Water Wizard (The Berikatanyan Chronicles Book 2) by John Beresford

Author:John Beresford [Beresford, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-09T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

unknown coastal inlet

15th day of run’sanamasa, 966

Alone on the coast with no recollection of how she had come there, she watched torrents of rain lash the rolling waves. Fierce lightning flashes seared the night sky to stab at the restless sea, while icy winds whipped the swell to foaming peaks. She would not have recognised the location but for the fact she stood on a sturdy wooden jetty that stretched out into a large bay. It was Lembaca Ana, and it seemed the Gardener had completed his works without telling anyone. Perhaps he intended the surprise to be a gift?

The Queen shivered in the freezing air. She had no cloak, and no entourage to provide one. What was she doing here, in such frightful solitude? A shout echoed across the valley from behind her.

‘Ru’iiiiita!’

It was Claire! Riding in the vanguard of all the Elementals, their kudai slipping and snorting as they strove to pick a safe path down the hillside.

A loud maniacal laugh from somewhere out in the bay drowned the Air Mage’s cry. The Queen peered through the rain. Seen dimly at first but coming quickly into focus, the bearded face of a young man emerged from behind a thundercloud, his piercing icy-blue eyes staring right into her soul. He laughed a second time, his eyes glinting with menace, as the rains redoubled their intensity, drenching the Queen to the skin. She shivered again with cold, and with fear.

The Elementals would save her! But no! As she watched, the unremitting downpour undermined the already slippery path. A kudo at the back of the group lost its footing and skidded into the one in front, setting off a catastrophic chain reaction of sliding and falling that knocked the group over like a set of ninepins. With shouts of mounting terror, they tumbled to the edge of the cliff and out into the raging waters below, their voices stilled into deathly silence as they slipped beneath the boiling sea.

Seconds later a lightning bolt blazed from the sky to hit the jetty beside the Queen. More intense than any other, she was momentarily blinded by the cold white light. When her eyes recovered she saw the wood of the jetty had absorbed the charge and now glowed an alien blue, sparking and coruscating along its entire length. She felt no effect from the bolt, and yet the eerie after-light seemed to offer comfort from the storm. She bent to examine it more closely but lost her balance on the slick surface. The malevolent laughter of the face in the clouds echoing in her ears, she fell headlong toward the dark water.

The Queen awoke with a start. The sheet beneath her saturated with sweat, her chambers chilled from the continuing rain, there was nevertheless a source of heat in the bed with her. She took her hands out from under the covers. Around her wrists the inky black circles of her obsidian bangles, which she had worn for as long as she could remember, were hot to the touch.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.