Unpredictable Fortunes (The Memory Stone Series Book 3) Read online

  “Amelia, it’s me, Theus. I’ve come to rescue you,” he explained as he tried putting the second key in the lock. It fit, but didn’t turn.

  The room looked strange, as the light on the floor illuminated all things upward, and long shadows stretched up towards the ceiling. No light breached Amelia’s door, and her window remained dark.

  “Theus?” her voice was husky and full of wonder. “How did you get here Theus? Why are you here? I’m so glad to see you!”

  Theus tried placing a third key in the door lock. As he did, he heard boots stomping the floor, a single set of boots approaching the prison corridor.

  Theus jiggled the key frantically, and it turned. There was a click, and the door started to swing open. At the same time, the door to the corridor, the door from the outside, also began to swing open.

  Amelia started to leap out of the cell, but at the same time, Theus was frantic to get out of sight. He pressed her back and leaped into the prison cell with her, pulling the door shut behind him, and locking them both into place.

  “Theus!” the girl cried. Theus felt confused in the darkness.

  “What mischief do we have here?” a deep voice asked from out in the hallway. It was Donal.

  “Amelia? Is that you?” Theus asked.

  “I sense something has changed,” Donal’s voice sounded very close.

  “Oh Theus! You’re a captive too! I’m so sorry,” Amelia answered.

  “Come here and hug me,” Theus demanded.

  The door to the cell began to rattle.

  Theus felt the girl’s body press against his. Something was different.

  The room filled with light, as the door opened.

  Theus grasped his energy in panic, and took a step forward.

  Fantasy Series by Jeffrey Quyle

  The Memory Stones Series

  Journey Through the River Cities

  The Deadly Magician

  Unpredictable Fortunes

  The Inner Seas Kingdoms Series

  The Healing Spring

  The Yellow Palace

  Road of Shadows

  A Foreign Heart

  Journey to Uniontown

  The Guided Journey

  An Unexpected Deity

  A Marriage of Friends

  The Ingenairii Series

  Visions of Power

  2. At the Seat of Power

  3. The Loss of Power

  4. The Lifesaving Power

  5. Against the Empire

  6. Preserving the Ingenairii

  7. Rescuing the Captive

  8. Ajacii and Demons

  9. The Caravan Road

  10. The Journey Home

  11. The Cloud of Darkness

  12. The Past Revisited

  Alchemy’s Apprentice Series

  The Gorgon’s Blood Solution

  The Echidna’s Scale

  Scarlet from Gold

  The Southern Trail

  The Southern Continent Series

  The Elemental Jewels

  Perilous Travels

  The Greater Challenge

  Out of the Wilderness

  Also by Jeffrey Quyle

  The Green Plague

  For more information, visit the Ingenairii Series on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ingenairiiseries

  Unpredictable Fortunes

  The Memory Stones Series

  Book 3

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Chapter 1 Page 1

  Chapter 2 Page 13

  Chapter 3 Page 26

  Chapter 4 Page 30

  Chapter 5 Page 33

  Chapter 6 Page 37

  Chapter 7 Page 45

  Chapter 8 Page 54

  Chapter 9 Page 58

  Chapter 10 Page 67

  Chapter 11 Page 77

  Chapter 12 Page 94

  Chapter 13 Page 102

  Chapter 14 Page 108

  Chapter 15 Page 117

  Chapter 16 Page 120

  Chapter 17 Page 132

  Chapter 18 Page 140

  Chapter 19 Page 150

  Chapter 20 Page 160

  Chapter 21 Page 163

  Chapter 22 Page 166

  Chapter 23 Page 171

  Chapter 24 Page 175

  Chapter 25 Page 183

  Chapter 26 Page 204

  Chapter 27 Page 207

  Chapter 28 Page 218

  Chapter 29Page 228

  Chapter 30Page 233

  Chapter 31Page 246

  List of Characters

  Theus (Prometheus)

  Thera, Theus’s sister

  Cern, father of Theus

  Allise, mother of Theus

  Eiren, caravan worker girl

  Vanline, caravan leader

  Coriae, daughter of Great Forks nobleman

  Alsman, river priest in Great Falls

  Forgon, son of nobleman from Great Forks

  Warrell, father of Coriae and Forgon

  Marvin, gardener at Warrell’s estate

  Blanche, kitchen servant for Warrell

  Lorinse, steward for Warrell’s mansion

  Glory, Great Falls apprentice bottle painter

  Trey, weaver apprentice

  Beren, head priest of Currense’s temple in Greenfalls

  Torella, slave in Southsands palace kitchen

  Duchess Holstem, noblewoman of Stoke

  Montuse, officer of Southsands army

  Alamice, officer of Southsands army

  Amelia, princess of Steep Rise

  Amory, prince of Steep Rise

  The Gods of the Land

  God of healing, Baccoso

  River goddess, Currense

  Mountain god, Limber

  Flat land/soil god, Plever

  Persepho, goddess of crops

  Darkness goddess, Scurtisse

  Stone god, Trinte

  God of thieves, Maurienne

  Light god, Incand

  Air goddess, Bellance

  Gelate, goddess of love

  Flat land/soil god, Plever

  Ind’Petro, god of evil

  Prologue

  The city of Limber, on the eastern slopes of the Wallchick Mountains, was lost in the terrible cataclysm that raised the Jewel Hills far out on the eastern frontier. The destruction of Limber unsettled the balance of power among the four great cities that dominated the lands from the Wallchick Mountains to the ocean that washed the western edge of the civilized world. Over the following generations, the city of Stoke came to control nearly all the lands.

  Limber’s sacred ruling family was nearly extinct, as only a few surviving members of the blood line sank into obscurity and decline over time. One such minor branch of the family settled in the poverty of the Jewel Hills, where farmers and residents of small villages eked a poor living from the distressed land.

  But when evil began to arise and ascend towards a conquest of the south, as a prelude to a conquest of all the land, the dormant god of Limber struggled to resurrect the partnership between the royal blood and himself, as the likely best protector of the lands that faced the hidden threat.

  Theus, the son of a woman who was a distant progeny of the Limber royal line, did not know or understand any of the divine maneuverings taking place. When his poverty-stricken family was forced to sell his services to a traveling merchant, Theus was placed on a path that will require worldliness far beyond what he has experienced in his sheltered corner of the world.

  His travels take him down the Landwide River, a might stream of water and commerce, through two of the greatest cities of the nation, Greenfalls and Great
Forks, both subject to Stoke’s rule.

  He settles in Great Forks, and learns not only the art of treating memory stones, but he finds that he is subject to visitations from a mysterious, all-knowing Voice that advises and reasons with him. And he falls under the enchantment of the Lady Coriae, offspring of an ancient, noble family of the city.

  Theus and Coriae have a falling out, as he is ordered by the mysterious Voice that commands his activities to leave Great Forks and set out on a long, deadly adventure. And the Voice gives him his first taste of the power of white magic to help him in his impossible quest.

  Chapter 1

  Theus left the city of Great Forks by walking through the southern gate of the walled city at mid-morning on a chilly winter day. The sun was shining, and the wind was only a gentle breeze, so the weather was unseasonably mild as he walked along the road that ran from Great Forks along the Westlands River.

  He was familiar with the road; he’d passed over it three times in the past month, coming to the city twice, and leaving the city once. All three times, the other end of his journey had been Stoke, mighty capital of the kingdom, and all three times he’d been in the company of Coriae, the extraordinary daughter of the Warrell family, ancient aristocrats of Great Forks.

  His latest trip though, did not involve Stoke. Nor did it involve Coriae. Nor was any future trip that Theus took likely to include her traveling with him ever again, not after he had been caught removing a valuable stone from her room while he was running away from her home. Not that he’d really been running away from her home, nor had he been stealing the jewel for its material value, but he knew that was how the passionate girl was likely to see and portray the events of recent days.

  He shook his head ruefully as he thought of Coriae for the twentieth time that morning.

  He’d only awoken a few hours earlier, and left the home of his friend Glory an hour earlier. And Coriae had been on his mind constantly – not exclusively, but constantly.

  He’d also been pre-occupied with his thoughts about white magic, the unique powers that were now allegedly incorporated into his very soul. His mind was struggling to consolidate the things he thought he already knew about the world – the everyday world of reality, the world of facts and known truths, the world he had grown up in – with the things the knowledge of white magic required him to accept.

  “Voice,” he spoke aloud, as he walked by himself along the road. “Tell me about white magic please. Where does it come from?”

  “It comes from within you,” the Voice responded promptly, Theus was pleased to hear. He didn’t understand the answer, but he was glad that the Voice was going to speak to him.

  “You carry the capacity to focus energy beyond that of typical mortals,” the invisible speaker told him. “You can take your effort and shift it into the plane of angels, so that it is amplified in its impact here in your terrestrial world.”

  “’The plane of angels’?” Theus asked in confusion.

  “You, and humans, live in a form of reality, a world, which you have known all your life, with all the rules and limitations and confinements that shape every action you take, every concept you have,” the Voice was explaining something important, Theus realized. But it seemed complex and impossible to grasp.

  “The gods live in a different plane, a reality of their own, from which they stray to tend to affairs in your world. And between the two, there exists the plane of angels, the realm in which there once was a race of companions and assistants to the gods,” the Voice spoke with a note of sadness.

  “Where did they go?” Theus asked, struck by the anguish the Voice conveyed.

  “They were victims of a long-ago civil war,” was the answer. “A core of them grew so confident of their own abilities, they began to plot their future independent of the gods. They spread discord and rancor among their own kind, and then were so corrupted by their egos, they began a savage war, and uprising. They allied with the demons of the darker plane, and killed virtually all the others of their own race, before the gods stepped in and banished them from the lighter reality.

  “But,” the Voice paused, “that sad history is not what we need to discuss at this moment.

  “You have the ability to project your efforts through the plane of angels. As your intentions leave your reality and pass through the other reality, they are augmented and strengthened, so that when they return to your world to achieve fruition, they are greater and more than they could ever be in your mortal world otherwise.”

  “And black magic?” Theus asked.

  “Yes, very perceptive,” the Voice spoke up, as Theus adjusted the jacket he wore to keep the breeze off of his neck. “Black magic does not pass through the realm of the angels; it is darkened and strengthened by intercepting the demons’ plane, and relying upon their foul desire to stain and damage the human world.”

  Theus walked in silence as he considered the weighty topic they had discussed.

  “So how does white magic have the power to go through the land of the angels?” he asked.

  “It is a realm, in a metaphysical sense, but not a land in the sense you think of a land,” the Voice corrected him.

  “What does that mean?” Theus’s features were scrunched in confusion.

  “Never mind,” the Voice stopped the discussion. “Your efforts, or commands, or actions, using white magic, can travel though the angels’ realm because you have the ability – and the knowledge – to be able to add energy to your command. That is what your spells are; through the spell, your spirit enhances your desire with the energy to rise beyond your world.”

  “And that energy comes from inside me,” Theus said. “Or from the world around me.

  “But not from other people,” he added, repeating the knowledge he had gained through the white magic stone.

  Correct. Never, ever, will you be able to take the life energy from another person and use it to send your spells through the plane of angels,” the Voice agreed.

  “I think I’m ready to try it,” Theus impulsively decided. “I’m ready to use white magic.”

  “As you wish,” the Voice seemed skeptical to Theus. “Use the implanted memory of the spell for traveling in this first effort to open your mind to this use of power.”

  Theus closed his eyes as he walked along, the better to allow his memory to fully see the details of the implanted new concepts related to white magic. There were other people on the road, a few at least, but not a heavy pattern of traffic, and more were heading in towards Great Forks than outward, away from the city. He wasn’t likely to jostle any other travelers if he walked briefly with his eyes shut.

  He was going to travel. He was going to use his new power to allow himself to travel an entire day’s distance of travel in a single step. He focused on visualizing himself as a traveler, and superimposing a vision of a long distance within the same picture. Then he reached into his own soul, into the niche of his being that he had discovered through the implanted memories, and he brought out the white energy, a soothing sensation of accomplishment, opportunity, and promise.

  He inhaled deeply, then thrust the two together mentally, and opened his eyes to see the result. He wanted to watch the world turn into a blur as he raced across its surface.

  His right foot was forward, taking the next leading step of his travel, and suddenly he felt it seized by incomprehensible power, and pulled forward, leading his body up and forward and away.

  For about ten feet.

  And then he stumbled back to the ground, and tripped on the surface of the road. He windmilled his arms to regain his balance, and then stopped in place once he felt he had his equilibrium.

  He had used white magic. It had been a dud. It had been like a bad morning back on his family farm, when he had reached under a hen, expecting to pull out an egg, and instead discovered that a snake had taken the whole egg, leaving only emptiness, and less food for his family’s breakfast. It was disappointing and frustrating.

&nbs
p; “Of course it wasn’t perfect the first time,” the Voice spoke in a calm and rational manner. “You weren’t a tournament winner with blades after the first time you fenced with Vanline, were you? No, it takes practice.”

  “Huh,” Theus harrumphed. He started walking again, keeping his head down. He didn’t want to see how many people on the road might have happened to see his long, fast stumble forward.

  In one sense, it had been a success. He had actually accelerated his movement somewhat.

  “That is an accomplishment. It’s very good for your very first time to try, especially considering you have no earthly teacher to instruct you,” the Voice spoke up to commend him.

  “What did I do wrong?” Theus asked through clenched teeth.

  “You didn’t really seize the white energy within you and truly pull it out to serve your needs. As the results show, you barely grasped it,” the Voice counseled him. “You have to truly apply a great deal of the energy to the end goal you seek, and that requires dedication, and focus, and practice.”

  Theus snorted is dismay. “I’m in a hurry here. You’ve told me I have to hurry to save Amelia; that’s why I’ve thrown away my entire future of happiness with Coriae, to do as you tell me,” he blamed his unseen companion. “I’m trying as hard as I can.”

  “And with every effort you’ll figure out how to do things a little better and a little bit more better and a bit better beyond that. It will happen, and I trust that you will master the white magic – or at least parts of it – by the time you reach your young friend,” the Voice answered.

  “I better, or I’m going to die!” Theus said hotly. A family riding on the bench of an oxcart headed towards the city looked closely at him as they passed.