Grandel Isle: The End Must Come

By Tonia Viles

Seventeen years have passed. Jacklyn and the boys are on Grandel Isle. Brandon is on Earth with their twin daughters. Jacklyn is dying, and something dark is growing on Earth. It is up to the Queen and her Protector’s children to stop them both.
They must destroy the Darkness once and for all. It will take one boy, his extraordinary dragon, and four battles to do this. One to vanquish a new enemy. One to finish an old enemy. One to extinguish an enemy they thought they had defeated and one to hold back a tidal wave of horrors.
The royal family will have to fight as one on three different planets.
The end will come.
Who will survive?
Earth’s Protectors or Earth’s Death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tonia Viles
• Release date: Apr 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463855355

Tonia Viles

I am a single mom of one. I live in forested mountains of Saltville VA with my daughter, my parents and our five rescues, three dogs and two cats. The Grandel Isle trilogy are my debut books.I enjoy spending time with my family and our pets, reading, cooking and nature. I like to do what I can to help save our planet that is in so much need of t.l.c. I also feel that we all should do what we can to take care of all the other living creatures, animal and plant life alike, that share our world.

Book preview

Prologue

Grandel Isle and Earth

The Beginning

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The Royal Lions stand at their posts in the quiet, well-lit night. They scan the skies and land continuously. Grandel Isle was raised only the day before from the depths of the Red Sea. There is no Protector. There are no Highlanders. The first Queen of Grandel Isle, Genevieve, is alone in her room when the night grows dark.

The amber moon is hidden by one lonely cloud that seems to have come from nowhere. The lions’ muscles grow tense, and they inhale deeply. Their sensitive noses and whiskers can detect the slightest change in the environment that surrounds them. As one, they become aware of movement and foul odor. The night fills with a purr like sound of the cats attempting to use their sense of taste to help them pinpoint where the change is coming from.

______________________________

Two dark figures silently flee through the enemy’s land with two thoughts, the Queen must die, and they must bury the seed in the Earth’s soft crust. Their dark mistress has sent two of the three highly cherished followers. These three had embraced the Darkness with love and loyalty like nothing else had. Unknown by the Darkness the feelings that stir within its inky depths are a form of love, but its greed overpowers all other emotions.

Earth is ripe with the negative energy that the Darkness needs to survive. The creatures on Majase are resilient and can withstand hundreds of years of being fed upon. The Darkness planned to let Earth simmer and stew in its own dark energy. Then one of her Cherished Ones came to it. The seers had made it possible for them, three dark witches, to see that a child will be born and with it a seed of hope. The greedy entity couldn’t let this enormous supply of food slip from her grasp.

Just when she planned to attack, three of her captives fled leaving their bodies behind. These three became known as the Mystics of Grandel Isle. When the Darkness attacked, beside her stood the witches. Behind it was a flood of Enchained. Earthlings and dragons had stood in its way. Together and, with help from the Mystics, they were able to drive the Darkness and its follower back through the portal that had given them access to Grandel. Then the Mystics had created a golden barrier to trap the Darkness in its dark, dying world. As soon as it had figured out that its servants could get through the barricade, the Darkness had sent the two of the Cherished Ones on a mission.

There is no iron fence; there are no rowan or peach trees to push back the evil that sneaks across the meadow. The pair swiftly make it to the wall of quartz the palace. The dark witches slip into one of the four streams that travel under the walls of the Queen’s dwelling. Like on the outside of the stronghold the courtyard is lined with Royal Lions. The witches stay low in the water and with the help of their concealing cloud, the lack of torches and their black skin they stay unseen. When they get to the middle of the courtyard, they quickly scan their surroundings. The winged lions are staying close to the palace walls. Making the last of the witches’ journey more effortless. They slowly make their way up the Water Dragon bridge to the platform that sits ten feet above their heads. They were expecting the portal to be guarded, but unfortunately, luck was on their side.

The duo stepped up to the naturally made portal. The liquid silver ball churns much like the Darkness does in her misty form. One of the dark sisters finally reaches out to the gateway to Earth. Three of her fingers disappear within the substance. Unlike when someone steps entirely through the portal when the witch pulls her fingers back silver liquid drips from them. This is how the Mystic’s gather the drop that is used in the Queen’s portal boxes. If the witches knew then what they find out later, they would have known that those fingers had all the Darkness needs to make it to Earth. This night is the first and last time any servant of the Darkness makes it close enough to touch the portal. As one they step through to the mountain that looks over the empty valley that will one day be called Saltville. Unknown to them the salt brine that lies under it will suppress its growth until the white men come. The two quickly find a small valley that is big enough to give the foul seed plenty of growing room. The two swiftly and quietly step back through the stable portal that will be weakened and finally lost due to the depletion of the minerals that are so plentiful at this time.

From the courtyard, the duo sneak back into the stream and back under the quartz palace’s walls. Instead of continuing they pull themselves into one of the four dark halls of the stronghold. No light fills the corridors, no alarm is raised because the quadlits do not live within the fortress yet. They silently climb the spiral stairs to the door of the Queen’s room. Softly the latch clicks. Below the Queen’s balcony, the closest lioness detects the faint noise. The young Royal Lion strains to catch more. She hears and feels the slightest shift of the Queen’s dress as she continues to pace on the balcony above.

The keen lioness knows there’s more. There are foul creatures amidst. They all scents them, but where could they be.

There that…

that came from above.

The lioness takes flight.

Is it too late?

Others follow her.

When Genevieve turns to go back into her room there before her are two unholy creatures, she has seen them before standing beside their mistress. Both have black leathery skin and inky eyes. The snarls that stretch across their dark faces reveals sharp ebony teeth under dry, cracked lips. They both hold sharp weapons and advance quickly. Just as the first knife pierces the Queen’s soft skin, the lioness peers over the railing and releases an ear-splitting roar that rattles the glass in the windows. The witches step back as the Queen falls to the ground holding her chest, black venom seeps through her fingers. The lioness step over the Queen blocking her from any more attacks.

The young lion attacks with her claws not quite daring to bite the foul things before her. One of the witches digs something out of her torn ragged clothes. From under her, the Winged Lion hears the young queen moan in pain. The witch rears back and throws the object she had retrieved. The lioness ducks. Unfortunately, the lion behind her doesn’t see it coming and doesn’t have time to dodge. The object collides with his face. He inhales in surprise and in doing so he ingests a mist that has exploded from the container. Almost instantly his fur beings to fall to the wooden floor. His skin and feathers seem to be swirling in blackness. His eyes deaden.

Here, the witch commands.

The once Royal Lion does as he’s told. When he is close, they both climb on his back.

Home, they cackle together. It is a sound that will not be heard in these walls again for thousands of years.

The helpless lion takes flight as the Queen’s door bursts open, and the Mystics float in followed by the only healer. The Queen lays on her back panting. The healer runs to his Queen’s side and pushes the reluctant lioness out of the way. When he moves the queen’s hand, he’s grateful to find that the injury is high on her shoulder. Then he notices the black veins slowly creeping across her chest. Heat radiates from her in waves. The Queen’s back arches and she screams through clenched teeth. The healer pours the contents of his bag onto the wooden floor. He hears his assistant enter the room.

This is all I know to do, he tells the Mystics.

Do what you must, if you do not, she will die when the black marks find her heart.

Stoke the fire, he yells to his son that assists him. He slides a rod across the floor. Heat it up. Then go get some strong drink.

More people fill the room. The healer looks up and sees a hand full of men that will become the first Highlanders.

He points at a small group.

You four come here. Grab Genevieve’s arms and legs.

He leans close to his Queen’s scared face.

I am sorry. I do not know anything else to do. I will be as fast as I can.

He looks at the injury again to find that the flesh around the open wound has turned completely black. Fear fills his heart; his hesitation is killing her. With now steady hands, he digs into her ruined flesh. Her screams fill the palace halls, but he continues to tear with his sharp knife. The queen grows quiet when her body finally passes out. It takes longer than he had hoped to reach pink flesh. He then turns to the contents on the floor and grabs a yellow object. Easily mistaken for a banana, he peels the plantain and places the inside of the skin into the wound.

With her free-flowing blood and the plantain skin, the black veins are pushed out of her body. Once the venom is sopped up, the healer takes the bottle his son has retrieved. He fills her gash with the drink then rolls the glowing rod inside her gaping wound. The smell of frying flesh permeates the room.

He places some aloe on her burn and dresses her wound. The four men who held her down now pick her up and put her on the bed. The lioness that protected her from further harm lays beside the Queen continuing her duty.

While the Queen rests and gathers her strength, the Mystics and the men of Grandel decide that the Queen must never be alone. From that day forward the Queen had a Winged Lion and a Protector by her side. It was also this night that the Highlander clan was born.

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Buried so long ago the seed laid quietly, and slowly it grew. All it had to feed on was sickness, famine, and hard winters. Until men came, and with them came death and mayhem.

The Woodland Indians were the first to arrive and to discover the richness of salt that laid in the soil. They lived here peacefully from 900 AD through the 1600s. It was in 1567 that food became plentiful for the dark child. Hernando Moyano, a Spanish explorer on the hunt for gold, brutally invaded the village. He not only brought death by weapons but diseases as well. By the end of the 1600s, the valley was abandoned by all humans. It wasn’t until the 1740’s that man returned.

In 1780 humans began pumping the salt brine from the ground, that is now called Saltville Virginia, they did not understand what they were doing. The pockets of salty water repressed the dark seed. After removing enough of the protective salt, the seed became more than a seed it became an embryo. This small being needed death, cruelty, hatred, and carelessness to feed it. So, it could grow big and healthy until it was called forth to cause the destruction that its maker needs.

It was in the eighteen hundreds that it first felt raw hatred and found out it could enhance people’s feelings. On September 26, 1864, Colonel Giltner of the Confederate Army, that occupied Saltville Virginia at the time was informed that the Union Army was on its way and with them was 600 dark skinned men. When the word spread through the ranks, there was a seed of hate that bloomed. The embryo grew stronger and stretched its consciousness further. The Union Army advanced during a brutal storm on the night of the 29th.  They dared to travel a narrow mountain pass in zero visibility. Many horses lost their footing and plunged into the ravine below. They lost eight men and even more horses.

The dark being feasted on this and had learned enough about man to know more was to come. On October 1st the Union Army had pushed Colonel Giltner’s men back almost into the town of Saltville. Instead of driving on, the Yankee Army stopped and camped. This ended up being a costly mistake. The rebels used this time to reorganize their vastly aged army and to have reinforcements arrive. As the embryo waited for its next meal, it again noted the hatred for the men with darker skin. It weaved through the tasty energy. It drank it in and wished it would heighten and as if asked, the energy did. It spread with each new person that was told who had come to confront them.

It was a crisp October morning on the 2nd when the final battle, of these armed forces, occurred for control of the salt brine wells. Unknowing clinging to each southern man was an invisible parasite that not only fed on them but also pushed their emotions to a murderous point.

The battle began at 10:00 am. Robert Ratliff of the Union Army and his Brigade started their advance. At their side, dismounted, was the 5th United States Colored Calvary, 12th Ohio Calvary, and the 11th Michigan Calvary. Some of the Souths soldiers came out from their temporary sheals and physically attacked the men of 5th USCC with their pistols. There were few colored men taken prisoner during the battle. The blind hatred wasn’t only for the dark-skinned men, but for the white men that stood side by side with them. The dark child pushed the Confederate to the point that logic was lost. One of the Union soldiers were struck in the head by a southern sharpshooter. The man that did the killing walked up to the corps and poured salt into the wound he had made while saying.

There, you came for some salt, now take some.

The Union Army thought that they were going to push the Confederate Army from Saltville, but that changed when three more cavalry units arrived to aid the South. The Union Armies were forced to retreat leaving their wounded and dead behind. Several of the severely wound from the 5th USCC tried to withdraw as well for they had seen enough to know that their fate in the hands of Rebels would be horrible.

On October 3rd a fog had crept over the surrounding mountains of Saltville. Several soldiers were awakened by fresh gunfire. They swiftly rose from their beds and went to aid their fellow soldiers thinking that the Union Army had returned. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of a massacre. The ones that were the most susceptible to the embryo’s wants had flooded the battlefield from the day before and were executing white and dark-skinned men. The few that were taken prisoner on the 2nd were found at a field hospital their fate was the same as the others. Most of these men, once away from Saltville, VA couldn’t believe what they had done. There was one that had been pushed to madness by the dark child, Champ Ferguson. He had a friend that was more like family to him that had gone to the Yankee side and also stood on the battlefield. Ferguson sought him out. He found Lieutenant Elza C. Smith in one of the hospital beds barely conscious. Ferguson lifted his gun and pulled the trigger three times before it finally discharged and ended Smith’s life. Ferguson was the only one to pay for the murders. October 20th, 1865 he was hung for his crimes, for when he left Saltville what the hidden child had put in his heart never died.

It ate…

It grew…

In the early 1900s, it finds that it can flex itself and move the crust above it. It finds, with the help of humanity’s greediness and carelessness of stripping the Earth of its minerals below and its plant-life above, it can cause destruction in the streets of Saltville. It causes mudslides, sinkholes and it even derails a train.

It eats…

It grows…

In the year of 1917, a tornado rips through Saltville causing damage and loss of life.

It eats…

It grows…

The dark creature reached out on December 24, 1924 and finds a man that had lost his job. It pushed his fury, and on Christmas Eve the man blows up the companies muck dam. A lime sludge wave a hundred feet high and three hundred feet wide slid into the small valley that the embryo called home. The flood hit the almost empty, community of Palmertown full force. One of the many homes that were below the dam was having a Christmas party. The sludge submerged the house, and some of the attendees lost their lives. Nineteen were killed that day, of those, eleven were under the age of thirteen.

A group of townsmen suffered chemical burns while rescuing the few that lived and retrieving the bodies of the ones that didn’t. They receive scars that will forever remind them of that horrid day.

The alkaline mix contaminates the ground and a nearby stream. The dark child now has decades of food. Not only is the surrounding land damaged, but it afflicted the town itself. From that point until present day, the people of Saltville have been riddled with a multitude of illnesses. The debris and chemicals were swept down the North Fork River affecting many towns and an uncounted amount of people due to eating the fish that were killed by the chemicals.

It feeds and feeds.

It grows and grows.

The dark child spreads into abandon mines filling them and shifting the earth around them. A hole opened under the North Fork River at 2:00 pm on October 14th, 1947. The river disappeared for thirty-nine hours while it filled the mine.

It feeds and feeds and feeds.

It grows and grows and grows.

People hurt people. People hurt themselves. People damage and slowly kill the Earth. Pain, hate, death, and devastation nourishes the dark being that hides under the feet of the town.

It feeds.

It grows.

It searches for its next meal and finds it at Northwood High Schools football field. Sounds of people cheers, shouting and laughter drifts down to the part of it that sits there. It pushes upward and feels a little dirt fall from above.

1

She's Losing the Battle

Grandel Isle

Marcus

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An eighteen-year-old Marcus lays in his room listening to his mother’s thoughts. Every night he hears her struggle with the beckoning charred part of her that the Darkness touched. She locked it up when she and his father were young. When his father was here, she was able to keep it locked away with him healing her every couple of days. He had been the only one that could.

The Spirit Dragons can heal physical wounds, but the barrier takes a Queen’s life force. To repair her Brandon gives Jacklyn part of his life force. His body replaces his, but it takes time.

It was after his father had to leave that the inner barrier started breaking down. Brandon had to take Marcus’ twin sisters to Earth. Even though Jacklyn was healthy, the barrier still wanted to collect the twin’s life force. He had tried to keep all three of them healthy, but it was slowly killing him. Brandon’s body couldn’t replace what he was giving away so quickly. His dad tried to hide it from his wife, but with their connection, he found it impossible. As much as Brandon wanted to stay and as much as Jacklyn didn’t want him and her girls to leave, they both knew it was impossible for them to stay.

It had been a hard thing to watch and feel. The fear and heartache that had filled both of his parents had been crushing. Marcus had felt what they shared every second of every day. He felt how every touch, every whisper would stir in them something that he, at the age of six had not understood. He felt the feelings in each of them grow as they both felt what was inside the other. There were tears and silent agony as they tried to tear away from each other.

Uncle Steven, Waterlily, and Tessteel had stood a few yards away with the boys. Marcus remembers while holding onto Steven’s leg, being bombarded with things he didn’t understand.  Thomas had been in Waterlily’s arms. She had helped bring him into the world, and it had created a bond between them.

Waterlily, tell Daddy not to go, Thomas had said over and over through his tears. He had been five at the time.

Their father had spoken to them both about why he had to leave and that they had to be big boys and help their mother any way they could. He had talked to them beforehand because he knew taking that one small step would the hardest thing he ever had to do.

Uncle William had the girls standing by the portal. They too had been crying. Marcus had felt that all they understood is that they were being torn from their mother.

When their father had finally pulled away from Jacklyn, he took the girls. As they disappeared into the portal, they had screamed hysterically for their mother. She had made a few hurried steps to them, but William had grabbed her.

I can’t do this, she screamed and went to the ground unable to stand with the unthinkable loss bearing down on her. William’s arms stayed around her and for the briefest of moments, Marcus felt something come from him that he’d only felt from his parents before.

His mother’s despair blinded him to all other emotions that were raging on that platform. That was when Marcus’ tears finally came. The sight of his mother so broken, so lost, he had known he was supposed to be a big boy, but it was too much.

Since that day, Marcus has watched his mother wither away from the loss of them. Marcus and Thomas, try to do what they can, but with the barrier draining her, there wasn’t much they could do. Unlike their father, they don’t have strong healing powers. Marcus can hear the thoughts of others and communicate with others like himself. He can also talk to the dragon’s that fill their world. Marcus can do this over great distances and has been able to help his father more than once with this ability.

Thomas can hear only people and speak to people that are close to him, but he received the gift to heal minor wounds. The stronger of the twins, Abigale, can communicate with the family and feels everything’s emotional state from human to the smallest blade of grass. This makes life hard for her. She had been learning how to block much of it out, but for the ones she wants to feel. Her training started at the age of two by the time she turned three she was getting good at it, but at times she still got overrun. When this happens, she finds refuge with her twin sister, Silencia. The only ability that she has ever shown is the skill to keep all things out. So, when Abigale reaches out to her sister, all things grow quiet, and she can gather her strength.

The sound of wings approaching his window makes Marcus glance up from his bed.

Where have you been, he asks the bulky dragon that is trying to squeeze through the already widened balcony window.

You need a room on the bottom floor, she complains not for the first time.

Yes, you have told me this before.

Well, apparently, I did not get through to you the first time.

There is nothing I can do about it. They think it is too dangerous for the family to be on the first floor.

Tessteel continues to grumble as she wiggles through.

I will tell them to make it bigger, Marcus says getting up and standing at his full height. He is built much like his father tall, strong, and solid. His siblings took after their mother fragile looking on the outside, but powerful on the inside.  You did not answer where have you been?

You know full well where I have been. I have felt you on and off all day. The dragon makes her way to the area that has her bedding. She stops and looks at the blonde shaggy-headed boy that she would give her life to save.

It was just enough to make sure you were alright, not to spy.

I know, she says with a sigh. This is not going to work much longer.

Marcus steps closer to her.

I know, I am working on it. You could sleep elsewhere you know.

Marcus sees a flash of anger in her jade eyes. Her irritation also fills his head.

That is not an option. My purpose of being here is you. You of all people know that.

When Marcus had only been an infant his father, Steven and William had killed a horrifying creature of the Darkness’ making. They had used the five Dragon Relics of the five different dragons that dwelled on or around Grandel. When the monster was destroyed in a bright blast of dragon magic, and with a piece of every kind of dragon, a multi-colored egg had been created. From the moment of its creation, Marcus could hear her inside.

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The egg was taken and was given to Everlyn to watch over. Everlyn had placed the egg into the bed of her lost daughter, Truly. Marcus quickly discovered that he could speak to the small life inside. He and Tessteel would secretly communicate through the night, keeping his father and brother out.

One night when Marcus was just short of his sixth birthday, Tessteel told him she wanted out of the egg, but she could not until he found a way to her. The next day Marcus started looking for a way out of the palace to her. The egg was under constant supervision by dragons and Royal Lions. His father would visit the egg every day trying to communicate with what was inside.