Pitch. The Trials of Timmeraul, Book Two

Preface

King Conifer ‘Blu’ Corinthios

I flick another pebble off my balcony railing onto the floor of the throne room. I move to the next.

Flick.

“Blu.” My brother sighs impatiently. “You realize someone has to clean those up off the floor, right?”

“Who do you think I am aiming for?” I answer without looking at him.

We hear an ‘oof’ followed by low grumbling from the floor below.

The corner of my mouth tilts up a bit.

Flick.

Flick.

“Blu! My sister chimes in, “it’s been three weeks, snap out of it.”

I turn and narrow my eyes at her, “you cry if Andrick goes to the bathroom without you.”

“It’s not the same, he’s my…” she stops herself.

“He’s your husband? A husband is something I will never be.” I say through gritted teeth.

She sighs and drops her head.

“Your children, Timmons, are my heirs. I promise I will never marry.” I say as I turn back to the railing. My chest tightens every time I think about her.

My Shade.

Flick.

Flick.

“Send out the guards to find her and bring her back.” Tatiana suggests.

I laugh. “Do you honestly think that these people would accept her as my queen? Even she knows that they will not. If she wanted to stay, she would have. I cannot just force her back and lock her in the dungeon.”

“Don’t marry then, marry someone suitable, and just keep Shade on the side.”

I turn and raise an eyebrow at my seventeen-year-old sister.

She shrugs.

“You’d be ok with Andrick having a woman on the side?” Timmons asks her.

“Oh, hell no, I’d cut his balls off.”

I nod at her, “yup, and do you think a woman who I can barely beat in hand-to-hand combat would allow me to have a wife, even if just for appearances?”

“I suppose not.” She relents.

I turn back around.

Flick.

Flick.

I close my eyes and drop my chin to my chest, vulnerability leaking from my every pore. “I feel like I can’t breathe. Nothing matters to me, not my duties, not my people, I feel …empty.”

My father died three days after she left, so my brain is in mourning for more than just her. The death of my father is crushing, but expected. My mother died two weeks later of a broken heart. We’d had a lot of time to get used to the idea of father's death. His passing was inevitable. and none of us were surprised when mom went too. They had a real love.

The loss of Shade, however, consumes me.

Several quiet moments pass.

“This has never been your life, Blu. You left court the moment you were able, and even changed your name. Your life is out there.” Timmons points behind him with a thumb. “No, not the corridor, you gloomy fool.” He says before I can quip.

I smirk at him.

“You hate palace life, you need to be in the forest, killing monsters.” Tatiana agrees, waving her hands around, “being a hero.”

I turn around and look at them each in the eyes. “What is this?”

“You should go,” my brother says with a shrug.

“Sure, just go! I’m sure no one will notice when the king just disappears.”

“The king doesn’t have to go anywhere, just Blu.” Tatiana intervenes.

I look at her, then back to Timmons, “What are you saying? I should just abdicate to you?”

“Blu, I’ve been the king in all but title for months now. When dad was sick, and honestly, you’ve been useless since you took your oath.” He says.

“Can’t argue that.” I grumble.

“You’re the best tracker in the kingdom, you can find her.” Tatiana says with a genuine smile.

I scoff and roll my eyes, “of course I can.”

My eyes go wide. “I can find her.”

They both nod.

Chapter One

Shade

When I wake for the second time, it’s morning. My dream is still clear in my mind, if it was, in fact, a dream.

I’m not sure.

I’ve been in Roderique’s care and training for several weeks, learning all that I can. Hoping to become a ranger.

I’m a sponge.

I love it, all of it.

At sixteen years old, my family had been brutally assassinated. I still don’t know why I was spared. Perhaps I wasn’t considered a threat.

They were wrong.

I have spent years becoming just that. A threat…to everyone, including myself. I’d wanted to learn to fight, but found out quickly that the human world does not train women for the army.

I spent months in the forest near the city of Serinadian, where I grew up. Watching from afar as my home was consumed by strangers. My people enslaved to their whim.

I could do nothing, I was helpless.

Hopeless.

That is where Gaelic found me. I didn’t know before then that druids were real. I thought them a myth, as did many of us.

I’d learned there were, indeed, not many.

He taught me everything. How to fight, how to survive. I’d even learned how to communicate with most animals at a rudimentary level. I’d been the first non-druid human to do so, he had told me. I learned, also, that I could climb, jump and even fall in a way that exceeded my race. He speculated, vaguely, that there must be more to me than just a mere human; An affinity to the forest and the nature around me.

I’d honed those skills by taking out the men who had stolen my home, one at a time. They were endless, though. I realized it would be impossible to take them all out.

With few options to make a living, take care of myself without a man, I’d turned to the only thing available to me with the skills I had acquired.

I became a mercenary. A hired killer.

I was good at it. So good, in fact, that I’d quickly created a name for myself. A reputation as a killer who never failed.

The way I’d been tossed aside like garbage had hardened me. I cared for no one but myself. It was easier that way.

The army had tried to capture me for years until they gave up. The locals wouldn't give me up either, they knew I would escape capture and make them my next target.

That was my life until I came across an annoying dwarf cleric.

Benagrath Silvermace.

I don’t know when the switch in my brain occurred. When just surviving alone became an impossibility.

Then there was Blu.

He was a punch to the face in the most delicious way.

I crave him. Need him like I need air.

And then he was gone.

Our paths too different to ever merge indefinitely.

I love him so hard it takes my breath away. Sadly, I think I always will.

But he is the King now. A life I can never fit into. Never wanted to.

Maybe not never. I grew up in the palace at Serinadian. That was my life, and I believed, at the time, with all of my being that was where I belonged.

I know now that I never belonged there. Being tossed out as I was showed me the truth of who I am at my core.

A fighter.

A killer.

The gradual shift from hired mercenary to protector can be blamed on that dwarf, for the most part, but I also had a strange need to be worthy of the love I feel for Blu, and the love he claims he has for me.

When I’d first met Blu, I had been hired to kill him by his younger brother who desired the throne for himself. He had fallen into our lives quite literally, feigning a simple farmer’s life. Claiming his entire village had been wiped out.

I fell in love with him, nearly instantly, even though I will never admit that. Not even to him. He had been deceiving me. I had been hired to kill him, so I can hardly blame him for not telling us who he is.

When we parted ways, he had made me promise to come here. To train to be a ranger, as he had. There were no female rangers though, by royal decree. That is, until Blu became king and changed it all. The humans are the first to allow females to be rangers. Rangers far surpass normal military in training. They are an elite group used when stealth is more important than force, or the target too elusive.

There were women now training to be in the human army. He had seen first hand how fierce a woman fighter could be. That they are capable of so much more.

Ironically, humans are the last to allow females into the army. Elves and dwarves had always had women as soldiers. Even the gnomes had women in their fighting ranks.

I conquered the last hurdle I needed to become a ranger when the deity, Shalm, came to me in a dream last night. Accepting me as his ranger.

I smile with satisfaction as I place my pot on the small fire for my coffee. Rod has a kitchen, of course, but I prefer to be outside.

Roddy emerges from his cabin, grinning wide at me, Ben at his heels.

“Shalm is an excellent choice, Shade.” he beams at me.

“I thought the deities picked us, not the other way around.” I say, a bit perplexed.

“In most circumstances, yes, but there were many who wanted to be claimed by you.”

I smile wistfully, thinking back as I always do, to the man I left in Ferramore who claimed me, who sent me here to find my true meaning, true destiny.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, pushing Blu down deep. I have to stop thinking about him. Our lives have gone in different directions. I cannot be what he wants me to be.

“Where did you go?” Rod asks with a grin.

“Same place I always go.”

He nods knowingly. “His coronation was about 3 weeks ago,”

I nod and shake the man out of my head, “time to move forward, there is nothing for me in the past.” Then it kicks in what he had said. I look up at him, “Why were there many deities wanting to claim me? I’m nothing special.”

“Oh, but you are! Not just because you are the first female, although many have been waiting for just that to happen. I see big things in your future, so do they.”

I nod and shrug. “I guess we shall see.”

Surrindipidias Perriolisal

I sigh heavily as I glide into the room, not at all looking forward to the council of fairy dragons. All they ever do is nag me about Nightshade Timmeraul. I have yet to even meet the woman, but it will be soon, I know where she is now, and although I cannot reach her there, she can’t stay there forever.

The sound of her name eats at me like a living dagger dancing around in my stomach. I’ll be happy to never hear it again, but this is my mission, and I cannot say no to the council.

The moment I’m spotted entering the room, I’m bombarded with questions.

“Have you found her yet?”

“I never lost her.” I deadpan.

I cannot speak anymore; I can only communicate telepathically. I’ve often wondered if my sarcasm translates. Would be a shame if it didn't, such a waste of my unique personality.

I lost the ability to speak as others because of a mishap with an unhappy wizard who hadn’t found me half as amusing as I found myself. Because of this affliction, I am forced to communicate only through telepathy. Equally annoying is the fact that I’ve found very few beings other than my fairy dragon kin, who can hear my thoughts.

“Do not play games with us, Surri!” The voice’s scolding tone echoes throughout the hall.

“Who?...Me?...Never.” I respond while jabbing myself in the chest with one bony finger. Several dragons sigh their displeasure, so I concede, “very well...I do know where she is, however, it suits my purposes to wait for her to come to me.”

“Time is running out.”

“I am, of course, aware of that ...do not fear, she will come to me very soon. As we speak, she is entering Shorman Deep.” I yawn my lack of concern.

“Perhaps we should send another to do your job ...you do not seem to grasp the importance of this situation.” A different voice booms from across the room.

“I told you she’s coming; the situation is completely under control...don’t you listen?” I argue. I do not want to lose this assignment, as annoying as it will be. It’s likely to make me famous among my kind. Perhaps even enough to find a cure for my ailment. Such spells are saved only for the elite. As much as I can do, that is not one of them.

“Go get her! We grow tired of your games!”

“Look, if I just appear out of nowhere, she’ll never trust me, and then we’ll be right back where we started. I will not fail! If I do, you can...”

“If you fail,” the voice interrupts solemnly, “There will be none left to exact a punishment.”

“Yes, that would be unfortunate.” I chuckle. I disappear from the room much faster than I had entered it.