Justified (#2 Divided Destiny) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  GET A FREE BOOK

  About the Author

  Justified

  by

  Taitrina Falcon

  Book Two of

  Divided Destiny

  Justified by Taitrina Falcon © 2016

  The moral right of Taitrina Falcon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act, 1998.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Taicon Publishing

  PO Box 206, Dereham NR19 9ED

  United Kingdom

  www.taitrinafalcon.com

  [email protected]

  Cover by Rebecca Frank

  Editing by Thomas Shutt at Main Line Editing

  ISBN 978-1-911154-03-7

  Chapter One

  Dawn broke over the kingdom of Kaslea, the sun peeking over the horizon and banishing the night shadows from the town. By the port, the center of the kingdom’s economic fortunes, the rays of sunlight bounced off the ocean, dazzling the unwary. Slowly the town of Termont, the capital of Kaslea, woke from slumber as its citizens began to start their day.

  Staff Sergeant Leon ‘Leo’ Frasier double-checked the saddlebag of the horse he had been given. Last night, Leo—along with his two comrades, Sergeant Donald ‘Don’ Young and Sergeant Nicholas ‘Nick’ Carter—had been declared ‘heroes of Kaslea.’ Prince Edmund, the ruler of Kaslea, had arranged for horses and supplies so they could continue their journey. Given they had just killed the dragon that had been plaguing the kingdom for months, Leo supposed it was the least they could do.

  Prince Edmund stepped out of the castle doors, squinting against the early morning sun. He was dressed in his customary white tunic, with a blue sash trimmed with yellow for the colors of Kaslea. Leo idly wondered how they kept the whites so bright in a world where they did the washing by the river. It was truly the mark of royalty, something only the rich could afford.

  Cyrus, the sorcerer for Kaslea, stood to his left and was opting to radiate power today, rather than his doddering old man persona. Mathis, his armor shining brightly in the sun, was a step behind them. He had been their guide since they’d arrived on this world, and Leo would miss him.

  The marines were strangers here and Mathis had mitigated that, his very presence a reassurance to those they encountered. Not to mention his local knowledge and the introductions he had brokered. Leo hoped they were half as lucky in the next kingdom. However, Gatlan was at war, and the people weren’t likely to be as friendly.

  “Mathis will accompany you as far as the border,” Prince Edmund told them. “You have already done much for my kingdom. However, I would ask of you one last favor.”

  “I’m listening,” Leo said cautiously.

  “On your travels, if you could remain vigilant for any information regarding who bespelled the dragon to attack us, I would be grateful.” Prince Edmund ran a hand through his short blond hair. His features were pinched, the worry clearly etched on his features.

  It was the burden of command. Leo might have only commanded a single unit, but he knew that heavy weight. He felt it especially keenly these days, when the weight of an entire planet possibly rested on him making the right call. Leo’s hazel eyes met Prince Edmund’s gray ones, reading the familiar tiredness and fears contained within them.

  “Cyrus can’t tell you who did it?” Nick asked, his tone cruel and deceptively casual.

  Leo shot him a warning look. He knew that Nick still hadn’t forgiven Cyrus for misleading them the first time they had met, nor for how he had played them regarding the dragon. Cyrus had sold them on a mission twice, knowing all along that wasn’t his real goal. It had been a bitter pill to swallow, and Leo felt responsible for having led them all down that path. They might have an ally now in Kaslea, but they were no closer to finding the superweapon they were searching for, or the way home.

  Just over two weeks ago, a booming voice had echoed around Earth ordering them to ‘worship or die.’ Great alien ships had descended, seven of them in total, to hover over some of the largest cities on the planet. Nothing could touch the ships, and the aliens weren’t going to give them a chance to develop something new—they needed an edge, and they needed it now.

  A legend had been unearthed of an unholy weapon which with a single strike could decimate their enemies. Using a transport platform found deep in the Mexican rainforest, twelve marines had been dispatched to this medieval fantasy world.

  It was a world of kingdoms, knights in armor, enigmatic sorcerers, dragons, and islands with spiders the size of cars. It was an alien world, so nobody had known what to expect; however, Leo had to acknowledge he hadn’t expected this. They had been split up on arrival; Leo had found one comrade dead, but the fate of the rest was currently unknown.

  Prince Edmund looked at Cyrus, who shrugged enigmatically, that small smug smile playing across his lips yet again. Leo grimaced at the sight. If this were a movie, Cyrus would have definitely been the manipulative wise mentor who everyone thought had all the answers, but who was really just pretending, likely to stroke his own ego. If anything, Leo just thought Cyrus was pathetic. His medicine was good, but the rest of his abilities—not so much. The man used tricks to disguise the fact that he constantly wrote checks he couldn’t cash.

  “Would if I could, my prince, but the magic will already have faded. The spell threads will have unraveled and scattered to the far corners of the kingdom by now. All magic returns to the ground,” Cyrus explained.

  “Paranoia says that it could have been anyone,” Prince Edmund noted quietly. His eyes were shadowed. “We cannot act until we know for certain. I must protect my people, but I do not know whom I am protecting them from.”

  Instinctively, Leo reached out and grasped Prince Edmund’s shoulder. “No promises that we will discover anything, but if we do hear something, we’ll let you know.”

  “That is all that I ask.” Prince Edmund nodded. “Thank you, heroes of Kaslea. You do us great honor.”

  Leo shifted uncomfortably but gave a short nod of acknowledgement. Clumsily, he hauled himself up into the saddle of his horse. He had never ridden a horse until they had come here, but he guessed the fastest way to learn was by immersion. Nick and Don mounted their own horses. They were now ready to leave.

  Since they had arrived in this world, they had stayed within the boundaries of the kingdom of Kaslea. However, Kaslea didn’t have the weapon Leo’s people needed, nor did they know where they could find the transport platfo
rm that could return them to Earth. It was time to move forward and explore new territory. In many respects, the previous two weeks had been a waste of time, but Kaslea had at least given them something.

  Kaslea had given them some information about the ‘legend of the light in the darkness,’ which would be a good starting point for finding the way home. Also, Prince Edmund had signed letters endorsing them. That would hopefully remove some of the suspicion Gatlan, or other kingdoms, would naturally feel towards them as strangers.

  Don gave Prince Edmund a respectful nod as he led his horse out of the palace courtyard. Nick gave a sharp salute and Leo copied the gesture. It was an unfamiliar mark of respect to the prince, but he was a smart man; he would understand the meaning behind it.

  According to Mathis, who regularly served as a knight envoy for Kaslea, the journey to King Oswald’s palace would take three days. They would arrive before nightfall on the third day. The palace was just south of the heart of the kingdom and set within lush fields of green.

  It was a poetic description, and it only added to the unreal feeling of life these days. They were on another world, a world of magic. They had transported there in a flash of light, after aliens had invaded Earth. They were searching for a superweapon.

  They had even battled a dragon.

  It was fantastical. This was a summer blockbuster come to life, and it wasn’t as much fun in reality as it was on the silver screen. And there was no guarantee of a happy ending.

  *****

  In the kingdom of Sintiya, Queen Eleanor was standing on the balcony of her tower. Her long, dark hair was elaborately curled and pinned up, but several loose tendrils broke free and tickled her neck, causing her to shiver in the early morning breeze. This close to the mountains and a hundred feet off the ground, today’s attire of a tight-fitting dark gown provided inadequate protection from the elements.

  It had been a couple of days now since the plans for conquering Kaslea had fallen to ash. Eleanor’s lips twitched at her own pun. It was quite apt for a dragon that had been burning everything to ash—until it had been slain. They would need a new plan, and as she had no desire to fight a war on two fronts, it would need to be something subtle.

  The dragon was supposed to soften Kaslea, so that Prince Edmund would hand over the kingdom willingly, no military action required. The current war against Gatlan was enough; it had already dragged on for far too long. She was impatient, as always; she just wanted this over so she could live her life in peace. It felt like she was forever waiting for the future she wanted to begin.

  Yannick flashed into place at her side, with an ostentatious display of his signature purple flame. Eleanor raised an eyebrow at his appearance.

  “You’re late,” Eleanor remarked.

  Yannick gave a mocking bow. “My most sincere apologizes, Your Majesty. I was unavoidably detained.”

  “What were you doing?” Eleanor asked.

  She narrowed her eyes at the slight smile that played across Yannick’s lips. So he had been up to something; she’d suspected as much. Though they had made the plans together on how to conquer the known kingdoms, he had always had his own agenda. Eleanor knew that.

  He had come to her in the desperate days before her marriage to King Augustus. At the time, she had been looking at two options: acceptance of the marriage, or death. Yannick had given her a third option. He had trained her magical ability and given her the power to shape her own destiny.

  However, she had always known she couldn’t trust him, and when she got the opportunity, she would have him killed before he could betray her. It was the only way she could be safe. For the moment, though, she needed him, both his mind for strategy and his power. Eleanor didn’t know how he could wield so much power and knowledge at his young age, but then, his very origins remained a mystery.

  “Just setting a few stones in motion.” Yannick smirked. “A single pebble can start the biggest of avalanches.”

  “Kaslea,” Eleanor said, getting straight to the point. “Any ideas?”

  Yannick tilted his head thoughtfully, and leaned on the stone balcony railing. Eleanor sighed. From this vantage point, the border between Sintiya and Gatlan could be seen. The border between Sintiya and Kaslea was harder to distinguish, but on the horizon she could see what was Kaslea land.

  To the left, there were the mountains which separated Sintiya from the Northern Kingdoms. From this one tower, the borders of every local kingdom could be seen. The early morning mist still covered the land, wispy clouds over the numerous sections of forest which made up the landscape. Eleanor waited, and after several minutes, Yannick straightened.

  “I have always preferred plans which solved more than one problem at a time. They are more elegant and much more efficient,” Yannick mused.

  Eleanor nodded. “That makes sense, and the more parties involved, the less we would have to do personally.”

  Yannick grinned. “Indeed.”

  Eleanor’s eyes flickered over to the mountain range, hiding the Northern Kingdoms from view, and then back over to where Kaslea lay. Those two kingdoms were connected, with the betrothal between Prince Edmund of Kaslea and Princess Maria of the Northern Kingdoms. The two kingdoms did a lot of trade; there was a friendly alliance between them, one which marriage would only solidify.

  However, what if they managed to twist that around? What if they could turn Kaslea and the Northern Kingdoms against one another? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They had yet to move against the Northern Kingdoms; Eleanor hadn’t wanted to split their focus. She had wanted to ensure success with the plans they had already put in motion against Kaslea and Gatlan.

  Now that the Kaslea plan had failed, the new plan could be as elegant as Yannick suggested. It could weaken Kaslea and the Northern Kingdoms with one action. It could also take care of another problem, something she had been concerned about since the death of the dragon and the discovery that it had been bespelled.

  “What if we implicate the Northern Kingdoms?” Eleanor suggested. “Make Kaslea believe that they were responsible for bespelling the dragon?”

  “Oh, I like that,” Yannick said slowly, a malicious grin on his face. He nodded thoughtfully. “But it needs something more. There needs to be a reason for them to have taken such action.”

  “It also can’t be their only move,” Eleanor added. “Isolated, it makes little sense; it would have to be part of a grander plan.”

  “As it was,” Yannick pointed out.

  He laughed, and despite herself, Eleanor laughed with him. Yes, it had been part of a grander plan, a plan to conquer the known kingdoms. That raised an intriguing possibility. A lie was always more convincing when it was close to the truth. What if conquering Kaslea had been the Northern Kingdoms’ goal? The problem with that was that Sintiya lay between them, and surely it made more sense to attack one’s neighbors first, then expand outwards.

  “We need them to attack us,” Eleanor decided. “A skirmish on the border, perhaps, make them look aggressive.”

  “Economic troubles always make for a good motive,” Yannick suggested. “Once the rumors start, it’s devilishly hard to prove them false.”

  “We need to use Princess Maria. She is closest to Prince Edmund. If he believes she is plotting against him…” Eleanor trailed off, her mind racing with the possibilities.

  This could really work, and with their new plan for dealing with Gatlan in place, she really felt like victory was almost upon them. The three marines that had destroyed her plans for Kaslea would now unwittingly help her cause. The arrival of the strangers from Earth had been unexpected, and had initially caused a number of unforeseen problems.

  However, she believed that she had now turned their sudden appearance into an advantage. When she had first learned that they were going to Gatlan, she had been furious. However, Yannick had lain out a very ‘efficient’ plan, one which would eventually turn the strangers from another world into allies. She just had to be patient a little long
er and they would win her the war.

  “I will begin spreading the rumors in the morning,” Yannick volunteered.

  “I will prepare something incriminating against Princess Maria.” Eleanor smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

  If this worked, soon she would control all of the surrounding kingdoms. Only then would she be safe. The recent assassination attempt, ordered by King Oswald of Gatlan, only proved that Yannick was right. She could never trust that the neighboring kingdoms would leave her alone; the only way to be sure of her safety was if she controlled the entire continent.

  That way no one would have the power to attack her, and none of their trading partners elsewhere in this land would dare assault such a large kingdom. All she wanted was a future free of constant fear. When she had control, she would finally have the peace which had always eluded her, she would finally be free.

  *****

  It was a day’s ride from the city of Termont to the Kaslea border. Leo knew they were halfway there when they reached the village that Leo and Mathis had passed through the first day the marines had landed in this world. Two weeks ago, the smoke had still been spiraling up into the sky, the charred remains of the village inhabitants, scattered across the rubble, their forms twisted in fear and agony.

  One of the victims had been Gunnery Sergeant Rogers, one of their own. Leo had taken Rogers’s dog tags, but had been forced to leave him lying on the ground. Kaslea had been of the belief that if they buried their dead, or salvaged the village, it made the dragon attack more frequently. Mathis had said at the time that the dragon was territorial, so they did not encroach on areas it had claimed with its flame.

  With the dragon dead, that was no longer a concern. The devastated village was now swarming with locals from nearby villages. One corner of the land, where there had once been a field, was being dug to form a mass grave. Under the circumstances, that was the only real option. Entire families had been wiped out, and most bodies were unrecognizable.