I'rone (The Guadel Chronicles)

By Dean Murray

I'rone's guardians have never particularly like Betreec, but that hasn't damped her determination to catch his eye. When every able bodied person in the Capital is turned out to search the abandoned sections of caverns for a lost child, it seems like the perfect opportunity to get him out where she can start acting on her interest.

When the stakes grow to include more than just a few stolen moments, Betreec will realize just how little she really knew I'rone before they set out.

Publisher's Note: Readers new to The Guadel Chronicles should begin with Frozen Prospects (currently free). I'rone is followed by Thawed Fortunes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firshan Publishing, Inc
• Release date: Mar 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458115379

Dean Murray

Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three decades lost in other people's worlds. After reading several local libraries more or less dry of sci-fi and fantasy, he started spending more time wandering around worlds of his own creation to avoid the boredom of the 'real' world.Things worsened, or improved depending on your point of view, when he first started experimenting with writing while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean has a wonderful wife and daughter to keep him rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along with him as he meets interesting new people in universes nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his computer on a fairly regular basis.

Book preview

I'rone

by Dean Murray

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 by Dean Murray

Also by Dean Murray:

The Reflections Series

Broken (free)

Torn (free if you sign up for Dean's Mailing List)

Splintered

Intrusion

Trapped

Forsaken

Riven

The Greater Darkness (Writing as Eldon Murphy)

A Darkness Mirrored (Writing as Eldon Murphy)

The Dark Reflections Series

Bound

Hunted

The Guadel Chronicles

Frozen Prospects (free)

Thawed Fortunes (free if you sign up for Dean's Mailing List)

Brittle Bonds

Shattered Ties

On'li sighed as she looked around the dull-gray stone cavern. It was packed with people, but they were still too few for the task at hand. Every Guadel and guardsman in the city could have been tasked with exploring the underbelly of the Capital and they still wouldn't have had a decent chance of finding the child that'd wandered off into the darkness.

The adults all seemed to understand the futility of the search. An unprecedented number of glow spheres had been brought down from the main caverns but instead of adding warmth and light to the gathering it just revealed too many faces defeated before they'd even started.

Some of the searchers were only a few years older than the missing child. It seemed irresponsible to be sending teenagers out in a search that was all too likely to yield a body at best, but every passing second decreased the odds of finding anything and there were simply too many tunnels to search for them not to recruit every able body.

The only exception to the somber mood was the circle of Daughters gathered in one corner. The entire group of girls was giggling at something, as if this was nothing more than a holiday. One of the teenage girls looked up in time to catch On'li's scrutiny and actually threw off a perky wave.

Betreec, the girl who'd just waved, giggled again at whatever story her friend was relating, but it was obvious from the way she was craning her neck around that she wasn't really listening. She was doubtlessly looking for On'li's adoptive son, I'rone, which wasn't something designed to calm On'li.

In all fairness, Betreec was a cut above most of the rest of the girls her age, but she was still far too irresponsible. On'li wasn't sure she ever thought beyond the next bit of gossip or the next male whose attention she was determined to capture.

Unfortunately, Betreec seemed to have I'rone firmly in her sights, and she wasn't the type to abandon the chase short of success, at least not while her prey had proved as elusive as I'rone.

Javin, On'li's husband of more than a decade, seemed to have finished receiving instructions from the head of their bloodline. He scanned the room as he returned to On'li, but the effort was completely unneeded. I'rone materialized out of the deepest shadow in the room, the one he'd fled to almost as soon as they'd entered the cavern, and walked quickly over to rejoin his sponsors.

On'li still felt a pang of sorrow each time she thought about how I'rone had been when they found him. He was still shy, and often tentative in asserting his rights, but back then he'd refused to make eye contact with anyone. Even bribery hadn't been enough to induce him to talk. Now his youthful frame was filling out with muscles at an astonishing rate. The amazing mind behind his guarded face still ran constantly, but now one