Exiled No More: Exiled Elementals Series (Book One), page 1
EXILED NO MORE
EXILED ELEMENTALS SERIES (BOOK 1)
T. L. PRICE
CONTENTS
Epigraph
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
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
FOR MY THREE SONS – WHO CRAVED LEARNING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT TO MY CHARACTERS AS THEY WAITED IMPATIENTLY FOR SNIPPETS OF WHAT WAS TO COME. THEIR EXCITEMENT STOKED THE FIRE WITHIN ME TO MAKE THIS BOOK HAPPEN!
DISCLAIMER and TERMS OF USE
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published by Suncorea Ventures LLC
Copyright © 2022 by T.L. Price
Map copyright © 2022 by T.L. Price
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing.
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EXILED NO MORE IS THE EXHILARATING FIRST BOOK IN THE EXILED ELEMENTALS SERIES, AN EPIC PARANORMAL AND URBAN FANTASY IN A DYSTOPIAN MAGICAL WORLD FULL OF METAPHYSICAL MYSTERY AND STEAMY ROMANCE.
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EPIGRAPH
When the rabbit turns and chases the wolf into the arms of the devil, the devil and rabbit become deadly alliances. Beware of the rabbit.
T.L. Price
CHAPTER 1
Nhari walked quickly through the mountainous caverns with soldiers on every side. High above rang the shouts of people looking down on her as she took the winding stairs to the next level.
“We should leave her and tell the Overlord that the mob overtook us,” said Daniel, the tallest of the six A-Lords, as they bounded up the stairs at a reckless speed. “We are surrounded by ruthless criminals who heard that Nhari is leaving. It seems they want the little murderous thief to stay!”
He mocked her, knowing that she could never miss the place that had imprisoned her with the worse mankind had known. She gave him the finger and kept going.
“Keep close to the wall if you want to make it out of here,” she said to Marsha. Nhari kept close to the wall knowing Daniel could use the opportunity to bump her off the stairwell to the pits below. Marsha looked down and quickly moved closer to the wall allowing the soldiers to form a barrier between her and the pit.
“Daniel knows the prisoners in the pit would eagerly catch my flailing body and pull me through the corridors. They toss young girls from hand to hand until there is nothing left. We’ve seen it many times before. They don’t feed the restless here! They demoralize them until there is nothing left but sheer madness.”
“Very few Guardian Clan members come to tour the realm of the exiled, and those that do never come this far down into the caverns. When the soldiers went to extract you, I took the opportunity to see this place for myself,” she casually remarked, showing no remorse for the sickening conditions of the exiled territory. People piled upon people in sweltering heat under a cloudless sky. Nhari was used to it, but Marsha seemed unfazed at the dire conditions of the very lives cast here by her people. She had just arrived and knew that she was leaving when the jump site portal reopened within the week.
Nhari didn’t know if the blood and sweat were hers or the thousands of prisoners spitting and cursing her. But she knew that Marsha was no ordinary guide sent to prepare her for the Trials of Guardianship, a ritualistic coming-of-age competition for the children of the ruling Guardian Clan. Marsha hadn’t broken a sweat yet, and they had just marched three stories in sweltering Arabian heat. The temperature was greater than 140 degrees in the toxic environment, making portions of the exposed steel staircase dangerously hot, hence the gloves many prisoners wore during this time of year.
She could tell some of the A-Lords accompanying them had their own suspicions about their newly arrived guide. Given her well-toned body and stamina, she was certainly no one to underestimate. Daniel likely missed that small fact as he gawked at her short, curvy body and gorgeous face. However, the harsh scar running from her chin down to her collar depicted the face of a warrior.
“I could have saved you the trip and described the place. Did you really feel the need to endanger yourself just to get a little peek at the people you put away?” Nhari exclaimed in a dangerously loud voice. She eyed Marsha directly, satisfied that the surrounding prisoners recognized Marsha as a member of the ruling Guardian Clan who sentenced them here. Marsha brazenly eyed the prisoners daring them to take any action against her. Her evil smile certainly gave pause to any prisoner considering trying to take her out. The A-Lords only laughed at the rising ire between Nhari and her supposed guide back to civilization.
“Nhari will never make it back to the Guardian Clan’s civilization. She belongs with the exiled murderers, rapists, and thieves,” commented Daniel while pointing to the numerous criminals living within the shacks lined along the mountainous pass. Nhari ignored the insult, it was not the first, and it wouldn’t be the last. Marsha seemed unmoved at the A-Lord's subtle threat that Nhari wouldn’t make it out alive.
“I’ll take her,” shouted one of the prisoners standing at the nearest shack. He was a well-muscled, bearded man with scars from many battles. The A-Lords moved him back, but more and more crowded around them, throwing obscene slurs her way.
“We have six days and fourteen hours before the jump site opens,” Marsha whispered to Nhari. “I’m here to train you for the trials and to make sure that you make it there alive. So, whatever you think of me, enemy or not, I’m your ticket out of here.”
One of the A-Lords pushed Nhari ahead of Marsha to stop their conversation and hasten their pace. They were trying to keep Nhari and Marsha locked between them as more and more prisoners tried to get close to Nhari.
It took the A-Lords two days to find Nhari when Marsha arrived with the orders that she would be released from the land that had become known as the realm of the exiled, a place for the world’s worst criminals. Well, to be truthful, they didn’t find Nhari. She found them when a reliable source confirmed the rumors that she was leaving.
I still can’t believe I’m leaving this place. No one leaves the realm of the exiled! I’ll be the first. That’s if I can keep myself alive for the next six days. Marsha has no idea what she is up against if she was really sent here to get me out.
“The A-Lords have never had to keep anyone safe. They’ve only had to keep us locked away. We could kill each other or worse, but the A-Lords don’t care. I seriously doubt they plan to help me stay alive.” Nhari whispered to Marsha when she got close enough to hear.
“The A-Lords are the Overlord’s fiercest soldiers. Surely these demigods can get you safely to the jump site. The Overlord would not defy the Guardian Clan,” Marsha proudly boasted.
Nhari tried her best to conceal her surprise that Marsha knew the A-Lords were demigods. “The demigods are the most powerful beings on Earth. Why would demigods bow to the Guardian Clan? And why has their existence been kept from the civilized world?”
“The rest of the world believes the A-Lords are nothing more than genetically engineered humans with unbelievable strength. We have gone to great lengths to ensure the prisoners cannot communicate what they see and hear to the civilized world. But the Guardian Clan is very powerful, obviously something you didn’t think about before you landed yourself here.”
Well, she certainly had me stumped!
Reaching a plateau, they still had miles to go before arriving at the Great Hall of Deliverance, the place where prisoners arrived, but none ever departed. The mountains had numerous passes and winding stairwells connecting them. There was nothing but miles and miles of jagged land where prisoners camped in some areas. Today, though, numerous prisoners came from far reaches of the realm to express their outrage for the injustice of Nhari’s depar
“There she is,” an old woman began shouting and pointing in her direction. Nhari ducked just as someone threw a canister of acid her way. His aim was off, but the guard’s knife across his throat was not.
“She cannot leave! Her sentence is death, and she must serve it!” another shouted. Thousands of prisoners crowded into the ledges abutting the stone stairwells leading to a large plateau between the mountains. The soldiers tried to hold the angry mob back, but they were relentless.
“The full sentence is life or death! The full sentence is life or death!” they chanted.
Life or death? What I am about to face in the Trials of Guardianship is no different than the dangers here. Still, these fools do not understand the ways of the world outside these walls anymore. Most have been here so long that they have forgotten that the outside world is just as deadly and ruthless, just more rules to break you down. And it doesn’t matter if you were once part of the ruling families in the Guardian Clan as I was. No, those familiar ties only make it worse.
“Hmm, maybe we should give the prisoners what they want. What do you say, Daniel? Death sounds like a deliciously intriguing idea, would you agree?” said Morin Gadot, the only female A-Lord. Daniel laughed, swinging his swords for effect.
Morin had never liked Nhari. Well, not since Nhari stabbed her in a second attempt to escape. That was long ago, but Morin’s brothers found many sordid ways to punish Nhari. Her hatred for Nhari only grew as they became bitter rivals.
When Nhari arrived in the realm, all she knew was hiding. At fifteen, she didn’t quite know how to battle an A-Lord. And then Nhari met the Six. The Six turned to Twenty, and then her faithful group of alliances slowly spread out like a spider’s web. It was a web that was more like a spy network to let them know when danger was near and hide when the worse was on its way. A child living among the exiled was doomed to die, for this place was never meant for kids. A secret network kept Nhari and her alliances safe from the torrid life of those living among the exiled. By twenty, Nhari had learned a lot.
Her alliances in the crowd nodded in her direction. She made eye contact but only for a moment. Nhari was leaving them, but she would return to right the wrongs waged against their kind one day.
“Is it jealousy that courses through your veins, Morin, or just revenge? We shared a lover, and I came out on top,” Nhari laughed. “I guess you didn’t like being on the bottom,” she smirked.
Two blows to the chest, and Nhari was on her butt.
“Now, who is on the bottom?” Morin sneered, standing over her. The A-Lords laughed.
“Kill, kill, kill” became their crowd’s new mantra. The sound was deafening, but one Nhari heard many times over the years as fights were almost daily here.
Morin stood her ground over Nhari, daring Nhari to make the move she expected. But Nhari wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. She was looking for a reason to deliver a deadly blow, but Nhari wasn’t falling for it.
Nhari waited until she moved off. As she stood, Morin swept her leg under Nhari sending her careening back to the rocky ground. She delivered two kicks to the stomach to match. Nhari sucked in air, barely catching her breath as Morin landed another kick to her back. Morin’s boots were lined with spikes, but they did minimal damage thanks to Nhari’s body armored t-shirt.
This was the first time that Morin and Nhari had been face-to-face since Vigot’s demise. Nhari had been in hiding since that time, making sure to avoid Morin and her notorious brothers. Nhari still didn’t get what Vigot saw in Morin.
How could he even get past her harsh personality? But like any male, I’m sure he overlooked her lousy attitude in exchange for her scandalous offerings. He likely focused on the shimmering dark skin tone, the matching brown eyes rimmed in what looked like the shade of the sun rising, and long eye lashes that I want to claw from her face!
As usual, Morin’s hair was pulled into a strict braid down her back, touting a thin but curvy, five-foot-eight tall, lean muscled body. While she wore her traditional A-Lord metallic uniform when on duty, Nhari’s sources more than once told her that Morin entered Vigot’s quarters scantily dressed. Just thinking about the two of them together had Nhari’s anger rising to match Morin’s. Nhari’s temper was about to get the best of her.
“Didn’t Vigot tell you? He likes being on top…so I didn’t mind being on the bottom!” she drawled while eyeing Nhari like a viper ready to strike. “Besides, I don’t call your situation being on top of anything but a rat-infested mess of a life!”
As Nhari finally rose from the ground, she danced around Morin, balancing dangerously back towards the ledge of the stairwell they had just left. Nhari was sporting her own spiked heeled boots that were razor-sharp, short shorts with metal rings hanging from two belts, and a see-through body armored chainmail over her shirt. She was a walking weapon, except for the pictures of rainbow bubbles arranged like a hurricane on her shirt.
“I’m leaving this place while you and your brothers suffer through the stench of the prisoners for a few more decades! And Vigot will never ever marry you!” The smile that Nhari sent Morin was the best blow that she could deliver. Triumph! Nhari glared, knowing that soon she would leave this place, and Morin could not stop her. Neither could the A-Lords who guarded the exiled.
Everyone was silent, waiting for the next retort or the next blow. Even the crowd had hushed, hoping that Morin would deliver the death blow. But they both knew that Morin would be severely punished if she killed Nhari after receiving orders that she was to be released. After a long minute, they started moving again. The crowd started roaring even louder that their thirst for blood wasn’t sated. They walked for another mile or more without any break for water or rest. Twice now, Morin had found a reason to torture Nhari with sucker punches, drawing blood. She was trying to wear Nhari down, but it would not work.
“Let’s take the east staircase,” Daniel said to Morin to focus everyone on the task at hand. They knew that a fight had been brewing between Morin and Nhari since everything went to hell with Vigot last winter.
“Agreed. The mob is too thick, and the east staircase is closer,” said Morin.
“We stick to the exit route with no deviations,” shouted Marsha to Daniel and Morin. It was the first time she spoke since Morin’s and Nhari’s fighting, and it fell on death ears.
“Plans change with the tide here in the exiled,” Morin remarked with a tone not to be challenged. “You may be some fancy guide sent by the Guardian Clan to prepare this ruthless murderer for the trials, but I know these lands better than anyone. We head east, or we will be overrun by the mob of prisoners.” Morin placed her hand on her twilight swords for effect. Her look at Marsha left no doubt that Marsha’s head was on the chopping block. They moved towards the east staircase. Marsha didn’t know that the east staircase was a much longer route to get out.
“Well, she’s certainly no fun,” Marsha said to no one in particular.
“She’s always had a stick up her wazoo!” Nhari laughed. “Morin thinks she is some hot princess sent to guard us lowly exiled humans on behalf of her demigod brethren. She is the only female A-Lord. Why would she want to be an A-Lord is beyond me, but I suspect it had something to do with Vigot being the one appointed to oversee the exiled.”
“Why do Morin and Daniel carry different weapons from the other A-Lords?” Marsha whispered, making sure this time to not be overheard.
