Between Luck and Magic (Chanmyr Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  BETWEEN LUCK

  AND MAGIC

  Chanmyr Chronicles Book Two

  TJ Muir

  This is a work of fiction. All characters are a work of fiction from the author’s imagination.

  Independently published

  ASIN:B071J7T6TX

  Copyright ©2017, TJ Muir. All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

  Muir, TJ.

  Special thanks to Tirzah Hescock- editor extraordinaire, who has held my hand through the painful revision process and made this a superior novel, and to my second brilliant editor, Kyra Dune who helped get this book unstuck and ready for publishing!

  I want to say thank you to the people who have supported me along the way, in the writing of this story. In particular, the many authors and support groups that have helped me. Susan Kaye Quinn, Derek Murphy, and my many critique and beta-readers.

  And a shoutout to my beta readers and street team! Their eagle eyes caught glitches and typos that three rounds of edits missed. I love your enthusiasm and belief in this world!

  Table of 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

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Glossary

  More about TJ

  You are a rockstar!

  Chapter One

  “Who’s there?” A gruff voice called out of the fog.

  The Twin Moons crested over the trees, dappling the north road in shadows as three mounted riders made their way toward the outskirts of the city. All three of them turned to look back towards Tatak Rhe. Light from a lantern flickered in the distance.

  “City watch. Further out than normal.” Kirrin hissed, keeping his voice low.

  “Looking for us?” Jedda asked, his stomach knotted.

  “Don’t want to find out. But they will surely remember two Faenyr if anyone asks later.”

  “Go!” Jedda said. "I’ll try to stay on.”

  “No! Just keep moving at a normal pace. You don’t want to attract attention, and galloping down the road in the middle of the night will definitely look suspicious.”

  Jedda shivered, hunched his shoulders, trying to disappear. He started to wish for a distraction and then stopped himself. He didn’t know what he had stirred up at the sacred site, but the thing that flew out of the well terrified him.

  “Hey, you there--” But the voice was further away now, and sounded uninterested in pursuit.

  A few minutes later, with no further sounds, Kirrin said, “I think we could speed up a bit, put the horses to a trot, at least.”

  Ahead of him, Kirrin and Cham rode with ease. Jedda soon learned the misery of trotting on a horse as he bounced and flailed, trying to keep his balance. Light mist twisted along the ground in spots, but at least Jedda could see what was in front of him.

  He didn’t see well enough to stop Jespen from colliding with the other two horses as they came to a stop at a fork in the road. Jedda grunted as he landed on Jespen’s neck.

  “Which way?” Cham asked.

  Kirrin looked at the two paths, hesitating. Something was wrong, Jedda could read it in Kirrin’s face.

  "What's wrong?” Cham asked, turning his horse around to face the others.

  Jedda looked at Kirrin again, checking his colors. Distress flared around his body.

  “It's okay. We are out of the city now,” Cham said.

  “That will not stop Hak'kar. Don't think for a moment that we are safe,” Kirrin warned.

  “I know,” Jedda said. "But at least we are past immediate danger. Before, he knew exactly where we were, or would be. Now, at least, the man has to look for us. And he has no idea where we are going. How could he, when we have no idea ourselves?” He hoped the same reasoning he'd used on himself would serve to calm Kirrin.

  “Agreed. But Hak'kar has many people who work for him in many capacities. Some simply work as eyes and ears.”

  This was something Jedda knew all too well. He had been 'eyes and ears' for many years, scouring the streets of the city for interesting tidbits of information that he traded to Hak'kar for the coins that kept him fed. Jedda felt a twitch between his shoulder blades, as though someone was watching him, even though no one was around.

  Cham moved his horse closer to the other two. “What else? Is there something more I need to know?”

  Kirrin shut his eyes tight for a moment. Jedda watched, his own worry growing now. He had taken a risk when he had decided to bring Kirrin with them. Kirrin had been Hak'kar's man for many years. Was he really throwing it all away? Jedda's stomach knotted.

  “What have you done?” Jedda asked.

  Kirrin opened his eyes, his hurt expression clear even in the dim light. “Nothing,” he said, voice sharp. Turning to Cham, he asked, "Did you have a plan?”

  “My first goal was to get you both out of the city.”

  “That’s it?" Kirrin gave him an incredulous look. "That’s all you’ve got?”

  “Isn’t that enough?” Jedda asked. He looked back and forth between Kirrin and Cham, as Cham laughed. Kirrin looked horrified. Jedda decided it might be better to keep his mouth shut.

  “I was going to try to head west, across the river, and over the border into Faenyr land.” Cham turned to Kirrin. “Unless you have a better idea?"

  Jedda could tell Cham was watching Kirrin’s colors. He shifted his own awareness, and could see Kirrin was struggling with something.

  “Can you get Jedda to safety?” Kirrin asked.

  “What?!” Cham asked.

  Jedda heard the tone in Kirrin’s voice.

  Kirrin opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. “It might be better if we split up.”

  “What? Where is this coming from?" Jedda asked, panicked.

  Kirrin looked down. “I have something I need to take care of.”

  “What? What could be more important than getting away?”

  “It's my mother,” Kirrin said. “She’s going to be in danger because I've left. I need to go to her.”

  Jedda and Cham both stared at Kirrin, stunned.

  “You’re just telling us this now?!” Cham asked. “What? You’re going to go back into the city now?”

  “Not in the city. No,” Kirrin said. “To the east a bit. Just outside a small village. She’s been under Hak’kar’s supervision. ‘Early retirement’, he called it, to ‘relieve my worry.’”

  Hak’kar’s hostage, he meant. Jedda understood that much.

  “I want to go with you. But I can’t. I cannot leave her in danger. Go ahead without me. I’ll be okay.”

  So this was the distress that Jedda had read in his friend. He looked at Cham, and then back at Kirrin, and back again to Cham. Cham had an unfocused look in his eyes. It was a look Jedda was becoming familiar with. He knew Cham was shifting his awareness to try to
'see' things that ordinary vision could not.

  “It is important for all three of us to remain together,” Cham said, attention focused on Jedda and Kirrin.

  “But I can't. I’m not going to leave her like that.” Kirrin began to turn his horse as he spoke. Decision made.

  “Could we bring her with us?” Jedda asked. The obvious question. He turned to Kirrin. “Would she come?”

  Kirrin stopped Bailey, unsure. “Truth? I don't know. I don’t even know if I can convince her to leave. She knows her circumstances. She understood them before I did--” his voice trailed off.

  “But would she come with us?” Jedda repeated.

  Kirrin shrugged. “I don't know. But she will understand that the danger is real.” He shrugged. “She might.”

  “We cannot offer her safety,” Cham said.

  “So go ahead. I’ll take care of this.”

  Jedda saw Kirrin’s determination. He was going to leave.

  “But--”

  “I can’t leave her where she is. The first thing Hak'kar will do if he has not already is send orders to either bring her to him, or worse, have her killed.”

  Jedda could hear the pain in Kirrin's voice. This was the first real emotion he had ever seen his friend show. Kirrin had always been calm, professional, and distant.

  “Where is she?” Jedda asked. He didn't want harm to come to anyone, especially not on account of his own actions.

  “This road continues north, to the bridge across the river. Not far from there is a small village to the east, she is there, on the outskirts.”

  “So, not very far out of our way?” Cham asked.

  Kirrin shrugged, looking uncertain.

  Jedda glanced at Cham, wondering what he was thinking.

  Cham said, “Perhaps she knows somewhere she can go that would be safe for her.”

  “No,” Kirrin said. “There is nowhere else for her to go.”

  Chapter Two

  “Keep your voices down,” Kirrin said as he slowed Bailey to a walk. “Her cottage is the other side of that stand of trees.” He pointed in the dark toward their right. “Over there, and there, are two neighbors. There’s a third house, just beyond, but that is outside of easy hearing.” He dismounted as he spoke. “We can leave the horses here, so they don’t disturb anyone. There’s a dog in the one house that likes to bark.”

  After securing the horses, Kirrin led them to the cottage. It was dark, except for a reddish glow from a fireplace. They slipped around to the back where Kirrin lifted the latch and opened the door. Its hinges squeaked loudly in the silence.

  They entered a warm kitchen that smelled faintly of baked bread and cinnamon. Kirrin took a lantern down from the shelf, lighting it from a coal in the fire. “Wait here,” he said, crossing the room.

  “Mum,” he called out, knocking sharply on her door.

  “Kirrin?” a voice sounded blearily from the other side. “Is that you? What’s going on? What are you doing here?”

  “Mum, yes, it’s me. Wake up. You need to get up. Now.”

  A woman appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket, wiping her face and pushing her hair back. “What is going on?” she asked, sounding a little more awake and very annoyed.

  Kirrin came back into the kitchen, followed by his mother.

  “What have you gotten into this time?” she asked, sharply.

  “I’ve left Hak’kar’s service. If he doesn’t know yet, he will very soon,” Kirrin said, cutting to the point.

  His mother opened her mouth, closed it again, blinked several times as she tried to wake up and take in what Kirrin had just said at the same time.

  “This is it,” Kirrin said. “You wanted me to get out of this all along. This is it.”

  Kirrin’s mother wiped her face again, finally noticing there were two other people in the room. She looked at them, and then back at Kirrin, a silent question in her eyes.

  “This is Jay, I mean Jedda.” Kirrin corrected. “He is a kid I’ve been mentoring, also leaving Hak’kar. And this,” Kirrin said, nodding toward Cham, “is Cham. Faenyr. He can get us beyond Hak’kar’s reach.”

  His mother pursed her lips, brow furrowed as she listened.

  She nodded, acknowledging their presence. “Call me Tattia."

  Jedda didn't need to read colors to hear the disapproval in her voice. Clearly she didn't think much of Kirrin's choice of friends.

  “This is it, mum,” Kirrin said. “There is never going to be a better chance to get us out from under Hak’kar’s thumb.”

  “In other words, we’re in danger of Hak’kar’s men swooping down at any moment and you’re saying that I need to pick up and move--again.”

  “It was never going to be easy,” Kirrin said

  His mother snorted in response. “No. Of course not. When has your life ever been easy?”

  Jedda shifted his perception, looking into the colors. He watched the swirls around both Kirrin, and his mother, as well as how the colors reacted to each other. Anger, and resentment swirled around Kirrin's mother. Kirrin showed pleading, but resignation. Both of them showed deep love, and a connection. But the colors wouldn't sync up. It was as if each of them were on opposite sides of a river, and they didn't know how to build a bridge.

  Tattia sniffed, turning to look at Cham and Jedda, sizing them up with a mother's scrutiny. Yes, she was angry. Jedda watched, focusing on the colors. Cham gently deflected the anger, sending it into the wind, as though he were unweaving it and helping it to release. In its place were sadness and fear. She was struggling with the absence of her anger. Jedda realized that anger had supported her for a very long time, and now that crutch had dissipated, leaving her off-balance.

  That was new. Jedda didn't know it was possible to interact with the colors; he only knew how to see them.

  “And so once again, it seems, you leave me with a choice, that is no choice at all.” She sounded a little less angry, and Jedda thought she was resigning herself to this change in her circumstances. She looked around the room, scanning it for whatever might be important enough to bring with her. She went over to a desk and pulled out paper and began writing a note.

  “You can't tell anyone,” Kirrin said.

  “I'm leaving a note for Perrin,” his mother said, using a tone that warned them all not to interfere. “The two of us have an understanding. I can leave this where only he will find it. But under no circumstances am I going to take off in the middle of the night, without making sure the one person I care about knows I am safe.”

  Jedda doubted how secure any hiding place might be. He had learned how to ferret out the least likely nooks, and crannies over the several years he had worked for Hak'kar. But he kept silent. It was a chance he was willing to take if it would get this woman to cooperate with them.

  He fidgeted with his pendant, looking into every shadow, and expecting assassins to fly through the windows at any moment. He jumped, knocking into Cham. A dog barked somewhere outside. Cham grabbed his arm, helping him keep his balance. It was only then he realized how wobbly his legs were from being on the horse.

  Tattia finished the note, and folded it neatly, sliding it into an envelope. She tucked the envelope into her sleeve. Then she turned back to the three of them. “I'll need a few moments to gather my things, a change of clothes, and some personal items.”

  “Be quick,” Kirrin said, but his tone was softer, as though he were asking, rather than ordering.

  A few minutes later, she came back, dressed for traveling, with a small bag slung over her shoulder. “You rode in?” she asked.

  Kirrin nodded.

  “I trust you left the horses in the glade out back?”

  Kirrin nodded again. His mother nodded in return. She glanced at Jedda and Cham, looking them over as she spoke. “I have a neighbor on the other side who is too curious for my liking. Likely the woman reports back to Hak'kar.”

  The back door clicked shut with a sound of finality as they stepped out into the
yard.

  Tattia walked around the side of the house, into the back garden. The others followed and found her at the corner of a shed where she tucked the letter into a tiny crack, replacing a loose stone that covered the gap. Jedda nodded his approval. The woman was not a fool.

  Having carried out her one task, she turned and looked at the three of them. “So, what is your plan?”

  Cham said, “I know a place, across the river. Hak'kar's men will have a difficult time finding us. Very difficult, Ma’am.”

  “Oh please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not ancient, or frail. It’s Tattia.” She snorted. “And,” she added, changing her tone, “you clearly do not know your adversary.”

  Cham bowed to her. “True,” he agreed. “I do not. I know he is not a good man and that he is a dangerous man. But he is a man. Chanmyran. Even the best of his men will be out of their element where we are going.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked. “Do you have a plan?”

  “My plan is to keep you, and myself, from getting caught by a man who is very dangerous,” Cham said. “But it might be better if we discuss this while we are moving.” He nodded his head slightly as he spoke, and beneath Cham's calm exterior Jedda sensed that even he felt the danger as each second passed.

  Jedda knew there had been a message from Hak'kar that had requested his presence. How much time did they have before Hak’kar knew they were gone?

  “The message Hak'kar sent to you,” Jedda asked, turning to Kirrin. “Did you respond to it?”

  Kirrin flinched. “Damn the nine hells. No, I didn't respond to the letter. And he will be expecting a response. When he hasn't heard anything, by midday at latest, he will know something is amiss.”

  “Blood of the Red God!” Jedda swore. “I wish I had remembered this before we left.”

  Kirrin's mother stepped forward, grabbing Jedda by one arm and Kirrin by the other. She turned them about with the deftness of a veteran parent and marched them towards the back path. “Did you two not hear the man? We can discuss this while we are moving. So for the love of Breshan, get your backsides in the saddles.”

  Kirrin's mother might not have the least idea what was going on, but she knew her way to the horses and led them through the darkness with ease. Jedda stayed close as they walked through the back gardens and into the woods behind her house. As they left the garden, he gripped her arm tighter.