The Sorcerer's Daughter: The Chronicles of Tralia, #2

By Anita K. Mills

Part One: The Army Games had now come together and the winners of the five large armies had to fight each other to prove who was best. Kathryn's two teenage children and her nephews and nieces are off to see the finals on the Somerland Plains, close to the Southern Forest, but Kathryn and her brothers are unable to attend as the Queen of Tralia is not well, surely the royal children are safe. Kathryn defeated Medrith, the Sorcerer of the Dark with the help of her husband and family and peace has reigned in the eighteen years since, but Kathryn waits as Medrith said he would return. And mad men always keep their promises, don't they?

Part Two: The Tragedy at Hakorn. Hakorn Manor was a quiet place in the rich green valley between Orthney and Centra, but one day visitors arrived. In the morning, came the Prince Talaya had always dreamt about. But later a strange storm, an evil so foul that it tears a lovesick girl away from everything she has ever known and makes her seek out the only one that can revenge her of the murders of her family and friends. With the brutally slain bodies fresh in her mind, she begins the most terrifying and desperate journey of her young life to reach her father's oldest friend, the King of Orthney. He will know what to do surely....

The search begins for the killers and the king uses all the resources he has even himself. Can he find them in time with the help of the Tralian Sorceress? Or will the Dark Sorcerer's Daughter have her revenge?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anita K. Mills
• Release date: Apr 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215161210

Anita K. Mills

Anita started writing back in the early 1990s when she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and her first novels have taken over twenty years to write. She loves writing and hopes it continues long into the future with plenty more adventures for her characters. She says, Fibromyalgia does not hold me back; if I can, I will. Anita lives in Nottingham, Great Britain, and enjoys visiting new places, meeting new people and visiting family. Follow her at: https://www.facebook.com/anita.mills.33 Website: https://blakemanbooks.weebly.com https://YouTube.be/F4KtPER25oQ

Book preview

Prologue

Chronicles of Tralia

Summary of Book 1

The Sorceress of the Five Crowns

Tralia 510

Kathryn, a young woman of eighteen, had known she was the king’s sister from an early age. The tragic deaths of her parents, many years ago, had left her without a female relative to raise her, so the court sent her to Meadowholme in the far north of Tralia, between the borders of Centra and Orthney to live with her mother’s cousin, the Lady Margaret. Lady Margaret married the High Lord of Meadowholme, Samuel, a few years before and they raised Kathryn alongside their daughter, Karen.

All her years at Meadowholme had been happy ones, but now the King, her brother Collwyn, has sent her uncle to escort her to Centra. The old Sorceress, she is told, was dying, and it was time she took her place as the new Sorceress, the successor to the Power of Light. On the Journey, the magic book of the Sorcerers of Tralia finds its way to her. Through it, Kathryn found a way home to Centra by using one of the seven magic portals hidden around Tralia. But first, she has to get to the Western Mountains. Kathryn’s journey to her new home was far from easy being chased by bandits all the way to the High Mountains of the North-West. They wore only black, so they and their home were unknown and there had been no way of identifying them or their leaders.

On her way back, she learns of the five missing princes, the princes of the five counties that make up Tralia. One prince was her own brother, Kerwyn. Kathryn had met none of her brothers growing up so far from the castle, yet she felt a sense of loss. Her uncle details her great aunt’s, the last Sorceress, life and how a strange illness is taking her life. Her great aunt sent her the great book, The Power of Light. In it she learns about Tralia’s past and the previous sorcerers of Tralia. She also learns how there came to be five Crowns that split the great nation that came over the Northern Mountains to find a new home. Each sorcerer had to deal with evil of many kinds and in the book, the past sorcerers told of their power and how to use it. Especially the last sorcerer, Mendara, who lived a long time, and who wrote the history of Tralia.

Kathryn searches for the missing princes, a journey which takes her and her two other brothers from Centra to Mondal, a village in the west. There they find Kerwyn. On their way to Woodelm in the South, she meets and falls in love with an angry Elf and together, they all end up in the Southern Mountains, where Kathryn faces a half-elf, Medrith, a Sorcerer of the Dark. Medrith wants to rule Tralia and has a fate worse than death in store for her, her family, and her friends. He wants to make the whole of Tralia pay for the death of his mother. He had taken the elder sons of the four Kings to the White Tower and held them hostage for the crown and if that wasn’t paid, he would bury them alive. An old enemy of Tralia started a war, therefore the five crowns had to band together with the help of Kathryn to fight to protect the Tralians from annihilation.

She stopped the dark from spreading over the land with the help of one of the Tralian treasures. Five missing artefacts made by the first Sorcerer Blane, so legend says to help Tralia in its time of need. As the Adamas of the Western Shore prepare to battle the forces of Kathryn’s brother’s large army, they watch the magical show of the most powerful Sorcerers Tralia has ever seen. However, the older sorcerer’s magic overwhelmed Kathryn, magic he learned from a book until her husband throws the ‘Green Light’ and brings peace at a price. Fearing he may have lost his wife, Macaith goes back to the Southern Forest, but Kathryn awakes and goes and finds him telling him of his unborn twins.

Over the years, she kept a vigil for after she defeated the Sorcerer, he promised to return and mad men always keep their promises, don’t they?

THE SORCERER'S DAUGHTER

PART ONE

WHITE ROCK PRIORY

TRALIA 528

The Army Games had now come together, and the winners of the five large armies fought each other to prove who was best. Kathryn’s two teenage children and her nephews and nieces are off to see the finals on the Somerland Plains, close to the Southern Forest. But Kathryn and her brothers cannot attend as the Queen of Tralia is not well. Surely the royal children are safe? Kathryn defeated Medrith, the Sorcerer of the Dark, with the help of her husband and family and peace has reigned over the eighteen years. Kathryn awaits Medrith’s return.

Chapter 1

To Somerland

Katie sat on the wall leaning up against the back of the stables in the front bailey and her temper rising as was the sun. She should have known that Michael would never be ready at dawn. Even noon would have been too early for him. Her brother had always been late, had not mother told her he had been late for his own birth, which had made Katie late as well. Twins, she thought. Why couldn’t she have been a single birth? Either after or before she did not care, but it was always the same, Michael never arrived on time!

For years now, the royals had protected her, growing up either here or at her father’s home of Woodelm. Supervision was standard protocol, so this was the first time she was going anywhere without her parents, and she was excited. Well, she had been when she awoke before dawn this morning. Now she was beyond disappointed. She had hurried for nothing; she thought as she pulled up on her knees and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes drifted down at the people scurrying around in the town below the great castle.

There were men, women and children running around like very, very large industrious ants, some buying the fresh goods that were now for sale on carts or tables and those coming to set up in the early morning sunshine to sell their wares. From fish caught in the sea near Pranda or in the rivers close to Centra, to cloth made in nearby villages or towns of every colour or patterns imaginable. Boots and shoes made by leather workers from all around Tralia were being sold from a cart right below where she sat. Normal browns and blacks to reds, blues and even dark greens all lined the boards.

The village imported most things, even the wall she was sitting on had come from somewhere else. The builders built the castle of large heavy sandstone brought from the quarries in the northern mountains on carts pulled by the big boned quarrymen and big boned horses and ramps, pulleys, and ropes lifted the stones into place, or so the history books say. Each block shaped and fitted by Centra’s own first Stonemasons from drawings made by the first Tralian King many years ago. Each king kept the castle in good order, as well as adding something new to its foundations that was unique to them. Katie’s uncle had put in two large courtyards inside of the inner baileys in front of the two main doorways over the years. One for officials or royals from the other four towns at the front. The second for goods and provisions, for the castle storeroom or kitchens at the back, both with enormous gates that can be closed in a siege. 

Eighteen years ago, the war caused the king to heavily fortify the castle more so than any other. Collwyn said he was taking no chances. In fact, the whole of Centra town had a ten-foot wall encircling it with large metal studded gates in four locations that the guards could shut in the event of being attacked. With its own well and easy access to the fields, orchards and rivers, they could last years in a siege as long as no one blocked the secret passages or the tunnels under the castle.

She turned back when she heard a footfall coming her way, and Katie watched the dark-haired, uniformed man stroll up and await his greeting. It wasn’t long in coming.

Good morning, princess, said Captain Marc, the leader of the Castle Guards.

Good morning. Is everything ready, Captain? she smiled her greeting.

It is, princess, he replied with a bow.

I see we are back to formalities, Captain, she laughed.

The party is over, my princess, so I have work to do. He gave another bow and asked, When do you want to leave?

As soon as that lazy retard of a brother can get out of bed, she said angrily before jumping down neatly to stand in front of her friend’s father. Captain Marc had become the leader of the castle guards long before she was born. He was also a good friend to her three uncles, especially Kerwyn, the youngest of the three. They included him as part of their family for a long time, which had allowed him and his family to be present at the weekend celebrations of the Queen’s birthday. 

He, along with Lord Mendin, her great uncle, was to take her and her cousins to Somerland for the summer festivities, if her brother would get his lazy butt into step. If he ever does, she finished.

They walked side-by-side back into the stable yard where the soldiers and the Royal party were waiting along with the horses. The grooms tried to hold the horses steady, but they were stamping and snorting impatiently to be off. Katie knew how they felt.

Where is he, Captain? she asked impatiently. He knew we wanted to be off by dawn, that’s over a bell ago and there's still no sign of him.

Captain Marc sympathized with the princess. He also knew Michael and suggested she call him by tapping his forehead.

Katie knew he meant a mind call, so her eyes closed and, using her magic, she found the link to her brother. ‘Michael,’ she called, ‘where in the light are you?’

Right behind you, he shouted into her right ear. He had appeared, it seemed, from nowhere, but he had seen her close her eyes from the gateway and knew she would call. His bright blue eyes laughed at hers.

Katie jumped, as expected. Why you...you, she stammered as she lashed out, but her brother expected the attack and vanished, making those in the yard laugh. Katie’s blow hit nothing but air, almost causing her to fall. She grumbled as she caught her balance and looked around.

He appeared behind the captain, who said, You are your mother’s son, and laughed with the rest.

Katie was also quick and ran over to stand beside her brother, making sure the next blow caught his arm before he tried to vanish again. You’re late! She stated sharply while the yard clapped.

Michael rubbed his arm and said, I know, but I have been to fetch someone. He pointed back to the gateway as he finished speaking.

Katie looked at the three figures that walked towards them from the town's main gate into the courtyard. Kiela! yelled Katie as the tall blonde took down her hood, showing her long hair that Katie admired so much. Then Katie ran the few yards between them and pulled the girl into an embrace, and Kiela dropped her bag to wrap her arms around the princess. Katie saw the action and asked if she was coming with them.

Kiela nodded. Someone's got to keep an eye on you, she laughed as she picked up the smaller girl.

That’s great, said Katie. Now there will be four of us, a match for the boys, making us even, even if there are eight of them.

Not quite, sis, Delor’s coming too.

Katie smiled at Kiela’s brother, standing by his uncle, the town’s blacksmith, and said, More the merrier. She turned the smile on her brother and said, Thank you. Michael rubbed his arm and told her she owed him one.

Katie nodded as they turned towards the commotion that heralded the family coming out of the castle's main door. Five blonds, finely dressed adults came out into the shaded courtyard. Three men, who everyone could tell were brothers, walked over to the younger group and everyone spoke at once. One man escorted two women, one he held hands with, the other had her arm through his. They were double of each other. The older of the women disengaged herself and came towards the twins.

Kathryn, the Sorceress of Tralia, had changed little over the years. Her beauty had deepened, and she had kept her figure, making every woman, royal or otherwise, envious of her. Everyone wanted to know her secret, but walking around the town or riding further afield every day kept her figure trim. Though what they did not see was how tired she was and had been since the day she fought Medrith. Though she tried not to show it today as she walked sedately over to her children.

Giving Michael a kiss first as he hated any kind of affection from his parents in public, so she could lavish more time on her daughter, who loved it. Katie hugged her mother back with deep affection. Kathryn asked if she was ready. Katie replied she was. Is father going to see me off too. She asked, looking hopefully at the door.

He will be here soon, love. He would not miss this. Though it will be the first time, we have not travelled to Somerland together, but it won’t be for long until we are together again. replied Kathryn, and Katie agreed with another hug.

The whole royal household usually goes to Somerland for the summer festivities, but the queen had caught a cold that morning and was unfit to travel and most of the adults did not want to leave her. Katie asked after her aunt, but got the same reply as she had at breakfast. The queen was no better.

Katie saw her cousins, Richard, Jon, and Brendal, talking to their fathers, Collwyn and Brent as they stood by their horses. Her Uncle Kerwyn stood beside Collwyn, saying goodbye to the heir, just as her own father came out of the door. Macaith, Attaché and High Prince of Woodelm, walked with a smile as he looked at the two most precious females in his life. But he would not tell his mother that.

Having hardly aged at all since he met Kathryn, he almost ran across the yard to his daughter, who flung herself into his arms. He whispered into her ear to listen not only to Mendin, but also to her brother. Katie said she would, but Macaith pressed the seriousness of his words as Katie looked at him and promised before kissing his cheek.

Good, now be on your way, said her father as he gently slapped her behind. He walked a few feet and said something to his son, who nodded. They shook hands. Satisfied, Macaith stepped back and took a hold of Kathryn’s hand as they watched their daughter pick up her bow and quiver before climbing into her saddle with her brother’s help, followed shortly by Michael into his. The excitement was tangible as they said the last goodbyes.

Katie froze. ‘Something.’ but she did not know what made her shiver. As she looked at her parents, Kathryn gave a puzzled look as she tapped her head and called her name gently into her mind, asking if everything was all right. Katie could not explain what she felt, and the feeling went as quickly as it arrived, so she smiled instead.

She received one back. ‘Have a good time,’ her mother sent as Katie turned the horse towards the town gate.

Michael looked forward so did not see his sister look at him or the frown she gave him, but he felt both and knew why. He too had felt the ‘something.' Richard took up one side of her and Jon the other as they stepped on to the town’s road heading towards the Southgate, which led out of town towards Lymol Bridge.

Orders, said the heir with a grin, when she looked at him.

It didn’t surprise Katie, but was happy about being ‘reined in’ as she called it, along with her female cousins. She smiled at them both.

Both men were tall, good looking and both reminiscent of their fathers. Richard was the tallest and the eldest of her cousins. He could mix and laugh when he had time, but lately his studies had become more intense. Collwyn knew what it was to be without a father’s guidance, and raised Richard with that thought in mind. Though it wasn’t all work, Richard inherited his mother’s gentle nature, but that did not make him soft. Richard had a temper, but luckily for those around him, he did not express it beyond what or who had made him angry.

Jon was a Jester, always wanting to make them laugh. He was the opposite of both Richard and Michael. Richard would walk off his anger, but Michael would race the wind to solve his issues, whereas Jon would tell a funny story to anyone who would listen.

She then thought of her third male cousin, Brendal, Richard’s brother, who looked more like his mother. Brendal had a scholar’s disposition more so than a fanciful one and every day buried his nose in a tome or scroll in the castle’s vast library instead of walking the stalls to see what was on offer or sit in the inn to gossip. ‘Never can tell,’ he often said, ‘when one may need knowledge.’

Jon would groan at his cousin’s attitude before walking off, shaking his head to find a funny anecdote or story to liven up the mood. Yes, all four were different, yet all four had a deep love of family, each other, and the reason they took their lessons every day without complaint together.

With Marc and Mendin leading, the column moved forward. Her female cousins, Sarah and Isobel, who were riding just behind with Michael and Brendal, the best of the swords. Katie was quite happy being in the middle with the King’s heir, Richard, and cousin Jon, who was a lot funnier than her brother any day. Edrith and Laraith, Cadraith’s son, were her two Elfin escorts. They were good with a sword and excellent bowman. Edrith was her grandfather’s first minister’s son and a friend of her elfin family. They rode alongside Kiela, while Delor and Jodan, Marc’s only son, brought up the rear with the two maids. They were all followed by a group of well-trained, handpicked soldiers from the Centran Watchtower.

Everyone seemed to say goodbye all at once, even the royals, as well as many of the town’s people that came to see them off and many were waving. Richard had a few admirers, which made him smile, and the other boys laughed, especially when one reached up and gave him a posy wrapped in a handkerchief. But as they left the gate onto the main road, the noise abated.

For a long time, they rode in silence until Jon began telling one of his funny stories. Everyone listened. Strange, thought Katie. They all seem to be about the town’s alehouse.

The men all laughed as the girls groaned. But Katie had to admit two men falling down drunk instead of beating the dark out of each other was a better ending than he usually gave. He stopped talking as a group of soldiers passed, heading for the castle’s barracks, returning from last night’s patrol.

One stopped and spoke to Mark and Mendin before riding back to the others, who were continuing until heading for the gate.

Katie knew from her father that bandits had been raiding the southern towns and villages for nearly a year now, but no one could capture one to find out who they were or where they were hiding. In and straight out again of the towns and villages near the Southern Mountains, west of the Great Forest, taking food and horses. Luckily for them, thought Katie, that they had not got as far as Somerland or Collwyn and her father would not have let them go.

The King though had sent a troop of ninety men down to Somerland along with those who were to take part in the games nine days ago and doubled the patrols on the King’s Road. ‘Just in case,’ he had said to his council members. He included her father and mother. ‘And not only to protect the border with Westlake,’ he said, ‘but also to help the Elves, who live in the Great Forest, and still cannot get too close to the sea as the salt air makes them ill.’

Even after all these years, Katie knew her mother, Kathryn had not yet come up with a cure for this strange sickness. Even Michael and she had inherited the same sickness from their father, yet could control it with their magic. Kathryn was only now thinking that a certain herb and a spell might be the secret. Katie was helping her in the herbery to see what could help, though after her lessons for the day had finished. She tried to help identify the herb, but as yet nothing. So, only humans could patrol the sea paths and beaches in case the bandits were hiding there.

Ten of the soldiers sent to Somerland had to go up to Whiterock Priory, the new watchtower, to watch over the southern and western sea and to send word all was well. Collwyn was waiting for the report, as he had received the one from Somerland Plains two days previously. Somerland’s reassurances that all was well were the only reason that he allowed the royal children to leave to attend the games, even though Mendin and his soldiers were with them.

In a weird sense, Collwyn was thankful. He had told her father the soldiers were becoming fed up with mock battles along with the rest of the Tralian troops, as they now called the collective armies.

The festival was going to end on the Somerland Plains with the last battle with the two army finalists to see which of them was the best. After that, there would be music and dancing, the part most of the females liked.

Richard was to lead the Centran Army into 'battle' to prove his courage and his leadership against Sandras and the Prandains. Though both antagonists were great friends, Katie had never met the eastern heir.

Most of those taking part were sons of those who fought in the veritable war of eighteen years ago against the Sorcerer Medrith, and the Western Isle, which lies west of the Tralian coast, over the great ocean. It was a larger island with many more men, but ever since their arrival into Tralia, Tralia had held them off. Though there were times the Westerners had broken through the defenses and killed soldiers, stole horses, food, and kidnapped people from the coastal towns.

Uncle Kerwyn was sure it was these men that were doing the raids, and their ‘hideaway’ was a ship in some bay. Uncle Brent and her father were sure there was someone working with them, tipping them off, for how else could they vanish before the soldiers arrived. The First Minister, Esmond, agreed as he was keeping records of all incidents and studying them daily, which was approved by both the King and his council. Collwyn, though, was not so sure. He thought they were a bunch of men who knew Tralia and its hiding places. Therefore, most or at least the leader was Tralian.

The others saw the logic in this and agreed. They had to be close to where they were raiding, of that, he was sure. A ship maybe, a large cave, could also be a possibility, and there seemed to be more men each time they struck, so they must be somewhere in the south. He hoped they were not gathering an army and also hoped that the last war would not repeat itself. But no one had ever recovered Medrith's body. So, no one was sure he was dead. It took many years to recover from that war. Losing men, friends, even those injured needed time to heal, and the lost crops and stores needed to be replenished. The southern towns had been the most effected, but all the larger towns had helped in the recovery. For the first time in history, Tralia had pulled together; first to fight, then to clean up, all because of Kathryn’s influence and finding the missing heirs.

Tralia stayed diligent for many years, but as time had gone on, that diligence wavered and for that Katie knew her uncle blamed himself.

Katie listened to the stories told by her father’s generation since she was born. Michael and she had been born in the spring, following the fight her mother had with Medrith in the summer. Medrith, a half-elf that wanted to rule Tralia, had disappeared after her father had thrown the Woodelm Emerald, one of the Tralian treasures, at him to save her mother, who had sent a lightning bolt at the sorcerer too. The two had clashed like two heavy shields banging together, and the whole battlefield had glowed white. Afterwards, only Kathryn was visible, lying unconscious. Medrith had gone, and no one had seen him since. Hence the heavy guard on the royal children, for if he could kidnap the heirs of eighteen years ago, he could kidnap the heirs of today, and Collwyn was taking no chances.

Katie saw the look on her cousins' faces as she turned around and knew they were thinking the same thing. So, they talked of something else as Marc restarted the column.

She asked Isobel, How is your mother? Is she any better?

Richard’s sister turned in the saddle slightly and replied, She actually ate something today instead of that herbal drink your mother makes. Both girls screwed up their noses as they remembered the smell. They laughed. Yet they both knew how it had helped.

Sarah joined in, saying, My father says he knows just how she feels. Your mother gave him the same potion last year after going swimming with his brothers and your father, though he only caught a chill.

Mother, Katie told them, Said it served him right, the others were lucky, swimming at night and not wearing anything.

EWW! said the girls together, now picturing their naked fathers jumping into the East River.

Your mother should try adding the juice of an orange, said Kiela from behind, makes it taste a lot better.

The girls said they would, as Katie reached for her journal. Placing her leg up on the saddle, she noted her friend’s suggestion down, but looked up as Richard coughed and saw all the girls' horrified face in front and the boys' silly grins. She realised her blunder and quickly sat properly in the saddle.

Silly dresses, she murmured under her breath, and much preferred her elfin tunic and leggings.

Michael whispered something to Jon, and they laughed. Katie was sure it was at her expense and her colour rose.

Sarah whispered to her, Don’t worry. They saw nothing. Your dress is too long.

That’s something, she said so solemnly the girls laughed until Katie laughed too.

Richard smiled at her and concurred, Don’t worry and never change. His laugh grew stronger as she nodded.

Michael was sure his sister had said something about him to get him back, so scowled back at her. Katie, not sure why, smiled sweetly at him anyway. He turned back, scowling even more. As soon as they stop, thought Katie, I will change.

Richard smiled at both his elfin cousins, thinking, they sure keep the Castle buzzing. Mendin had also thought the same.

Another patrol passed, this one was going to the western mountains over the bridge and Katie thought, better them than her.

The mountains were weird places with eerie noises, like ghosts drifted through the pass. That’s what it sounded like when her father took them camping a few years ago and she did not like it. She had been very glad to go on to Woodelm and spend the rest of their holiday there. Her grandfather, King Mendrith, had told her she should carry her bow for safety anytime she left the castle. Katie remembered her lessons from her parents, so, for both, she carried the bow and did as her grandfather advised. Her father also taught his twins to throw a knife as well. That skill had once saved him after pirates took him four years before he met their mother.

Michael received lessons in swordcraft, even though they both had some of mother's magic. Their parents said until the issue with Medrith resolved itself, they couldn’t be too careful. The twins knew there was more to that story and they believe it was because their father had suffered badly at the hands of the pirates when he was a younger man. But he would not speak of it, so they couldn’t be sure.

Michael would inherit all the