by R A Lewis
Born of Embers
Book Two
Valdir Chronicles
By R. A. Lewis
Born of Embers
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2019 © R.A. Lewis
Cover art by Jennifer Stevens for Down Write Nuts
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Also by R.A. Lewis
Novel, Fantasy
Secrets & Swords
Born of Air, The Valdir Chronicles Book 1
Short Story, Fantasy
The Sellsword And The Beast
The Sellsword And The Bandits
The Sellsword And The Raven Girl
The Sellsword And The Siren
Short Story, Horror
The Bird
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all those aspiring authors who think they can’t do it. I promise you, you can. Never stop dreaming. I didn’t.
Born of Embers
Also by R.A. Lewis
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
About the Author
Chapter 1
Kalina stood in the small waiting chamber, sweating like mad. It was the tail end of summer and the mountain air around her was almost unbearably hot. She looked down and straightened her new red leather broad belt, making sure it wasn’t riding up. Her palms were sweaty but not because of the heat. It had been two months since her father Hakon, the king of the Valdir, had died in a battle along with his dragon Kaya. They had been at war with Ethea ever since. Kalina was now taking up his crown.
Eira, Kalina’s aunt, entered the chamber, her silver hair elaborately braided back from her lightly wrinkled face, her red Runark tattoos and bright blue eyes matching Kalina’s. She smiled at her niece and set down the small wooden box she carried.
“You look beautiful,” she assured, brushing a hand over Kalina’s scarred cheek. “Are you ready?”
“Not really. But I don’t have much of a choice do I?”
“You always have a choice, my dear.”
Kalina gave a nervous smile back.
Her own father had said something similar. That she had a choice in her future, she didn’t have to do anything, be anything she didn’t want. But she knew in her gut that her father would approve of this, be proud of this. So, it didn’t really feel like she had much of a choice.
“Okay,” she breathed, “I’m ready.”
Eira smiled, picking up the small wooden box. Kalina followed her aunt from the chamber, patting her own intricately braided silver hair, making sure everything was still in place. Leif, Kalina’s second in command and Geir’s son, met them in the hallway, his handsome face smiling softly as she approached. He reached out an arm and Kalina snaked her arm through his, resting her hand on his muscled forearm. Eira led them into the crowded chamber.
Silver haired Valdir filled the entry chamber, making Kalina’s body feel hot and cold all at once with fear and panic. She clutched Leif’s arm, trying to ground herself. She had gone from an orphaned nobody, to finding out both her parents were alive, to becoming Princess of the Valdir, and now she was to become queen. It was a lot to handle in such a short amount of time.
Her friend Talon, who’d been with her on this crazy journey, stood at the front of the audience, his floppy brown hair standing out vividly against the sea of silver hair that surrounded him. He smiled at her, giving her a subtle thumbs up. She gave him a weak smile and continued to the raised platform at the front of the chamber. Her cousins, Kari and Rangvald stood beside Talon, grinning. Leif walked her to the center before patting her hand and stepping back. Suddenly she was alone, in front of the entire crowd. She took a deep breath in through her nose, releasing it slowly through her mouth. The commander of her Valdiran armies, Geir, stepped forward, and together, he and Eira flanked her. A hush fell over the chamber.
Eira raised a hand in the air.
“Today, we gather here not as individuals, but as one tribe, one family, to support and raise up one of our own. Kalina, daughter of Hakon, wishes to take the throne vacated by her father.”
Kalina swallowed down the lump of sadness that rose at her father’s name. Eira turned to Kalina, opening the box. Geir came forward and took it from her, allowing Eira to pull a crown from its depths. It was made of beautifully twisted iron and jet-black stones that sparkled with some inner fire in the sunset light that filtered through the openings that dotted the side of the mountain. Eira raised the crown into the air for all to see.
“This crown represents the hardships and toil of our people, the living we eked out of the ground before the long war, and what we fought to protect for Ethea during it. It represents the bond we share with the dragons, and their role in our culture and our lives. It is not an easy burden to bear, it is supposed to weigh heavy on the one who wears it. But it is supposed to also bring them strength, because they are supported by the strength of their people.” She turned to Kalina who felt vaguely like she was going to be sick right there in front of everyone. “Kalina, daughter of Hakon, I present you with this crown. Do you swear to serve your people in everything you do?” Kalina swallowed again, trying to wet her dry mouth before answering.
“I do.” Her voice came out strong, much to her surprise.
“Do you swear to put your people’s needs before your own, to work towards the common good, and protect the safety of our people and culture?”
“I do.”
“Then I crown you Queen Kalina, Daughter of the Valdir.”
Eira lowered the crown onto Kalina’s elaborately braided hair. It settled there, the weight strange and foreign to her. As Eira stepped back, the crowd erupted in cheers and chanting. Kalina surveyed the gathered people, searching for familiar faces, for friendly ones to bolster her up. But her eyes fell on the faces of a group of men and women standing off to the side. Their eyes were stony, their mouths set in grim lines. She did not recognize any of them, but the anger and distrust radiating off them dulled the joy that was in the rest of the chamber. Finally, Geir raised his hands for silence.
“Tonight, we will celebrate while the Queen is fasting and preparing herself to serve her people.”
She had almost forgotten about that, in the excitement and fear of the day. The
crowd began to disperse and she took Leif’s arm once again and left the chamber. She glanced behind her, making eye contact with a stocky, muscled and bearded man at the forefront of the small knot of unhappy Valdir. He glared at her; arms crossed before him. She watched until a curve of the tunnel blocked him from view.
“Who was that?” she whispered to Leif as he led her to her isolation chamber.
He looked down at her with his soft grey eyes.
“Who?”
“The group of Valdir who seemed angry I was crowned.”
His grey eyes went cold and hard as stone.
“Jormungand, Halvor and their people. They came from Windpost, a small village along the Great Grey Mountains. They have been spreading dissent since they arrived, trying to convince us that you shouldn’t be crowned, that you aren’t true Valdir since you were raised elsewhere.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry about them now.”
In the months since her father had passed, Leif had been one of her staunchest allies and they’d begun to build a friendship that Kalina treasured. She trusted his opinion and if Geir wasn’t her second in command, his son would have been. They arrived at the same small chamber that she had sat in before her coming of age trial by fire. It had one small window and a bench carved from the rock. Leif took her hand from his arm. Eira was within earshot but Leif spoke quietly in Kalina’s ear, his breath tickling the little hairs at the base of her neck.
“I will come by to check on you later.” He winked at her and then left, walking off down the hallway carved from stone.
Eira ushered her inside.
“You will remain in this chamber until tomorrow night, when I will fetch you for the final choosing ceremony.” She handed her niece a pitcher of water. “Anything you need me to do before you are left alone?”
Kalina shook her head.
“Thank you, Aunt Eira.”
Suddenly, she was alone, for the first time in what felt like years. But she distinctly remembered feeling very alone just months ago. The moment her father died she had felt alone, unsettled, like now that he was gone, she didn’t belong. She knew it wasn’t entirely true, but with the mounting pressure of being queen, she was feeling more and more isolated. She settled herself on the stone bench, trying to find a comfortable position to sit and wait out the day.
Concern about Jormungand sowing dissent among her people bounced around in her head. Being a queen was so much more than she had originally thought, and for a moment, she wished she could go back to just being a nobody orphan. She had thought she was more of a figurehead, but she was now involved in so many decisions she could barely keep track. But as much as she longed for the simplicity that her old life held, she wouldn’t trade the adventure she’d had in the last few months for anything. And tomorrow, after she fasted, she would get to pick her very own dragon.
Chapter 2
Kalina touched her tender face gingerly as she followed Eira down to the dragons’ chamber. When her fasting was over, she had been taken to a room with incense and candles burning, giving it a hazy look and making her feel lightheaded. The elder women of the Valdir made her lie on the floor of the chamber and then they had tattooed her face and body with the Runark symbols many Valdir had. She knew that now she finally looked like she belonged; her face looked similar to her aunt’s, or even to Leif’s.
Each Valdir who was of fighting age had reddish tattoos covering their faces and bodies, each a different Runark with a different meaning depending on where it was placed on the body. She now had a series of lines circling her right wrist that represented responsibility. They had tattooed her with the symbols for wisdom, cunning, and strength on her face. Wisdom was three dots above her right eye, strength of mind was three lines below her right eye, and cunning was the top part of a triangle above her left eye. They had even tattooed the Runarks for strength, courage, and grace along her spine.
It had hurt. Hurt more than even walking through the fire had. But the pain had since faded to a dull burning, an ache she cherished because it meant she was a part of something. The old women had chanted and sang as they worked, giving the entire scene a sense of unreality. Kalina felt as though she were floating, the pain the only thing anchoring her to the earth.
On the nights she couldn’t sleep, which was often since her father had died, Kalina wandered the halls of the mountain, often finding herself here, on the edge of the dragons’ chamber, imagining today, the day she got to pick an egg for herself. Dragon eggs only hatch once the deep magic is activated, and finding a Valdir rider was something that triggered that magic. No one really understood it, although Kalina had asked. All the elders referred to it as a mystery, something to be grateful to the gods for. Eira did mention the god Skaldir whom the Valdir worshiped above all others, and that he had gifted it to the Valdir when he made them.
The dragons however worshiped their own pair of dragons, and their story states that the first dragons recognized that their children were lonely, and therefore breathed the deep magic into existence in order to allow their children to bond with the Valdir, and have a partner for life. This ensured that if a dragon or a Valdir never found a mate, at least they had each other.
At this exact moment in time, as she wound her way among the gathered dragons and Valdir, following Eira to the egg pit, Kalina didn’t really care how or why there was the deep magic. She just wanted to meet her dragon.
The egg pit was a huge sandy depression in the center of the chamber, similar to the holes the dragons dug for themselves. The sand was naturally warm, heated from deep within the mountain by some hot spring, its heat radiating up through the ground. Eira stopped on the edge of the pit beside Geir, Leif, Rangvald, and Kari. Kalina swallowed before stepping down into the soft sands, letting their warmth fill her up as she descended. Soon she stood at the very bottom of the pit, looking up at all the Valdir faces above her, the eggs ranging around her in different shades of color. The Valdir began to chant in Valithan, the language of the Runark and Skaldir. Much of the language was lost to time, but their symbols and a few words remained. They chanted “Lay-atha” over and over.
Kalina put a shaking hand out, laying it on the nearest egg which was a rich reddish orange in color. When nothing happened, she moved on to the next egg, and then the next, making her way in an ever widening spiral up the pit. Her stomach began to drop as she moved farther up the pit without anything happening. She didn’t even know what to expect if she did manage to find her dragon.
When her hand alighted on an emerald green egg, a shock spiraled up through her body, making her gasp. It was like nothing she had ever felt before in her life. Energy seemed to sing along every muscle and tendon, along her very bones, and a connection settled deep into her chest; a bond that felt like coming home, like a warm hug, like the adrenaline and joy of flying. She fell to her knees before the egg, which was about a high as her waist, and watched, fascinated and in awe as micro cracks fissured out from her hand. Finally, she was forced to take her hand away as the egg burst apart, and a dragonling about the size of a dog spilled out into her lap, legs and wings all akimbo.
The crowd around her began to cheer, but Kalina barely even heard them, so entranced was she with the creature in her arms. The dragonling pushed itself upright into a sitting position, putting its soft claws against the skin of her forearm, and looked up into her eyes. Suddenly, she felt as though she were falling into an endless sky of stars. For a few unending moments they gazed at each other. The dragonling’s eyes were a deep black from edge to edge, speckled with lights. Finally, the dragonling hiccupped and Kalina began to laugh in utter joy at the creature. She gathered him up, for she felt in her gut that it was a male dragon, and carried him from the pit, up through the still cheering crowd, and down the long corridors of the mountain until they were finally alone in her quiet room.
She spent the remainder of that night watching the dragonling, which acted much like any newborn creature. He ate the meat Eira had brought with
a voracious appetite before curling up like a cat in Kalina’s blankets and sleeping. Leif came to her rooms not long later, carrying her first meal in two days. Two huge slabs of beef from the farms the Valdir had in the foothills of the Great Grey Mountains along the edge of the Wastes, each cooked to mouth watering perfection, were on the tray he bore. A bowl of roasted potatoes and carrots, as well as a pitcher of water, made Kalina’s stomach rumble loudly. She put a hand on it, laughing softly as he set the tray on the large table that dominated the other half of her room.
“I guess I was so distracted that I forgot how hungry I was,” she said as she joined him.
Leif sat at the table and pulled one of the plates of food towards himself.
“That happens with everyone when they choose a dragon. I think I forgot to eat for two days, I was so caught up feeding and taking care of Arikara.”
Kalina smiled as she chewed a mouthful of beef, the juices running down her chin. She wiped at it with a sleeve and gestured with her fork to Leif.
“How did you come up with her name?”
He shrugged and kept cutting his steak.
“It’s a family name. My great grandfather's dragon was named Arikara.”
“Do you know if my family has any?”
“Yes. You have a few famous ones. Your grandmother’s dragon was named Sike, and your great-grandmother named hers Maska. I think your great aunt had a dragon named Dohasan. Do any of those ring for you?”
One did.
“Maska. It just feels right somehow.”
He laughed a bit.
“Yes, that’s often how it happens. One just seems to fit.”
“Maska,” she said, rolling the name around in her mouth, getting the taste and feel of it. It seemed to match her little green friend. She watched him from across the room, a strange longing welling up in her chest. “Does it always feel like this?”
