Moonshadow (49 page)

Thank you Foxwell, for giving me the second home I never thought I’d have.

Her time here had been precious. At first, she had wanted nothing more than to go back home to Indiana; now, she wanted nothing more than to stay. Destiny had dealt Diana and Darien an unforeseen and troublesome hand and there were still so many unanswered questions, both old and new.

As they drove away down the road to uncertainty, not knowing if they would even live to see another sunrise, next to the sadness that Diana felt in her heart at what she was giving up, burned that terribly dangerous notion that could turn the very world upside down—Hope.

—

Diana and Darien's story continues in Book Two of the Moonshadow Legacy,
Shadowstalker.

Epilogue

The stone pavement cracked and lifted as the intensity of her quaking rage rippled from the very tips of her feet and into the pathway that she walked upon. The path of destruction had followed Edea Stoneheart since the moment her foot had touched the ground once she’d stepped from the coach. The sharifons had practically flow for their lives. The encounter with Endymion and his Moonshadow harlot had left the Lady Raven in such a state that all who saw her fled from her path. When she arrived at the stables, there had been quite a queue, but it quickly dissolved, giving Edea the courtesy of riding alone to Lay’Volas.

The silent flight had done little to calm Edea, however, with the horrid scene still very fresh in her mind's eye. For Endymion’s sake, she had given the Moonshadow a choice. Edea could feel how much her brother loved the human the moment she had met her at Zen’Naphalia. By the Dark Depts, she’d actually found herself enjoying the girl’s company as well. The memory only served to fuel Edea’s anger further. The little she-demon certainly knew how to wield her powers of deception with cunning.

If only the Moonshadow had taken the olive branch Edea had extended. Destroy the child and live a normal life—it was definitely more than she would have gotten a millennium ago. The insolence! Not only had she chosen to willfully bring further desolation to the Mother, but she was damning Endymion, and the entire Stoneheart clan, along with her.

I almost stopped it
—
with mother's necklace, I almost prevented it all.

Consumed with rage and frustration, Edea screamed out to the Stone.

The abject audacity of Endymion giving Mother's necklace to a
human.
No; not just a human—a Moonshadow!

When she opened her eyes, Edea found the street corner empty of people and many of the stone edifices and pillars cracked and marred from the intensity of her emotional state. If she did not calm herself, she was going to cause irreparable damage to the city. If only Endymion had not returned when he did, she could have choked the life out of the wretched girl, ending the threat of the insolent creature and her child for good.

A Moonshadow...
How was such a thing even possible? One their kind had not appeared in over a thousand years. Not even the oldest of the Revered Elders had been alive when the last of their kind had been hunted down and put to death. The threat had been neutralized, hadn’t it? There had not been even a whisper of a Moonshadow since those days; not even a hearth tale. Why had one appeared after so long? Had the bloodline not been destroyed? Had the black legacy somehow been passed on through the ages of man, lying dormant, only to appear now? Was this Moonshadow a herald of a new Age of Death and Darkness to come? And to think, the Lady Raven’s own brother had been the one to succumb to the Moonshadow's dark seduction.
Her own flesh and blood
, Endymion had called the abomination. The thought sent shivers of disgust throughout her entire being.

Edea’s anger started to subside once she finally approached the outskirts of Lay'Volas, where her personal air vessel awaited within the dock of the Raven Throne. When Edea stepped into the darkness of the dock, the pilot sensed her return and called on his fire to give life to the vessel’s engines, quickly bathing the shadows in a warm orange glow. Before she boarded her ship to return home, however, the Lady Raven had one last piece of unfortunate business to attend to.

“It is as I feared,” Edea said with remorse, speaking to the shadows to her left.

At her words a flame appeared within in the darkness, giving off just enough light to reveal the visage of the fire mage that held it in his palm. As usual, he wore black from head to toe, with a hooded cloak hiding his masked face. Pulling back the hood and removing the mask revealed his short auburn hair, which was moist and slick with perspiration. He quickly nodded to the Lady Raven with a bowed head of respect.

“The girl is indeed a Moonshadow,” Edea began. “And she has snared my brother with her enchantments.” She could feel the anger begin to rise anew. “Endymion has forsaken everything to serve her and their unholy abomination already grows within the demon's womb.” As Edea turned and started walking to her ship, the shadowy fire mage followed close behind her.

“Zeltair,” she continued. “I asked for you, not only because you are one of the most decorated Shadowstalkers of the last Age, but because your honor and duty to the Naphalei, to the Three Thrones, and to the Temple, is without question.” She reached the door to the vessel and stopped, turning to face Zeltair with sincere pain and regret.

“If anyone can redeem Endymion from the Moonshadow's clutches, it would be you—one of our oldest and dearest friends. Ever since we were children, Zel, only you have been able to make Endo come to his senses.” Edea would have liked to spare Zeltair any more pain from the present situation, but she had to inform him of the rest.

“Your sister has also betrayed us and has thrown her lot in with the Moonshadow.”

If there was any emotional turmoil behind Zeltair's eyes at hearing that Terraiyah had forsaken her honor and duty, he hid it well. Even so, Edea knew how much he loved and cared for his twin. “If the time comes that you must strike down your sister to end the Moonshadow threat, can you bring yourself to do it?”

“If Terra has done as you say, then she has shamed clan Dawnbringer like none other before her. Only her death can restore our honor.”

Edea nodded in reply, having expected as much. Before all others, Zeltair's first duty had always been to the honor of clan Dawnbringer.

“Then go,” she commanded. “Hunt down and destroy the Moonshadow. Annihilate any who would stand beside her and doom our people to desolation.”

“As my Lady Raven commands,” Zeltair replied with a bow of the head and an upraised fist to his chest. He then pulled his black hood over his head and put his mask in place. A moment later, the fire in his hand went out, and the Shadowstalker slipped back into the darkness.

Elberon, did it really have to come to this?
Edea shed another tear for her beloved brother. If Zeltair failed to make him Endo see reason, all that awaited him was the endless terror of the Nightmare.

She brought her hand to her cheek, softly caressing the spot where the she-demon had had the daring to strike her. Edea recalled the feeling of pain and smiled. In the midst of sorrow, she had hope in her heart. Very soon, Zeltair would rain down fire from the heavens and consumed the insolent Moonshadow.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost I would like to thank my wife, Jennifer. Without her inspiration and encouragement, this would never have been possible.
Moonshadow
has been, and always will be, her story.

Secondly, I would like to thank my amazing beta readers, Courtney, Shanaed, and Alex, who ignored our friendship long enough to forget about my feelings and give me the valuable input I needed to mold this story into something I can be proud of. Jenn Estep, my editor, has been  a blessed woman of valor as she sat alongside me and helped mold my chaotic thoughts filled with mythology ( both real and the ones I make up), epic poetry, language theory, and the teachings of Jung and Joseph Campell, into a story that normal people might actually enjoy reading. And a special thanks to my sister, Annie, who passed along a few nuggets of gold as well.

I would also like to thank Opal, Audrey, Cady, Sam, and Andy for being my first group of beta readers when I finished my first draft of
Moonshadow
all those years go. Without your valuable input I probably wouldn’t have gotten very far.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Greg and Marie, who always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and Bill, Penny, and Emmitt for their love and support and for being the best second family I guy could ask for, and for never just treating me like the boy that married their baby girl.