Cheryl S Mackey [Mackey - Exiles & Empire

THE IMMORTALS

PART THREE: EXILES & EMPIRE

Cheryl S. Mackey

Copyright 2019 Cheryl S. Mackey

License Notes: This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION AND AUTHORS NOTE:

This book is dedicated to my husband and my sons. Without them I could never have dreamed so big and accomplished so much. I am eternally grateful for their love, support, and understanding.

Inspiration for the main characters goes to my friends, Jessica, Neal, and my husband, David. Without them there would be no adventures in Ein-Aral. Thank you so much my dear friends!

Special thanks to Daniel Schofield, owner of the cover image, who gave me special written license to use his magnificent artwork as the cover of this novel. Please check out his amazing work here: http://scoffsart.deviantart.com. Huge thanks as well to my cover artist Victoria for the awe- inspiring lettering and detail work to make the cover perfect! Her work can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/whitandware.

I also give special thanks to my beta readers, for security purposes you shall remain anonymous, but you know who you are and I thank you with all my heart for your honest and sincere contributions to the shaping of my book.

Sincere and grateful thanks to my amazing editor Natasha Larry. You rock!

This book series is intended as a prequel to another set of works currently in progress. The first book of that trilogy, THE UNKNOWN SUN, is available now. As a prequel series, THE IMMORTALS contains events and characters relevant to THE UNKNOWN SUN. However, this book is part 3 and should be read after reading parts 1 and 2. The entire series is quite readily a standalone, and can be enjoyed as it is without having read THE UNKNOWN SUN. Please note that the events in this book and the rest of the upcoming prequels occur long before the events in THE UNKNOWN SUN.

Chapter One

Luregs Camp, Burning Desert, Ein-Aral

Gabarans broad knuckles collided with the energy shield arcing over the plateau. It rippled, sending sparks of light into the midnight sky. His roar of rage and grief merged with the deep vibrations. His heart twisted in time with the flares of static. The shield absorbed the force; the brute strength of a mortal elf no more damaging than a fly is to a rock. He reared back and struck until skin cracked and blood smeared. A cry curdled deep within his chestwith each blow. The sounds were animalistic, wild. Sounds only someone broken by wrath and anguish could make.

He blamed the sweat blurring his vision for masking the movement to his right. He lashed out again and his knuckles slammed into the palm of a smaller, darker hand. Long fingers curled around his large fist and shoved. Caught off guard, Gabaran stumbled back a few paces, but he remained upright, fists raised. Bathed in the glow of the shield, the shadowed figure was familiar. Jet black hair hid a narrow face that he knew all too well.

Dehil, he growled. A flash of fury burned the world white for a split second. Get out of my way, traitor!

Fool, break the shield and youll unleash time, Dehil snapped. Its the only thing standing between us and death right now.

Gabaran studied the dome that covered half the plateau and several miles of the desert floor below. Crackling with static, and made of energy, it held time to a standstill within it. That standstill had saved their friends from a guaranteed death. Barely.

Death? You dare speak of death to me? Gabaran roared. His fingers closed around Dehils throat. He slammed the smaller elf against the shield. The force sent a shockwave rippling in all directions.

A blistering wind snagged the white-streaked strands of Gabarans long black hair and dragged them across his vision. Flashes of Dehils dark face, bisected with a snaking scar from his left temple to his right jaw line, caught his attention. His grip loosened a fraction.

You need to listen, Dehil snapped. We have little time.

Gabaran staggered, startled by the depth of pain in his friends words. His grip slackened and the smaller elf dropped to the ground.

Listen? Why? Gabaran asked. His shoulders twitched. Why should I listen to someone who led his friends into a trap?

Trap? I had no idea this would happen. It was no plan of mine.

You had no choice? Then who? Gabaran sneered. Thats not the view from my seat here, on the other side of a world gone still, Dehil. What happened?

I was given a task I could not refuse. It didnt matter, Dehil whispered. His fingers traced the gruesome scar halving his once unmarked face. In the end I failed.

Liar, Gabaran said. Pain tightened his face into a mask of anguish. Who would give you such a task? Your master?

No, but another you revere, Dehil said. Gabaran, please tell me Tanari gave you the map.

Gabaran turned aside. Lines etched at the corners of his eyes deepened and his long left ear twitched.

Why am I not surprised that you know that name? What does a map matter now? Shes dead, Gabaran said. She is gone.

Dehil swore. Shes no more gone than I ever was. Time kneels before her. Her death would have been for nothing and will still be if we cant save them. To save her, and Ein-Aral , we need them . He flung an arm out at the unmoving figures inside the dome.

You speak riddles, fool. How did you know that Tanari had the map?

Dehil closed his eyes. His head dropped with a light thud against the energy shield. Static flickered, then faded. Frustration roughened his voice into a weary croak.

I know because Im the one who told her about it. She travelled from the future, ransacked the tent, and returned to the future to keep it safe. Im the one who told her to give it to you when the time was right, Gabaran. I did not die last night because of Her . She has a plan and I am an agent of her will, no more.

Stunned, Gabaran stepped away from his old friend, staggered.

His vision blurred. What? he asked. His heart pounded in his ears, the squishy thud of pumping blood was all he could hear for a long moment. Each thump ached sharper than the next. No. Thats not possible, Dehil.

Im sorry, old friend, Dehil said. His mouth tightened into a thin line that matched the stark white scar. I wish this was a lie but we both see the truth now.

Gabarans gaze honed in on the scar and saw the proof that he had been determined to ignore. Such a nasty wound would have taken months to heal. A healer like Jadeth could have erased it.

Time kneels before her.

How did you get that scar? What happened? he asked between gritted teeth. His stomach rolled at the thought of such a wound, and of the age lines he could now see creasing the corners of his friends eyes. Immortals couldnt age, could they? He had always believed such. Unless so much time had passed that the years had added up. Was such a thing possible? What was immortality then?

There will be wars. Terrible ones that we cannot avoid. We must do everything we can to save whats left of what and who we hold dear, Dehil said. He swallowed and a grim look of remembrance etched stark lines of anguish on his dark skin.

Gabarans heart sank. He didnt dare ask more. The raw grief, rage, and pain burning in Dehils expression quelled his own. For the moment.

He ran a shaking hand over his face at the mention of her real name. A name he had learned only at her deathbed. A deathbed as malleable as the clay of the earth below his feet, if his Eideili friend could be believed.