Queen of Oblivion Read online

  Queen of Oblivion

  Giles Carwyn & Todd Fahnestock

  GILES’S DEDICATION

  To my mother and father.

  Because of you, I have never doubted for a single moment that I was loved.

  TODD’S DEDICATION

  For Amy and Tiana, who showed me what family should be.

  Contents

  Pronunciation Guide

  Where We Left Off…

  Map

  Part I

  Slaves of Wrath and Tears

  Prologue

  Darius Morgeon!”

  Chapter 1

  Baedellin crouched in the shadows, hiding from the moon. Bony…

  Chapter 2

  Issefyn lounged on her immense silver throne. Leaves encrusted with…

  Chapter 3

  Shara fought the filthy girl thrashing in her arms. She…

  Chapter 4

  Arefaine dipped the cloth into the washbasin. Pink tendrils of…

  Chapter 5

  Brophy knelt next to the man he had killed and…

  Chapter 6

  Wait here,” Commander Geldis said, twisting his torch into a…

  Chapter 7

  Faedellin insisted on keeping a hand on his daughter all…

  Chapter 8

  We’ll send what help we can, when we can.’” Lawdon…

  Chapter 9

  You’re in my spot,” Brophy said, walking up behind Arefaine…

  Chapter 10

  Shara hurried down the hill, fighting the urge to run…

  Chapter 11

  Arefaine stared at the Heartstone, feeling the emmeria swirl inside.

  Chapter 12

  Issefyn smiled in the depths of her cowl as the…

  Chapter 13

  Lawdon awoke at the sound of approaching boot steps. She…

  Chapter 14

  Hello!” Astor shouted so loudly his throat burned. “Is! Any…

  Chapter 15

  Shara sat alone in the dying light and watched Ohndarien…

  Part II

  Martyrs of Duty and Rage

  Prologue

  Darius Morgeon!”

  Chapter 1

  Jesheks put his hand on the rose marble wall and…

  Chapter 2

  Ossamyr pushed herself to the front of the rain-soaked crowd…

  Chapter 3

  Brophy felt an uncomfortable knot in his stomach when he…

  Chapter 4

  Baedellin!”

  Chapter 5

  Brophy reached the end of the cavernous hallway and placed…

  Chapter 6

  Ossamyr paused at the rail of the little bridge shrouded…

  Chapter 7

  Brophy helped Arefaine to her feet, and they looked at…

  Chapter 8

  Ossamyr sprinted down the path, nearly slipping on the mud…

  Chapter 9

  Arefaine clutched her dress to her naked chest as she…

  Chapter 10

  Dewland’s hands were shaking as he held the lantern in…

  Chapter 11

  Shara sat alone in the dark galley picking at her…

  Chapter 12

  Breathe, Ossamyr thought. It begins with the breath. It will…

  Chapter 13

  Arefaine slowly stopped crying and started shivering

  Chapter 14

  Stop helping me, woman,” Reef growled

  Chapter 15

  Someone called Brophy’s name, a woman

  Chapter 16

  Shara watched Brophy’s broad shoulders rise and fall in the…

  Chapter 17

  Father Dewland stood next to the shattered bridge with his…

  Chapter 18

  Reef shook her gently, and Ossamyr nodded. She’d seen it…

  Chapter 19

  Shara winced as she awoke. The predawn chill had crept…

  Chapter 20

  Issefyn hid under the bed, chewing on a blanket. The…

  Chapter 21

  Brophy pushed the bulky needle through the threadbare cloth. The…

  Chapter 22

  The sky far to the east was beginning to glow…

  Chapter 23

  The explosion engulfed the entire horizon, and the Silver Islander…

  Part III

  Children of Magic and Lies

  Prologue

  Darius Morgeon

  Chapter 1

  Arefaine,” her father said, his voice soft and distant

  Chapter 2

  Shara turned and kissed the warm, rough fingers caressing her…

  Chapter 3

  Arefaine leaned over the prow of the Islander ship, trying…

  Chapter 4

  Brophy hacked through a cluster of vines, clearing the path…

  Chapter 5

  Arefaine followed her father up the steps to the tower’s…

  Chapter 6

  Issefyn screamed and screamed and screamed, never stopping, never drawing…

  Chapter 7

  Arefaine stared at the creature in the tree, unable to…

  Chapter 8

  Shara stood at the rail as Jesheks’s weeping ones steered…

  Chapter 9

  I’m so glad I found you,” Brophy said, stroking Arefaine’s…

  Chapter 10

  Issefyn clambered up the marble stairway toward the tower’s entrance

  Chapter 11

  Your other daughter?” Arefaine asked, feeling a subtle shift in…

  Chapter 12

  Arefaine waded through the ankle-deep sludge of decay toward the…

  Chapter 13

  Brophy!” Shara’s voice broke the silence. The tower rumbled ominously

  Chapter 14

  Vinghelt clutched the wheel, limping his vessel eastward. Something had…

  Chapter 15

  Shara looked down, astonished to find that she was slowly…

  Chapter 16

  Shara hovered alone in the air as the last of…

  Chapter 17

  Brophy cradled Shara’s limp body in his arms, watching the…

  Chapter 18

  Astor stood on the edge of the Windmill Wall, looking…

  Epilogue

  It was well after dark when Baedellin rowed Shara up…

  Acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  Other Books by Giles Carwyn and Todd Fahnestock

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Pronunciation Guide

  Arefaine—ÄR-e-fān

  Astor—AS-tôr

  Baedellin—bā-DEL-in

  Baelandra—bā-LÄN-drä

  Brezelle—bruh-ZELL

  Brophy—BRŌ-fē

  Brydeon—BRĪ-dē-un

  Celtigar—SEL-ti-gär

  Darius—DÄ-rē-us

  Dewland—DOO-lund

  Efflum—EF-lum

  Efften—EF-ten

  Emmeria—e-ME-rē-uh

  Faedellin—fā-DEL-in

  Faradan—FE-ruh-dan

  Fessa—FE-suh

  Floani—flō-A-nē

  Galliana—ga-lē-Ä-nuh

  Heidvell—HĒD-vel

  Issefyn—IS-e-fin

  Jesheks—JE-sheks

  Kherif—KER-if

  Lawdon—LÄ-dun

  Lewlem—LOO-lum

  Lowani—lō-ä-nē

  Mikal—mi-KÄL

  Morgeon—MÔR-jē-un

  Necani—ne-KÄ-nē

  Ohndarien—on-DÄ-rē-en

  Ohohhim—ō-HÄ-him

  Ohohhom—ō-HÄ-hum

  Ossamyr—OS-uh-mur

  Physendria—fī-SEN-drē-uh


  Reignholtz—RĪN-holts

  Shara—SHÄ-ruh

  Speevor—SPĒ-vōr

  Vallia—VÄ-lē-uh

  Victeris—vik-TER-is

  Vinghelt—VING-helt

  Vizar—vi-ZÄR

  Zelani—ze-LÄ-nē

  WHERE WE LEFT OFF…

  Brophy and Arefaine are still on the Cinder. They were just attacked by a group of Lightning Swords trying to recover the Heartstone that Arefaine stole from Ohndarien. The Opal Emperor died in the attack, leaving Arefaine regent of the Opal Empire.

  Following the instructions of her father, Darius Morgeon, Arefaine plans to combine the might of the Opal Empire and the Summer Fleet to destroy the Silver Islanders and return to Efften. But her ambitions to re-create her homeland are undermined by her growing feelings for Brophy and the dead emperor’s schemes to force her down another path.

  Shara departs for Ohndarien with Lawdon and Mikal. After her personal transformation at the hands of the Necani mage, Jesheks, she is determined to reunite with Brophy at all costs.

  Jesheks disappeared following the burning of the Floating Palace. Lord Vinghelt has seized complete control of the Summer Fleet and prepares to attack Ohndarien.

  After drinking the Siren’s Blood, Ossamyr joined Reef and the Silver Islanders in their fanatical quest to prevent anyone from reaching the shores of Efften. She has just arrived in the Opal Empire determined to assassinate Arefaine before she unlocks the secrets of the cursed isle.

  Hopelessly addicted to the black emmeria, Issefyn is locked in a constant power struggle with the manipulative voice within the vile magic. She just used the emmeria to corrupt Baelandra’s daughter, Baedellin, and send her to annihilate Ohndarien’s council.

  Map

  PART I

  Slaves of Wrath and Tears

  Prologue

  Darius Morgeon!”

  Darius winced at the sound of his mother’s voice. The golden parrot he’d been trying to feed shrieked and flapped back to its owner. It settled onto the woman’s shoulder and perched there, staring at him with unblinking eyes.

  “Leave that creature alone,” his mother said, snapping her fingers twice. She always did that when she was angry with him and didn’t want anyone else to know.

  With a sigh, Darius put the acorn back in his pocket. Mother was scared. He could tell by the way she kept her lips pressed together when no one was looking. She didn’t want to be at this party. Neither did he.

  Darius had never been in Efften’s Great Tower before. The Illuminated had all gathered in the silver spire’s great room. They were dressed in their shimmering sarongs with little silver chains wrapped around their arms. Mother had told him they were there for him, that this was his party. But there were no other kids there. No one talked to him. The adults wouldn’t even look at him. All they did was stand around sipping wine and talking through their smiles.

  Darius checked a sigh and looked up at his mother, hoping this wouldn’t drag on for hours. She was listening to Aunt Rellana. Darius didn’t like her. She was tall and thin, and reminded him of a wicked bug. She always looked half asleep, but she was a faker. She saw everything, and every time she looked at Darius, she made him feel like one of the black-eyed servants.

  His stomach started to hurt, and he looked away. The round walls of the great room rose so tall above that they disappeared into darkness. The walls were filled with row after row of little alcoves, like a silver honeycomb. Every niche was filled with a dark crystal in a silver holder. The angry stones looked down at Darius and told him what a bad person he was.

  He kicked the floor a few times with the toe of his sandal, knowing he should stand up straight the way his mother liked, but the stones were up there. Better to look at the ground.

  I hate it here, he thought, glancing back at his mother. He didn’t want to start his training. He didn’t want to be a great sorcerer someday. Why couldn’t he wait until he was nine or ten like all the others?

  Darius took a long, slow breath, trying to calm himself the way his mother had taught him. His scalp prickled as he glanced toward the far side of the room. He’d felt something over there since the moment he’d entered the tower, glowing without light, calling to him without a voice. Moving closer, he peered through the crowd at a large black box resting on a raised platform in the center of the room. There were people all around, but no one stood too close to its tarnished silver lid. As he stared, he suddenly realized what it was. It was a coffin, The Coffin.

  Swallowing hard, he started toward it. Adults frowned at him as he slipped past their silky sarongs, avoiding their eyes. Reaching out, he touched the lid. It vibrated under his fingers, and he jerked them back. The lid didn’t fit right. He could see a little gap on the right side where it looked like someone had pried it open.

  He pulled the acorn from his pocket and knelt. Careful not to touch the silver, he stuffed the acorn through the gap—

  “Do you know what this is, child?” a man said behind him.

  Darius jumped to his feet and stumbled. He reached out to steady himself, then recoiled from touching the coffin and almost fell over.

  “Yes, Father,” he said quickly, finally finding his feet. The man towered over him, his robes as black as the night between the stars. His narrow eyes made him look angry, though he spoke with that fake calm that adults sometimes used.

  “Great Father,” Father Efflum corrected, a little bit of his anger leaking into his voice.

  Darius nodded, but he didn’t say anything. A slight downward curve appeared at the corner of the archmage's mouth, but he forced his lips into a smile and said, “This box contains the dust and haze of my first teacher.”

  Darius nodded again.

  “And now I’m going to be your first teacher.”

  Darius nodded. Why can’t my mother just teach me? he thought.

  Father Efflum rapped a knuckle smartly on the lid, and Darius winced. “He killed my wife, you know,” Father Efflum said.

  Darius looked sideways at the archmage’s wife. She stood alone in the shadows near the spiral stairs, chewing on her lower lip while she stared into her drink. Her curly black hair flowed down the sides of her face. It was supposed to make her look beautiful, but it didn’t. It made her look like she was peeking out from between curtains because she was too afraid to come outside.

  Darius turned his gaze away. He knew that Father Efflum didn’t mean that wife.

  “She was dying in my arms,” he continued. “Pierced by an arrow, and the man lying in there refused to help her. Refused to bless her with the sacred fire.”

  “Why?”

  Father Efflum didn’t seem to hear him. “We fought a war to bring this to our island.” He rapped on the lid again. “And several more to keep it here. We placed it here in the center of our city to remind us of what happens to cowards and fools.”

  Darius nodded.

  “You’re not a coward or a fool,” the archmage said, bending over and bringing his face closer. “Are you, Darius Morgeon?”

  “No, Great Father.”

  Father Efflum leaned down even farther, and Darius could feel the man’s breath. It was cool, as though he had been sucking on ice. “Then why were you stuffing something into the crack like a brainless little monkey?”

  Darius stepped back and bumped into his mother.

  “Answer his question, Darius,” she said, squeezing his shoulder so hard it hurt.

  “He told me to do it,” he said, too loudly.

  “What?” Father Efflum asked, turning his head as if to hear better.

  Darius pointed. “He did. The man in the box.”

  The talking in the big room stopped. Everyone was either looking at him, or pretending not to look at him.

  “Child,” Father Efflum said in a voice as cool as his breath. He straightened to his full height. Meanness curled inside him like smoke. “The man in this tomb has been dead for a very long time.”

  “I know he’s
dead. Dead people can still talk.”

  Mother squeezed his shoulder again, tight.

  “But dead people can still talk,” Darius insisted. “Everyone knows that. Everyone.”

  She pulled him to her side. “My apologies, Great Father,” she said quickly. “My son is obviously not ready to begin his studies. Perhaps next year.”

  Father Efflum raised one of his thin eyebrows. “Perhaps.”

  “We had better go,” she said.

  “I think you should.”

  She scooped Darius up in her arms and strode away from the coffin. Darius peered over her shoulder.

  “Not another word,” she whispered fiercely.

  Darius felt tears coming to his eyes.

  “I’m not afraid of you!” he shouted at Father Efflum. “I’m not!”

  But his heart raced as he locked eyes with the Father of Efften, and Darius knew it was a lie.

  Chapter 1

  Baedellin crouched in the shadows, hiding from the moon. Bony knees pushed against her shoulders as she wrapped her arms around her mud-caked shins. Her breath came in ragged gasps, drying the inside of her mouth, cracking her tongue. She had to get away, get out of here. The dark queen was looking for her.

  She crept forward, hiding behind the dried up ferns of a roof garden, watching the street below. Her filthy dress fluttered in the breeze and her heart pounded so hard her chest ached. Tears streamed down her face, burning her skin. She couldn’t stop crying. After all this time, the tears kept coming. She was all alone in the empty city. They were all gone. Everyone gone. Or dead. Or running, like her.