Prologue

  “Martin try not to be gone too long and please stay safe while you are out there. I worry about you”

  “Jazmina you worry too much,” said Martin kissing his wife and running his hands through her long thick red tresses.

  “And you are not cautious enough,” she said resting her head against his chest, she closed her eyes and took comfort from the sound of his heartbeat.

  “Hey beautiful, listen to me, there is something or someone out there taking our people. Most of those who are taken never come back and those few that do return have no memories of where they’ve been or what has happened to them, their minds are broken.

  We are wood elves; you know the kind of work it would take to wipe the memories of an elf. Whoever or whatever is doing this to us must be stopped. What if it was one of us taken? Your mother, your sister, or your father, I have to help them hunt down the responsible party Jazmina”

  “I know you do. Just hurry back I miss you”

  “I will be back before you turn in tonight I promise. Besides how could I possibly stay away from you and Ryder for more than a few hours? You are the air that I breathe, I love you” he told her as he picked their son up and give him a kiss and a hug. Ryder’s nappy was slipping down and Martin tugged at them pulling them back up before kissing his wife again, Ryder giggled and squirmed in his arms.

  “You stay indoors and plan for Ryder’s first birthday, it’s just around the corner he will be one before you know it. Promise me you stay inside Jazmina, it is not safe anymore, not even in Saldur”

  “I promise, now go the sooner you leave the sooner you get back,” she said taking Ryder from his arms. Martin kissed them both again before leaving.

  “Now you stay here Ryder while I get the water, you need a bath Mr.” Jazmina gently placed her son in the middle of her bed with his toys, kissed him on top of his head, and turned to get clean clothes.

  A noise in the kitchen startled Jazmina “Is that you Martin, did you forget something?” she called out. There was no reply; Jazmina saw a shadow cross the parlor. Sensing danger she locked the door to her bedroom.

  Straining to listen, quiet footsteps could be heard just on the other side of the door to her room; Jazmina could hear someone quietly breathing.

  “Ssshhh don’t be afraid Jazmina. I mean you no harm. Please open the door for me” The voice was a rough whisper, trying to sound calm and reassuring as he attempted to coax Jazmina into unlocking the door.

  Ryder was instantly aware they were in danger and started to scream hysterically.

  “Ssssshhhhh my darling I won’t let them hurt you” She ran to the bed intending to pick up her son. Instead, Jazmina froze as she heard the door unlock and open behind her. Strong arms slithered around her waist and embraced her.

  “My love, you are not a wood elf of Saldur surely you must know that in your heart of hearts,” the voice was gentle as he whispered in her ear.

  “Please don’t hurt my son” she begged as another hooded figure walked over and sat on the bed beside Ryder and handed him a toy.

  Jazmina’s mind was spinning her stomach in a knot she started to scream. A large hand clapped firmly over her mouth and held her fast.

  “It is not your son that I want” he whispered to her gently, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke, his breath smelled sweet “Now, if you promise not to scream I will take my hand away. Agreed?”

  Jazmina nodded slowly, tears ran down her cheeks, her heart pounding in her chest she could hear the blood coursing through her veins.

  The hand slid down from her mouth over her throat and down her chest, and his hand slid over her stomach, he was gently caressing her.

  He whispered to her “See, you have nothing to fear my love” he started swaying gently side to side, pinned to him she was swaying with him, an unwilling partner in a sickening dance. Whispering reassurances in her ear he started to kiss her neck.

  “I am NOT your love” she spat the words at him.

  “I promise you darling, in time you will grow to love me,” he said as he spun her around to face him.

  “I would sooner die than show you a morsel of affection”

  “Careful what you wish for my love”

  “Coward, as soon as my husband takes leave, you break into our home, you take delight in terrorizing a defenseless woman alone with a small child.”

  “I have gone out of my way to make you feel at ease, my love”

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  “Stop calling me that and stop hiding behind that hood, show me your face coward”

  “I am no coward Jazmina and it would heed you well to stay on my good side,” he said then kissed her roughly on the mouth, laughing he turned her around and pushed her towards the hooded figure that sat playing with her son.

  “She is mine, she comes with us,” he said licking his lips as he left the room.

  Jazmina started screaming and fought against the rough hands that now held her. Biting down hard on her assailant she tore out a mouthful of flesh from his arm freeing herself from his grip. Ryder sat on the bed screaming as he watched his mother in horror. Jazmina lunged for the bed, Martin had been a soldier, he always kept a blade under the bed.

  Grabbing the blade Jazmina jumped to her feet turned and dragged the blade across the man's face, as he grabbed at the wound on his cheek she saw his face.

  “You are an elf, you are one of us. How could you turn on your people like this?” she asked.

  “I am an elf but I am not one of you” he hissed at her then backhanded her across the mouth sending her sprawling across the floor.

  Jasmina got to her feet and threw herself at him stabbing the blade deep into his shoulder. The blade was torn from Jazmina’s grip.

  “You missed,” he said tossing the blade casually from one hand to the other

  “Missed what? I got you didn’t I?”

  “My mistake I thought you were aiming for my heart”

  “Too small a target you dumb %&#!”

  “You speak like that in front of your son, what kind of a mother are you?” he said then threw her to the floor again. You are not going to make this easy for me are you?”

  “I will fight you every step of the way. You will not take me alive”

  “Go ahead then, fight me, you don’t know the pleasure it gives me,” he said leering at her.

  “You are sick, and you’re a coward,” she said getting to her feet once again. He kicked her savagely.

  Jazmina fell back to the floor with the breath knocked out of her; she kicked her legs out catching him in the groin. The blinding pain that emanated from his groin up through his stomach numbed his mind to all reason.

  “You take pleasure in that?” she spat as he dropped to the floor beside her.

  He recovered enough of his breath to stop Jazmina from getting away from him.

  Jazmina was beaten savagely as a reward for the well-placed kick. Only after she was unconscious, broken and badly bleeding did he call for another to take her. He lay on the floor next to the bed for a moment smiling to himself, he was bleeding heavily.

  “Your mother fights hard little one, look what she did to me,” he said as he ripped up a sheet to stem the blood flow. Before leaving he ransacked the house taking anything he thought to be of value.

  When Martin arrived home the front door was ajar, and his home was in darkness. Martin pulled his sword and slid through the front door. Stalking the house room by room he was greeted by complete silence. Martin walked into his bedroom; the smell of blood was strongest in his room, touching the orb on the wall his room was awash with light. Martin looked around the room; the floor was drenched with blood. Ryder woke up screaming when the lights tore through his dreams waking him suddenly.

  “Ryder are you okay son?” he asked checking him frantically for injuries, Ryder’s nappy was filthy, he was hungry and he was traumatized but otherwise uninjured.

  “Thank Isis you are okay” Martin sank to his knees; realization hit him like an anvil. His Jazmina had been taken while he was out with the rest of the men from Saldur trying to put a stop to all the sudden disappearances in their community. He lost his Jazmina.

  Dazed, Martin mechanically cleaned Ryder up putting him in clean clothes feeding him, and putting him in his crib to sleep. Martin touched the orb turned off the light and crumpled to the floor, he curled up in a fetal position and lay there unable to sleep and unable to bare the pain of staying awake, it just hurt too much.

  He listened to the sounds of the night as the alarm had been raised. Martin had been ordered to stay with his son while the city guard and locals from Saldur left to track down his wife and her abductors.

  The words of the night watchmen played over and over in his mind, a sword of grief stabbing him relentlessly “There is too much blood in here for her to have survived Martin, just prepare yourself for the possibility that we might not find her alive”

  CHAPTER ONE

  HISTORY OF OUR WORLD

  MUDRAYA

  The Sangui, gathering in the growing darkness, a race of vampires who once held reign over every living being, elves, dwarves, and humans alike are now gathering in strength. On the brink of extinction, almost annihilated by a blood plague that affected the Sangui alone, they struggled to survive. Tor Sangua, is a safe haven where the once powerful race of Sangui can now seek refuge. They identify, call together or bring by force all those they believe to be descendants of the Sangui. They search among the wood elves believing them to be direct descendants, hunting them incessantly. Believing themselves to be supreme beings, they are reaching out of the black to once again hold power unto the Sangui.

  With the Sangui fallen from power, chaos ensued. The world descended into anarchy, the fight for power left the world divided by violence. Struggling to survive, rebuilding their shattered lives new cities slowly began to emerge from the ashes of the old.

  Kingdoms started to grow in size and military strength. Civil unrest continues as the battle for supremacy goes on.

  The forests and hills, mountains and grasslands, the deserts and oceans are crawling with life. Amongst these life forms the mountain trolls are to be feared. These creatures have no soul, incapable of feeling pity or remorse, tearing into flesh; man, woman or child makes no difference, they are just as happy to feast on man, dwarf or elf as they are to devour the beasts of the forest. Their numbers are many. Powerfully built standing at eight feet in height they are a formidable enemy. Well-muscled the male of the species are covered in coarse body hair, broad thick skulls and long limbed. The females are hairless with waxy skin except for a thatch of short, coarse, dark, louse-infested hair that clings to their broad skulls. Having a long-striding gait, trolls can easily keep up with a horse in full gallop. The rancid odour of rotting flesh is the first sign that trolls are in the area, by the time you smell them it is usually too late, they know where you are.

  The dwarves that are native to the area like to hunt the nomadic goblins for their meat, the dwarves are friends to the elves and humans alike. The goblins tend to keep to themselves, though like vermin they rapidly multiply, and were it not for the dwarfs hunting them they would soon swarm and become a plague on the face of Mudraya, when goblins swarm they are a danger even to the trolls, large swarms of goblins fear nothing and will attack and destroy anything in their path including entire towns.

  There is a small island that lies just off the coast of Saldur called the Isle of Malakhai named so because the island is rich with the mineral Malachite which at one time was mined by dwarfs that were used as slave labour by the Dark Elves.

  The malachite was used for medicinal purposes and black light magic by the Dark Elves. The current inhabitants of Malakhai are an unnatural race of beings, malignant in nature they were born of greed, the Dark Elves jealous of the harpies ability to fly stole generations of their young using them, experimenting on them then finally resorting to mixing their own pure blood with the filth that was the harpies, they used them for breeding and so the Sharlocks were born.

  Before long the Sharlocks turned on their creators and destroyed every Dark Elf on the island, the Harpies being too few in number to be a threat were left to run wild eventually being used for hunting practice until they too were hunted into oblivion. The Sharlocks acquired the wings of the harpies, the intelligence, agility, and natural grace of the Dark Elves, having the benefit of generations rich with history and memories from the Dark Elves it did not take long for the Sharlocks to grow bored of their tiny wet, moss coated island nation, riddled with the caves they call home. This now, the fifth generation of Sharlocks, have a history of their own, practicing Erisian Magic they use their black obsidian mirrors to scry the mainland, worshiping Eris the Goddess of Chaos and Confusion they would summon dark spirits pulling them from the void or dragging souls from the lowest circle of hell to assist them in taking what they most desired…….Saldur……..this is where they now seek to make a foothold.