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  Do not fear me, child. I have come to honor you, as only the descendent of Kyan could have so much power.

  Though the dragon’s lips did not move, the deep voice resonated in Feira’s skull.

  She gaped at the monster. “Kyan?”

  Something akin to merriment danced in the dragon’s gaze. He pulled back his heavy wings, shaking them once as a bird would ruffle its feathers. Feira gasped in wonderment as plume of dust rose up from the dragon’s body. Tiny flecks of gold particles floated through the air and then coated the ship in a fine powder.

  The Sand Goddess, your grandmother. The dragon’s wide nostrils flared as more flecks of gold rose up from its snout. I can scent her in your blood. You are a daughter of Odu, are you not?

  Feira nodded and watched in awe as shimmery particles coated her hair and hands. She looked over at Tumì, whose dark skin was now a glinting bronze.

  “Odu was my father’s name,” she said, “but he left me when I was a child.”

  The dragon’s laughter was deep and rich. The sons of Kyan tend to wander. They have been roaming this world for thousands of years.

  “Thousands of years?” Feira gasped. “How can this be true?”

  The dragon lowered his massive head, and his wide gaze bore down on Feira as if he was reaching into her very soul. You have much to learn. In time, you will understand why the Elements brought you to us.

  Feira swallowed hard before sharing anxious glances with Tumì. “So we are welcome here?” she asked the dragon.

  My children, the dragon answered, you are more than welcome.

  Tumì reached out and laced his hand through hers. Feira could not help but smile at her Oaňu as her witch flame flooded their hearts with warmth.

  Origin Myth from Keepers of the Stones

  The Beginning of Time

  In the beginning there was chaos, with no division between the land, sea and sky. Only the Elements reigned: air, soil, fire and water, colliding in discord, making Tehra a volatile, miserable planet. The Elements were unhappy with the constant state of unrest and change on Tehra. Since none of them could exist together in harmony, they knew they needed something stronger and more powerful to rule over them and bring peace to the planet.

  The Elements called upon the vast magic of the universe and created the Tryads, immortal keepers of the Elements. Their names were Madhea, keeper of sky and spirit; Kyan, keeper of land and breath; and Eris, keeper of water and life. But the Elements made one fatal mistake. They used magic, and only magic, to create the sisters. The Tryads were not of the Elements and so they had little regard for the safekeeping of the planet, save for one of the sisters, Kyan, who loved her land and the people who inhabited it.

  The Elements had believed the Tryads would rule Tehra peacefully, keeping the distinction between air, land, fire and water, and ending all chaos. The Elements, being simple in nature, had not planned for avarice and greed.

  Eris, keeper of the fin folk, was unhappy with her station below the surface of Tehra. She did not enjoy living among sea creatures and being tethered to an unsightly fish tail. She felt slighted by her air-breathing sisters who lived above her.

  Madhea bemoaned spending her days among the sky creatures, peering down at life below. Her land sister lived with beings called humans who had built a shrine in her honor. But the bird folk gave Madhea no such special treatment. Thus, she wished for nothing else than to shed her wings and take her sister’s place as ruler of the human world.

  Kyan, keeper of the land, felt no such resentment toward her sisters. She had fallen in love with Orhan, a handsome mortal. Together, they had conceived six daughters, each one the exact likeness of her mother and bearing magical powers. Kyan knew of her sisters’ envy, but did not fear them because, along with her daughters, she was more powerful than Madhea and Eris combined.

  If Kyan had one weakness, it was her love for Orhan. Though he had wealth, power, and love, he was still unhappy with his lot in life. He desired sons. Kyan, as a daughter of Elemental magic, could only conceive a likeness of herself. In order to give him sons, she would have to use a different magic, a dark magic – one that came not from land, sky, fire or water, but from the darkest recesses of the soul.

  Kyan loved her husband and could not deny him his ardent wish, so she birthed him twin boys, Dafuar and Odu. But something changed within Kyan after she’d called upon the dark magic. Her soul had been compromised and her powers weakened. Her daughters’ magic had been tainted as well.

  Madhea was the first to seize upon her sister’s weakness, flying fast from the heavens and striking Kyan and her daughters with great thunderbolts, sending their souls into the abyss and reducing their human forms to mere stones. Heartbroken and distraught, Orhan fled with his young sons to the shelter of the Shifting Sands.

  When Eris learned of Madhea’s treachery, she rose up from the waters, demanding her fair share of the land. Madhea refused, and thus began a war between the two sisters. Madhea pelted the waters with thunderbolts and hurled great gusts of wind. Eris retaliated with monstrous waves that eroded the soil and swept away entire villages.

  All the while, the Elements mourned the loss of Kyan and the ongoing destruction of their planet. The world had become chaos once more – something that the Elements had sought to prevent by creating the Tryads. Now they had to act before Tehra was lost forever.

  As each sister was consumed in destroying the other, the Elements manipulated wind and water and pollinated their wombs. Eris and Madhea each bore six daughters, the Elementals, who grew into adulthood before the first full moon. And though the Elementals had inherited their mothers’ magical powers, they were children of the Elements as well, and owed their loyalty to them, and thus to restoring peace and tranquility.

  The Elementals forced their mothers to sign a truce. Eris was made keeper of the sea, as well as all of the islands and shorelines. Madhea would rule the sky and the mountains. The land in between was given to Dafuar and Odu. But though Kyan’s sons were immortal like their mother, the dark magic used to conceive them had robbed them of their inherent magical powers. They feared they would not make good keepers.

  The Elements presented Dafuar and Odu with seven sacred stones; each stone had once been the body of their mother and sisters, and they possessed great power. Through these stones, Dafuar and Odu could rule as keepers of the Elements. But soon it became evident that the sons had inherited their human father’s weaknesses, for though they lived forever as immortals, they aged as men. Their bodies became more weathered and decrepit with each passing year, and their memories began to fade.

  The Elements, fearing Eris and Madhea would find a way to seize the stones from Dafuar and Odu, stole the stones, hiding them in the darkest recesses of Tehra. The Elements then divided the remaining land between Madhea and Eris.

  Dafuar and Odu left their homes and wandered the land for ages, searching for something they’d lost, not remembering it was the stones they sought. They lived a cursed life, wise but unwise; immortal, but old and frail.

  Although Madhea and Eris were tethered by the Elementals, their powers grew. Displeased with the shrines built to her by the mortals, Madhea built one to herself; a giant palace of ice, rising up from the ground and reaching as far as the heavens. Eris built a palace out of fire, which rose up from the ocean; a towering cylinder, shrouded by plumes of smoke and guarded by molten lava.

  The two sisters had become so transfixed in building their shrines and strengthening their magic, that they had forsaken their duties as keepers of the Elements, paying little heed when ice storms and cyclones ravaged the land and people. The Elementals, likewise, had no time to manage sky, land and water, as they were most often preoccupied with their mothers.

  Slowly, once again, Tehra began to crumble. The ice melted, the wind howled and the land shook. The Tryads and the Elementals had failed to protect the Elements from chaos. Now, the people’s only hope of saving their planet lay in hi
ding, within the powers of the sacred stones.

  Dear readers, I hope you enjoyed reading Witch Flame as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now would you please take a few moments to write a review wherever you downloaded this story? It would certainly be appreciated. This short prelude was just a glimpse into my new fantasy saga, Keepers of the Stones. Book One, Curse of the Ice Dragon, is available now. Book Two, Spirit of the Sea Witch, will be available in 2013. Please enjoy a scene from Curse of the Ice Dragon, available in print or wherever ebooks are sold.

  Curse of the Ice Dragon—Keepers of the Stones, Book One

  From the bestselling paranormal author of The Whispers Series comes a new fantasy saga.

  Born with mark of the Mighty Hunter, Markus has the skill and strength to feed his people, but not to confront his own tyrannical father. Shamed by his cowardice, Markus releases his frustration on the forest creatures.

  The village prophet warns that Markus's reckless ways will bring down The Hunter’s Curse, and for every animal Markus kills, his loved ones will suffer the same fate. When the warnings go unheeded, the Sky Goddess unleashes her ice dragon. Now Markus must flee the dragon without killing it or his beloved brother will die.

  Markus's flight takes him to the lands of the mysterious Ice People. There, the beautiful maiden Ura helps Markus learn the compassion and courage he needs to face the wrath of the Goddess, but the final confrontation will not be without price, as Markus must choose between the life of his brother and the fate of the girl he loves.

  Chapter Eight

  Markus awoke to a chill that filled his lungs with each shallow intake of breath. Like a stale wind tickling his skin, the cold air encompassed him. Yet he was somehow comforted by an unfamiliar heat that had settled in the marrow of his bones, warming the empty ache in his chest and the hollow of his stomach. It was unlike any feeling he’d known before. Then he realized he must be dead.

  Opening his eyes slowly, Markus’ blurred vision could just make out the faint, warm glow of candlelight. A soft silhouette brushed past him. He struggled to raise himself on one elbow and follow the direction of the shadow. A girl had her back to him, and through his clouded gaze he could see she was stirring a pot of steaming liquid.

  As the room came into focus, he thought that if he wasn’t dead, he certainly must be dreaming. The girl’s smooth arms, tinted a soft shade of blue, seemed to glow. Her hair fell in a shimmery cascade down her back, resembling a curtain of ice reflecting the light of the moon. Turning abruptly, her pale gaze found his.

  Markus knew by the wild beating of his heart that he was not dead, for her beauty awakened him. The girl drifted toward him as though she was carried on the wind. Though her eyes were the shade of a clouded sky, a soft smile belied her kindness.

  Markus felt no reason to fear this girl, but he could not overcome his shock. Her hair! He had thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but now he was almost certain that it was in fact ice. Never before had he seen hair so pale as to be translucent.

  Markus tried to sit up, but his head shook with a sudden wave of dizziness. Closing his eyes, his hand flew to his throbbing head and he winced at the pain. Feeling bandages there, he realized he must have been injured, and then he noticed another sensation. Why he had not noticed it before, he did not know, but his left arm throbbed. A dull, deep ache trailed from his wrist up to his shoulder. He tried to move it, to no avail. It was as if someone had placed a heavy weight upon him. But why?

  “Do you know Ryne?” asked a smooth whisper.

  Markus looked up to see the girl standing there, near enough for him to breathe in her crisp scent of cool spices.

  “Leave the boy alone, Ura,” echoed a strong voice from the other end of the room. “He is barely awake.”

  Markus’ eyes widened. As the throbbing of his temple ebbed, his vision returned to normal. The girl stood close by, wringing her delicate hands as her lower lip trembled. One look into her wide, watery eyes and Markus knew she was on the verge of crying. A strange thought crossed his mind: would she cry ice, too?

  A single tear slipped down her cheek, and Markus berated himself for his indifference.

  Her voice shook as she whispered to him, “Have you seen my brother?”

  The girl’s compassion for her sibling struck a tender cord with Markus at the vague recollection of Alec’s soft smile. It was odd how long ago it seemed since he had last held him.

  A large man in a hooded cloak appeared and shooed Ura away. “Go now, girl. Let the boy rest.”

  As she rushed out of the room through a skin draped over the doorway, Markus noticed the strange texture of the walls – they looked like ice. By the Goddess, he had to be dead! Then Markus had the vague recollection of falling from a frozen ledge, but what had he been doing scaling a mountain?

  Madhea’s Curse of the Ice Dragon!

  After bringing on the bloody curse, he had killed his mother and been forced from his beloved brother.

  “Alec!” Markus cried.

  “There is no Alec here, land dweller.”

  Land dweller? Markus looked into the man’s hooded eyes, unable to read any expression beneath the shadow of his pale, fur cloak. Struggling again to sit, Markus managed by placing all of his weight onto his good arm. “Where am I?” he asked.

  “You are safe,” replied the man, gently patting his good arm. “I am Jon. My daughter and I will care for you.”

  Through the dim shadow shading the man’s lips, Markus could make out a smile. Jon was unusually tall, towering over him like a pine, but Markus knew this man was kind. Odd how he could sense it, but he just knew. Just like the girl, Ura, Markus had no reason to fear Jon.

  But why did he feel so safe, so strange? Surely, he had to have passed over to the afterworld? “I am not dead?” he blurted out while struggling to comprehend his surroundings.

  “No, you’re not.” Jon’s laughter was rich and deep, but not overpowering like the bark of his father. “You fell, but the break in your arm will mend. Don’t you remember?”

  Markus shook his head, murmuring “No,” and instantly regretted the movement as a wave of dizziness overcame him. Moaning, he laid his head back against soft padding.

  “Oh, yes,” Jon chuckled, “you bumped your head, too. Don’t worry, your memories will come back to you eventually. You will have ample time to think while your arm mends.” Then his tone turned more somber. “I only hope that this Alec isn’t out there looking for you.”

  “He couldn’t be looking for me,” Markus muttered. Closing his eyes, he called to mind the image of his brother before their departure, remembering Alec’s bruised face and frail body. His brother would not have the physical strength to come looking for him.

  It was all for the best. Markus would not want Alec to risk his life on the mountain. He tried to block out the mental picture of Alec sitting alone in their hut, grieving for their dead mother with no one to console him. Markus’ heart was weighted by a thousand stones; his carelessness had brought so much suffering upon his family.

  When he reopened his eyes, Jon was still looming above him and the lines of his mouth turned down as he spoke. “Do not let your thoughts trouble you. You must rest now if you are to recover.”

  Thinking how nice it would be to rest his bruised bones in this soft bed, Markus almost accepted Jon’s offer, but Lydra was still out there, somewhere. As soon as the beast freed herself from the ice, she would hunt for him again. By staying in this place, Markus would endanger not only himself, but Jon and his daughter as well.

  “I cannot stay,” he replied.

  “I’m afraid you have no choice.” Jon nodded toward the arm that Markus cradled against his chest. “Your arm is broken. You cannot climb.”

  “But, I bring grave danger to you and your daughter.” Markus regretted the words even as he spoke them. He did not want to lose his shelter, but his foolishness had already cost him his mother’s life. He would not be responsible for any more deaths
, save his own.

  Jon sat down in a chair beside Markus and rested a strong hand on his shoulder. “What danger do you speak of, land dweller?”

  Markus’ gaze shifted to the weight of the stranger’s hand. It was such a simple gesture, so why did the man’s touch feel so foreign to him?

  Markus turned his head away, unable to make eye contact with the man who was touching him so closely. He knew the gentle pressure of Jon’s hand was nothing to be ashamed of, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that it wasn’t manly to accept his affection. Markus had only shared this kind of closeness with Alec, and only when Father was not looking.

  Clearing his throat, Markus kept his stare transfixed on the shimmery wall beside his bed. “Madhea’s ice dragon,” he replied. “When she frees herself from the avalanche, she will come for me. I must reach Madhea before the dragon awakens.”

  Pulling his hand away, Jon laughed through a groan. “You seek the Ice Witch?”

  Turning abruptly, Markus looked at the man’s hooded form. Through the shift in the shadows shrouding Jon’s face, he could make out the glimmer of pale eyes beneath the cloak. Who was this man and why had he called Madhea a witch?

  “Ice Witch?” Markus vehemently shook his head. “No, I seek the Goddess.”

  “Then the witch has you fooled. Madhea is no goddess.”

  Markus’ veins ran cold, for he knew Madhea was to be respected and feared. Jon risked danger by blaspheming her. “Do not speak so. Do you wish her to bring a curse upon your head?”

  Laughing heartily, Jon pulled down the hood of his cloak, revealing the same pale blue skin and transparent hair as Ura. Even more startling were his eyes, which were of the brightest azure, shining like iridescent ice crystals and illuminating the deep lines around his eye sockets.

  “I am an ice dweller,” he spoke through a smile. “Her magic cannot harm me.”

  Unable to contain his amazement, Markus’ jaw slackened as his mind struggled to make sense of the sight before him. As a child, Alec had amused him with stories of the Ice People, but he thought them only fables.