Lord of Fire, Lord of Wind

By Jeffrey Lyman

A monarchy deposed. A city besieged. It is whispered in the streets that the salvation of the people lies in the chosen one…in royal blood. They lay their hope on Rhex, their warrior prince, returned from exile wielding the power of a FireLord. But how brightly does his flame burn? Even as he retakes the city, the winds of war howl at his

• Language: English
• Publisher: eSpec Books
• Release date: Nov 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942990277

Jeffrey Lyman

Jeffrey Lyman is an engineer in the New York City area. His work has appeared in the anthologies Sails and Sorcery from Fantasist Enterprises, New Blood from Padwolf Publishing, and Breach the Hull, So It Begins, By Other Means, Best Laid Plans, and Dragon's Lure from Dark Quest Books. He was co-editor of No Longer Dreams and all four volumes of the award-winning Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series. He is a 2004 graduate of the Odyssey Writing School, and won 2nd place in the fourth quarter of the 27th Annual Writers of the Future Award.

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Lord of Fire, Lord of Wind

Jeffrey Lyman

eSpec Books, LLC

Stratford, NJ

PUBLISHED BY

eSpec Books LLC

Danielle McPhail, Publisher

PO Box 493,

Stratford, New Jersey 08084

www.especbooks.com

Copyright ©2015 Jeffrey Lyman

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-942990-27-7

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

All persons, places, and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Cover and Interior Design: Sidhe na Daire Multimedia

www.sidhenadaire.com

Cover Art Credits:

Woman at Hell’s door dramatic background © Netfalls - Remy Musser

Lord of Fire and Lord of Wind

Jeffrey Lyman

Are you coming? Marretta took a step into the room. The King’s to be hanged in a bit. You must be so excited.

Juliana Farrion knelt before a fire-shrine in her bedroom, burning incense sticks in a small, gold-colored brazier. I’ll be along. Don’t wait for me.

All your praying worked, Maretta said. I still can’t believe your brother’s returned.

Juliana didn’t respond.

Then good day, Princess. Maretta did her best imitation of a deep curtsy, a grin splitting her face. She slipped away down the hall.

Please, Great Tareen, Juliana whispered after the door closed, Let the King die in pain. Let my brother be victorious and let the city stand strong. And accept that my punishment is enough and remember your brand in my skin.

She touched the Teneki branded into her forehead, feeling the raised ridges of Tareen’s sacred sign.

She had been branded on her sixteenth birthday, six years ago, in the traditional naming ceremony. The fire priest used a finely tooled, gold brand. She had been the princess in truth then, the only daughter of Royal House Farrion. Her eldest brother, Kal, was murdered two years ago with her father during the regicide. Her younger brother, Rhex, had escaped into exile. She had been left behind.

Rhex would hang the usurping King Firemaster today. He would inflict an Air-Death instead of an honorable Fire-Death.

Juliana turned her eyes up at the small statues of the Stone God and the Water God mounted above her fire-shrine. Great Anaster, Great Solack, if my affront was to you, please accept my apologies and let my punishment end. There was a space at the end of the shelf where the Wind God usually stood.

She stood and carefully drew her only nice dress from a cedar chest. She had sold her other dresses one by one, trying to keep out of a place like this. But two years was a long time without allies, and she had ended up in one of the city’s pleasure houses just like many other ladies after the coup. She survived, but little more than that.

Then the neighboring country of Sice Analla invaded with Wind magic. City after city fell and King Firemaster couldn’t stop the advance. Twice the Oblon army was routed.

Then Prince Rhex returned from exile leading an army and wielding Fire Magic. A FireLord. Her brother was a FireLord! He broke through the siege of Karsa and rescued the city.

Today he would hang King Firemaster. Tomorrow he would burn the Sice Anallans and their WindLord.

Juliana’s dress was deep red. It covered her from throat to wrists to ankles. Back when she was princess, she would never have worn something so traditional. But sweet memories of opulent dresses in the palace had been destroyed by obscene dresses in the pleasure house. She tugged a bone-comb through her hair, and then tied the curls back so that her brand was revealed. So that the royal inks tattooed into the brand were revealed. She was proud of her brother.

Everyone in the front hall dropped to their knees when she emerged from her