The Testament Relics (Cross Academy Book 4), page 1
The Rebel Christian Publishing
Copyright © 2023 Valicity Elaine
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
ISBN: 978-1-957290-44-7 (eBook)
Print: 978-1-957290-45-4
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination. Inclusion of or reference to any Christian elements or themes are used in a fictitious manner and are not meant to be perceived or interpreted as an act of disrespect against such a wonderful and beautiful belief system.
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The Testament Relics
Prologue
PART I
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
PART II
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
PART III
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
PART IV
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
PART V
53
54
55
56
57
Continue the series…
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Rebel Christian Publishing
Series Order:
Cross Academy
The Howler’s Cry
The Nine Births of Carnage
The Testament Relics
Shifting Tides
Cross Academy: Book Six
The Testament Relics
Book IV in the Cross Academy saga
By Valicity Elaine
A Rebel Christian Publishing Book
Prologue
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When she exhaled, her breath came out as a cloud, a cottony puff of silver against the jet-black night. The ground was wet, the air smelled of salt and biscuits. There was a baker who only sold his goods at night. She’d eaten at his cart more times than she cared to remember, a happy old man who always smiled at her. She wondered … If he saw me now, would he smile?
She wasn’t smiling. In fact, she couldn’t even move her lips. With a shaky hand, she brushed her fingertips against her mouth—touching the thick black threads that kept her full lips sewn shut. They hurt. But this was how it had to be.
Pain for a night, she thought, exhaling another puff of silvery air. Her nostrils flared as she breathed, deep, calming breaths. Slow breathing helped take her mind off the pain in her lips. After a few weeks of sewing, she’d almost gotten used to it. The needle hurt each time, but when the pain became too much, she thought of what’d happened last month, when she hadn’t kept her mouth shut.
She’d screamed. And killed six people.
Not again, she told herself, reaching for her mask. It covered the lower half of her face, made of metal with thick wires that wrapped around her head. A cage for her mouth… In case she tore through the threads. In this line of business, anything was possible.
She tied the mask over her nose, mouth, and chin. Then she dipped her fingers in the little jar of face paint beside her and smeared blue ink over her eyes and forehead like a warrior ready for battle. This is a battle, she told herself. Each night it was the same, facing her worst enemies. Fighting for her life.
Someone had to protect the village, since the Cross had clearly forgotten them.
About eight months ago, the Academy Hunters that’d always stood guard in the little Village of Kidoh packed up and marched home. There hadn’t been many of them, and Kidoh had always been so small and insignificant, no one thought their absence would make a difference. What interest would demons have in a settlement of less than a thousand?
Honestly, the villagers had been surprised the Academy bothered protecting them at all. They weren’t worth the resources. Weren’t worth the travel and labor. But a hundred years ago, the Village of Kidoh had taken in a wounded Priest when he’d needed help the most. They’d nursed him back to health, watching color return to his tan cheeks and life fill his blazing bright eyes again.
When he was healthy, he spent three months with the Kidoh people, teaching them the Word of God with such zeal, the entire village had converted by the time he left. But he didn’t shake the dust off his feet and leave them to rot in the past, the kind Priest left the Kidoh people with a promise to return. Soon after, the Hunters showed up, sent by the Academy with a declaration that they were now allies for their role in nursing the good Priest back to health.
The Hunters had been in Kidoh ever since. Guarding them from demon raids. Protecting them from poachers. Fighting alongside them during Clan wars. The Academy had always been there, but the Priest had never returned.
You lied, she thought, remembering the legends she’d always heard of the good Priest. Lord Israel, you lied.
She shook her head, flicking her thick braid of afro curls over her shoulders. The story of the good Priest was just a myth anyway. And besides, he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t kept his word.
After a hundred years of being allies, the Academy had finally gotten tired of Kidoh Village. They’d packed up and left within a day, leaving little time to explain the sudden decision.
“The Cross needs every available hand,” the Hunter in charge had said, a lady with a serious face and a stern voice.
Pátá, the village elder, had shaken her grey head in frustration. “We need every hand too. How will we protect ourselves without you?”
The Hunter had sighed. “There is darkness brewing, Lady Pátá. War is coming. We must return to Babel.”
“War has been here,” Pátá had said. “It always will be.”
But the Hunter didn’t care. She had orders to follow. So Pátá and the rest of the village had stood and watched as their only line of defense marched away. Just like the good Priest had.
We’re alone now… the thought left a bitter taste in the girl’s sealed mouth. Kidoh Village was alone, fighting the darklings, fighting the raiders. There was no one left to defend them against the evils beyond their little village walls.
I’m here, she reminded herself, standing tall. She peered over the edge of her balcony, into the torchlit village below. The place she had been raised. The only home she’d ever known. I won’t let this place fall apart, she vowed. But she was just one girl, against a slew of demons who returned to wreak havoc almost every night.
Still… she was more help than the Academy. And Lord Israel, she thought bitterly, angry at the silly legend. Angry at herself for believing in childish dreams. Angry at God who had promised never to leave them nor forsake them.
Where are You now? she wondered, glaring down into the village. Already, she could hear someone shrieking in the distance. The demons arrived earlier and earlier each night. Which meant she had more and more work to do. She hadn’t asked to become a hero or a savior, but what other choice did she have? Kidoh needed help. They needed saving. So far, none of the ones who’d promised to help had come through.
It was up to her now. And what perfect timing that her dangerous gift had awakened the same week the Academy abandoned the village. If only she knew how to control it. Whenever she opened her mouth, walls crumbled, stone shattered, and people died.
This isn’t a gift… It’s a curse.
Whatever she called it, it killed demons as much as humans. Once she learned to use it correctly, she would be unstoppable. Until then… she had to fight the old-fashioned way. For eight months, that’d been enough. But she didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up.
When another scream echoed through the night, she sighed and grabbed her blade, strapping it to her hip before stepping out into the darkness.
I’ll keep it up for as long as I can.
PART I
1
Fox Fire
Fox blinked, wrinkling her nose at the smell of something bitter. The area was dark and quiet, streaks of grey moonlight tore through the pitch black that seemed almost overwhelming. Clusters of thick trees surrounded Fox, leaving pockets of tar black shadows slithering along the rough ground.
She had been crouched in her hiding spot for nearly an hour now, waiting for the signal. It should have gone off at least 30 minutes ago, but Fox had learned that things hardly ever went according to plan while working for the Academy. To think, six months ago, she had been excited to go on her first mission as a Beta Division student. Now … she couldn’t wait to go home.
What’s the point? she thought with a sigh. This is just going to be a dead end.
A week ago, Marlo Jo had delivered the scroll with the mission listed inside in great detail. She’d even worn a fat smile on her face as she’d watched Fox read the assignment, but the smile had faded when Fox didn’t return the grin.
“You’re not excited,” she’d realized.
Fox had shrugged one shoulder. “Not really.”
“But this is a lead! This is what we’ve been praying for!”
She was right. Since Lieutenant Diaz had led his team back to Babel, the students had been met with silence. A suffocating, consuming silence that tore Fox to pieces. There had been no clues, no hints, no leads on KI’s case for months. As if the Nine themselves had disappeared, right along with Fox’s best friend. Scouts came back with no reports, spies had no sightings or intel—there wasn’t even any news about the Moon Coven … thanks to Lord Izzy murdering them all.
Like a madman, Fox glowered, shifting in the dirt. She ignored the ache in her bum as she tried to lean against the tree beside her. This mission was a random blessing, as Marlo Jo had called it. The first lead in KI’s and Talon’s kidnapping in the six months since Fox had finally made it back to the Academy from her trip to the North. Someone had claimed they’d spotted a mysterious man in a red cloak in a small village a few days away from Babel.
It wasn’t much of a lead at all, but the Academy had been so desperate for information they’d scrambled together a team and sent Fox out to investigate almost as soon as they’d received the intel. Of course, they couldn’t just tromp through the forest in search of this mysterious man—instead, Fox had decided to set out on a separate mission to provide them with cover.
The Academy had gotten a request to escort an old couple to their daughter’s wedding. It was a simple mission—easy even for Gamma Division students—but the wedding was being held in a village close to the area the mysterious cloaked man had been spotted. It was perfect cover for Fox and her team to investigate without drawing too much attention to themselves.
The only problem was that the old couple did need an escort, so most of Fox’s time was spent guarding two 80-year-olds who moved slower than tree sap. Right now, she was waiting for Kohl to give her the signal that the couple had finally settled in for the night. That way, the team could work while the elders slept. But Fox had been waiting for over an hour and there still hadn’t been a signal.
She sighed, peering through the darkness for her companion. Kohl had been distant lately, but that was nothing new. Honestly, he’d never really been an open book from the start. His aloofness shouldn’t be a surprise, but it was. As cold and distant as Kohl had always been, Fox had liked to believe that he was at least forthcoming with her.
The truth was that they’d barely spoken in the last six months. When Fox had asked him to join her team for the mission, she’d been shocked that he’d said yes. But he’d been shocked by her shock, and they’d laughed at the whole thing like old friends.
Maybe distance was all he needed, Fox told herself. He’d been acting so irritable and weird at the Ice Fortress. And then the journey sailing home had left him quiet and sullen. Now, he was travelling with her on a mission that might be a waste of time or the breakthrough they’d needed all along.
No matter what happens, Fox decided, I won’t waste this chance to fix things with Kohl. Just because KI had gone missing didn’t mean Kohl had to disappear too. She’d lost one friend and a sister, losing Kohl when he was right there in front of her would break Fox beyond repair.
“But I can’t fix things if he never shows up,” she mumbled.
And then…
The darkness before her parted to reveal ashen blonde hair. Kohl rose from the shadows of the earth, the blackness of the night peeling from his form like a second skin. The sight would have startled Fox if she hadn’t seen him do that a hundred times now.
Kohl had gotten good at shadow-dancing.
He stared at her with his usual blank expression as he crossed his arms over his chest. Over six feet of angst, Fox almost laughed as his cold eyes watched her in the suddenly stiff silence. He took up more room than she remembered, like he’d spent the last six months doing nothing but push-ups. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, Kohl had grown up.
He was not the 17-year-old Fox remembered from her first day at the Academy. She was sure he was 18 now, sneaking up on 19 without her even realizing it. She could see his maturity in his eyes, the way he regarded her like he was taking in her very presence, not just her facial features.
In the quiet, his clear blue eyes felt like cubes of ice sliding over her skin. Fox could not help the goosebumps that pebbled her arms as she stared at this boy who had become a man.
There was stubble on his face, blonde whiskers that tickled Fox’s cheek whenever he hugged her. Which he did quite often on this mission—and shocked her each time. He didn’t speak much, and when he looked at her, Fox felt sure he was thinking violent, angry thoughts. But his affection toward her was always gentle. Entirely the opposite of how he used to be.
So much has changed… Fox took an extra moment for herself, examining Kohl before she stepped out from her hiding spot. If she squinted, she could still see the boy who had frowned and called her, Barefoot Girl. But that boy was different now.
Tall and strong in the sort of way that made Fox shiver. Kohlannis appeared as beautiful as he was deadly. His hair was getting longer, like threads of silver that brushed his toned shoulders. And his eyes had sharpened almost to a point. He wore short sleeves, revealing arms that were jet-black from his biceps to his wrists.
That was another thing that’d changed about Kohl since returning to Babel. He’d started wearing his shadow now, wrapping the darkness around himself like living tattoos.
During the day, when the sun was in the sky, he had no shadow to walk beside him. Instead, it folded over the cords of muscle on his arms, but at night, surrounded in darkness on all sides, Kohl’s entire frame was sometimes inked black, allowing him to blend in with the shadows entirely.
I see why the Cross sealed up the power of the Hungers, Fox thought as she stepped from her hiding spot.
Kohl surrendered half a smile as she approached him. “Sorry it took so long.” He shrugged. “The old man got a bad case of heartburn. Wouldn’t settle down.”
She rolled her eyes. “I told him not to eat those sticky buns.”
He grunted, which Fox had learned was his version of a chuckle, and then—as she tried to walk by him—he reached out and grabbed her arm. She didn’t fight as he pulled her toward himself and wrapped his arms around her. If she stood on her tiptoes, she would feel his scratchy facial hair. Instead, she was tucked away in his arms, her ear pressed against his chest, right over his heart. The beat was slow and steady.
When Kohl pulled away, he kept his large hands on her thin shoulders. “How long were you waiting for me?” he murmured.
Well … She hadn’t been waiting for him specifically. But Kohl seemed to take everything personally lately. Even Fox’s safety, as if she couldn’t handle herself.
She fought hard not to roll her eyes. “About an hour.”
He blinked, then nodded once. And then he stood there staring at her.
“We … We should get back to the others,” Fox suggested.
Without a word, Kohlannis turned around and started walking toward their rendezvous location. Still not a man of many words, Fox thought, unsure if she was happy about that or not.
When they had walked about half a mile, they heard the distinct call of a hawk overhead. Both of them stopped, peering up at the sky … listening. A second hawk cawed and Fox let go of her breath as she watched Kohl’s shoulders relax. The next second, two birds dived into the woods, wings fluttering. Just before they reached the ground, Fox saw their magnificent transformation.
