Awakened by Magic Read online

  Awakened by Magic © Katy Haye 2018

  Cover design © Icy Sedgwick

  The right of Katy Haye to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and should not be resold or given away to other people.

  This story is a work of fiction. All characters and events depicted in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  www.katyhaye.com

  Also by Katy Haye

  The Four Kings Series

  Awakened by Magic

  Inspired by Magic

  Shattered by Magic

  Drenched by Magic

  Ignited by Magic

  Courted by Magic

  A Clockwork War series

  The Clockwork War

  An Airship from Ashes

  The Tinker Queen

  The Immortality Device

  The Crown of Fane duology

  The Last Gatekeeper

  The Last Dreamseer

  Standalone

  Rising Tides

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  Contents

  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

  About Katy

  Chapter One

  If the four kings awoke from their enchanted slumber and stood before me now, I’d smack them in their stupid, sleepy, mythical faces.

  They were supposed to protect the four kingdoms of Charnrosa from tyranny. Instead, the Stalwart Emperor had seized power from his brothers in a bloody coup and brutally put down all opposition to his rule. Eight years later, the Emperor was draining the land of magic for a purpose I didn’t like to imagine. And still there was no sign of our saviours. Not that I expected them. I was too old to believe folktales.

  “It’s nothing to worry about.” Essa shrugged off the news she’d just given me. She even rolled her eyes. I took a deep breath. My sister was fifteen; she got to behave like a teenager because she had me to do the worrying.

  “We have to leave,” I told Essa. “Today.” I glanced around our hut, assessing what was necessary and what could be left behind. Essa lived in happy ignorance, but I’d always expected this day to come. There was a pack kept ready under the bed, holding much of what we’d need if we fled from the village that had been our home for nearly eight years.

  My younger sister leaned against the oak table where she’d been preparing her herbs. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you. The Emperor is asking for anyone who can use magic to go and serve him. He’s not forcibly rounding up anyone with magical abilities.” She braced her hands either side of her pestle and mortar. “I knew you’d overreact.”

  Overreact? “Essa, honey, you don’t know what the rebellion was like.”

  Her tone didn’t change. “Of course I do. You keep telling me. Terror, and bloodshed, and death.”

  “And if you can joke, you clearly weren’t listening.” Ten years. I’d been a child, but I still remembered. Some things couldn’t be forgotten.

  “I wasn’t joking.” Essa abandoned her work. “Kyann, calm down. Let’s talk about this.”

  “What’s to talk about? The Stalwart Emperor killed our mother. I can’t let him—” I couldn’t say it; wouldn’t let myself entertain the possibility that Essa could be taken from me. “We have to go,” I repeated.

  “He’s not going to kill me,” Essa said softly.

  My throat filled. I could barely breathe. I coughed. “You don’t know him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.” I closed my eyes, fighting the last glimpse I’d had of our mother, screaming for me to keep Essa safe. Magic had swirled around her, but it hadn’t protected her from the Emperor’s guards. They’d cut her down. The scene haunted my nights, but it was a long time since it had ambushed me in daylight.

  “Fair comment. But I’m hardly likely to volunteer, am I?” She sighed. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

  Essa could have kept the Emperor’s decree from me, but not for long – not if it was nailed to the village’s meeting house door. “He might start by asking for volunteers, but that won’t be enough for long.”

  Magic had once been plentiful in Charnrosa. The essence of life that ran through everything, it ensured good health to the people, animals, and the land itself. Thanks to the Emperor, it had become rare and precious, because he’d killed many of those in possession of magic and exploited what they had for his own benefit. “It won’t be long before he’s sending his guards to round up anyone with magic. Enough never is enough for a man like him.”

  “That still doesn’t mean we have to run away,” she argued.

  “Yes, it does. What if guards come here? What if he offers a reward, hmm?”

  “That’s crazy, Kyann. These people are our neighbours. The villagers would never give me up to the Emperor.”

  “You don’t know that. You can’t trust anyone.”

  “We can. You just … don’t dare.”

  Heat burned. Essa was on the knife edge between child- and adulthood. Perhaps it was time I stopped protecting her from reality. “No, I don’t,” I snapped. “I don’t dare take chances. Mother died to protect us. She wouldn’t thank me if I let us fall into peril now.”

  “So where would we go?” Essa voiced the question that waited beyond my frantic need for movement. “The Emperor may be seeking those with magic, but no one here would give us up to him. In another place we’d be strangers. We’re safer here than anywhere else.”

  Discomfort prickled over my shoulders, the sense of being trapped. Essa should be safe. The village would be mad to give up their healer. But what if the Emperor offered a reward so great no one could resist? It only took one person to sneak off and reveal her whereabouts.

  “We’re in the middle of no place. It’s a two-day ride to the citadel and the Emperor’s palace. The guards won’t come here for weeks, if they come at all.” Essa might have read my thoughts. “And we’ll notice if someone leaves the village suddenly. If anyone vanishes without a good excuse, well, then we’ll know it’s time to leave.”

  I blinked. On the cusp of adulthood. And I’d never expected her to offer such good sense. She was right; I was panicking without good reason. Shame heated my face.

  Essa glanced down at the table where she’d been working, the herbs that filled the room with their scent, the pestle and mortar she was using to crush the plants and release their goodness into her concoctions. “But maybe you’re right. Perhaps I should leave.” She looked straight into my eyes. “I should leave and fight the Emperor. Join the rebellion.”

  My heart stopped. “There isn’t a rebellion. The Emperor put an end to that.” Now, no one dared to oppose him. We were all too scared, too cowed. Our mother would be appalled.

  “Then I should start a rebellion.”

  Which is just what Ma would have said. She’d been so determined to do the right thing, so sure of what needed to happen to return Charnrosa to peace and prospe
rity. “You can’t—”

  It was as though I wasn’t speaking. “No: I should seek out the Silent Castle and waken the four kings. They’d put a stop to him.”

  My heart filled my chest, scalding with fury. “There are no kings. They’re a myth.”

  “You believed in them once,” Essa pointed out.

  “I believed in a lot of things once.” I closed my eyes. My mother and the other rebels had believed in the four kings. They had trusted that the ancient protectors of Charnrosa’s golden time would awaken and defeat the tyrannical Stalwart Emperor. Instead, the doddery greybeards had slumbered on, leaving the rebels to be slaughtered. The four kings weren’t sleeping, they were dead. As dead as my mother who had died believing in them. “I’m not a child any more. Stories don’t come to life.”

  “You’re right. They don’t. Never mind the four kings, we’ll be the two sisters. We’ll set things right.”

  Take Essa. Hide. “If you try to go in search of trouble, I will use one of your own sleeping potions on you.”

  Her jaw fell at my ferocious tone. Bitter anger flashed in her eyes. Or maybe that was the reflection of my own. “You can’t command me. I’m not a child.”

  “Then don’t act like one.”

  She dropped her gaze. I thought I’d won the argument.

  I really should have known my sister better.

  “Mother would be ashamed of you.” Her tone was icy.

  “Mother wanted us to be safe. She gave her life to protect us.”

  “That’s when we were children, when we needed to be protected. We aren’t children anymore. If the Emperor is harming Charnrosa, we should stop him.”

  “Don’t you dare, Essa.” I used the voice that reminded me of our mother, the tone that told her I was serious, that the argument was over. Except it wasn’t, not this time.

  She faced me, a pinch of something held between finger and thumb. Her voice was steady. “If you try to stop me doing what I choose to do I will use my magic against you.” Her hands were abruptly wreathed with blue streaks of magic. She opened her fingers. Instead of falling to the table, the flakes of herbs lifted into the air, spinning like green snowflakes. “Since you’re too much of a coward to use your magic, I’m assured of victory.” She twitched her fingers and the pulverised herbs flew towards me.

  I batted them away, but some of the flakes reached my eyes. I blinked, eyes streaming as they tried to wash the debris out.

  “Mercy, Kyann – I’m sorry.”

  My sister was a blurred figure. I held up a hand to keep her back. “You will be. If the Stalwart Emperor gets his hands on you.”

  “I didn’t mean it, Kyann!”

  I stumbled to the door, pushing my sister away when she reached for me. “I’m going fishing,” I told her. “If we’re to stay, I’d best make myself useful. I don’t want any more enemies in this village.”

  “Kyann!” Essa’s desolate voice followed me across ground that was abruptly unfamiliar. “I didn’t mean it!”

  Chapter Two

  I stomped through the forest that surrounded Myledene village while my vision cleared, swiping at the water that ran down my cheeks, washing the herb fragments from my sore eyes. I was probably scaring off anything living for miles as I snapped twigs beneath my boots and slapped at branches in my way. A good job I intended to fish and not hunt.

  Essa didn’t remember any home other than Myledene. We’d made a life here, found safety. Unlike her, I could never forget that the life you’d built could be torn away at any minute. A directive from the Emperor was the sort of news I’d been dreading since the day we arrived. I’d turned my back on my magic deliberately, ridding myself of any power I might have had. I’d thought that would make me safe: a nobody; unimportant; anonymous.

  And perhaps it did. Except that Essa revelled in her magic, seeing only the benefit and none of the risks. And I couldn’t hope to protect her if she chose to run into danger.

  The widening of the river, where it grew slow and shallow and formed a broad lake, was peaceful. I sat on the bank to remove my boots and let the stillness fall through me.

  It wasn’t silent, and once I’d stopped crashing around I could hear the small sounds of nature: the breeze shushing through the midsummer green leaves of the trees surrounding the lake; the occasional pop as a fish rose to the surface and snatched an unwary insect; the sudden call of a far-off bird.

  Peace fell through me, slackening my hunched shoulders. The forest had become our haven and it was always my favourite place to be. I could believe it hadn’t changed for centuries, since the four kings fell asleep, a time when stories said the forest had been populated by boggarts and will’o the wisps and the occasional demon, venturing from the Underworld to trap an unwary soul. At least we didn’t need to fear them. Our only threats were entirely human, and I wouldn’t let them intrude. Not now.

  I fell back to rest against the norgrass, crushing the blades and releasing the fresh scent of the plant’s sap. The sky overhead was blue, cloudless and bright. That could be a good omen, if I let it be. I sat up. Omens were all very well, but if my aim was to ensure Essa stayed safe in Myledene, then we had to make ourselves useful.

  I didn’t remove any more of my clothes, simply slipped into the lake barefoot but otherwise fully dressed. The water reached my waist. I stepped forward, the movement pressing my tunic and leggings against my skin. My steps became slow by necessity. But I moved carefully by choice, too. I was the village’s best hunter because I could be calm, becoming one with the natural world.

  My light steps barely disturbed the silt at the bottom of the lake. I reached the spot I wanted, where the sun had warmed the water. My fingers dipped into below the surface, its coolness washing over my hands up to my wrists.

  Then, I waited.

  I closed my eyes and pictured the fish in the lake with me. I would catch one for Essa and me to share for our dinner, and a couple more to smoke ready for the midsummer festival in a fortnight’s time. Behind my eyelids I saw the silvery bodies flashing through the water, dark and light, their movements as fast as thinking. I held still, becoming a part of the lake. I sifted through the creatures my imagination was showing. Not the oldest, biggest ones; they’d earned their peace. But not the tiny ones, either. They needed long enough to grow so they could provide a good meal.

  When the pictures grew perfectly clear, I moved.

  I brought my hands together, clutching the fish that had unwarily swum between them, lifting my prize high out of the water. My fingers tightened around the slippery, scaly body as it struggled to escape. I opened my eyes for the first time.

  “You are amazing, Kyann.”

  I jumped, startled and nearly dropped my catch. Essa was standing on the bank, watching me. “Hardly.”

  “I couldn’t do that in a million years.”

  I lifted a shoulder as I waded towards the bank. “It’s not hard. I could teach you to fish, but that doesn’t seem like a good use of your time.” Essa was far more valuable with her pills and potions.

  She rolled her eyes and walked around the lake to the spot closest to me. “It’s magic, Kyann. Your type of magic. I was wrong to say you don’t use yours. You just use it … differently.”

  “It’s not magic.” The fish had stopped wriggling. I waded towards the bank, silt blooming around me. That didn’t matter; I couldn’t concentrate with an audience, particularly Essa.

  “Why do you refuse to accept your magic?” She cocked her head to one side, sounding genuinely interested.

  “I’m not refusing anything. I don’t have magic. Or nothing worth mentioning, anyway. It faded away.” I reached the bank and clambered out, keeping one fist tight around the fish. I’d lost more than one at this late stage by carelessness.

  “Magic doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t just go.”

  No, it needed to be sent far, far away.

  She sighed, plucking at the grass. I was surprised; Essa was far more likely to gather
the blades carefully; norgrass could be brewed into a useful tincture for fever. “I used to be jealous of you, you know.”

  The fish was utterly dead. I set it down. “Jealous? Why?”

  “Pa was always teaching you.” I froze. She waved a hand. “Oh, I know it wasn’t all the time. But it felt that way. You’d disappear into the woods for hours and hours, and you’d come back smiling, swinging off his arm. When I asked him to teach me to use my magic, he’d always say, ‘Later, later’. I used to dream of when I’d be as old as you and Pa would teach me what he’d taught you.” She swallowed, her voice shrinking. “But then there wasn’t any later.”

  I clutched her hand, searching for something to say that wouldn’t destroy her memories.

  She looked up, bright eyes shining. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to abandon us.”

  Anger fired in me. She was too young to remember. I would never forget. He’d fled, leaving his wife and two small children to face the wrath of the Emperor. His actions were clear enough to me. “Perhaps,” was all the concession I was able to make.

  “He probably got caught by the Emperor’s guards, so he couldn’t come back for us.”

  “Probably.” I hoped so. I hoped they hanged him like the coward he was. My heart lurched. I wished Essa hadn’t reminded me about the good times. They made what happened later so much harder to bear. You’re just like your father. And I’d done everything I could to make those words a lie. I hoped I’d succeeded.

  Essa threaded her fingers through mine. “I’m sorry. For earlier. I was angry with you, but I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “No, I think I needed the reminder that you’re not a child. I sometimes think you’re still five and need me to hug you when the nightmares come.”

  She shifted closer, nudging her shoulder against mine. “I haven’t had a nightmare in years.”

  “Exactly. You’re old enough to take care of yourself.” I turned. “Only, please … take this seriously. The Emperor’s dangerous.”