Aieclo Read online

  Contents

  Aieclo

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  Part One: Return to Swia

  Part Two: The Observatory

  Part Three: Titans

  Part Four: Forest Folk

  Part Five: Shadow Runner

  Part Six: Northern Trek

  Part Seven: The Black Reach

  Part Eight: All the Lost Shadows

  Part Nine: Silir

  Part Ten: Rings

  Part Elven: Between Ice and Fire

  Part Twelve: Phantoms of the Mines

  Part Thirteen: Scourge

  Part Fourteen: The Ranger and the Captain

  For news, books, and bonus content

  Author's Note

  Copyright

  Aielco

  (Ranger Trilogy #3)

  Stormborn Saga Book Six

  J.T. Williams

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  Part One: Return to Swia

  Fadis sat with Evri on the rooftop terrace where just last night, the decision was made of their next path. With a deep-red hue to the rising sun, they looked over mugs of dark tea and small sweet cookies that Nana insisted were the best in this region of Taria.

  “Do you know where we will actually be traveling to? Is it far?” Evri asked.

  “Evurn did not say. In fact, when I cornered him over the subject, he just said ‘far’ and tapped my shoulder.”

  “We go north,” Valrin said from behind them.

  “North?” Fadis asked. “How far?”

  “The Wind Temple of Swia. There is an observatory there. Evurn says we cannot find the island we seek without their assistance.”

  “Damn,” Fadis replied.

  “Where does he speak of?” Evri asked.

  “The Glacial Seas and the Far North. It is where Aeveam grew up.”

  “Speaking of Aeveam,” Valrin said, “have you seen her?”

  Fadis motioned upward with his eyes. “Up there.” She had been standing on the upper tower of the keep since well before sunrise.

  “Evurn was looking for her.”

  “He found her,” Fadis said. “I caught him coming back down from there earlier. He went off into the woods to gather herbs that had not been destroyed by fire.”

  “I wish to tend to the ship. We need to get moving before we miss the fleeing tide off the coast.

  “Indeed, I’ll talk to Aeveam, let her know.”

  Fadis left Evri, going back into the castle and to the keep. From there, he ascended an inner stairwell. He noticed that the halls did not smell as foul as they had before. It seemed the castle attendants were working hard to get the stench of death and battle from the floors and walls. Already, many houses were well on their way to being rebuilt, even in the early hours. The elves had worked tirelessly to rebuild. Not to mention, he could already see elven construction in the nearby woods.

  The upper keep of the tower had an observatory that had not been used in some time. Dust on many books and parchments scattered around was to the point that Fadis was careful where he stepped as he went to the wooden ladder that led him to the outside of the tower.

  As he emerged on the next level, he noticed Aeveam meditating atop the wall. He did not want to disturb her, half because he didn’t want to mess up what she was doing, but also because he was worried he’d startle her.

  “I am not so easily startled,” she said.

  “Of course, but I didn’t expect to see you sitting on the edge of the walls.”

  “The ocean breeze is better.”

  Fadis walked up beside her and leaned over the ledge. Now, on the lower terrace, Kirla had joined Evri. She still had his bow.

  “She likes you,” Aeveam said.

  “Oh?” Fadis replied, trying to seem surprised.

  “You can keep the memory of your once-love and love her. You must not be afraid of the future. There are enough frightening things upon the world without you creating your own. There are terrors old and new.”

  Her tone seemed to change. She closed her eyes tightly but then stood up, looking at him.

  “Our journey takes us far north again, but Evurn says that we only need to go north for a time.”

  “Does he not know where this place is?”

  “No, he does. But he is worried.”

  Fadis stared at her as her eyes traced to the ground and back up at him.

  “As are you?”

  “This place we go to, I have seen it in my dreams. Ranger, I would not go here if it were not the will of the Stormborn. There is evil there, evil that once was of our realm and that I am tied to. The island, it is a place that was not always as it is now. It was once the stronghold of power for the Scourge Siren, a terror to Evurn’s lands, and my mother. Evurn has told me to not give my thoughts power, but my thoughts are my power. I see and feel all that is around me, and sometimes just allowing you to keep your private thoughts is difficult. I have not been meditating like I need to in order to keep my mind calm. By the way, Ranger, your thoughts of Kirla are no different from her own. Protect her as you do your son. One needs you more than the other right now. She committed her life to killing the king, and now she has. She will question her next paths. Do not let her wander now.”

  “I am torn to what I should do beyond our coming path.”

  “I know. Only you can make the choice to follow your son and the events that will play out in Taria, or stay committed to the Stormborn. For myself? I have but one path, and I must stay concentrated upon it, but I’m afraid, Fadis, as you were returning south. But you fell back into your old ways, recommitted. I, though I have never been to the place of my mother, feel a calling upon the air. Whatever remains of her knows my path. She was destroyed, but I feel a part of her remains there.”

  Fadis embraced Aeveam. “I have not known you long, but your wisdom and power are something beyond myself. If I can fight the demons of my own mind and return, I believe you can, too. Come, let us go down to the others. We need to set out soon.”

  Fadis and Aeveam returned to the lower level, running into King Suvasel and Ruak just before reaching the library.

  “Ranger,” Ruak said, “you and your companions set out to seek the Verit Gamblers?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Here,” the elf said, pushing a large wrapped item to him.

  He unwrapped it, revealing an elven longbow inlayed with silver with a string that was nearly invisible.

  “From Fikmark mares, rare creatures as of late, but as a gift, for your service to our kingdom.”

  Fadis bowed to Ruak and the king. “A bow? I almost feel guilty taking such an item.”

&n
bsp; Suvasel laughed. “Coming from the Ranger who took a most precious bow, or so I understand it to be true.”

  “It is.”

  Suvasel smiled. “I worry little of old trinkets, even one such as that bow. I care more for the person wielding such items. This bow was one of my own, an item I used against the orcs of the southern lands. Embrace your new family. Your son is your own, but he is precious to his elven kin. We would hold you and those of this crew the same. If you go to the others, they have already returned to the underground port. We will go with you there.”

  They proceeded together to the underground port. As they went through the king’s chamber, Fadis noticed all the king’s furniture had been removed, and now elven weapons lined the walls.

  “We donated many of our weapons to the defenders of this castle,” Suvasel said. “Many of the arms and armor they had were broken or lost on the battlefield below, and while some weapons were recovered, we suspect with nightfall, more of our enemy will return. As for the furniture, it was taken to the villagers to be used to rebuild their houses, as much as could be. I wanted to toss it off the cliff, but the trees in this region are weak already from the blight of the vampires. We must conserve what wood we have.”

  Walking down the stairwell, they reached the hidden port, and Fadis noticed there were elves working to clear the ruins.

  “We found a path,” Evri said. “It leads into one of the side rooms of the castle but was blocked long ago by wreckage. We hope to return the ruins beneath the castle to a working form of its former glory.”

  “I have sent word to Vumark and Vueric alike. They will be sending forces by the sea for this castle. We shall hold this ground and the Varmark Woodlands in its entirety. We have the hands and weapons. I hope your journey will be a swift one, Fadis.”

  Fadis turned to the king and bowed. “Thank you for the gift, and you have my promise. We’ll do what we must to obtain the services of these assassins.”

  The king nodded to him and then looked up to Valrin at the helm of the Aela Sunrise.

  “Do you have what your ship needs for the journey?”

  “Yes, we were well stocked at Saelmark.”

  Suvasel looked at Evri. “You are once again a Leaf of Saelmark. With further honor, as you completed your last task, I charge you with yet another.”

  “Yes, King?”

  “If the Verit Gamblers refuse all offers and will not help us, kill them.”

  “It will be done.” Evri bowed and departed.

  Fadis looked to the king. “Kill them?”

  “I will not have their services bought by any other seeking to overthrow the elves. Your son is beyond skilled. His blessings by Etha shall not be ignored. I know he is not the boy you perhaps expected, but all children grow, some grow faster than others. Elves have many hundreds of years to do what he did in a mere blink in the lifetime of an elf. I am proud he wears the armor of our people. You should be too.”

  “We are about to depart,” Evurn said from behind Fadis.

  Fadis bowed and went to turn to go with Evurn, when the king stopped them.

  “Shadow Elf, Ruak spoke to me of your bravery.”

  “What of it?”

  The king’s speech was slow. “The High Elves of the West . . . we . . . we have never agreed with your kind.”

  “You do not need to apologize to me. Shadow elves are asinine jerks, but most of the high elves are the same. Ruak is a proud warrior. He charged into the enemy on multiple occasions, leaving his kin several paces behind him so he could fight the enemy first. I did as I would do for any I believed in. I go so near my homeland now that I swear, I will smell the sacrificial altars burning on the shoreline, and my stomach is sick. I do it for the greater good for I have done enough for those deemed evil by both elves and shadow elves alike.”

  The king bowed. “Very well, Evurn. You have the respect of the elves of the West.”

  Evurn looked to Fadis and then walked toward the ship. Fadis bowed to the king once more and then joined Evurn on the ship.

  “Not even any pleasantries?” Fadis asked him.

  “I didn’t drive a dagger into this throat. By my standard, that’s pleasant enough. Captain, are we ready to cast off?”

  “We are,” Valrin said.

  The Aela Sunrise glowed a faint white. The crystals on the deck spun to life, and as Evurn went to cast off the lines, Suvasel was ready and did it for them.

  “Thank you,” Evurn said.

  “Safe journeys,” the king said. “We of the West bid you all go with the blessings of Etha.”

  Valrin guided the ship out of the caves and into the ocean. He turned the bow of the ship north and breathed a sigh of relief. He was heading back to where he wished to be. Fadis joined him at the helm, he, too, breathing a sigh of relief. The others went about the deck of the ship. not saying much, and Aeveam sat meditating near the bow.

  Fadis looked back to the castle on the cliffs, seeing the residual smoke rising high into the sky and then beyond it, a spire of the elves visible from the sea itself.

  “That is indeed massive,” Braei said. “They built that so quickly.”

  “In time, it will be thrown down,” Evurn said. “They act as if they corner rats in a basement. Their enemy is cunning and skilled. Even with the power of that Rusis, I wonder how long they can last.”

  “That is why we must not fail,” Valrin said.

  “Do you think these Verit Gamblers can kill the vampire lords?” Fadis asked.

  “They are shadow elves. That is what they do. If they cannot do it, I fear none of us can. Not even the Leaves of Saelmark.”

  The cliffs of Taria faded from view behind them, and as the sea answered their return to the North with tumultuous waves that forced the ship up and down, Valrin held the wheel steady. Most of those on deck went below, but Fadis remained with Valrin.

  The storm that rolled across the sky in front of them was just missing them, and Fadis watched as the angry storm struck the ocean with multiple lightning strikes.

  “This is home,” Valrin said, smiling to Fadis.

  But Fadis did not feel exactly the same. He smiled back to Valrin, but his mind went to Taria. That was his home for his entire life. He thought to all that burned the night before and the look of the trees. They were dying, and even the newly built elven structures within the woods seemed dimmed. As much as he wished to feel that he was dedicated to the crew of the Aela Sunrise, he felt truly torn.

  The waves began to calm, and he saw the others emerge from below.

  “I do not feel so great,” Evri said.

  “Here,” Evurn said, pushing him a small green herb. “You said you’d be better when the waves subsided, but this is about as calm as you’ll get for now. Take it. I don’t want you vomiting all over the deck.”

  Evri was pale and sweating. Reluctantly, he took the herb.

  “Just chew on it,” Evurn said before he passed Fadis. “Stubborn boy. Like his father.”

  Valrin brought up the map, twisting a crystal at the helm. An image of the grand Glacial Seas appeared across the deck. Evri stood up, now appearing a bit dizzy, but with wide eyes in wonder of the map before him.

  “This is Dwemhar?”

  “Indeed,” Valrin said. “A map of the very seas we sail upon. The cloud cover above appears, and it is as if we are looking down high above the ocean.” Valrin gave the wheel to Evurn and walked down to the map. We must go northwest. Those at Swia will be surprised to see us.”

  “It is an abbey of monks of Dimn. The wind temple was my home,” Aeveam told Evri.

  “It will take us some time to get there,” Valrin said.

  “Once we are there,” Evurn said, “ I can direct our exact path to the island.”

  “Have you been there?” Evri asked.

  “Once, for a time. We were looking for someone.”

  Fadis looked at him. “So you know of the island?”

  “I knew of it as it was before, not now. The volc
ano erupted while I was there.”

  “In your days when you still worked with your kin?” Evri asked.

  “No,” he said, looking at Aeveam. “We had a more personal mission. I have never mentioned this, Aeveam, and for that, I am sorry. When your father and I had our first meeting, he was attempting to earn a staff of potent magical power. Once we parted, I went to my island, but it was not long before he came to me again, in a panic. He said his daughter was in trouble. I went with him. I went to the island of the Scourge Siren to rescue you. The memory is foggy. I was struck while we were attempting to flee with you, but he didn’t leave me. I know the island was forever changed, but I still see parts of it, and I remember the Scourge Siren. I had never seen a fight of that magnitude.”

  His eyes trailed off, and he turned from them, going to the edge of the deck. Aeveam looked to Fadis and then to Evurn.

  “I have a way,” Aeveam said.

  “What? How do you mean?”

  “I can enter your memories, but you must allow me. I can see what you saw if it helps us to know where we go.”

  “I cannot see how that would help. The place is different.”

  “Please,” Aeveam said, “I feel something growing around me. I must see it. I must see her.”

  Fadis knew Evurn had deep reservations, and he did not even turn to address her as she walked just behind him.

  “Evurn, please.”

  “It could help us,” Fadis said.

  “I know what she does. Ranger, you must go with her. You can do that, right?” he said, turning to Aeveam.

  “I will not fall into the darkness.”

  “You are not a full-blooded Dwemhar, and you attempt to walk the path between minds, a dangerous act, particularly with the blood that runs through your veins. Fadis, your body will be as your own now, but in another form, you must pull her back if she dwells too close and you feel the world darkening.”

  Kirla touched Fadis’s shoulder. “Perhaps you shouldn’t.”

  “No, I need to.”

  Aeveam looked at him, as did Evurn.