Desertion

By Donna Fernstrom

High Mage Kelderin is determined to learn the secrets of the unnatural blood-drinking strangers camping in Garantha's remote woodland, but his duties to the crown make it increasingly difficult to indulge his curiosity. War threatens, and the King requires Kelderin's services for a particular specialty: demon summoning. But demons are not beasts to be toyed with lightly.

This 15,961 word novelette is set in the Worldwalkers Universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donna Fernstrom
• Release date: Mar 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370665464

Donna Fernstrom

I have been a ravenous bookworm of a reader, and casual writer, since grade school. I began practicing energy working and psionics (psychic development) in my mid-teens, and studied psionics under a mentor for a number of years in my 20s. I also breed ball pythons and other reptiles. I enjoy camping, fishing, observing and identifying wildlife, and organic gardening.I've a couple of non-fiction metaphysical books, under the pen name 'Winged Wolf', and now I'm writing fiction. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Book preview

cover.jpg

Desertion

Donna Fernstrom

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents and places are fictitious or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locations, is purely coincidental.  The Author/publisher does not have any control over and is not responsible for the content of third-party websites.

Desertion

Self-published by the author through Smashwords

Printing History

First .ePub Format Ebook Edition / March 2017

Copyright ©  2017 by Donna Michele Fernstrom

Editing by Karen MacLeod

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in the unauthorized distribution of this material in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Printed in the United States of America

Titles by Donna Fernstrom

Worldwalkers Universe Series

Sorrows: Book One of The Rogue Saga

Revelation (short story)

Decision (short story)

Secrets (short story)

Desertion (novelette)

Dedicated to

Marcus Fernstrom, Chris, and  Karen, who's always been kind and supportive.

To my kids, who are going to inherit all this stuff one day, and to my local editing meetup groups, even if they don't know what all this magic jargon means.

Kelderin kept his sighting of the newcomers in the woods to himself, for now. If he reported them, the Guard would take them into custody and hold them in the dungeons below the castle. The people might even be tortured to extract information from them in the hope that they had intelligence about Alythia.

That would be a monumental mistake if the travelers were from another land entirely. Garantha needed allies. Revealing the existence of the group would be a disaster. The treatment the strangers would receive in Garanthan dungeons could make an unknown land their enemy. Once again, Kelderin would take on the responsibility of doing what was best for Garantha by keeping secrets from it.

If only the King were not so obsessed... he shook his head. Treasonous thoughts were pointless. The first step was to observe, then make contact with the strangers; to find out where they had come from and why they were here. If they were Alythian, or proved to be dangerous, there would be plenty of time to capture them later.

Admit it to yourself. You really want the opportunity to learn about them; about their land and culture. You're just tired of this endless war, and you want to go back to being a scholar. His already sparse sleep would suffer further. It's worth it. He was still young, after all. His body was still strong and healthy. Most of those gifted in magecraft, as he was, didn't reach the level of skill he had until they were much older. It's just as well that I'm content with my own company, as they find difficulty enough dealing with me as a mentor, much less as a friend. He had been told that his demeanor was intimidating, more than once. That his gray-amber eyes seemed too penetrating, and his expression too forbidding. His status was another barrier, as were the myriad names he had collected. Ostentatious titles and fanciful nicknames. It has its advantages, though. No one would think to question where I've gone, or what I've been doing. It gave him more time to think and study, which was a welcome result. It was also lonely, but that, too, was fitting for one such as him.

Kelderin turned his bay palfrey down the overgrown trail that led into the Bell Hallow Woods, and absently adjusted his cloak, brushing his shoulder-length brown hair back. The spring air was cool, but pleasant, and the sounds of birds relieved that the winter was over provided a background reassurance that all was well in the area.

The language he'd heard the previous day hadn't sounded like Alythian, or like any other language he was familiar with. Time to make sure...

###

After a two hour ride, he led the horse into a soft, moss-covered clearing, securing it to a tree, pulling the quick-release strap securing his staff to the saddle. The symbol of his craft and a formidable tool, the staff helped focus and concentrate the energies he wielded. He never let it out of his sight, in these troubled times.

It was time to approach on foot. Long experience as a spy went to good use. He used camouflage shielding to make his aura vanish, bending the light. An unsuspecting person could have looked directly at him and seen only the trees behind him. Another set of small spells enhanced his senses. His heart pounding in unaccustomed anticipation, he crept toward the clearing where he'd spotted the group of strangers the previous day.

He was relieved when he saw their auras, emerging to his senses long