Fellstra

By WE Kelton

Fellstra’s life was not demanding. She need only keep her father’s house, and cook for him and her brother. Having been taught the basics of herb craft and ink creation by her mother, she filled her days harvesting herbs outside the city walls. Always returning in time to ensure her father had no reason to speak to her. When she discovered a hidden book of spells, there was no one to keep her from learning magic.

The day Fellstra refused to wed, she was banished from Darkwind City by her father and physically sent away by the might of the temple priests. She was sent to an isolated monastery, and never expected to return. It was at that monastery, in the frozen heart of winter, that Fellstra discovered the strength she needed to be come a warlock. It was the perfect place to train, learn and harness her arcane might as she battled creatures, elements, and the Kahn.

Warlocks, unlike wizards and sorcerers, had no fixed training ground, until Fellstra returned to Darkwind City. To be a warlock meant that your magic was bound to your duty. To fail in your duty would cause your magic to consume you. That was the price every warlock paid to command the arcane. It was a price Fellstra was forced to pay the day she joined the Pigeon Blood Council, and was named Master Fellstra. It was the price she was all too willing to pay, to ensure the destruction of the Kahn Raiders that killed her mother and threatened her home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pandora's Press
• Release date: Feb 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781937916206

WE Kelton

You would think a person with an advanced degree in a science discipline would have more sense than to be a fiction writer. Alas, I apparently skipped that session of course work and ran full bore at the Science Fiction and Fantasy wall. If you heard a teeth rattling sound a while back, pay it no mind - it was just me trying to knock sense back into my own head. Apparently all it did was knock a couple more story lines loose. Go figure.

Book preview

Fellstra

by

W.E. Kelton

Copyright 2016

Pandora’s Press

Digital Edition

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Chapter 1

Regent Fell studied the young recorder before her momentarily before focusing her gaze out the window. Moonlight glanced off the obsidian stones of Darkwind City. She could feel the magic contained within the ancient bones of her home. You are the scribe the Librarian has assigned to catalogue my life?

The young man swallowed nervously as he stared at the female warlock. The torches burning within the room cast reckless shadows that competed with the ones cast by the dancing fire. The strength of the shadows that flowed around the room emphasized the moon’s illumination of the woman framed by the open window behind her. The ambient light accentuated the white within her sable hair and her golden skin. He answered, Yes Regent.

Ask your questions young scribe and set your pen to ink, I will not repeat myself. She glanced once more at the young man.

Legend says you were born in Darkwind? he asked as he found his gaze trapped within the unworldly green of her eyes.

The powerful warlock smiled without mirth as she said, Yes and once my name was Fellstra Drydark, my father was a talented inscriber and my mother was the most gifted herbalist in the city. I had three brothers. Only one of whom is still living, though we have not spoken since our father’s death, twenty-one annums ago. My other brothers were much older and died in service to the Duke and City.

The scribe wrote quickly as the woman’s smoky voice curled around him. He glanced up at the figure’s back once he’d finished writing and asked, Your mother?

Regent Fell’s spine straitened impossibly as she replied, She was killed the spring of my fifteenth annum. In an Orda Khan raid I was told. She was out in the Desolate Hills, gathering herbs. There is an herb that grows only in the heat of the burning sands. My father required the ink milled from it for a commission, a request by the Arch Priestess of Hel’va’s temple. I offended one of the priestesses of the temple the day before we were to leave. I was forced to remain, and serve the temple as my punishment or I would have accompanied her to collect the herb, Regent Fell studied the scribe as she spoke.

He had ebony hair that absorbed the shadows around the room. His light eyes were either grey or blue, the light within this chamber was insufficient to determine. His body held the slender strength of the grassland python and his skin was the hue of pale cream. It was the lack of sun-touched skin that declared his service to the Halls of the Inscribers. She refocused her thoughts upon her story as she said, It has been many annums since the priests sent me to labor in the Duke’s library.

The scribe glanced up and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he watched the vicious smile that crossed her lips.

Regent Fell returned to her city view, It was late spring, I remember the day clearly even after all these annums.

*

A girl of fifteen glared at her father’s back as she followed him up the winding avenues of black stone, into the heights of Darkwind City. Her dark braid swung back and forth as she trailed behind her father’s stiff spine. She didn’t have time to do more than note the dye stained carts and multi hued shop fronts as they passed through the suk of the weavers and dyers. Each time a color or a pattern caught her eye she fell behind and her braid swung faster as she jogged to catch up to her father. It was his perfect posture and rapid gait that told her she was following him to be punished by the priestesses.

Her father belonged to the temple, heart and soul. He may have wed her mother and had four children, but he should have been a priest. At the western most edge of Darkwind City, was the Temple of Hel’va, their destination. It was located upon the highest peak of the mountainous city. They had left their home before the sun crested the sands of the desert land of Eremes, to the east of the city.

Just as she and her father left for the temple, her mother left their lodging as well. She was traveling into the desert sands to harvest a plant for its ink, ink that her father required for a commission. The cobalt strangler’s fine strands exposed themselves only to the light of the early morning sun. Her mother was gathering herbs to bleed into ink for her father’s inscriptive works. Instead of traveling with her mother, out into the sands and basking in the heat of the sun, she was being escorted to the temple.

A frown crossed her features as she thought of the temple. There was something about the white stone and the cowled priests that rubbed the fine hairs upon the back of her neck the wrong direction. She always felt on edge when she was commanded to attend service at the temple. Two days ago she had insulted Priestess Gallea of Hel’va’s temple in the market square. She disliked the woman’s voice when she spoke. When she refused to acknowledge Fellstra’s mother because she worshiped a different goddess, Fellstra had responded by ‘accidently’ running into her carrying blood fruit. The silvery white robes the Priestess wore would never recover their original hue.

The following day, both she and her father were commanded to appear before the Arch Priestess where it was demanded that she either apologize or accept the work assigned to her for the hours of the following day. When she refused to apologize to Priestess Gallea, she stared directly into the older woman’s eyes as she said, I do not bow to liars.

The stormy grey eyes of the Priestess connected with hers and from that moment on, she felt in her heart that they were adversaries. To her relief, as soon as she realized that those of the temple were not her friends nor to be trusted, the hairs on the back of her neck calmed and she breathed easier. Her preference would be, too be out in the burning sands with her mother. She loved her city and never so much as when she returned to its cool height from the burning sands to the east or the endless planes of the grasslands to the west.

She stopped suddenly to avoid running into her father’s back.

You will obey the deacon or priest that directs you Fellstra, as if their words were my own or your mothers. His words were filled with the quiet intensity with which he always commanded her. He only spoke to her mother and her brother. Her, he commanded and rarely did they interact with each other except at the temple. You will wait for me here, one candle after sun down, he said before he disappeared into the temple complex.

Fellstra looked around at the silvery marble of the temple and frowned, the rest of the city had been built with the more soothing jet and deep grey stones that were mined from local quarries. The silvery marble offended her eyes and reflected the light of the sun. She turned her back on the temple complex and gazed out over the city. From this height she could see into Darkwind Keep, build into the base of the mountain and out over the city to the western gate. She occupied herself with looking out over the city and identifying every part she knew.

A touch upon her shoulder brought her back to her present location and she faced the hooded deacon, who motioned her to follow. She walked silently through the marble halls of the temple and deep into the inner sanctum. She followed the deacon in silence, all the way to the temple of Lith’eh. In the heart of every temple of Hel’va, their was a smaller temple dedicated to the goddess daughter, Lith’eh. As Hel’va was known as the Moon Eyed and Deaths Guardian, her daughter Lith’eh was the Ruby Eyed and the Amethyst Queen. To be a child of Lith’eh, was the only other spiritual connection that those of Hel’va considered to be equal to their own.

Fellstra walked behind the petitioners alter of Lith’eh and through a dark wooden door. Torches lit the passage leading them to a second door. At this door, the silent deacon opened the door and indicated that she should continue on her journey. Fellstra moved into the dark hall, and as she heard the lock engage behind her she flinched. She stood silently internally deciding upon her best course of action, to go forward or to pound on the door and beg for her release.

The thought of begging for anything from those of Hel’va toughened her heart to face the darkness before her. With a steadying hand upon the wall, she moved forward in the dark. After fifteen steps, a low light built along the floor of the stone hall. Revealing stairs, wide enough for two priests to stand shoulder to shoulder, that descended sharply into the dimly lit dark. Fellstra never glanced at the dark behind her as she moved forward. She didn’t think about what awaited her. She concentrated on navigating the steep stairs, and when they finally stopped she found herself facing yet another dark wooden door. She turned the lever, and to her surprise the door opened. She was released from the dark womb of the stairway into an unfamiliar room.

Fellstra closed the door behind her, and once again heard the tale tell sound of a lock engaging. Now that she couldn’t return the way she’d come, her only option was to continue forward. She peered around the corner into the hall, and spotted a lone figure, at a large desk, surrounded by books. She moved as quietly as she could toward the seated figure and waited until he noticed that he was not alone. The Priestess from Hel’va’s Temple sent me, she announced as the man’s dark eyes stared at her curiously.

He nodded once and moved from behind his desk, Follow me.

Fellstra followed the much taller male into a cavern filled with books. She stared at the man confused as they stopped before a tall cart of books.

You will shelve these, the man’s resonate voice commanded her. He stared at her for a moment before he demanded, You can read?

Fellstra nodded as she stared at the variety of books.

Match the symbols for subjects, then follow the numeric sequence until you find the correct area and file the tome by author’s name. He studied her as he asked, Do you understand?

Fellstra nodded once more.

I will find you when your service is to end, he informed her. I will know if you do not follow these basic instructions and report your incompetence to the priests.

Fellstra returned the man’s fierce gaze with her own, though she managed to remain silent. He nodded at her once more. She lost sight of him after his third turn through the rows of books, manuscripts and scrolls. She stared at the large filled cart. With a sigh she removed the book closest to her. She studied the inside cover and matched it with six other tomes that held the same symbols. She consulted the guide on the side of the cart and memorized the general area of the rows of towering shelves.

By the time she realized that she was hungry over a quarter of the cart was emptied of its contents. She shelved the last book in her stack and felt a jolt as her fingers touched the one next to it. She glared at the book for a moment, before she removed it from its place on the lowest level of a dust covered shelf. Curious she opened it to the first page of script. Without meaning to, she read three more pages before she realized what she was doing.

She shook herself and squatted down, intending to return to the book to its place. She made it so far as to touch the edge of the tome to the shelf, before she shrugged out of her pack and slipped the small journal into it. She sat on the floor and leaned against the place where the book was glaringly absent. She ate of the cold meat and bread that she had packed for the day. She stared at her father’s portion after she’d consumed her meal. She returned his share of the food to the pack, careful of the stolen journal. After she felt sufficiently rested, she returned to the cart and continued with her task.

When she was woken from sleeping within the empty cart, she couldn’t even find it within herself to be angry at the man who had left her alone in this maze of words. She’d eaten her father’s portion of their shared lunch, when she’d been unable to find the man after her task was done. Not feeling confident that he would find her if she wandered away from the cart. She’d fallen asleep in the cart because she could no longer keep her eyes open.

You must wake, the still unnamed man said as he shook her shoulder, The time of your labor ended many marks ago. I will guide you to the open avenues of the city. From there can you find your way home?

Fellstra stared at the man for a moment before she replied, I was to meet my father, one mark after dusk at Hel’va’s temple.

The man said, I sent word to the temple explaining that I was most pleased with your labor, and that I would keep you until your task was completed. The temple replied on behalf of your father that you were to return to your lodging and continue with your duties until your mother returns from her tasks.

Fellstra stood before the man as he explained. Come, he instructed as his long legs quickly outdistanced her. When she caught up he stated, Through the Keep is the surest way to the avenues.

She was surprised at finding herself within the Darkwind Keep, home of Duke Redmond. Her escort stopped her three times and forced her head into a bow. Three different members of the Duke’s family, as well as the Duke himself, crossed their path as they slowly made their way out of the labyrinthian halls of the castle. By the time they reached the outer most wall of the castle, Fellstra was convinced that she wouldn’t want to there. She was certain she’d never be able to navigate its halls and courtyards. Three times she thought they passed through the same garden only to discover that all the gardens were symmetrical and identical. When she stepped out onto the familiar streets of the city she sighed in relief and tilted her face to the sun.

Fair day Fellstra Drydark, the older man stated, before he nodded to the guard and the large side door swung closed, hiding the castle from the street.

With a grin she launched herself into a run, determined to return to her lodging before her brother and her father. If her mother was home there would be warm bread if she wasn’t, then she would quench her hunger with something else. Her long legs pushed her quickly up and down the narrow avenues away from the castle. She continued running south and east and less than a half turn later, slid to a stop before the golden topped buildings that marked the sunrise quarter, where her home was. She burst into her families lodging and dropped her pack on the side of the room.

After a quick inspection, she realized that even her brother had not been home recently. There was no evidence that anyone had been here since she and her father had left, a day and a half ago. With a sigh she started the bread and the stew that both her father and brother would require of her if they returned home before her mother. After her immediate chores were done, she slipped out of their lodging and down to the communal bathhouse of their building.

Just as she was entering the steamy rooms, she collided with a slippery male body and they both tumbled to the slatted wood floor of the bathing rooms. With a blush she tried to move off of the older boy she’d landed upon as she mumbled, Look where you are going Woo, you could have crushed me.

The older boy flipped to his feet as he growled at her, I was watching where I was going Fella.

Fellstra glared at the boy, she hated that nickname, and poked him in the chest as she demanded, What are you doing down here at this time of day anyway?

Woo shook his long black hair, before he finger combed it, pulled it behind his head and secured it with a leather band. I’m in training Fella, Master Branch has advanced me to journeyman.

Fellstra stopped glaring at the older boy and launched herself at him as she yelled, Woo! You did it! You did it!

Woo laughed as he spun the younger girl in his arms around, Great mother has prepared her special spicy lamb, I was to invite your family to celebrate with us, he grinned as he dropped the girl to her feet, After I’d bathed.

Fellstra laughed as she slugged the older boy, Mother must still be out in the desert, father is at the temple and brother is probably nose deep in ink at his dormitory. She smiled up at him, I accept on my own behalf. Now go away so I can get clean.

Woo flicked the girl’s long braid as he moved past her, At dusk Fella, he smirked at her.

Fellstra growled at him.

After a long and scent filled bath Fellstra returned to her families lodging, to find it as dark and silent as it was when she left it. Smiling she made Woo’s favorite sweet pie, mountain apricot, and made her way up the single flight of stairs to the Tang’s residence.

Woo’s mother died after the birth of his youngest brother, Yee; their great mother moved into their residence to help her son care for his four children. Ply Tang had died in the last Kahn raid, two summers ago. Since then great mother Tang had been caring for the four children on her own. Her mother helped as she was able with the younger ones. The two elder boys, Woo and his brother Shoa, had been accepted as apprentices to one of the weapons masters that trained the Darkwind Guards.

Fellstra knocked on the door with her foot and grinned when Yee opened the door and yelled, Fellstra! Woo’s been made a journeyman! He paused for a moment before he demanded, Is that for us? She nodded and laughed as the younger boy stole the pie and raced inside as he said, Great mother, great mother! Fellstra has brought us sweet pie!

You know he’ll never leave you alone now, Woo laughed as he closed the door behind her.

Fellstra’s chest tightened at Woo’s closeness, he smelled like pinion and savory. Her arm tingled where he touched as he brought her more fully into the lodging. She sighed as she was immediately caught up in great mother Tang’s warm embrace, You must be proud, she squeaked out as the rotund, white haired, woman held her close.

Goa Tang laughed at the girl, It has been many moons since we’ve seen you Fellstra. How is it possible that your woman’s shape appeared so suddenly?

Fellstra blushed as her eyes caught Woo’s for a moment before she glanced away again, Mother has been taking me to the sands with her.

Why did you not go on this last gathering trip? the older woman asked as she bustled around the lodging, shooing the boys away from the sweet smelling pie.

I insulted one of the priestesses because she insulted mother in the market place, Fellstra sighed.

Goa smiled at the sable haired girl with grass eyes as she said, It is good there are more gods than Hel’va in Darkwind, your nature and that of her children’s are more like fuel for fire than soothing calm.

Fellstra blushed again.

Come, we celebrate family Tang’s good fortune, the older woman smiled as she directed the children into their seats and settled the food on the table.

Stran Drydark, Fellstra’s father, and her brother returned to the families lodging, unalarmed to find Fellstra gone. They were both content with silence as they ate the fresh bread and hearty stew. Through several helpings of the stew and bread neither man spoke to the other, with more than a node of appreciation when one passed the ale to the other.

As family Tang enjoyed the sweet apricot pie a visitor came to the door of the Drydark lodging. A man known to Stran as an herbalist, stood before him and handed him a broken leather thong with a green disc, a pendant of the Verdant Circle. We were not three days in the Desolate Hills when my apprentice spotted an Orda Kahn scouting party. We were forced to take refuge within the western camp of the Whitebear Tribe, until three dawns ago. While we waited, one of the warriors brought us this pendent from a ransacked camp two days from the western camp.

Stran’s ink stained hand accepted the pendant. He checked the back and revealed his wife’s mark to his son, before he hid the pendant in his vest pocket. You have our thanks for returning this as well as for the news, Stran replied in a toneless voice.

Aisha Drydark will be missed, the herbalist replied before he glanced at his apprentice and they retreated from the Drydark lodging.

Stran closed the door and returned to his meal. After which he removed the pendant and both men stared at the glimmering green disc in silence. The younger caressed the disc for a moment, before he drained his mug and retreated to his room. The elder sat in silence until his eyes no longer focused upon the disc and he retreated to his chamber, pendent safely in his hand.

Fellstra and Woo settled the two younger children into their beds and Goa Tang washed dishes. Fellstra glanced out over the cityscape as she stood on the Tang’s balcony next to Woo, Do you like it? she asked suddenly. She turned her head and stared at the older boy, Your training I mean?

Woo’s eyes glittered, There is nothing that interests me more, he sighed. Not even the painted women of the fan district are as fascinating.

Fellstra’s eyes widened, the painted women of the pleasure district were fascinating. They’d gotten in trouble the spring before Woo was apprenticed, because they’d gone exploring in the pleasure district.

Woo continued to stare at Fellstra, You’ll find something Fella, I know your father wants you to become an inscriber and your mother is teaching you of the herb craft.

Fellstra’s grass eyes caught the dark shadowy ones of her friend and she confessed, No, my father waits only for me to become of age to sell me off to a husband; he tolerates mother’s herb craft only because she knows how to mill the ink he needs for his illuminations.

Woo moved closer and brushed the girl’s shoulder with his own, If you ever want to learn fight craft, he grinned at her.

Fellstra grinned back, Sweet Oda, can you imagine me, she released the rail and pretended to hold double swords, Defeating anything with a blade? Fellstra glanced at Woo, surprised when he didn’t laugh at her immediately as she would have expected. She didn’t understand the odd look on his face as he considered her jesting words. With a sigh she moved away from the railing, the balcony, Woo and the confusing feelings he induced. She returned to the interior of the residence and headed for the door.

Fair evening Fellstra, Goa smiled at the girl as she returned the girls dish to her. Give our thanks to your mother for allowing us your company this evening.

I will when she returns, Fellstra smiled as she closed the door behind her. It wasn’t unusual for her mother to be gone for up to two moons, when she planned to travel deep into the desert to collect herbs. She returned to her families lodging and noted that there were two sets of bowls and spoons upon the table. With a sigh, she started the fire to warm the washing water for the dishes. A flicker of firelight caught upon one of the buckles of her pack, and she remembered the book she’d taken from the library.

She emptied her pack upon the table, added the knife and cup to the dishes to be cleaned. She removed the book and stared at it. Her body tingled as she held the book in her hands. It was the same tingle she felt when Woo touched her skin. Curious she lit a lamp and started reading.

The first page was filled with flowing script.

It has occurred to me as I write this that I should begin at the beginning so that the reader of this tome understand several essential truths. Those truths are:

Beginnings and blood matter – not in the way that the Priests of the temple tell us, but in the way that they are powerful. Beginnings because our lives are defined by our choices and our choices are dependent upon our history and our future.

Blood is powerful because it is the essence of life, to spill blood in the name of something gives great power to the spiller, to rulers and to causes.

Regret is a poison, slow acting and deadly. To regret is to be uncertain and to be uncertain is to be indecisive and weak. You can never undo what you have done so be certain and never regret your decisions or actions.

Suffering is a direct result of denial. No man suffers more than his capacity to endure and most all suffering is self-inflicted. Self inflicted because we are the ones that chose to or choose not to do.

Remember this.

Fellstra reread the script and analyzed every single word that the author had used. After she was content that she understood what the author had written she closed the book. She had chores yet to attend to. Her hands worked the bread dough as she continued to think over what she’d read. The author’s view of beginnings, regret and suffering were in direct opposition to what those of Hel’va preached. To her heart, the scribed words felt truer than any sermon of the priests she’d ever heard. After the bread dough was covered, she lit a fire in wood burning oven and retreated to her room; book