Kyra Dune - City of Magic

CITY OF MAGIC

Elfblood Book Three

Kyra Dune

City Of Magic

Copyright 2016 Kyra Dune

A ll rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Shadow Portal Books, a division of Shadow Portal Productions, USA.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or taping, or by any information storing or retrieval system, without written permission from Kyra Dune.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Even resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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CHAPTER ONE

C harlie sat on a cold stone block beneath a gray sky and held a torn piece of his shirt to the bleeding wound on the side of his head as he tried to decide what he should do. Tall stone pillars, cracked and worn, surrounded the ring of brittle grass where the stone block sat. Beyond that all that could be seen was more rubble.

This was not what he had expected, though perhaps he should have. No one had seen the City Of Magic, said to be the birthplace of the elves, in a thousand years. A tumbled down ruin should not be so shocking. Anton had told him this was where he would find what he sought and he had no reason to doubt the man.

He glanced at the silver disk clutched in his left hand. It was covered in strange markings he couldnt read and in its center was a small, white magestone. A dead magestone. Or maybe just a very weak one. Charlie wasnt sure.

It had served its purpose in bringing him here and, as unexpected and depressing as his dismal surroundings were, Charlie new this was the right place. The dragon in his mind recognized it. Still, he was hesitant to throw the disk away until he was sure there was no further use for it.

The map and the key, that was what Lily had called it. So until he had found The Silver Catacombs and freed the sleeping magic therein, he thought he would hold on to it. But at the moment his main concern was his head, which was throbbing with a dull, steady ache. No surprise really, considering hed just been pummeled by a heavy piece of machinery. But the fact that it was still bleeding worried him.

Then of course there was the fact that he was utterly alone in a strange place with no idea what had become of his friends. If the big magestone in the castle basement had only brought him here and left the others behind, then they were in far more danger than he was and there was nothing he could do to help them.

Charlie slipped the disk into the pocket of his jeans and slid down off the block. Sitting here was doing him no good. He needed forward motion to continue his search. Only, he wasnt sure where to begin. All he had to go on was a recurring dream of a little valley nestled between two hills.

He could see no sign of any hills from where he was standing. But he supposed for the disk to have dropped him off at the Catacombs front door was too much to hope for. He only wished he knew why he had been brought to this particular spot when it was so obvious there was nothing here.

Charlie struck out along what might once have been a narrow road; now choked with scrub grass and littered with small bits of stone. The silence echoed around him; broken only by the thin cry of the chill wind. He shivered. Not since his father died and he had been taken to live at the home had he felt so completely alone.

He worried about the others. Especially Thomas, who had been in bad shape when last Charlie saw him. He wasnt sure he should care even though the older boy had saved his life and, more importantly, Mirandas life. Two things for which Charlie was most grateful. Only he wasnt sure they were enough to negate all the bad things Thomas had done.

Thomas had always been his worst enemy, his tormentor. Had even tried to kill him once, not so long ago. He was a traitor several times over and people had died for his treachery. Yet now they were uneasy allies. But if there was one thing Charlie had learned since being dragged away from the home, it was that with Thomas there were never any guarantees.

Charlie walked until the throbbing in his head became so fierce he had to stop. He sat in the shade of a tall pillar, the top half of which had broken off and fallen to the side. Ignoring the cold bite of the stone through his thin t-shirt, Charlie leaned back and closed his eyes. Maybe he would sleep for awhile and dream something useful.