permission of the author.

  ~

  This is a work of fiction. The locations, places and characters it depicts are products of the author’s imagination including the use of fictitious names, places, and situations. Any resemblances to actual persons, locations, or places are purely coincidental.

  Published by CasiePress in Salt Lake City, UT, April, 2015.

  www.casiepress.com

  Cover & Book Design: Kenneth Cassell

  ~

  ISBN-13: 978-1508642237

  ISBN-10: 1508642230

  A BIT ABOUT GUY

  With a lifelong passion for speculative fiction, Guy Antibes found that he rather enjoyed writing fantasy as well as reading it. So a career was born and Guy anxiously engaged in adding his own flavor of writing to the world. Guy lives in the western part of the United States and is happily married with enough children to meet or exceed the human replacement rate.

  You can contact Guy at his website: www.guyantibes.com.

  If you could, please leave a review of Bloodstone where you purchased this book.

  †

  BOOKS BY GUY ANTIBES

  Quest of the Wizardess

  Quest of the Wizardess chronicles the travels and travails of young Bellia. After her wizard family is assassinated when she is fourteen, Bellia seeks anonymity as a blacksmith’s helper. When that doesn’t work out as expected, she flees to the army.

  Her extraordinary physical and magical skills bring unwanted attention and she must escape again. After finding a too-placid refuge, she takes the opportunity to seek out her family’s killers. Revenge becomes her quest that takes her to a lost temple, unexpected alliances and a harrowing confrontation with her enemies.

  FANTASY - EPIC/NEW ADULT-COLLEGE/COMING OF AGE

  The Power Bearer

  How Norra obtained the power and the extraordinary lengths she went through to rid herself of it.

  What’s a girl to do when all of the wizards in her world are after her? She runs. But this girl runs towards the source of her power, not away from it. Along the way she picks up, among others, a wizard, a ghost, a highwaywoman and a sentient cloud. Through thick and thin, they help Norra towards her goal of finding a solution in a far off land that no one in her world has even heard of.

  YOUNG ADULT EPIC FANTASY

  Panix: Magician Spy

  Panix has life by the tail. A new wife, a new job in a new land that has few magicians and none of his caliber. His ideal life takes some unexpected downturns and Panix finds himself employed as a spy. He has no training, but must make things up as he goes if he is to survive the politics, betrayal, war and, at the end, his own behavior.

  FANTASY - ADVENTURE

  THE WORLD OF THE SWORD OF SPELLS

  Warrior Mage

  The gods gave Brull a Sword of Spells and proclaimed him as the world’s only Warrior Mage. One big problem, there aren’t any wars. What’s a guy to do? Brull becomes a magician bounty hunter until the big day when he learns he not only has to fight a war with the magicians of his world, but fi
ght the god that the magicians are all working to bring into being. He finds out if he has what it takes in Warrior Mage.

  EPIC FANTASY

  Sword of Spells

  Read about Brull’s beginnings and earlier adventures as a bounty hunter of magicians in the Sword of Spells anthology.

  EPIC FANTASY

  THE SARA FEATHERWOOD ADVENTURES

  Set in Shattuk Downs, a reclusive land in the kingdom of Parthy. Sara Featherwood could be a Jane Austen heroine with a sword in her hand. There are no magicians, wizards, dragons, elves or dwarves in Shattuk Downs, but there is intrigue, nobility, hidden secrets, plenty of adventure and romance with a bit of magic.

  FANTASY ~ YOUNG ADULT/COLLEGE

  FICTION ~ WOMEN’S ADVENTURE

  Knife & Flame

  When Sara Featherwood’s mother dies, her sixteen-year-old life is thrown into turmoil at Brightlings Manor in a remote district of Shattuk Downs. Life becomes worse when her father, the Squire, sets his roving eye on her best friend. Dreading her new life, Sara escapes to the Obridge Women’s School. Seeking solace in education doesn’t work as her world becomes embroiled with spies, revolution, and to top it all off, her best friend becomes her worst enemy.

  Sword & Flame

  If you were a young woman who had just saved the family’s estate from ruin, you’d think your father would be proud, wouldn’t you? Sara Featherwood is thrown out of her childhood home and now faces life on her own terms at age seventeen. She returns to the Tarrey Abbey Women’s School and is drafted to help with the establishment of the first Women’s College in the kingdom of Parthy. Now in the King’s capital of Parth, life confronts Sara as she learns about family secrets, which threaten to disrupt her life and about resurgent political turmoil back home that turns her scholarly pursuits upside down as she must take action and use her magic to save her family and her beloved Shattuk Downs.