In the Fade

By C.M. Martens

Fourth Wing meets Throne of Glass in this NA-YA crossover fantasy adventure.

“If you enjoy fantasy, do yourself a favor and make this your next read…"

Three days after making her promise to her father, Maslyn breaks it. She has to. It’s that, or find herself captured by the kidnappers snatching Bloods.

Of course, not telling him opens doors to all sorts of problems she could never have guessed. Not in her wildest nightmares would she expect to have her magic bound the day before she starts magic school. Magic she needs to stay a step ahead of the kidnapper who knows she’s not like all the others. Magic she needs to show she belongs. Magic she needs to become the person she always thought she would be.

Refusing to quit, Maslyn keeps her head down. The grand library at the center of Mulik has to have answers. If she can avoid her peers set on bullying her to leave, if she can keep from getting expelled, especially if she can stay out of the claws of the kidnapper, everything will be fine.

Of course, even if she can unleash her power, she’ll still have to keep it a secret, and secrets don’t keep from the observant prince. It’s just one more thing to add to her list of things to watch out for.

When students turn up missing, Maslyn knows her time is short. Is it time to accept unlocking her magic is impossible? Will she learn to wield what she has in time to save herself from enemies closing in?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stealing Shade Productions
• Release date: Jun 27, 2023
• ISBN: 1955738106

Book preview

Prologue

W hen the Suerza found their way across the sea, it was to fulfill their desire to exterminate the human race. But this time⁠—

Maslyn shot out of her seat, brown hair bouncing over her shoulders, hands raised in celebration. —this time, humans’ had magic to fight back. This time, they won!

Akadashi rolled his eyes, smile betraying his feigned annoyance. It was Maslyn’s favorite story, this tale of Suerzas’ War. Demons chasing mankind to a new home, forcing the human tribes to unify in order to win against the monsters who threatened to kill them in their new land.

Maslyn’s father nodded gravely. Yes, this time. But they’ll be back.

Unaware of Dash’s nervous expression, Maslyn continued her jubilant commentary. That’s why the Emperor trains those with Blood to lead his armies so they’ll never be caught off guard again!

A rare grin broke over Maslyn’s father’s features. Even he couldn’t keep from smiling at his eight-year-old daughter’s exuberance.

Maslyn’s arms dropped, and with them, her excitement. Papi, she said. Do you think they really could come back?

We didn’t expect them last time, Dash stated matter-of-factly, drawing on his three extra years of life to answer the question.

Maslyn furrowed her brows, studying her father’s expression for the validity of Dash’s response.

Amahan met Maslyn’s focused stare. It is always prudent to be vigilant.

Still standing, Maslyn pressed her shoulders back, chin high. I want to help keep Siela safe. I have enough power to do it.

Dash flinched, but Maslyn was too busy watching for her father’s approval to notice.

It’s not an easy task, Amahan said, attention flickering to Dash to include him in Maslyn’s announcement. Channelers and SpelFreys train for years to control their power so they might lead the Emperor’s armies.

I have magic. More magic than them, Maslyn exclaimed, looking to Dash for confirmation.

Her friend nodded, though the look in his eye showed trepidation. He knew Maslyn’s magic was strong. More potent than any Blood’s should be.

Amahan’s gaze hardened. Power you can’t control. Only last week, you burned the house down.

Again, Dash added, humor taking over his expression.

Maslyn set her jaw. I’m getting better. I’ll learn. I can do it.

Silence stretched through the one-room house before Amahan responded. We’ll see. Show control. Show discipline. Show that you can, in fact, become a protector of Siela.

Maslyn turned her head, smiling face shining on Dash, who sat by with wide eyes.

Dash, she said to him, we’re going to keep everyone in Siela safe.

He looked from his friend to Amahan, questions burning in his eyes. Questions there was no time just then to ask. Not when Amahan was already motioning to the door.

Akadashi, I think your parents are expecting you for dinner.

Dash nodded, leaping from his seat. Quick steps took him outside, where he barely got a wave off before Amahan’s large, dark frame closed the pair off from Maslyn still inside.

Dash?

The eleven-year-old stared up into the man’s dark eyes, heart pounding. Yes, sir?

She’ll need someone to protect her. If she truly decides to be Siela’s savior, she’ll be too distracted to watch out for herself.

Dash stared at the wooden door as if he could see his friend on the other side. He knew how hard Maslyn worked to control her power. Her magic, according to Amahan, was far beyond what any Blood should carry. It made her as dangerous as she was special. If Maslyn wanted to keep Siela safe, he knew she would do just that. Dash also believed it when Amahan told him that not everyone would be happy with her help.

Regardless, wherever she went, he would follow. She was his friend. His best friend. He didn’t want to think about a life without her, especially if that life was full of adventure.

I’ll watch her back, Dash swore, turning his attention back to Amahan.

Amahan nodded. I know you will.

Chapter 1

Her opinion wasn’t often ignored. Even less so did her best friend disagree with her.

Sure, the decision was made. The arguments long debated, rehashed, and decided. It was pointless to bring them up now. All it would do was sour their goodbye.

That didn’t mean they didn’t run on repeat in her head. All the reasons he should stay—or that she should go with him—swirling as she watched him pack the last of his things onto the cart.

Did you even tell him you thought I should go?

Alright, maybe just one more try.

Dash smiled a sad half-grin, not looking up from his work. Maz, both of us together couldn’t convince him to change his mind. Reminds me of someone else I know.

The last he muttered under his breath.

She heard and smiled despite herself. As if you don’t want to go.

Dash straightened, still not turning to her. "Of course, I want to go. I’ve trained for this my whole life. You know how hard it was for your father to get me into that place."

Maslyn crossed her arms, frown deepening as she bit her tongue against ugly words she didn’t mean. Getting into a soldier’s institute was a big deal, especially for someone like Dash, who hadn’t the privilege of training at some fancy junior academy nor the pedigree to determine his worth. An adopted kid who didn’t know his true parents, attending a Gusar should have been impossible. Gusar Trovat was the most difficult of the military academies to get into. Dash had every right to be excited about going.

She’d always supported her friend. She just never considered what getting his dream would mean for her. She never thought their similar paths would lead them on such separate journeys. Whenever they spoke of saving the world, it was as a team—together.

Her silence turned him from his task.

I don’t want to leave you, but it won’t be long.

Two years. She tightened her arms crossed over her stomach. Maybe three.

Dash broke eye contact when tears blurred her vision. There hadn’t been a single day of her sixteen years he wasn’t at her side. Seconds after her birth, Akadashi entered Maslyn’s life. A three-year-old creeping through the storm-blanketed village and into her birthing room seemed a fantastical tale, but even her father swore it was true. Dash’s hand on her kicking foot had quieted her screams. They were inseparable ever since.

She stared at his tall, broad stature that carried the sleek muscles her father’s training put on him. His brown hair, darker than hers, was shaggy, his worn pants loose, his leather vest blowing open in the breeze. It was hard enough having him leave for a couple of weeks a few times a year. How would she survive years without him?

Unshed tears turned to chest-constricting panic.

Forcing her eyes from him, she stared down the trail that would lead him out of their home village and across Siela to the Northern Mountains. She considered all the space between this spot and there, land she’d only ever seen on a map.

His hands on her shoulders brought her thoughts from chaos. She sucked the inside of her cheek to hold back so many words that would only hurt them both.

I don’t like the idea of being away from you either, Dash said. But it’s time we get used to it. If not this, they’d be trying to marry me off. I’m not sure my future wife will like us spending every waking moment together.

Maslyn frowned. She liked the idea of him joining with some wife as much as she liked him leaving for school without her.

Never react. Respond. Her father’s voice in her head allowed her to push off the breakdown that threatened to erupt. If her father were here, he would tell her her thoughts were emotional. He would not dignify conversing with emotion.

But Dash wasn’t her father.

Desperate, Maslyn said, I need a tutor. What better way to find one than to come with you?

She was reacting now. Saying things she hadn’t thought out. It was this her father pushed her to rise above. It was necessary when dealing with power as all-consuming as hers. A moment of weakness—of reacting—in her life could mean travesty. Three homes and countless injuries proved it, yet here she was, responding as a selfish child in the face of this thing she did not want to happen.

It was Dash’s turn to frown. Whatever thoughts passed through his head, he kept to himself.

Maslyn didn’t like that. Didn’t like that he wouldn’t share everything with her. Emotion escalated fast in the wake of that dislike. It welled within her until her palms itched, tingling with the thrum of her magic. She fisted her hands, taking control of herself in a way she hadn’t had to in years. An accidental release would only prove she wasn’t ready to leave the oversight of her father. It would mean waiting another year before she could go off to the magic academy she wanted to attend as badly as Dash wanted to train at the Gusar.

Her head fell forward until her forehead pressed to Dash’s chest. She breathed the scent of spring fields with the undertone of the oil he used to maintain his sword. The same blade her father gave him years ago. A coveted Moonglass weapon she felt was rightly hers, despite her father refusing to teach her as he’d taught Dash.

You’ll have different training than me, he explained as if she didn’t know. As if they hadn’t talked about it every day since he was accepted. Just wait. Your father will let you attend Mulik, and you’ll have everything you ever wanted. I’m sure we can work out being stationed together. Then, our dream of protecting Siela will finally come true.

Dash’s words helped her regain control, set her spine straighter, erased her tears.

When Dash pulled gently at her hand, she stepped back to look up at him.

I know he can trust you, Dash continued. You just have to show him. Try to be at least a little humble, and maybe he’ll even finally show you how to use the sword.

As long as he agrees to send me to Mulik next season, I won’t care that he never taught me.

When he pulled her in for a hug, her heart dropped to her toes.

I know I can’t go with you, she said against his chest, but I don’t have to like it. And I don’t have to like that you’re so excited to leave.

Dash released her to turn back to his task. Don’t let your father hear that tone in your voice.

He was teasing her. She knew it but still turned to search the narrow path into the cluster of single-story homes that made up their tiny village. Too small to warrant a mark on any map, the nameless town was home. Never once had Maslyn set foot in another village or town. She couldn’t wait for her turn to venture into Siela and explore all the places she had only read about.

She drew two quick puffs of air through her nose to sift the information the magics fed her. Connected to everything and all, there was nothing she couldn’t know if given enough time and focus. Now, she concentrated on whether her father was close. Dash was right. The whine trembling her words was grounds for punishment.

Discerning that her father would join them soon but that she was safe for the moment, Maslyn turned away from home to stare past Dash into the trees. With her mind’s eye, she traced the path Dash and her father would travel. She imagined the places her friend would see, sights and places and all the new people. She ached to see the carved entrance to Gusar Trovat in the sharp ridges of the mountain for herself. She yearned to travel and explore the realm she promised to protect.

Strapping down the last of the sacks with a tug, Dash faced his friend with no distraction. You know I don’t want to leave. I do want to train and become the best, but that doesn’t mean I like the leaving part.

Maslyn kicked at the path, face down. Yeah, I know. And I guess it’ll be good for me to get used to you not being around. It’s not like you were going to follow me to school.

Though she hoped he might.

He put his hands back on her shoulders. I’m not leaving for good. I’ll be back and— He sighed. I’ll always be here for you, regardless of what my future wife says.

He grinned at this last. She couldn’t help but laugh along, though she wondered what he’d meant to say before he changed his mind to make a joke.

As he pulled her in for another hug, she inhaled two more bursts of air through her nose. She gleaned nothing of what he was thinking from the pull of magic, though she sensed rain to the west had caused a surge in the nearby river. She might have pressed further, snuck a peak into his thoughts, but she’d long known not to indulge this invasive power. Mind reading was tricky business, something her father convinced her not to play with. It was only the periphery surge of emotion she allowed herself.

Afraid her tears might finally overflow, she joked, Like we could find anyone to marry you.

He pushed her away with a playful shove that became a match of slaps. Her father might have refused to train his daughter in the art of the sword, but she wasn’t helpless. Her hand-to-hand skills were nothing to laugh at.

Their playful tête-à-tête was soon a full-blown sparring match, feet coming into play to block smooth kicks. Maslyn itched with the urge to use her magic but resisted. That was good practice, too.

Neither saw her father approach. Only after they found themselves flat on their backs, his stern mask staring down at them, did they realize.

Awareness of your surroundings, the pair intoned as they helped each other from the dirt.

Laughter fell around them when Dash’s foster parents approached. Maslyn, go easy on our boy.

The petulant look Dash threw his mother brought them all to laughter. Even Amahan grinned.

Maslyn watched Dash hug Peonia and Ropu with a sad smile. The least she could do was pretend to be happy for her friend. She hadn’t meant to turn this moment about him around to herself. She especially didn’t want to sour his memories of her by continuing to complain.

She watched the family give their goodbyes, noted how Dash’s light skin shone in contrast to his adoptive parents’ dark tones. His fair complexion was explained by his mysterious background. Her lighter skin had no justification. Not so pale as her friend, it wasn’t just her unique power that made her so different from the rest. At least her eyes didn’t shine as pale as his.

Alright, alright. Amahan stepped in to pull Dash from yet another final hug from his mother. We will have to leave eventually.

Peonia grinned through a tear-filled gaze. I know. I didn’t think it would be so hard.

Dash lay a kiss on her cheek, his height matching theirs. In this, he was more like the people of their home than her. No one here was as short as her, though Dash promised she wasn’t shorter than those he met in Okatie.

I’m not leaving forever, Dash promised Peonia.

Peonia glanced at Maslyn before settling Dash with a sad smile. I know. And I always knew you were meant for more than this place. As hard as it is to say goodbye, I would not keep you here.

Ropu squeezed Dash’s shoulder with a nod at his wife’s words.

Then, it was time for Maslyn’s final farewell.

Dash looked her over with studious intent. When his hands dropped on her shoulders one last time, she was forced to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep her tears from flowing.

Don’t miss me too much, he said. Our paths are meant to realign.

She smiled wide, refusing the tears teasing her eyes. Look at you, gone poet. Sounds like you’re going to miss me more than I’ll miss you.

He drew her in for another, longer hug. Be careful. I know you think they won’t be afraid of you, but trust your father in this. It is smarter to hide your power. For now. Until they know you would only use it to protect them.

Maslyn pulled away to stare into her friend’s face, the seriousness in his eye stealing her words.

I will come back, he promised.

Maslyn could only nod.

Don’t let them send you to fight without me. They say the Suerza were seen off the coast for the first time in almost three-hundred years. Don’t hurry off to glory until I can be at your side.

Now, she grinned. As long as you wait for me, I’ll wait for you.

One last hug and he was gone.

Long after the cart rumbled down the path towards the road miles away, after it disappeared around the first bend, Maslyn stood, staring after it.

Chapter 2

C an’t I just— she snapped her fingers, —us there?

Her father didn’t dignify the question with a response. She might not have existed for all the attention he paid her.

Despite his snub, she smirked. She knew she couldn’t just pop them from here to Mulik. Her father did not share her magical talents, and she wasn’t sure she could bring both of them. Not over that distance. Not to mention his continued insistence that someone would somehow know she used her magic that was so different—so better—than all the rest. Her promise to use only the magic of a Blood was what allowed her this permission to finally attend the prestigious Mulik. The best warrior mage academy in Siela, and she was finally going. Her first step towards becoming the best SpelFrey in the land, towards becoming the hero she dreamed of being since she was eight years old.

What if I don’t have the right clothes?

That statement elicited a raised brow.

Maslyn’s smirk grew.

She swatted at the tall reeds and cat tails that lined the path, knowing her erratic movements would drive her father crazier than her inane questions. She liked that she could shake him from his calm. That and her behavior allowed a subtle rebellion against his insistence that they walk. A cart and horse would move them along at a more bearable pace. Both things she might have conjured if not for her promise.

She reminded herself she’d waited years for this opportunity. A couple of weeks of travel wouldn’t kill her.

Her excited energy diluted her disappointment that she’d have to hide her magic. Instincts she’d tailored to keep accidental flares of magic contained would be used to hide her power completely. She would act as a Blood, or she would not go. She would do nothing more than could be explained by the narrow field of her chosen craft. Definitely, she would not shift her location with a thought or conjure convenient transportation.

She readjusted her pack on her shoulders before stepping to catch up to her father who hadn’t stopped to admire the landscape. Absently, her fingers fiddled with the pouch at her waist. Filled with palm-sized stones that were a gift from Dash, she’d refused to leave them behind.

A Frey can not cast on stone. You will remember they are no longer for magical use. A stipulation already wrapped into her original promise.

She knew better than to point that out to her father. She knew better than to say anything that might make him second-guess this decision. His allowing her to attend Mulik was her first step towards becoming someone to parallel those in the histories of her father’s stories. Stories like the legends of Desna and Takaani, a great Channeler-Frey duo whose exploits were weaved throughout every major victory of Suerzas’ War. Maslyn couldn’t hear enough of their unlikely pairing. Forced together through the mishaps of war, their dislike of each other morphed into an inseparable love. Takaani, a SpelFrey who became his love’s watcher, was even credited with forming new words of power to assist his guardianship of Desna. Without Desna’s channeling prowess, the war to free the Tribes from slaughter by the Suerza would have failed. While Desna channeled immense amounts of magic, Takaani defended her, fighting with a pair of obsidian swords layered five and six words deep. Even now, five-hundred years later, their mastery in their respective branches of magic remained unchallenged.

While that was Maslyn’s favorite story, her most-loved hero was the renowned Lieutenant Alima Bahar from two hundred years ago. She pulled Maslyn’s attention towards Frey’s work rather than Channeling. Against all odds, with most of her unit, including her commanders, dead, Lieutenant Bahar held the line until reinforcements reached her. That battle ensured the Maldochs retained their reign of Siela against an uprising of families claiming they could rule better.

Now, with rumors of Suerza seen off the coast, Maslyn knew her time to step into a hero’s shoes was close upon her. She wondered what stories people would tell about her two hundred years from now.

Hurrying, she stepped to her father’s side. How long should we scope things out?

She knew the answer. Their itinerary was all they’d spoken of since deciding to go, but there was nothing else to talk about. Dash’s absence made conversation hard to find. On this most exciting day of her life, she missed Dash more than ever. Her father was not keen on superfluous conversation.

Maslyn, I’d like to think you’re prepared for this. Your fidgeting has me doubt.

"Papi, you know I’m ready. I’m just used to a little more conversation. Dash would talk."

Yes, I recall. You both have the habit of carrying on long after words are necessary. It’s no wonder the village is so peaceful with him gone.

She tried to feign hurt feelings but couldn’t pull it off. I think you just made a joke.

He smiled a wide grin that set pearly white teeth against the darkness of his skin.

Maslyn stopped in her tracks with a hand over her heart. I—I’m stunned. I’m speechless. I think I may have fallen into some alternate realm.

She looked around theatrically, but her father didn’t pause to watch her dramatize the moment. Dash would have appreciated it. He would have even added his own layer of levity.

Pushing away thoughts of how Dash would have added to the scene, Maslyn trotted to catch up to her father.

Ahead, the road curved North. Instead of stepping with the line of the path, Maslyn stopped to look into the grassy marsh that spread out for thousands of steps before meeting the forest that stretched across the horizon. She knew just beyond her sight lay the meandering river whose banks twisted near the home she left behind.

If we cut straight through here, she said, still staring ahead while her father followed the road. We’ll shave a couple days off the trip.

Her father ignored her suggestion, continuing to walk the path while she remained.

Maslyn frowned at his back. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little mud?

His lack of response was exactly as she expected.

In no hurry to catch him, she allowed a few more moments to stare over the tufts of grass and reeds. She watched the breeze rustle the thrush, listened to the birds call to each other as they picked gnats from the air. She sniffed into the current, smiling at the information the magics brought her. A doe with a pair of fawns nestled on a patch of high ground to her left. An ancient snapping turtle lumbered to a new nest on her right. She felt the river’s pulse through her connection, seeing in her mind’s eye the family of minks sharing a bounty of fish at its edge while a cloud of floating pollen danced across the water’s surface. There was so much animation in the world. Life teeming solid and bright. How anyone lived without this connection, she could not understand. She wouldn’t even consider it. Dash once tried to explain it to her. She’d cried, her tears scaring him so badly he’d made her swear never to ask him about it again.

When the gnats swarmed en masse, chasing her from her stationary position, she reluctantly pulled herself after her father, arms in a flurry to keep the tiny monsters at bay. She might have cast a shield from their hungry teeth, but that was a part of the magic now forbidden.

She sucked at the inside of her cheek, eating the frustrated words centered around the inconvenience of living like everyone else. She’d already made the promise. There was nothing to do but get used to it.

Miles fell away.

For two days, they traveled the road to Okatie, camping under the stars. Not once did they pass a single traveler. No new faces to speak with, to gather news, or exchange small talk. Maslyn thought she might explode from the lack of interaction. Picking at her father wasn’t as fun after the first day. Now, hours passed without a word between them. When he did speak, it was centered around his expectations. She listened with barely contained aggravation, sucking at her cheek so often she managed to leech blood through the skin. Months at home without her friend weren’t as difficult as these days on the road.

She only had to endure until they reached Mulik. She would show her father she could handle her promise. He would let her attend school, and all this annoyance would be worth it. These thoughts kept her frustration from turning vocal. Anticipation of the friends she would make, of meeting others with like-minded hopes and dreams, was enough to offset the heavy burden of her father’s solemnity and the void of Dash’s differing path. A void that swelled when she lay staring at the stars, listening to the songs of the frogs before sleep took her.

Will we make it to Okatie tomorrow? she asked as they lay down to sleep on that second night.

We will. Rual will have left for Kolvar to prepare lodgings and scout the school ahead of us. I want to make sure he left on time. That, and ensure his family is set without him.

Maslyn knew the plan. As much as she’d wanted to bypass the town to reach Mulik faster, she couldn’t deny her fidgeting was born of excitement to finally meet the people Dash told her so much about. Dash was eight years old when Amahan began taking her friend on his trips to town. Often, they stayed for days before returning, making Maslyn live for weeks without her companion. Always, she made him tell her every detail he could remember about all of it.

Rual was someone Maslyn heard a lot about. Another protege of her father’s, a graduate of the same Gusar Dash was at these past six months, Dash spoke of Rual with reverence. Rual’s foster parents, Anto and Lacey, owned the inn her father and Dash always stayed at. That Maslyn would finally meet these people she’d heard of her whole life was a dream made real.

Amahan glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Don’t get too excited. We won’t have time for a proper visit.

Chapter 3

Apiercing screech brought her from sleep.

When the sound repeated, Maslyn rolled to face the road, kicking her feet free of the thin blanket in case she needed to move quickly. Camped behind a wall of tall reeds and grasses, she and her father were hidden from passersby. Still, she remained quiet, watching her father for cues on how to respond.

He lay on his stomach, peering through the grass towards the repetitive sound growing louder—a steady squeak squeak Maslyn didn’t recognize.

A minute passed before Maslyn saw the lone traveler hunched on a rickety cart seat. The rusted wheels let out the sharp noise with every rotation. Whether because of it or despite it, the driver’s attention was frantic, head moving back and forth in paranoid sweeps. An unlit lantern bounced and swayed from its hanging position over his head. Dawn was just a hint in the sky, the sun’s coming light not enough to press back night’s shadows.

When her father continued to watch with no sign of moving, Maslyn whispered, Why not greet him?

"Travelers are not common this far South. There is nowhere for them