Seer of Shadows

by Cleave Bourbon

  Once he hid the carcass sufficiently far enough into the woods, he rushed back to the inn. He hadn’t taken five steps out of the woods before he saw two men in black cloaks searching near the edge of the woods directly south of him. He took off in the opposite direction, avoiding them. There are Enforcers in the area! He thought. Just my luck. It’s only a matter of time before they find the corpse. He made his way back inside and up the stairs to Sylvalora and Shey, who were waiting anxiously for him.

  “I felt essence,” Lady Shey said. “What happened?”

  “You weren’t the only one. There are two Enforcers searching about.”

  “Where is Lyrrath?” Sylvalora asked.

  “On the ground outside of the Tiger’s Head Inn and in Sanmir’s shop back in Brookhaven, I should think. Killed by that Drasmyd Duil. It’s some kind of new version, better at disguise, no stench to give it away, and some deadly spit. It wasn’t very good at fighting me off. I dispatched it.”

  “And you drew the attention of the Enforcers,” Sylvalora said.

  “Well, I had the feeling that a sword or a dagger probably wouldn’t be able to repel deadly acid spit!”

  “It’s of no matter now. The deed is done,” Shey said.

  “There was a meeting in the woods with another Drasmyd Duil. The other one plans to go to Brookhaven. The one I killed was supposed to go to Symbor and help Naneden steal a tome from the king’s library that contains travel spells right after it killed you first, Shey. The enemy also knows about the descendants of Ardenia.”

  “What did you do with the one you killed?” Sylvalora asked.

  “I dragged it into the woods. It’s a good bet; the Enforcers will find it very soon.”

  “They have ways of tracing essence use back to the user.”

  Gondrial nodded, “Aye, I realize that, Sylvalora. I have to leave now, tonight.”

  Lady Shey began to gather up her things. “We have to get back to Brookhaven.”

  Sylvalora agreed. “All right, here’s what we are going to do. Gondrial, you will go to Symbor and find out what you can about Naneden and the travel tome there. If you find him and can stop him, do so. Shey and I will take care of the Drasmyd Duil in Brookhaven. Who will it be disguised as?”

  “It didn’t come up. The creature said it would find a way.”

  “Will the girl be all right to travel?” Shey asked.

  “She should be. I told her there might be side trips on the way to Trigothia.” Gondrial said.

  “Shey, gather up your things. Rodraq, get the coach ready while we pack. We will drop all pretenses and take the coach to Brookhaven, which means you should travel as Lady Shey now. We actually want your reputation to precede us now. It might be useful.” Sylvalora said.

  Gondrial gave Shey a curt hug, and then he did the same with Sylvalora.

  “Good luck, Gondrial. I will send word from Brookhaven, and we will meet you in Symbor,” Shey said. As an afterthought, she added, “If you find yourself with free time, stay out of the taverns!”

  “You know me. I’m all work.” Gondrial’s sly smile was not convincing.

  Shey was clearly not amused. “It’s no joke. You know what Naneden is capable of, and you will need to keep a good head on your shoulders if you have a run-in with him.”

  Footsteps, like heavy boots on bare wood, reverberated from the hallway. They stopped, and a knock came at the door.

  “Who’s there?” Sylvalora called out.

  “Enforcers, ma’am. Please open the door.”

  Gondrial tiptoed toward the balcony. “That was fast! Open the door, and I will lead them off. Get to Brookhaven!”

  “Wait, hide,” Shey waited until Gondrial hid off the edge of the balcony, making sure the Enforcers couldn’t see him before she opened the door. Shey embraced the first Enforcer before the door completely opened. “Thank Loracia you are here.” She pointed to the balcony, “There he goes, the fiend! He jumped down just now. You must go after him.”

  “Who ma’am?”

  “That horrible man who has been holding us hostage in our own room by force.”

  “You might be able to catch him if you hurry,” Sylvalora added.

  Both Enforcers ran back down the hall and to the stairs. Gondrial popped back up from the side of the balcony as soon as they were gone. “Good, a pair of bright ones. This should be fun!”

  Chapter 20: Drasmyd Duil

  Lady Shey and Sylvalora met Rodraq in front of the inn. Lady Shey was worried when she didn’t see the coach. Gondrial had already saddled the horses and slipped out of town with Deylia. He made sure to cast a few spells in order to get the Enforcers on his trail and to draw them away from the corpse in the woods. If they had found it, Enforcers would descend from all around, making it difficult for Shey and Sylvalora to travel to Brookhaven and take care of business. The last thing they needed was a collection of Enforcer checkpoints sprouting up and down the Southern Road.

  “The stable hands are still hitching up the horses. They will pull the coach around when they are through,” Rodraq said as if he read Shey’s worried expression.

  While they were waiting, Shey noticed the local peddler’s wagon rumbling along on the cobblestone street. As it passed, she made eye contact with the peddler. He smiled and gave her a friendly salute by mimicking tipping a hat, even though he wore none, which was a common form of a wave in the kingdom of Symboria. Still, she got a chill that turned into an ill feeling.

  Their coach pulled up, and Rodraq began to load Shey and Sylvalora’s belongings. Shey could hear a squeaking sound, so she went to where Rodraq was finishing his task. She noticed one of the rear wheels had begun to creak and groan. She looked at Rodraq.

  “Aye, I hear it too.” He examined the rear spokes, tugging on them. One of the bottom spokes pulled apart, followed by another. “At least two spokes have been sawed in half.” He went around the coach, testing each wheel. Spokes had been sawed in half on each of them. “All of the wheels on this coach are useless. Once the coach got up to speed, they would each give way.” He lamented.

  Lady Shey addressed the nearest stableman. “You there, who is the wheelwright?” He pointed to a man already examining the wooden wheels. Shey went to him. “How long would it take to repair?”

  The man peered up at her. “With help, about a day, two by myself.”

  “That’s outrageously long! I wouldn’t think it would take more than a few hours.”

  “If you want it done right, my lady, where they won’t come loose easily on the rough road, it takes time.”

  “What about new wheels? Do you have them in stock?”

  “I believe so, but that would be much more expensive.”

  “But it would be faster, right? You could get a few men together to work on changing each wheel.”

  “I suppose I could. What’s your hurry, my lady?”

  “Do it. The cost is of no consequence, and you let me worry about the urgency of my departure.” She stepped into the coach and returned with a bag of gold pieces. She handed them to the wheelwright. “This is more than enough. Get to work right away, please.”

  The wheelwright’s eyes brightened. “I shall get these changed at once.” He grabbed the reins of the lead horse and led it to his shop.

  “What is it, Shey?” Sylvalora asked.

  “That peddler. There was something wrong with him. It’s just a feeling. I think he sawed our spokes so that he would have a head start.”

  Sylvalora lowered her voice. “You think he might have been hiding something? Do you think he was the other creature Gondrial saw?”

  “I don’t know. Gondrial never got a look or notion at who the other creature would be disguised as. I know at this point is we need to get to Brookhaven and assume the worst, that there is another shapeshifter as good as the one Gondrial killed in the woods with a head start.”

  “Aye, anyone could be a suspect.”

  “I agree, but still, I can’t exactly just run up and jab a
dagger into anyone I suspect. In the old days, other than the horrible smell they gave off, Drasmyd Duil could be detected by mindwielders. There are still a handful of them around.”

  “Mindwielders that know how to control their power are significantly rare, my dear. However, I do know of two, but they are both in hiding.”

  “There is another, and he is close by, but he is untrained and untested.”

  Sylvalora smoothed back her hair. “The boy Sanmir told you about with the wild magic. Do you believe he is a latent mindwielder?”

  “Aye, I do.”

  “All right, but we will have to bring out his power slowly and carefully.”

  THE COACH ALMOST FELT like it was gliding on its new wheels. At the behest of Lady Shey, Rodraq had purchased two more horses for a total of four to help pull it, and he was running them moderately fast. Two soldiers from Lux Enor on white steeds showed up just before they departed for Brookhaven, looking for Lyrrath, who had failed to report his progress. Shey explained what had happened to him and recruited them to ride along and add to the mystique of a noblewoman wielder traveling through territory where magic was outlawed, but where no one, not even Enforcers, would try to detain her for it. The two men wanted to investigate the area of Lyrrath’s disappearance in Brookhaven, anyway, so they readily agreed to escort her coach.

  Maintaining a rapid pace, it still took them almost to Brookhaven to catch sight of the slower moving peddler’s wagon ahead. The peddler must have seen them and picked up the pace a bit because once they had spotted him, the distance between them remained about constant.

  Shey climbed up into the driver’s seat with Rodraq to get a better view. They had begun to close the gap between them when Shey saw movement from the corner of her eye. Something dark was moving extremely fast through the trees to her right. She watched the woods and evergreen for a while, but the shadow was gone. She lowered herself back down into the coach.

  “There is a shadow moving rapidly through the trees, matching our speed,” she told Sylvalora.

  “Then the peddler isn’t the Drasmyd Duil.”

  “I don’t know. That thing I saw could be something else. It doesn’t have to be the creature Gondrial saw. The peddler could be harboring something in his wagon.”

  “My lady, we are catching up to the peddler. He appears to have stopped off to the side. Shall I pass him on the road or stop?” Rodraq called down.

  Shey pulled the coach window down and leaned out slightly. She could see the wagon and two youths climbing onto it. “Someone is joining the peddler,” she said to Sylvalora.

  “My lady?” Rodraq called down to her.

  “Pass them so I can see who has joined the peddler, and then stop,” Shey instructed.

  The peddler’s wagon jolted and began to move, but Shey’s carriage was moving faster, and Rodraq passed them. Shey and Sylvalora could now see the two young people riding on the wagon.

  Sylvalora put her hand lightly over her mouth. “You have to go out there and stop him. I recognize the boy as Devyn Adair. That peddler is trying to take them off to that creature.”

  “Are you sure? You don’t believe he is a Drasmyd Duil?”

  “No, I really don’t. I think he is a pawn. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have waited on us to catch up to him. He would have just killed Devyn and flown away in triumph. I think this is a simple coincidence. I think the peddler was supposed to get into the village and bring him out.”

  “I see. I will be right back,” Shey said.

  Rodraq lowered the steps, opened the coach door, and extended his hand to help Lady Shey out of the coach.

  The End of book 1: Seer of Shadows

  Book 2: The Harrowing Path begins the Story of Devyn Adair. It may be found here:

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Seer of Shadows. Book 1 of the Shadows of the First Trine. If you would like to be informed of my new releases, go to HTTP://www.cleavebourbon.com

  And subscribe your email to the mailing list. It’s spam free, and the form is located right on the home page! Please consider giving this book a great rating; it really helps me out!

  As always, if you would like to ask me a question or contact me, my email is cleavebourbon@gmail.com

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2019, Cleave Bourbon (1968—)

  Editing by Courtney Umphress www.courtneyumphress.com

  Book cover design by Sanja Gombar www.fantasybookcoverdesign.com

  First Shadesilver Publishing electronic publication: April 2019

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the internet or by any other means, electronic or print, without the author/publisher’s permission.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictionally and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States by Shadesilver Publishing 2019

  Dedication and Acknowledgments:

  This book is dedicated to all those who work hard to create! It’s a labor of love!

  I would like to acknowledge the many people who helped me write this book along the way:

  Brandie, Eldon, Courtney, Kylie, Michael, Steve, Kenny, and the many others that have made contributions whether by making suggestions or by adding something useful to this work.

  Glossary

  (caution this glossary may contain spoilers)

  Adracoria - Southernmost Trigothian kingdom. Ruled by the Adrac family.

  Aedreagnon - (a-dray-ag-non) One of the eight gods. First son of Fawlsbane Vex and Loracia. He never did have the creative sense and the drive of purpose like his younger siblings. Instead, he was jealous of their creative genius and often used their creations to make followers of his own (Dramyds and Drasmyd Duil out of dragons, etc.) He would also teach his disciples to do the same. His jealously tended to make people misunderstand him and label him as evil.

  Ageanna - One of the eight gods. Creator of drakes and dragonkind. The youngest female child of Fawlsbane Vex and Loracia. Fawlsbane loved her creation of dragons so much he made his own (golden and silver dragons) and even created dragons to guard the realm of the gods, Venifyre.

  Amadace - Dragon in which Bren serves as First Knight.

  Amalease Stone - Stone used to gain entry into the gates of Draegodor. It is located on Mount Urieus.

  Amar - Race of high men from Lux Amarou. The first creation of Fawlsbane Vex.

  Anisport - Largest port city of Denosia, across the Great Sea.

  Arasyth/Sythia - Trigothian kingdom between Adracoria and Ardenia, host to the Great Sythian Forest. It is ruled by the Arasyth family.

  Ardenia - Northernmost Trigothian kingdom. It is ruled by the Arden family.

  Arillian Elves - High elves from the Isle of Arillia. They migrated to the Isle of Arillia at the end of the first age after their forests became grasslands and the area now known as Ishrak had become cursed. They are the fairest of elves and most elegant.

  Are’dune - Race of men who can trace their origins to Lux Amarou and the Amar but are not considered truly high men.

  Ascendic Root - A potent root made into a tea and drank. It relieves pain depending on the dose. Higher doses cause euphoria. Weak tea relieves the minor pain of headaches, etc., while strong tea relieves severe pain.

  Asheth’s Grimoire - An ancient tome containing spells of essence used to travel magically over distances. It is believed that Migarath used spells from the grimoire as a basis to build his famous Migarath Portals. (See Migarath Portals.)

  Bannon, Ezra - A powerful mindwielder and ally to To
borne. Also the reeve of Briarwick, Adracoria.

  Basillian - One of the great port cities in the kingdom of Symboria. Basillain is located in Northern Symboria, south of Seabrey. Due to disputes and treaties, Basillain is the port city in the north for trade with Adracoria. Seabrey is the northern port city for trade with both Ardenia and Sythia.

  Bittering Tea - A strong brew made from the grinding of the bittering bean. It has a distinct aroma and is usually consumed in the morning as a stimulant.

  Breannan - One of the eight gods. Oldest daughter of Fawlsbane Vex and Loracia, co-creator of the race of elves, lover of trees, nature, and things that grow.

  Bren - Dragon knight from Draegodor. First Knight of Amadace.

  Brendlewyre - See Theosus Fiderea.

  Broodlord - Common name given to a dragon knight with a high ranking. (A brood is a family of something. A broodlord would be a high member of a family or lord of the brood.)

  Brynna - An Arillian, elf maiden, healer. She is the eldest daughter of Erinthill and Ianthill’s niece. She resides on the Isle of Doom (Rugania).

  By’temog - The largest city of Ishrak, it was once the kingdom’s capital city. It fell into ruins after the curse of General Sythril. The general is currently trapped as a ghost there, lurking among the ruins.

  Chamber of Ancients - An ancient room in the citadel of Rugania (the Isle of Doom) where youthful wielders take part in magical trials. It is also a place to cure essence sickness if necessary.

  Darovan - Island continent southwest of the tip of Adracoria where some of the elves of old migrated. Home to the Siladil and Noradil elves.