Sorceress (Book 2)

  Spirals of Destiny Book Two: Sorceress

  by Jim Bernheimer

  Forget everything you thought you knew about maidens and unicorns…

  A mysterious force has separated Kayleigh Reese and her battle unicorn, Majherri, who now find themselves on opposite sides of a war, each fighting to survive without the other. For Majherri, the unicorn is now controlled by his deranged first rider, and must find a way to free her mind in the hopes of bringing the woman back to the light. Majherri is forced to pick and choose his battles, both physical and mental, if he is to succeed. Along the way, he will have to become stronger than he has ever been to prevent the madness that threatens to consume him.

  Meanwhile, Kayleigh, the young sorceress, struggles with an uneasy relationship with her new unicorn. Finding their missing comrades and escaping the ever-expanding warzone are her goals, but forces are already aligning against her. Secrets from her past come to light and force her to reexamine everything she knew about her life. Fighting for her life, she must master her powers and be willing to fight for her freedom against her enemies and even those she once trusted.

  Sorceress- Spirals of Destiny, Book 2

  Copyright (C) 2014 by Jim Bernheimer

  Published by Gryphonwood Press

  PO Box 28910

  Santa Fe, NM 87592

  www.gryphonwoodpress.com

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright conventions.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording by any information storage or retrieval system, or production and or dissemination of any electronic version, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, or incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1- Lost Nightmares

  Majherri quivered, both in rage and terror, as the flood of memories rushed back to him – the battle, the beast that wouldn’t die, even with his horn piercing its chest. That tiny piece of bone…it would fit perfectly where the crack in his horn was. – Spirals of Destiny Book One: Rider Chapter 25

  “What do you make of that?” Danella Lynch whispered into Majherri’s ear. At her touch, he saw the images in her mind, just as she had witnessed them moments ago. Guards prowled the edge of the excavated temple and several priests gathered in the center, doing something that only added to the growing sense of wrongness around him. Waiting the long minutes for his rider to crawl down from the top of the dune tested his patience.

  Majherri snorted softly, not wanting to attract attention to their position and pawed the loose mixture of sand and dirt with his front left hoof. They’d ridden long and hard through the unforgiving expanse of the Great Western Desert, chasing a rumor. Considering the reliability of the source, both unicorn and rider were equally surprised to find anyone skulking about these long abandoned ruins.

  “Looks like Korgin in Molansk was actually telling the truth after all,” Danella said, and slid into the saddle with a smooth unbroken motion. “No one comes this far into the wastes unless they’re up to no good. I’ll wager a month’s pay that those are our raiders. Think we should go down and introduce ourselves?”

  Danella’s tone was lighthearted, but she was already adjusting the chinstrap on her helmet and shifting in the saddle. Majherri sensed this, and distributed the new weight across his back. He considered her quite graceful for a human. Next came the light touch of her drawing on the stored magic in his body. She knew they were going into a fight, and her gentle tug on the bond connecting their magic was her way of telling him to prepare for a fight. They circled around the dune and the unicorn surveyed the landscape with his own eyes. Majherri’s field of vision differed from Danella’s, so he searched the area for things she might not have perceived.

  “Not everyone can be as perfect as you, Majherri,” Danella said in hushed tones, understanding what his actions meant.

  There was movement in the campsite. Majherri counted the humans and saw six armed guards, along with five cloaked priests who carried no obvious weapons. The five stood at equal distances around a pile of some kind, arranging small pillars covered in runes around the mound. He stared at it, but no matter how he tried, the center of that mass defied his attempts to focus on it. His uneasy feeling emanated from whatever was ahead of them. On some instinctive level, Majherri knew these humans were reaching out to the forbidden and whatever they were doing needed to be stopped.

  Transferring that sense of urgency to his partner, Majherri readied himself for battle. He and the human fire maiden were Master Scouts, and were often called upon to face situations with little or no support. In truth, both loved the danger, the rush of adrenaline at galloping on the knife’s edge. They embraced the freedom to use their own judgment. In the harsh and unforgiving surroundings of the desert, where survival was measured in how quickly one could switch from diplomacy to savagery, they had proven themselves a formidable pair time and again.

  Danella leaned down and he felt her hairless face brush against his mane. How humans managed to survive with so little hair never ceased to amaze him.

  “We hit them hard and fast,” she whispered. “We cut through the guards as quickly as possible and disrupt whatever the others are doing.”

  Majherri snorted his approval and pivoted his head to one side, staring at a group of rocks. He thought those would mask their approach and give them the room they needed to get up to a full gallop. He sent the image through the tether of magic between the two of them. The bond riders and unicorns shared didn’t allow for direct communication, but after so many seasons together, Majherri and Danella had perfected their technique. Their ability to exchange images and feelings was more complete than the spoken human language.

  “Good idea,” Danella said and let him backtrack to the cluster of rocks. The unicorn’s anticipation grew.

  Another pull on his magic, and the landscape shimmered as Danella channeled the power into heat sight. His vision also changed, and he saw the desert and the rocks surrendering their warmth to the chilling night along with the distant men. Danella went further than most fire maidens and honed her magic to the point where the unicorn could partake in the enchantment as well.

  Even among the most talented riders, his Danella stood out. It was one of the reasons why they were so good at what they did.

  She sensed his eagerness and gave him the signal. “Ride swiftly and give no quarter, Majherri!”

  The unicorn could not match the speed of one of his brethren ridden by an air maiden, nor did his hooves tear at the ground with the power of earth magic driving each move, or the fluid grace of those aligned to water, but his gait carried a certain frenzy to it, like a challenge to the lights in the night sky that the pair were not to be ignored.

  Fire burns, the Creed of the Maidens states. Its warmth and light drive back the darkness. Its heat sears the evil walking the land and leaves ash in its wake so the renewal can begin. It is a fearsome ally and a terrifying enemy.

  As their speed grew, so did Majherri’s excitement. He could feel his rider gathering his magic, shaping it, and preparing to release it. The nearest guard spotted them and shouted a warning.

  It would have been nice if we’d caught them completely unawares, he thought, but no matter. Now they will be looking directly at us.

  Already, he sensed Danella altering her tactics. The heatsight he’d been using vanished as they closed to within twenty lengths of the scrambling guards. Majherri lowered his head as Danella angled her shield across hi
s face to protect his eyes as the world around them erupted in light.

  His rider unleashed a sunburst from her free hand and, for a brief moment, night became as bright as day. The technique was one of their best tools for dealing with large numbers of enemies. They were both prepared, and neither were affected, but Majherri’s ears caught the howls of the temporarily blinded warriors.

  Gouts of flames pulsed from her hand and, for two of the guards, that blindness became permanent. Bathed in fire, they died screaming. During Majherri’s training on the Sacred Isle, he’d been taught that the wails of the dying humans were effective at breaking an opponent’s spirits.

  As the odds tilted in their favor, Majherri felt the fire maiden unsheathe her blade. As tempting as it was to continue to hurl flames, the priests, protected by the warriors, almost certainly were magic users and the pair knew too well that they might need to conserve their fire magic for the ones who carried no visible weapons.

  With his wide field of vision, he saw a flash from a blade reflecting light off one of the staggering humans. The human was already dead and just waiting for his body to catch up. Danella’s sword cleaved a gash running from the man’s shoulder down to his breast bone, and now the defending warriors were down to half their number.

  Majherri pivoted out of the way of an onrushing spearman and reared. Flames engulfed his front hooves, becoming an extension of his body. Cycling them quickly, he batted aside the spear, dashing the weapon from the human’s grip.

  The cloaked priests remained locked into their chanting as the surviving guards dug in.

  Another pull on the magic stored within him, this time more demanding than Danella’s burst of light. His rider sent a jet of flames over the heads of the warriors. It splashed harmlessly against a clear barrier of protective sorcery.

  “Damn!” Danella exclaimed as Majherri pivoted out of the way of a thrown spear.

  The unicorn sensed her frustration. It mirrored his. He bolted forward in the direction of the warrior who had tried to skewer them. Whatever those protected men were doing, the taint of chaos and evil intensified. The smells of the area assaulted him, causing his nostrils to flare. Burnt flesh and body odor swirled around in the air, but behind them, lingering in the background, was something he’d never encountered before.

  It’s the stench of pure evil. He sent an urgent plea to his bonded rider for action.

  Danella acknowledged him through their bond but, before she could reply, an arrow dug deep into his hindquarters. The wound hurt. He did his best to ignore it and not let it distract the two of them.

  His enraged rider conjured an even larger, white-hot fireball and unleashed it with a scream at the bowman. Majherri didn’t bother watching the result.

  “I’ve got it!” Danella said. Her left hand reached back and pulled the shaft out. Majherri prepared himself for what was coming next. Her hand returned to the injury and there was a sting of pain as she cauterized his wound.

  With the screams of the dying archer echoing in the night, the skirmish came to a sudden halt. The source wasn’t anything the remaining warriors or even Majherri and his rider did. Instead, it was the ground at the center of the summoning circle breaking open in a geyser of dirt and oily black smoke.

  It was as if the land itself was expelling something vile from its bowels. Twin howls split the air, and the mixture of sand and dirt shook as a monster crawled into existence through the pile.

  The remaining men outside the circle turned and fled from the terrifying creature, abandoning the priests who summoned it to this realm. Without even being conscious of his movements, Majherri found himself backing away.

  As the smoke began to disperse, he saw the abomination rising to a standing position. It was as tall as three men and nearly as wide as the unicorn’s entire body was long. Thick matted hair covered most of the creature’s form. Four blazing red eyes drew Majherri’s attention to the twin goat heads. The monstrosity unfolded six arms, each pair looking like it came from a different species of animal.

  “Netherbeast!” Danella hissed, giving the creature a name. Majherri had heard legends of these abominations, summoned from realms where none dared travel, but the idea of encountering one in such a remote location defied explanation. It was rumored to be capable of laying waste to entire cities. Only fools or the mad sought to invoke such terrible power.

  Again, Danella hurled a bolt of fire, only to have it repelled by the eldritch barrier. One of the five cloaked men stood and removed his cowl. He cast a dismissive look at Majherri and Danella before moving toward the netherbeast.

  The monster addressed the man in a deep, rumbling, garbled tongue, and the man answered in that same language.

  “He’s negotiating with it and brokering terms of servitude,” Danella said. “Inside the circle, it’s vulnerable. We have to get in there and end this now!”

  The unicorn wasn’t sure they’d be able to breech the circle.

  Danella reassured him. “His wards block our magic, but I don’t think it can stop the fireshade. Ready yourself Majherri. Our finest hour is now.”

  The fireshade was the pinnacle of fire maiden magic - unicorn and rider combining with the cleansing flame into a rampaging fireball able to break enemy formations. Only a small number of fire maidens ever mastered it. He and Danella had managed it twice during practice and once when it mattered: on an ogre they found terrorizing a caravan.

  In his rapidly beating heart, Majherri knew that the circle held the monster in check. Once free, the netherbeast would lay waste to kingdoms. Thoughts of flight were crushed beneath his hooves by Danella’s heroism. She asked him for all that he had and Majherri would not, could not deny her.

  He turned and raced back the path they’d come. They’d need the room to reach full stride.

  The unicorn spared a glance skyward and made his peace. If my spirit is set free tonight, I shall ride high into the sky and join my brethren and add my light to theirs. I have offspring and my line will endure. They will gather in my name and speak of me.

  His rider took a deep breath as he dragged his hoof anxiously against the ground. He thought of his sons and daughters and of his sister T’rsa. Danella’s twin sister was her rider. They were a close family.

  “No matter what happens next, Majherri,” she said, “I’m proud to be your rider.”

  He swelled at the affirmation and sent his own feelings through their bond. No more words were necessary. Danella called on their shared magic as Majherri’s hooves pushed forward, each stride reverberating with power. Raw, unbound heat pushed back the chill of the night air.

  Flames spattered from every hoof slamming into the sand and dirt, and the magic flexed outward, threatening to break free right then and there. Danella channeled it like a potter working her wheel. The sheets of fire stretched thin and pulsed before she called it all back to them.

  For the briefest of moments, Majherri worried she wouldn’t be able to bring the fireshade forth in time. The netherbeast and the humans loomed closer. He lowered his ivory white horn, hoping to drive it deep into the abomination. The monster appeared to know what was coming and demanded to be released. The human began shouting but, since the unicorn was in the center of a rapidly growing firestorm, even Majherri’s excellent hearing couldn’t make out what was being said.

  With only seconds to spare, their magic snapped like a bowstring drawn too tightly, and flames cocooned both of them. Through the heat distortions, Majherri saw the beast squat protectively and flex those dreadful sets of arms. They passed through the barrier and the flames exploded into a fiery flash of death. Unable to see into the eye of the inferno, Majherri leapt based solely on instinct and thrust his horn forward, hoping to drive it into wherever would do the most damage.

  With a thunderous jolt, unicorn met beast in the midst of the screams of the men who helped bring this creature forth. Pain was felt on both sides. The hairless chest of the monster was some form of chitin, thicker than skin, like the o
uter shell of an insect. The horn sliced through it and slammed off of a bone before inching further. A searing burst of agony traversed Majherri’s entire body, through the core of his very being. He knew that his horn had cracked.

  Danella had lost her shield in the impact. With Majherri thrashing against the netherbeast’s chest, his rider gripped her sword with both hands, encased it in bright flames, and hacked at the nearest head of the abomination with a strength borne of fury.

  The beast cried out, and Majherri prayed to whatever powers might answer that the injuries they dealt it would be fatal. If something had heard, it did not heed. Majherri brayed in pain as clawed hands raked across his haunches. Seconds later he was flung aside bodily and tossed into the air like a bale of hay. Even injured, the netherbeast possessed an unimaginable strength.

  The momentary sense of weightlessness ended with his being dashed to the ground. Danella no longer resided in his saddle. Majherri thought that might be a blessing as surely his weight would have broken her leg, if not more.

  Struggling upright, the unicorn winced at his injuries. Immediately, he looked for Danella and found her sprawled on the dirt with one of the still-living priests towering over her. She was obviously injured as well. He could feel it through their bond.

  Despite, or perhaps because he’d been closest and shielded by the bulk of the creature, the one Majherri figured to be the leader still lived. The man tended to his wounds, flinging the burning rags from his face. Majherri charged at the man by his rider, but the injured creature lurched forward and barred his way. Three of its arms clutched at the area where his horn bit deep. Thick ichor poured from the wounds.

  Twice more the monster blocked his path, but the third time it was the hairless man with tattoos on his skull and smoldering robes holding a knife at the throat of the barely-conscious Danella that halted his approach.

  “Yield,” he commanded.

  Majherri hesitated, unsure of what to do. Without Danella to use the magic inside of him, he was at a severe disadvantage and saw no way out.