Enchanted Bookstore Legends (5-book complete epic fantasy romance box set)

by Marsha A. Moore

  Cullen dropped his powerball. He grabbed onto her with one hand and Yord’s spine in front of him with the other. “Yeow! That was powerful! The strength of all the Scribes.” His voice rang out loud and happy. “How are you?” He glanced back at her. “Did my aura help stabilize your power?”

  “It did, somewhat. I’m fine though.” She felt slightly dizzy, but the sensation passed quickly.

  “Yord, cover us for a minute,” Cullen called to the blue dragon before he twisted in his seat to face her. He took her wrist and paused. “Rapid, but not erratic. Your aura isn’t flowing as smoothly as it should, but the pulses are only slight. Good enough.”

  Her gaze darted all around them. While understanding the importance, she felt uneasy with him taking a break in the middle of the fighting.

  He turned back and alerted Yord, who responded with an immediate sweep into a snarl of fire and magma drakes that formed a ring trapping two blue fighters with two ice drakes in a death match.

  The Imperial Dragon rocketed toward the opposite side of the circle from high above.

  Tension materialized a powerball in Lyra’s hand. She worked to hold it in place.

  Yord gave a slight nod, signaling to her.

  She braced herself, contracting her thighs even tighter around him.

  The senior blue charged—faster than Lyra had ever experienced—straight for the circle. His mouth opened wide, but the Imperial Dragon beat him, firing a fraction of a second earlier.

  The leader’s golden flame licked up the backs of several drakes, their agonized contortions silhouetted in the light.

  Yord hurled a wide swath of lightning at those closest to them. Red bodies of fire and magma drakes darted up and down, fleeing the area.

  From beside him, Yasqu shot a wide flame, injuring many who fled too late.

  When the lights of fire dimmed, only one blue fighter with a badly torn right lower wingsail remained in the center of the decimated ring. The other plummeted to the ground, out of sight in the pre-dawn shadows. The injured dragon uttered no cry, which made Lyra uneasy. A knot formed in her stomach, wondering whether he’d died instantly or merely worked to not display his weakened state.

  Cullen threw his body weight into another powerball that zinged over the heads of fire drakes, saving its strike for an ice drake who threatened the injured fighter.

  Lyra’s skin crawled, an unmistakable sickening feeling that shot straight to her gut. She looked up and from a sky dotted with red magma sparks, she picked out the ringed red eyes of a cimafa stealth dragon. Its sinuous black body absorbed the light. Only patchy reflections of red hues from its surrounding allies marked its form. It glided into the fracas without notice. No aura permeated its outer surface. But Lyra had fallen under its shadow too many times not to recognize it. The density of the darkness beneath the beast signaled her that it was about to strike.

  She forced additional power into her hand while checking her aim. Her other hand dug into Cullen’s side, and he looked up just as her arm drove the powerball into a wide arc over their heads.

  His hand clamped onto hers. His aura throbbed along her skin as darkness flooded her vision. The shrill, pained cry of the wounded cimafa hit her ears. She smiled even though tremors shot through her body. She slumped against Cullen’s back.

  The rhythm of Yord’s flight gradually changed from jerkiness, dodging the hazards of battle, to a more regular pattern. Sounds of fighting became more and more distant. The smooth flight made Lyra feel sluggish.

  A sudden impact caused her to open her eyes. “Where are we?” she choked out, her throat rough and constricted. Suddenly, hit with a blinding white light, she grimaced.

  “We’re in a forest glade near the battle,” Cullen’s voice reassured her. “The Unicorn just enchanted the area with a protective ward. I needed a quiet place to check your health.” He twisted in his seat to face her. “How do you feel?”

  “Weak. My senses are dulled, and my breathing is tight.”

  “Like you’ve had a seizure?” His higher clipped tone worried her, and she squirmed to sit straighter.

  “No. Different. I feel drained. Tired, but not disoriented.”

  “Good.” Cullen nodded to the Unicorn who stood on the ground. “We’ll help you dismount.”

  The Guardian kicked off and glided through the air to hover beside them.

  Cullen helped Lyra transfer to the Unicorn’s back before sliding himself down the dragon’s shoulder to dismount.

  When the Guardian landed, she asked, “Should I get down?”

  “No. I can reach you.” Cullen performed his usual routine, his hands moving above her major organs for several minutes.

  Threads of the Unicorn’s aura billowed around them. “I feel better just sitting here.”

  The Guardian turned his neck to one side, looking back. “I’m happy to share my aura with our Scribe.” He dipped his horn and snorted, forcing his aura to expand farther.

  At last Cullen ended his examination, and Lyra turned to face him.

  Yord lowered his head to their level.

  “I find no injuries,” Cullen replied. “Your pulse, heart rate, and breathing are slowed. Given the extreme tension of the fight, that is out of the ordinary. The flow of your aura is greatly diminished.”

  “She spent a lot to stop that cimafa,” the senior blue replied.

  Cullen looked her in the eyes. “Lyra, do you feel like you need to repower?”

  She hesitated. “Maybe we can keep contact to help me balance the influx from the fire star? Do you think that will help?”

  “It might…but before when I touched you as you repowered, I couldn’t take the jolt of energy,” Cullen replied.

  The group grew silent, taking in the sounds of cries and groans from the distant battlefield drifting toward them.

  “I have an idea,” the Unicorn said, shifting his weight, “something I learned when I spoke with the Tortoise. He told me his theory that each Scribe was responsible for connecting to one of our governing elements. Lyra, you are to coordinate the four governing elements with your quintessence, the fifth and master element. For good reason, you possess a minor element gemstone of air, fire, earth, and water, each gifted to you. Not a coincidence.”

  “If I hold the stones together in my hand while I repower…will that help them work together?” Lyra felt for the gems at her throat.

  “That’s my idea exactly,” the Guardian replied.

  Cullen rubbed his goatee. “That might work…if they form a continuous contact loop for energy to pass. In theory, it should enable you to better control the tremendous scribal power entering your body.”

  “Also, we can all form an energy loop with Scribe Lyra,” Yord added. “Perhaps along with Sire Drake, that will dampen the jolt.”

  Lyra placed her hand on the Unicorn’s neck. “Do you think the energy loop will help?”

  “I think with both precautions, we’ll provide a great degree of safety. Representing the Guardians, I accept the risks of that method. But the final decision is yours, Lyra.” He lowered his horn to the ground, his aura radiating from it in concentric rings.

  Lyra clenched and unclenched a fist. “I’ll repower now.”

  Cullen took his place behind her, wrapping an arm tightly around the front of her waist.

  The Guardian sailed to a height just below the top of the canopy and called back, “Yord, rise no higher to keep covered by the tree line.” The white translucent upper border of his ward lay directly above them.

  Lyra contracted her thighs closer around the Unicorn’s sides. She nestled all four minor element correspondences into her palm—jade brooch, opal ring, heliodor scrying stone, black amber butterfly pendant.

  Yord aligned his head with one cheek contacting the couple’s legs.

  Cullen leaned his torso to one side and held the edge of the dragon’s ear, while the Unicorn rotated to point his horn at Regulus, the brightest star of the Leo constellation.

  Fee
ling weak, Lyra was grateful for the Unicorn’s guidance. She followed his marked line. The star locked on her gaze and transmitted energy from them all—Elisabeth, Nareene, Sorcha, and Brigid. Lyra was so drained, the rush of power felt like an electrical shock. Her limbs spasmed.

  Yord’s scaly skin shivered. He let out a roar, then abruptly cut it to a muffled groan.

  Cullen’s arm jerked and then retightened at her waist, while the Unicorn reared on his hind legs.

  A vision formed on the screen of Lyra’s mind—the Emtori Ruby. It shined alone, without the Staurolite. Her head ached sharply behind her eyes. She lifted her hands and held her temples, but the throbbing wouldn’t stop, and the vision remained. The ruby called to her, first with a quiet song. It progressed to a louder wail, promising a blissful state if she joined her power to its. “Stop!” She forced her gaze away from the fire star, but the ruby still blazed in her mind.

  “Take us down!” Cullen called. “She’s trembling.” He placed her fingers onto his jadestone and did the same with hers while cradling her head against his shoulder.

  The coolness of their lovers’ gems eased the fire in her brain. She focused on her breathing, long exhales to slow and steady her body. Slowly, she regained some composure and sat upright without Cullen’s help, but still gripped the Unicorn’s mane.

  Once they landed, Cullen jumped off and examined her aura quickly, still supporting her with one arm. “Only very minor signs of a seizure, if any. I think this is something different. A new energy is inside you—not from the Scribes. The rhythm is different.”

  “Lyra, I thought this would simply repower you for battle,” the Unicorn declared. “But the Tortoise was more correct than even he guessed. What we did must have triggered you as the force of quintessence. The Emtori Ruby answered the call. Can you see its location?”

  She shook her head and winced at the additional pain caused by the motion. “Only the ruby. It calls to me, promises it can take this pain away.”

  Cullen ran a hand through his hair, revealing a forehead crisscrossed with lines. He looked at the Guardian and dragon. “I don’t know how to help her. I don’t know how to release the energy tormenting her.”

  “I need the ruby. It can stop this pain,” Lyra uttered with a raspy voice.

  “How do you feel, apart from the headache?” Cullen asked.

  “Stronger. Not weak like before. I feel my own aura. It’s normal. Just a splintering pain right here.” She touched a hand between her eyes.

  “Do you feel able to travel then?” the Unicorn asked. “I think we need to take you back to the lair. Maybe Mimio and the Tortoise can research some ancient healing technique.”

  Lyra gave a slight nod.

  Cullen rubbed her leg while staring into the sky. “Maybe they can.” His eyes riveted onto a point above them. “We’ve been discovered. Two drakes are close. Let’s hope the ward holds.”

  Yord bristled and pinned his ears back, lifting his neck.

  “With my camouflaging ward, they shouldn’t be able to see us, as long as they don’t hear our voices,” the Unicorn whispered.

  Lyra faced Cullen. “I need the ruby but don’t know where to find it. Let me try to get Kessa to help.”

  Cullen nodded and took a seat behind her again. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No. I’ll be fine in the lair. It’s only a headache. You’re badly needed to fight.”

  “I’ll shroud us with a ward and fly her back.” The Unicorn turned his head to the side toward them. “She’s right; you’re needed in battle, Sire Drake. The drakes have gone. We should leave before more pass over in their next patrol.”

  Cullen transferred onto Yord. As soon as the Unicorn dropped the ward around the glade, the two pairs flew in opposite directions.

  Lyra cupped her hand around her jadestone. As they flew, she felt the coolness of their bond diminish and the throbbing image of the ruby grow more intense.

  Chapter Seventeen: The Crossed Rock

  Eyes closed, Lyra did as directed and breathed in the smoke of burning herbs while Mimio chanted a foreign verse.

  “An ancient healer taught me about herbs,” Mimio said as her skirt swept around where Lyra sat cross-legged on a floor cushion. “I still use those techniques for the severely injured, when my healer’s touch will not suffice.”

  The Tortoise let out a tremendous sneeze.

  The reaction seemed infectious. Lyra also sneezed, then squinted her eyes against the reverberating pain shooting through her forehead. She was thankful when she heard the creaking of the study door. Her eyes flashed open.

  Kenzo flew in, followed by the Unicorn with Kessa on his back.

  The child giggled and rubbed his neck. Despite the fact the Guardian stood twice as tall as a normal horse, she acted like any other ten-year-old enjoying a pony ride.

  “Hello, Kessa! Welcome to the library.” The Tortoise lumbered to her side and extended his chin into her open hand.

  Lyra smiled and understood, perhaps in part, why Nillea protected her daughter. The life of a seer could rob the girl of her childhood. It was up to her, along with the Guardians, to be sure that didn’t happen. “He’s fun to ride, isn’t he?” she asked Kessa.

  The girl nodded and patted the Unicorn’s neck, running her fingers through his long white mane. “I’ve made a new friend.” She tilted her head sideways, looking at Lyra. “Why is she rubbing your temples with those leaves?”

  “Because I have a headache. Some bad energy got inside me,” Lyra replied.

  “Can I help?” Kessa awkwardly moved to dismount.

  The Unicorn folded his legs and lowered himself to the floor, while Kenzo supported her until she seemed stable on her braced legs.

  “Yes. You’re so sweet to offer. Thank you.” Lyra moved a cushion next to her.

  The girl hobbled next to Lyra and lowered herself down. “What made your head hurt?”

  Lyra explained her vision of the Emtori Ruby, still blazing behind her eyes. “It started when I held these four gems and repowered my aura through the spring fire star, Regulus.”

  Kessa leaned forward and gently touched the jade brooch fastened at Lyra’s collar. Her fingers jingled the heliodor and opal ring, dangling like charms from its back clasp. She thrust her tongue out one side of her mouth and scrunched her face. “These hold a lot of magic, like the things in my gramaema’s box.”

  No one responded. They just stared at the girl. Lyra felt the tension in the air. She didn’t want Kessa to be frightened. “Yes. You’re right. They do wonderful things,” Lyra replied.

  The girl traced the outline of the black amber butterfly resting at the base of Lyra’s throat. “This protects you from bad energy. But it didn’t block what got in you this time.”

  “So the energy that’s making my head hurt isn’t bad?” Lyra encouraged her reasoning.

  Kessa shook her head and twisted her tongue to the other corner of her mouth, turning over each of the four gems. “No. It’s not bad. Can I see the star? And hold these gems in its light?”

  Mimio shifted her weight closer, holding her hands behind the back of Kessa’s head. “Child, you have a cloaking spell around you. Why?”

  The door behind the Unicorn opened a crack.

  Kessa wriggled and looked over her shoulder at the sorceress. “Maema took me to a witch lady in the tribe and—’

  “That is none of their business, Kessa!” Nillea shouted, throwing the door open the rest of the way. She strode to her daughter and grabbed her under one armpit. “Come! This is wrong what they want you to do. Come with me.”

  “No, Maema!” Kessa begged. “Lyra is hurt. I want to help her.” Her pale complexion flushed. “Please, let me stay.”

  The woman gave a tug on her daughter. “No. Get up! We’re leaving here. They want no good to come to you. Get up, I say!”

  The Unicorn stood, the hair of his mane rising. “Maim, as the Guardian of the Earth, I must remind you that your actions are not in accordance
with the declared wishes of this Alliance.” His aura swept over Nillea and instantly quieted her. Lyra didn’t feel any perceptive spellwork. His display must have shocked the mother.

  “Be quick and do what you need with my kinchin now, then let her go.” Her hand moved to Kessa’s opposite shoulder, pulling the girl toward her. “I thought she’d be safe here. Her damn magic already cost her too much.” Nillea bent and touched the girl’s legs above and below her knees. “That magic boy, Ashbine, crackled her bones with lasers. Not clean breaks like would be from the accident he claimed it was. Was to hurt Kessa ‘cause she had power no one else had. Only harm’s going to come to her from that power.”

  Kessa wiggled her shoulder free and looked up at Lyra. “Can I see the star?”

  “Up through the window in the archives.” The Tortoise nodded toward the staircase.

  Kenzo unfolded his wings. “Let me fly you up the steps.”

  Kessa’s eyes lit up. “I get to fly? The only other time I flew was when Maema and I came here on a big, blue dragon.”

  Her mother stepped back, gritting her teeth.

  The owl hovered over her back and gently grasped the shoulders of her dress into his talons. “Here we go!” he called out in a cheery voice.

  The girl squealed and giggled their entire trip up the two flights.

  Lyra stayed close behind, arms extended acting as a spotter. All the others followed and gathered at the small pane.

  The Tortoise helped Kessa locate the Regulus star.

  The girl looked over her shoulder at Lyra. “Stand here next to me.”

  Lyra bent low and allowed the girl to touch her gems.

  She held them one by one, her eyes fixed on the star. Then she tried to gather them into her small hand, but one always slipped out. With two hands cupping the stones, she stared at the star. Her face puckered like she’d eaten a lemon. Still with that grimace, she said, “To stop your head from aching, you will find the rock in the shape of a cross—what Sorcha couldn’t use.” She strained, twisting her back into a sharp arch.

  “Can we stop? She’s hurting,” Nillea whimpered from her position, secured between the Unicorn and Tortoise.