Guardian: Rise of the Nature Walker (Nature Walker Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Guardian:

  Rise of the Nature Walker

  Nancy E. Dunne

  Copyright © 2018 Nancy E. Dunne

  Cover design by Nancy E. Dunne

  All rights reserved.

  ASIN: B07DKXQ59H

  Dedication

  For my Daddy, who raised me to fight my own battles, all the while reminding me that home was just around the corner, ready and waiting for my triumphant return. I miss you.

  Acknowledgments

  Overwhelming thanks are due to my beta readers and editors, Mel and Brian, for keeping me honest and making me a better writer and artist; to Shannon for always being the first in line; and again (and always), to Simon, for everything.

  Prologue – The Western Tower

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty - Several seasons later

  Epilogue: In the void...

  About the Author

  Prologue – The Western Tower

  The Forest Wars ripped Orana open in a way the world had not felt since the dragons burst forth and magic covered the land. Had it not been for the Guardians – individually and as a group – and their dedication to the cause of peace, there would be nothing left of the great civilizations of the world. For two hundred years, the only dragons known to be still on the continent were Lord Taanyth, imprisoned in the ruined Keep of Bellesea Palace, and Lord Kalinth, similarly confined in the Western Tower. The dragonkind were gone, save Lady Salynth who shared the Western Tower with Lord Kalinth. Both places, overrun with the shades of the last of the dragonkind, presented danger to unwary adventurers.

  Lady Kaerinth, the Mother Dragon, fled to the dark side of the world near the end of the wars. Lord Omerith, eldest son of Kaerinth and Taanyth, joined her after he gathered the Guardians together, as did his mate and daughter. None of the dragons were seen or heard from again after that time. Many adventurers of all the races had set out to see what waited in the dark; none of them were seen nor heard from again either, which only served to stoke the fire of curiosity among those left behind. In truth, the only race that did not pursue this new land was the Qatu. Naturally reclusive, they saw no need to leave their island.

  Lord Taanyth, mate to Lady Kaerinth and the so-called Father Dragon, remained under the Mother Dragon’s curse in Bellesea Keep, with only the company of his dragonkind shades and the wyverns that were trapped within its cursed walls. Though he had attempted escape many times in the centuries since being left there, it was only in very recent years that he had a plan that seemed viable - with help of an unwilling and obstinate wizard who could not be trusted. However, the long years of waiting and hoping had taken their toll on the Father Dragon and he had become quite insane long before the wizard stumbled into his path.

  Lord Kalinth, son of Taanyth and Kaerinth and the only ice dragon known to have existed on Orana, remained in the cursed Western Tower. The Mother Dragon had not only made certain he would never leave; she had doomed him to an existence that served as punishment for his obsession with his dark elf dragonkind. He only had Lady Salynth, one of the first of the dragonkind created when the magic of Orana overtook her in the Volcanic Mountains, for company; and she made no secret of her hatred for him. Just after the wars ended, they had been able to communicate and were almost friendly. To Kalinth, she was amazing, powerful, and so very beautiful. To her, he was the mad monster was left to torment her by Father Ikara.

  Kalinth tried to contact his father through their bond on many occasions, but there was nothing there. It was not as though he could sense Taanyth’s presence but the connection remained elusive; it was as though Taanyth was just gone. When he tried to ask Salynth about it, she told him that Taanyth was simply blocking him, and there was nothing he could do. Taanyth was older and stronger, she had told him, and trapped just as Kalinth was on the other side of the continent. Kalinth became determined to escape the Western Tower and then find a way to free his father so they could find the Mother Dragon and make her pay for what she had done to them.

  Salynth received a visitor one winter’s day. A Qatu female had arrived in the tower and demanded to see the sorceress, claiming that she had a way to ensure Salynth’s release as well as guarantee her the protection of Qatu’anari. Salynth agreed to her terms, and in a few months, a group of adventurers arrived, ready to take on the ghostly denizens of the Tower. Within that group were two Qatu females: one a bard barely done with her training and the other, the previously unknown second born child of the Qatu Rajah and First Wife Savdhi - according to the intelligence presented. Salynth watched as the members of the group fell one by one to the supernatural threats of the tower, until the only two remaining were the bard, Annilanshi, and the secret princess, Kazhmere. They reached the level of the tower where Kalinth was held and he quickly transported Annilanshi to the outside of the tower while capturing Kazhmere and bringing her to Salynth in the hopes of winning her over.

  Salynth took Kazhmere prisoner and charmed the magical tiger that accompanied the princess with a view to holding her for ransom. The Qatu female with whom she had made the deal would let the Rajah know that his daughter was held in the Tower, and would arrange Salynth’s release in exchange for the return of the princess. But no return message from the Rajah arrived. No Qatu soldiers arrived to free her from her bondage. Worst of all, for Salynth, Kalinth was certain that his role in the capture of the princess had won her heart for his own, and he became insufferable. Salynth was ready to hurl the princess off the top floor of the Tower where she had been held for all these years - after making sure that as many Qatu as possible were gathered across the Razor Straits on Qatu’anari to watch. Luckily for Kazhmere, the next chapter in Salynth’s long life appeared at the base of the Tower, trying to work out which of the doors would allow him entrance.

  Taeben was a young wizard from Alynatalos who had grown tired of his master’s training and fled his home on a quest to learn more about magic and how he could use it. He was the son of two high ranking magicians among his kind, but his impatience with his training had led to him being branded a “lost cause” by his wizard master, his parents, and their associates. He was told repeatedly that he would never be a magician like his father and grandfather before him. By the time he had reached the first level of his training, his parents had moved on to shower attention on his younger sister, proclaiming that she, not Taeben, was the prodigy and the pride of their family. Shamed by his family and filled with rage, Taeben secured an apprenticeship with a well-known human wizard called Belzhar living in Calder’s Port, and for a time he was happy there among the other initiates in service to his master.

  Instead of the encouraging environment he had experienced in the wizard’s guild in Alynatalos, however, Belzhar was cruel and strict. In the end, Taeben took all of the abuse that he could stand from his master and staged a revolt among the other initiates. Belzhar died at Taeben’s hand, and then the young wizard returned to his home in the Great Forest. With the exception of Nelenie, his childhood friend, he found everyone he had known either gone from the citadel or shunning him as a disappointment - just as his own parents and sister had, so Taeben left in search of a new teacher. It was this search
that led him to the Western Tower and to Lady Salynth, after an unfortunate and accidental sabbatical to Bellesea Keep as a researcher and prisoner of Lord Taanyth. Once the Fabled Ones released him from the Father Dragon - as they attempted to release his childhood friend, Ginolwenye - he continued on his way to the Tower and soon had an audience with Salynth.

  The dragonkind sorceress was taken by his strength and determination immediately. He was an elf after her own heart – ruthless, impatient, and with a single-mindedness of purpose that made him a threat if untrained. Salynth agreed to train him in the beginning just so that she could have company, but she also grew to enjoy how jealous Kalinth had become since Taeben’s arrival. They worked together well at first, but as happened with previous masters, Taeben grew bored and insulted by his continued and forced subservience. After many months at her feet, he decided that he had nothing more to learn from her and told her he was leaving to return to the Great Forest.

  Of course, Salynth would not allow him to leave, and he found himself imprisoned along with Kazhmere. When the group of adventurers that came to take her pet Kazhmere away also took her pet wizard, Salynth swore revenge on them. But that revenge would have to wait – first she had to free herself, and to do that, Kalinth had to die.

  One

  The Sahi Kalah burst through the door suddenly and then swarmed into Khujann’s nursery. Gin had heard some shouts followed by running footsteps that could only be them thundering down the hall. Holding a finger to her mouth to bid Khujann not to tell on her, she faded away into the background. The guards swept in and grabbed the prince all in one motion before he even had a chance to mention that Gin was there. She followed them as they ran, still carefully camouflaged with magic. They were headed toward the safe room deep within the palace with the Prince - Sath had shown her where it was once when she was still new to working for him as Khujann’s tutor. She scanned the corridors as they passed them – where had Tairn and Kazhmere gone? A roar cut through the night, stopping the Sahi for a moment, but they soon carried on their frenetic pace through the hallways.

  Abruptly, Gin felt immobilized by a searing pain tearing across her back and ending up in her heart. Sath…she thought it was him, she was certain it was him, and she changed course to head for the throne room. The strange bond between them had become active in an excruciatingly harrowing manner. There was no other thought in her mind, nothing more clear to her than the knowledge that she had to get to Sath. She raced down the hallway that lead to the throne room and flung her hands out in front of her to open the massive marble doors, but they would not open. They must be locked from the inside. Gin took a few steps back and summoned up the most powerful magic that she knew and then hurled it at the doors. It took a few minutes and repeated blasts, but finally she heard the splintering of whatever was holding the doors closed. She threw her body at the doors and they swung open, almost causing Gin to fall face first into the throne room.

  Once through the doors, she skidded to a stop, her hands covering her mouth in response to the scene before her. Sath was on the floor in front of the throne, slumped over Kazhmere’s body, and there was a small blade of some sort jutting out of his back between the shoulder blade and his broad neck. Neither of the Qatu moved. Gin’s stomach flipped over - was Sath breathing?

  “Sath?” Gin ran to his side, crying out to him as she drew closer. “Sath!” She shook him as hard as she could, but he was not responding and she did not hear the sound of anyone coming to his aid. There was so much blood on the floor underneath their bodies; Gin nearly slipped and fell on top of them more than once as she navigated through the carnage. The metallic tang of blood filled the air, and she choked back a bit of bile that rose in her own throat. However, there was no accompanying smell of death - she had experienced that on many occasions before and this time it was only blood. It was not too late - there was a chance.

  Once she had steadied herself, she knelt down close to them, quickly dropped her invisibility spell and then reached out a trembling hand to touch Sath, finding him to be quite warm. His pulse was weak, but it was there. Gin nearly fainted from relief. She would have felt better if he would answer her or open his eyes, but this meant she could use her healing magic on him. It was not too late. She would worry about Kazhmere once she could get Sath off her.

  Before she thought about the damage it might do, she grabbed the handle of the small blade. “Hang on darlin',” she said, taking a deep breath and hoping that he was still alive to hear her, “this may hurt a little.” She pulled as hard as she could, making certain that she did not turn the blade, and grimacing as the letter opener dislodged from Sath’s shoulder. She felt it pass through muscle and tissue, and gagged a bit as the wound made a slight sucking sound when the blade left his furry skin. Blood poured from the open wound and Gin had to take a quick second to keep her focus. She had healed so many wounds on all of the Fabled Ones, but this time it was Sath, and he was in grave danger of bleeding out.

  He still did not respond, and Gin tossed the blade away and put both her hands over the wound, speaking ancient words in Elvish of healing and cleansing. She channeled all of her will into closing the wound, and soon she felt smooth fur beneath her fingers. He still did not respond, so she continued to pour as much energy and healing magic as she could into the rest of his body until finally she felt a twitch under her hands. “Sath?” she whispered, and then thought that perhaps she needed to speak Qatunari. “Sathlir?” He moaned and tried to move, then screwed up his face at the pain that he clearly still felt. “Wait, don’t move yet…”

  “What happened…Kahzi!” Sath muttered, trying to push himself up off the body of his sister. “Kahzi, Kahzi, no, no…” Weakened but stubborn, Sath managed a seated position before he gathered Kazhmere’s body into his arms as he wailed and roared.

  “Sath? Let me see her, Sath, let me see… RAJAH!” she yelled, slapping him across the face. Sath roared and raised a hand to Gin’s face, then halted as he recognized her.

  “Gin…? Darlin'?” The sound that came out of the Rajah next shocked her to her core. It was a mewling sound, like that of a cub - not the bellow she had expected. He relaxed his arms slightly, causing his sister’s head to fall away from his chest. Gin started to reach for Kazhmere’s limp body, but thought better of it.

  “Yes, Sath, sweetheart, it’s me, let me see her, maybe I can help,” she said, carefully avoiding his claws as she peeled his hands off Kazhmere’s body. She gingerly rested the female Qatu on the ground and pulled Sath up to sit back away from her. Gin was not sure which of them was the heavier, because Sath was limp in her arms just like Kazhmere had been save the sobs that were forming deep in his chest. Gin nimbly climbed in between Sath and his sister and checked Kazhmere’s throat for a pulse, but as she had feared, there was not one. Kazhmere was gone. Her teal eyes, the mark of her Clawsharp family line, gazed, unseeing, off into the distance. Tears gathered in Gin’s eyes. “Oh, Kahzi, sweet Kahzi, my magic isn’t strong enough to save you this time…who did this to you?” Gin murmured, carefully closing Kazhmere’s eyes and stroking her cheek as she spoke.

  “I did,” said Sath quietly from behind her. “I killed my sister.”

  Gin spun around, eyes wide. Surely, she had misunderstood him. “What did you say? What happened, Sath, and make it fast because your guards will be here as soon as they’ve secured the Prince.”

  “She was charmed,” he said in the common tongue, his voice still a deadly whisper. “She set her tiger on me, locked us inside the room, and then attacked me herself.” He stood up and gathered himself together for a moment, and then continued. “I got in a good blow to her head, and I only meant to knock her out, but then she came to and stabbed me and…and…I guess I…dropped her, and…” He could not continue, so he just shook his head.

  “Why would she do that, though? Think, Sath, did she say anything?” Gin was desperate now. She did not want to leave him, but if she was discovered alongside the dead sister of
the Rajah, things could go south very fast indeed.

  “She mentioned…her mistress? She tried to kill me at her mistress’s command, I think…I don’t know, Gin, I don’t know…wait, wait…what are you doing here? Where is my son?” His eyes narrowed. “Tell me you didn’t…” Sath grabbed Gin by the shoulders suddenly and looked into her eyes. She winced as his claws dug into her skin, but did not cry out and he did not release her. “You…you can’t charm…why would you…”

  “It wasn’t me,” Gin said angrily, though in truth her heart was breaking at the accusation. The anger was helpful, though, and kept her from succumbing to the overwhelming anguish at the loss of Kazhmere. “You know I can’t charm Qatu, Sath, and why would I want you dead?”

  Sath’s grip on her loosened just enough for her to take a halting step away from him. Gin tried to keep her rational mind alert, and in an instant knew what they needed to do if he was not going to give her any more information. Taking a deep breath, she looked him in the eye. “Listen to me. Khujann is safe, I was with him when the guards came and took him to his quarters,” she said. “We need to get out of here; the guards will be here at any moment. Let me help you, Sath,” she said, touching his hand carefully, ever cautious of the sharp points of his claws. She released the breath she had been holding when he did not pull his hand away. Sath traced the scar on the side of her face with the back of one of his claws for a moment, and then nodded silently. His eyes were glassy, and clearly, he was far away from the present moment in his mind. Gin took his massive hands in hers and spoke ancient magical words of transport and they faded away. The guards that arrived only moments later found Kazhmere’s body in an empty room. Hulan rushed to her side, roaring in anguish. “Lock down the city!” he shouted, growling. “The Rajah is missing and his sister is dead!”