Kingdom Blades (A Pattern of Shadow & Light 4) Read online

  Kingdom Blades

  A Pattern of Shadow & Light

  Book 4

  Melissa McPhail

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

  Kingdom Blades

  A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book 4

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright 2016 Melissa McPhail

  v1.0

  Paperback ISBN: 978-0-990629177

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-990629184

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Five Strands Publishing Co. http://www.FiveStrandsPublishing.com

  Five Strands Publishing and the “FSP” logo are trademarks belonging to

  Five Strands Publishing Co.

  ***

  Books by Melissa McPhail

  Cephrael’s Hand

  The Dagger of Adendigaeth

  Paths of Alir

  Kingdom Blades

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Author’s Note

  Map of Alorin

  M’Nador & the Akkad

  Part One

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-one

  Twenty-two

  Twenty-three

  Twenty-four

  Twenty-five

  Twenty-six

  Twenty-seven

  Twenty-eight

  Twenty-nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-one

  Thirty-two

  Thirty-three

  Thirty-four

  Thirty-five

  Thirty-six

  Thirty-seven

  Thirty-eight

  Thirty-nine

  Forty

  Part Two

  Forty-one

  Forty-two

  Forty-three

  Forty-four

  Forty-five

  Forty-six

  Forty-seven

  Forty-eight

  Forty-nine

  Fifty

  Fifty-one

  Fifty-two

  Fifty-three

  Fifty-four

  Fifty-five

  Fifty-six

  Fifty-seven

  Fifty-eight

  Fifty-nine

  Sixty

  Sixty-one

  Sixty-two

  Sixty-three

  Sixty-four

  Sixty-five

  Sixty-six

  Sixty-seven

  Sixty-eight

  Sixty-nine

  Seventy

  Seventy-one

  Seventy-two

  Seventy-three

  Seventy-four

  Seventy-five

  Seventy-six

  Seventy-seven

  Seventy-eight

  Epilogue

  Appendix

  Glossary of Terms

  The Sormitáge Ranks

  The Laws of Patterning

  The Esoterics

  Dramatis Personae

  Acknowledgements

  While the actual writing of a story tends to be a solitary activity, taking a book from conception to publication involves many creative and generous individuals.

  I cannot thank enough my many early readers—guinea pigs, some might say—who read multiple renditions of chapters, each time somehow managing to forget the earlier version where the character did something completely different. That you emerged unscathed from this gauntlet is testimony to your fortitude. You have my deepest gratitude!

  To my many beta readers, editors, designers and other professionals who lent me their time, skills and knowledge, thank you!

  To my husband and daughters, who endured evenings and weekends without my attention so this book could be finished to meet my own ridiculous, self-imposed dead-line, my gratitude knows no bounds.

  Author’s Note

  It’s one of those forest for the trees sort of things. Once a pattern has already been drawn-designed-created, you can see it all there in one glance, complete. But try to follow just one strand of it and see where you end up. Then try following two, or three. Then twelve. Imagine trying to follow all of the individual strands that make up the pattern, all at the same time. You very quickly lose the weave—sometimes even when you’re the one weaving it.

  This was the problem I faced as I was writing Kingdom Blades. It’s a complicated book, but I wanted it to feel simple to you. I wanted you to tumble along the pattern’s threads as upon a river’s course and never feel like you don’t know where you’re going (even if you’re not necessarily sure where I’m going). I wanted you to see the pattern in its simplicity and have no concept of the complexity involved in weaving it. I hope I’ve accomplished this.

  To make the going a little easier, here’s where we left off with some of our favorite characters at the end of Paths of Alir (at least, the important things you need to know):

  Tanis and Pelas

  Tanis, Felix and Nadia were investigating the Literato N’abranaacht (aka Shailabanáchtran) when Shail’s allies, the Danes, invade the Quai game at the Sormitáge and take Tanis and Nadia hostage, along with two hundred other Adepts. Felix is left trapped among a pile of others who were caught by the battle.

  Later, Tanis and Shail meet over tea, where Tanis is introduced to the Warlock Sinárr, who expresses an immediate (and very unwelcome) interest in making the lad his concubine. Shail tells Tanis that he’s invited his brother Pelas to come and retrieve him, and elicits Sinárr’s help in destroying Pelas, with Tanis as the prize.

  Pelas meanwhile has been in a tower in Myacene, prisoner of his brother Darshan, and thinking his power lost. Darshan gives a goracrosta-bound Isabel val Gelderan to Pelas, triggering Pelas’s instinctive compulsion to harm her. Isabel sacrifices her troth to Ean in order to free Pelas from his brother’s compulsion. Pelas then frees Isabel and goes to answer his brother’s summons.

  Pelas arrives in the temple where Shail is holding Tanis and Nadia prisoner. Working in concert, Pelas and Tanis escape Shail and Sinárr’s trap and flee with Nadia across a portal through Shadow. Upon arriving back at Pelas’s home, however, they find that Nadia has been affected by deyjiin. Tanis and Pelas work together to Heal her.

  After this Healing, Tanis realizes that he is actually an Adept of four strands, a gift which comes to him via a rare variant trait that he shares with his mother, Isabel. Tanis recalls then that he is the son of Arion Tavestra and Isabel van Gelderan. A trove of memories opens to him, including knowledge of the bindings that still exist between himself and his parents.

  Pelas tells Tanis that he would choose a new brother and asks Tanis to bind them. During the blood-binding, Pelas works elae’s fifth-strand, making the binding Unbreakable.

>   Ean, Isabel and Sebastian

  In the first half of Paths of Alir, Ean rescues his brother Sebastian and then frees him from the matrix of amnesia and compulsion placed upon him by the wielder Dore Madden.

  In the last half of Paths of Alir, Ean goes with Sebastian and Isabel to the Fortress of Ivarnen in Saldaria to rescue the Captain Rhys val Kincaid from Dore Madden and the Prophet Bethamin (aka Darshanvenkhátraman). In Ivarnen, Ean learns that his loyal men who’d been traveling with Rhys (Cayal, Brody and Dorin) have been made into eidola and is forced to fight them.

  Every time Ean unworks one of the eidola, he makes a beacon for Darshan’s awareness. Sensing Darshan coming for Ean, Isabel purposefully strikes Ean into unconsciousness. She gives her staff to Sebastian and warns him that Ean will need to learn how to unwork many eidola at once. She tells him to enlist Prince Darieos of Kandori’s help in the effort. Then she gives herself to Darshan to give Ean and the others time to escape.

  Ean rouses to learn that Isabel is gone. He and Sebastian fight their way through hundreds of eidola to escape Ivarnen along with Rhys. The captain is injured during this attempt, and combined with the illness he developed during his captivity, the injury proves too much. The moment they arrive off the node back in Kandori, he collapses into unconsciousness.

  Trell and Alyneri

  The Sundragon Náiir and the zanthyr Vaile rescue Trell from the Fortress of Darroyhan and the mor’alir Adept Taliah hal’Jaitar. Alyneri and Björn Heal Trell from Taliah’s dark pattern, which was pulling his lifeforce after hers into death.

  Upon waking, Trell realizes that all of his memories have been returned to him, whereupon Björn explains that he removed Raine D’Lacourte’s truthbinding.

  After Trell and Alyneri reunite, Björn tells Trell about his brothers’ activities. In the end, Trell goes with Alyneri to learn the cortata.

  Franco Rohre and the Nodefinder Rebellion

  Franco and Carian were attending a party in honor of Niko van Amstel’s candidacy for the Second Vestal when Franco meets Immanuel di Nostri (aka Pelasommáyurek). Carian heads off somewhere with Devangshu Vita, one of the Fifty Companions, while Franco and Immanuel are taken hostage by the Nodefinder Demetrio Consuevé.

  Franco helps Immanuel escape from the sea cave where Demetrio has left them to drown. Later, he finds that Immanuel has returned him to Niko’s estate, and that the Alorin Seat Alshiba Torinin has Healed him.

  Franco feels immediately drawn to Alshiba and swears to serve her. She tells him that Niko has named him as a deputy vestal, and summons him to the cityworld of Illume Belliel.

  Carian and Devangshu succeed in their efforts to steal an important work, The Vestal Codex, which outlines the rules for becoming a vestal. They return to the First Lord’s sa’reyth and establish their headquarters for the new Nodefinder Rebellion, which is dedicated to preventing Niko from permanently gaining the vestal seat.

  Gydryn val Lorian, King of Dannym

  In The Dagger of Adendigaeth, King Gydryn val Lorian learns that Radov of M’Nador is conspiring against him. He decides to withdraw his forces from the princedom’s war, but he knows that Radov’s Consul, Viernan hal’Jaitar, will do anything to prevent this if he learns of it. Gydryn devises a secret plan and sends the young Lieutenant Jasper val Renly off with orders to see it carried out. He also sends Loran val Whitney, Duke of Marion, with the majority of his knights to the abandoned Fortress of Nahavand, which lies across enemy lines, in the hopes of keeping Loran and his knights out of reach of Viernan hal’Jaitar.

  As The Dagger of Adendigaeth comes to a close, King Gydryn is dying in the desert, the result of a plot to kill him devised by Viernan hal’Jaitar. The truthreader Kjieran van Stone saves the king from death, but then Kjieran mysteriously immolates himself upon a burning pyre. Just as unconsciousness is claiming the king, two Khurds arrive. The one called Prince Farid tells the other to take the king with them.

  At the end of Paths of Alir, Gydryn wakes from a long bout with fever. While still convalescing, he’s visited by Rajiid al Basreh, Prime Minister of the Akkad, who tell the king they have much to discuss.

  ***

  As always, to assist in your reading, you’ll find in the Appendix an updated glossary, dramatis personae, Adept chart, the Sormitáge Rankings, and lists of the Laws and Esoterics.

  Map of Alorin

  M’Nador & the Akkad

  Part One

  “You cannot sculpt a piece into a Player. A Player must mold himself out of fortitude and conviction.”

  –The Fifth Vestal Björn van Gelderan

  Prologue

  Several weeks ago…

  The Nadori Regiment Commander Nassar abin’Ahram stood in his tent beneath the shadow of an overhanging ridge at his high camp of Ramala, trying to discern a dot winding its way across the desert. Even in the shade, the heat was unrelenting.

  Why did the desert grow hotter in the last hours of the day? It was as if the earth’s fiery core emitted one final enormous belch just before the world pitched into another chilling night.

  Nassar squinted through wavering lines of heat at the wandering dot winding its way through a landscape of fissures and dry crevasses as deadly as any that marred the northern reaches. Without a clear heading, it was nearly impossible to find his high campsite, which clung as lichen to the under-shadows of the ridge. The only visitors Nassar saw were hawks…and scouts who already knew the route.

  As the dot grew larger, he recognized the Dannish Captain Jasper val Renly. Nassar knew Jasper well, for the captain had the unenviable task of relaying orders from the Dannish leadership to their soldiers scattered in outposts across M’Nador.

  When M’Nador’s war with the Akkad had been at its height, Jasper’s duty had kept him in constant danger. Nassar had often worried for him, and he’d regularly included him in his nightly devotions. But since the Akkadian Emir had brought out his Mage, who in turn had summoned those Sundragons from Azerjaiman knew where; since M’Nador’s catastrophic loss on the Khalim Plains, where two thousand men had been reduced to ashes and dust…well, the war produced more stalemates than skirmishes now, though Nassar had heard that the Qar’imali was still seeing its share of battle.

  Sundragons…

  Nassar was of two minds about the Sundragons. On the one hand, they’d slain some of M’Nador’s best captains in the early days of the campaign—may Inithiya take their spirits to Jai’Gar. On the other hand, fewer lives had been lost on both sides since the dragons appeared, and Nassar supposed that was to everyone’s benefit—Jai’Gar be praised.

  Still…he would’ve liked to have put a barrage of arrows into the dragons’ hides, one for every Nadori soldier the creatures had slain—may Huhktu claim their bones. This retribution seemed only fair. But nothing harmed the beasts short of magic, and even then, Prince Radov’s wielders had to endanger themselves working the fifth strand of elae to so much as make a dent in the dragons’ general indifference.

  Nassar had witnessed these battles: daylight skirmishes where explosions of blinding light had engulfed the flying dragons, who responded with fireballs like miniature suns that evaporated entire mountainsides and left craters in the earth; and midnight battles where lightning repeatedly blanketed the heavens, smoldering evening clouds forming the stage for dances of flashing fire.

  All of this had imparted to Nassar a healthy respect for the dragons’ power. His soldiers warded themselves against the dragons with superstitious marks and talismans, while his officers cursed the beasts and called them demons, but Nassar didn’t believe the dragons were inherently evil. They were no different, really, from any other who stood to defend their way of life.

  No…war stood out as the true evil in their time—Nassar knew this as Jai’Gar’s own will, for his conscience spoke it nightly. War offered opportunity to the worst sort of scoundrels while making murderers of honest men.

  The afternoon sun had fallen behind the Ramala escarpment by the time Jasper val Renl
y came straggling into Nassar’s camp, looking as bedraggled as a coyote who’d been weeks separated from its pack.

  Nassar observed Jasper as the captain handed off his horse to one of the Dannish soldiers, pulled the cap from his head and pushed a hand through damp, sun-streaked hair. For all Jasper appeared bone-weary, Nassar perceived an urgency within his movements and in his gaze.

  Nassar lifted a hand to him, both a welcome and a summons.

  The captain fitted his cap back on and trudged uphill to Nassar’s command tent. He stopped just beyond the open drapes, pressed palms together and bowed deeply. “As-salaam’alaykum, al-Amir.” Peace be upon you, Commander.

  Nassar pressed palms and bowed slightly as he murmured the traditional reply, “Wa‘alaykum salaam, Jasper val Renly.” He waved his steward to bring a goblet of siri for the weary captain. “You have seen hard riding, Jasper of the North. What brings you to this remote pinning between dust and sky?”

  Jasper accepted the siri and drank it all in a few deep swallows. Then he pressed the back of one hand to his mouth. “Prince Radov and my king go to parley with the Akkadian Emir. By now they should have commenced their meeting beneath the tents of peace.”

  “Jai’Gar willing,” Nassar added with a prayerful glance to the heavens. The Dannish soldiers were often making claims without asking the blessing of the gods. Perhaps the god who ruled in the north cast an indifferent eye to blasphemous oversights, but Nassar knew his own gods were not so forgiving.