The Lost Relics Box Set

by LJ Andrews

  The guard paused as he considered what Mercedes said. “Fine, you can take them, but I insist on being assured they’ve been dealt with properly or we will take action ourselves.”

  “You have our word,” she said.

  “We will need help transferring them back to the Praetorium since they traveled illegally,” Lucan said. “Can you keep them confined until we can arrange transport?”

  The guard nodded. “Take them to the palace,” he commanded his brigade.

  One by one, the soldiers clasped onto the thick black ropes and led the large group of recruits through the gate toward the palace.

  “Thank you for helping my realm,” Tynan finally said once the guards were out of sight.

  “This was wrong, Tynan,” Mercedes said. “We cannot afford to turn on one another. I hope they come to their senses someday. I can’t believe Speron would do this.”

  “He hasn’t been the same since Glaciem,” Lucan said. “We all know that he would never have done this before he was beaten so badly.”

  “It’s no excuse,” Dax said darkly.

  “You’re right,” Lucan agreed. “I was just stating a fact. Well, I’m going to head back to the Praetorium. Connor is probably going to need to help us get them all back. I had hoped they would’ve beamed them home before the attack started. I wonder if Violet found Miller all right. Is anyone coming with me?”

  “I’m going to stay until I know Speron’s group is back at the Praetorium. They were so angry, it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to break out,” Killian said.

  “I’ll stay with Killian,” Mercedes said.

  “I can’t cross barriers without Killian’s help or until Connor can open up that wormhole. I’ll stay as well,” Dax said.

  “All right then. Be careful and hopefully you’ll all be back soon,” Lucan said. He made his way toward the palace where the crossing stone would be so he could jump back to the Praetorium.

  “Well, should we go to the palace?” Mercedes asked.

  Killian glanced over his shoulder toward a thick line of trees. “I feel like I need to look around a little bit, like there’s something I need to see. I can’t quite place where the feeling is coming from. What’s in those woods?” he asked Tynan.

  Tynan cocked his head. “Nothing really, just forest well and…” Tynan scrunched his eyebrows together and stared at Killian curiously.

  “What? What’s in there?” Killian felt a rush of excitement.

  “A place that once was filled with powerful magic,” Tynan responded as if hesitant to tell them the truth.

  “Is it safe?” Dax asked.

  Tynan nodded. “No one lives there now. It’s Merlin’s house.”

  Chapter 11

  Merlin’s Promise

  The dense forest was made up of trees with trunks three men thick and trickles of silver sap spilling over the black cherry wood. Strange birds with orange eyes watched them cautiously from their perches on the wavy branches. Small black squirrel creatures with split tails and eerie white eyes scattered as they passed beneath and hissed from behind the large purple and blue leaves dangling from the treetops.

  “No one goes to Merlin’s home anymore,” Tynan said quietly after a long while trudging through the ample brush littering the forest floor. “It has become a silent monument to his greatness. My father explained after Merlin betrayed The Grand Master, Claec, he only stayed for a short while before leaving to Terrene and the Praetorium.”

  “Merlin lived on Terrene?” Mercedes asked.

  “From what I understand,” Tynan answered somberly. “But his abilities became frightening to the Terrenians so he eventually left. I believe, his life was a fleeting moment, and died in the Praetorium. Father said many of your Terrenian legends come from Merlin though.”

  “I was told something similar when I came to the Praetorium,” Killian chimed in.

  “Why are we going to his house in the first place?” Dax said impatiently.

  Killian shrugged. “I just felt drawn to the forest, and since his house is in here I guess it’s worth checking out.”

  Tynan stopped and pointed through two leaning trees. “There it is.”

  Mercedes squinted in the dim light. “I can’t see anything.”

  “You can’t see it?” Tynan said raising his eyebrows.

  “I can,” Killian said.

  He stared through the large trees. A small stone home with an arched door rested snugly between them. The jagged remains of dark stained glass windows filled the sills like ghosts of the past. Holes dotted the wooden roof from years of neglect, but something about the skeleton of Merlin’s home beckoned to him like a comforting welcome.

  “You can, Killian?” Dax said suspiciously. “All I see is a small clearing, but no house.”

  “Me as well,” Mercedes agreed.

  “Interesting,” Tynan said. “It must be something to do with Cimmerian magic then.”

  “Tynan, I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but Killian isn’t Cimmerian,” Dax said sarcastically.

  Tynan rolled his eyes. “Obviously, but he has the life source of Cimmerian magic with Infinium. Infinium once lived in the relic Merlin gave power to, correct? Well, I have no doubt it probably sucked some of the life source from the relic when Infinium bonded to Killian.”

  “You sound a lot like Connor,” Killian said. “How do you know so much about this?”

  “Merlin is fascinating to me and I’ve studied about his powers my entire life. I wanted to understand how the most powerful Cimmerian of his time chose to abandon his realm and join the Ponderi. I learned about Infinium when I studied the Terrene Venture, and of course everyone in the Praetorium knows about you, Killian. It’s just an educated guess.”

  “Well, whether you’re right or not I can see the house. Should we really go in?” Killian said, a sense of hesitation filling his chest.

  “You came all the way out here, you big baby—might as well,” Dax teased.

  Tynan laughed and walked toward the house. Before Killian could follow, Mercedes grabbed Killian’s hand.

  “Be careful,” she said. Her emerald eyes were fierce as she spoke.

  He smiled and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be fine. Be back in a minute. You two keep an eye out here, all right?”

  Dax saluted dramatically and turned back to the dark forest, holding tight to his sword and gripping the cross bow on his hip.

  Killian stepped behind Tynan through the open doorway. A small sitting chair rested against the wall, untouched from the last use. Every bowl and plate remained in a large wooden cabinet and the table still had a clay pot filled with dusty remains of some plant that once thrived in the soil.

  “Well, this is it,” Tynan said raising his hands and glancing about the room. “Anything in particular you’re looking for?”

  Killian shook his head. “No. I don’t know why I felt like I needed to come inside. I’m just going to look around for a minute.”

  “Okay. I’ll be out here. I kind of want to see if Merlin has any old books. I’d be interested to see what he studied.”

  Tynan moved toward a musty sitting room and Killian turned down a long hallway leading to several small rooms.

  Picture frames lined the hall, most of various Cimmerian landscapes. Merlin’s passion for his realm was apparent and it made Killian feel sorry for him for abandoning it all so many years before.

  At the end of the hallway, a door was broken from its hinges. Carefully, he pushed through and took the room to be a small study. Books and papers were scattered across a wooden table and a padded chair was tucked neatly underneath, but what caught his eye was a framed painting of several people on the corner of the table.

  He immediately recognized one in the painting. Maurelle. She looked youthful and bright, with her perfect smile beaming up at him. She was notably younger and surrounded by more people. His gaze ventured up to a tall man standing to her side. He had a thin beard on his chin and his jet black hair fell well
beyond his shoulders. His silver eyes sparkled even through the painting. It was Merlin; the vague memory from witnessing him with Supraserum so long ago came to his mind. He stood next to another man he recognized as Maurelle’s father, Claec. He did not smile and his eyes didn’t sparkle with the same light as Merlin and Maurelle.

  Killian saw Claec’s arm linked with another. His eyes locked onto the beautiful woman. Her eyes were strange, not a pure silver, but warm and inviting all the same. Something told him this was Maurelle’s mother. He knew she’d been killed though he didn’t know how, and his heart broke slightly thinking of how happy young Maurelle seemed. He wondered how long after this painting was created her life turned upside down with the death of her parents.

  Killian’s heart beat rapidly against his chest like an elastic band when his eye caught something on the image of Maurelle’s mother. Around her neck was a long chain and hanging loose against her chest was an enormous stone—a dark red ruby encased in solid gold. Killian caught the edge of the table as the realization set in that this ruby matched the drawing Owen had shown him.

  “Tynan!” He called out. “Come here, quickly.”

  Several moments later, he heard the shuffling footsteps climb over the broken door. “What? What did you find?” Tynan asked excitedly.

  “Who is this woman? I assume she was the queen.”

  Tynan squinted his silver eyes as he studied the painting. After a moment he leaned back and nodded. “Yes, that is Queen Rhea. She’s Queen Maurelle’s mother. She was killed on the Venture.”

  “Was she close with Merlin?”

  “From what I’ve studied, he was very close with the royal family. He taught Queen Maurelle everything she knows and escorted the family to and from the Venture during construction.”

  Killian looked around the room, an excitement searing up the back of his neck. In the corner, hidden underneath a tipped chair, he saw a small wooden box. Quickly, he rushed across the room and snatched it from the ground.

  “Do you really think we should be snooping through his things?”

  Killian looked at Tynan incredulously. “If it means saving the Hemisphere from the Trinity, yes. I don’t think Merlin would mind.”

  Tynan pursed his lips and looked away sheepishly. Killian turned his back from him again and opened the small box. Several papers were folded or rolled in the container.

  “These all have strange symbols that I don’t understand,” Killian said, getting slightly frustrated. “Does anything look like it might have something to do with Rhea?”

  Tynan took the box and shuffled through the papers. Soon he held up a rolled up piece of parchment, wrapped in a black satin ribbon. “The symbols are ancient Cimmerian, which I can’t read, either, but this has the royal seal on it. I’d guess that is your best bet.”

  Killian snatched up the scroll just as Mercedes and Dax started shouting from outside the house. Tynan and Killian rushed out the door and saw the commotion Mercedes and Dax were backing away from.

  Eerie fog billowed around black boots of dozens of men with black metal breastplates and long metal spears. The troops marched in-step toward them and the thick fog grew darker with every step.

  “No, please, we don’t mean any harm,” Mercedes cried out to the frightening army. The men did not move out of step in the least and continued marching toward them.

  Dax drew his sword, preparing to stand against the soldiers.

  “Mercedes, Dax, back away!” Killian shouted as the thick fog swirled around their feet.

  Mercedes shrieked and ducked as the swarm of marching soldiers swallowed them up.

  “No!” he cried and rushed toward the onslaught of men, releasing both ends of his spear. Leaping aggressively from the ground, he thrust the point of his spear deep into the chest of one of the advancing soldiers.

  The steel point shot through the man and slammed into the earth. Killian stumbled to one knee and looked back at the uninjured soldier in surprise. Not one man moved out of the methodical march, and looking back and forth numerous times, he saw each soldier seemed slightly translucent as they marched onward.

  “What are they?”

  His heart leapt in relief as both Mercedes and Dax stepped next to him.

  “They look like…ghosts,” Killian admitted out loud, no matter how unbelievable the army was to his sensibility.

  They watched awestruck as the fog and ghost army marched onward surrounding Merlin’s small home. The fog swirled and frothed furiously, completely concealing every ghostly solider from their view. Tynan had stepped off to one side as the fog heightened and watched the strange sight curiously as he slowly crept in their direction.

  Finally, in one enormous blast of musty air that seemed to sweep through the entire forest, the ghost army was devoured by the fog cloud and disappeared. Killian gaped at the clearing—Merlin’s house was gone!

  “Where…where did it go?”

  “Where did what go?” Dax asked scanning the clearing.

  “Merlin’s house. It’s gone.”

  “It is a protection spell. In the event Merlin’s home was ever breached, the army would take all his secrets and the ones inside his home with them. Lucky you got out when you did.”

  Killian whipped around and saw Dalia, Rhetta, and Egan standing at the edge of the thick tree line.

  “What? Why would he do that?” Dax asked, obviously unsettled to be in Egan’s presence and be shaken by the mysterious army.

  “Merlin was a man of mystery,” Dalia said with a coy smile. “I could never pretend to understand everything he did.”

  “When did you get here?” Killian asked.

  “Almost as soon as you four left into the forest,” Egan said. Then looking at Mercedes, he continued. “It isn’t safe to wander this far unprotected from the city center. You both have marks on your heads as guardians.”

  “It’s my fault. I felt compelled to come into the forest,” Killian admitted.

  “Killian, you have to be more aware how capable Maurelle is to find you, especially when you’re away from the Praetorium.” Rhetta scolded him as if her were a young child.

  Surprisingly, he was agitated as she said it to him and the annoyance bubbled beneath his skin along the red brand on the back of his neck. “What would you have us do, then, when foolish Ponderi members are attacking an unsuspecting realm?”

  Rhetta raised her eyebrows and Mercedes breathed his name quietly as if warning him to stop before he said something he’d regret.

  “Of course, you needed to defend Cimmerian, and you were right to send the young girl to tell us what was going on so we could come, too,” Rhetta said, stronger than he’d heard her speak before.

  “All I’m saying is we,” he pointed toward himself and the other three, “have lived in the Praetorium and dealt with these things before we even knew any of you.”

  “Killian, calm yourself,” Dalia began, then turned toward Egan and Rhetta. “I suspect the life source of Cimmerian is connecting with Infinium and heightening the emotions of the power. We should get him home.”

  “DON’T SPEAK ABOUT ME AS IF I’M A CHILD!” He felt the heat pulse up his arms, along his taut shoulders, and through the red scars on his neck. A powerful surge burst from somewhere along his body and pushed with such force nearby tree limbs bowed against it.

  Instantly, he clenched his jaw, feeling foolish and surprised by his own outburst.

  Egan had stepped in front of Mercedes, Dax gaped, but also looked a little impressed, and only Dalia appeared unsurprised.

  “Come, we need to get you out of Cimmerian. You’ve been here much too long,” she said, holding out her arm.

  Without any protest, Killian followed and avoided Rhetta’s concerned gaze.

  Once they were back to the city, Dalia turned toward them. “We have been instructed to escort those who attacked Cimmerian in groups through Connor’s machine. Killian, you obviously can make sure these three get back safely,” Dalia said as if noth
ing strange had just happened.

  Killian nodded and linked his hand with Mercedes’. He could feel her eyes pouring into him, but he never looked up.

  “I need you to look at something we found,” he said to Dalia.

  “I expected nothing less. We will meet you back home,” she responded before turning into the open gates with Rhetta and Egan toward the palace.

  Dax mumbled protests about traveling by Killian’s portal until the uncomfortable pull wrapped around them again and ripped them toward the Praetorium.

  “So what happened back there?” Dax said, sitting on the wild grass when they landed and recouped from the transport.

  Killian frowned. “I don’t know. All of a sudden, I felt so intense about everything. I was annoyed when they lectured us, but something that should’ve brushed off my shoulders grew into this huge, explosive thing. I’ve never felt anything quite like that with Infinium.”

  “Infinium seems pretty unpredictable,” Mercedes said. Quickly, she looked away as Killian studied her, trying to decipher her meaning.

  “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you,” he said. Her words stung, and a wave of anxiety passed over him.

  “I know,” she assured him. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just forget it, okay?”

  She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He gave her a small smile as she pecked his lips.

  “Come on,” Dax interrupted. “Let’s go find out what Dalia knows about that scroll.”

  Killian grabbed the small parchment from his strap. He’d nearly forgotten what they found and he felt excited to hear what she might know.

  Miller answered the heavy door to his office and ushered all four of them in quickly.

  “Sit down. Wait one moment while I finish this announcement.”

  Miller’s voice boomed through the walls of the Praetorium as they patiently waited: