Rather than reply, the creature twitched a hand and its hulking aide turned, loping to the side, where it picked up what looked to be a coffin by a chain hung from a forged metal ring in the lid. It dragged it to them, as the robed creature produced a large tome of its own from within its robes and held it out with its right hand. Its two left hands sat waiting. A short silence ensued, before it was broken by Jane.
‘And my creatures? The forces you have promised to me?’ Jane asked, still holding the tome.
‘They await your call. They are hidden for now. They are close indeed. Close to your manor, your home.’
Jane grinned and, only then, finally, did she extend the book. The robed creature, the servitor of this scholar, this Icaria, took it and proffered the other to her. Jane accepted, slid the book smoothly into her satchel, and looked to the coffin.
‘It is asleep, yes? Will it wake if I remove it from the coffin.’
‘No.’ The burbling, gasping voice had returned. ‘Powerful enchantments will keep it asleep for some time. But it will need to be returned to the coffin in time to keep it at rest.’
‘Good, then I think that should be all, yes? I look forward to calling upon your creatures later to inspect them. The book has the details?’
‘Yes.’ With that, the creature turned and began walking away, its companion following. Once they were gone, Jane’s smile grew wider and she stepped close to inspect the coffin, undoing the locks to crack it open, before peering inside. Her smile grew truly predatory then.
‘What were they? What is that?’ Lauralee asked her mistress, arms gesturing helplessly between the creatures and the coffin they’d left behind, beginning to approach it in desperate search of answers. A glance from Jane warned her away.
‘Them? They’re not important. Not anymore. They’ve served their purpose until I have a future need for them. Servants of some ancient mad wizard who thinks themself a god, not knowing what they’ve given up. I heard tell of them through some hearsay rumours and was able to get their attention enough for an exchange of letters, surprisingly nice handwriting. Did cost quite a few servitors of my own, though.’
She reached a hand into the coffin, her smile turning almost tender for a moment, then she leaned away, closing the coffin, and twirling the red feather she had retrieved between her fingers, smelling it with relish.
‘So, what did they give up?’
‘She’s a demigod, Lauralee, and now, she’s mine. Even if that fool wizard thinks the tome can grant him divinity, having the real deal is so much greater. Come.’
She summoned up an arcane well of force beneath the coffin, keeping it suspended unsteadily off the ground as she began to pull it along by the chain. She dropped the feather absently as she continued on past Lauralee, who stood wishing she had taken the chance to peer into the coffin, but imagined the contents wouldn’t stay hidden from her much longer. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but that wild, dangerous look in Jane’s warned her they could wait for now.
As they departed, neither woman took note of the feather left on the floor. Its tips began to smoulder and burn until it was wholly alight. Within those flames, within the light of the burning divine feather, a silhouette began to form. In moments, the feather was nothing but ash, and nestled atop it was a small red songbird. Looking around, it let out a chirping song before taking flight, making its own way from the caverns.
Chapter 1
Syline sat upright in bed with a gasp. She found herself shivering, despite the clammy sweat that covered her from head to toe.
‘Alexis!’ she called. A moment passed. ‘Alexis!’ she said louder, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Footsteps padded quickly down the hall outside her room, and the door opened to reveal her maid. Her short white hair was polar opposite to Syline’s own black, waist-length hair. Her soft, sky-blue skin and arms covered in tattoos only made her all the more exotic. Alexis hailed from the tundra elves of the east, though her family had migrated when she was young. She was dressed still in her own pyjamas, having been woken in her quarters nearby by Syline’s call.
Alexis hurried over to her, worry in her large eyes.
‘Are you alright? Did you have that dream again?’ she asked, stepping over and placing a hand to Syline’s forehead. ‘You’re freezing and you look pale as a ghost.’
‘I… I had a nightmare, yes, umn, yes, the halls again…’ she mumbled but, despite the embarrassment, she was glad when her maid stepped in and embraced her. She was glad for the warmth. Alexis was the only person she had told about the recurring dream, those awful empty halls. She didn’t want her family thinking she was any stranger than they already did.
‘So, you call me like I’m your teddy-bear. You scaredy cat,’ Alexis teased, giving her a squeeze as she did. Syline managed a little smile as she pulled away from the embrace.
‘Would you mind drawing me a bath? I feel frozen to the core.’
‘Sure, sure, I’ll sneak one in myself afterwards before your sisters get up,’ her maid said and headed for the door. After a moment dawdling in bed, Syline followed, not feeling like being left to her lonesome in her room.
After her bath, her day proved quite relaxing. She and her maid shared breakfast in her room, well before the chefs had arrived to make breakfast for the rest of her family. She passed the day in quiet self-study watching snow begin to fall from darkening clouds outside her window, preparing herself for her lesson tonight with her tutor, the old wizard Anatoly. Only in the early afternoon was she called outside for her other lessons. Her daily duelling practice with her mother, the Falcon of Russenholde, Kassandra Petranski.
Syline was the second-eldest daughter of the nation’s greatest general, Peter Petranski. Once an adventurer, her father was now the leader of the nation’s border guard, defending it from the creatures that came from the north when the oceans and rivers froze. Creatures Syline, like most, had never seen. Things like trolls and wyverns were nothing but stories her brothers told to scare her. The nearest Syline had ever seen to a monster was the hellblooded in town; those humans who had devilish heritage somewhere in their bloodline, and they were still at heart, people. Her father took his sons with him for months at a time, training them in war and battle against the greatest of foes.
His four daughters and the matters of estate and noble politics, he left to his wife, Kassandra. Famed for being the greatest duellist in the land, she had once been his partner in adventures across the world. Her keen, amber eyes gained her the nickname “The Falcon of Russenholde”. She stood austere and perfect, her black hair braided down to her waist and framing her hard, high-cheeked features as she watched the two girls before her.
Steel clashed against steel as Syline and her younger sister, Magdova, duelled. The pair were nearly identical and separated by only a year, yet, despite being the elder, Syline almost always lost these practice matches. The duels were scored on touches, not injury, and the frailer, thinner Syline had always struggled to compete with her sister, not just in skill, but in grace and cunning with the blade. Magdova moved like a dancer, her steps elegant and assured, whilst Syline moved methodically, transitioning from stance to stance, each one practised just as their mother had shown her. She was a good student if nothing else.
Syline saw an opening. She stepped in with a jab for her sister’s shoulder. Magdova slid beneath the jab and threw her shoulder into Syline’s chest. Off balance, Syline stumbled back. Her guard was open and Magdova knew it. Syline took a harsh slap from her sister’s blade to her sternum. With a whimper, Syline landed on her rump in the snow. It had been brushed out of the ring by the servants, but overhead, the clouds grew darker, and Syline knew they’d be in for a storm this evening. She hoped to be warm inside for her lessons by then.
‘Point for Magdova,’ their mother called, as Syline’s sister gave her an apologetic smile, helping her to her feet.
Syline returned the smile with one of her own as she came up, before looking off to her mother. On either side of her sat her other sisters. Katarina, or Kat, as everyone actually called her, the eldest at twenty-two, five years older than Syline and already a professional duellist in her own right, sat to her left watching with interest. She had short hair and had taken after their mother, from her sharp, sculpted features to their mother’s talent with the blade. Syline suspected, if it were her and all her other siblings versus Kat and her twin brother, the pair would best them easily. On her mother’s right was Kassandra Jr. the youngest of all of them and their mother’s last hope for a “normal” noble daughter. Syline and Magdova had each found their own paths in magic and art, Kat had dedicated herself to the blade, and their brothers were all soldiers after their father’s heart. If their mother wanted to have any chance of allying their family with another through marriage, it’d be through Kassandra. She sat hugging her knees to her chest and shivering into her cloak. She was too young to be joining in on the duels just yet.
‘Yes, Syline?’ her mother asked, noting Syline staring their way.
‘Nothing, Mother,’ Syline replied, stifling any comment she was going to make about Magdova’s rough play. She didn’t want to seem like a poor sport.
‘Alright, then. It’s best of three. Take one off your sister,’ she said, giving her an empathetic smile.
Syline gave her mother a nod and a smile, before turning back to Magdova, raising her blade vertically and tapping it to her breast in a warrior’s salute. Magdova grinned and returned it.
‘You’re welcome to try,’ her cocky younger sister said as they each whipped their blades down to the side, signalling the beginning of their duel.
