Soulmarked (The Fatemarked Epic Book 3) Read online

  Soulmarked

  Book Three of the Fatemarked Epic

  David Estes

  Copyright 2017 David Estes

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook 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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  For the page-turners I know and love.

  Map of the Four Kingdoms- Circa 532

  The story so far…

  PART I

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Thirty-Seven

  Thirty-Eight

  Thirty-Nine

  Forty

  Forty-One

  Forty-Two

  Forty-Three

  Forty-Four

  Forty-Five

  Forty-Six

  Forty-Seven

  Forty-Eight

  Forty-Nine

  Fifty

  Fifty-One

  Fifty-Two

  PART II

  Fifty-Three

  Fifty-Four

  Fifty-Five

  Fifty-Six

  Fifty-Seven

  Fifty-Eight

  Fifty-Nine

  Sixty

  Sixty-One

  Sixty-Two

  Sixty-Three

  Sixty-Four

  Sixty-Five

  Sixty-Six

  Sixty-Seven

  Sixty-Eight

  Sixty-Nine

  Seventy

  Seventy-One

  Seventy-Two

  Seventy-Three

  Seventy-Four

  Seventy-Five

  Seventy-Six

  Seventy-Seven

  Seventy-Eight

  Seventy-Nine

  Eighty

  Eighty-One

  Eighty-Two

  Eighty-Three

  Eighty-Four

  Eighty-Five

  Eighty-Six

  Eighty-Seven

  Eighty-Eight

  Eighty-Nine

  Ninety

  Ninety-One

  Ninety-Two

  Ninety-Three

  Ninety-Four

  Ninety-Five

  Ninety-Six

  Ninety-Seven

  Ninety-Eight

  PART III

  Ninety-Nine

  One-Hundred

  One-Hundred-and-One

  One-Hundred-and-Two

  One-Hundred-and-Three

  One-Hundred-and-Four

  One-Hundred-and-Five

  One-Hundred-and-Six

  One-Hundred-and-Seven

  PART IV

  One-Hundred-and-Eight

  One-Hundred-and-Nine

  One-Hundred-and-Ten

  One-Hundred-and-Eleven

  One-Hundred-and-Twelve

  One-Hundred-and-Thirteen

  The Fatemarked

  Royal Genealogy of the Four Kingdoms (three generations)

  Acknowledgments

  Map of the Four Kingdoms- Circa 532

  To view a downloadable map online: http://davidestesbooks.blogspot.com/p/fatemarked-map-of-four-kingdoms.html

  The story so far…

  IN FATEMARKED…

  The Hundred Years War has stretched over a century, ravaging the nations of the Four Kingdoms. Before the war began, a prophecy was made by a woman now known as the Western Oracle. The prophecy, which promised the coming of the fatemarked, who would bring peace to the lands, has been forgotten by many, while others believe it to be naught but a legend. Still, the truth of the ancient words has begun to come to pass, as there are those being born with strange markings that grant the bearers unusual powers. In some lands, the marked are revered; in others, hated, even put to death.

  One of the fatemarked, the Kings’ Bane, has his own prophecy: to bring death to eight rulers across the Four Kingdoms, which will usher in a time of peace. His work has already begun—three rulers have been killed in swift succession: King Wolfric Gäric, known as the Dread King of the North, King Gill Loren of the West, and King Oren Ironclad, the Juggernaut of the East, have all fallen. But Bane’s task is far from finished, and now he plans to turn his attention to the south…

  Little is known of what has been transpiring in the southern empires of Calyp and Phanes, except that the two nations have been embroiled in a civil war caused by the marriage dissolution of the two main sovereigns, Empress Sun Sandes and Emperor Vin Hoza….

  In the kingdoms, however, time has marched ever onwards…

  To the west:

  With the death of King Gill Loren at the hand of the Kings’ Bane, his eldest nephew, Jove Loren, attempts to usurp the throne from the true heir, Princess Rhea Loren. To accomplish this, Rhea is charged by the furia with breaking her vow of purity with a common thief known as Grease Jolly, an alias for his true name—Grey Arris. As punishment, a “W” for whore is carved on her face, leaving permanent scars. In her mind, her greatest attribute, her beauty, has been stripped from her, leaving her with nothing left but revenge.

  When her horror and sadness turn to white-hot anger, she murders her cousin Jove and reclaims her crown, vowing next to win the war and defeat her enemies on all sides…

  Meanwhile, Grey Arris’s sister, Shae Arris, who is fatemarked, is abducted by the furia and taken south to a chain of islands called the Dead Isles, which are rumored to be haunted. Grey, charged with thievery, has his hand cut off as punishment, but manages to escape Knight’s End with some help from Rhea. Grey follows the furia, eventually hiring onto a ship, The Jewel, which is headed south. His goal: find his sister and rescue her…

  To the north:

  After Bane murders the Dread King, the crown shifts to Archer Gäric. However, before he can claim it, his uncle, Lord Griswold, swoops in, accusing he and his mother, Sabria Loren, of conspiring to kill the king. The eldest of the king’s heirs, Annise, feels powerless as she watches the execution of her mother. When Archer is brought to be executed, however, the executioner suddenly makes himself known as a famous warrior known as the Armored Knight. They escape through the sewers along with another knight, Sir Dietrich.

  While they travel to the southern part of the realm, Annise realizes she has turned eighteen and now has the primary claim on the throne. She refuses to tell her brother, though she confides in the Armored Knight, who turns out to be her long-lost friend from childhood, Tarin Sheary, believed to be dead, but now cursed by the witch’s potion that saved his life. They also meet up with their eccentric aunt, Lady Zelda, who reveals that the Kings’ Bane is actually their younger brother, who was smuggled from the north immediately a
fter birth.

  When the easterners attack Raider’s Pass, Archer is knocked unconscious by the Kings’ Bane, his own brother, who turns up to try to kill Annise, who is now the lawful queen of the north. However, Sir Dietrich manages to fight Bane off, showcasing his uncanny skills with the blade. Bane, exhausted from the ordeal, vanishes. Annise and the others seize victory from the east, killing King Ironclad and others.

  Now, with Annise having declared herself the true queen and with Archer comatose, the Gärics and their allies are marching north toward Castle Hill to reclaim the throne from the usurper, Lord Griswold…

  To the east:

  When a young man named Roan, who grew up in Calypso, contracts the plague from a mysterious beggar on the street, he’s sent to quarantine on an island called Dragon’s Breath. There he reveals his own fatemark, called the lifemark, which allows him to heal himself and escape the island, which is guarded by two-headed dragons. Fateful currents pull him to the east, where a chance meeting makes him the prisoner of Prince Gareth Ironclad, who immediately brings him to Ironwood and the eastern capital of Ferria, the Iron City, where humans live in harmony with the Orians, a mystical people who can channel the ore that lies beneath the forest.

  With the help of one of the Orians, a fatemarked named Gwendolyn Storm, King Ironclad swiftly learns of Roan’s marking, and forces him into helping their armies as they march on Raider’s Pass to exact revenge on the north for the killing of the queen. Roan reluctantly agrees, and soon learns that the east has another of the fatemarked, a mighty warrior named Beorn Stonesledge, the ironmarked. Roan also discovers that, as the first-born son, Gareth is “the Shield,” which means his life is forfeit, to be given to protect the second-born son, Guy, the true heir to the eastern throne.

  Along the way, Roan begins to grow close to both Gwen and Gareth…

  At Raider’s Pass, the north defeats them, killing King Ironclad, Prince Guy Ironclad, and injuring Beorn Stonesledge. Gareth Ironclad is nearly killed by the Kings’ Bane as he tries to protect Guy, but Roan saves him by using his lifemark.

  In the aftermath of defeat, Gwendolyn Storm realizes who Roan really is: Roan Loren, prince of the west and true heir to the Western Kingdom. She helps him escape and together they slip away, crossing the border between nations and into the Tangle, the largest western forest, known to be almost impassable…

  IN TRUTHMARKED…

  To the north:

  While her brother, Archer, continues his slumber, Queen Annise Gäric leads her forces against Castle Hill. Before they reach their destination, they encounter a knight, Sir Metz, who has just come from the castle. He brings tidings of an army of monsters, created from men by an elixir contrived by Lord Griswold’s potionmaster, Darkspell. Though the news shakes Annise, she refuses to back down from the fight.

  During the battle, the monsters are killed one by one, but not without a heavy toll: Annise loses almost her entire army, including Lady Zelda’s husband, Sir Craig. However, they do make one ally during the bloodbath—Sir Jonius, in the form of a monstrous bear, who, by sheer will of heart, manages to maintain control and switches sides, helping them achieve victory, killing the Ice Lord and Lord Griswold, both of whom are monsters themselves.

  Tarin Sheary, the Armored Knight, also survives, but is overcome by his bloodlust. Fearing he might be capable of harming Annise, he sneaks away while she is held captive by her queenly duties…

  With her army annihilated and having learned that her uncle had lost the rest of the northern forces in the Bay of Bounty, Annise knows the north is ripe for invasion. Sir Jonius comes forward with a map only recently discovered. The map shows the location of an ancient group of mighty warriors known as the Sleeping Knights, who, as legend tells, will awaken in the north’s time of need. Annise immediately begans making plans to lead a small expedition into the Hinterlands to locate these knights, who may be the north’s only hope…

  To the west:

  Queen Rhea Loren, much to the chagrin of her cousin and advisor, Ennis Loren, enlists the help of a man known as the Summoner, long considered to be a practitioner of old magic forbidden by their deity, Wrath. When the northern armada sails out from Blackstone, Rhea commands him to summon an ancient monster of the deep called Wrathos. He does, and is killed a moment later, but not before Wrathos obliterates the northern ships, leaving none alive. During the melee, Ennis disobeys a direct command from his sovereign, saving Rhea rather than the Summoner.

  With no other choice, Rhea charges Ennis with treason and plans his execution. In the end, however, her conscience makes a reappearance and she fakes his death, giving him a disguise and false name in her guard…

  Meanwhile, in the Tangle, Roan and Gwen struggle to navigate through the insufferable forest. Soon they are joined by Gareth Ironclad, who tracks them after fleeing the east as the failed Shield. Together, they overcome an unexpected attack by a wood nymph queen, who tries to enslave Roan and Gareth. Gwen saves them with help from a half-man, half-bear who calls himself Bear Blackboots and then disappears.

  Eventually they reach Knight’s End, where Roan decides to take a risk and reveal himself to his sister. Rhea swiftly betrays him, imprisoning Gwen and Gareth. Gareth tries to commit suicide so he can’t be ransomed to the east, but Roan saves his life yet again.

  When Roan and Rhea uncover information that implies either the Western Oracle or her son might still be alive, she forces him to go south, to the Calypsian city of Citadel, to bring them back in chains. If he doesn’t, she promises to kill Gwendolyn Storm…

  To the south…

  In Calypso, the Beggar who infected Roan allows himself to be captured by the empress, Sun Sandes, but is then pushed into her by Bane, who shows up unexpectedly. She dies of the plague, Bane’s fourth kill under the prophecy.

  The Calypsian throne is fought for by two of her daughters, Raven and Fire, but it is Fire, one of the fatemarked, who emerges with the empire. She immediately plans a mission to Phanes to attack the Southron Gates, taking most of her elite warriors, the guanero, led by Goggin. They cross the desert, stopping only in the oasis of Kesh, where Fire is nearly assassinated. From there they ford the Spear, marching on the Gates, managing to melt two of the four massive doors before Phanecian forces repel them. Fire is killed, her body exploding in a firestorm that incinerates the remaining enemies and lights the Tangle, far to the north, on fire.

  The Unburning Tree finally burns to ash.

  Raven Sandes becomes empress without challenge from her youngest sister, Whisper, who is heartbroken by the death of her mother and sister. Raven learns it was the easterners that plotted to assassinate Fire at Kesh, and she immediately begins considering revenge…

  In Phanes, Jai Jiroux is a slave master bearing the justicemark. He is intent on freeing his slaves in Garadia Mine and helping them escape across the border. His opportunity comes when the mine is attacked by a group of rebels known as the Black Tears. They are led by Sonika Vaid, although it is another of them, Shanti Parthena Laude, who Jai becomes closest with. Together, they lead five thousand slaves across the arid wasteland, barely surviving an attack from a feared red pyzon, before reaching the Southron Gates at the same moment as the attack by the Calypsians.

  At the same moment, the Beggar, who has been befriended by Bane, appears before Jai. Bane has charged him with spreading the plague in Phanes to eradicate any warmongers. However, the Beggar refuses, remembering who he once was, a boy named Chavos. Instead, he stabs himself in the gut, though Bane manages to save him.

  In the confusion, Jai, the Black Tears, and the surviving slaves breach the wall and emerge into western territory—free at last! However, in a horrifying twist of fate, one of the slaves, an ex-master named Axa, betrays them with a magic mirror, which allows the emperor, Vin Hoza, who bears the slavemark, to reenslave them all.

  They are brought back to Garadia, where Jai, along with most of the Black Tears, is now a slave in the very mine he once controlled. Shanti, however,
is taken to Phanea to slave away in the palace. Jai is in despair until Bane kills Emperor Hoza, thus releasing every slave across Phanes from his magic…

  And now, the story continues…

  PART I

  Lisbeth Annise Tarin

  Rhea Gwen Gareth

  Ennis Christoff Zelda

  Their fates are moveable, changeable;

  none can foresee that which is as fluid as the forever-shifting rivers of time.

  The Western Oracle

  One

  The Hinterlands, Circa 532

  Lisbeth Lorne

  She arrived in the midst of a storm, in the deepest throes of night.

  Born of thunder and lightning and howling wind and needles of sleet, she was a spell incarnated, the product of magic and faith and a power beyond human understanding. She was the daughter of Absence and Wrath and Surai, the many-named gods of the south, the Creator, the One responsible for Life and all those who claimed it.

  You shall be Lisbeth Lorne, a voice said. It wasn’t a shout, but a whisper, nearly lost on the wind.

  “Lisbeth Lorne,” the girl tried. She laughed at the way it sounded on her tongue. She laughed at the coolness of the snow settling on her face and hands. She laughed at how the fabric of her pale blue dress felt against her smooth skin. She laughed because she was, inexplicably, alive.

  Unlike the other humans that walked the face of the planet, she remembered the time before; a time when she was naught but a soul, a ribbon of light, free from the bounds of gravity and human nature, free from deception and violence and disappointment and foolish decisions. In those days, those eternities, she sang with the stars, laughed with the sun, slept with the moons.

  She was free.

  And yet now, trapped in this body, held fast to the ground, there was something liberating, astonishingly exciting—a giddy feeling in her lungs and chest, the simultaneous cold of snow against the warmth of the blood running through her veins.

  I am alive.

  The truth of the thought echoed through her, and she took off, stumbling over the drifts at first, her new knees knocking together, her new arms awkward at her sides. As the wind splashed against her smile, she fell less and less as she learned, as she found her balance.