Darkness
A Guardians of Orana Novel
Nancy E. Dunne
Nancy E. Dunne
Copyright © 2021 Nancy E. Dunne
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9798500550705
Cover design by: Nancy E. Dunne
Printed in the United States of America
http://nancyedunne.com
Follow Nancy on social media: @nancyd_writes
For Debbi.
Thank you, for everything.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Several Years Later...
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Epilogue
About The Author
Books By This Author
One
The Underground City of Ikedria
The neon lights that twisted and curled into art lent a familiar hum and glow as Elspethe wandered slowly back from her meeting with her mentor to her home in the noble quarter of Ikedria, the underground city so named because it was ‘Ikara’s’ in D’leesh. The dark elves, or Ikedrians—meaning those belonging to Ikara—had made the underground darkness their own, and it seemed to envelop her in warm, comforting arms as she walked. She thought briefly of the wood elves and high elves that made their homes above ground – the wood elves going one step higher and living in the very trees of the Great Forest – and scowled. To be so far away from the ground and from Father Ikara was just beyond comprehension. Why would you want to stray so far into the light when the delicious, warm darkness was there, waiting to cover you up and keep you safe? It made no sense.
Elspethe Turlach was an Ikedrian wizard, and while she despised the ways of her elven cousins, she had sought out a particularly well known high elf wizard for some training. His name was Taeben, and it was rumored that he could command both the ways of the wizard and of dragon magic. He could bend an enemy to his will, mesmerize that enemy to remain still, and then strike the enemy down with the natural forces at the disposal of those with wizard training. It was all too enticing, and Elspethe had found herself unable to pass up the chance to train with him.
At first, he had agreed to meet her on neutral ground, a fact that she could plainly understand. It was not safe for either of their kind to enter each other’s home cities, nor would it be safe for them to be seen together in public. Elspethe’s own siblings had both fallen in love with their above-ground dwelling cousins, and it had not ended well for them. Her twin sister, Maelfie, had run away with a wood elf named Cursik, who hadn’t even had the respect for his mate’s kind to return her body home when she was killed in the wilderness. Maelfie’s death had hit Elspethe hard, and she had made sure that the wood elf had paid for his role in her death when they finally met above ground in the Great Forest. Surely Father Ikara had guided her footsteps straight to that moaning and morose male on the day of his death.
Yet another wood elf had been the ruin of Elspethe’s brother, Kamendar. Elspethe could not remember her name but knew that she had gotten herself killed by the very Rajah of Qatu’anari. Kamendar had not been the same since learning of her death, and he had been one of the most promising sorcerers in his guild. The Turlach family was among the noble houses of Ikedria and had been even as far back as the Forest War centuries ago.
Kamendar, or Kam as Elspethe called him, had taken on head of household at the death of their parents. Tasked with all sorts of tasks befitting a house of their standing, he had excelled in his position—House Turlach was known throughout dark elf society as one of the strongest. However, all Kamendar did was travel daily to sit in the Outpost near the Fabled Ones hall, waiting for his love to return. He swore from time to time that he saw her run past and would therefore not be moved—just in case the news of her death was a mistake. His mind, once sharp as his wit, now could not do more than mumble her name and watch for her return.
Elspethe came back from her musing as a trickle of water bypassed the magical glowing design on the wall and ran onto the back of her hand. She jumped, startled, and then chastised herself for becoming so lost in her thoughts that she almost touched the lights—she remembered other friends who encountered the painted lines when they were younger. The burns on their fingers lasted weeks because the healers in the community refused to treat them. It is better to let them learn from their actions and have a constant reminder to never forget what they have done. It was the way of her people—considered cruel to outsiders, yet it was effective. She did not even have scars from the blisters, and she had not forgotten.
She quickened her pace, not sure how much time she had lost while mired in memories. It would not do for her to be late to the guild meeting, considering that she had been above ground to meet with Taeben as well as to hunt. Elspethe had been very careful not to be seen with the high elf, but her people were nothing if not stealthy when checking up on a member of the community suspected of wrongdoing. How many times had she seen a flash of cerulean skin duck behind a tree when she was running around the perimeter of the Great Forest as a young one? It gave her courage then,
