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Wardstone - Sins and Virtues Anthology, the Sin of Anger- from eXtasy Books This is one of an anthology of fourteen stories by varying authors being published by eXtasy Books. www.extasybooks.com Each story depicts a different Sin or Virtue, collect them all! Alethea was born a Warder, as her mother was before her. She lives only for revenge. Can the dragon, Rhys, stop her from avenging her mother and destroying the village protected by her father? Or will he be too late to stop her from destroying the Wardstone? You may also purchase this book at Fictionwise.
Wardstone - Anger (Sins and
Virtues series) Prologue
Altira Warder lay still in the cot given to her by the sisters.
Her blond hair spilled over the pillow and to the floor; her blue eyes
were sunken and dull with fatigue.
“Orala, you have to take my daughter to my parents. They will
train her, and raise her as their own.” She gripped her
companion’s hand, and almost crushed it as a wave of pain rolled
over her. One arm clutched her tiny child to her breast, the rosebud
mouth pursing in confusion and tiny fingers twitching in agitation.
“I will take her, I promise. Now you have to rest and get
better. You are not yet recovered from childbirth.” Altira had tried
not to show her growing weakness to her friend and the worry on
Orala’s face tore at her heart.
“I am not getting better.” Her body arched in a spasm that
left her gasping. Her baby started the coughing wail of the newborn.
The midwife had pronounced everything fine, but she didn’t realize
her patient had no life left to save.
Months earlier, Altira had poured her life energy into the
wards surrounding a tiny village tormented by seasonal migrations.
What little she had left had gone into her child. Her body was
empty…it just didn’t know it yet.
Her friend had begun to sob in panic, and Altira had no ability
left to comfort her. “Orala! Promise me. She has to go to my parents. Please.” Her voice rose in a hoarse whisper to drown out the wailing of her tiny daughter. Her free hand gripped Orala’s as she tried to get the agreement that she sought.
She never heard the answer.
Chapter
1
A shrouded figure wove through the marketplace, heading for the
great stone obelisk in the center. Looking neither left nor right, it
continued in a straight line to the base of the amethyst monument. One
hand extended and the villagers began to laugh at the stranger who
thought it could touch the Wardstone of Talleth.
As her hand contacted the obelisk, the laughter stopped.
Murmurs began as energy pulsed from the stone and wrapped lovingly
around the stranger. Her hand retracted into the cloak and she turned
to address the crowd.
“People of Talleth! You have one month to leave this village
and find refuge elsewhere.”
The statement caused a ripple of laughter to flow through the
crowd once again. A
wealthy merchant, by the cut of his clothes, stepped forward and spoke
with great authority.
“Why? There is nothing that can harm us. We are protected by
the Wardstone.”
The woman stood motionless. Behind her, the obelisk began to
pulse and shimmer.
The crowd shifted nervously and looked to the merchant for
assistance.
The woman broke the silence. “The Wardstone was set in place
to protect the village from the annual migrations of the great oxen,
to save the dragon Mostyn the trouble of driving them away for two
months of the year.”
“Yes, so what of it?”
Her voice from the depths of the cloak was filled with cold
venom, the hatred and fury in it chilling the villagers to the bone.
“I have come to reclaim the power Altira Warder left behind.”
The muttered whisper of “What?” drifted through the
marketplace. One urchin ran to the house of Mostyn and tried
desperately to get past the buxom maid and in to see the dragon. He
was unsuccessful.
“Villagers of Talleth, you have been warned. You have one
month. Then the wards come down. It is your choice.”
With a final caress of the energy reaching out of the stone to
enfold her, she strode through the crowd, crackling blue energy
forcing a path through them and keeping any of them from stopping her. She
reached the boundary of the ward and disappeared into the forest.
The crowd broke into nervous laughter everyone in the main
marketplace discussing the odd creature who had just visited.
Then Mostyn made his appearance.
The prosperous nature of his village had made him a little
soft. While most of the dragons stayed in shape by regular shifting
form, he had not had any reason to shift for so many years his paunch
currently overlapped his trousers and distended his tunic.
“What? What is it? What has happened?” His bass rumble
pierced the silence that followed his appearance.
“Begging your pardon, Lord Mostyn.” The officious merchant
took on quite a different manner now that he was confronted by a known
quantity. “A stranger just told us the ward is coming down one month
from now.”
“And you believed this stranger?” Mostyn threw back his
head and laughed.
The crowd murmured in disapproval. This was not a laughing
matter.
“There is reason to suspect it might be possible, my lord.”
“And why is that? No one can take the wards down except the
one who laid them, and she is dead.” He smirked confidently at the
merchant.
“The stranger touched the Wardstone, my lord. And its power
wrapped around the hand that caressed it. A wonderful blue flame.”
A murmur of confirmation rippled through the crowd.
Mostyn’s face darkened in anger. “Nonsense! It must have
been some sort of a trick.”
“But, my lord, the stranger gave us only a month to leave.
What are we to do?”
“Nothing! You will do nothing. Any man, woman or child who
leaves this village will answer to me. So do I swear!”
With a flourish he left the market, though only after taking a
long look at the wardstone. Despite his bravado, he was worried it was
possible to take down its protection and he was not up to defending
them against the vagaries of nature. It had been far too long.
He had only to stop the stranger from re-entering the village,
he decided, and all would be well. He sent a page for his men and
paced impatiently until they arrived.
When they were arrayed before him, he told them what he wanted.
“I need you to scour the forests for the stranger who touched
the wardstone. Capture the creature, and bring it to me.” As an
afterthought he added, “and watch the villagers to see if any try to
leave.” *** One
hundred-thirty miles away…
“Kesler! Kesler! We’ve found her!” Celestyn Warder
skidded into her husband’s workshop, waving a map.
“What?” Bemused, he let the glass he was blowing collapse
under its own weight. “Damn.”
She waved the map at him once again. “We have found
Altira’s daughter! She is just outside
He brushed his green-and-silver hair behind one pointed ear.
“Talleth. Wasn’t that where…?”
“Yes. But for whatever reason, she is there now. And too
damned close to that bastard Mostyn. You need to contact the council
and arrange for her protection.”
“Of course. I’ll leave immediately.”
Celestyn crossed her arms over her chest. “We will leave
immediately. I am leaving nothing to chance. Our horses are ready, and
our bags are packed. Your apprentice can clean up.”
“Fine, let’s go get our granddaughter.”
Kesler followed his mostly human wife out of the workshop, but
shook his head at all the work that now lay in ruins. This was not the
first time they had spotted their granddaughter, but she always
disappeared just before they arrived. This time they would take no
chances; and though she wouldn’t thank them for it, they would throw
her to the Dragon Council.
His wife was already in her saddle, looking back at him
impatiently.
“C’mon, Kes. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
“I’m coming.” He swung up onto the horse then looked more
closely at what he was riding. “How in the name of the Nine Hells
did you get horses from the Wild Hunt?”
“By trading some of your glassware, dear.”
That was the last he heard as she spurred her horse to a run,
and he had to follow her.
The villages blurred as they rode through sunset and into the
night, their magical mounts requiring neither rest nor water. The only
stops they had to make were to rest themselves.
Seven days after they left their cozy home, they arrived at the
Citadel of the Dragon Council. Kesler’s bloodlines got them
immediately before the councilors, and a course of action was plotted.
The dragons were extremely interested in the proposition. They
agreed to the terms as set forth by Kesler and his wife, provided the
elf and warder chose from the Council’s candidates. The couple
agreed.
They would have to remain at the citadel for ten days, until
all of the candidates could be assembled.
In the meantime, a scout was to be sent to the area where they
had last sighted her. If
they didn’t chase after her, Celestyn hoped she would not shift her
position beyond tracking. If she hadn’t used a burst of warding
energy, they might never have found her at all. *** Outside
the village of Talleth
Damn, why had she touched the Wardstone? For that matter, why
had she given them a warning and one month to run?
Because, you idiot, you can’t just let them be
slaughtered. They didn’t kill your mother directly, just drove her
to her death. They deserve a choice. Before all that they know is
destroyed.
She sighed heavily. This served no purpose. The offer had been
made, and to date, she had seen no one leave the village on anything
other than daily tasks. Hunters had been deployed to find her, but the
wards she was maintaining around her campsite kept out all eyes and
stopped them from stumbling into her fire.
She could actually see them scouring the shrubs for her. She
smirked every time. They were powerless, and no amount of human vision
could pierce the wards. The dragon that was circling the area two
weeks after she had entered the village did have her slightly worried.
The funny thing was, now that she was ready and able to take
her revenge she was no longer as furious as she had been before
leaving Orala’s care.
When Orala had begun training her for this, the righteous rage
that burned within her had been all-consuming. Mostyn needed to be
humiliated then killed. The people of the village did not deserve to
live under Altira’s blessing. They had to be made to pay. It
was her destiny to be the instrument of revenge for her dead mother.
Only one more week until she achieved it. To read more...buy the book! Viola Grace Copyright © 2006 All rights reserved |
