Seer of Shadows
Page 1
Seer of Shadows
Shadows of the First Trine
1
Cleave Bourbon
Table of Contents
Title Page
Seer of Shadows (Shadows of the First Trine, #1)
Seer of Shadows: Shadows of the First Trine 1...
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Reaper in the Dark
Chapter 2: The Blight
Chapter 3: Reign is Falling
Chapter 4: Leave-taking
Chapter 5: Defender Patrol
Chapter 6: Valwall
Chapter 7: Shadow Fall
Chapter 8: Beneath the White Tower
Chapter 9: Nightmares
Chapter 10: Vicious
Chapter 11: One Among Us
Chapter 12: Gondrial’s Run
Chapter 13: Lurker in the Shadows
Chapter 14: The Sword
Chapter 15: The Inn at the Edge
Chapter 16: Encounter at Brookhaven
Chapter 17: Whispers of the Wicked
Chapter 18: No Rest for the Dead
Chapter 19: Born of Evil
Chapter 20: Drasmyd Duil
Author’s Note
Copyright
Dedication and Acknowledgments:
Glossary
Copyright © Cleave Bourbon 2019
Book cover design by Sanja Gombar www.fantasybookcoverdesign.com
Edited by Courtney Umphress www.courtneyumphress.com
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Seer of Shadows: Shadows of the First Trine 1...
They were hardly a threat before. Sure, the shifters could look like allies, but they weren’t good at imitating personalities or the little quirks that make each person unique, and they had a distinctive odor that always gave them away . . . but change is inevitable, and over time, they must have learned how to model the behavior of their chosen identity accurately. It’s even rumored they managed to extinguish the telling smell!
Unrest has once again blanketed the kingdoms in its darkness. A hint of magic is on the rise, and those acting from the shadows have sent out their much-improved shapeshifting monster to take advantage. Now, they allegedly walk among unsuspecting folk, virtually undetectable, but Lady Shey, with all her power as a sorceress, can’t devote her time to worry about shapeshifters. She must set aside her worry and focus on her quest to save the kingdoms’ only hope to crawl back into the light—a group of descendants, according to the seers, living a simple life tucked away peacefully in the mountains.
Prologue
The light from the fire pit danced on the walls like little yellow and red sylphs delighting in the ominous workings of the wielder at the center of the room. Dirty, soot-stained green robes clung haphazardly to an emaciated frame of a man at task. Feverishly, he drew in as much essence from his surroundings as possible and concentrated his mental faculties on a single oblong object sitting on the wooden table before him. Scattered on the floor all around the table lay the remains of brightly-colored egg shells, dragon eggshells, to be exact. As he concentrated his power on the egg, the walls of the room buckled outward and the ceiling groaned from the strain. Sweat began to pour from the wielder’s forehead as he concentrated, and just before it seemed the walls would crack open and the ceiling would burst out, he collapsed onto the dirty floor. In delirium, he dreamed about a silver statue of a great dragon with ruby eyes clawing at him. A small green statuette of an elf maiden glowed in his hands, and a young girl of about fifteen seasons with sapphire blue eyes laughed at him.
When he awoke, it was daytime. The only window in the room let in the sunlight. He gathered his strength and stood before the table, searching for the egg. Thankfully it was still intact on the table. All his previous attempts had failed, destroying the egg, but this time he had succeeded. He carefully removed the egg from the table and placed it on a specially-lined stone bowl near the fire pit. The wielder in green robes went about stoking the fire until it roared back into a steady flame. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard the door open behind him but did not turn to see who entered the room.
“Master?”
The man started at the sound of a human voice. “What, who is it?”
“Master, it is I. It is Naneden.”
“Ah yes, Naneden. Come here and gaze upon my work. I have done it. I have moved beyond the creation of Dramyds from dragonkind. I have used the power of the gods and created our greatest ally.”
Naneden looked over his master’s shoulder at the egg. “Master, what have you created inside this egg?”
“My dear apprentice, what I have created will strike fear in the hearts of men and elf-kind alike, for it will have the ability to blend among them undetected. I have taken an egg of the Drasmyd brood and the essence of the Duil brood and combined their magic into a single egg. When it hatches, this new Drasmyd Duil will not only be able to create Dramyd at a far more prolific rate; it will be able to use the magic of the Duil dragons to take the shape of whatever creature it desires.”
A wicked grin formed on Naneden’s thin lips, “You are talking about the creation of your army of Dramyds. You have done it, Master; you can now produce the great army of Toborne.”
“Did you doubt me?”
“No, Master, I have never doubted you.”
“We will need a greater number of dragon eggs from the two broods. Can you manage it?”
“Stealing the eggs is dangerous, my master, but with the help of the Dramyds you have already created, I should be able to take what we need. Of course, the number of egg-producing dragons dwindles as we manipulate them.”
Toborne’s brow furled in concentration. “Yes, ideally we should capture a pair of each for our purposes.”
“Master, even if we could do such a thing, dragons of these two broods do not lay clutches of eggs often. Might we learn how to employ the life-birth broods? An army of Drasmyd Duil would surely destroy the Dramyd and the Duil populations.”
“The Dramyds will comprise the army. These Drasmyd Duil will have a different purpose.”
“We must also take into consideration that the live-birth dragon broods will naturally try to stop us from taking their young and from taking more of their relatives’ dragon eggs.”
“They will try. Of course, they will send their precious dragon knights out before they will come for us themselves. It is their folly that they put so much faith into their knights. It will buy us time to amass an army large enough to defeat even them.”
Naneden thought for a long moment. “Master, if we could somehow control the population of egg-laying broods, we could hatch them to fight against those who would seek to stop us. The drakes could be a powerful ally.”
“Naneden, you are wise beyond your many seasons. I was right to apprentice you.” Toborne gazed lovingly at his egg by the fire. “There is a way to take control over them. I have tried to do it before, but I failed.”
“How, Master?”
“It requires taking control over the Silver Drake. With the power the gods have bestowed upon her, we could ensure our victory in the war to come. It will not be easy. The Silver Drake is a force to be reckoned with, and she is heavily guarded.”
Naneden’s eyes twinkled with delight. “Master, if you will permit me, I will find a way.”
Chapter 1: The Reaper in the Dark
“Hurry, we don’t have much time. There are at least five Enforcers only a few hours’ ride from here. We have to get your daughter, Oria, into The Blight
,” Lady Shey pleaded.
Del was a big man, muscular and fit. He scratched his brown beard on his kind and pleasant face. “My lady, I still do not understand. I am a strong man. I can protect her here at the farm.”
Lady Shey was exasperated. “No, Del, you can’t. We’ve been through this. Oria has a gift that needs to be cultivated. The Enforcers have no use for her. They will kill her! There is nothing you can do.”
“Tell me the story one more time.”
Lady Shey sat back in her chair by the fire in Del’s farmhouse. “You want a history lesson . . . now?”
“How will getting her to The Blight help her? How is that barren land, where there is barely any protection, better than my farm?”
“All right, one more time and then we can go?”
“If you can convince me, aye, we will go.”
Out of a sense of urgency, Lady Shey tried to think of a way she could tell the story of The Blight quickly and still convince Del it was time to flee. “In the seasons after the War of the Oracle, the people of Symboria and the other neighboring kingdoms decided to memorialize the huge tract of land devastated by the use of magic and the armaments of war into a vast wasteland by declaring the land sacred.”
Del lit his pipe, which made Lady Shey even more furious and leaned back in his chair. “I know of the war and why The Blight was declared sacred.”
“I have to start at the beginning, or I will forget parts of the story. Just sit still and smoke your pipe!” She took a deep breath. “Several memorials were dedicated across The Blight to the many men and women who fought and died in the war. At the northern edge of The Blight, twin keeps were constructed. The first keep was named Calanbrough and the second was named Brightonhold. Calanbrough was set up as the home of the Defenders of The Blight, a group of men tasked with patrolling The Blight and keeping it safe from looters and riffraff. Brightonhold Keep was designated the home of the Enforcers, a select group of men chosen to enforce the newly created law against the use of all magic, which several kingdoms adopted. The problem is that many if not all the Enforcers are magic users themselves; that way they can detect users of magic and arrest them more easily.” She tried to drive the point home by staring Del in the eyes. “The fact that the Enforcers were policing and executing their own kind was considered an abominable act by the veteran wielders of the War of the Oracle.
“So they track down and kill their own? That is despicable,” Del said.
“There’s more. People born with the ability to wield magic were either made to join the Enforcers or die. That is why we need to get Oria to The Blight. They usually do not recruit women for their ranks.”
“I would not let her join their ranks if they did! But you have not answered my question. Why take her to the barren waste of The Blight?”
“Wielding works, for the most part, by drawing in essence from all things surrounding the wielder. Everything has essence, but living things have the most. If you draw essence from a thing, it will regenerate its essence easily, but if a wielder or group of wielders keep drawing and drawing the same source of essence, they will deplete it completely. Depending on the source, it will kill it or make it dormant for a long time. The War of the Oracle, which created The Blight, made the wasteland. There is no more essence there to draw upon. The Enforcers would not be able to locate her, and the Defenders do not like the Enforcers.” Lady Shey could finally see the comprehension in his eyes.
“Ah, all right, I see.”
“Good. Let’s get Oria and get out of here. We can get ahead of the Enforcers and be in The Blight before morning.”
Del put away his pipe. “She sleeps. She was so tired. Can’t we wait for a time, just to get her strength back?”
Out of frustration, Lady Shey put her head in her hands, her long, dark hair falling in front of her face. She threw her hair back and smoothed it with her hand, letting it fall down her shoulders. “Del, how can I convince you of the urgency of your situation?”
“You are a wielder, you say. You are also obviously a woman. How is it that you are here and not killed by these Enforcers?”
“I am a master wielder. At different times, throughout my training, I was apprenticed to every member of the First Trine. I am also an advisor to the court of Symboria. I am exempt from the law.”
“You were apprenticed once to Ianthill, Morgoran, and Toborne?”
“Aye, I was apprenticed to Toborne when I was about fourteen seasons and then to Morgoran until his curse by the Silver Drake. Finally, Ianthill continued my training to master wielder.”
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves pounding up to the house. Del sat up, alert. Lady Shey looked at him with concern that changed to dread. She knew who rode those horses. A moment later, there was a pounding at the door. Del got up to answer it at Shey’s nod.
When the door opened, a man in a dark grey cloak pushed his way in. “I am Captain Vose of the Enforcers. We have a report that a young woman here is afflicted.”
Lady Shey stood up. “Aye, I am a wielder, not afflicted as you so call it.”
He took a step closer to her. “You admit it!”
“I am Lady Shey Namear, the advisor of Highlord Rastafin Stowe of the city of Lux Enor.” She leaned in for effect. “You say you are Captain Vose? How dare you burst in here like that!”
The captain was taken aback for a split second but recovered. “The one we seek is younger than you, my lady. Your station will not have any bearing on this matter.”
Del took the opportunity to throw a punch at the captain, knocking him to the floor. He pounced on the Enforcer, hitting him repeatedly. The other Enforcers came in and eventually held him back.
Del looked at Lady Shey with hurt in his eyes. “You will not use your gifts to defend us?”
“I told you of the danger you were facing, Del. You kept us here for far too long.”
Captain Vose cracked a wicked smile. “The girl is ours, then. Find her, men.”
Shey stepped forward. “Not so fast, Captain. Her father might be a fool, but I will still defend the girl. You see, I take care of our own, unlike you who would see your own mother burn if she was, how did you put it, afflicted!”
Captain Vose laughed, and his men followed suit. “You will defend these people against all of us? Five wielders against one wielder and an unarmed man!”
Lady Shey reached beneath her robes and produced two curved silver daggers. “Aye, that’s right.”
Captain Vose drew his sword. Lady Shey knew it was imbued against magic; all the Enforcer weapons were to prevent them from being vulnerable. Shey began to draw essence, and she could see by the surprise on Vose’s face that he had not expected her to do that right in front of him.
“Kill him!” Vose commanded.
Shey released the essence into her daggers as she threw them at the two Enforcers holding Del. The blades made several lightning quick attacks, piecing key points on both men. They fell clutching their necks where blood poured out of deadly wounds. The daggers returned to her hands, and she threw them again at the other two Enforcers who were trying to come through the door. She felt them trying to draw essence, but their ability to use magic was far beneath what it took to stop Shey’s dagger attacks. They tried to fend them off with swords, but the quick daggers were relentless. Next, they went to Vose’s sword arm, causing him to drop it. Del managed to clutch the startled captain’s throat. Shey’s daggers returned to her, clean and shiny. She put them away underneath her robes.
“Perhaps if you trained your magical abilities more, you could compete with a master wielder, Captain. Your magical abilities are almost non-existent, and I am no mere novice.”
He tried to speak, and Shey nodded to Del to let him. “You lose, wielder. We already knew of your presence. Captain Row Praf is on his way here with ten men.”
Lady Shey suddenly appeared worried. She nodded to Del, who dragged the captain out into the yard. He returned a few moments later.
“I—”
Shey held up her hand to stop him. “I don’t want to know what you did with him. I abhor killing indiscriminately like this.” She looked him in the eye, and he took a step back. “You believe me now? The blood of these men is on your hands. We could have avoided this bloodshed. Now, go get Oria and get her ready to travel. I have heard of Captain Praf. He was a wielder during the War of the Oracle. He will not be so easy for me to defeat, especially if ten men accompany him.” She wondered if she sounded too harsh, but she knew she couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She looked down at the four men on the floor and turned away. Such a waste, five wielders for the life of one.
Del disappeared into the back of the farmhouse to get his daughter.
DEL’S FARM WAS LOCATED just west of the capital city of Symbor in the kingdom of Symboria. All Shey had to do was lead them directly west to get to The Blight. She was afraid that Captain Praf might be coming from the northwest and would intercept them, so she stayed to the coast as much as possible.
Lady Shey rode her horse next to Del, and Oria rode just behind her father. After a long silence, Del spoke. “I want to apologize, my lady. I was skeptical of your story until the Enforcers actually showed up. I should have believed you.”
“Aye, you should have. I have other duties to perform besides running all over the countryside trying to rescue novice wielders.” She intentionally softened her expression. She could tell by his face that Del was genuinely sorry. “What is done is done. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Wielders that hunt wielders are the lowest of people, in my opinion. I am not in the habit of killing them, but I know from experience that they have no qualms about killing other wielders.” She hesitated because she didn’t want to frighten Oria. She decided to say it, anyway, just phrased gentler. “They would have done terrible things to Oria.”
“I had heard of Enforcers. I thought they were around to protect us,” Del said.
“No matter how barbaric some people thought the magic law was, life continued on after the War of the Oracle in relative peace, so no one questioned the Enforcers’ authority. Their leaders have spent a lot of time and effort to cover up some of their atrocities and rebuild their reputation.