Tangled Engagements (The Memory Stones Series Book 4) Read online

  “What’s this?” Coriae idly asked, spotting a shiny trinket on the floor near where the merchants had sat. She bent down to pick it up, and as her fingers touched it, the sharp-cornered object exploded with a loud, smoky boom, which was instantly followed by a lurid green glow that bathed the entire interior of the room.

  The people who remained in the room – a pair of servants, one of the merchants, Alsman, Eiren, Melbourne, and Theus – watched fearfully as Coriae started to collapse to the ground, before her body suddenly jerked upright into a rigid posture, with an evil rictus grin on her face as she twisted slightly from side to side, scanning the room with eyes that were too wide open.

  She screamed out in pain, as the others shouted in shock, and then she collapsed. But in the space where her body had dangled, a shadowy figure remained, transparent and glowing as the source of the ghastly green light in the room.

  It was Donal, his eyes focused on where Theus stood nearby. The dark magician was present in some strange, magical form. He was present, but he was not. It was a formidable display of power, something Theus could not imagine achieving.

  Yet Donal was not quite as formidable in appearance as he had once been. His left sleeve dangled empty of the hand Theus had burned off. The left side of his face had a long scar, and his appearance was on a man much aged, far older than he had appeared when Theus had faced him months before in Great Forks.

  “I’ve been waiting for one of my spies to leave me a notification of where you were, nasty young charlatan,” Donal’s voice slightly echoed as it sounded.

  “Is this one of interest to you?” Donal asked as he lazily pointed his right hand down at Coriae. A burst of red light left his fingertips and struck Coriae, making her give a muffled scream.

  Fantasy Series by Jeffrey Quyle

  The Memory Stones Series

  Journey Through the River Cities

  The Deadly Magician

  Unpredictable Fortunes

  Tangled Engagements

  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

  Tangled Engagements

  The Memory Stones Series

  Book 4

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Chapter 1 Page 1

  Chapter 2 Page 24

  Chapter 3 Page 30

  Chapter 4 Page 43

  Chapter 5 Page 45

  Chapter 6 Page 51

  Chapter 7 Page 71

  Chapter 8 Page 74

  Chapter 9 Page 89

  Chapter 10 Page 93

  Chapter 11 Page 102

  Chapter 12 Page 109

  Chapter 13 Page 135

  Chapter 14 Page 140

  Chapter 15 Page 144

  Chapter 16 Page 154

  Chapter 17 Page 166

  Chapter 18 Page 172

  Chapter 19 Page 177

  Chapter 20 Page 182

  Chapter 21 Page 194

  Chapter 22 Page 197

  Chapter 23 Page 202

  Chapter 24 Page 213

  Chapter 25 Page 218

  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.

  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 fal
ling 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.

  Theus finds adventures, romance, and deadly conflict as he tries to live up to the impossible tasks laid upon him by the gods of the land in their battle against Donal and Ind’Petro.

  Chapter 1

  Theus walked through the outskirts of the city of Great Forks, and saw a makeshift collection of campfires and tents. It was a sure sign that he had reached his goal, the camping place for the soldiers of Greenfalls. It might also be considered the camping place for the army of Limber, he told himself with a wry smile, if he thought of it as his own camp. The flag of Limber would be planted there, and if he were present, the entire army of Limber would be present as well. He was a one-man army.

  He laughed at the thought of an army of one, then reached the perimeter of the camp and assumed a more military posture, correcting his casual slouch and making himself stand taller. The sentries for the camp recognized him and raised a cheer, which brought the officers up off their seats to hurry over to talk to him.

  “We’ve heard stories beyond belief about your fight with the magician,” one of the junior officers pronounced breathlessly. None of the Greenfalls soldiers had been with him to see when he’d ventured into the center of Great Forks and confronted Donal. But word of the extraordinary contest had spread throughout the city.

  “The dark magician,” another member of the crowd specified. “He’s a magician himself, you know, a white magician.”

  “It was like most fights,” Theus replied, causing several to shake their heads in disbelief at the comparison. “It happened fast and it was a blur. I don’t exactly know to describe it.”

  “If you’re still alive at the end, describe it as a good fight,” someone in the back of the audience ringing Theus quipped, generating laughter.

  “I’m alive, so it was a good fight,” Theus obediently said, provoking more laughter.

  “Is the commander here?” he asked, and was pointed to the closest of the river barges, where the senior officers had chosen to establish their bunks. Theus thanked those around him, and hobbled over to the dock, then was welcomed aboard.

  “We hear there will be no more warfare?” the captain of the Greenfalls forces suggested once he and Theus were seated in a cramped space below deck on the barge.

  “The magician of Southsand was the driver who forced them into war, and he is apparently gone,” Theus felt a flicker of unease; he wished there was some definitive report on what had happened to Donal. All that he knew with certainty was what the Southsand officers had reported. Donal had been in a tent, and then he hadn’t. Theus had to hope that the wounded and beaten Donal had used black magic to extract himself from the deadly battlefield, and gone to a faraway place of safety.

  “The Southsand forces are retreating from Great Forks immediately, and will be allowed to sail away,” Theus explained. “There will be no more fighting or death.”

  “You aren’t going to use your magic to destroy them all?” the captain asked with keen interest.

  “Few of them wanted to fight this war. They were ordered by their king, and the evil magician. I can’t blame them, just as I couldn’t blame the guards on patrol in Greenfalls when the governor ordered them to patrol the city more strictly,” Theus said wearily. He didn’t want to have to defend the decision to be merciful and allow the soldiers of Southsand to retreat and remain alive. It seemed like the obviously correct choice to him.

  Additionally, he knew that he had no ability to wage any further magical war against the invaders. He didn’t want to, especially against his friends among the Southsand officers, but even if he had the desire, he felt weary and drained beyond belief. He felt empty inside his soul, in terms of white magic at least. He didn’t even desire to try to summon any energy to perform any activities. He had stretched himself far beyond his limits in his battle with Donal, and conveyed a flow of power that substantially exceeded the amount he had ever used before, far beyond anything that he would be able to consume using his own self-generated energy if he had worked at it for one hundred days.

  “They will be gone by this time tomorrow, and your own men will be free to return home as well,” Theus told the captain. “The Greenfalls forces’ arrival was timely, but the need for them has been thankfully short.”

  “It may have been short, but we lost men, good men,” the captain conceded. “It will be difficult to go home and see some of the new widows and watch their tears fall,” he said thoughtfully.

  “Alsman will be glad to have you back in the city to help him restore honesty in the government,” Theus added. He and the officer had carefully avoided any discussion of the politics of Greenfalls during their journey down the river to Great Forks. Now, in the wake of the battle, Theus was too worn out to be so careful with his words.

  “What will Alsman do when the king in Stoke sends guards to set the old governor of Greenfalls free?” the captain asked.

  “I don’t know,” Theus answered softly. “I hope the king will have the good sense to not put a corrupt man back in charge of the city, especially one who had his own black magician in the Greenfalls palace with him.”

  “The king is very old, and his son controls what happens in the palace at Stoke,” the officer told him. “I wouldn’t count on good sense.”

  “Prince Holco?” Theus asked in surprise. He was acquainted with Holco, through his friendship with Coriae and Forgon while they had all been in Stoke together during and in the aftermath of Forgon’s trial – the trail for the murder of the Monsant. Forgon had been innocent, a fact whose truth Theus had helped convince the judges of. Coriae had been guilty of the murder, Theus thought with a momentary cloud darkening his thoughts; but she had never been charged or discovered as the murderer. Only Forgon and Coriae knew for sure – and Theus.

  “No, Holco is a cousin to Prince Eudie. Holco is the son of the king’s brother. Prince Eudie is younger than Holco, but he is the heir to the throne, and a shame for Stoke and all of us,” the officer seemed to know a fair amount about the politics of the ruling court in Stoke.

  “Well, I hope the king and this Prince Eudie don’t try to make trouble for Greenfalls,” Theus said.

  “So do I,” the officer agreed.

  “And in the meantime, you just stick with Alsman; he’ll do the right thing,” Theus urged.

  “We’ll get the men on their way north after tomorrow, if the Southsand forces really do leave, and we’ll support your friend Alsman. The folks I spoke with said good things about him,” the guard leader said.

  After a few more minutes of discussion, Theus went around the camp, offering advice on healing for the men who had suffered wounds or illness. When those works were complete, the sun was starting to set, and Theus had found his own pack that he had left on the barge. He retrieved his meager belongings, then left the camp to start back on his way to return to the Warrell mansion, to rest. And to see Coriae.

  He walked back to the mansion along a different route, one that took him into the city and through the business district. He wanted to see the sites he had known when he had been in the city before, as an apprentice in the memory stone shop of Falstaff.

  He found his way to the business quarter of the city, walking through a patchwork mixture of areas that had been ravaged and spared by the conflict of the short-lived Southsand invasion. To his relief, he found that the area where the memory stone merchants had shops remained unharmed. As he approached his former place of employment, he heard his name called aloud.

  “Theus!” he turned to see that Mason had called out to him from a doorway. The apprentice barrelmaker had been one of Theus’s earliest and closest friends. They had often eaten lunch together and socialized together during Theus’s own apprenticeship with Falstaff. Along with Glory and Trey, Mason had been the apprentice T
heus thought of as a peer and friend.

  “What are you doing here?” Theus shouted, as he limped back down the street to the shop Mason had emerged from.

  “My master’s cooperage was burned by the invaders,” Mason explained after the two boys embraced tightly, making Theus wince from the pressure on his wounded arm. “So we’re over here looking for a new place to carry out our trade. I remembered that this shop down the street from Falstaff’s had sat empty, and I came over to look at it. It’s a mess inside!

  “But enough about me,” the boy’s facial expression changed to one of awe. “Trey said that you fought in the battle, and saved his life! I see the limp and the bandage,” he indicated the two wounds that Theus sported. “I remember what a champion you were with a sword in the tournament last summer; and now you’re fighting with a staff?” he asked.

  “The staff’s a great weapon,” Theus asserted defensively.

  “I’m sure it is,” Mason hastily agreed. “Hey, I’m going to see Trey and Glory for dinner soon. Do you want to join us? You can tell us where you’ve been, and why you came back.”

  Theus gave a quiet smile. “I’d love to join you. Tell me where to meet and when,” he decided to accept the offer. He wouldn’t possibly be able to tell his friends all the unbelievable things that had happened in his life; it would seem preposterous to people who knew him as an ordinary apprentice. But he would enjoy the companionship of all of them, the friends he had shared jokes with and received encouragement from during his formerly simple life in Great Forks.

  And afterwards, he would still be able to return to the Warrell mansion, and see Coriae. He’d only be delayed by the amount of time he got to enjoy with his friends.