Huntress at War (The Timekeeper's War Book 3), page 1
HUNTRESS AT WAR
The Timekeeper’s War
Book Three
____________________________
A.A. Chamberlynn
Books by A.A. Chamberlynn
The Zyan Star Series
Martinis with the Devil (Book 1)
Whiskey and Angelfire (Book 2)
Vengeance and Vermouth (Book 3)
Black Magic and Mojitos (Prequel Novelette)
Sorcery and Sidecars (Origin Story Novella)
The Quinn Chronicles (A Zyan Star Spin-off Series)
Death and Dating (Book 1)
Death and Promises (Book 2)
Death and Eternity (Book 3)
The Timekeeper’s War Series
Huntress Found (Book 1)
Huntress Lost (Book 2)
Huntress at War (Book 3)
Other Books by A.A. Chamberlynn
Of Blood, Earth, and Magic
www.AlexiaChamberlynn.com
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A land ravished by magic, a circus of rebels, a girl with a deadly secret.
There was a time when the Tribes lived in harmony. Sun, Moon, even the fabled Shadow Tribe. That time is no longer. Now the land has become a wicked wasteland, plagued by strange creatures, enchanted storms, and bubbles of trapped time, remnants of the Shaman Wars. Magic has been outlawed by the Sun, the Moon have gone into seclusion, and the Shadow are all but annihilated.
For Elea, the idea of peace between the tribes is a nothing more than a legend from the history books. She works for a circus of outcasts who travel between the Sun cities. All she wants is freedom: from the circus, to perform her magic, to be herself. But she possesses a deadly secret that makes any chance of liberty impossible.
Ashe is heir to one of the seven Sun cities. He rebels against his overprotective father by competing in illegal fight dens. Like most Sun, he believes that science is the future, and he's never traveled outside the walls of his city due to the dangers that lie beyond.
When a new kind of evil begins to terrorize the land, Elea and Ashe find themselves thrown into the center of a coup that could destroy Iamar. To fight the enemy, the Sun and Moon must unite, something that hasn't been done in three hundred years. But first they must find the Moon Tribe, and that means crossing Iamar, which grows more and more unstable as the dark magic spreads. Dark magic which has everything to do with Elea and her terrible secret.
Copyright © 2019 by A.A. Chamberlynn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For information contact A.A. Chamberlynn at www.alexiachamberlynn.com
Cover design by Novak Illustration.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Epilogue
Chapter One
The howling of the wolves began before we’d made it even a mile from the fortress.
It was a strange feeling, being hunted. As a Hunter, it was usually the other way around. But now I was a fugitive, and that changed the game entirely.
“We need to jump realms, Evr,” Sabin said. She grabbed my hand, urging me to move faster, but I was weak still from spending days in a prison cell. And from what came before… My mind rebelled, shoving the images away.
“I can’t.” I stopped, lungs burning, heart galloping. Mist wove around my boots, snaking along the grassy hills. No place to hide, not for another mile or so, where a forest shadowed the land.
“What do you mean you can’t?” Sabin snapped.
“Magic—I can’t. Not even to summon the Call.”
Sabin turned to Mirelda. “Can you do something to fix her?”
Mirelda’s burgundy eyes were calm, even as another unearthly wail split the pale morning sky. “Not in the amount of time we now possess. However, I can lend her a bit of strength.”
The witch raised a hand. Magic tinged the air and tickled the back of my throat with a faint taste of cinnamon. I shuddered as it settled over me. The images pressed in again and I closed my eyes. Down, down, and away, locked tight within me. Warmth and energy tingled through my limbs.
Sabin pushed me ahead of her and we made for the trees. The wolves were closer now, and something else, something that emitted a higher-pitched shriek. I risked a glance over my shoulder. I could see them a couple of hills back: two dozen wolves as large as horses and three other creatures. In my momentary glimpse, I saw shadows and scales and a flash of yellow. And I realized that I actually didn’t want to die here on Casseroux’s doorstep.
We ran as if Hell was on our heels, because it was. The forest drew closer, but the trackers were gaining on us. If they’d been human the trees might have hidden us, but there was no hiding from beasts. Growls rent the air now, and the ragged gasps of pursuit. The ground shook as they closed in on us. Their hunger rode tangibly on the air.
Two hundred yards.
One hundred.
Fifty.
Mirelda spun and faced the creatures, her arms flung wide, the folds of her golden cloak billowing around her. I could see the other things now, the beasts that accompanied the wolves. They were shadow and serpent, darkness bound in scales, with bright yellow eyes that were too big for their faces. They lacked limbs, spiraling and undulating across the ground almost too quickly to follow.
A command of power issued from Mirelda’s lips. In the space between us and our pursuers, the air shimmered and another beast appeared. It was the size of a small cottage, with white fur, golden eyes, and teeth like daggers. I could see through it to the scene beyond; it was both solid, and not. The spirit bear opened its jaws and let out a roar that shook the roots of the realm and made my heart stop beating.
“We’re going to jump realms now.” Mirelda turned, her eyes locking onto mine. “Or else we’ll all die here.”
I tried to summon the Call to the Hunt, the magic that allowed me to find that which I sought and follow it across realms. It was something I’d done a million times, since before I even knew I was a Hunter, before I knew what my strange powers meant. But instead of the familiar burning in my gut, the electric tug toward my target, I felt emptiness. Darkness.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said, a sob working its way up my throat. “Leave me if you have to. I can’t do it.”
Behind us, the trackers had launched themselves at Mirelda’s distraction.
“We didn’t come all this way to rescue you and then leave you!” Sabin yelled. “And I can’t jump all three of us.”
“Take her, Sabin,” Mirelda said. “I’ll find another way. Meet me where we discussed.”
Sabin nodded and yanked me closer. The wolves and the serpents tore past Mirelda’s spell and sped toward us. I could see the red of their tongues, the glisten of their teeth. Space began to fold around us, and I felt the static heat of a shift in realms.
The last thing I saw as we jumped was Mirelda, standing between us and the monsters, as they leapt for the kill.
Chapter Two
I sat and shivered by the fire because even the flames couldn’t keep me warm. The night sky wrapped around me.
Mirelda still hadn’t arrived to meet us. Every minute that passed sent another icy layer of numbness through me. I couldn’t have someone else’s death on my head. Not after my mother. And Ellsmer.
“Are you okay?” Sabin asked from across the fire.
I shivered again. “Yeah.” It was a poorly executed lie, and we both knew it. Nothing was really okay now.
“Mirelda will be here.” Sabin nodded firmly, as if to assure us both. Her brown eyes reflected the flames. “She’s powerful. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned all of those things into dust.”
I made a noncommittal murmur and looked around us at the dense forest we sat in. We were in some realm I’d never visited before. Strange golden moss covered the ground like velvet. It was silent among the trees; no birds, no beasts. Too quiet, leaving lots of room to think, which was the one thing I didn’t want to do. Because when I did, I saw my mother’s blood spilling onto the cave floor, felt the Artifex and all its power bursting out of me. The Timekeeper was free because of me. And Casseroux had me on an interrealm watchlist.
The images spun, threatening to overwhelm me. I closed my eyes and forced them back down. Darkness. Emptiness. Peace.
I needed to think of something else. Anything.
“I didn’t get a chance to say thank you,” I said, my eyes darting up to Sabin. “For helping me get out of there.” Sabin and I weren’t exactly besties, so her part in my escape had been a surprise to say the least.
Her face was unreadable for a moment. “You’re part of my clan. I wasn’t going to leave you to be executed for something that wasn’t your fault.”
Ellsmer, the Artifex, Soo Kai yielding it through me, my power bearing down on the city. So many deaths. I shuddered. So much for thinking of something else. “How do you know it wasn’t my fault?”
She made a noise halfway between a sigh and a groan. “Come on, Evr. I know you well enough to know you aren’t going to intentionally blow up a city.”
I fell silent for a moment. I hadn’t told her what had happened, how Soo Kai had murdered my mother. It wasn’t something I could vocalize yet. “Clan. There’s not really much of a Stag Clan left now. None that can hunt at any rate.”
Sabin’s face crumpled in anguish, the fire accentuating her sharp cheekbones. Just for a moment, then she drew herself up and said, “Maybe we’ll start a new clan. We don’t need Titus and his bullshit.”
The fire crackled between us, the night cold and close and dark. Something stirred off in the trees and made a low rumble in its chest. Apparently the forest wasn’t as empty as I’d thought. I certainly hoped that whatever was out there wasn’t hungry.
“In Ellsmer, when you went with Titus…” I trailed off.
Sabin stared into the fire for several moments. “Everything is such a mess since you showed up.” She paused, and I thought she was going to leave it at that. But after several long breaths she said, “But things needed to be shaken up. I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d known for a while that Titus was power hungry, that the Artifex shouldn’t fall into his hands. In Ellsmer, though, when I saw him with Casseroux, I knew for sure. And when I left you and Kellan in Ellsmer, I did it because I knew I could be of some help on the inside.” Her voice was hard and she looked up, hooking me in an intense gaze.
“Well, I’m glad you did.”
She nodded. “I wasn’t able to get much information from Titus or Casseroux while I was with them. Mostly just both of them talking about how vital it was to capture you, how dangerous you were.” She allowed a bit of an eye roll, the old Sabin showing through. “Everyone obsessed with you as usual. Whereas Titus just hates you, Casseroux wants to possess you. I don’t think he was really going to execute you. You…fascinate him.”
Anxiety wormed its way through my gut. I was far too familiar with Casseroux’s fascination with me. The time I’d spent in his tower, subject to his experimentation, was an experience I desperately wished I could forget.
“But back to your rescue. When Ellsmer was destroyed, we knew it was you and the Artifex. What surprised us was that they just found you there unconscious.”
I wrapped my arms around my knees and hugged them to my chest. It was a blessing I couldn’t remember much after Soo Kai activated the Artifex inside me. Even without memory of it, the horror was almost too much to cope with. I didn’t know how I was ever going to be whole again.
“Xavyr and Rorie came to me shortly after you were imprisoned—”
“Together?” I asked. That answered my question about Rorie being alive.
“Yes. I told them I would help with whatever their plan was, and Xavyr said he was close to finding Mirelda. Not sure how he found her, but she showed up a day ago and we got our plan in place. We knew moving you when they brought you out of your cell for the trial was our best chance. And the rest you know.”
“Where is Xavyr now?” The question had been burning inside me since the initial shock of my rescue had worn off.
“Rescuing Jaffe. With Rorie.”
I remembered seeing a glimpse of someone I thought looked like Jaffe on my way out of Casseroux’s fortress. “Thank God. And my father—still on house arrest?”
“As far as I know.”
“And—” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to. Pathetic as it made me, I had to know. “And Kellan? Any word from him?”
Xavyr must have told her how he’d left in the middle of the night, right before Soo Kai told me she’d abducted my mother. Since he’d woken up from his possession by the Timekeeper, he hadn’t been the same. The man I loved was gone.
I expected my question to trigger some sort of look of triumph on Sabin’s face, but she wore only sympathy. “He’s back with the Hunter’s Council. I saw him from afar in Solara. He shouldn’t have just left like that, without saying anything.”
I nodded weakly and we fell into a heavy silence.
The sudden return of Mirelda interrupted further discussion. She appeared noiselessly out of the shadows on the other side of the fire. Relief flooded through me.
“You made it!” I gasped.
She gave me an odd look. “I said that I would join you.” Her voice was deep and lyrical, the voice of someone who should read nursery rhymes to small children, not battle hosts of deadly beasts solo and make it out alive.
She crouched by the fire, pulling a small iron cauldron out of the folds of her cloak. I was surprised for a moment, but then, what witch didn’t have a cloak with untold depths? She threw a few handfuls of mushrooms into the cauldron. Her burgundy hair, which matched her eyes, looked blood-red in the flickering light.
I leaned back and sat quietly as Mirelda added herbs to the pot to simmer with the mushrooms. As a pungent, earthy smell began to emit from the cauldron, my stomach grumbled loudly. I hadn’t eaten in days. They’d provided meager amounts of food in Casseroux’s fortress, but I’d been too depressed to eat. As the smell of the soup rose into the night, a bit of my fog lifted. It still felt like a part of me had died, a part I would never get back, but hunger was an improvement.
Mirelda retrieved small clay bowls and matching spoons from her cloak, which I was beginning to think was actually the secret closet to Narnia, and served up the soup. She handed me the first bowl, her strange, dark eyes boring into mine. “Eat,” she said. “You need the strength.” And I didn’t need to be encouraged further.
The soup was surprisingly delicious for something scavenged from the forest floor. We ate in silence. When we were finished, empty bowls in our laps, Mirelda’s face grew serious. Her eyes flickered from me to Sabin and back to me. “So,” she said in her fairytale voice. “You need a plan.”
By which she meant a plan to survive, a plan to keep from having to be rescued again. I stared blankly at her. “How do we stop someone like Casseroux? Let alone the Timekeeper? I thought I could stop Casseroux, but then Soo Kai contacted me, and my mo—” My throat went tight and my chest felt crushed by a giant fist.
“Your hope was shattered,” Mirelda said softly. “But it survived. Now we must take those tiny broken pieces and put them back together again.”
I nodded slowly, though I didn’t see how it was possible.
“What were you thinking of doing before what happened with Soo Kai?” Sabin asked. “What was your idea?”
“I didn’t really have one,” I admitted. “It was just raw determination. The stag reminded me that I shouldn’t be hunted because of my special abilities.”
Sabin blinked several times. “The stag?”
“I saw him,” I said quietly. “Not alive, of course, but in spirit. He came to me.”
Sabin sat across from me in stunned silence and Mirelda smiled. “You see? Hope.”
“It’s not much to go on,” I said.
“Not much to go on? Hounds and hellfire!” Sabin snapped. She glared at me. “The stag shows himself to you in spirit and you think it’s no big deal? Any other Hunter would die to see him again.”
