Book Preview - Elyon's Vengeance

Chapter One

It was the sharp crack of her head against wood that jarred Emlyn into consciousness. It was the complete and utter darkness surrounding her when she opened her eyes that sent her into a full-blown panic.

She jerked upright. At least she tried to, but her forehead bashed into a solid wooden plank before she’d made it halfway up. She opened her mouth to scream, only to have a hand clamp down over her face.

“Shut it, Emlyn. Yer no alone, but ya need to shut it right now, ya ken?”

Recognizing the peasant accent as that of her fellow Temple trainee, Ailith, Emlyn nodded, and the hand was removed. Only then did she have enough wits about her to realize Ailith was lying half on top of her. Although she was slowly getting used to having other people touch her, this type of contact made her extremely uncomfortable. “Ailith? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. I were runnin’ on th’ edge of th’ Codpiece and saw ya and couldn’t figure out why ya were down there on yer own. Then I saw three nobs and a pidge followin’ ya, and before I could do anything, one of ’em knocked ya on yer noggin’, and they drug ya into an alley. They had ya in this box before I could get there, and they’d just whipped th’ horses pullin’ th’ wagon, and I barely had time to dive beneath th’ floorboards and hang on.”

 Emlyn rubbed the back of her head where a goose egg had appeared. “How long?”

“Can’t tell time in th’ dark, but we’re no in Sarlogne anymore. What’s happenin’, Emlyn? Why were ya alone in th’ Codpiece?”

Both women were relatively new shivs or trainees in the Temple of the Daughters of Elyon. Ailith, who’d grown up on the streets and in the brutal world of the Dreyuthan army, was used to navigating the perils of places like the Codpiece. Emlyn, who’d grown up mostly sequestered in the Kibrunian royal palace, usually only traveled to the rougher quarters of the city accompanied by her handler, Killian.

Even though it was pitch black in the box, Emlyn covered her eyes with her hands. “I don’t….my head…”

“Aye, like I said, ya got knocked on th’ noggin’.”

“Something’s wrong.”

“Aye, ya got knocked on th’ noggin’.”

“No, I mean…something…Tomisa.” An unexpected surge of emotion rose up inside her, accompanied by a slight feeling of nausea.

“Yer princess?” Ailith heard a quick intake of breath followed by a quiet mewling and growled, “Fowk, Emlyn. Cry when yer with th’ Arch Priestess, but get yerself together now, or we’ll be toast. Or as th’ Priestess once told me, we’ll be dead toast.”

The condescending tone Ailith used brought steel back into Emlyn’s spine, and she tried to focus her bleary mind. “And do what?”

“We get th’ fowk outta here, that’s what. I’ve been tryin’ to wake ya fer Goddess only knows how many candlemarks. I was worried they’d cracked yer skull with that egg ya got growin’ on th’ back of yer head. At least ya woke up before we stopped.”

The wagon lurched when the wheels hit a rut in the road, and both women smacked their heads on the wooden top. Ailith rubbed her head. “Okay. We’re in a wagon covered with a tarp. That means we can slip out onto th’ floor of th’ wagon without nobody seein’ us. We’re movin’ along at a good clip. I’ve checked a couple ’a times, and their outriders are ridin’ to th’ front. Once we’re in th’ back, we roll off into th’ dirt and lay there like logs. Ya ken? Like logs.”

Ailith couldn’t see Emlyn nod, so she repeated, “Ya ken?”

“I said yes.”

“I fergot yer head’s ringin’, and yer not all there. If ya nod in here, I don’t see ya.”

Emlyn growled at her own stupidity and realized she was hurt worse than she’d originally thought.

Ailith twisted around, lifted the lid up at the back of the box, and slid out. She held it up for Emlyn, who climbed out after her. When Ailith saw the green pallor of her skin, she grabbed Emlyn’s hair and tugged hard. “Emlyn. Hold it in, girl. Fer fowk’s sake, hold it in until we’re in th’ woods.”

Emlyn nodded, and Ailith pointed to the back of the wagon. “Slither over like yer a snake, land on yer belly, and lay like a log. Lay there ‘till I tell ya to move. Go now.” Emlyn did as instructed, with Ailith sliding out immediately after her.

Ailith wasn’t happy to see they were traveling through an open plain which meant anyone looking back, even from a distance, would see them if they made a move. They lay in the dirt for a good quarter candlemark until the dust from the wagon’s wheels completely settled, and Ailith could no longer hear the rattle of the harnesses or the clanking of the metal staves holding the wagon together.

Ailith shook Emlyn’s shoulder. “Ya still with me, Emlyn?” When she didn’t get an answer, she rose onto her forearms to check. Blood seeped from the back of Emlyn’s head, and she was unconscious again. “Fowk.” She glanced around, needing to get a better feel for where they were other than that they were in an open plain.

Nothing lay to the west but wide-open grassland. Waving stalks of green timbre weed rose to about mid-calf. She glanced the way they’d come and saw the same. The east looked promising. The tops of trees rose in the distance, and behind them lay hills and a tall mountain range she’d never seen before. “Well then, I guess we move east then, eh?”

Glancing down at her unconscious companion, Ailith sized up her weight and height. “Well, I’ve carried bigger than yer carcass across a battlefield. We’ll just go one battlefield distance at a time, eh, and hope they don’t stop to check on ya in th’ back of th’ wagon anytime soon.”

Rolling Emlyn over, Ailith lay with her back on Emlyn’s chest, ran her arm between the other shiv’s legs, and grabbed the outside of her pant leg. With a mighty heave, she rolled onto her knees, bringing Emlyn over and up onto her shoulders. Ailith used her powerful legs to lunge up so that she was balanced on her two feet. “Not too bad. Okay. Let’s go then.”

The grass made the bumpy terrain look deceptively flat, and Ailith sprawled forward more than once after catching her toe on rises where she’d anticipated level ground. Then there was the painful time her foot caught in an unseen tangle of milkweed, and she’d crashed to her knees and onto her chin where the ground left an impressive, bloody abrasion. It took far longer than she hoped to reach the trees, mainly because she had to stop every quarter candlemark or so to rest.

That, coupled with the fact that after carrying Emlyn off the road, she’d doubled back to scuff out the blood from Emlyn’s head wound and rake over their tracks, had slowed their escape even more. But she didn’t see any way around covering their tracks because she didn’t want them to know that Ailith was helping her. She had no intention of leaving evidence that two people had escaped instead of one.

As they neared the edge of the tree line, Ailith studied the forest, trying to gauge the best place to enter. Not paying attention to her feet, she caught her toe on a rock and once more fell onto her face. The momentum shifted Emlyn’s body forward onto Ailith’s head, and the weight drove her face down into the dirt.

Ailith involuntarily sucked in a breath, inhaling a mouthful of dirt instead of air. She rolled Emlyn over her head and propped herself on her elbows while frantically wiping at her face and mouth so she could breathe without pulling in stray dirt and grass.

It was a good thing there hadn’t been any sign of the riders or the wagon because she couldn’t stop her body from hacking out whatever it was she’d sucked into her lungs. The barking cough seemed to go on for much too long, and she hoped she wouldn’t choke to death before she could get Emlyn to safety. After that, well, the way her hacking cough was flaying her throat into painful swollen strips of flesh made her wonder if a quick death might be preferable to this slow, agonizing chokehold the dirt had on her lungs.

The cough subsided just as dusk began to settle over the grassland. She needed to get Emlyn somewhere safe for the night. With her back aching and her leg muscles growing weaker by the step, she lay back onto Emlyn’s chest, wove her hand around her leg, and lurched up onto her knees one more time.

It took two tries to get her feet under her, a testament to the distance her aching legs had traveled carrying Emlyn’s added weight. If she didn’t find a safe spot soon, they’d have to camp on the open forest floor, a sure way to either be caught by the kidnappers or be mauled by hungry forest predators who preferred hunting for their meals in the dark of the night.

The darkness closed in around them the deeper they ventured into the trees. Thick canopies of leaves blocked out the last feeble rays of the sun, making it nearly impossible to see where she was stepping. Off to her right, an ancient hardwood tree stood where it had sprouted as a seedling several hundred turns earlier. She moved toward it, hoping to find a way to climb into its upper branches with an unconscious woman slung over her shoulders.

Instead, she found the next best thing. The trunk was massive, easily big enough that it would take four or five full-grown men to completely encircle it with their arms stretched out wide and their hands joined with the men standing to either side. A dark emptiness gaped at her, starting at about chin height.

She kicked the trunk several times, giving notice to any animals who’d claimed the hollowed-out trunk as their own. She heard a scrabbling inside and then could barely make out an angry chittering creature who scurried out of the hole and up into the branches of the tree. “I’m sorry, little friend, but we need yer home fer a while. Come back once we get settled if ya like.”

Turning sideways, Ailith managed to lift Emlyn’s feet into the hole and then carefully lowered her down. She had to crawl in on her stomach and hold onto Emlyn’s arms so she could ease her the rest of the way to the bottom of the tree. When she could, she backed out, climbed partially up the trunk, slipped her feet through the hole, and then slid down next to her friend.

Putting her arm around Emlyn’s shoulders, she pulled her close until her head rested on her chest and then settled in for a long, not-so-restful night. Luckily, Ailith was used to the nighttime sounds of the forest creatures, or their haunting sounds might have spooked her. An owl hooted as he began his evening hunt, but she was especially gratified to hear the far-off singing of frogs, telling her they’d be able to find water in the morning.

The cicadas, grasshoppers, and crickets were especially noisy, with their various chirps and buzzing songs blending in harmony with one another. A soft wind picked up, and there was the occasional crack of deadwood as it fell to the forest floor. Now and again, a mockingbird sang out, followed by the haunting sound of a whippoorwill hunting for insects in the bark of the trees and jumping through the leaves hunting for their own sources of food.

Realizing there was no need for her to stay awake, Ailith allowed her eyes to drift shut and, with the skill of any soldier, immediately fell into a light but restful sleep.