Keeper of Reign by Emma Right (classic fiction .txt) đ
- Author: Emma Right
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Keeper of Reign
Emma Right
Chapter Excerpts
13 - WHISPERER
MIRANDA PULLED HER arm free from Saulâs grip. âWhy do you enjoy humiliating me?â
âWhy do you insist on leaving the house without my permission?â Saul paced his breathing and placed a hand to his chest.
âIâm not a piece of furniture you can set in the corner and expect to stay put.â
âI will not let history repeat itself. You know our situation. We must take extra precautions.â
âYou must take extra precaution. Me? I have a nor-mal life.â
âThereâs nothing normal about what youâre doing, Miranda.â Saulâs eyes locked with his granddaughterâs. Blue like the seamless sky. How similar her eyes were to Chrystleâs. It was as if his daughter had returned, been brought back to life, after all these years.
âWhatâwhat are you talking about?â Miranda stumbled over her words.
But Saul just turned and walked away, his head bowed low, shoulders drooped.
âGrandpa! Wait.â Miranda kept pace with Saulâs brisk steps. âYou think Mrs. Blaze is at the Laceworksâ?â She wrung her hands and looked at the branches.
âIf she wasnât captured.â
âWe have to get there quickly.â
âWhy so nervous?â When Saul looked up he reached out, grabbed Mirandaâs arm again, and yanked her into the undergrowth.
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Before them, hidden in a swirl of gray smoke, a white face materialized. Eyes of blue fire and twisted lips contorted into a smile. The being floated stirring the fallen leaves just an armâs length away from their hiding spot. The smoke drifted to where Saul had stood seconds ago and then wove its way in and out of the leaves and twigs in front of the briar rose where Saul and Miranda hid, as if teasing them to come out. Whispers swished through the foliage all around them.
Sweat dripped from Saulâs temple but he didnât wipe at it. He stood still, his grip on Miranda firm as they watched Whisperer.
âBeta?â Whisperer whispered.
Can he smell Elfies, too? Saul never asked Whisperer before.
14 - GEHZUROLLEâS AGENTS
RALSTON HURRIED TOWARD Jules as they trudged the familiar pebbled path to the Laceworksâ home. Despite the stars above, the grassy terrain below was pitch. A soft wind rippled the long grasses that towered over the tall Jules in some parts. Even with the lanterns the night seemed to rule. Their lantern glowed faintly between the swaying blades.
Ralston said, âHowâd Gehzurolle even know weâre Keepers? We were always so careful not to tell anyone.â
Jules looked over his shoulders. âGehzurolleâs not supposed to be omniscient, but his spies lurk everywhere.â
âYou mean the Scorpents?â
Jules lowered his voice. âNot just. Could be Handoverans, or Elfies whoâve been bought with a price. Then thereâre three others. One looks like a red flame and his name is Rage. Itâs hard to notice him, especially during a fire, although some have seen him and lived!â
âSo, heâs in charge of fire?â
âRage lives up to his name. Heâs in charge of anger. Thatâs what Grandpa said.â
âWho else?â
âAnother resembles smoke: name is Whisperer. He whispers things in the air to influence people or the weather or such. He gives them suggestions. And the third is Sekt: heâs rumored to roam in fogs and mists, but he hides well and not much is known of him. Gehzurolleâll do anything to make trouble for us. He can even manipulate birds for his end.â
âBirds?â Ralston made a face.
âNot all kinds. Prey birds. Thatâs why I think Gehzurolleâs involved. Our raven attack seemed too coincidental, especially with this.â He swept his arm about. âDid you hear anything last night?â
âBesides your snoring?â
âI saw a bright flash across the sky last night,â Jules said. âAt first I thought it was lightning, but then in the distance a glare brightened the night and the ground trembled.â
âA bomb in the forest? Maybe the warâs coming closer?â
Bitha came up from behind and said, âI hope Dadâs okay.â
âMaybe the glare came from an explosion.â Jules hastened his steps, eyes skimming the thick branches above.
The trail brought them to the edge of a clearing leading to another moss-covered house under two twisted roots of a redwood, the home of Cori Lacework, his wife of eighteen years, Jessie, and their son, sixteen-year- old Holden.
âWhat do we tell Mrs. L?â Ralston said.
Jules shrugged. âSaul should be there and might have told her. We shouldnât scare her.â
âWhat if,â Ralston asked, âthe burglars attacked the Laceworks, too?â
So many questions! Jules scanned the boughs above. âWeâll find out soon enough.â
15 - LACEWORKSâS HOME
WHEN THEY NEARED the Lacework home, Fiesty tugged at his leash as if unwilling to get any closer. Bitha nudge Jules. âFiestyâs acting weird again.â
Tst Tst, struggling behind with the dragonfly, cast a worried glance at Jules.
âLet him go,â Jules said.
Tst Tst released the blue ribbon, and Fiesty whizzed higher and higher up to the boughs. The children looked at each other, shrugged, and hurried toward the Lacework door.
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For a second the shadow following them determined to strike Jules and his siblings again, but he stopped. They thought they were invincible with the dragonfly lantern, but direct attack wasnât the only way to exterminate Elfies. Whisperer should know. Heâd been perfecting the art through the ages. The proper time would come. It always did.
He pursed his lips upward toward the clouds, first softly, then more intensely, his gaze never wavering from the siblings. His master had given him authority over the elements of the air. He could use it to his advantage, but this time he would use something that had worked before.
Beta had told him about the Laceworks, and it was a perfect plan, assuming Betaâs trick had convinced the boy and his siblings to get inside. And once the Blaze kids were gone, he could finish his task and search the wreck left behind by the fire.
It should be on one of them.
Whisperer flew from the cypress he was perched upon, and several more pinecones dropped from the redwood tree.
16 â BEWARE
THE LACEWORK HOME stood under the niche of the tallest redwood in that part of the woods. The redwood poked above the rest in the canopy of green rivaling even some of the oldest spruces there.
âLook.â Ralston pointed to a shred of green fabric on a branch, obviously torn by some brambles near a boulder.
âSomeone was in a hurry.â Jules picked the fabric and examined it.
âLooks like Holdenâs cloak.â
Ralston parted the brambles and slipped, cutting his hand as he righted himself. âThereâs a hole here in the ground.â
âStay away. Could be a gopher home. You donât want to end up being gopher food next.â
Standing on the Laceworkâs front porch, a savory fragrance, maybe potato soup, wafted toward them. Which was an odd coincidence, Jules thought.
His stomach rumbled and he was about to knock on the door when Tippy let out one of her infamous shrieks. He turned and there she stood, tangled in Fiestyâs blue ribbon as she and the dragonfly struggled to detangle themselves. Tst Tst and Bitha, in helping, only made things worse, so Jules strode over.
âHere, take my lantern,â he instructed Bitha, who already had her hands full, what with their pillow-cased belongings.
Tst Tst was handling the other one. âMaybe Mrs. L has a pair of scissors to cut her loose.â
Jules motioned for Bitha to place her lantern over Tippyâs head. âHereâs the problemâpass me your stone and squeeze your palm inward really tight.â To free his hand he pocketed her stone. âNow, pass your hand through here.â Finally he freed her and pocketed the ribbon. âIt couldâve strangled you.â
He strode to the door again but a roar above stopped him from knocking. Thunder? He hadnât noticed the lightning due to the canopy. Was this like the solitary flash last night, a single warning of a pending storm?
The hair on Julesâs arms stood on ends. Static electricity. âBack away!â He pushed Ralston back and grabbed Tst Tst and Tippyâs arms. âQuick! The boulder!â
Bitha and Ralston scrambled after him and dove under a groove beneath the boulder. The brambles cut their arms and legs and tore parts of their cloaks.
The crack shattered the nightâs quiet and sounded close. Jules had never heard thunder that close. But it was nothing compared to the explosion that turned the Lacework home and the redwood it was under into an inferno. Flames consumed the tree as if someone had doused the wood with alcohol. Even from behind the boulder the heat from the fire turned their faces red and the smell of singed shrubbery and smoke made their eyes tear.
âGet away,â Jules shouted amidst the roar of the fire. He pushed them farther behind the boulder and they all fell into the gopher hole Ralston almost slipped into earlier. âGo, go!â
He shoved the girls in front of him deeper into the hole and pulled Ralston who was coughing and sputtering behind him.
âMy eyes!â Ralston cried. âHelp! I canât see. Iâm blind!â
17 âUNKNOWN
JULES SLID UNCONTROLLABLY, deeper and deeper down the tunnel, gripping Tippy in one arm. He hoped the others were close behind him but he wasnât sure. It was dark and he was falling too fast. Screams from Bitha and Tst Tst echoed around him. Were they okay? Mustnât let go of the lantern, he reminded himself.
The bottom eventually came. Ralston smashed into Julesâs back, somersaulted and landed with a thump into the side of the burrow, followed by Bitha and Tst Tst. Puffs of dust clouded the air and everyone choked and spluttered. Between hackings Jules said, âStay put. Let the dust settle. Here, drink water.â He passed Ralston a water pouch.
âI still canât see.â
âStop fidgeting and just blink,â Jules said.
The burrow they stood in was large and, even though the air seemed cool, Jules didnât think they could stay down there indefinitely. Especially if gophers lived nearby.
âWe need to stay alert,â he said once everyone had calmed down. Tippy and Tst Tst looked dazed and drowsy beside him.
Ralston peered into one of the tunnels leading out of the burrow. The lantern high above his head lighted their dismal paths ahead. âThereâre too many ways branching out. Which one should we take?â
âOne away from that fire.â
Tst Tst and Tippy sobbed loudly. Jules felt like biting his tongue but he, himself, had to gulp down a sob. Were his mother and the Laceworks in there? He never liked Holden, but still, he felt bad for him. And what about Saul, and Miranda? He blinked at the shaft theyâd just dropped from. Smoke drifted down in puffs from that shaft, as well as from some of the other tunnels next to it. He hoped the air was breathable. What if there were toxic fumes underground?
He brought a lantern close to the page in his grandpaâs journal and studied the address and directions to Mosche Falstaffâs home. âMr. Moscheâs home isnât too far from hereâin fact, itâs located by the river, about a mile from Saulâs. We can go to Moscheâs and ask him for help.â
âWhat if heâs not there?â Ralston said.
âHand me the pillowcase. We need a compass.â
Ralston took the journal and traced the route in the tiny map below the address with his finger. âBut why donât we just look for Dad?â
Jules said, âDad could be anywhere along the River front.â
Bitha said, âBut what about Mom? She might return to the house, and find us missing. Then what? We didnât even leave her a note.â
âAnd let the Scorpents know where we are if they returned?â Jules sat on his haunches and wrapped his fingers around his temple.
âDo you think Mom was in the house with Mrs. L and Holden?â Ralstonâs voice shook.
Jules dared not think.
Tst Tst said, âAnd Fiesty? You think heâs okay?â
Fiesty had flown up to the trees. Had he been caught in the fire? Would they never see him again?
Emma Right is a happy wife and homeschool mother of five living in the Pacific West Coast of the USA. Besides running a busy home, and looking after
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