by Ceri Clark
All five stood there stunned.
The whole battle had only taken half an hour.
They stared at one another grateful to be alive. Outside the sky was clearing as they let go of the pent up power. There was no trace of Aras or his ships. Slowly, they looked back at one another.
It was over.
EPILOGUE
The next day, the sky was bright and clear. As Mirim waited by the door, she released a sigh of happiness. She had done everything her mother had asked of her; the Elementi were together and they would rebuild what was once lost.
A splashing to her left announced the arrival of Shenella with a companion. Irritation briefly flew across Mirim's features but she hid it before the girl could see it.
“Good morning, Your Highness.” Mirim smiled brightly.
“It is.” Shenella replied looking around. As she spoke, water dripped off her. Her clothes were as dry as if she'd hadn’t come out of the ocean just seconds ago. “This is Sori, my advisor and friend.”
Sori looked startled at bring described as a friend. As well he should thought Mirim. One did not make friends with advisors. He shouldn't even be here!
Mirim nodded and led Shenella and Sori up the main staircase into the meeting room where the others were gathered. Three of the five chairs were already occupied. Evenly spaced around a circular table the chairs were engraved with family symbols on the headrests.
Shenella gratefully sunk into the seat with the fountain crest while Sori stood with his arms folded behind her.
Jake immediately gave Mirim a glare and stood up to dive out of the room. Everyone jumped at the sudden movement. Karl smiled when he realized what Jake intended. Moments later Jake returned, dragging back a chair from the anteroom.
“We’re not having any of that elitist stuff here.” He placed the chair by Shenella’s nodding at Sori to sit.’
“Jake!”
“Yes?” His eyebrow soared up to his hairline.
Mirim backed down. “Your Majesty.”
“Karl and I talked last night, and we think that we are going to have a go at this. Kiera was right when she said we wouldn’t return to much on Earth. Here, here we can help people make this world a fairer place.”
Shenella smiled and looked at Sori. “This new king is nothing like Aras,” she ‘pathed to him.
“You are right. We are in for some interesting times, Your Highness,” Sori replied silently.
Mirim looked quizzically at the pair. “I can’t hear you.” She was confused. “I can tell you are talking but I can’t understand what you say.”
Sori smiled. “It is a natural function of the Merpeople. Your Highness, we are able to converse telepathically in secret and it is the skill of the water power to understand us, something which perplexed your ancestors. We all have skills the others need, and that is why the Elementi were so strong when you were united.”
“Whatever, people, we are here to talk about what to do next. Aras is gone…”
“Did you see him die?” interrupted Mirim.
Kiera rolled her eyes. “Let Jake speak, Mirim.”
“As I was saying, Aras is gone but the Capital is still under the control of the Magi. The wizard who captured Mirim and me is still around and we need to bring the peoples together.”
“The wizard could also tell Aras’ cousins in the Dark Continent,” interjected Sori.
“...so we need to think about what we are going to do next. I, Karl and Kiera don’t really know this world, whereas Shenella and Mirim were brought up here.”
“We need to recover the chain.”
“Sorry, Mirim?”
“The chain, it was always with the Focic crystal. It is a technology long gone but it magnifies your power so you can magnify one of the elements to the strength one of us holds.” Mirim spread her arms out to the rest of the table. “It must have got lost or at least given to someone for safe keeping. It was powerful in its own right and they wouldn’t have risked sending that to Earth. It may even have been possible for a human to control an element with the power of that. Not the way we can, but enough to cause trouble.”
“Not to mention the Dark Continent. Someone will have to go there and see if they know what has happened and if they do what they plan.” Kiera said quietly referring to Sori's earlier point. “That probably should be Shenella as she has had experience in a court. Our world hasn’t had that set up for centuries.”
Everyone turned to Shenella and her heart sank. Not again. She bowed, “That is true I have been in Aras’ court for a few years and I know what is expected.”
“We also need to know who the people will support us in a fight if it comes to that.” Karl chimed in.
“Yes we will need to go to each of our ancestral people and regain their trust. They have suffered greatly in the last one hundred years.” Mirim replied.
“We have a plan, everyone. Let’s go do it!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ceri Clark was born and brought up in Aberystwyth, Wales in the UK. After a brief flirt with the UK Ministry of Defense, a cruise ship and a waxworks museum, she spent years working as a Librarian in private and public libraries which has given her a love of stories and books she hopes to pass on to her son.
Copyright © 2008 Ceri Clark
Originally published by Fantasy Island Book Publishing 2011
Lycan Books (in association with Myrddin Publishing) Published 2013
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.
Print ISBN-13: 978-1-909236-02-8
Print ISBN-10: 1-909236-02-0
Lycan Books in association with Myrddin Publishing Group
Credits:
Editor: Alison DeLuca
Cover: Ceri Clark with eye and city component photos from BigStockPhoto.com
Contact us at:
www.LycanBooks.com & www.MyrddinPublishingGroup.com
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: JAKE
CHAPTER TWO: MIRIM
CHAPTER THREE: FIGHT
CHAPTER FOUR: DESTINY
CHAPTER FIVE: ARAS
CHAPTER SIX: IRELAND
CHAPTER SEVEN: SHENELLA
CHAPTER EIGHT: SPELLED
CHAPTER NINE: ADRAMELECH
CHAPTER TEN: EARTH QUEEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN: ELERIA
CHAPTER TWELVE: PURSUIT
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CITADEL
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WATER QUEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DANI
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: PRISON
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: STAND OFF
EPILOGUE
