Shadow of the Scrolls: Arcadia

By Erik Schubach

Shadow of the Scrolls is a "new adult" spinoff series from the Techromancy Scrolls. These short novellas follow Misty, Ingr, and Shanicia as they get into misadventures as they navigate the transition from teen to adult.

The girls escort Shanicia to the Outlands for another meeting with the Junior Regiment in Arcadia, the fledgling realm across the Uninhabitable Lands to the northwest. They are tasked to ferry the former Great Mother, their Gramma Ranelle home after they complete their business there.

Once they arrive at the camp of the new Arcadius Mountain Gypsy band, they find Rain is not there, so Misty goes with a guide from the mysterious Tree Walkers of Arcadia to meet with the errant Gypsy.

Old enemies abound and secrets are revealed, as the threat exposed reveals the fragility of life, even for one as powerful as Misty.

It seems that the Junior Templar follows in her mother's footsteps when it comes to stumbling into trouble in a world where magic and technology collide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erik Schubach
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005745929

Erik Schubach

I got my start writing romance novels by accident. I have always been drawn to strong female characters in books, like Honor Harrington. And I also believe that there is a lack of LGBT characters in media. So one day I came up with a story idea that combines the two... two days later I completed the manuscript for Music of the Soul.My writing style may not be the most professional nor grammatically correct, but I never profess to be an English major, just a person that wants to share a story. I maintain that my primary language is sarcasm.Each of my books features strong likeable female characters that are flawed. I think that flaws and emotional or physical scars make us human and give us more character than simply conforming to some "social norm".I have also started a SciFi series, The Valkyrie Chronicles which features a Valkyrie, Kara, who was left behind on Earth five thousand years ago to help the Asgard race escape the onslaught of the Ragnarok horde. With the aid of a human, Kate, she holds the line in battle to herald the return of the Asgard!If you like magic, paranormal romance and witches, then my new series Fracture might tickle your fancy. In the first book Fracture: Divergence, Alex King must stop magic from destroying reality. The problem is that Alex must solve the case in parallel universes where in one Alex is male and female in the other.There is even a modern shapeshifter paranormal series, Drakon. Featuring a fiery Irish woman with a sharp wit and sharper temper who finds out she is a dragon of legend.

Book preview

Shadow of the Scrolls: Arcadia

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2021 by Erik Schubach

Published by Erik Schubach on Smashwords

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Art © 2021 A. Pavlov/Triff Depositphotos.com licenses

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

FIRST EDITION

Chapter 1 - Hectic

I twisted through the market, armed men and women in pursuit as I called out, Get back here you little scamps! People were parting the way as I dashed past and into the alley between the multi-story buildings of the Belt in Wexbury Keep. There were gasps of concern and shock from vendors and patrons in the crowd as those pursuing us called for them to make a hole, weapons raised high.

Following a laugh, I caught a glimpse of a fluttering cloak taking a sharp left into a cross alley. Oh no, they don't, this is my old stomping ground. Back when I was just Misty Cobbler, serf of the realm, before my mothers fostered me, before the war, and before our new dual governed society of Altii and the People... the Mountain Gypsies and the Realms of Sparo – the lands of hope.

These back alleys and the Belt I knew better than most, having played knights in them until the day Lady Laney, Techno-Knight of Wexbury, noticed me and asked if I would join her family, her house. I leapt up onto a barrel and dove to somersault onto an awning which bobbed with my weight so much more than when I had been a little girl.

With another leap I grabbed a banner pole that used to have a pennant hanging from it, pointing down the alley, proclaiming Violet's Restaurant was at the end of the alley. It was one of the two actual sit-down restaurants in the Belt. Times have changed as there were more multistory buildings now and six restaurants now that people come from all the realms to Wexbury and the Dig to witness the glory of the Penny Library. All the accumulated knowledge of the Wizards of the Before, prior to the Great Impact, tore the moon asunder and almost wiped out all life on Earth thousands of years back.

Using my momentum and tucking in to aid my rotation, I flung myself up to land lightly on the railing of Mrs. Tanner's balcony. Then I swung myself up to the next balcony using the clotheslines she had stretched across the alley to the next building. Using the clotheslines from the next balcony up, I swung around and released near my apex and... almost fell back to the cobbled alley when I realized I wasn't as light nor lithe as I had been when I was a forty-three-pound girl. I slammed into the roof parapet and had to scrabble to grab the edge.

Looking down as my heart pounded in my chest, I smirked at the half dozen armed pursuers looking up and pointing as they yelled out to me, then yanked, pulling myself over the parapet to do a roll onto the roof, and kept running.

I could taste not only their frustration through my magic spark, but could also taste the tangy magics of another pursuer just ahead of me, shadowing my targets like it was child's play... how did she get ahead of me?

I sighed heavily and leapt over the next alley landing in a roll on the lower roof beyond, nostalgic memories of me doing this exact move a dozen times or more in my old life. A figure in a cloak was standing stoically, already looking down expectantly at my destination. I narrowed an eye at her as she raised her gaze to see me coming right at her. Then I came to a skidding halt beside her, and she smirked at me as she gave a mock bow. Sora Misty.

Crinkling my nose at her I panted out, Don't get smug, Aunt Sarafine. I beat them here too. And how did you know this was their destination?

She answered with only a cocked brow causing me to grin and sigh in defeat, Ok, fine, that was a stupid question, but they can't keep running away from their royal guards and Garda Personalas like this, there are still Avalon Purists infiltrating every realm who wouldn't hesitate at a chance to assassinate royalty or hold them hostage.

The incredulous look she gave me had me blushing and offering, Yeah, I heard myself... the irony is not lost on me.

She said in a contemplative manner, You were the worst of the worst, and your siblings have learned from the best in this particular flavor of rebellion and asserting a tiny bit of control of their own lives. It is why those of us, like me, as sworn Garda Personalas, cannot interfere with the decisions of our charges, only to assure they are as safe as possible even when they make the wrong choices.

I muttered playfully, catching the accusation in her eyes, Yeah, yeah, and I'm sorta sorry for all the boneheaded dalliances of mischief I've put you through over the years.

She chuckled out in the tongue of the People, I do not think that you are.

Well fine, but I love you.

Love you too my Sora. Now hush, here they come.

My little sister, Shanicia, burst from the alley dragging a breathtaking, giggling Mountain Gypsy woman with her. Ingr of the Lupei, my bewitching betrothed who was smiling and chuckling along the way, her curly black hair streaming behind her as she called out in Gypsy, holding Kes, my youngest sister's hand, Come Hak, Rual, don't fall behind, we're here.

Kes and my brothers shared Shanicia's ebony complexion, all rescued Street Rats from the realm of Hell's Gate, where they had been forced to steal for a terrible couple, the Weavers, who were for all intents and purposes, their parents as they had none living.

And I can't tell you just how happy I am that my parents adopted them all, growing our family, and I can't believe just how far they've wormed their way into my heart in such a short time. I love them all fiercely, even when they're being little scamps like this as they all stood with an overly amused Ingr, their eyes wide as saucers as they looked at the sugary delights through the Sweet shoppe window.

Kes pointed at some candied cherries as she giggled and said, We beat sister Misty.

Shan squinted an eye at her and said as she scanned the area, Oh, she's here somewhere. Misty is amazing and there's no way we lost her... Wexbury Keep is her backyard.

That was my cue, and I brought my fingers to my lips to let out a shrill whistle to get my siblings' attention while letting a whisper of my nature element magic send an impression of going to Shanny and the kids. As all eyes swung up to us on the roof, the little sugar glider rustled and came out from where it was nestled in my cloak under my dark hair, and shook itself and when she crouched to spring, a little long hind legged rodent climbed on her back, then Itsy and Bitsy were airborne as they glided down to alight on Shan's outstretched arm.

The boys crowded her to have the adorable little rodents climb onto their shoulders as Shan said with overacted resignation. See?

I could hear the protection squads charging down the alley, armor, and weapons clinking and clanging, and sighed and winked at our aunt who doubled as our Garda Personala. I plugged my nose like I was going diving off the waterfalls in the Whispering Walls mountains near Father Stone, and said Alley-oop, as I just hopped backward off the parapet, Sara rolling her eyes at my theatrics.

I grabbed a flagpole displaying the banner of the realm in its emerald and violet glory, and flipped around it to absorb a lot of my kinetic energy, then dropped to an awning to roll off and land in a crouch in front of my wide-eyed siblings... well except Shanny who rolled