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126 pages

English

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Pursued by a great evil, the children of the king are on the run. Along the way, they find pain, fear, longing, and loss; they discover surprising truths about themselves; and the youngest of the royal children learns a great secret about her own fantastic power She has the power to destroy the world!

Sujets

Fantastique

Epic Fantasy

Christian

Fiction

Fantasy

Informations

Publié par	eBookIt.com
Date de parution	15 août 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781456615697
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

The Chronicles of Articia
Children of the Dead

by
K.D. Enos
and by
Edward Enos

©2013, K.D. Enos
First Edition

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1569-7

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Special thanks to,

Editor: Joan M. Flaherty, Maynard MA
Illustrator: Dylan McCusker, Westford MA

For Shauna Lee Cotte, thank you for providing the spark that helped Katie to become a remarkable person.
Chapter 1
Divided We Fall
“T he children have been born." Meriab Coralm, the healer, spoke at a whisper to the Oracle.
The Oracle nodded.
"So the prophecy is true!" Duke Marquin shook his head as he entered the antechamber of the royal birthing room. He picked up the boy and looked into his eyes, "They must be separated for the sake of the kingdom. They cannot be allowed to know that more than one child was born to the queen today."
Meriab frowned uneasily, "This is treason, Duke. Be cautious. It may be safer for them to stay together. The king will never allow you to separate his children." The Oracle nodded in agreement.
Duke Marquin shook his head, "The king does not have to know. It is best for the kingdom and children if they are separated." The Oracle was about to speak but was cut off by the duke.
"It must be done. This is all I will hear on the matter, they will not stay together!"
The Oracle and the healer walked back into the birthing room to tend to the queen. The duke swore and turned to his advisor. "Prepare a squad and a nursemaid to transport the children to my northern estate. We will decide where to send them after things have settled."
His aide responded uneasily, "Milord, the healer, and the Oracle will protest; they will be difficult."
"FIND A WAY!" The duke stormed out of the room.
The aide weighed the duke's command and called over the night guard. "Arrange transport immediately." He looked into the birthing room; the queen had been unconscious since the first child was born. Was she unaware that she had birthed more than one babe? He looked at the healer and the Oracle …
Chapter 2
Training Grounds
D ominic, the crown prince of Articia, sighed inwardly as he stood before the two stubborn children with their arms crossed. Both had coal-black hair and stormy, gray eyes, unlike his and the king, their father. They were no longer the same height, as they had been as toddlers. Nevertheless, they were definitely twins, in all the worst ways. The only other difference was their gender-by far the most important factor in most of the kingdom of Articia. Dominic stared at the training room wall. The tapestry draped there was an important part of the royal training program. On it was the map of the entire kingdom of Articia and beyond.
The tapestry showed the regions of the kingdom as it stretched widely across Greater Articia, Which is the largest known kingdom; Articia dominated the neighboring lands of Martenic, Cyrus, and Husteria, as well as the Dulst city-states to south and the Mildanar tribes to the north. Within the great kingdom were many farming communities, nobles' estates, and of course the city of Articia, where the king resided.
To Dominic's right stood his younger brother, Prince Aleczander, with arms crossed, lips puckered, and a very serious, angry look on his face. It conveyed his great disappointment at the world for displeasing him. Dominic had to chuckle. Even though Alec was a mere eight years of age, it did not hinder the power in his glare, whether he was looking at his older brother and the heir apparent of Articia or not.
Next to Alec stood his twin sister, Ava, looking like the beautiful goddess Adara herself. In fact, he often pondered how much his little sister resembled the statue of the deity in the great Temple of Adara. Dominic had seen it only once, when he took his first pilgrimage to the rolling hills of Westwood just north of the Adaran River.
He remembered that trip fondly; he had traveled with his family to the noble estate of Sir Dale of Westwood for the first time. The summer festival was one of the largest he had ever attended. Priestesses and priests of the goddess as well as people from all around the known world traveled to Westwood to participate.
The Temple of Adara was a remarkable structure. Built into the hillside, the temple entrance was only visible from the east. In the center of the temple was a large opening to the sky and under the opening was a twenty-foot statue of Adara cradling a baby in her arms. During the summer solstice celebration, the moon passes over the opening and lights the statue, bringing the goddess and the child to life, or so it seemed.
Dominic remembered how feminine Ava had seemed then in her party attire. Today Ava was in the borrowed tunic and trousers of her brother, which were rather tight since she was now an inch or two taller than Aleczander. Ava had crossed her arms in a ridiculous attempt to look as angry as her twin was, but in her eyes, Dominic saw pleading.
Dominic could see that she intended to train with Alec and any other option would be unacceptable to Ava. The heir apparent turned to his brother Tristan for help, but Tristan, who had recently turned twelve, just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Dominic would receive no help from Tristan today.
The stubbornness of the royal twins was common knowledge in Castle Articia. Three years ago, when his mother had told them Ava was not to take the same classes as Aleczander from their private tutor, they didn't move from their chairs in the dining room for a whole day. Eventually, the nursemaids carried them off to their room when they fell asleep. This continued for many days. The queen finally decided that for both their welfare and the well-being of everyone in the royal hall, Ava would take lessons with Alec.
Now, on his eighth birthday, when he was to start his training to become a warrior prince of Articia, Aleczander had arrived at the training grounds … with his sister. When she refused to leave and Alec refused to let her go, Bryn, the weapon master, called for Dominic and Tristan. Only they could sway the course of the twins when they set their mind on something.
"See what I mean?" Bryn chuckled.
"With her determination and stubbornness, she would make a good warrior." Dominic meant this as a jest, but it put an idea in his head.
Dom turned to speak to the weapon master and saw mischief reflected in Tristan's expression as well. "Train them both then. Just … don't tell father." Tristan smiled at Dominic as they turned and left the training grounds.
Bryn watched the older brothers leave and was only slightly surprised. He had learned to expect the unexpected from the sons and daughter of King Henry.
The triumphant twins, already in an uproar over the change in events, were arguing about who got to practice with the sword first. Bryn looked at them, and being the good weapon master he was, saw the great leaders and warriors they would both be, if only the Fates allowed.
Bryn had been in service to King Henry for over thirty years. Born to a family of farmers, Bryn joined the army of for the king after he lost most of his family to the same plague that took many of Articia's citizens and most of its royal family. He had spent a dozen years as a foot soldier, rising through the ranks unnoticed by the royal family until the Battle of Mildanar Steppes.
In that battle, Bryn was the captain of the cavalry of the famed One Hundred and was fully engaged in a skirmish with goblin riders when he recognized that King Henry's flank had been weakened by a focused goblin attack. Unwilling to yield his position, he split his forces with a command to hold the line and secured the king's flank. His action turned out to be a pivotal point in the battle because the goblin horde had overcommitted to the flanking maneuver and the king was able to rally and rout the goblin forces. King Henry had been very young, but very savvy, at the time of the border wars. He immediately recognized that his inexperience was not a benefit to the battlefield. Had the young captain named Bryn not recognized the weakening flank, the battle could have ended in disaster.
Henry was impressed with Bryn's tactical knowledge and mastery of many weapons and made him the Captain of the Army, the highest military rank in Articia. Knowing he could not effectively lead the armies of Articia forever, Bryn spent many years training some of the brightest officers of the line so that someday he could step down from his post.
The current captain of Articia's army was one of those proteges. However, King Henry was not able to let his longtime friend and comrade to leave his side so he asked Bryn to stay and teach his children weapon mastery and tactics. He wanted his children never to be in a position of desperately needing a "Bryn" on the battlefield.
Bryn looked at the king's youngest children and sighed. He knew this pair's reputation; this truly was going to be the biggest challenge of his life. At that moment, he wished he were back on the field of battle.
As Alec ran toward the training equipment in an attempt to get to the sword first, Ava reached out with her magic and caused her brother to trip. He slammed to the ground as she casually walked over to pick up the wooden sword.
"I am ready to train now," Ava declared.
Bryn smiled as he helped up Alec who was clenching his fists in anger at Ava's actions, "Why yes you are, my young warrior princess," Bryn replied. Though I am not sure that I am ready to train you , he thought.

…

Ava had started to