Nectar of War: The Song of Verity and Serenity (The Nectar of War Series Book 1)

LAVEN HEPHAESTUS ARVENALDI, II

XENATHI — QUAMFASI CITADEL

W ELCOME BACK TO QUAMFASI,” Stelina greets as we stand where the previous border once was. There are two large carriages waiting for us being led by four Pegasi each.

Her dark red leather armor is thick and slightly lighter in stitching than the others, this discloses her as someone prominent in House Valendexi.

“We are in bad timing here at the moment, there is a current game occurring so we must make the journey there quick, so we will ascend. We had the Pegasi prepped but it will take too much of our time we are already short on.”

“Thank the Gods.” Morano mumbles.

“Morano has a fear of a tipping carriage,” Amias clarifies when he notices Stelina’s face turn for confusion.

Stelina laughs. “Well, one day you will have to ride the carriage there, but today we will not be able to.”

“Why is it that we usually go by carriage and not by ascension?” Levora asks.

“The Games are held in a sacred area, correct?” I ask.

Stelina nods. “In order to reach the dome we must enter through the Hashthyna Forest where the Tree of Gods is protected. The Hashthyna Forest is the only land outside of Xenathi and the only land Lorsius was unable to touch because we kept it hidden through fabrication.”

“How was that possible?” Roaner asks.

“We made it look as if it were useless land and he left it to us. But only our people knew what was really there. Something sacred that not all can see.”

“Did he never question it?” Morano chimes in. “Someone like Lorsius would not let the Tree of Gods slip through his fingers without a fight.”

“When I say useless land I mean destroyed. In his eyes, he saw only a stump of a tree that was burned and everything around it had perished. There was nothing left to it for him to have use of.”

“If we were to ride there we would also cross the Vaisenya River.” I add.

Levora’s eyes widen. “The Prayer River?” She translates.

“Yes,” Stelina smiles. “It is one of the most beautiful and venerated waters known to this world. Not many lands were blessed with these rivers, in those waters lies nothing but beginnings when someone truly covets for change and miracles that they deserve.”

I can see the wheels turning in Levora’s eyes as she drifts into deep thought.

I touch her shoulder and she jerks from her thoughts as her eyes lift.

Stelina holds out her hand to me and I take it and behind me everyone gathers to rest a hand on my shoulder and as Roaner touches last, we ascend to the dome.

We stop within what seems to be a small town but it is an area designated to crafting weapons, armor, and multiple appointed quarters to enlist.

I follow behind Stelina’s path and as we move through she sharply turns her head toward the large shop where workers are crafting armor, one piece of armor in particular is being crafted in black leather with blue stitching. It mimics the leathers we wear in Vaigon.

“Is my daughters armor ready yet?” Stelina’s voice booms across the vast distance.

The man crafting the armor briskly looks up with large eyes. “I am getting there, Stel!”

“Get it done!” She snaps at him as we continue to walk.

The farther we walk through, I see the tip of the open dome appear and bodies jumping and lunging through the air to reach the other end of the course that seems never ending. The more the dome appears I see all of the near thousands whom watch The Games as they occur. Their cheering and shouting grows all the more louder the closer we get.

We walk through the stone entryway and I see Ivella standing in the open space as the next group of people line up to race toward obstacles at her command.

She slightly turns her head over her shoulder, she does not look at me, but it is that acknowledgment of knowing I am here.

She walks to the row of people readied to take off.

Her leathers are tight up her legs but hang loose around her waist with her upper body only clothed in a white thin strapped shirt under the beating sun that has turned her skin a shade darker. Her hair is tightly braided down her back. I have never see her face so clearly in all the years I have been around her.

She stands before the next group avoiding all eye contact with me.

“Ivella,” Stelina calls. “Desva je nuat hesa*.”

Ivella lifts her chin. “Esu*?”

They walk toward each other and exchange a low conversation before Ivella approaches all of us.

“This is incredible.” Hua mumbles as she watches each person take to the courses.

“It is,” Ivella laughs as she and Hua embrace each other.

“I want to do it today.” Hua looks down at her in question if she can.

Ivella nods. “You can, it would be with Lourdes.”

Hua finds a smile. “Even better.”

Ivella greets everyone from Vora to Amias.

Everyone but me.

“I have to leave but I will return shortly.”

“Where are you going?” Amias asks as she leaves his embrace.

“I have to test my armor.”

She walks away to leave and I speed across the distance and stand in front of her stopping her hard in her tracks. She collides with my chest and I catch her before she stumbles backward.

“And me?”

She glares upward with reddened cheeks. “Hello Laven,” is all she says before pushing from my arms.

Just as she tries to walk away I catch her chin with the tip of my finger and her eyes draw upward.

“Hello to you too.”

That familiar gaze of defiance appears. “If you dare to be unbearable so can I.”

I smile. “You will be giving me exactly what I want.”

Quickly, she turns away before ascending from the grounds.

“Laven, the next game is beginning.” Stelina says and I walk back to where I was.

She now stands where Ivella was before sending off the next group for the courses.

From the observatory at the very top of the dome sits Ira and Naius who are monitoring everyone as the people who have succeeded forward now race through a tunnel at the end of the dome on horseback. Ira walks to the edge and Naius jumps down from hundreds of feet and lands smoothly on his feet. He tops his horse before following the last person out of the dome, through the tunnel, and they head for the outlying forest behind the dome.

From the crowds multiple names are being shouted as Stelina’s arm raises and a loud horn bellows across the dome. Then, the competitors race toward the start.

“Pay attention closely,” Stelina shouts over the screaming onlookers. “Watch every participant, study every course. You may learn ways to win The Games through them. Even those who do not win have intelligent tactics.”

“What is outside of this dome?” Levora asks.

“The courses that mentally, emotionally, and physically challenge you.”

I walk further ahead witnessing the first competitor dive into the large pool that spans the distance of fifty yards. Each person fights through the water as Ira stands from the top of the dome and as his eyes close, he intakes a deep breath before his eyes reopen and forces his hands downward and through magic he creates currents and waves that have effect on their performance. I can hear the soaring winds rip across the water and move towards us causing us to stand steady on our feet.

Esme appears next to Ira and they chuckle about something, then, her eyes are flooded in that recognizable grey, and Ira takes a step backward.

“She is not going to blind them is she?” Morano wonders.

“No, but come this way, we must stand under cover unless you care to get wet!” Stelina rushes over to an awning under the seating of the onlookers and we all follow behind.

Esme turns her head to the sky and the clouds begin to darken. Her hands hold out from her sides, and slowly, she rises, and as she does, the thunder rolls, rain begins to pour, and the lightning strikes the edge of the pool. Some this throws off guard, others stay right on course toward the end.

“Since when could she control the fucking weather.” Morano’s eyes sit widened at her abilities.

“My husband’s family comes from Luveshtan’s, Elemental Benders.” Stelina smiles.

“Who all can bend what?” I ask her as she steps closer.

“Naius can turn water to earth, Ira can bend air, Esme can create storms, Ethel can bend water and ice, and Iysha we have yet to discover, though I believe it to be fire. He is quick to anger like his sister and he was born during the season of Sagittarius just as the God of Fire.”

“Hephaestus.”

“Recognize the name?” She simpers.

“I do indeed.”

The tips of Esme’s boots touch the ground first before leisurely landing flat on her feet. As she recedes from the air the storm slowly comes to an end and the rising sun returns.

Ira and Esme ascend to the ground, and on either side of the dome under the awning sits a lever on each side. Before the competitors finish the first obstacle in the water still rushing with waves, they pull the levers at the same time and the next course rises. Uneven balance beams rise up by hundreds of feet and the first person to exit the pool looks vaguely familiar.

“Who is she?”

“That would be Ethel, my niece, Esme’s older sister. You may have seen her when she was with Ivella in Vaigon when they were servants.”

“Does everyone in your family thrive well in The Games?” Phyv asks.

Stelina tips her head from side to side.

“That is a yes.” Levora whispers as she watches Ethel leap up to the tipping balance beam, she swings her body up the rising beam and she begins to run across the narrow way as it slowly swings like a seesaw. Just as the beam falls down in front of her, Ethel rotates to slide down the beam as it recedes.

“After The Beams, no feet are to touch the ground until after The Ropes to reach your horse!”

As the balance beams rise so do The Pillars that stand by five hundred feet with rods along the length of them to the very top. Beneath the pillars lie a pool of water to catch anyone who may fall. My father was not so kind to me and Amias when it came to us running the pillars as children. Many broken bones occurred, we were healed, and told to do it again. Although, the pain of falling made us more aware of our balance to not fall from such great lengths again.

“Who is that catching up to her?” Levora asks.

“Kaden, her husband and mate.”

The moment Ethel lands on the ground from the beams she begins to heave up the rods along the pillars. The truest test of strength; carrying your weight up hundreds of feet. As Kaden begins to catch up to her Esme shouts from the top of the dome. “Come on, Ethel! Vashla* Nadrexi!” Drums begin to sound off and specific areas of the crowds begin to chant Nadrexi while waving a light blue flag back and forth. And where Esme stands from the top, Ivella appears and they both wrap their arms around each other’s shoulders and begin to jump with the beat of the drum while waving the Nadrexi flag.

Ira continues to intently watch as this pushes Ethel to proceed, and she catches Kaden up the never ending pillar and her strength increases.

She reaches the top of the pillar as others behind her still struggle on the beams but they are gaining on both her and Kaden.

Ahead of her lie twelve more pillars to run across.

“Balance Ethel,” Stelina whispers under her breath as she watches her niece take long leaps to get from pillar to pillar.

To prevent Kaden from catching up to her, she takes strides in front of him to reach the ropes that hang from centerpieces of the dome.

Screaming louder than before breaks out as she leaps for a rope and slides down to the ground and toward her horse that takes her to the tunnel door that opens for her to proceed to the next course outside of the dome.

“What exactly lies outside of this?” Hua asks over the shouts of the people above.

“Upon exiting the tunnel you reach the forest where you must go through four more courses. Bows and arrows while on horse, spears and swords, hand to hand combat, and lastly the Forest of Fears.”

“What is that?” Morano stands closer.

“It is a forest that brings forth your most deepest fears and makes you confront them. If you have already conquered what haunts you it will be easy to pass through, but with slight difficulty. Though, if you have not, that will be the day you meet them face to face and seek your way out. Mental clarity is the goal, it does not determine if you have won The Games but it determines if you are ready to conquer your greatest fears.”

“Ma,” Ira approaches. “Ivella is ready to test her armor, it fits her well when I looked over it just now but we must have her train in them to break them in. Also to be sure it enhances her abilities like planned.”

“Ivy!” Stelina calls from below.

Ivella looks downward from the top of the dome and she ascends to her mother.

“We will go to the training grounds so you can test your suit,” Stelina then turns to us. “You all may come as well, you will meet with Vorian after who will set the date for your next arrival to enlist your people to compete in the games.”

As I take in her new armor, it is a dark blue with light blue stitching in it. These were the leathers I saw upon entrance.

“I will train with you,” I step forward. “We can go now and I am already dressed in my suit.”

Before she can protest, Stelina grabs our hands and we all ascend to their Training Grounds not far from the dome.

We now stand on their Hand to Hand Combat Unit. I remove my cloak and Roaner takes it from me and drapes it over his shoulder.

“He fights dirty Ivella,” Morano smirks.

She does not answer him. Instead, she suddenly rushes onward and I do as well. She breaches halfway across the distance between us before she leaps and one leg angles down in a direction right for my hip.

In a drift, I dodge her foot and catch her armor, throwing her into the air. White and tan feathers fall to the ground and her wings sprawl as she steadies herself in the heights above me.

I simper at her control. “So it is true that God is a woman?”

Her wings oscillate, carrying her higher just before she soars down in a sharp line. She grips me by the hair dragging both of us to the ground.

We roll across the field fighting to see who will pin the other first.

She grips my neck and ascends across the ground forcing me down, her dagger is drawn and pointed right at the center of my face.

“Still refusing to be my Queen?” I ask through a strangled breath.

Fury builds in her beautiful green eyes that move with specks of orange.

Her hand tightens and her wings fall around us, cascading over me like blinders. Even in this position with a dagger narrowed in on my face, I feel entirely safe here.

“Still bedding half the women in your nation?” She fires back.

I ignore that dig, though it is hard not to. “Prophecy, Ivella. You will be an Arvenaldi, you will be a High Queen, and you will be great. We will be great.”

I ascend from her grasp and the dagger she was holding releases across the distance between us, and in my distraction to avoid it, she instantaneously stands. Her arms draw backward before her wrists collide and her hands draw apart. I watch the magnificence of fire swirling through the span of her hands.

The blue stitching in her armor ignites as the fire soaring between her palms grow.

The armor is working.

Behind the fire I see all the pain and agony she holds, it just so happens to be me she is taking it out on, but I am the only person built to handle every demon that follows her.

“Calm, Ivella.” Esme has arrived and she grabs her arm before she releases everything against me. She consoles her cousin with a calm voice, a voice I have never heard her use. It seems the stone woman has a soft side for those she loves deeply.

Naius appears next to her and he touches Ivella’s wrist and the fire dulls until it is gone.

Naius looks at her hands. “Where is your Tigers Eye ring?”

“I do not have it with me. It is at home.” She is short with him as she speaks.

“I thought we agreed you would not take it off?”

After I speak, that temper of hers creeps back in.

“Go home and get it.” Naius gently speaks before she can retaliate at me.

“I will go with you,” Esme offers and Ivella accepts as they grab each others hands.

Ivella and Naius exchange a final glance with one another before he smoothes his hand over the back of her head and pats her back.

“Now that you have witnessed The Games,” Naius shifts his attention to all of us. “You may plan accordingly for the next sixty days. If you need help, call upon me or Stelina. We will aid you with anything you may be in assistance of.”

Before they leave, Esme acknowledges everyone but Roaner who continues to stare her down.

“Esme,” Roaner attempts to walk to her but quickly she interrupts him.

“Come, Ivy, let us take a little trip to Nadrexi to gather your sanity.”

Without letting Ivella say goodbye, Esme ascends them both.

I turn to Naius. “Where can I get a suit like that?”

“I had a feeling you would ask.” Naius laughs.

“I have a question,” Hua takes to Naius. “May I participate today?”

“Are you looking to compete or have a trial run with The Games?”

Given they have already trained together in the past, Naius would be first to know that Hua is absolutely ready to participate in a game without training. We all are, but out of all of us, Hua keeps the most fit and agile.

“Compete.”

Naius smiles. “Then I will have you enrolled into the next game.”

VAIGON CITADEL

I have sketched the perimeter of the dome and within it the trials. First, the large space where the race toward The Pool begins. After, the span you must run across before reaching the balance beams that rock like seesaws. Then, the strength test up The Pillars that lead to The Pillar Run. And lastly, The Ropes, the final jump toward reaching your horse that will carry you to the final rounds.

“The jump from here to here is quite a distance,” I point from The Pillars to The Ropes. “People will have to put their all into the leap they take from that length.”

“I will make it one of the most necessary practices.” Amias confirms.

“Let me take this to the city for printing,” Hua motions for me to give her the sketch. “Sign your name in the corner so the people know it is you who crafted this sketch and they can learn the courses visually before practicing physically.”

I roll the sketch before tying it off and handing it over to Hua and she is gone.

“Did you see the way he tried to drown them in that pool?” Morano asks from the corner of the study.

Roaner chuckles and sits down.

“Morano,” I chortle. “He was not trying to drown them. He was making their swim more difficult to test them. Not drown them.”

“Laven, if you can, practice controlling your force fields in motion. You could create those same waves that Ira did with air as you could with force fields.” Phyv explains.

“This is true,” Roaner says. “After the pool is built on the Training Grounds we will attempt then.”

“Oh,” Levora says standing after seeing the sun setting. “I must meet a friend in the markets. I will see you for supper?” She asks and we nod before she is off.

“We should have asked her to get vegetables for supper. I plan on eating at Ryverian House tonight.” Amias says.

I smile. “It has been quite some time since we have dined there.”

“We have not had the time to.” Roaner regretfully speaks.

Due to everything transpiring over the months, we have not been able to spend the time we would like in the Safe House. There are one too many memories there, both good and bad that give that mansion character similar to Fonavyn House in Gordanta. But Ryverian House will always be greater than the rest as that is the house my parents raised all of us in.

“I will go to the market and get what we need,” I stand from the table and remove my top coat. “What meats are you making?”

“My dear companion,” Amias grabs my shoulders as I undo the laces on my undershirt. “You will be cooking the meats, not I. We are having fish, plan accordingly.” He pats my cheek.

I stare at his stupid grin he shows when he wants someone to do something for him. His dark skin beams under the sunlight and his eyes crease in the corners as he begins to chuckle.

“Get out my way.” I playfully push him so I can leave.

* Old Quamfasian: Desva je nuat hesa     Translation: Do not start yet

* Old Quamfasian: Esu     Translation: Why

* Old Quamfasian: Vashla     Translation: Chant