Call of the Chosen- Broken Kingdoms Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copywrite and Cover

  Dedication

  Book One Quote

  Part One: Exposed

  1 Ed: Battle of Gorge

  2 Zana: Youngest in the Middle

  3 Sil: Sil and the Golden Lady

  4 Sil: Synod and the Blue Bell House

  5 Mend: Mending in the Tower

  6 Roe: Araa from the North

  7 Ed: Ed's Report

  Part Two: Decision

  8 Zana: The Eldest Brother

  9 Sil: The Priest and the Investigator

  10 Sil: A Message from a Falling Star

  11 Mend: The Hero of the Island

  12 Roe: Araa and the Major

  13 Ed: Ed and the Islander

  14 Zana: The Holy City of Zanf'r

  15: Sil: On the Road to Sat'r

  16: Sil: Sat'r

  Part Three: Mending, Ordeals and Trials

  17: Lairsday

  18: Humsday

  19: Evensday

  20: Bleksday

  21: Ransday

  22: Hyliosday

  23: Zansday

  24: Sil: The Lord and the Lady

  25: Sil: The Islander Shopkeeper

  26: Sil: The Casmarus Sisters

  Epilogue

  Author's Note

  Call of the Chosen: Broken Kingdoms

  The Dark Well Series Book 1

  Mike DeSousa

  Copyright © 2019 by Mike DeSousa

  Cover Art by Marina Raye

  You can check out her other work by following the link above.

  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.

  Dedication

  To my mother, who died suddenly during the writing of this book, one year ago from its release.

  "Gone from our sight, but not from our hearts.”

  “If I had known there were worse things than death, I would never have taken my godhood for granted.”

  Part One: Exposed

  1

  Edgar Omen: Battle of the Gorge

  “I find it ironic; no, as if deliberate, that the very sacrilegious act you warn me about is what will save us all.”

  -Emperor Siga Ladress of the Unified Countries of Gen Shemver

  Edgar Omen woke to a muddled mind and blurry vision with a tight cloth bandaged over his right eye; no, his entire head was bandaged. What..?

  "Major, major, are you with us today," said a man, Doctor Alexander. Ed remembered now. He’d been injured. But how and what was he being treated for…?

  "Good, you’re awake already? You're making enormous progress, Major," Doctor Alexander said, leaning over him while probing his bandaged forehead. Major? I'm a major now? "You still look a bit confused."

  "Exhausted too," Ed muttered through dry cracking lips, struggling to raise a fatigued arm to his bandaged head and eye. The other arm was immobile with tubes attached filled with what Ed guessed to be blood or medicine. The bed he laid on was unusually soft, definitely not his own. A medic bed? "Ah...it's coming to me." Yes, he was a major now. Doctor Alexander was treating him for exposure to the Shard at the excavation…so he was told. Ed had no memory of it —yet.

  "Hello, my sleepy friend," said another man. Glen Gallegos? Yes, it was Glen, leaning on some furniture behind the doctor. He swished his usual cup of wine in his hand, a familiar glaze in his eyes and a worried furrowed brow. Maybe it was the confusion of waking, but Glen’s bushy salted dark blond beard seemed out of place. Had he only grown it recently? No, he starting growing it out at the end of the war.

  Ed raised his hand and Glen met it with his own. Empire couldn’t get me, Glen. No ‘Beast’ can either. "Strong son of a bitch, aren't you?" Glen shook Ed’s hand, smiling, though Ed could see tension in the corner of his lips and yellow fatigue around his eyes. How long had he been there waiting for him to wake up?

  "How bad...," Ed whispered.

  "Better," the doctor replied. Always better, Ed remember that too; it was all the doctor would ever say. Hopefully, the others fared...better. Am I reaching you? It is so dark where I am. Listen carefully. We’ve been betrayed! And, there’s little time. Ed clenched his jaw; his hands trembled as his heart set off pounding inside his chest. Another thing he remember now, that new symptom since the incident —that ever present voice in mind. Please, listen. Ragnarok still hasn’t been Silenced. He’s going to try again, and the Seven are not ready. You are not ready.

  "Hope you stay in the land of the waking a little longer this time," Glen began again before taking in a gulp. "We have a lot to talk about."

  "Please, Magistrate," the Doctor scolded him. "He's very sensitive to sight and sound right now and smell." He nodded to the drink.

  Ed grabbed hold onto the sides of the bed. The hairs on his skin rose along a wave of terror. This is what happens, Ed thought. The stories. They all said exposer to the Shard would make a person. ...Am...I... Calm yourself! I have chosen you. You are not insane.

  "Major...," the Doctor said, his cold fingers pressing on Ed’s jugular. "Your pulse…. What are you feeling? Tell me exactly."

  "The voice," he shouted, his heartbeat filling his ears. "It's still in my head! It's still there! I can hear it!" Calm yourself, Edgar. I am here to help you.

  "Breathe, Major, breathe. I am here. I am in control. Assistant! Come quick! He's going under again."

  Suddenly, his heart calmed, his body relaxed. He recognized what was happening –it happened before. His eyelids weighed down, closing; his strength failed. "It's happening again," Ed slurred. "I'm falling..."

  "We're here, Major. Remember that, we'll always be here...."

  ***

  "Colonel! Colonel," a strong voice shouted from behind him. A tight grip grabbed onto his shoulder. "Not a good time to daydream, Ed. ...You alright?"

  Glen smirked under a clean shave, but he wasn't wearing the dark blues of his Advocate’s robes; no, these were the bland tan colors of a Chronicler. "Ed? You're scaring me." Ed scanned the sky. Beautiful blue, sun hidden behind great clouds. The two of them were standing in some wide gorge, sparsely wooded with stunted trees and green grass that yielded to dry yellow patches here and there. The whole gorge was littered —thankfully— with warding stones of various sizes. White and gray marbled pebbles, stones, boulders; one in the distance had to be half the size of the Bear and Babe building. All gave off that unmistakable warmth and with so many, the air grew heavier than it otherwise would have been. That meant the Chills were nearby, but they shouldn’t be a problem with so many of these stone. He had only felt the Chills a few times in his life, but infected rabid animals he had seen plenty of times. And they might pose a problem for his team.

  On either side of the gorge, Ed saw two great red cliff walls enclosing them. Down the length, at the very far end, he saw the shimmering of a shallow lake. Midstream? And in the center stood like a weatherbeaten and long-forgotten castle, Navenrog. Wasn't that a resort for the nobles? Before the war, at least. He gazed upon the walls around him, feeling a strange familiarity as if he’d been here before. A gorge, a great rip in the land, the Eastern Gate into the Grand Kingdom Ladress. He found himself nodding. Yes, this made sense now. He was a colonel, and the Empire had made their first move, crossing into Ladress east of here. The enemy must not cross that lake! He looked at either cliff face again, remembering the briefing from his superiors; their names strangely escaped him, but the objective didn't. These two go
rge walls must fall!

  "Ed...? Ed, you're still scaring me. Say something. Gene? Hey priest, the Colonel needs you."

  "No," Ed quickly said, feeling himself settle into the present. "I'm fine, really, Glen. I'm just thinking."

  "Oh, thinking? Is that what you call staring off into oblivion?"

  "Shouldn't you be meditating?"

  Glen tapped his right temple with his finger. "Oh, my mind is always ready," he smiled with clear eyes and a clean breath. Odd, Ed expected differently.

  He returned his study on the shallow lake, about a foot in its deepest parts. The Empire wouldn't even need a bridge and the resort ruin would make a perfect camp for them. On either side of the lake the gorge walls climbed to their highest right about center of the lake. Collapsing them there should make the lake harder to cross; at least keep the Empire busy for a few days of digging out. His gut told him it wouldn't be so easy. His instincts were usually right.

  "Get everyone," he told Glen.

  "Sure thing," he replied but didn't move. Ed raised an eyebrow. Glen shrugged, nodding his head behind Ed.

  "We are already here," said Mother Genevieve Fallingstar in her medic dark blues, a cloak buttoned up the middle, hood over her head and covered face behind a black mask. Her piercing tan eyes made for a strong contrast. Always so fulling clothed, Ed had learned to read her emotions through them. It was never standard medic uniform, not even years later. Years later? That doesn't make sense. But it was good to see her again. That strange feeling again. It wasn't his intuition, was it? Nostalgia? "Your mask—," Ed said before stopping himself. He glanced quickly at Glen. He remembered now.

  "Yea, I know," Glen said, folding his arms across his chest. "It's only the four of us here and she still won't show us what she looks like. You're a priest for goodness sake —pardon the pun— you don’t have to worry about one of us falling madly in love for you."

  "But I do worry about you, Chronicler," she replied with a hint of a challenge in her voice.

  He laughed, blinking his eyes at her. "Can't stand the idea of an agnostic memorizing your face?"

  "Not at all," she replied. "Your fear of commitment has nothing to do with it. I’ve seen you use your blessing for immorality. My body has already been spoken for."

  "It's just a face, Gene, your face," Glen shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "Give me a sec and I'll pull up some your religious commentaries from memory. You're taking this whole modesty thing too far and I can prove it."

  "I'd love to see you try.”

  "Stop it, both of you," Ed barked. "This isn't the time or place. Cooperate. Where's Ninn?"

  Ninn stepped out from behind Gene, shaking and trembling yet with a determined grin on him, like some hidden strength he held behind his bright eyes; young eyes, eyes that were often too eager to please. Ed couldn't fault him on that; he's still from the Islands after all. I'll bring out the soldier in you yet. "Y, y, yes sir," Ninn said with his stutter. Nostalgia again? No, something deeper.

  "Good, I'm glad your back," Ed continued. "Have you finished setting—"

  "All done, all done. Ninn’s hands are quake-makers; they will not pass. Ninn’s hands are quake-makers; they will not pass," he repeated his new mantra. "Say the word and the walls will fall. Into the lake." Ed held himself from laughing. Ninn's mantras. How strange that he felt as though he somehow missed them.

  "Haven't heard you say that one," Glen said.

  "Mantras are made to serve us. They come and go, new and old," Ninn said, standing straight and puffing out his chest. "Tools in a toolbox. No blasphemous imperial's going to set foot here. C, c, colonel."

  Glen laughed, "Oh for Beast's sake—"

  "I told you never to ascribe that pejorative to the Shattered Body of the Almighty while we were on mission," Gene hissed. "We need his blessing if we’re to succeed."

  "Just because you worship those Beas...err Shards doesn't make them divine," Glen said before closing his eyes and tapping his index finger in the air.

  "And how would you explain the Empire's sudden power and success? If not from a source beyond nature?"

  "Right! Hold on, getting to that, I knew you would say something like that," Glen said between chuckles. "Until I do," he opened his eyes. "So, are you telling me, if you break God's dead body further into pieces and used them for conquest, he'll reward you with his strength and grant you success? Maybe your Holy City should do the same—"

  "Enough," Ed shouted, pointing at both. "And, I mean it."

  "Now, look, you got Ed pissed," Glen quietly added.

  "Glen," Ed said pointedly. "Shut up. I don’t want to hear anything about gods or beasts anymore. Take it up in the mess halls. I want your minds completely here and now and...," Ed reached in his back pocket. His eyes widened. "Where the hell is the map?"

  "Alecka has it," Ninn chimed in.

  "Alecka? Oh, right, I gave it to him to coordinate with the others....umm," Ed rubbed his brow above his right eye, momentarily expecting to find some obstruction there. Who's Alecka? His memory drew nothing about him, or anything else. He just couldn't think, like looking back on memory of a dream he knew he had but simply wasn’t there.

  "Uh, well, I can remember the map," Glen jumped in.

  "Are you not feeling well, Colonel," Gene asked, walking up to him. She placed her hand on his forehead.

  "I'm, I'm fine, sudden headache. It’ll pass." Ah! Alecka! He remembered now. He straightened himself away from her hand. "Thank you, Gene. That helped."

  "I didn't do anything," she replied, glancing a worried eye at Glen.

  "All the same, it passed," Ed said, giving her an assuring grin. "Alecka isn't coming back. So, we'll have to do this—"

  "Oh please, please sir," Ninn interrupted. "We're staying to see?"

  "Yea, yes, we are. We four have to see that this all goes to plan. If the intel on the Empire's movements is right—"

  "No worries there," Glen jeered.

  "By tonight, the first of the Empire's Third, a scouting party, is going to make it to that lake behind me. Three steam-drivers, a small contingent of four magic specialist, and 15 regulars." Ed paused. No, ...but that's not what happened. Gene's eyes lit up with concern. "Their plan," Ed quickly recovered. "As much as we know, is to make that old resort into a fort of sorts—" Ed caught his unexpected rhythm and pointed to Glen. "This isn't the time for a joke, Glen."

  Glen's eyes widened. "How...how did you know?"

  "I think I know you long enough," Ed said, but the truth was he just had a feeling, a nagging twitch in mind that seemed to point to… déjà vu? Focus. "They're planning to use the Navenrog to run supply lines right through here. I remind you: we're not here to fight them.”

  "Thank the Almighty," Glen said. Gene eyes narrowed into half-moons as though she were smiling underneath her mask. "Don't get excited, Gene. It's just a figure of speech."

  "Our job is to stall them until the Three Princes send in the main to link up with our battalion. They’ll head here, clear up that forests on top of the gorge and turn this place into one big murder hall. Ninn's explosives will collapse the walls on either side of the lake directly over the hotel, hopefully making the gorge impassable...for their scout at least." He turned to Glen. "Glen, your job here is obvious. Memorize everything you can. If you see an officer or commander, get his face. I'll be going with you so don't lead us too close; you're the only one with the map in his head." Glen removed from his right sleeve his mother’s prized spectacles, a silver-framed pince-nez. "Gene and Ninn, if everything works out, you won't have to do anything except stay out of sight."

  Gene glared at Glen.

  "Don't worry, Gene," Glen said, smiling. "I'll be more careful this time. You won't have to save me."

  She sighed. "I'll make sure he's safe, Colonel."

  Glen bowed low before her. "How wonderfully gracious of you. Now, I'm free to be reckless!"

  "I'll be with him this time, Gene,” Ed said. “But keep your eyes open. W
e won't have to get too close anyway. We're only expecting a scout; they won't have anything new for Glen to memorize. Once we're done, we'll meet up with the others. I told Alecka to keep our exit clear and wait for us for only two days. After that, I told him to head back to the battalion and send in a scout after us."

  "What for, sir," Ninn asked.

  "To pick up our dead bodies, my dear boy," Glen said, glancing at the sky while blinking each eye. "If they can find them, that is."

  Gene snickered. "The boy is already under pressure. Must you make him feel worse?"

  "Feel worse," Glen asked, shrugging. Damn it, Glen, don't take her bait. We don't have time. "I answered his question, didn’t I? If the idea of dying in war frightens him so much, he should have stayed on his island paradise."

  "I've said so before and will again, I'm very happy for deciding against swearing my services to your prince, Chronicler. Only a dreadful man could be subject to a dreadful lord."

  Glen smiled at her, blinking his eyes. "Tsk, tsk. You shouldn’t say that about Prince Landrie. He’s your lord too now, or have you conveniently forgotten? Well, I’m also happy to remind you that the three brothers have sworn to each other now, priest. We’re one big happy family again! I’m practically your brother—”

  "Glen," Ed said. "Last time. Shut up or I'll ask Gene to shut you up. All you need are your eyes and ears on this mission, OK?"

  Glen made a buttoning motion over his mouth.

  "No, Ninn," Ed said. "We're not going to die here if everyone," he looked sharply at Glen, "keeps his focus. Everything clear?”

  Ninn bowed. Gene nodded. Glen shrugged.

  “Alright, Ninn,” Ed said. “Get to your charges and be ready. Gene will give you the signal tonight when they come. Don’t blow the charges even if you see the enemy right underneath you, OK?” Ninn nodded, his eyes wide and clear.

  “Red lightening, Ninn,” Gene added, placing her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “That will be my signal.”