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Archway Publishing - Joshua Hershey

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134 pages

English

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Rumored witch Mabel finds a magic book that could set her people free, but she must first conquer the Darkness without and within.
Mabel is a rumored witch whose kingdom belongs to Lavian, the Serpent. Her people are enslaved in Darkness, but everything changes when Mabel discovers a book that transports her to a world of angels and demons. There, she wields swords of fire and faces Tannin, a spirit-infested dragon.
Mabel sets off to save her people, unaware that she’ll find Eva along the way—that mystic lady, thrown away in time—and in doing so find herself. Mabel even learns how to break the Darkness, but Lavian has different plans.
Mabel wants to set her people free, make peace with her past, and start a new life. She wants to be a fighter and protector of the ones she loves. When life becomes a curse, can Mabel end the Darkness before destroying herself?

Sujets

Fantastique

Epic Fantasy

Fiction

Fantasy

Informations

Publié par	Archway Publishing
Date de parution	07 novembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781665732468
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

LINDEN FALLS
JOSHUA HERSHEY

Copyright © 2022 Joshua Hershey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3245-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3250-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3246-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920459

Archway Publishing rev. date: 05/11/2023
CONTENTS
1.The Dragon and the Dreamer
2.War with the Fallen
3.The Longing to Live
4.Rise of the Titans
5.In the Castle of Carnecia
6.Maleficent Power Inferior
7.The Faces of Men
8.A Sword against Sören
9.Reign Fall
10.Echoes of the Past
11.The Light of Life
12.Avaddon
13.The Race to the Wormhole’s Wall
14.Escape from the Middle Heavens
15.When the Girl Dies
16.Ingradis
17.Lavian Strikes
18.The Blood and the Blade
19.The Angel of the Sun
20.Spirit of Sin Via
21.The Battle at the Gates
22.The Cry, the Voice, and the Vow
23.The Temple of Death
24.Sundown at Dawn
25.When the Morning Star Comes for His Own
CHAPTER 1
THE DRAGON AND THE DREAMER
L et me in!” The hooded girl was nose to nose with the masked priest, but her voice was drowned in the roaring crowd behind her. He made no move. She stood on her tiptoes to peer over the mass of prophets a short distance beyond him, all wearing scarlet cloaks, heads shaved, and covered in worm-sized veins. The gates to the graves of Esettvi, shining in the afternoon, were closed. “They just buried her this morning!”
“Mabel, we can come back!” said the teenage girl standing beside her. She had a soft face, long dark hair, and heavily lidded eyes. The crowd roared again, and the prophets began passing their hands across their chests.
“I don’t care about your Dazæn Day!” shouted Mabel, ignoring Issy and waving a flippant hand. “Or your curses!”
Issy threw a pleading look at the handsome boy on Mabel’s left, his blond hair stirring in the wind, shoulders wrapped in the snowy fur of the Linden bear. Jay glanced down the dusty street lined with merchants. People were staring now. An armored guard turned his head in their direction.
“Hey, Mabe . . .”
But the girl had realized it was no use and was about to turn away when the priest raised the Regada pole as though he too would issue a curse. Anger exploded in Mabel’s heart, hatred licking her insides like flames, consuming her pain, and filling her mind so she couldn’t think.
Mabel clubbed his arm, and the golden rod clattered to the ground. Jay grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back as a yelling tide of red cloaks rushed forward. Issy looked mortified as Mabel kicked the priest, who had lunged for the pole, and knocked him flat on his back. Jay let go and rammed the first prophet who arrived, Mabel snatching up the pole and taking a swipe at the next, just missing him as he jumped out of the way.
“Come on!” Jay seized Mabel’s hood and yanked it back, revealing an ivory face with high cheekbones and dark almond eyes. She wheeled around, caught Issy by the wrist, and they were off.
Jay led the way as they ran toward the city, whose earthly tones made the buildings appear to be rising out of the ground. Within seconds, they were snaking their way through the throng, many of whom were facing away from the ocean and chanting with a nearby group of singers. Issy looked over her shoulder at the red cloaks muscling their way after them.
“Give it back, Mabel!” she cried into the mane of auburn hair flying in front of her.
“No!”
They squeezed between bodies wrapped in dark cloaks and furs, ducked around horses, and hopped over wagon tongues. In a minute’s time, they had lost their pursuers, whose shouts could not rise above those of the crowd. Another minute passed and they were through, walking briskly down the paved streets of Port Majoris, which was still crowded but thinning enough to allow Mabel to pull Issy alongside her as she took the lead.
“Those were the prophets of Mog!” said Issy, glancing at the glittering pole in Mabel’s hand. “They were cursing you!”
“Not now, Izz!”
Mabel avoided the square and turned down a dismal lane with few doors and no balconies, the brown walls blocking the slanted rays of the sun. The number of people lessened, and Jay drew even with Mabel, who handed him the Regada pole as she shifted the leather bag slung over her shoulder.
“What are you gonna do with it?” Issy asked nervously.
“Melt it down and sell it,” said Jay, stuffing it under his coat.
Mabel felt a pang of remorse, knowing that her grandmother would have been heartbroken to see what she had become. But hadn’t Gigi known? It was as though her grandmother had seen the stolen clothes stashed at school and listened to Mabel’s fights and had watched the girl on her own, as she slipped into the nights.
“At least we’re gonna get paid,” said Mabel in a louder voice. She turned south onto another lane.
Issy drew her coat tightly around her neck. “At least I don’t have to worry about the gods.”
“They’re not real,” said Jay in a low tone.
“You know what, Izz?” said Mabel fiercely. “I’m glad you came, to see what I have— nothing . . .” Her voice broke, and Jay looked away.
“I didn’t mean—”
“This”—Mabel held out her bag—“and whatever crumbs my aunt left.” The bag fell to her side as she sped up and flung the hood over her head. “Let’s keep moving . . . I wanna get my stuff and be back in time to catch the last ship.”
Some thirty minutes later, they were enveloped in a world of white birch trees. No cries rose from its depths, and the stones that littered the floor were covered in moss. Mabel shivered as they walked on, wordlessly, the girl becoming more isolated by the day, afraid to let others know what she craved. If only she had parents to lift the world off her shoulders, people to love her without wanting anything in return. There had been Gigi, but like the leaves drifting from the branches around them, her grandmother’s life had withered and fallen into the shadows. I never should have gone back to school , thought the girl of seventeen. A serpent of guilt slithered through her veins. I should have stayed .
Her insides smoldered. Mabel had come as fast as she could when the news came of her grandmother’s death, believing her aunt would wait for her so that she, Mabel, could give Gigi one last kiss. But her aunt had not. Mabel’s stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten for days, but the girl didn’t care. Looking at a tree on the horizon, weathered and pale, she felt as though she were staring at herself.
The sound of running water interrupted her thoughts, and her eyes fluttered. “We’re almost there,” she said. The path turned north along a shallow river, and soon they reached Gigi’s house, timbered with stone-filled sides, nestled in a clearing. They mounted the steps and entered the cabin. Jay moved over to the small window by the door and peered out at the trees. Mabel lowered her hood, and her brow furrowed as she looked around the sitting room. Everything was gone.
“You can sit there,” Mabel said to Issy. She nodded at the raised stone hearth by the closet. “It won’t take long.” But Issy was eyeing the Regada pole that Jay examined in his hands. It looked like a wand, with two curved horns rising from a shapeless skull on its tip. Her eyes flickered to Mabel, then to the pole, and back again.
A sense of pity stirred in Mabel. No one cared about her more than Issy—rich, yet small and innocent. Even with her money, Mabel wondered how the girl would make it through this world. She reached out, and Issy stepped forward, Mabel putting an arm around her and pulling her close.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and Issy pressed herself against Mabel’s chest. “Come on.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” said Jay. Mabel led Issy down a short hall and through the kitchen. The girls reached a door on the other side and were about to cross into a sunroom, the narrow windows pierced by copper rays when Mabel stopped. A strange feeling was spreading through her.
She gazed down the flagstone steps on her left, where the sculpture of a boy peering into a jar stood at the bottom. The girl knew she must keep moving, to collect what little remained in her room, and be on her way. But something was falling upon her. Believing the torment was coming from the memories of a girl long ago, hiding behind the statue, and calling for Gigi to find her, Mabel let go of Issy’s hand and descended the stairs. It was as if touching the figure would somehow break the spell.
Mabel reached the bottom and brushed the boy’s face with her fingers. Issy joined her and gestured at the stone door beside the statue.
“What’s in there?”
“Just the cellar—”
Mabel gasped and clenched her hands.
“What is it?” said Issy in a quivering voic