Brewing Storms (Fated Touch Book 13) E-Book

Mac Flynn

• Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Jane and the others have left behind the Island of Shadows, but they can't leave behind the lingering consequences. She now holds the magick of darkness within her, and slumbering as he is there is still danger in traveling with such a powerful companion.

That danger arrives on the heels of torrential rain and whipping winds. A storm for the ages traps them in a remote town where the locals cast suspicious glances at them. They soon learn that other outsiders have come with demands for the ancient automata harbored within their metalus mines.

One of the villagers, a young historian, takes a liking to them and offers them shelter in his tiny abode. There he regales them with tales of a mighty hero who protected the village many millennia ago. The other villagers ridicule his love of the past when their future is so perilous, but the historian assures them he has a plan. That plan involves Jane, and as the storm worsens and new foes arrive she finds herself caught in a web of lies and greed, a web in which she must break free, or die trying.

Leseprobe

BREWING STORMS

FATED TOUCH BOOK 13

MAC FLYNN

Copyright © 2023 by M. Flynn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

* * *

Want to get an email when a new book is released? Sign up here to join the M. Flynn Newsletter, the online newsletter with a bite!

* * *

Wanting to find the rest of the series and check out some of my other books? Hop over to my website for a peek!

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Appendix

Continue the adventure

Other series by M. Flynn

1

Lightning flashed. Rain fell in torrential sheets of damp, cold wetness. The road was a mudslide waiting for one unwary foot to slip into its deep muck.

And from the darkness there were eyes that watched.

I couldn’t notice those eyes, though, not when I was in the middle of that terrible storm and trying not to become a victim of the slip-n-slide the world had become. Around us was a world of trees, but they, like us, were trapped in a narrow valley that was surrounded by steep, craggy mountains.

I huddled beneath Caius’ wings as the wagon bounced to and fro, and sometimes the wheels slipped, and the sorry nag would give a neigh of fright.

“Easy there, Maurizia!” the driver shouted as he pulled his nag away from the muddy ditch. “Do you want us to be going into that mess? Eh, you foolish horse?”

My grandparents sat opposite us in the long back of the wagon. Bee was cuddled up against Sage and tucked under her chin was the frazzled Midge. They were bundled under a tarp so full of holes it looked like a city street after a couple of decades of neglect.

Caius eyed Sage with a look of bemusement mixed with annoyance. “The south lands are sunny this time of year? Isn’t that what you said?” he called out, and his words were followed by a peal of thunder.

Sage shuddered as a slop of rain ran down the back of his neck. He huddled deeper under the tarp and glared at Caius. “The south lands are generally nice this time of year, but I am no weather forecaster, nor can anyone predict a storm that strikes once every millennium or two.”

Our driver was a burly fellow with a broad-brimmed hat and a heavy poncho. His features were hardened by the hot sun, but there was a twinkling in his eyes that showed that a long life of labor hadn’t affected his humor.

He looked over his shoulder and nodded. “Aye! I haven’t seen the like of such a storm in all my years, and I’m sure my father has not, nor his father! Bless his soul.” He crossed himself and bowed his head.

“How much farther to the port, Signor Abano?” Sage asked him.

At that moment the cart decided the road was too boring and tried to slip into the ditch. The sides of the road dropped off some two feet and into thick brush. The nag gave a shrill whinny as its hooves slid backwards with the cart.

“Whoa! Dig those wonderful hooves into that mud, you lazy animal!” he shouted as he lashed a thick rope around the sliding side of the cart.

Abano leapt over the opposite side and landed in the middle of the road as we edged toward the drop. He gave a great pull and his nag whinnied, and together the pair pulled us out of danger. Abano walked up to the horse and stroked her shivering neck.

“You did good, Maurizia,” he soothed as he patted her neck. “Very good. Wonderful, even, my little one.” The horse snorted and nuzzled his coat. “Yes, yes, you deserve it,” he agreed as he removed a piece of carrot and gave the treat to his steed.

“Not bad, even for a tusk shifter,” Caius complimented him.

Abano looked up at us and gave us a smile between his protruding white tusks. His skin was slightly grayer than a few moments ago and his eyes shone with a faint yellow hue. “Thank you, kind sir!”

“Even elephant shifters…” I murmured to myself.

Bee smiled and nodded. “A shifter for all animals, and all animals for a shifter.”

Sage sat up in the back of the wagon and looked around. “We must find shelter, or we will have to swim to the city.” A brilliant flash of lightning lit up the dark sky and was followed quickly by a thunderclap.

“There is a village not far from here,” Abano spoke up.

“Were you going to wait until we were under water before you mentioned that?” Caius asked him.

Some of Abano’s humor fled him as he shook his head. “No, but we will not find a warm welcome there. Visitors are not so welcome as they used to be.”

“Why is that?” Sage inquired.

Abano patted Maurizia a couple more times and climbed back onto the box. “Men have come from far away to lay claim to their metalus mine and the automata within them. The villagers have nothing left but that mine, and so with each threat by these strangers they have grown more distrusting of anyone who comes into the village.”

Another peel of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a thunderclap that shook me to my bones. “I think we’ll risk it.”

Abano nodded. “Very well. Come, Maurizia! Away we go!” He cracked the reins and the steed continued on her unhurried way through the thick mud.

Caius drew me closer against him and I looked up to find his eyes on me. “What?” I asked him.

“How are you feeling?” he wondered.

I shifted in his soft, warm grasp and shrugged. “Not too bad. The rain hasn’t settled into my soul yet.”

He shook his head. “Not that.” He settled his hand over my chest. “That.”

“Oh...” I lay my hand over his and bowed my head. “I don’t really feel anything…”

“Not a single stir from our acquaintance?” Sage mused.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t even feel the coldness like when he gave me his powers on the island.”

“Good,” Caius chimed in as he wrapped his arms around me.

“You don’t think he’s, well, dead, do you?” I asked my companions.

Sage smiled and shook his head. “I am sure he is merely resting.”

I sighed. “Good. I hope he rests for a long time.”

We bounced our way along the muddy road for another few miles before we spotted a cluster of lights peeking out of the sleet like stars. Maurizia pulled us down the main road of the small village of stone walls and metal roofs.

My eyes widened as I beheld those metal-topped houses. “They have metal roofs in this world?”

“Where metalus is plentiful, yes,” Sage confirmed as Abano turned our carriage toward a two-story building well-illuminated against the darkness.

“Which isn’t many places,” Caius added as he glanced at the houses we passed. A few curtains shifted. “These people are curious, but not curious enough to show their faces.”

“I am afraid I am not as knowledgeable of the metalus mines as I once was,” Sage admitted as he shifted against Bee. “How many are left?”

Caius shrugged. “About half a dozen, and some of those are mining poor quality. The good stuff’s too deep to reach by hand, and nobody can get the machines going.”

“Here we are!” Abano shouted as he pulled us up to the large building. He hopped down and turned to us with a smile. “The Auto Inn is good for food and rest, and tomorrow we can take the road again.”

“We could use both,” I agreed as Caius helped me down.

The door opened and light spilled onto our little group. The figure of an older gentleman was silhouetted in the doorway. He stepped out onto the porch and squinted at us with all the hospitality of a bulldog intent on guarding its bone.

“Go away!” he snapped.

Sage stepped forward and smiled at the man. “We have come for rooms-”

“There are none to spare, so go away!” the man insisted.

I looked past the man at the empty lobby. “There have to be some to let.”

“Not to strangers,” the man informed us as he stabbed a finger down the road. “Now leave!”

“But you know me, Signor Gallo,” Abano reminded him. “Will you not let them stay?”

Gallo shook his head. “No, nor even you, Signor Abano. There is too much at stake to-” He stopped and glared at us. “Enough! Leave now!”

Abano looked to us and shrugged, so we piled back into the wet wagon and continued our journey, but with even less enthusiasm than before. Even Maurizia had changed her pace from crawling to tiptoeing.

Sage sighed. “We must continue onward to the port.”

“How far is that?” I asked him.

Caius frowned. “Another twenty miles.” I shivered.

Just then Maurizia skidded to a stop and let loose a frightened whinny. There, standing in the middle of the road, was a huge monstrosity with glowing red eyes.

2

“A moment!” a voice shouted from the shadows, and shortly thereafter a figure shot out of the trees and stopped between us and the monster. They raised their arms and revealed themselves to be a man covered in a cloak.

Abano squinted into the darkness. “What are you doing there with that automata?”

I squinted into the dark, and the figure with the red eyes emerged from the gloom. The creature’s body was shaped like an avocado with the wide part appropriately placed on the hips. Thin arms stuck out the sides and ending in four-fingered hands. The legs were thick, and its feet were flat pancakes. Its head was an egg with two red dots for eyes. Neither a mouth nor ears were seen. The machine’s metal-plated body shone like silver, even in the weak light of the dreary night.

I lifted an eyebrow. “That’s an automata?”

Sage stroked his chin as he examined the behemoth of nuts and bolts. “Yes. One of those ancient machines of the people of Keris, that wonderful city of clouds from our adventure so long ago. They built many more throughout the world, and this creature that stands before us is one of the few I have seen so far away from the floating city, and never have I seen one in such excellent condition.”

The man strode over to the side of the machine and turned to face us. The stranger threw off his hood and revealed himself to be a young man of about twenty with gray eyes and a curiously tense smile. He kept those keen eyes on us as he patted the side of its belly. The sound wasn’t the hollow echo I expected, but a hard clunk. “What do you think? I call him Custado.”

Abano frowned at the young man. “Paco! Why do you block the road for my customers?”

Paco looked past him and at the four of us. “I heard what happened at the inn, and I feel I must apologize on behalf of the whole of Fossa.”

Abano waved a hand at us. “Apologies will not get dry them out!”

Paco inclined his head. “I know that Signor Abano, and that is why I offer you my abode as a place to stay.”

Abano lifted an eyebrow. “That is very nice of you, Paco, but you will not make friends among your people by giving strangers help.”

Paco folded his arms over the front of his damp cloak and laughed. “You and I both know that I don’t have any friends among my people, so I don’t believe I’ll care.”

Abano pursed his lips but looked over his shoulder at us. “I will leave the choice to you, kind people. Do you wish to go with my friend here?” He waved his hand at Paco. “His home is good but small-” My stomach interrupted his eloquent speech.

Paco laughed. “And food in the cupboards.”

Bee dropped her eyes to her shivering little bird and her face fell. “Midge needs a warm place to dry her feathers.”

Sage lifted his gaze to our driver and nodded. “We would be very grateful for any home that would take us in.”

Paco’s face lit up and he pointed down a side road that led toward the foothills of the steep cliffs. “My home is this way.” He cast a quick look up at the automata. “Come on, Custado.” Our new companion strode down the road, but his machine buddy didn’t flinch. Instead, those red eyes appeared to fix on me. Paco stopped and half-turned to the robot with a frown on his face. “Custado! Come on!”

The eyes of the robot flickered like an old television set, and the creature turned toward Paco. It set off in a clunky gait and Paco continued onward with the thing at his side.

Our driver looked less pleased than our new guide. He leaned toward us, and when he spoke, he had lowered his voice to a whisper. “I must warn you, good people, that Paco is what the people around here call ‘testa.’ Your people would call it ‘touched.’”

Sage lifted an eyebrow. “Why do they say that?”

Abano pursed his lips as he looked ahead of us. “Paco is a good boy, but he has a… he likes the old stuff. Perhaps too much, many say. He dabbles with them, touching things that should not be touched.”

Sage bowed his head. “I am sure it is nothing more than curiosity, but we thank you for the warning.”

“Are you coming?” Paco called from several yards down the road.

Abano grasped the reins tightly in his hands and frowned. “We are coming!”

Our driver cracked the reins and the wet nag sauntered off after the man and his machine. The road twisted about like a snake, as did most in the small town, but eventually the incline grew steeper, and the houses grew older. The stone walls were replaced with packed dried mud, and the glass windows grew foggy with age and dirt. Even the rain couldn’t dampen the musty scent in the air, and the trees that dotted the landscape grew taller and towered over many of the homes.

Paco’s abode turned out to be a stately manner with one peculiar feature. The whole place had been carved from the steep walls of the cliff. Balconies towered above us as he led us through a low archway and into a small courtyard. Smoothed windows stared down at us through moth-speckled curtains, and leaves had gathered in all the corners of the yard. There wasn’t a single light in any of the windows, and there was no sound of birds except for Midge as the cart rolled under a tall archway and into a small courtyard. I couldn’t help but notice a design of a crow on either side of the arch wall. Abano stopped the vehicle in front of a pair of fine wooden doors that led inside the cliff face.

“Wow,” I breathed as Caius climbed down and offered me his arms. I accepted his offer, and he helped me out of the rear. “This is really cool.”

Paco stood near the door with his machine friend and smiled at me. “I’m glad you like it. My great-great grandfather carved much of the original structure with his own hands, and other members of my family added to it.”

Caius swept his eyes over the dark courtyard and pursed his lips. “Do you live here alone?”

Paco’s good humor faltered a little as he gave a curt nod. “Yes. Unfortunately, I am the last of my line, except for a few cousins farther down the street.” He caught our driver’s eye and waved his hand in the direction of another archway that led into a low, metal-roofed building. “Signor Abano, you may put up your steed and cart in the stables. There isn’t much hay, but it’s still dry and warm.”

Abano hopped down and bowed his head. “Maurizia and I will be glad for whatever you have, signor.” With that he led his nag through the doorway and out of sight.

Paco caught our attention and smiled. “If the rest of you will follow me.”

He opened the doors and revealed a small hall which stretched leftward where a tiny dining table and kitchen showed themselves. Stone steps led up to a single narrow hall that stretched lengthwise across the house. There were no doors along the wall opposite the stairs, but the hall disappeared out of sight on both the left and right, and no doubt led to rooms where one could access the balconies I’d seen outside.

Paco turned to us and stretched out his arms on either side of himself. “I’m afraid there are only three rooms, my own included, but you’re welcome to them. There’s also a problem with a few ants every now and again. Eager for food from an empty table.”

Sage gestured to the stone hearth inset into the wall past the dining table. The chimney climbed up the wall and disappeared through the roof, no doubt emerging out the cliff face above us. “We will be quite comfortable here, thank you, and ants are no novelty for we who travel a great deal.”

“Let me cook something for you,” Paco suggested before he hurried to the kitchen. A large metal stove fired by wood sat in the place of honor in the center of the wall. “I just need to start a fire-”

“Allow me,” Sage offered as he lifted one hand.

Two fireballs shot out of his palms and flew outward. One launched itself into the stove while another landed in the hearth where a stack of wood awaited lighting. Fires jumped up in both places, and soon the sound of soft crackling filled the room.

Paco looked at my grandfather with unmistakable admiration. “You have skill in the magicks?”

Sage leaned back in his chair and grinned. “I have some skill, yes.”

Paco scurried up to Sage and clasped his hands together in front of him. “Then perhaps you have heard of Lady Nightfall, the greatest sorceress who ever lived?”

Sage raised an eyebrow. “I am afraid that name is not familiar to me.”

Paco’s face fell. “But surely you know about her!”

He hurried over to a small bookcase where a half dozen musty books sat on the otherwise bare shelves. Our host snatched a particularly large and daunting tome from the assortment and flipped open the dusty pages. He found the right spot and dashed back to us where he revealed the open pages. The leaves showed a hand-drawn image of a woman in armor. Her long hair flowed behind her in some invisible wind, and she looked off in the distance with an indomitable gaze. She grasped a staff in both her hands, and at her feet were the remains of wild creatures, and not a few men.

Paco’s excited expression was matched only by the swift tapping of a finger against the pages. “This is Lady Nightfall, Mistress of Fossa. Two thousand years ago she held back a mighty army with her skill with both sword and magick.”

Sage leaned down to examine the pages and stroked his chin. “There appear to be some rather interesting runes on the edges of these pages-”

Paco’s face paled and he slammed the book shut. Sage lifted his curious eyes to the young man, who gave him a tense smile. “My apologies. The book is rather valuable to me, and I don’t like to keep it open longer than usual. The spine is very fragile, you see.”

Sage nodded. “I can understand. The tome appears to be nearly as old as the story.”

Paco brushed his hand over the cover and studied the ornate gold-inlaid scrawling etched into the frail leather. “Yes. It’s a family heirloom of sorts. My great grandfather was very fond of books and purchased a great many which my father was forced to sell some years ago.” He lifted his eyes to the empty shelves and sighed. “Now so few remain of his collection that it’s hard to believe it ever existed.”

My stomach interrupted his contemplative mood. Our host shook himself and smiled at me. “I’m terribly sorry. Here I am prattling on about the past when I should be worrying about the present. I’ll get you some food straight away.”

3

Chairs were procured and soon we were seated before the fireplace. The fare proved to be simple, but tasty as Paco doled out a plain soup from a pot that hung in the hearth. He poured an extra bowl and held it out to Sage. “If you wouldn’t mind taking this to Signor Abano. I’m sure he’s famished.”

Sage had only taken a few spoonsful of his own bowl, but he smiled and set his bowl aside to accept the container. “I would be glad to nourish our friend, especially as we will have a long journey tomorrow.”

Paco lifted an eyebrow. “You will not stay any longer?”

Sage eyed him with a curious look. “Should we?”

A bittersweet smile graced Paco’s lips as he turned back to the pot and shrugged. “I suppose not.”

Sage stood and cast a quick look at Bee, who gave him a bright, slightly lopsided smile, before he left our company. I couldn’t help but be wary, and suddenly the plain soup didn’t taste so delicious. At the moment Sage left the house, Paco turned back to own with his own bowl which he had been cradling.

His smile was bright and his eyes equally brilliant as he took a seat close to the fire with his back to the warmth. The firelight cast his front in light shadows which the candles around the room didn’t quite dispel. “So, what brings you this way on such a horrible night?”

“Sightseeing,” Caius told him as he set his empty bowl down on the floor. “We thought we’d take a look at the borderlands around Feronia.”

Bee’s face was alight with glee as she nodded. “There’s ever so many animals to see around here, and hardly ever a patrol to be found along the border.”

Paco frowned. “How I wish that were still true, but the empire intrudes ever deeper into these lands.”

Bee tilted her head to one side and blinked at him. “Why?”

“The metalus, no doubt,” Caius reminded her as he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “And maybe your automata?”

Paco laughed and shook his head. “Custado? His only use is as a companion, and he’s hardly fit for that. The machine has no voice and can hardly lift anything with those spindly arms.”

Caius studied our host with a look of curiosity. “What about the purity of the metalus? That has to interest them.”

Some of Paco’s good humor fled as he nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid you’re on to something there. The metalus mine is full of uncommonly good metalus, at least for the shallow depth where the vein is found. I would wager it could produce quite a few bits of machinery, if one were to find out the inner workings of those machines of old.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you?” Caius wondered.

Paco laughed and shook his head. “Oh no! I’m a humble scholar. Ask anyone around here whether I could even get a nutcracker working and they would laugh at the idea.”

Bee held out her empty bowl to our host and grinned. “Might I have some more, please?”

Paco grinned and took her bowl. “Gladly, Miss-?” He paused and laughed. “In my eagerness to invite you I forgot to ask your names.”

“Bee,” she told him as he scooped out a generous helping into her bowl.

“A pleasure, Bee,” Paco returned as he handed back her bowl and turned to Caius and me. “And yours?”

I set a hand on my chest before I in turn gestured to my more stoic companion. “I’m Jane and this is Caius.”

Paco bowed his head. “I’m glad to have met you all. Fate must be kind to us.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

Paco shook himself and smiled. “Perhaps your coming might stir the townsfolk into doing something about our plight. Those patrols grow ever more intrusive, and I caught a small contingency of the troops around the mouth of the mine only today.” He looked up at his machine friend and grinned. “Custado here interested them until I told him he didn’t have a single weapon on his body. After that they hardly looked at him.”

I noticed a strange look in Caius’ eyes, but he said nothing.

At that moment Sage returned with his clothes as damp as a fish’s scales. Bee grinned up at him. “Have you been swimming?”

Sage shook himself on the threshold and smiled as he strolled over to us. “Not quite. On my way back from the stable I sought to see how the roads were holding up.”

Caius’ gaze settled on the muddied hems of Sage’s pants. The muck reached to just slightly below his knees. “You look like a stampede of horses ran past you.”

Sage gave him a sheepish look as he settled back in his seat. “You should see the roads. Rivers run down the streets, and I would venture to guess that the mud is half a foot deep.”

Paco paused in removing the empty pot from over the fire and his eyes flitted over us. “Then you will stay for a few days?”

Sage pursed his lips as he gazed into the fire. “We may have little choice, but we will see what the morrow brings.”

Paco stood with the pot in hand and smiled at us. “Well, until that time comes, I bid you all a very good night. Should you need anything else, please feel free to ask.”

Sage smiled and bowed his head. “Thank you, kind sir. We will.”

Paco placed the pot on the wood stove in the kitchen and slipped into his bedroom. The door was hardly shut behind him before Caius turned to Sage. “Well?”

Sage rummaged around in his cloak and drew out the familiar box. He opened the lid and drew out a long smoking pipe before he pocketed the box. “Well, what?”

Caius leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to tell us what you were really doing out there?”

Sage lit some weed with assistance from a slender stick from the fire and puffed a few times before he smiled at my dragon boyfriend. “What makes you believe I had other motives?”

Bee squatted him on the arm. “Behave, dear!”

Sage winced and rubbed his arm before he turned a pained but endearing look at his wife. “Since my secret appears to be less a secret than I thought, I should tell you that I sensed something amiss out there.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “You mean besides Noah’s flood coming to get us?” A look of confused curiosity came from Caius, and I patted him on the arm. “I’ll tell you later.”

Sage puffed out a few rings of smoke and smiled. “Besides that. There was magic afoot, and I sought to discover its source.”

“And?” Caius wondered.

Sage held his hands up to the fire and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I could see nothing in the dark, and the slickness of the streets prevented me from doing anything other than getting dirty.”

I tilted my head to one side. “What kind of magic did you sense?”

He cast a furtive glance at me before he returned his gaze to the crackling fire. “I thought it was darcane.”

I set a hand on my chest and looked down at myself. “You mean like what’s in me now?”

Sage nodded without turned his attention away from the flames. “Yes.”

Caius frowned at my grandfather. “But you can’t sense that it’s in her, can you?”

Sage shook his head. “No, but we may safely assume the power slumbers within her and that quiet makes it more difficult to sense him. However, anyone attuned to the… well, the dark side of magic may be able to sense her ‘passenger,’ as it were.”

I furrowed my brow. “I’m sorry. I wish he wasn’t in there.”

Bee set a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to find her giving me a soft smile. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Jane. We are very proud that you were chosen to be the vessel for such a polite young man.”

Sage snorted and a puff of smoke escaped his nostrils. “Yes, well, the matter is done. We must make lemonade out of these lemons.”

A dark cloud settled on Caius’ brow. “And how do we do that? With magic?”

Sage’s eyes twinkled as he looked me over. “We might stick you in a barrel and cover you in dirt.”

I blinked at him. “Why?”

“The purity in the soil tends to neutralize darcane,” Sage explained as he used a hand to gesture to Caius. “And your dragon companion can carry you around-”

Caius rose and tossed his bowl onto his seat. “I’ll be outside.” I made to stand, but he shook his head. “You stay in here.” He didn’t wait for a reply, but swiftly exited the house.