Amenozume Heights and Depths Read online

  Silas looked over his shoulder. His ship was carrying Mata away, it was out in the harbor, aiming for the open mouth that gave passage to the blue seas beyond.

  “Mata!” he shifted his voice delicately. “I’ll see you there. There is some trouble for the moment here, but I’ll clean it up and join you later,” he shouted the words that he knew would reach the ears of the girl he loved.

  “Is she trying to escape?” the second man with the red amulet asked. “We’ll stop that now.”

  Silas flung his knife impulsively.

  The weapon flew true. The distance was short and there was no notice. Before the man could begin to defend himself, the blade planted itself in his heart, and he toppled sideways.

  “Not wise, stupid young magician,” the remaining man with power chastised him angrily.

  “Suffer the consequences!” he pulled his hand away from his amulet, and as he did, Silas saw that not only was the ornament on his chest glowing, but so were his fingertips.

  “Knife! Strike him!” Silas shouted the command to his own weapon, which violently shook itself free from the dead body on the ground, then fluttered against the glowing fingers of the evil man, just as he released a glowing beam of light.

  The blow from the knife knocked the fingers towards the side, but not so far or so quickly that a portion of the intended deadly beam didn’t strike Silas in the shoulder, leaving a painful burning wound and spinning him to the ground.

  He heard a rush of feet, then something struck his head, and he passed out.

  Fantasy Series by Jeffrey Quyle

  The Wind Word Series

  The Mirror After the Cavern

  The Pearl Diver

  Amenozume, Heights and Depths

  Memory Stones Series

  Journey Through the River Cities

  The Deadly Magician

  Unpredictable Fortunes

  Tangled Engagements

  The Inner Seas Kingdoms Series

  1. The Healing Spring

  2. The Yellow Palace

  3. Road of Shadows

  4. A Foreign Heart

  5. Journey to Uniontown

  6. The Guided Journey

  7. An Unexpected Deity

  8. 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

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

  Amenozume, Heights and Depths

  The Wind Word Series

  Book Three

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Chapter 1 Page 1

  Chapter 2 Page 6

  Chapter 3 Page 10

  Chapter 4 Page 13

  Chapter 5 Page 21

  Chapter 6 Page 25

  Chapter 7 Page 32

  Chapter 8 Page 47

  Chapter 9 Page 54

  Chapter 10 Page 64

  Chapter 11 Page 74

  Chapter 12 Page 102

  Chapter 13 Page 108

  Chapter 14 Page 118

  Chapter 15 Page 121

  Chapter 16 Page 131

  Chapter 17 Page 137

  Chapter 18 Page 145

  Chapter 19 Page 155

  Chapter 20 Page 162

  Chapter 21 Page 180

  Chapter 22 Page 187

  Chapter 23 Page 192

  Chapter 24 Page 201

  Chapter 25 Page 208

  Chapter 26 Page 220

  Chapter 27 Page 229

  Chapter 28 Page 239

  List of Characters

  Brigamme, a northern mountain village

  Silas, hero boy

  Tagg, male friend

  Forna, girl cousin, good tracker

  Tella, Silas’s father

  Rheme, Silas’s mother

  Ivaric, a land of despotic cruelty

  Derith, dictator (Father of the Land)

  Jarvis, prince and heir to the throne

  Mohr, steward of the palace

  Amenozume island

  Queen Gracious

  Princess Lumene

  Gwen, bodyguard to Lumene

  Jade, a maid-in-waiting, serving Lumene

  Mata, Jade’s sister, a pearl diver

  Jimes, Wind Word speaker for the palace

  Card, leaders of the anti-Ivaric rebels

  Lexy, Natie, June, rebel fighters

  Faralag, Kingdom of the South

  Kajam, head of Movers Guild

  Riesta, powerful Mover

  Cover, Mover instructor

  Farah, Counselor

  Preeanne, Queen of the Land

  Avaleen, Nation conquered by Ivaric

  Carlton, son of deposed nobleman

  Stash, street thief

  Greymont, Nobleman trader

  Kai, goddess of the air (married to) Growelf, god of fire

  Shaish, Goddess of water (married to) Krusima, god of earth

  L’Anvien, demi-god from the interior of Rolemica

  Kere, Elven goddess of fate

  Prologue

  Silas is born in the mountain village of Brigamme, where everyone is exposed to the natural elements of the environment and experiences a profound change at puberty – they gain the ability to track and hunt down any living person on earth. They are renowned as a special breed.

  All except Silas, who proves not to have the talent. His parents send him to an academy of the elite professional Speakers. The Speakers have the power of the Wind Words, communications that can travel hundreds of miles to convey the important information that rulers, traders, and others are willing to pay to transmit.

  But Silas runs afoul of an ill-tempered teacher at the Speakers Academy in Heathrin and is exiled. Silas is denied once again his opportunity to acquire a special talent that will set him apart.

  He begins to wander the continent, and experiences adventures that change him, giving him abilities beyond ordinary people. He makes new friends on the island nation of Amenozume, and later learns one of them is in trouble. Silas vows to go back to the island to help his pearl-diving friend, Mata, escape from prison.

  With a foolhardy plan, Silas braves the horrors of entering Koch Prison and sets Mata free, then leads her on a quest for freedom and safety from Ivaric and injustice. They wind up in the far southern nation of Faralag, widely – and falsely – considered an anarchic backwater without civilization. In fact, it is an advanced and polished land, where Silas learns to control his emerging ability to exercise telekinesis.

  He helps the kingdom prepare for an extraordinary event – an exhibition of the legendary sprites, who prove to be real, and who prove to have an interest in Silas.

  Silas and Mata take their relationship to something deeper while in Faralag, and they decide to return to Amenozume together after Silas finishes his work in Faralag. They go to protect and rescue Mata’s sister, Jade, trapped in the palace as Ivaric assumes control
of the levers of power on the island.

  But the journey to Amenozume will prove challenging, the rescue will be dangerous, and emotions and relationships may prove to be less secure than they seem.

  Chapter 1

  “You have to go see the Queen!” Mata was tugging the covers off of Silas as the morning light filtered through the curtains of their bedroom.

  “What are you talking about?” Silas asked sleepily, holding a forearm in from of his purple and golden eyes to shield them from the light.

  “Your note from the Queen of Faralag? Summoning you to the court? How can you forget?” Mata stood with her fists on her hips, unable to believe that Silas could have forgotten a royal command that had been directed specifically towards him.

  “I don’t remember any note,” Silas muttered, as he rolled over on his stomach, and stretched an arm across the top of the bed to commandeer Mata’s pillow, pulling it into position to better support his head.

  “She is going to have the palace guards up here any minute to drag you away!” Mata warned, then marched through the door to the other room, to retrieve the note from the palace that had conveyed the summons for Silas to appear at the court.

  “Here! See this? What do you remember now, Mister lying-in-bed?” Mata staged a triumphant return to the bedroom, holding the note in her hand in front of her as she re-entered the room.

  “Silas? Where are you?” the bed was inexplicably empty, and there was no sign of Silas in the small bedroom, as Mata skidded to a stop, and looked around in bewilderment.

  “I know,” Silas’s voice sounded overhead, and Mata’s neck craned immediately to look upward, just in time to see him floating against the ceiling, then floating down to the floor, a devilish grin on his face.

  “I think I can get the hang of using the Mover powers,” he boasted, pleased with himself for the exercise of the extraordinary energy, and pleased at the ruse he had pulled on his suffering lover.

  “You think that’s funny?” Mata was having none of it. “I’ll get you out on the practice pads at the armory and show you what funny is. Now get cleaned up and get dressed to go to the palace,” she ordered. “Breakfast will be here any moment, and you need to get moving. You can’t keep a Queen waiting.”

  “I’ll start getting ready, and you pick out what you’re going to wear,” Silas ended his charade of not knowing about his obligation to go to the royal palace.

  “I’m not invited to the palace – you are,” Mata protested.

  “And I’m inviting you to go with me,’ Silas explained logically.

  “I can’t go see a Queen in court!” Mata was having none of it. “I’m a common girl – a pearl diver – an escapee from prison.”

  “And I’m a failed Tracker and a reject from the Speaker Academy,” Silas countered. “Come on Mata! You know they won’t say ‘no’ to you coming to court. You’ve been a regular buddy of the Princess of Amenozume; it’s not like you haven’t been exposed to royalty. And we’re going to go back to Amenozume to meddle in the royal court.”

  “Rescuing my sister is different,” Mata made a point.

  “And you really ought to get dressed appropriately,” she urged.

  “Can’t I just wear my usual clothes?” Silas asked.

  “You’re going to court,” Mata exclaimed. “Don’t you think you should wear your best clothes?”

  “These are my best clothes,” Silas answered. He held up the robe he had worn the previous day, still damp, wrinkled, and disheveled. “This is the only other option I have.”

  “I would think the Guild would offer you something appropriate to wear to the palace,” Mata sniffed.

  “The Guild probably doesn’t know I’m supposed to go to the palace,” Silas pointed out. “And if we’re in a hurry to go, we don’t have time to wait.”

  Mata sighed at the logical circles Silas was running. “Fine. Just go,” she surrendered.

  “You’re coming too, aren’t you?” Silas asked again.

  “My name isn’t on the summons,” Mata declined once more. “If they’re looking for someone’s head to chop off, it’s all about you.

  “I’ll miss you though,” she added with an insincerely sweet smile, making Silas laugh.

  Minutes later, he was out the door, a breakfast roll in hand that he hungrily devoured as he walked to the gates of the palace.

  “Welcome, sir Mover!” The guard at the gate greeted him. “Please proceed to the door to the right, and ask for the herald,” the man directed Silas.

  Silas nodded his thanks and proceeded as directed. He was greeted by a young woman about his own age, dressed in an elegant gown of purple satin.

  “Perhaps Mata was right,” he told himself, suddenly feeling underdressed.

  “Sir Mover, we’re so honored to have you at court! There hasn’t been such a celebration in years!” the girl gushed. “I apologize that the court seems a bit empty.

  “I think too many people over-indulged in festivities last night,” she spoke in a confidential tone. “Come with me, won’t you?” she began to walk down an ornate hall, beckoning for him to follow.

  Silas followed along the hall, past a pair of guards, up a set of stairs, and then to a large chamber door.

  “Your audience is within,” the maid motioned politely to the door.

  “Are you coming in?” Silas asked.

  “I was not instructed to join you,” the girl said with dignity. “And I always obey the queen’s wishes.” She stood next to the door, watching to see Silas enter.

  He raised his eyebrows, then bowed slightly, and pulled the lever to open the door. He stepped inside, where he found he was in a sizable room – one that was larger than the public room in the apartment he shared with Mata – though the room somehow managed to feel small.

  There was a small table, set for two, in one corner.

  A door opened, and to Silas’s astonishment, the Queen entered the room pulling a robe around her frame as she walked in, giving Silas a momentary glimpse of her body’s frame in a slight nightgown beneath the robe. The Queen was not so large as Silas had thought when he had seen her upon the platform. Her clothing had somehow added bulk to her appearance, bulk that wasn’t natural or real, he briefly saw, before the robe was pulled closed, and the queen and a maid entered the room.

  “Have a seat, young friend,” the Queen spoke in a kindly tone.

  Silas stumbled to bow as the queen arrived at the small table. Her maid held her seat for her, as the main door that Silas had entered through opened up to allow the entrance of a wheeled cart, carrying aromatic and savory breakfast selections.

  Silas sat silently as the Queen settled into her seat, while the breakfast cart was pushed over next to the table. He sat and studied her face once again, trying to find the memory that she was so closely-related to. There was a time he had met her or met someone who closely resembled the monarch – he just couldn’t figure out who, and the memory of that other face lingered.

  “It’s not polite to stare at the Queen,” the maid who had delivered the breakfast meal tried to advise Silas discreetly.

  “The boy is behaving just perfectly well, Mallie,” the Queen responded, as Silas averted his eyes from her. “Have some bacon, Silas,” she gestured towards the small covered platter that Mallie was placing on the table.

  Silas used his fork to spear two slices of bacon in embarrassment.

  When the cart had been emptied onto the table, Mallie left the room, and then, so did the maid who had attended the Queen during her entry, leaving just the two principals sitting alone at the table.

  “Silas, you did a great favor for our nation, and truly, for all the nations of the continent, though few will ever know,” the Queen told him.

  “I want to honor you by presenting you with the title of Knight of Faralag and Defender of Inegalee. You will be welcome at court and in the palace any time you chose to come,” the queen told him. She reached down to a shelf hidden beneath the table top, an
d pulled out a velvet box, which she placed next to the platter of fruit, then pushed across the table towards Silas.

  “Here, this is your standard of recognition,” she told him.

  Silas picked up the small box. “Thank you, your majesty,” he spoke sincerely. “I’m very flattered,” he told her as he opened the box.

  Inside was a bright green ribbon, one that had stripes of jewels sewn into it, jewels that sparkled brilliantly. The ribbon was worth more money that Silas had ever imagined holding before. And given his plans to leave the city as quickly as possible, it was a payment that he felt he could not accept in good conscious.

  “your majesty,” Silas closed the box, and laid it gently on the table. “that is a wonderful award, but since I plan to leave the city soon, I cannot accept it. I don’t want you to think that I will stay here and work in Faralag – even though I’ve truly come to enjoy the city.

  “This place is such a wonderful, hidden marvel! I’m glad I saw it, and I’m glad I was able to help you meet the Sprites’ expectations,” he told her, studying the still familiar face carefully as he spoke. “Your city and your nation are so wonderful for the people who are lucky enough to live here.” Yet as he spoke he thought of Melan, broken-hearted over an unfaithful husband; some problems were suffered universally among humans, and were beyond the ability of a good queen to solve, it seemed.

  “So wonderful that you’ve decided to become a resident, I hope,” the Queen notably ignored his forewarning as she studied him.

  “I’m,” Silas paused. He had to tell her the truth, that he was about to leave soon, but it was difficult to say ‘no’ to a monarch, he discovered as he saw her eyes watching him. “I’m afraid that Mata and I have to leave. We have to return to Amenozume to rescue her sister from trouble.”