Light Master (Light Chaser Book 3) Read online

  Light Master

  Light Chaser Book 3

  J. B. Cantwell

  Copyright © 2021 by J. B. Cantwell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 1

  I pointed Phalen’s staff at the book I’d tossed to the ground, the book that held the secret I couldn’t let get out: I was the next person on Torin’s list of sorcerers to kill.

  I’d thought about hiding it before I’d left the Shadow Mountains, thought of putting the little book deep within some far-off cave. On the balance, though, it seemed that destroying it was the more prudent course of action.

  Torin had never seen that my name was written in the book’s pages before his son, Bevyn, had stolen it from him.

  I was determined that he never would get the chance to.

  I released a thick bolt of red light through the staff, and it hit the book squarely. The little tome jumped off the ground, then landed face down in the dirt, unaffected.

  I swore and threw the stolen staff to the ground, stomping over to where the book had fallen. I picked it up and lit my hands with blue flame, gripping it hard, trying desperately to burn away the cover. If I could just incinerate it, I was certain my nightmares of Torin coming to kill me would stop. Me, his far-distant relative, primed for the slaughter.

  Relative.

  His relative.

  My stomach hurt as these words went through my mind.

  How could it be?

  At night it had become increasingly difficult for me to get to sleep. As soon as my lids closed, I would see his violet eyes staring back into mine.

  Most terrifying of all, though, was the possibility that people would find out about me, find out about the truth.

  If I was descended from evil, did that make me evil?

  This last attempt to burn the book had made it nearly impossible to hold. It slipped through my fingers as if it were greased and hit the rocky outcropping where Duna, Connell, Tosia, and I had stopped for a break.

  I looked down from the cliff we were standing on, and my stomach gave a squeeze. I wasn’t worried about falling, and I wasn’t worried about traveling through the Kaia forest below, either. What worried me was the absence of a kingdom I’d thought we’d certainly have found by now.

  The Veiled Kingdom.

  It’s only one stop. We can skip it and go to Brista.

  I looked up and beyond the forest, willing the kingdom to become visible.

  “Maybe we should just stop searching for it,” Tosia said in a soft voice, jumping down from a rock along the trail. She stood beside Connell and me, and the three of us looked out over the empty vista. “There’s probably nothing there at all.”

  I bristled, but I held my tongue. Tosia had lost most of her family in recent days, and she required a soft hand.

  Connell picked up his pack and slung it around his back.

  “Well,” he said, “I guess we should move on, and if we find it, we’ll know for sure. Friends or foes.”

  He set off down the rocky trail.

  “Already?” Duna asked, her smile evaporating. She looked down at the vial of powerful liquid Light she wore around her neck and removed the cork, tipping it back until every last drop was gone. She looked at it regretfully, then up at me. “I guess we should move on. We need to replenish our stores anyway.”

  I was looking forward to getting into the trees in hopes that a little shade might bring the Duna I knew back to me. I should’ve been happy for her, for the smile she wore as she drank in the sun. But the truth was I needed her to keep her wits about her. Now that we were out of the mountains, one might’ve seen our journey almost as a holiday.

  I knew, though, that this was no holiday.

  I picked up the book and stuffed it deep into my pack, then turned to follow Connell down the hill. I reached back and felt the hard rectangle at the bottom of my bag. The book that could mean my death in the wrong hands.

  It’s safe.

  But as I thought about it, the truth of the situation dominated my mind. Torin probably already knew about me, had maybe even guessed it was my name next on the list in his book, on his kill list. If he didn’t know now, chances were he would soon. Part of me wondered if I were in greater danger now, carrying this treasure, than I’d be if he knew the truth.

  One step at a time.

  Something caught my eye, and I stopped. It was something bright, a shimmer across the land. Was it the kingdom? I squinted in the bright light and put one hand over my brow. No. It was gone in a flash, leaving nothing but grass leading away from the forest. I frowned, a feeling of doubt prickling up the back of my neck. There was nothing there. It had just been my imagination.

  I heard Duna and Tosia behind me slipping slightly on the loose gravel that lined our path down the steep hill. Not for the first time, I wondered if I should let them go first; the last thing I needed was to be tossed off a cliff by two falling giants. But I knew if I let Duna go first, she would meander. Tosia? She would certainly move too slowly. In her heart, there was too much death, too much heartache to move too quickly.

  So we traveled like this, Connell in the lead and Duna bringing up the rear. I would look back from time to time just to make sure they were still there and not distracted by some shiny thing or another. They were always there, though. And Tosia’s face never changed; I wondered if she would ever look happy again.

  But Duna, she was probably the most changed of all of us. The cranky old witch I’d met in Ezvar village seemed to be gone, though I hoped not forever. It wasn’t that I wanted her to be unhappy; I just wanted her to be on her game. During the battles we’d fought together in recent days, Duna had been essential, her mind as sharp as her wit. This smiling fool who accompanied me now wasn’t sharp in any capacity. I just hoped she was still in there somewhere, that she wouldn’t forget where she came from and what she’d accomplished.

  I was oddly concerned as the sun began to set. As we took our first steps into the trees, I could feel the tension increase among all of us. In the dark, more attention was necessary than walking in the sunlight. Duna tripped over a branch and swore.

  “What is this infernal place?” she asked, staring up into the canopy and climbing to her feet.

  I smiled. There was the friend I’d been missing.

  As twilight gradually turned to night, and it became difficult to see in the dark, Connell suggested we stop.

  “I think I’ve had enough of this day,” he said. “This is as good a place as any.”

  But he looked around warily, and I thought I knew just how he felt. There was something strange about these woods, and the darker it became, the more warning I felt. It w
as just so quiet. Where were all the animals? We’d walked through the woods for at least two hours and nothing. No birds, no lizards, not even any stinging bugs.

  Just us.

  The air was becoming chilly, and soon Connell was digging out his cloak again. We all sat down together in a circle, and I cleared away the brush for a fire in the center. Nobody had any food, just the water and the scant bit of Light from back in Ezvar. Duna had depleted her stores with that last gulp she’d taken that afternoon, but Tosia had some to share. Her aimlessness had resulted in her neglecting her body’s need to eat. But I wasn’t complaining when she reached out her hand and gave me a half-full vial.

  “It’s the least I can do,” she said.

  “I’m sure there will be plenty of food when we get to the kingdom,” I said, reassuring myself more than her.

  I took a sip from the vial, but no more. I passed it to Connell, who did the same. He moved to pass it back to Tosia, but Duna’s hand got in the way.

  I opened my mouth to object, but Tosia beat me to it.

  “Let’s not fight,” she said. “I don’t mind.”

  Duna took the vial and then sneered in my direction.

  I sighed heavily but then reached out my hands toward the warmth of the fire.

  I was really going to have to decide which version of Duna I preferred.

  Just then, a chill breeze floated over us, so strong that it nearly extinguished the fire. I looked around, expecting to find some explanation. I’d spent very little time in the woods in my life, just the short stints with Malcolm and Varik I’d experienced in the Wild Lands. I lit my staff, Phalen’s staff, and stood up, ready to fight. A whisper floated along the breeze, but it quickly died down again until I wondered if I’d heard it at all.

  I looked down at the others, their faces lit like ghouls from the fire below. Everyone was frowning, and their eyes flitted from side to side, searching for the threat.

  “I’m not so sure I’d like to sleep in this place,” I said, backing away from the fire and grabbing my pack.

  The others didn’t wait to be asked. Connell extinguished the fire and then lit his staff. Then all of us started off at a quick pace.

  We soon found that the forest wasn’t quiet at all.

  I wondered whether the wind came to these trees every night or if it was here just for us. Either way, it howled, and I was already looking for a way out. There was something sinister in the air that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The forest had been so beautiful from above, but now that we were within its borders, it seemed anything but.

  I wondered how long it might take us to run through the trees and come out the other side. So much of our time had been spent fleeing in the past couple of weeks that I wasn’t sure I had it in me to keep running away.

  But the light that had graced the valley floors of the Shadow Mountains wasn’t with us here. It seemed the faster I walked, the harder the wind blew, and it wasn’t long before it was the only thing I could hear. No more footsteps over branches cracking in the underbrush, just a howl in my ears, the wind as cold as it had been in the mountains.

  I turned back to find the others as windblown and as terrified as I was.

  Take a breath. Start again.

  I lit the staff with everything I had, the light from it as dazzling as any star. The trees were less frightening then, and the wind began to die down. This did nothing to comfort me, though. Wind that responded to magic was unnatural, and unnatural meant someone or something was setting it upon us.

  I took a deep breath, and when I spoke, I found I was able to hear my own voice again.

  “We walk. Until there’s an enemy we can see and fight, we shouldn’t use all of our energy.”

  Duna and Connell were with me, but Tosia was still looking around, uncertain, and I was willing to bet she wished she’d stayed at home in the mountains. It wasn’t fair to compare, though. There was evil around every corner in the world, danger around most of them as well. But that didn’t mean every breath of air meant death.

  “Tosia, are you with us?” Connell asked.

  She nodded absently but didn’t speak. Only when her eyes fell upon me once again did I turn to walk away.

  “You stay in the back,” I said to Connell. “Duna and I can light our way forward. You do the same.”

  “Yes. I’ll keep an eye out.”

  It seemed the calmer we were, the less the wind bothered us, and I wondered if we were to settle ourselves and feel comfortable if the weather might be friendlier.

  No matter. We weren’t staying.

  As dawn finally broke somewhere beyond the trees, a scant bit of light made it down through the canopy. We were exhausted, but the wind had finally stopped.

  I turned to the others and extinguished my staff.

  “I think we should rest,” I said.

  Duna looked around. “Doesn’t look good to me. I think we should keep going.”

  But I knew that we could expect to be in these woods for at least another day. Just like in the Shadow Mountains, though, it was difficult to see which direction to head in. There was no north or south when shrouded by trees. We would just have to put one foot in front of the other and hope we weren’t walking around in circles.

  I dropped my pack and sat down on the forest floor, crossing my legs. Connell followed suit. Duna grumbled. Tosia leaned up against a nearby tree.

  I put my head in my hands and stared at the forest floor, spent. Then I let myself fall back into the pine needle bed and rested upon the ground.

  I should’ve been excited. I’d always wanted to experience a forest like the Kaia, but I’d never taken the time to consider how dangerous it might be. It was only wind and whispers, but it was enough to put all of us on edge.

  “Oh, fine,” Duna finally said. She slumped to the ground beside me and leaned back on her elbows, looking up at the sky through the trees. “At least it’s better than it was in the mountains. I can see my hand in front of my face here, even in this darkness.”

  Connell leaned back as well and propped his head up against his pack.

  “How much farther do you think we’ll need to go?” he asked.

  I dug a tiny map out from my pants pocket and unfolded it, sitting up.

  This was no ordinary map. It was the only map I’d ever heard of that showed the location of the Veiled Kingdom, a lost place to most, open to very few. If one were to get banished from the Veiled Kingdom, they could never return, could never find it again.

  But this map, this would be the key to our success, and I knew we were getting close. My finger traced an invisible pathway through the woods that separated the mountains and the grasslands.

  Connell scooted up beside me and pointed to the boundary around the kingdom.

  “Why is it so important for us to get there?” he asked. “We could just walk right through. Besides, Brista is our destination, isn’t it?”

  I didn’t actually know the answer to this question. I’d met three people on my journey through the Wild Lands who’d told me about Brista. It was a port town set right above the sea. The great tortoise Keeper had told me I would find an army assembling on the other side of the Shadow Mountains, that I was the one expected to lead the charge against Torin and his followers.

  But we’d seen no such thing. No armies. No kingdoms. No Brista.

  Where was everyone?

  I knew Connell was right. There was no reason for us to waste our time trying to find something that may not be there at all. I was tempted to burn the map, to ensure it would never fall into Torin’s hands, for he had been born in the Veiled Kingdom and later cast out. Bevyn had told me it was one of many evil wishes of his father’s to find the kingdom once more and destroy it.

  But once banished, always banished. If the legend was true, Torin would never see that place again. He could walk up to the front door and not know it. He could walk right through the main square and see nothing but grass.

  I folded up the map an
d stuffed it back into my pocket, then laid down again in the needles.

  “Let’s rest for a while,” I said. “We’ve been running all night, and the wind has stopped. Might as well enjoy it while we can.”

  Duna rolled over and looked me in the eye.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked.

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Of course, I had no idea whatsoever what I was doing, and neither did any of the rest of them. We were just stumbling through, trying to do what was right, falling down and getting back up again and again.

  “You can lead if you want to,” I said with no malice in my voice. It really would’ve been fine, but her eyes grew wide, and she shook her head, quickly taking back her statement.

  “No, you’re fine,” she said, rolling over onto her back. She took a deep breath and blew it out again as if she were blowing smoke from a pipe. “I wish we could see the sun.”

  “We will,” Tosia said quietly.

  It was difficult to watch Tosia as she grieved, every footfall heavy. Even now, she refused to rest.

  “You’re going to tire out,” I said. “At least sit.”

  She slid down the trunk of the tree she’d been leaning on. She might’ve looked at me then in irritation, but she didn’t. I was leading around a broken person, her fire extinguished. Her sister Trina had been like her other half, a twin who looked nothing like her. Together, they’d been powerful. Apart, though, and it seemed the easiest decisions were impossible for her to face.

  One step. Two steps. Three steps.

  I just hoped she would find her fire again before we met the enemy in battle.

  I let my eyes close and reached for my pack, securing it around my arms. I had nothing to fear from my cohorts, of course, but something told me we weren’t alone in these trees.