Night of Ash: Odriel's Heirs, #2.5

By Hayley Reese Chow

The night buries all Shadows...

After healing from the last battle with Idriel's Children, the young Shadow Heir, Aza Thane, once again finds herself at a magus's door looking for answers. There, she and her companions learn of a dark plot to raise an ancient demon necromancer in the corpse of a soul-eating monster and rush to the once great city of Austerden to stop it.

Racing toward a city on the brink of a massacre and still haunted by her past mistakes, Aza will have to learn to trust again if she wants to save anyone at all... including herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Indie Published
• Release date: May 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223718512

Book preview

Night of Ash

A Tale of Odriel's Heirs

Hayley Reese Chow

Copyright © 2022 Hayley Reese Chow

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

ISBN-13: 979-8843293734

Proofed by: L.L. Lily

Cover design by: 100Covers

Map by William G. Reese III

To you, reader, for joining me on this incredible journey.

A Refresher

from Idriel’s Children

TERMS:

Heirs: Guardians of Okarria blessed by Odriel with magical gifts to defeat Idriel and his army of the Lost. Their powers are typically inherited by their eldest children.

Yanaa: The magical energy used by the Heirs, magi, and other magical beings of Okarria. Typically thought to be gifted by Odriel or Idriel.

Maldibor: A clan cursed long ago by the magus, Ivanora. Maldibor men take the form of a beast except on dark moon nights.

Idriel’s Children: Those gifted with the dark powers of Idriel.

Magi: The twelve original denizens of Okarria. Recluses blessed with yanaa and long life.

The Lost: Evil corpses reanimated by a necromancer’s dark yanaa.

Hunters: Living people controlled by a necromancer’s dark yanaa.

Odriel’s Blessed: Those born with seemingly random gifts of yanaa but are not Heirs or magi.

Shadow Plane: The realm between the living and the dead.

Wraith-Called: Those who can walk the Shadow Plane.

Somisidas Abbey: The home of the Wraith-Called. Burned down by Idriel’s Children.

Dolobra: Soul-eater that once stalked the Shadow Plane. Killed by Aza, Makeo, and Zephyr.

Dalteek: The mounts of the Heirs and Maldibor, graced with legendary stamina, winding antlers, and lion-like manes.

Carceroc: Forest where the magi once imprisoned the ancient man-eaters of Okarria before the magus, Ivanora, freed them. Once home to the Maldibor clan.

Ragehound: The Dragon Heirs’ large canine companions. Enchanted to withstand their dragon fire.

Catalede: Home of the Heirs. Training grounds for the warriors of Okarria.

The Heirs’ Way: A historical account of the Heirs.

Dracour: With the sinuous four-legged body of a dragon, the scaly torso of a man, and a set of murderous horns, the Dracour are the fiercest warriors in the land and friends to the Heirs.

Rastgol: Cannibalistic barbarians. Have raided Okarria’s western border for decades.

PEOPLE:

Aza Thane: Shadow Heir-in-waiting with the power of invisibility.

Zephyr Thane: Dragon Heir-in-waiting with the power of fire. Aza’s older brother.

Makeo: Childhood friend of the Thanes and cursed with the Maldibor’s beast form.

Hoku: Childhood friend of the Thanes, daughter of the Maldibor chief, and Makeo’s cousin. Carries the curse of the Maldibor.

Luna: Zephyr’s ragehound.

Odriel: The beneficent spirit guide of Okarria. Odriel guides souls from life to death and gifted the original Heirs with their powers.

Idriel: An evil god-like spirit guide. Has twice attacked Okarria with his army of undead. Killed by the Heirs many years ago.

Shadmundar: Cat cursed by the magus, Everard, to be his spy and servant for a century.

Dorinar: A magus and historian.

Marloa: Historian. Works and lives with Dorinar.

Ivanora: Magus blessed with Idriel’s extraordinary dark yanaa. Seeks to raise Idriel from the dead.

Everard: Missing magus who cursed Shadmundar. Friend to the Heirs.

Bellaphia: A magus murdered by humans long ago.

Valente Conrad: Lord blessed by Idriel with the power of necromancy. Seeks to raise Idriel from the dead.

Seela: The late Master of Somisidas Abbey. Killed by Idriel’s Children.

Witt: Childhood friend of the Thanes. Killed in the burning of Somisidas Abbey.

Yolie: The Time Heir. Fled into hiding with her daughter.

Ioni: Yolie’s daughter. The young Time Heir-in-waiting.

CHAPTER ONE

DORINAR

Aza stood at the moss-covered door with a disquieting churn of uncertainty and regret that she just couldn’t seem to kill. She found it hard to believe that it’d been only a few short months since she’d stood in this very place with the silk toads croaking around her. It’d been the first time she’d laid eyes on the woman who now stood poised to destroy Okarria. The one who had tried to kill her and everyone she held dear; who’d unleashed untold legions of ancient man-eaters onto the land.

If only Aza had known then, she would’ve run her through right here in this cottage.

And yet—she rubbed her arm where Witt and Seela’s names were now inked below her sleeve—Aza wasn’t completely innocent either. Wasn’t she the one who’d fallen straight into Ivanora’s trap? Wasn’t she the one who’d unleashed the Dolobra, the soul-eating demon of the Shadow Plane? Perhaps, if she’d gone to Carceroc with her brother, together they might’ve been able to stop her. And then maybe Witt wouldn’t be—

A heavy hand on her shoulder pulled her from the familiar spiral of guilt. Aza, Makeo said, his voice a low whisper in her ear. It’s okay. Dorinar will know where to find her.

Aza put a hand over his furred one as she turned to look into the soft green eyes of the beast next to her. With the hulking body of a bear and the long snout and ears of a wolf, the trousers, boots, and sword were the only things that hinted at the humanity that graced him on dark moon nights. Another curse they had to thank the hateful Ivanora for.

But while most saw a terrifying beast of the Maldibor, Aza only saw Makeo. Her Keo.

Luna’s sharp bark accompanied the slosh of boots through the marsh as Zephyr and Hoku jogged around the house from the barn where they’d housed the Dalteek.

C’mon, are you going to knock or what? Zephyr scowled at the dark, dripping canopy above them, and Luna, his shaggy black ragehound, shook out her already sopping fur. It’s starting to rain again.

Aza wondered for perhaps the thousandth time if he was actually related to her. While Zephyr was broad and tanned and loud, Aza was wiry and pale and reserved. Two complete opposites in almost every way—the Dragon and the Shadow.

Oh relax. Hoku tousled her rich brown curls, her green Maldibor eyes nearly as bright as Makeo’s in the gloom. You could use the wash. She flashed a playful smirk, bumping Zephyr with her hip and startling a grin out of him.

Perhaps he could, but you could think of the rest of us, Shad, a ragged, one-eyed black cat, said peevishly from where he huddled in the doorway.

Aza gave Makeo’s huge paw one last squeeze and knocked on the door, bracing herself for Dorinar’s inevitably frosty welcome. Dori—

To her surprise, the door whipped open before the second