Stormfront

by John Goode

  Stormfront

  By John Goode & J.G. Morgan

  Sequel to The Unseen Tempest

  Lords of Arcadia: Book Four

  Kane was a normal boy with a normal life until he fell into a world of fantasy and magic and discovered normal is not what it used to be. Now with his soul mate Hawk, he must fight to free Hawk’s mother, stop Hawk’s father from destroying Kane’s home, and prevent the Nine Realms from collapsing on each other.

  It has all been leading to this. With no time left, Kane and Hawk must race through different worlds to free Titania from the Big Bad Wolf and stop Oberon from destroying Athens and everything Kane holds dear. But all of this is only a prelude to facing the true mastermind behind these plans and the fate she has in store for the Nine Realms. After this, nothing will be the same again.

  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Prelude

  Act One: The Siege of Arcadia

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Act Two: The Rise and Fall of the Big Bad Wolf

  Chapter Six

  Act Three: The Curious Case of the Clockwork Girl

  Chapter Seven

  Act Four: Homecoming

  Chapter Eight

  Act Five: The Hero’s Journey

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue: The New Worlds’ Order

  Epilogue

  The Stuff After the Book….

  More from John Goode & J.G. Morgan

  Readers love the Lords of Arcadia series by John Goode & J.G. Morgan

  About the Authors

  By John Goode

  By J.G. Morgan

  Visit Harmony Ink Press

  Copyright

  To Paul and Sonia, who geared up and took the adventure with us this time.

  Acknowledgments

  I’D LIKE to, again, acknowledge Gina for reading my stuff. Gayle, for you know, making my stuff readable. And to everyone else who left reviews and feedback for the novels. This is our world, never forget it.

  Prelude

  ONE SECOND the field was empty; the next it wasn’t.

  In the space between those two seconds, something occurred, something unnatural. Reality tore, Oberon fell through, and reality basted itself back together. Off balance, Oberon ended up on his back, staring disbelievingly at the rapidly fading, jagged crack in current time. As far as he could tell, Inmediares had both pulled things apart and smashed them back together once Oberon had arrived at the other end of the tear. He’d never experienced a Sending as powerful and gut-wrenching as this one. He didn’t want to go through that again. Ever.

  Instead of creating a gateway to span the distance between two points, this felt more like Inmediares had grabbed a piece of both worlds and shoved them together to make the distance negligible.

  Inmediares had promised him many things before he left; the very least was unimaginable power. After feeling what she had just done, he believed she could deliver on that promise.

  Coughing on the foul air, the Arcadian lord looked around at his surroundings. He stood on the edge of a town, the one Hawk’s consort must have come from. He couldn’t precisely describe what he saw and smelled; everything covered in soot and grime was the best he could do. He had personally visited six of the Nine Realms in his lifetime, and none of them seemed this… dismal?

  If the rest of the world looked like this, it barely seemed worth destroying. But it would be destroyed. As long as the consort’s world existed, a chance existed that the seed could be planted and balance restored to the realms. A balance that would remove Arcadia as the center of the Nine Realms.

  The rumbling sounds of a massive beast charging directly at him yanked Oberon’s thoughts back to the present. As wide as three men, it moved far faster than any creature the fairy king had ever seen. The sound it let loose when it spotted him must have been some sort of warning, but ended up coming across more like a strangling goose’s battle cry as it roared and bore down on him.

  Though Oberon’s first instinct was to summon his sword, he found the belt that circled his waist instead. His fingers touched one of the many gems decorating its surface, and he felt magic move through him. He concentrated on the beast and let the magic flow. The creature shimmered in place as its form was twisted and turned by the jewel’s magic.

  Inmediares had told him the belt could alter reality around it, but until he saw the metal creature start to elongate and twist he had not believed her. The original blue sheen grew darker as armored segments began to form down its length, making a carapace of sorts. The strange black circles it had been traveling on withered and vanished, and its underbelly lost the odd pipes and flat panels. The top was now a bruise-colored purple, while the underbelly lightened until it was an ocher. The grill-like contraption that was once the beast’s front spread open to form a massive mouth surrounded by thousands of shark’s teeth bristling from its gums.

  Not until Oberon heard the aborted screams coming from within the beast did he realize what he had mistaken for a monster was a vehicle of some kind and had carried passengers.

  Had being the important word in that sentence.

  Where seconds before a bright blue Ford Focus had stood, a nine-foot-long pourprever—translated as “gigantic purple worm” in fairy—pulsed silently. Giant, meat-eating worms that served no master but their own hunger, pourprevers were the monsters that literally hid far under the bed and could wait centuries if need be. When their hunger turned ravenous, they burst upward to the surface, and wreaked havoc, swallowing people whole until their ravenous appetites were sated. No one who knew of them considered them to be intelligent, yet this one was staring at the fairy king intensely, expectantly.

  Oberon had never seen one in the flesh before. It was a truly terrifying sight to behold.

  He heard something thud to the ground and looked at his belt. The gem he had touched lay blackened in the dirt, its magic consumed completely, just as the witch had explained.

  “This is a powerful artifact,” Inmediares cautioned from her careless pose on the Arcadian throne. “It once belonged to the Gnome King himself and has the ability to alter reality around it.”

  He took the gaudy-looking belt gingerly. “And you’re giving it to me?”

  She nodded, giving him a small smile of mystery. “You’ll need an army once you get there. This will make you one.”

  Over a hundred different gems had been placed around the wide strip of leather. “How? By stunning the populace with its magnificent garishness?”

  She laughed, a sound devoid of any actual emotion. When she continued, her warning was clear. “Its power lies within that gaudiness, my dear fairy. Each gem has the ability to warp reality once, making any one thing into another by you simply thinking about it. Whatever you make will be utterly devoted to you.”

  Oberon looked at the belt with new respect. “How?” he asked in awe.

  “The how is not your concern,” she had snapped. “Your job is to go to this Earth and lay siege to young Kane’s town. Find his family, hold them hostage, do whatever you must to find leverage against him so he will turn the World Seed over to me.”

  “Us,” he corrected.

  “What?”

  “You meant to say give the World Seed over to us,” Oberon repeated, his voice now cautious.

  She sighed and stood, her dress a liquid-silver mountain stream cascading down her perfect form. Again she smiled at him. “My dear king, we both know that sooner or later one of us is going to betray the other. That time can happen now. I can destroy you with a thought and retrieve the seed myself. T
hat is not my first choice, or you wouldn’t be here at all.” She shook her head, dismissing any questions Oberon might have had with that one gesture. “Or you can take the belt, travel to Kane’s world, and astonish the Realms by finding a way to turn the tables on me in the meantime. That choice is yours.”

  He had chosen to buy more time.

  The pourprever stared at him with milky, unmoving eyes. Being subterranean creatures, they had no use for actual eyesight, but it was still focused on him, waiting. Oberon stepped to the left; the massive worm turned its head to keep him within its range of perception.

  “Excellent,” he said, smiling. “Burrow under the town and wait for my call. Do not attack until I say.”

  If it understood him, it gave no indication. Motionless, it waited.

  “Go,” he shouted in frustration, and pointed. “Wait for my order to eat.”

  The worm spun into a circle as its head took a huge bite out of the ground beneath it. Oberon watched as the worm slid into the hole and burrowed toward the collection of dilapidated huts and buildings that humans called a “town.”

  He looked at the town and said to himself, “This could work,” and began walking toward it.

  Act One: The Siege of Arcadia

  “Those who call upon the power of the Gods

  are as powerful as the deities they serve will allow.

  Conversely, the Gods are only as powerful as the belief of their followers.”

  Father William

  High Priest of Aponiviso

  Chapter One

  SO IT turns out the elven council chamber stank of burned incense and sweat.

  The first smell came from the ceremonial incense they burned when giving thanks to their god, Koran. The second was from the standing-room-only crowd that had assembled to watch Kor and Ater get sentenced.

  Why am I not surprised that elves can be rubberneckers?

  Kor and Ater were shackled with enchanted silver that could have contained a wild elephant if necessary. Using it on two unarmed men was just rude and tacky, and we all know how little patience I have for tacky. They knelt on a raised dais, waiting for Nystel to make her judgment.

  Again, the whole scene was crap. Nystel had made her judgment weeks ago when Ater came to tell Kor of the death of Pullus, Kor’s brother. Just as she had, long before, condemned Ater and the other dark elves to death simply for not following the edicts of Koran. Kor was being punished for helping Ater escape, a crime that, it seems, came with a death sentence as well.

  I am the reason they are here, because they came to Nystel and offered up their surrender in return for her help against Oberon and his attempted attack on Olim’s ice castle. Olim, by the way, happens to be a witch from a pretty popular book series featuring a talking lion. Why that is, we don’t know yet, but I just wanted to throw that out for those who are new here.

  So here were two elves, about to be killed because they chose to be different than everyone else. I’m curious, how okay do you think I am with that?

  Nystel opened her mouth and proclaimed in Elven, “Les accusés ont été informés de leurs crimes.”

  Don’t speak Elvish? Let me translate for you.

  Nystel opened her mouth and proclaimed, “The accused have been informed of their crimes.” Neither Ater nor Kor looked up; they were long resigned to their fate. “I have prayed long about this and asked Koran for his judgment.” The room grew quiet as the ghouls—I mean, the faithful—waited for her to continue. “For turning away from the Light and crimes against Koran’s Faithful, you are both sentenced to—” Dramatic pause for effect. “—death.”

  And words that sounded a lot like “Watermelon!” and “Cantaloupe!” arose from the assembled people.

  Nystel raised one hand to get their attention. “Because Koran is a merciful God, I will ask if there is anyone present who will speak for the accused, who will attempt to defend the actions of the condemned.”

  Surprise, surprise, no one raised a hand. Go figure.

  “I will,” a voice called out from the far rear corner of the room. The people standing there moved aside, shocked because they thought no one was behind them. Funny thing is, they had been right; I wasn’t here a few seconds ago, but now I am.

  A figure dressed in a black cloak and hood stepped out from the crowd and repeated, “I will defend them.”

  If Nystel’s eyebrows had climbed any higher, they’d have taken off from her head and started flapping around. “Silence!” she commanded the elves who were now openly asking each who the hell that was. “And who are you?”

  The hood slid back and revealed… me.

  Oh yeah, I just totally Return of the Jedi’d this bitch.

  “I am Kane, consort to the Throne of Arcadia and Guardian of the World Seed,” I said, encouraging the seed to fade into visibility. It glowed with a light that was impossible to track and that defied all logic. It cast no shadow and couldn’t be stopped by covering it with anything. If this thing wanted to glow, it glowed, and you just stood there and were glowed on.

  Which was what Nystel was doing right now, getting glowed on big-time.

  “I am here to defend these two,” I said, walking toward her. “They are my friends, and you are going to let them go.”

  “You are not an elf!” some guy… er, guy elf in the crowd shouted.

  Can’t get anything by him.

  “No, I’m not,” I replied, looking in his general direction. “Is that a requirement to speak on their behalf?” A light flashed from my eye, and suddenly I was an elf. I mean it, the ears, the eyes—I think my bones had changed too, but it was hard to tell. The room had a different tint to it, and I could tell the elves use a lower light range than humans, because everything seemed much brighter than it had a second ago. Conversely, their sense of smell must be a little dimmer, because the incense didn’t reek as much. Oh, the things you find out when you alter reality to make yourself another species.

  I waited for the crowd to settle down after my first miracle and then threatened them with another. “Or if being an elf isn’t enough, how about I make us all humans?” I raised my hand and pulled back my sleeve so I could more clearly snap my fingers. Nystel screamed at me to stop.

  Between you and me, I doubt I had enough juice to change the entire room, but the elves didn’t know that.

  “I know who you are, Kane, and I am not sure what you hope to accomplish here.”

  She was still playing to the crowd. Her voice was too loud, her body language was directed to them, excluding me. I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to go anywhere while she had them watching her. So I took care of that.

  Everyone in the room save Nystel and me stopped moving. They were breathing, yes, but movement was beyond them.

  “Better?” I asked, letting myself slip back into being a human. Holding the room in stasis was trying; doing that and keeping myself an elf was almost unbearable. At least by doing it this way I wasn’t taking life force from Hawk. I’d never take his life force, even if it was the small amount needed to make a point. Never.

  You remember that Hawk and I share a soul, right? Well, turns out that magic in general comes from life force, and the more I use, the more I need, which means if I turn it up to eleven, I end up leeching off him. And we all know I didn’t need to do that to convince Nystel to let Ater and Kor go.

  “What have you done?” she asked looking at the lamps all around the room and the frozen flames in each.

  “Giving us some privacy,” I explained, walking up to the dais and stopping next to the frozen Kor and Ater. “I’m sure you don’t want your people to see me threaten you.”

  She looked at the two accused, then back to me. “You can threaten all you want, but I am not commuting their sentence. The deal was I help you and they turn themselves in.”

  “Which they did,” I pointed out. “They turned themselves in, but no one said anything about letting you kill them.”

  “It is Koran’s will.”
<
br />   And that was when I lost it.

  “Really? You really want to try that shit with me, Nystel?” Her eyes widened at my outburst. “Are you absolutely sure you want to tell me that?”

  Wisely, she said nothing.

  “You see, I know the truth about you. The question is, do you want them to know it?” I asked, gesturing to her frozen faithful.

  “I have nothing to hide.” Her voice cracked a little.

  “Okay, then. If I tell them the higher planes have been cut off for centuries because Titania moved the World Tree from Earth, that would be okay? They would understand when I explained there is no way any god, not even Koran, can contact anyone, much less give you instructions about these two?”

  Her face went pale.

  “You see, I figured out where you were getting your power from. Normally you’d call upon Koran’s power, and he would grant your request, and that would be that. I asked myself how are you doing that with no connection to Tokpewa?” That’s the realm of the gods if you are just tuning in. A whole world full of people so powerful they are mistaken for gods. You’ve heard of a few: Thor, Odin, Oprah Winfrey, they all come from the same place.

  “And then it came to me.” I looked over to the frozen elves. “Faith. Their faith that you are speaking for Koran gives you power, and the power they give you gives them faith that you are speaking for their god.” I glanced back at her. “How much power do you think you’d have after I tell them you’ve been lying to them?”

  Her lips had pursed into a small line of hatred.

  “So you have a choice: release my friends or roll the dice. But I assure you, Katniss, the odds are not in your favor this time.” She glared at me, confused, and I waved it off. “Release them, or I start time and we let the people decide.”

  “You are meddling in things you cannot understand.”

  “I am saving the lives of my two friends from a religious zealot who’d rather kill two people than admit she’s a bitch.” I snapped my fingers and time started again. “Make your choice now.”