Flash Point (Elemental Trials Book 2)

  Flash Point

  Elemental Trials, Book 2

  Ronelle Antoinette

  Flash Point

  Copyright © 2017 Ronelle Antoinette

  Cover art by Mar Fandos

  Edited by Sylv Jenkins

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook License Notes

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  Table of Contents

  DEDICATION

  MAP

  PROLOGUE

  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

  EPILOGUE

  LIST OF TERMS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dedication

  For Adam, who patiently read and reread even though it wasn’t his cup of tea, and asked the hard questions I hadn’t considered the answers to. And for Lisa, who provided insights gained from her own life experience and pointed out things I missed.

  Map of the Three Kingdoms

  Prologue

  A cool, fitful draft caressed and teased the flame of a single candle, sending shadows chasing across the walls. The light caught and shimmered in waves of red framing an intense, focused face.

  The woman sitting at the little desk was young, and clearly in poor health. Her skin had a jaundiced yellow pallor and her amber eyes were weary. She sucked in a harsh, pained breath and one hand fell to her rounded belly. When the contraction eased, she hunched again over a leather-bound tome.

  Head bent, she wrote as the candle-flame danced.

  Fi Amin,

  I'm writing to you on the night of your birth because I know what the future holds for me. Please forgive me, my heart, for not being able to stay and help you grow into the beautiful woman I’ve Seen you will become. The months I’ve carried you have been the most wonderful time of my life and in better circumstances your father and I would raise you together. Know that you were conceived in love and that you are my heart and soul.

  I have Seen many things during the long years of my life, many good and beautiful and others terrible and humbling. The world is changing and I See flames spreading across the kingdoms. You will be part of this change, fi amin, and I pray to the Goddess that this fire leaves you unscathed.

  There is so much more I need to tell you, to teach you, and this journal is likely the only way I can pass on that knowledge. It is all I have to leave you, my child, beyond the locket the Abdessa has promised to give you when you are old enough. Use what I have written here wisely, for such knowledge can hurt if not employed with care and discretion.

  Though I'm not with you, you are always and forever in my heart.

  Your mother,

  Tanith Hithaerien

  Her shaking hand scattered drying sand across the wet ink just as another contraction overtook her and she spilled half the jar on the scarred wooden surface. She left it where it fell.

  The door behind her swung open.

  “Tanith? Are you well?”

  “Oh, Kvinna Vasi, the Goddess must have sent you. I – it’s time.”

  Chapter One

  “In the long years of my life, I have seen one constant and that is transition. One ruler to another, one season to the next, one stage of life giving way to something new, and I have never feared these things. But I fear this Egali practice of an Ascension…not as catalyst of change, but for its secrecy and the others’ refusal to speak of it. I am not allowed to witness the event, as I am not an Adept, and it is something I cannot See, no matter how hard I Look.”

  –from the journal of Tanith Hithaerien

  The Hall of the Ascendant was not large. It had no need to be.

  Windowless and cold no matter the season, it was a place of anticipation and revelation, transformation or destruction. Death was certain here, rebirth less so.

  At the head of the room stood a wide altar draped in black cloth, its surface studded with silver stars. A lit censer sat in the middle, giving off curling tendrils of smoke from the burning incense within. Objects to represent the Goddess and each of her Consorts rested on the dark fabric: a white bowl full of glittering black sand, a steel dagger with a ruby set in the hilt, three hawk feathers bound by a strand of white horsehair, a set of reed pipes, a translucent dream-crystal, and a large green stone carved in the shape of an apple.

  A shard of some silvery metal lay a little apart from the other objects, but it drew the eye like a magnet.

  Enari Alycon and Jex Xander were the last two mages to enter the shadowed chamber.

  She hesitated on the threshold, instinct making her clutch his hand as her eyes struggled to pierce the darkness. The single tapers that stood to either side of the altar were small and insufficient to dispel the thick gloom. Dizziness and nausea overcame her as the strong incense permeated her lungs. The room felt oppressive, claustrophobic, and her mind screamed at her to retreat.

  Jex’s hand closed around her wrist in warning.

  “Remember,” he whispered, “once we step inside, you’ll need to remain absolutely silent until the ceremony is complete. No matter what happens, do not make a sound, understand?”

  His breath was warm and the soft kiss he pressed to her temple made her shiver. She nodded and hesitantly followed her Chosen inside.

  He closed the door behind them. The soft boom reminded her of the latch on the door to the Hall of the Dead; solid and inexorable.

  Final.

  Jex led her up the aisle at a slow and measured pace, their steps muffled more than they should have been in the stone chamber. The shadows seemed to whisper words too soft to discern, a dark susurration against her senses. The sensation was like cobwebs and moth wings and the touch of a burial shroud all mixed together.

  After passing the last row of benches and their silent occupants, Enari discovered that what she had originally taken for a shadow cast by the altar was instead a large, smooth-edged opening in the floor. Her Chosen’s hands guiding her with confidence as he directed her to kneel, adjusted the fall of her skirt, and placed her hands in her lap. He cupped the back of her head and tilted it forward until all she could see were the stones beneath her knees and that yawning pit. The touch withdrew and she heard the rustle of his robes as he took his place behind her.

  It was only at this angle she saw the faint reflection of candlelight in dark water. A pool then, and not an empty well as she first assumed.

  The realization was not as comforting as it should have been.

  “Enari Alycon, daughter of Eryk Alycon and Tanith Hithaerien, today is the day of your Ascension. You have entered this chamber in a state of flux, tempered from apprenticeship b
ut not yet forged as an adept. You are Initiate, the in-between.” The deep, strong voice of her father issued from within the dark cowl of the figure in front of her. “As those who came before were tried, so you shall be. Who among you will stand witness?”

  Enari was confused. What trial? Hadn’t she passed all the tests the week before? She’d thought the Rite of Ascension a mere formality, if a secret one, but now it sounded that assumption had been incorrect.

  “We will,” came the unified and ringing response from those seated behind her.

  Enari shivered again, cognizant of the power behind the declaration. The touch of their voices was the only warmth in this brooding place and she was grateful for it.

  “And who among you will hold the door for her?”

  “I will,” Jex confirmed, his voice strong and certain.

  “Then let it be.”

  Her father turned to the altar and picked up the metal fragment. Motioning for Jex to step forward, he pressed the weapon into his hand.

  Enari watched from beneath her lashes without raising her head, seeing the glimmer of candle-flame slide along the razor’s edge.

  Her Chosen went to his knees in front of her. He raised the shard, letting her examine it for a heartbeat or two, and then used the blade to cut her palm and his own. Enari winced at the line of pain that blazed across her skin, biting back a hiss just in time to keep from breaking the mandate of silence. Jex pressed their weeping palms together and laced his fingers through hers.

  She could almost taste her own dread now, bitter as a mouthful of lemon rind.

  “Blood to blood and gift to gift,” Jex intoned, “I lend you my strength for the test ahead. I will hold the door so you may pass and may it be with joy that I close it after your return.” There was a hint of fear in his emerald eyes as he spoke the final words.

  “Initiate, it is time for you to face The Pool and The Dweller below,” her father announced.

  Sweat broke out across her forehead and the back of her neck as her eyes settled on The Pool.

  Jex rose to his feet, fingers still twined with hers, and she balked, not wanting to go any nearer to that still and menacing water. He reached behind her and seized her belt, forcing her up and forward. His hand remained at the small of her back to hold her in place once they stood at the very lip of The Pool.

  Her stomach knotted and a slithering nausea twisted its greasy fingers around her throat. She swallowed hard and tasted bile.

  Jex put his mouth against her ear and began to speak.

  “We have to lower you into the water. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and don’t be afraid. It’ll be over before you know it.”

  She turned to him, shaking her head. More than anything, she did not want to let that black water touch her. Blue eyes met green and she pled the only way she could.

  His expression went flat and his voice hardened. “You asked me to serve as your Chosen. Let me do my duty.”

  “Be silent!” the High Mage barked.

  Jex gave him a dirty look, but nodded once and the two men took hold of her, each putting a hand under one of her arms and grasping her hands in theirs. With agonizing slowness, they began to lower her.

  The first shock of bitter cold stole her breath.

  As the velvet of her robe became wet, it dragged on her and clung to her legs. She kicked, trying to free her feet but the heavy fabric stuck fast.

  Before she was half-submerged, she started to tremble. The water felt just short of freezing solid and had a slimy quality that disgusted her.

  Soon, only her head remained clear and Jex was crouching at her side, still gripping her bloody hand. His other settled on her hair.

  “Deep breath, now,” he directed.

  And before she could even think to scream, he jerked his hand free of hers and thrust her head beneath the surface.

  Enari struggled, but he was too strong and the frigid blackness was disorienting. She sank like a stone, the belled sleeves and full skirt of her robe tangled around her like seaweed. Reaching above her head, she searched for Jex’s hand or the edge of The Pool but her scrabbling fingers felt nothing save water and smooth stone. Her lungs began to burn in earnest and Goddess, it was so cold.

  Something touched her ankle and she did scream then, releasing the last of her held breath in a cloud of bubbles. She was pulled down into the endless depths by something infinitely stronger than herself.

  Her last conscious sensation was the searing pain of water filling her lungs.

  ***

  “Little mageling, I would have discourse with thee before your end.”

  Enari opened her eyes but saw nothing. All was cold, dark and empty. Her chest burned and her throat ached.

  A caress brushed her cheek and she flinched away in revulsion. The touch was alien and malignant, leaving a stab of needle-sharp pain in its wake.

  “Who are you?” she cried out, turning in a circle, seeking the source of the voice.

  There was a thoughtful pause before it spoke to her again, the words slithering into her mind.

  “I am.”

  “What does that mean? What are you?”

  “I am,” it repeated, “I am your fear, your despair, your destruction. The Devourer of Souls, the Quencher of Hope, the Thief of Reason. I am either the door to your Ascension or the well of your downfall. I am The Dweller.”

  A whiff of carrion and decay accompanied the pronouncement and she could sense an unidentifiable something moving around her.

  It lashed out, snake quick and Enari staggered under the sharp brutality of the blow.

  When she raised her hand to her swollen lips it came away wet and the salty tang of blood coated her tongue.

  “What do you want with me?” she demanded, defiant in spite of her terror and pain.

  The Dweller cackled, “What I have wanted from the beginning, what so many of your kind have given me.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Your life. And your power,” it sighed. “They send fewer and fewer of you as the ages pass, and I am often hungry. But you, mortal daughter, you are strong and your essence would sustain me well. Surrender yourself and I shall make your end a quick one…though perhaps not painless.”

  “My power and my life are my own!”

  Enari sensed the next blow coming and managed to dance aside. Something whistled past her face.

  “Defiant, arrogant, foolish!” came the hissing reply. “You would choose anguish over submission? So be it. You will taste all the sweeter for the struggle.”

  The voice sounded angry now and that frightened her more than the initial lazy contempt.

  She felt a sudden tingling itch on her left palm and rubbed it against her thigh, trying to ignore the discomfort. Any distraction now could kill her.

  Too late, she became aware of the entity behind her.

  Pure and agonizing cold wrapped around her throat, searing, burning, crushing. Enari struggled but it was useless.

  There was a snapping of links and the weight of the dragon pendant was gone. She snatched at it but missed and it fell away. Within seconds, she began to lose consciousness again, and this time, she knew it would be for good.

  Her hands flew up and clawed for the thing, feeling the cut on her palm tear open on a jagged edge.

  A sizzling howl rent the air and The Dweller shrieked and recoiled. Dirty flames, dull blue and sullen red, flickered in the dark but illuminated nothing.

  Fire? But her gift wasn’t –

  And then she understood.

  Jex had shared his blood, and with it, some of his power. A lot of his power, actually, and this thing, whatever it was, couldn’t abide the touch of his magic. A fierce hope rose in her at the thought that she might yet survive this.

  “What are you?” the ugly voice demanded and Enari thought she heard a touch of curiosity and…alarm?

  “You’ve already named me, remember?” she taunted, “Mortal I may be, but I am an adept of the Tower with fire
at my command.”

  “You are no child of man,” it grumbled.

  She sensed it moving again, trying to flank her. But it was wary now.

  “No? What then?”

  “Something new, something nasty.”

  “So release me!”

  It hissed again and it took her a breath to realize the thing was laughing at her. She dug a nail into the wound, bringing forth more blood and the sound ceased,

  “I can hurt you and we both know it. I could destroy you.”

  “That is beyond even your power. You will taste so sweet, little whatever-you-are.”

  “Dweller.”

  The new voice was quiet, steady, familiar, and its presence blazed in the void, a power that filled the space with almost painful intensity. A crackle like lightning filled the space around her.

  “This affair is none of yours, Gatekeeper. Be gone! She is mine by rights,” it sulked, “It was agreed in the long ago, when this world was new.”

  “Dweller.”

  “Those sent here belong to me unless they can fight to be freed. This one is – ”

  The other interrupted, “You are the door to her Ascension. That too was agreed in the long ago.”

  Silence, but only for a moment.

  “Take it and be gone. I tire of your intrusions and meddling. There will always be others.”

  A cool hand touched her cheek and the stinging pain ceased. That blazing presence enfolded her and there was comfort in the ethereal embrace.

  “Close your eyes,” the voice whispered, “close your eyes and go back. They wait for you, my daughter.”

  Chapter Two

  “I’ve observed the relationships among the mages here, and they are so different from what I remember of home. These people come together and part again almost casually. Perhaps the remoteness of Turris Arcana plays a part in this; the pool of potential partners is limited to those one has been raised with and thus friendships form before romance blossoms. It’s strange to think of Eryk having been with women other than myself, though surprisingly, it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, considering my people take mates for life…”