Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 Read online

  Flame of Cytherea

  Cytherean Chronicles Book 1

  D. R. Rosier

  Copyright 2014. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Dedication: To those who encouraged me to write and publish.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue – A soul traded

  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

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Prologue – A soul traded

  She looked down at the young man carefully. His life, his ambition, lay bare. His every thought, deed, impulse and emotion from his eighteen years of life were all revealed. She was not omniscient, she simply read it from his soul, the soul that had cried out moments ago.

  She had answered.

  Time was frozen, there was no rush. But she was pleased with what she saw. He was a good man, one who tried to do what was right. It was why he had rushed into the alley, why the woman who fled was not a victim of rape. It was also why he lay on the ground, crying out for life.

  His soul’s cry had reached her, he was what she was looking for, but he belonged to another. To one far beyond her station and power.

  She bowed her head reverently, Father. She directed the thought respectfully.

  A powerful voice filled her mind, she knew at its height it would shatter her mind, but it was tempered and gentled, “You wish to claim him as yours daughter? I can see what you have planned, do not forget, his will needs be his own. Remember that, and you have my blessing.”

  She answered with a smile, “I can see his heart will lead him where I need.”

  She heard a low chuckle in her mind, “Surely his heart and soul are compatible to your wishes, he is a good man, but I see a twisted route that lies ahead for him, he may not always do what you expect.”

  She nodded her head in acceptance. It was not in her nature to deny free will to a mortal, at least, not anymore. She had grown in wisdom the last two millennia. But still, she had high hopes. She knelt beside him. He was handsome, an inch over six feet. Brown hair and hazel eyes. He was in shape and knew how to fight. Kick boxing and other fighting styles were known to him.

  He was also riddled with bullet wounds in his chest, and extremely close to death.

  She leaned down and lightly brushed his lips with her own. His body started to glow, his wounds knit and his body was transformed. The glow grew brighter and brighter…

  Time resumed and the world around the alley came to life. Horns could be heard in the street. The revving of a car engine and a cool breeze made its way down the now empty alley.

  Chapter 1

  Justin woke up, reached a hand, and touched it to his lips. They tingled strangely and he wondered what the hell had just happened. He slowly opened his eyes. There was a canopy of trees above him, he turned his head slightly each way, taking in the surrounding trees. He closed his eyes and shook his head in denial. The strange question popped into his head, what was a forest doing in downtown Chicago?

  He laughed a little hysterically then shook his head, but when he opened his eyes the trees were still there. He closed his eyes again, but it didn’t help, he could hear the birds singing and the rustling of leaves.

  He gasped as his recent memories came back. His eyes popped open and he looked down at his chest as the encounter with a gang of rapists flooded into his mind. He touched his chest in disbelief, not only was he in a forest with birds, but his wounds were gone? Was he dead, crazy, or just dreaming? A last dream for him to be lost in as the bullets claimed his life, his blood draining away into an alley gutter?

  The idea that he was both healed and in a forest wasn’t even entertained. It was sad when the best case scenario was you lost your mind, but when the other two choices were dead or dying, it won hands down.

  He also noticed he was wearing strange clothes, it looked like a tunic and breeches, something you would wear to a renaissance fair. Feeling foolish he called out, but no one answered. He chose a direction at random, hoping his dream would get better before he died, and started walking. He had a stray thought that maybe this wasn’t a dream, maybe he was healed somehow.

  He snorted. Right, next thing he’ll be on another world, like in some book.

  Of course, that’s when he walked into the clearing, and clearly saw the sun was directly overhead. The disturbing part was there was a second sun on the horizon, and off to his left was a moon looming large on the horizon. Very large, it was too large really, to be a moon.

  Yeah… either that he thought panicked, or he was on the forest moon of Endor and that huge rock was the planet. He put his hands on his knees and leaned over, breathing deeply. He muttered to himself over and over that he refused to get sick. He could feel himself start to hyperventilate, none of this made sense.

  He was almost sure it wasn’t a dream at this point, so he was either dead or crazy… or he reluctantly added… healed and on another planet… Snorting to himself he looked over the trees from the center of the clearing, trying to see something, anything, to indicate what direction to walk in.

  He saw smoke rising slowly to the sky in one direction. He frowned; it looked to be several miles away. He sighed deeply and started off. It felt a little different, walking that is. He didn’t know if he was lighter, if the gravity was different, or if he was just stronger, but the quick pace he set did not tire him.

  Curious, he started into a jog. This was too weird for this to be a dream or crazy time, either he was dead and alone here, or on another world. He fell into a comfortable rhythm, not really paying attention when he stumbled into a large break in the forest.

  The grass was knee high and moved with the slight breeze. When he stomped on it in a brilliant stumbling entrance, it made a loud scratchy noise as he flattened the blades. He watched a few deer running from a small stream on the edge of the field back into the woods. He realized quickly he must have startled them. He froze at the next thing he saw, a huge tiger stood, appearing from the grass as if through magic.

  He had never seen a tiger outside of TV, but this one appeared bigger than he would have expected. It looked beautiful, and powerful. Not to mention deadly. A shiny light brown coat with streaks of black, he knew he should probably be running back for the trees himself, but he couldn’t move. His feet were obstinately ignoring his plea to move.

  The tiger looked at him and roared. He could swear it sounded more annoyed than angry, then he watched as it chased after the fleeing deer. He stood there a few minutes, breathing shallowly. Finally he broke from his shock and started jogging again toward the smoke, hoping he wouldn’t run into the tiger again.

  He also had a disturbing thought, he doubted there would be deer hunting tigers in the afterlife. Not that he wanted to be dead, it’s just what that left him with as an option was… crazy. Or possibly on another planet. He wasn’t fully
convinced yet, though he doubted even his dreaming mind could come up with the surprising things he had come across, but he resolved to move more cautiously. If he was on another world, who knew what could happen?

  Besides being eaten by a tiger that is…

  He reached the edge of the woods and was looking out from the path, carefully considering. Of course, he couldn’t live in the woods all his life, so he felt a little silly about it. Still, for all he knew they were cannibals or something. He sighed in relief when he saw a human walk out of one of the buildings, he didn’t realize how much he was worried about it until now. After all, an alien world should have… aliens right? Apparently not.

  The smoke itself was coming from behind a large building that had a fairly large sign out front with a mug and a bed. He assumed this was some sort of tavern. The road was just dirt, and the buildings were all made of wood. There were a large number of small buildings with no signs that he could see as well as more with signs that were too small to read from a distance.

  The town went on farther than he could see from his position by the forest. The tavern of course, brought up the idea of money. He patted down his pants and shirt, he didn’t have any. That could be an issue. He was getting up the confidence to go check things out when he heard a silky, yet annoyed voice, right behind him.

  “Well, you going to stand there all day?”

  He turned while considering the fact that he understood what was said. It wasn’t English, but he understood. All thoughts of how that was possible fled his mind at the sight of the woman behind him. She was about his age, maybe a year or two older. Long lustrous brown hair, a heart shaped face. She was beautiful… and her figure was curved in all the right places...

  She was wearing hunting leathers but he didn’t see a weapon on her at all, and she was dragging a dead dear that was already dressed on a travois, and he suddenly realized spying from the head of a well used forest trail was stupid, and… he was also in her way. He also wondered how she had snuck up on him while dragging a deer…

  “Sorry, I’m new around here.”

  She rolled her eyes expressively and said, “First you nearly ruin my hunt, now you’re in the way, please move, I need to get this thing on the fire. Tavern doesn’t run itself you know.”

  Her face flashed with annoyance. Did her eyes just turn yellow a second? Couldn’t be, must have been a reflection of the light. He stepped to the side, then turned his head, realizing he had been staring.

  He asked, “Need some help?”

  Her words finally hit him, ruined her hunt? He hadn’t seen anyone else in the field. He looked over again and saw her studying him.

  He shrugged helplessly. “I’m really not from around here, no money. I need to find a job, a place to stay. Sorry, my name is Justin, you are?”

  She looked thoughtfully at him. “Katrina, you can call me Kat,” she rolled her eyes again, “My pa had a weird sense of humor. Walk with me and we’ll talk about it.”

  He didn’t get what she meant, but he felt that he should. Shit… Kat, hunt, tiger, dead deer, and no weapon… He refused to take that line of thought any further and fell in beside her, taking one of the handles he helped her drag the deer into town.

  Kat asked, “So, what can you do, job wise I mean.”

  He took in the town’s obvious lack of technology, and frowned. What could he do? Thirteen years of school and… he had no idea. He knew a lot of… apparently worthless information.

  “Well, I was still in school back home so I don’t have much practical experience. I’m strong though, and I pick things up quickly,” he wasn’t sure it would help, but he threw in, “I’m also good in a fight, not sure how useful that would be around here.”

  He berated himself… pick things up quickly, might as well have added good with people.

  They dragged the travois to the back of the tavern, there was a large fire pit already lit. She pulled the deer onto a spit and hung it.

  “If you were younger I’d say apprentice with the blacksmith, you look in good shape and strong. I could use a server in the afternoons and evenings, one that could handle himself for the more rowdy folk. Maybe help out with the wood too?”

  She studied him intently, as if measuring him, then nodded. “Show me you can fight and I’ll hire you. One silver a week plus a room and three meals a day.”

  She looked at him challengingly, holding herself in a fighting stance. He was amazed by this young woman, barely older than him and apparently in charge of her own business. She had talked of her father in the past tense, he wondered if she was alone. His parents had passed as well years ago. He felt a sharp pain, wondering if he would ever see his grandparents again, but shook it off.

  He could deal with the loss of his old world later, after he took care of the basics of his survival.

  He moved in to put her in a hold but underestimated her strength badly, not wanting to hurt her. She jerked out of his grip before he could get a good hold on her, which pulled him forward, and his face went straight into her elbow jab knocking him back on his ass.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that Justin, if you want a job here.”

  He looked up to see a playful smile on her face and relaxed a little. Taking a deep breath he stood. The second time he didn’t underestimate her at all. He led her to make another elbow strike, giving her a false opportunity while they grappled closely, but caught her arm and twisted, putting her in a joint lock. She fell to her knees, her face pushed against the ground, her butt in the air.

  He couldn’t help the stirring in his groin, she looked… hot. And the way their bodies had met during the short spar had tried his focus and concentration and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her perfect ass. He couldn’t help but notice her breasts were heaving as well as she took deep breaths.

  She looked up at him with a bemused smile on her face, as if she was reading his mind. He let her go with a slight blush then helped her up.

  She looked him up and down deliberately, smiled and said, “You’ll do just fine.”

  He wasn’t entirely sure she was talking about the job…

  Chapter 2

  First, she took him on a tour of the place. The kitchen was large. A huge island was in the middle of the room with many wood burning stoves along the walls. Outside of the stoves, pots, and pans, everything else was made of finished good quality wood. Through the kitchen doors was a large room with a bar along one wall. The center of the room was all tables and chairs, and a small stage was on the opposite wall from the bar. There was a fireplace, but no fire was lit as it was warm outside. She led him up the stairs and showed him where he would be bedding down.

  He thought she was probably teasing him from his obvious ogling earlier. She kept touching his arm and back as she led him around, flirting just a bit. He wasn’t about to argue about it though he just flirted back a bit, keeping eye contact just a second or two longer than normal.

  His room wasn’t much, just a small, maybe eight by six room. There was a small bed, and a foot locker inside. That was it. Of course, he couldn’t complain, he didn’t have anything at all except the clothes on his back.

  He was also impressed with how clean it all was, he knew from history that Earth in a time before technology and advanced medical knowledge was not clean at all. She then introduced him to the other people working there.

  Cynthia was about thirty, she took care of the bedding during the day and was a server for the evening meal. Ben was an older man, maybe fifty though he was bad at guessing ages, Ben was a cook and split firewood, a chore he would be sharing from now on he guessed.

  He was right of course, he followed her back to where the tour started and she gave him an axe. He had split wood before, but now, it was almost too easy. He was definitely much stronger. She stayed for a minute, watching him. He turned and could see something in her eyes he couldn’t quite identify. But she was definitely checking him out as he split the wood.

  He ask
ed carelessly before splitting another piece, “So, how does a beautiful young woman wind up running an inn?”

  Oh crap. He just wanted to talk and get to know her, why does stupid shit keep coming out of his mouth? It had sounded good in his head, but when he said it out loud it sounded like the winner in a bad pickup line contest.

  Her face tightened into a grimace, “Why, don’t think a simple woman can do so?”

  That response brought him up short. He thought a moment, splitting another piece, giving himself time to think. He had expected her to tease, mock, or laugh at the pathetic attempt at flirting, not at all expecting what she said. He knew nothing of this world… were women considered less here? Based on her reaction it looked like that was the basic sentiment at least that she faced. He almost took too long to answer, but before she could say anything else, he got his thoughts composed and spoke.

  “Not at all, I meant to give you a compliment and learn more about you. Is… gender inequality an issue here? I literally got here today, I know nothing of your society, customs or even laws. My old home was… different. I also want to thank you for the job.”

  He felt relief when her countenance softened, she said, “Your welcome.”

  She continued in a softer tone, “As for how I came to run this tavern, I inherited it after the raids three years ago. I’m… sorry I jumped to conclusions. Just the fact that you’re willing to work for me should have shown me you don’t feel that way. But yes, many doubted my ability after I took over merely because I am female.”

  “Raids?” He worried about all the things he didn’t know. Whole new world…

  They talked for a while longer. He learned the planet’s name was Cytherea, named after a goddess. He was skeptical about that, but wasn’t about to insult a religion. Who knows, he got here somehow didn’t he? It sure as hell wasn’t in a space ship.

  The town they were in was called Nerin, which was in the southern part of the kingdom of Abelaweth, named so after the founding King. Abelaweth was still a monarchy, the king had absolute rule, but she told him that the taxes were fair, and they weren’t overly bothered much down here.