Jean Cassy and the Phantom in the Dark

By Ellie Lerum, Phillip Lerum and Adam R Dalhaus

Follow Jean Cassy as she embarks on a thrilling journey that she never expected to take. When Jean leaves her home city in search of a fresh start, she discovers a vibrant world of fear-consuming demons, dragon-worshiping cultists, and dark blood magic. As she makes her way to Fort Haven, Jean must battle for her life and honor each day against

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Richard Arts
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798989495016

Book preview

Jean Cassy and the Phantom in the Dark

Ellie Lerum

Red Richard Arts

Copyright © 2022 by Ellie Lerum.

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

To those who feel they walk alone

Introduction

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the world of Illeross! Within these pages, and those that come after, you'll enter a realm whose beauty and magic hide a darker side of life that we tend to shun; this world is not one for the faint of heart. Heartbreak, rage, temptation, and guilt fill the stories that circulate… Stories that may resonate in one or many ways with you.

Despite some of the familiarity you may feel with aspects of this world, the goal is not to lull you into a sense of security. There are hurts that may be uncovered as you follow Jean's path, some of which familiar and others that are not.

This work contains metaphors that may affect some negatively- chittering madness (chronic anxiety) being a 'disease' that becomes a death sentence, relationships and interactions that are harmful (sexual violence), and a race that is viewed as lesser (racial prejudice, at best) - as it looks at the world through a lens of brokenness. It is my deep hope that anyone who resonates with the experiences in this book receives grace and healing rather than persecution and hurt as the topics that are not normally touched on are brought to light.

On this note, this book is meant to bring a sense of belonging as difficult topics and situations are explored in a safe haven that is fantasy. You, my dear reader, are not alone in your trouble despite what you or society say. Depression, anxiety, anger, bitterness, and grief are emotions that are felt by others; it is my hope that Jean Cassy and I are allowed to join you on your journey through them.

-Ellie

Contents

1.Adventure Begins

2.Bleak Hollow

3.The Shaman

4.Grandma Letty

5.A Strange Meeting

6.The Proposal

7.Joining the Caravan

8.Fort Haven

9.Pecking Order

10.True Colors

11.Reliance and Reprimand

12.Bonds

13.Shattered

14.Apologies Too Late

15.Heartbroken

16.Healing

17.Mhoryga

18.6 Years of Standing

19.The Telfarian Slavers

20.Unlikely Allies

21.Upheaval

22.Next Steps

The World of Illeross

Glossary

About the Author

Chapter one

Adventure Begins

N ext.

Jean pulled her hood over her headscarf and stepped forward. She had spent the last two and a half days traveling at a slow pace through the woods inside the Great Wall of Zanther. Now, as she approached the gate set into a sheer cliff face, the only way out of the city, she felt far smaller than even the trees had made her feel.

Next.

On other trips to Blackrock, Jean would go north to the bay and take a boat. This time, she wanted to explore and take the long way around by land.

Next…

Jean stepped up to a booth as the guard sighed and looked her over.

Identification and documentation? The guard held her hand out, Purpose for traveling?

Visiting family in Blackrock, Jean answered. She rummaged through her pack before producing her Zanther citizenship. The little identification image made her cringe as soon as she saw it.

She didn't need the reminder of what color her skin was, and it didn't help that her horns stood out, too. If people didn't notice she was curseborn before, there was no doubting it later. The only things she liked were her hair, which she had managed to tame into a delicate bun despite its curls, and her blue eyes. Everything else made her angry.

The guard looked it over and then glanced at Jean with a raised brow, Jean Cassy? Relative to the famed Adriata Cassy of the Redlight Guild?

Yes, ma’am.

Met her once… wonderful woman. When you return to Zanther, you’ll need proof of identification again. Continue through the path and to the Great Wall where you’ll wait for further instruction. The guard handed her papers back and then sighed, propping her head on her fist, Next?

Jean shoved her papers back into her bag and hurried through the tunnel. Upon reaching the other side, she found herself in a large, open courtyard encircled by a shorter wall about two dozen feet high. She would have waited for instructions, but a stream of people carried her through another gate and into the wilderness.

The next three weeks went by in a blur as Jean wandered the countryside towards Garran’s Stand and the nation of Dusnar. Her days were filled with wandering forests and fields, sketching the creatures she came across, and sleeping under the stars.

Only rarely did she use roads, and rarer still did she enter any of the walled towns or villages along the way. Half of the time she did attempt to enter, she found hostility at the gate. The other part was spent trying to ignore catcalls and propositions made by the people guarding the gates.

As Jean drew near the southern edge of Bleak Hollow, the trees began to grow thicker and darker. She traveled for two days against the edge of the forest until she reached Garran’s Stand.

The large, star-shaped fortress stood on the edge of a lake. Around it was a large moat and three concentric walls, each taller than the last, they reached a large citadel in the center. A large, golden, five-rayed sun with amber stones set between the rays, had been built into the walls. It was the holy symbol of Solaris, the father of light and head of the Solari religion. The amber stones represented the deities under Solaris, though Jean only remembered a handful of their names at any given time. She approached the gatehouse to see another large banner of Solaris hung above the road. She wasn’t religious, but Jean did give a quick bow of the head and said a handful of traditional words of praise to Solaris as she passed it.

She arrived at the outer gate by late afternoon only to find it had been shut for the night.

A large plaza resided near the road, a squat stone building behind it with an emblem of a downward sword through a circle of thorns. Jean racked her brain for several moments before she realized it was the symbol of the Knights of the Long Road. She didn’t think the Kingsmen were allowed in a city so clearly Solari, which meant this must be an embassy of sorts.

The plaza itself had a few braziers set up and was littered with carts, wagons, and a few tents. With nothing to lose, Jean approached a group, Excuse me, is this the cara-

Piss off.

Jean backed up before she found another group, I’m sorry, is this the caravan headed through the Bleak Hollow?

One of the men turned to look at her as two women pulled their children closer, If I say yes, will you leave us alone?

Do you know when it’s heading out next?

Once the escort arrives from their last trip. Don’t you know anything? People were beginning to stare, their gazes more hostile than anything else.

Jean glanced around before she found an empty spot near the wall, prompting her to make her way over and then slump down. Judging by the tents, she was going to be waiting for a while. She pulled her journal up from its place at her hip and opened it to a page she had been working on.

It was a byri, a strange little lizard she had encountered before a small band of travelers had approached and frightened it off. It was on a stump when she passed it and, despite its soft hisses and aggression flaring, it stopped and let Jean document it as best she could.

Mommy?

Yes, dear?

Her eyes traveled to a little boy. He pointed at Jean, his face turned up to look at his mother, Why is that woman red?

Because she’s a bad person. Most of them look like that. Come on, we don't want her to curse us for staring… We should let one of the guards know.

Jean brushed some hair from her face and pushed herself flush against the wall as she drew. People wouldn’t notice her if she remained still beside the stone, would they?

It was almost dark when the large gate opened with a creak. A caravan of wagons, horses, and people surged through. Many of the armed soldiers that flooded through alongside the caravan bore a Sword and Thorns on their shields. Jean froze as a large clockwork knight walked through the gate, head and shoulders taller than the mounted soldier next to him. 

There was no mistaking the caravan guard with that.

Once they were inside, and the gate had closed once more, Jean counted a little over two dozen men and women bearing the Kingsmen symbol and two metal giants. She pulled her cloak around herself and swallowed. It was hard enough dealing with the Solari being curseborn, but the Kingsmen... Outside of her aunt and uncle, she figured they’d kill her.

It was close to midnight when Jean sat upright as a chilling, almost chittering laughter from the other side of the wall split the night. It was then taken up repeatedly; creatures called back and forth to each other in the darkness. Before her, in the plaza, she could see faces lit by the braziers nervously turned towards the gates. Women pulled their children closer and men rested their hands on their weapons.

Chitters.

They were the monsters that infested Bleak Hollow and made it a no man's land between Dusnar in the north and Yegreydal in the south. Another bone-chilling cry drifted over the walls and was echoed by a babe screaming in the pavilion. Jean tucked her knees up to her chest.

She was fortunate not to have seen one herself, but she knew full well that chitters added many names to the list of unfaithfuls who went missing through the year.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of armor clanking and light drawing nearer. She looked up to see a knight in a white tabard emblazoned with a red sword and thorns. 

Excuse me, miss, the knight said, but are you planning to join the caravan in the morning or are you just resting here?

I was planning on joining the caravan.

Would they send her away if they saw her face or her necklace? The Solari and Kingsmen hadn't had an open religious war for a decade but that didn't mean this knight wasn't holding a grudge.

Why don't you warm yourself by the fire?

If it's all the same I'd rather stay here until the caravan moves out.

The knight's mail coif rattled as he nodded, You’re welcome to rest anywhere, though I’ll have to warn you that we move at first light.

Thank you. Jean stifled a yawn and leaned her head against the wall.

Her sleep was short-lived as she awoke to find two people looking at her in the dark. Both were armored and neither seemed friendly as they helped her to her feet, Away from the gate: we’re about to go. Join the caravan if that’s what you plan on doing.

Jean stumbled a few feet away and took inventory. Pack, journal, coins… Everything was accounted for.

The curseborn woman glanced at the gate and pulled her cloak around herself as she dug a hand through her pack to find a handful of dried berries. There wasn’t enough time to cook breakfast or forage if they were about to go.

It was still dark; the thin rays of the sun had not made it to their location. The gates swung open and the various vessels of the caravan started forward. Leading them was the clockwork knight with a handful of Kingsmen on either side, making Jean slip into the crowd.

A long courtyard with walls towering on either side of the group and a closed gate waited ahead of them. It wasn’t until the entire caravan was in the courtyard, and the gate behind them was shut, did the second gate creak open. By now, the rapidly approaching dawn was underway with only a few moments before the avatar of Solaris would race over the horizon to the zenith and linger throughout the day. Jean didn’t often think so religiously about the sun, but if any day was a good day to begin praying, now seemed to be it.

With the light of day on their backs, the caravan surged forth into the pass.

image-placeholderimage-placeholder

Chapter two

Bleak Hollow

Hard-packed earth cut more or less straight through the wood in a sixty-foot swath and was the only semblance of a trail. Either side was dense forest, too dense for Jean to see more than a dozen feet past the tree line.

About five hours into the journey at a relentless pace, they stopped for a quick lunch before they hurried once more. Three hours later, after a forced march, the sun began its slow but ever-quickening descent.

The air around them grew tense as restlessness filled the group. Some murmured fears of getting caught out at night, others cursed the people on foot for slowing the group down. The fog was beginning to roll in, its dark tendrils threatening to cut off the fading light of the sun.

Gather together, one of the knights called, Stay as close together as possible and, if anything happens, don’t panic and don’t run.

Another wave of murmurs ran through the crowd and Jean found herself pinned against a lady on a horse. There was a silver pin on her breast with a dove in flight encircled by a woven crown of thorns. She was a Kingsmen healer who served in the same order as Jean's adoptive aunt.

A chittering laugh spit the air from the woods to the right before an echo and then a chorus responded from the left.

Keep moving and stay together! One of the knights barked.

The next fifteen minutes felt like an eternity as the howls and laughter harried both sides and the mist grew thicker with each passing second. Jean could feel a pain in the back of her skull growing: a telling sign of magic nearby.

INCOMING! COMPANY HALT!

Jean’s heart fell into her stomach, but the feeling was replaced by that of what felt like a million insects swarming under her skin.

Jean looked up to see the woman muttering under her breath with one hand raised. A golden dome arced from her fingers to around the caravan, eliciting a feeling of vomit from Jean, and a second dome further up the caravan manifested as well.

It was all she could do to stand upright as cries and the metallic twang of boltcasters rang out around her. Periodically, the forest would light up as the clockwork knight at the front unleashed its terrible weapon and sent a searing ray of light into the trees. Just as suddenly as it came, it was over.

The dark mist receded and the now lower sun shone brightly on the caravan.

To Jean’s relief, the woman next to her let her spell dissipate and the feeling of ants under Jean’s skin was left with it. As the company started forward again, one of the Knights pushed his way through the crowd toward Jean. The curseborn woman tried to shrink down, panic rising in her chest once again, as the man stopped short next to the woman on the horse. None of the civilians were injured, but two of our knights took serious wounds. We need you at the back of the caravan to help them.

Jean sighed in relief as the two left without giving her a second glance before the hair on the back of her neck began to prick. Eyes had settled on her.

I knew a curseborn would be bad luck.

I’ll bet she had something to do with it.

She’s a witch who came to curse us!

Jean looked around, her relief short-lived as she realized one of the men had drawn a knife.

Best we end her before she causes any more trouble…

Jean began to force through the crowd.

Running confirms your guilt, witch!

The people that Jean pushed past gave her hostile looks and weapons drew in every direction she looked.

She had no choice.

Jean burst from the side of the caravan with shouts and threats following her.

What’s going on over here? She glanced back to see two knights hurrying towards her. One was a cote with a falcon's head and a tabard with a tree on his chest while the other had a symbol of a black mountain.

Jean bolted for the tree line. It was dangerous but between the chitters and a mob, she’d take her chances.

Stop! Come back! One of the knights shouted.

Every moment that Jean ran, she expected to feel a bolt sink into her back. She spared a glance to see if she hadn’t been followed before she looked ahead into the dark woods. Hopefully, the chitters wouldn’t notice her; a lone traveler was far less interesting than an entire caravan.

The going was rough. The trees grew tightly around her and the ground had a thick layer of vegetation that made it difficult to judge her footing. She made a frequent reference to her compass to ensure she wasn’t getting turned around, though at this point she was more concerned that she would discover she was claustrophobic due to the trees.

After just a few hours, Jean realized that the light level was dropping; there were precious few minutes before night enveloped the wood. With a newfound sense of urgency, Jean pulled a few branches together by a thicket to create a blind for the night. All she could do was pray to Solaris, the moon goddess Lunararia, Ireus the god of travelers, and whoever else might listen to her.

Even Drisis, the gatekeeper of the afterlife, got a quick prayer asking that she might be protected while in these woods. With the final ‘please,’ Jean caught sight of a shimmering orb before it vanished.

She must be going mad.

The last time she saw anything like that was her imaginary friend. There was no reason to see him… Jean sighed, shook her head, and then settled into a restless sleep.

The silence of the forest was oppressive as Jean shot awake in a cold sweat. The shimmering orb, Osmond as she used to call him, was there. He cast a dim light over the branch he sat on.

Osmond… Jean murmured, What are you doing here? She watched for a moment before she offered a small laugh, Do you want to share my stick fort? You’re here, I might as well invite you to join me.

The small light floated to her.

A sense of comfort washed over Jean and, as she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine they were on her bed, hiding under a pile of pillows and blankets as they did years ago... Before she outgrew him. I must be more stressed than I thought, she whispered, opening her eyes to regard the orb, but the imaginary company is better than none. She smiled as it rose to give a shake and they settled down once more.

The orb was replaced by a deep sense of foreboding when Jean woke up. It was dark outside, at least an hour till dawn, as she lifted her boltcaster from her side. It was wound and loaded, one shot in the chamber and five in the clip: the crystal was good to reload ten times before she’d need to rewind it. A glint of light caught her attention.

Osmond was hovering just above a large, brown hare outside of her blind. For a moment, Jean stared at it, What..? Why is a rabbit… Jean trailed off as she realized the creature had locked eyes with her.

Instead of hopping nervously, it stalked like a predator with one clawed paw before the next.  The hair on the back of Jean’s neck rose as she lifted her boltcaster.

In the blink of an eye, it leaped, covering the distance in a near instant with its mouth open wide to expose two long, snake-like fangs dripping with black bile.

Jean fell backward with a squeak and swung her boltcaster around like a club. She managed to bat the creature out of the air, where it bounced off of the ground once and then slid to a halt on its feet. Its eyes locked with hers once more and it let out a bone-chilling laugh.

A single bolt silenced it.

Osmond floated lazily to a small gap in the blind and Jean lifted her boltcaster in kind.

No sooner had she done so, than a creature the size of a large child slammed into the blind. It looked like an oversized, bipedal hare with a canine snout as its arm reached into the blind up to the shoulder to swing at her with a sharpened fragment of bone. It narrowly missed her with its makeshift dagger as she reared back. Droplets of black bile from the weapon splattered across her face and it began to burn.

Jean fired a bolt.

It fell backward, the arrow sticking out of its neck, and Jean realized three more of those creatures were dismantling the blind on her left as they stared at her with hungry, beady eyes. With a growing sense of panic, Jean snatched her pack, threw her shoulder into the right side of the blind, and bolted into the night. She had only taken a few steps when a small pack of creatures appeared from the brush and threw javelins at her. Jean dodged to the side and managed to get behind a tree as the weapons whizzed through where she had been a moment before, the near miss emphasized as one of the spears tore through her shirt and grazed her arm. The wound burned like fire after just a few moments.

She sucked in a breath and glanced around, the howls echoing without breaking before her eyes landed on Osmond. He hovered between two trees in the direction of where most of the chittering came from, something that scared Jean, but there was a glimmer of hope that prompted her to sprint in that direction. She barely managed to get away from a swarm of creatures that had begun to close in with the spears, weaving to avoid about a dozen of the smaller creatures with fangs that had been attempting to frighten her in the other direction with noise.

The next several minutes were some of the most harrowing times of her life. It was next to the Long Night she experienced when she