Shadows of Blood Read online

  Shadows of Blood

  Book Two of the Avanir Chronicles

  L. E. Dereksen

  Copyright © 2021 by L. E. Dereksen

  All rights reserved.

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  Cover illustration by Rob Joseph © 2020

  Cover design by Darrell Dyck © 2021

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.

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  ISBN 978-1-9994996-3-1 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-9994996-4-8 (e-book)

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  Published by Sky Step Publishing

  Author’s website: ledereksen.com

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Previously in Shards of Law

  Prologue

  I. Guardian

  II. Slave

  III. Undying

  IV. Healer

  V. Outrider

  VI. Chosen

  VII. Rebel

  VIII. Broken

  Epilogue

  To be Continued . . .

  The Origin

  A Note on Pronunciation

  Glossary of Names

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  As an aid to reading, you may wish to consult the appendices at the end of this book:

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  For "The Origin: On the Nature of the Three Realms and the Forming of the World” go to page 803.

  For a Pronunciation Guide go to page 805.

  For a Glossary of Names go to page 807.

  What follows is a summary of the previous book in the series. To skip to the beginning of the story, go to page 1.

  Previously in Shards of Law

  Scattered across time, three lives will shape the fate of the Realms . . .

  Ishvandu ab’Admundi (Year 449-455)

  Longing to be more than the son of a ditch-digger, young Ishvandu defies tradition. Others shrink in fear of the desert, but Ishvandu scales the wall of Shyandar and gazes across the wilderness. He longs to be something great. He longs to be free.

  Yet most Kyr’amanu never leave the walls. They cling to the Avanir: the towering black pillar at the heart of the city, flowing with clear water.

  Is Ishvandu the only one who doubts it? Once a year, the city is plagued by Kaprash. The Avanir dries up, food and water are rationed, and the Sumadi, the bloodless creatures of the dead, run unchecked by the Avanir’s power. It is during one such Kaprash that Ishvandu finally gets his chance.

  A fire at the Guardian’s Hall breaks out. Ishvandu pursues the arsonist into the desert, desperate to prove his bravery.

  The Sumadi find him instead.

  Tearing brutally into Ishvandu’s mind and body, the creature leaves him ruined, babbling, and barely alive.

  It’s the mysterious stranger of the desert, the bare-footed E’tuah, who appears and saves Ishvandu’s life, sheltering him in the hidden valley of Gitaia. When Ishvandu returns a month later to Shyandar, he is haggard, weak, yet alive. And he now knows there can be life outside of Shyandar.

  His only friend, Kulnethar ab’Ethanir, rejoices to see him, but the others whisper curses behind his back, and the High Elder presses Ishvandu for the truth of his whereabouts. At last, Ishvandu lets slip the identity of the stranger who helped him, as well as the secret of the man’s parting gift: a Sending stone of ytyri.

  The stone, a mystic relic of the Old Ones, was supposed to allow Ishvandu to communicate with E’tuah. But the High Elder confiscates it and warns Ishvandu never to speak to E’tuah again. This man, he claims, is a dangerous exile, long since banished from Shyandar for his crimes.

  But Ishvandu cares nothing for such warnings. He wants the truth about the Sumadi. He wants an end to the horrific nightmares. He wants his stone back.

  He launches a daring attempt to retrieve the Sending stone from the High Elder’s chambers. But after catching a glimpse of a mysterious basin of water at the height of the Temple, he is caught and turned out of the Temple—into the only place he can be controlled.

  Ishvandu becomes a Novice of the Guardians.

  Now, six years later, Ishvandu struggles to become a Guardian of Shyandar. When he is caught breaking the rules—again—he’s given a last chance to redeem himself: he must find water in the desert or be returned to a life of drudgery. Ishvandu has no choice but to lead Guardians to the hidden valley of Gitaia.

  Secretly, Ishvandu also hopes he can break free of the Avanir’s control. He sees his friend, Polityr, Chosen by the Avanir and sent back to the Old Lands as one of the Three meant to help restore the corrupted Lifewater. Everyone believes it’s a great honour to be Chosen at the yearly Renewing. Yet ever since he was attacked by Sumadi, Ishvandu can sense the Avanir’s terrible and invasive power. He doesn’t trust it. Maybe finding water in the desert can be the Kyr’amanu’s first step to true freedom?

  Ishvandu’s expedition into the desert, however, is an abysmal failure. He cannot find the valley. Breaking his leg in a landslide, he is trapped at the mercy of the Sumadi. With his mind opened to the Unseen by their last attack, Ishvandu is able to hear them coming.

  Again, it is E’tuah who saves his life.

  E’tuah is furious with him for losing the Sending stone and leading Guardians towards his place of refuge. He refuses to let Guardians into Gitaia, and he abandons Ishvandu to his fate in the desert.

  Ishvandu despairs—until he realizes Tala has returned for him. With her help, and one tantalizing kiss, he makes it back to Shyandar alive.

  There, Ishvandu is denounced for lying about the hidden spring. His last chance to be a Guardian crumbles into dust and the Circle casts him out of the Hall.

  A Labourer again, Ishvandu finds himself digging ditches under the foreman Adar ab’Dara. All his hopes and dreams have been crushed.

  All but one.

  Tala still visits him. Drawn to his determination and courage, she courts him in secret. They say their oaths of marriage under the stars, and with her, Ishvandu almost forgets his humiliation and failure.

  Then Kaprash strikes early, and Ishvandu dreams of Sumadi.

  When he wakes, he realizes the monsters are attacking now. With Tala’s help, he warns the Circle and the city of Shyandar. A defence is mounted. Dozens of Sumadi attack, killing many. Ishvandu takes the keshu blade off a fallen Guardian and tries to defend the Novices.

  He fails. Sumadi kill his friend Bray and Ishvandu blames himself. He sees it as confirmation that he was never meant to be a Guardian.

  After the attack, the Al’kah, ruler of Shyandar, commends Ishvandu for warning them. He’s intrigued by Ishvandu’s ability to hear the Sumadi coming. He decides Shyandar is best served by making Ishvandu a Guardian.

  Ishvandu is reeling in shock. Nevertheless, he finds himself saying the sacred blood oath of a Guardian, swearing to protect the people of Shyandar as he receives his own keshu at last.

  Ishvandu has become a Guardian.

  Yet Ishvandu’s story has only just begun . . .

  Hyranna Elduna (Year 799)

  Three hundred and forty-three years later, far away in the northern forests of Ellendandur, an Imo’ani girl tries to protect her friend Balduin Na-es from bullies. But when increasingly strange and unnatural occurrences plague their village, Balduin and his mother are blamed. The other boys try to stone Balduin. Hyranna intervenes and together the
y escape. A cleft in the earth—one they’ve never seen before—opens up and hides them.

  Exploring the strange ravine, Balduin finds a hidden Dandyri tree. The enormous, red-leafed trees were said to possess wondrous powers. They once covered all of the Ellendandur but have long since vanished from the forest—until now.

  Balduin, who connects to the forest in a unique way, claims the tree is speaking to him. While he’s entranced with the Dandyri, Hyranna finds herself drawn to a mysterious object: a black shard of stone hidden in an old human skeleton. Intrigued, she takes the stone.

  Once back in Elamori, Hyranna’s father, the Guardian of the village, declares Balduin and his mother, Andalina, innocent. The village does not agree, but they are interrupted by some alarming news: Andalina has fallen desperately ill. Though Hyranna’s father, Kenan Elduna, tries to save Andalina’s life, she dies. In her last moments, she tells Balduin his missing father is still alive.

  Balduin decides he must go find his father. Hyranna is determined to come with him, but when Kenan finds out, he forbids it. He sends Balduin away in secret so Hyranna will not follow him.

  Meanwhile, Hyranna waits for Balduin in the Dandyri’s hidden cave. When Balduin never comes, she suspects the red tree. She strikes the tree. The power of the black stone lashes out of her and splinters the tree from root to crown, liquefying the insides. Hyranna finds herself alone in the dark, having destroyed the beautiful creature, trapped in a swamp of rot.

  Except she’s not alone.

  Out of the foul blackness, a man speaks to her. He says his name is E’tuah. He claims to be the master of the shard of stone, the Aktyr. She’s brought him back, but he’s still trapped in the Unseen and only visible to her. If Hyranna tries to leave without the Aktyr, she will die.

  Hyranna reluctantly takes the Aktyr and leaves the cave. All colour has vanished to her eyes, and when she learns Balduin has been sent away, she lashes out in anger at her father. Again, the Aktyr strikes, stopping Kenan’s heart. In horror, Hyranna demands the stone bring him back. To her relief, Kenan’s heart starts beating again, but Hyranna flees in shame.

  E’tuah convinces Hyranna she’d better leave before she hurts anyone else. She decides to go after Balduin. But as she tries to leave the village, she’s found by Jerad Amanti, one of the older boys. Her father, he insists, has charged him to look after her, and if she must go, he’s coming with her.

  Together, Hyranna and Jerad paddle down the river in search of Balduin.

  Along the way, they encounter some disturbing signs of unrest. Manturian Northmen have been moving south into the forest, and the war-like Cay-et have rallied to attack them. Hyranna and Jerad get caught in the cross-fire and taken by the Northmen as slaves, along with several others from the Imo’ani town of Tellern.

  The Manturian slavers are brutal and pitiless. Their leader, Brit Garden, demands information about two Manturian merchants who came this way. When no one tells him, he shoots three of the captives—using a weapon called a revolver, which Hyranna has never seen before. Desperate to stop the violence, Hyranna pretends to know where the traders went and agrees to guide them.

  Terrified, but determined to free herself and Jerad, Hyranna bides her time, waiting to strike out with the Aktyr. She’ll only have one chance, and if she doesn’t succeed, the Manturians will kill her.

  After being hurt and humiliated by Garden, she finally gets her chance. She’s taken alone to a nearby village to gather information, but on the way, she attacks one of the men. The Aktyr crushes his body in shocking violence. Hyranna flees into the forest and hides.

  At first, she’s terrified at the thought of using the Aktyr again. But when she regains her courage, she knows she has to try to free Jerad. Reluctantly, E’tuah agrees to help. She pursues the slavers, feeling strangely energized by the Aktyr.

  Until she comes face to face with a gaunt and dishevelled stranger, a man on the edge of madness, claiming she is the Chosen he’s been searching for . . .

  Ashkynas ab’Adani Al’kah (Year 799)

  Three hundred and forty-three years after Ishvandu ab’Admundi became a Guardian of Shyandar, there is another Guardian. In this dark future, the Avanir has ceased flowing. There has been no water from it in seven years. This Guardian is one of the few who has remained faithful.

  His Al’kah, the ruler at this time in Shyandar’s history, comes to speak to him at the Avanir, but instead of the friendship the old Guardian has always expected, he finds betrayal.

  The Al’kah kills him. Standing next to the Al’kah is a man the Guardian recognizes: a man with bare feet.

  The blood of the faithful Guardian triggers a dark power. A power that appears in the form of a black shard of stone. The Al’kah takes the power, hoping against all hope to find the Chosen who’ve gone before. He flees Shyandar.

  Driven mad by the vicious power he’s claimed, Ashkynas ab’Adani, the last of a long line of Al’kahs, moves north. He tries to resist the dark power and is almost destroyed by it. Two travelling merchants find him and nurse him back to health. When he recovers, he attacks them and flees east to the Ellendandur forest.

  He is drawn to something. He thinks it’s the red tree he sees in his dreams. He hopes it’s the Chosen.

  Instead, it’s the one who destroyed the red tree.

  He encounters Hyranna Elduna, and with his power, he is able to see and hear E’tuah. Horrified, he reveals to Hyranna that this is the same man who betrayed Shyandar three hundred years ago, committing crimes against his own people and sowing the seeds of their destruction. He’s the only other person to have taken the dark power of the Aktyr.

  Determined to destroy E’tuah, Ashkynas attacks Hyranna and the Aktyr. But instead of destroying each other, the powers of the Aktyr join. E’tuah takes control, absorbing both into himself. Then he kills Ashkynas.

  But not before Ashkynas reveals E’tuah’s true name: Ishvandu ab’Admundi.

  Now fully alive again and in control of the Aktyr, Ishvandu claims he must leave Hyranna so he can stop the Breaking of the Three Realms. He knows she’ll die without the Aktyr and Jerad will be left to the cruelty of the slavers, but he has no choice. He has a whole world to save.

  Ishvandu abandons Hyranna to die.

  Alutan Na-es (Year 799)

  Meanwhile, south of Tellern, Alutan Na-es is searching for his son. Hyranna and Jerad didn’t recognize him when they met in Tellern, but they let slip Balduin was missing from Elamori. Alutan hurries off, hoping to find Balduin first—until he hears gunshots. He realizes Northmen have attacked the town and everyone there is in danger. Including Hyranna.

  Hyranna was Balduin’s only friend. Even though he senses something dark in her, he knows he can’t abandon her to death or slavery. He turns and hurries back north to Tellern.

  Prologue

  Year 31 after the fall of Kayr

  SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO

  Andari ab’Andala, first Al’kah of the Age of Exile, sat slumped on the broken steps, dying.

  Dawn bled across the horizon. Clouds raked the sky like Sumadi’s claws. Andari struggled to breathe as he gazed up. He didn’t want to see, didn’t want to look at the life slipping out from between his fingers. Instead, his eyes were drawn up, up to the Great Tree, a single bough of her radiant crown like a forest twined with clouds.

  So close . . .

  Andari had run through the night, drawing the howling shades after him like wolves, away from his people still camped beyond the borders of Ashianys. Three of his Guardians had tried to protect him. Two had fallen.

  Only one remained.

  “Al’kah,” the Guardian woman panted up the steps towards him, blade still wet with the rotting entrails of the Sumadi. “We must hurry. Your people are waiting.”

  Andari’s heart sank. He had failed. The Chorah’dyn had sent him to gather the remnants of the Kyre’an faithful and return. For a year now, he had been seeking them out, promising them protection and hope. But he wou
ldn’t make it; leaderless, the people would vanish into the crumbling chaos around them.

  He glanced up. Eshala was bloodied and scarred, but she held her keshu in front of her in a strong, unbroken stance. The blade gleamed faintly in the pre-dawn light—their hope, their gift from Yl’avah against the Sumadi.

  Then she saw. “Al’kah, you’re wounded!” she cried.

  “Yes,” he admitted thickly.

  Andari moved his legs, sending fiery pain through his gut and down his thigh where the Sumadi had attacked, its fingers like knives. How easily they cut through skin and muscle, tearing and spilling! Spilling so much blood. If Andari could collect the blood of the fallen, it would fill an ocean, stretching to cover the once mighty Kyre’an Empire.

  Eshala sheathed her keshu, peeling back his bloodied robes. Blood oozed out of him, dark and thick, like an overfilled sponge stabbed through with a hole. From there, the flesh parted down his leg, exposing muscle and tissue.

  There was a moment of silence as the truth settled into them both.

  Then Eshala shook her head. “No, Al’kah,” she said. Her tone was firm. “This is not the end.”

  She stripped off her outer robes, shredding them into bandages, packing his wound, and binding it with battleground efficiency.

  Eshala had been one of the first, the first to swear an oath upon the keshu they’d found in the ruins of Kat-net: an oath to honour and obey the Al’kah, to use the priceless ytyri-infused blades to protect the exiles of Kayr and not to harm them. And when the Sumadi haunted them, pursuing them mercilessly across the fallen empire, consuming them by the hundreds, and then the thousands, Eshala had rallied her oath-sworn brothers and sisters to be a shield against utter annihilation. When one fell, another was trained to take their place. A Guardian for every blade. A new order.