A Castle of Ashes (The Fifth Kingdom Book 2)
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Authors: Lisa M. James
The Fifth kingdom
A Castle of Ashes
Lisa M. James
Copyright ©2016 by Lisa James
All rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews—without written permission from its publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, or to other works is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2016 by Lisa James
All rights reserved.
Contents
*…Do you fear that the shadows are not finished with us yet?*
*I fear more of what they will do when they are….*
PrologueWake up precious one. It’s time to start the day.
Lucinda gasped for air. She sat up, in her dirtied gold and green gown and tried to orient herself with her surroundings. She opened her eyes wide, looking around her as she steadied her breathing.
Where am I?
She thought. The waters had washed her up onto pure, white sand. There she had lain unconscious, dreaming of her mother, but for how many days she did not know. Sand was all she could see in the distance. She struggled to her feet and tripped on the hem of her gown. Her feet were bare. She had lost her shoes in the passage, but how had she made it to land?
She remembered the shadows approaching her. She ran into the sea in order to escape them. The sea, her only constant companion in her life and her comfort on her hardest days; it was natural for her to run to it. Yet, where she planned to go that night she was uncertain. She knew she needed to escape. She had learned to swim as a young child, but just a few steps into the water and the sea had swallowed her whole.
The Green Eyed Witch,
someone had called her. They had blamed her for the fire when it was Nigina who had caused it. Nigina, the dead body Lucinda had left behind as she ran into the waters. She couldn’t think of it now. She couldn't think of any of it. She needed to know where she was.
She ripped the heavy gown off of her body, only leaving her white undergown. The sun was beaming down onto the sand, but each step was surprisingly cool under Lucinda’s feet. Water seemed to be bordering every direction of the land as Lucinda walked the parameter. Toward the center of the island, she saw what looked like a dark hill in the distance. As she approached it, she realized it wasn’t a hill at all, but an expanse of rubble and ash, almost as high as it was wide. The texture under her feet transformed as the sand underneath her was replaced by grass, ash and soot. Piles and piles of black ash made up the hill and some sparse objects were visible within it. She could see what seemed to be the fragments of marble columns decorating the debris. She laid a flat palm on the marble.
The remnants of a castle,
she thought.
An image came to her mind of the Ancient Queen facing her betrayers as the castle walls crumbled before the fire consumed her.
Nycilla,
she thought.
No, this couldn’t be.
Ever since Lucinda entered the West the memories of the Queen came to her mind. Some days she even swore that the Queen would speak through her and use her. How else could she explain the moments where she couldn’t make sense of her words, or when her memory failed her? Something sharp scratched at the sole of her feet. She bent down and cleared the debris to reveal the object. Lucinda let out a scream and tumbled backward into the ash. Intermixed in the rubble were human bones.
Could it be? Could this really be where the Fifth Kingdom once stood?
Lucinda took a deep breath. She stood up and continued to rummage through the ash, marble and bones. She picked up a piece of broken glass near her and looked at her reflection. Had she grown so much in one summer? Her green eyes stared back at her, tired from her journey. How was she going to get home? Where was home for her anymore? She could not return to the East Kingdom. She had disrespected and embarrassed her father. She had become everything he feared she would become. She could not return to the West Kingdom. They surely blamed her for the fire the night of the celebration. She continued to look at her reflection for several moments in the shard glass, seeking for an answer. The more she looked at it, the less the image looked like her. Suddenly, she saw a woman, older than her. She had Lucinda’s green eyes, but thinner than hers. The eyes were staring into Lucinda’s as the reflection looked back at her with a sinister smile.
“What do you want from me Nycilla?” Lucinda cried as she crushed the glass in her hand and let the pieces cut her palm. She let the blood drip unto the debris as she started to cry. She let her tears mix with the blood and ash as she laid down in the rubble. She was worn. She did not know where she was and she did not know how to get back home. She felt her mother’s necklace around her. “Mother!” She cried. “Mother!” Her mother was dead. She was alone, and abandoned in the ruins. She would die here and no one would know of it. She would become just another pile of bones. “Someone help me!” She cried in desperation. “Help me…” She said softer as her eyelids became heavy and she drifted to sleep.
A cool breeze floated around Lucinda. She felt as if she was shaking or if someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes wide and sat up quickly, thrusting her hands in front of her.
“It’s alright Princess! It’s alright!”
“Geenessa?” The large green eyes and friendly smile of her governess stared back at her. Her blond hair swinging loosely as she knelt in the rubble by Lucinda. “I don’t understand. How are you here? How did you find me?”
Geenessa smiled and wrapped Lucinda in a deep green robe. “We heard you calling for help and we entered the waters. The Green Sea brought us to you.”
“We?” Lucinda asked in confusion. Geenessa extended a hand to Lucinda and raised her to her feet. Surrounding the rubble and ash around her were a hundred men and women.
“We have come to help you restore the kingdom,
Your
Kingdom. “ Geenessa smiled brightly. “Queen Lucinda.”
“Queen Lucinda.” The people responded in unison as they knelt before her.