The Moon Chronicles

By Stephanie E. Chambers

The land of Kraal has been under the influence of a dark lord for 3000 years. Lumaris is a farmers daughter and sees herself as just that. On her fourteenth birthday, however, everything changes. She is the only human in her world that can perform magic and so is the only one to save it. With an elf and immortal mercenary by her side, she travels the world she never knew training for the prophecized battle. Along the way, she discovered about the origins of her powers and what the real evil deeds of the tyrant are...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469144016

Stephanie E. Chambers

Stephanie Chambers was born in Topeka, Kansas and lived in Florida for the first three years. When she moved back to Kansas, she idolized her family and wanted to be like them in different aspects. Her mother was smart and her sister taught her how to be a good person. Her father, however, had the biggest impact with his reading three to four books a week. Steph saw that he did it so much, she wanted to do the same thing. She was so determined that she learned her ABC’s faster than the other children in Kindergarten. Her favorite book genre has always been fantasy and now she writes her own magic.

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Copyright © 2012 by Stephanie E. Chambers.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011963615

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4691-4400-9

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4691-4399-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4691-4401-6

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Contents

Prologue

1—Lumaris

2—The Magickers’ Secret

3—Caviler

4—The Catacombs

5—The Hunt Begins

6—Night of Magic

7—Escape to Dragon Mountain

8—A New Mission

9—Dragon’s Bone yard

10—Into the Black Lands

11—At the Gate of the Den

12—Alliance

13—Tying up Loose Ends

14—Face to Face

15—Winter’s Longing

16—Spring’s Gift

17—The Final Goodbyes

18—That Which is the Gods’

19—Mother meets Daughter

20—The Trials of the Mist

21—The Golden Blade of Legend

22—Janal’s Light

23—Birthday Wishes

24—Truth and Lies

25—Nathan

26—In Chazzera

27—Mt. Hondouju Looms

28—To the End

Prologue

Here, in the Land of Kraal, many races exist. The Elves, human-like creatures with the grace, stealth, and speed of the animals they live in the forests with. They live in both the light and the dark. The Dragons, great reptilian beasts of the elements who keep to themselves in secluded areas, and the great southern mountains named after them. The demons, fierce beings who serve only the darkness. They can take the shape of any living creature they choose and deceive many.

Then there are the humans. A rapidly growing population that knows nothing of magic. Their system of classes, moving up by fortune or marriage, provokes many wars between their kin. Those who live outside villages and away from the class system are peaceful people, their families the only socialization in their daily lives.

When they do go into the villages, everyone knows who they are. For it is these people who provide the essential crops of the land. The farmers are always treated kindly by every race, even those who live in shadow. Such people know about the uses of magic, but are, alas, still unable to use it themselves.

As of now, Kraal is under the influence of a dark lord. His true name is not known, nor said for fear of his endless magic seeking one’s life. He is simply called Malesh—the Elvin word for malice.

He rules from atop Mt. Hondouju, the tallest mountain in the world. His minions—dark Elves, the most veracious and bloodthirsty demons, mercenary humans—all work for him in plain sight, but their identities are unknown.

The people cowered before Malesh and gave in to save themselves. The Elves who would not follow him were either slaughtered or fled into hiding to their hidden capital. The Dragons were ferocious in their resistance, but their numbers were soon reduced to a small fraction. The hoards of the slain stolen and unprotected eggs smashed with the unborn inside killed.

Yet, there is a legend. A legend about a human known only to the non-human races—Magickers. A very different human with the mark of the moon who will change history and unite the broken land under the light.

It is said that a human will be born as the mother’s breath is done. A peaceful human with the graceful skills of an Elvin swordsman, the cunning nature of a demon, as secretive as a Dragon, and a great Magicker.

The Human Magicker will seek out the Dragons in their mountains to train in the secret arts of magic. Find the Elves’ hidden capital of Torr and sharpen its fighting skills. Sneak into the Living Forest to face the Gods and take the Golden Blade of Legend. The final task of the Human Magicker . . . .to defeat Malesh and rule the land of Kraal.

I, Halos, have searched the land for over 3000 years for the Human Magicker. In all my wanderings, I have been named a wanderer by the humans and an outcast by my people. Only the farmers know my true identity as an Elf. For I believe the Human Magicker will be born in my time. The great warrior must be found as a child to be raised to fulfill the ultimate purpose.

But with each passing year, my hope for the birth of the Human Magicker, dies a little more. Where is the legendary warrior? I pray to the gods to guide me to the warrior, but not a sign. For a legend among the Magickers is never just a story.

Part One

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To the Dragon Mountains

1—Lumaris

The harvest season was coming. In only four more days, the God of the Earth would emerge from the Living Forest and bless the crops with his magic. The young farmer girl stopped working the grain bed to wipe the sweat from her eyes and look at the forest half a mile behind her home. It was only a mere legend that the gods actually existed inside the Living Forest, and she found it hard to believe.

The Living Forest was—as the name implied—just as alive as she. Trees moved on their own at their will. Vines ensnared anyone they chose, some were let go to return home. Usually her brothers to see how far they could go into the woods. They never made it past ten feet. The rumors went on to say that the gods walked and slept among the trees, their celestial presence giving them the power to move. They used the forest as their earthly home, but refused to be seen by mortal eyes. The farmers had told that story because they heard it from the Elves and demons who traded with them.

But there was no description of the gods, or the sword hidden within.

Hey, you’re not working! I’m telling Dad!

The girl’s black hair swung as she turned to her younger brother. No, wait! Too late he was already running off to the house. Brat. She got back to work on the field.

When she came home that night for dinner, her father was waiting for her. Ender was a tall broad man with a strong build, rough hands from working the land, and a bronze tan from being outside all day. His hair was as black as his daughter’s, but much better cared for. His brown eyes were a little big in proportion to his face, they saw everything that happened on his farm. Lumaris, I heard that you slacked off in your job in the grain beds today.

Father, I will admit that at one point in the afternoon, I did stop working. I only did so to wipe the sweat from my face and catch my breath. Lumaris told him without fear, for she hardly kept anything from him. Hanri does not understand about needing to stop and rest while working.

Ender made a triangle with his hands as he leaned forward on the table. I see. Hanri is only six years old and has a lot of energy. You will be excused of this until I check the field tomorrow morning. Help your stepmother with dinner.

Lumaris bent her knees in a small bow to her father and entered the kitchen. Her small stepmother who was six months pregnant with her second child was busy singing to herself as she stirred a big pot. Hello, Karina. What may I help you with?

Karina stopped singing and turned around. Oh hello Lumaris. I would be so delighted if you would make your mother’s special sauce for the meat. Her red hair, though damp with sweat from the heat of the kitchen, framed her perfect face beautifully. She had full lips, flawless skin, and the most gorgeous sea blue eyes Lumaris had ever seen. Karina had come from a noble’s family in the nearby town, but had always been a great joy around the farm.

Nobles were the highest class in the villages. All their riches gave them the right to be above the law most of the time. They were, to most, corrupt people and they used their riches to get everything they wanted, even other people. Karina came from the richest family in the village, they never said a word about her marrying a farmer. Instead they spread a rumor that a demon had kidnapped her in the dead of night with no trace of where they had gone. Luckily, no one believed it.

Lumaris had liked her on sight. Karina’s sister was with her that day and had tried to scare her off, something about getting dirt on her new dress. Karina, however, had smiled at Lumaris and bought her a loaf of bread. When Lumaris mentioned that she was a farmer’s daughter, Karina had said it was important to return her to her father. Ender and Karina had hit it off from the start. Since then, Ender had gone to the town everyday, even without business, in hopes of seeing her again. It was two months later they were married and Karina moved to the farm with the family.

As Lumaris put the herbs into her mother’s recipe, she began thinking again. Karina, have you ever seen anything past the Gods’ River? I’ve heard so many tales from Father and the travelers at the tavern.

Karina made an understanding sound. Once again her stepdaughter was curious about the outside world beyond the river a mile from the village. I have only once. I went to a town called Caviler. It is said to be the hometown of Malesh’s mercenaries in this area, but when I went there everyone was happy and peaceful. There was more trade than in Janal and though there were less inns they were much bigger. Caviler was a wonderful place to visit. She moved the big pot of stew to the small table in the center of the kitchen to cool. I stayed in the Torr Tavern Inn. It’s a grand white four-storied inn with gold trim around the door and windows. The food there was rumored to be copied from Elvin recipes.

Lumaris sputtered as she put the sauce on the wood oven to boil. Copied from Elvin recipes? Not possible. Elvin food cannot be matched by human hands, even if they were to be taught how to make it. You know that from the Elves that come here to pick up apples from the Living Forest every summer. She covered the pot and helped her stepmother with the fox meat roasting in the kitchen chimney.

So they’ve said. I have never had food prepared by Elves. What about you? Karina asked with a gleam in her eye.

Lumaris sighed. No, but Father has. I never thought to ask him. They both took the fox meat off the open fire and slipped it off the spit and onto a pan. Maybe we can ask him at dinner.

No, I will ask him after dinner. I don’t want Hanri to throw a fit of never having Elvin food. Karina laughed. Lumaris soon joined her before the sauce boiled loudly.

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During dinner, Lumaris’ two older brothers reported the state of the vegetable garden and the two horses they owned; their jobs while still living on the farm. Hanri proudly told everyone how he helped his mom clean the house and delivered the lunches. Lumaris decided not to say that he had dropped her lunch in an ant hill when he turned to tattle on her and she had to go hungry.

Ender had gone to Janal that day and was grinning. It did not go unnoticed by his wife though. Dear, why are you so happy? Did something good happen in town today?

Lumaris watched her father’s eyes light up. She knew that something great happened in town today. Especially when Ender chuckled and rubbed his hands together. Karina, I was approached by a horse breeder in town. He had seen Axel, and asked if we could bring him in to breed with a prized broodmare. He says that he will pay us handsomely if all goes well, plus he wanted to buy a few of our crops during the time of the Harvest Market.

Everyone exclaimed happily and Hanri led them in an applause all around. That’s great Father! That means more feed for the horses! The elder of Lumaris’ brothers said.

Yes, Trendon and Axel will just love it! Lumaris added her voice. Dinner was eaten in toasting to luck and good fortune that night.

As Lumaris settled into her bed up in the loft with her siblings that night, she overheard her father and stepmother talking. Ender, Lumaris and I got to talking about Elvin food while in the kitchen. She mentioned that you had Elvin food before.

That I have. Its taste is so good, so sweet, so heavenly that I had forgotten all my troubles with the farm at the time. It was when Lumaris was just born and an Elf stayed to help me take care of her until she could walk on her own. Ender’s deep voice said. She was beautiful, but then all Elves are. Lumaris fell in love with her right away, like a second mother. She left in the middle of the night so she wouldn’t throw a fit about it. Lumaris has been a big help ever since.

So she knew about your previous wife? Karina asked sadly.

Somehow yes. She would sing to Lumaris in the Elvin language, teach her what things were, sometimes she even took Lumaris out to the Living Forest. Lumaris gasped. She had never heard that before. She had been in the Living Forest?

She what? Karina worded her surprised.

I didn’t believe the first time myself, but Lumaris came back alive and intact. The Elf protected her, took her no further than the threshold. They were always in sight. Heh heh, the Elf always told me that Lumaris would play with the blades of grass, never getting cut, and the occasional butterfly that passed by. Told me to keep a good eye on her, make sure that she was safely hidden away here at the farm.

You mean you were told to keep her at the farm? Karina was silent for a moment. Why?

She never said why. Just told me to keep Lumaris out where she could be exposed to magic. Just a hunch of hers. Only left a warning when she went back to Torr.

What warning? Lumaris strained her ears to listen to her father’s quiet voice.

‘Word travels fast in the towns. If He should find interest in your daughter, she will be hunted. Do not despair though, there is a friend searching for her. Keep your eyes peeled for the outcast of my people.’ I don’t understand her words to this day. The only Elves I’ve seen have traveled in pairs or a group. I haven’t heard anything for the past 12 years since she left. Ender sounded too cautious, as though he knew something.

Lumaris began to wonder about her life. What her father said explained why he never took her into town until the Harvest Market. A time when gossip was unanimously shunned by everyone, even the nobles. A precious time when the farmers sold their crops and livestock. The guards were only there to catch pickpockets and prevent fighting over merchandise. Every other time of the year she was kept at home, her father making one excuse or another. Her brothers were free to come and go as they pleased, but she was never allowed.

So tomorrow night, when her father would go to the tavern for his weekly visit, she would follow him.

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Lumaris had passed her father’s inspection of the grain field. So when she finished them, she set to work on checking the irrigation channels from the local spring. One channel was blocked. That meant going all the way to the border of her father’s land and the Living Forest. Usually she had to go and tell her father about it, but she decided to check it out herself this time.

The ground grew softer and softer as she neared the forest. The autumn grass became greener and greener. The cool air more and more comfortable, like spring. She should have been a little frightened at the unnatural change, but she wasn’t.

The spring was a perfectly rounded pool, the blue surface reflected the sky above. She saw the channel her father had dug years ago before she was born. There was something blocking it alright, a tree root. She puzzled at the fact before her eyes. Now how did you get there? She reached out and touched the root.

The root jerked out of the way under her fingers. Lumaris yelped and jumped back. She looked up at a low rumbling sound and saw the great elm tree the root belonged to moving into the forest away from the spring. Her heart thudded in her ribs as she backed away.

The tree stopped and settled. Lumaris just sat there staring, her mouth agape. She shook her head to clear it and scrambled to her feet. Well, clearly the channel was no longer blocked. She had no reason to stay.

Lumaris… A voice whispered in the air.

She looked around. There was no one present.

Lumaris… The leaves rustled.

Terrified, she turned and ran, the voice calling her name once again. Lumaris!

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She never told her father what happened. She merely reported that one of the channels had been blocked by an animal. Though she felt bad about lying to her father, she couldn’t tell him that she had gone to the forest. She was unusually quiet after her report at dinner. Only Karina noticed.

Lumaris. She stopped her before she went up to change for bed. You were awful quiet at dinner. Is something wrong?

No. Lumaris lied though she smiled. I’m just tired is all.

Well then, better get a good rest for tomorrow. It’s not everyday a bright young girl turns fourteen. Karina hugged her and gave a kiss to her stepdaughter’s night black hair. Sweet dreams, Luna.

Lumaris smiled at her nickname. Karina had called her that since she was little. It was because she was named for the night she was born, a full moon. In fact, the night of her birthday was a full moon every year because it was the Festival of the Moon God in Janal.

While her family went to enjoy it, Lumaris would stay home and spend time with Trendon and Axel out in the field. The silver-blue light would bathe the world and give it a magical quality like no other. Lumaris never minded that she had to stay home. She probably wouldn’t have liked the bright colors and frantic activity of the village. She much enjoyed the playful moods of the horses as they acted like young colts and the company of the small wild animals.

While Lumaris’ brothers all slept away, she listened for the creak of the front door. When it came she quickly, but quietly, snuck to the window. It was a cloudy night, so the light of the nearly full moon did not disturb the boys as she snuck onto the thick branch outside.

The night was dark with few patches of light. One such patch was her father’s lantern. Lumaris half-climbed half-slipped down the oak and followed the path a safe distance behind her father.

Ten minutes later, Ender came to the thick wooden gate of Janal. Lumaris hid in the tall shrubs on either side. She held her breath as her father looked in her direction, then her heart calmed as he didn’t see her. He knocked on the gate.

A panel opened up and an old man’s voice said, Why Ender! Come for your weekly visit to the tavern, I see. How is your family?

They are great as always, Pulo. My wife and boys are looking forward to tomorrow’s festival. Ender responded while chuckling.

The panel closed and the gate swung open. Lumaris knew she would be spotted by her father and Pulo, the kind but loyal to his job gatekeeper, if she followed. She hadn’t planned on this obstacle. She hit the thick wall surrounding the village as the gate closed. Blunder hole! She cursed, though she wouldn’t tell her father that she had picked up her brothers’ colorful language. She hissed as it locked behind her father. She went up to the gate and stood on her tip toes to push the panel open. Thinking of how much better she would see if she were taller.

From what she could see, her father walked down the path until she could barely see him and then turned into a building. A pair of sharp brown eyes came into view and she jumped back. Wanting in the village are you? Pulo asked suspiciously.

Lumaris stood up and dusted herself off. Since he knew her from the Harvest Market every year, she disguised her voice as a young woman. Hello sir, I am searching for the town of Janal.

This is Janal. What manner of business do you have here?

Is it? I heard that you have a moon festival here. My family has allowed me to attend it this year. Do you know of any inns with available rooms?

Aye, but why would a stranger come to attend the festival? You-know-who don’t allow anyone to travel between towns without official business. Pulo made a hissing sound through his teeth, but not in a threatening way.

Lumaris licked her lips and thought of something else. You are right sir. I am a runaway. I come from Caviler across the river. My family’s house was overrun by the guards because they suspected my father of a crime most foul. He told me to seek out shelter in Janal. He will send for me as soon as possible. It was too quiet as Pulo mulled it over. She hoped she sounded convincing.

The panel snapped shut. Lumaris exhaled sharply, then she heard the lock undone. The gate swung open and she stepped inside.

Pulo closed the gate behind her. You will do well to keep quiet about this. Should you give yourself away to the guards once they hear of your father’s crime, no one here will stand between them and you. Everyone sticks to their own business in Janal. He pointed straight down the street. Down that way on your left, the Soaring Empress. You’ll know it by the silver Dragon painted on the front. They have rooms aplenty.

Lumaris thanked Pulo with the same bow that she usually gave her father when she was dismissed and forced herself to walk down the path at an unrushed pace. She felt strangely crowded as she walked down the street. She knew only this one street since this was where the Harvest Market was held. The Soaring Empress was where her father took the family to eat for lunch, so she knew where she was going.

The inn had a splendid bar that served great food. Their roasted goose meat was the best. Also, because she would go in there to deliver the herbs her stepmother grew in their garden, she was known by the owner. She was careful to keep the hood of her cloak low over her eyes as she walked through the door and took a seat in the shadows by the fireplace.

Her father was at the bar in his usual place. He would sit there even during the family’s lunches at the market. She was relieved that this time his back was to her. So Ender, is it really sixteen years ago tomorrow that you lost your first wife? The bartender and owner asked. Shame that daughter of yours died with her.

Mm-hmm. That little orphan you took on as your own is fourteen as of tomorrow. One of the drinkers said with a smile.

Lumaris raised a brow. What did they say? His first wife died sixteen years ago? What little orphan he took in?

Yes, nothing but a babe when I found her. Drinking from the spring by the Living Forest. Nearly taken by the vines when I arrived. Ender sipped his beer. Such a sweet girl, I don’t understand how she came to be without a family of her own. Wandering around starving.

She’s becoming quite the beautiful girl, I’d be surprised if the noble boys didn’t look twice at her.

Yeah, there ain’t no better catch than a farmer’s daughter! A very drunk man cheered.

Lumaris blushed. She had never been told that she was beautiful. Her hair was always damp with sweat from when she worked in the field, her face was always covered in dust and dirt from working with the crops and horses, and she always found her bright blue eyes a big contrast compared to her night black hair and lightly tanned skin. Her hands were rough, not soft and silky like Karina’s.

So how could they call her beautiful?

The door swung open and banged against the wall drawing everyone’s attention. There stood a tall thin man with a blue cloth tied around his head covering half his ears. He wore a little bit of tattered clothes and travel worn boots. His dark eyes found the empty table near Lumaris’ and he took a seat.

From all their exposure to the world of magic, Lumaris and Ender knew the man was an Elf on sight. Quite an ancient Elf from the look in his eyes too. Why would an Elf come into