Monsters & Mist Read online

  Monsters & Mist

  Taylor Fenner

  Contents

  Also by Taylor Fenner

  ESTERNWHORL:

  Vacantia

  Lostero

  Perscesia

  Kirsi

  PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

  Part I

  Prologue

  History of Esternwhorl #1

  1. Andromeda

  History of Esternwhorl #2

  Chapter 2

  History of Esternwhorl #3

  3. Thane

  History of Esternwhorl #4

  4. Andromeda

  History of Esternwhorl #5

  5. Thane

  History of Esternwhorl #6

  Chapter 6

  History of Esternwhorl #7

  7. Thane

  History of Esternwhorl #8

  8. Andromeda

  History of Esternwhorl #9

  9. Andromeda

  History of Esternwhorl #10

  10. Thane

  History of Esternwhorl #11

  Intermission

  Pavo

  Part II

  Vanyia

  11. Lyra

  12. Andromeda

  13. Cygni

  14. Andromeda

  15. Andromeda

  16. Ezra

  17. Shroudania

  18. Lostero

  19. Andromeda

  20. Vanyia

  21. Cygni

  22. Thane

  23. Andromeda

  24. Thane

  25. Andromeda

  26. Andromeda

  27. Octavia

  28. Cygni

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Taylor Fenner

  The Haunting Love

  Finding Elizabeth

  The Eternals Trilogy:

  Out of Darkness

  Into the Light

  Through the Fog

  Eternal Fire (Eternals Trilogy Novelette)

  Night of Terror & Other Assorted Stories

  CurseBreaker

  Headless

  Monsters & Mist

  First Edition

  Copyright © 2021 by Taylor Fenner

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  First Publication March 2021

  Print ISBN: 9798697846926

  Cover Created By: The Cover Collection

  Created with Vellum

  To Saint Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes.

  From depression and disinterest to formatting and software issues, I was afraid this book would never become a reality but I’m so glad it did.

  ❖

  And to my grandmother, Bonnie Fenner, one last time. I wish you could have had the chance to finish reading this one.

  ESTERNWHORL:

  The 5 Kingdoms

  SHROUDANIA

  The largest of the three kingdoms

  Hot, desert climate

  Biggest industry is steel and metalworks

  CAPITAL: Cloacvania

  CURRENT RULER: King Alem of House Dacari

  Vacantia

  First kingdom to gain independence from Shroudania

  Mountain, grassy, and rocky coastal terrain

  Biggest industry is fishing and trading of crops

  CAPITAL: Vanyia

  CURRENT RULER: King Pavo and Queen Lyra of House Golongai

  Lostero

  Smallest of the three kingdoms

  Split terrain and climate; temperate forest to the north and barren permafrost lands to the south

  Governed by Shroudania, biggest export: slaves, wood, beef

  CAPITAL: None

  CURRENT RULER: King Alem of House Dacari (Usurper); King Dao of House Noori (Dethroned)

  Perscesia

  Undrasea Kingdom

  Closed from trade with other kingdoms

  Highly technologically and medically advanced

  CAPITAL: Faeloria

  CURRENT RULER: Queen Carina of the House of Faeta

  Kirsi

  The Starborn kingdom

  Inaccessible from any other kingdom save for natives born there, borders closed

  An all-female kingdom

  CAPITAL: None

  CURRENT RULER: Adventrya, Goddess of Stars and Skies

  PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

  Andromeda - Ann-drom-eh-duh

  Thane - Thay-ne

  Daegan - Day-gan

  Cygni - Cig-knee

  Lyra - Leer-a

  Octavia - Ock-tay-via

  Zarouk - Za-rook

  Faeta - Fay-ta

  Mellouk - Mel-ook

  Baster - Bas-ter

  Nalley - Nah-lee

  Adventrya - Ad-ven-tree-uh

  Shroudania - Shroud-ay-knee-a

  Vacantia - Va-can-tee-a

  Lostero - Los-ter-o

  Perscesia - Per-se-she-a

  Kirsi - Ker-c

  Cloacvania - Cloak-vay-knee-a

  Vanyia - Vahn-yuh

  Faeloria - Fay-lore-ee-a

  Draco mare - Drac-o mare

  Wuju - Woo-coo

  Pavo - Pa-vo

  Corvi - Core-vee

  Veyla - Vee-la

  Harcule - Har-q-le

  Ajax - A-jax

  Ezra - Ez-ra

  Sydra - Ci-dra

  Serpane -Sir-pain

  Sithryn -Sith-rin

  Antila - Ann-tee-a

  Astraea - A-stray-a

  Charon - Sharon

  Jidhu - Gee-d-who

  Kaledulsecide - Cal-dull-da-side

  Part I

  “They appear at the unholiest of hours, breaking not only rules, but fragile hearts.”

  - Olde Vacantian Proverb

  Prologue

  Vacantia, 13th day of the Rain Season, Current Empire Year 982

  The young woman wore simple black clothing that scratched her sensitive skin and a hooded cloak that billowed in the heavy sea wind and concealed her shock of mahogany hair. Her unusual silver eyes stared out onto the sea beyond the cliffside where she stood on that misty morning, her expression the perfect picture of grief and insanity.

  Things were bad, very bad. If her husband returned from his trip to the capital and found that the child she’d carried died during child birth he’d throw her out once and for all. He already suspected that the child wasn’t his and for it to have died, well, that would be the last straw. He’d keep their elder daughter and bar Lyra from even saying her own child’s name as was the custom in Vacantia if a woman had been suspected of adultery. She’d have nothing, no bargaining chip, no coin to her name.

  Out of self-preservation, the young woman had fled from their mountain top home in the middle of the night and made the rocky three day journey to the coastal lands with a wicked plan in mind. If her husband wanted another baby, she’d give him another baby.

  Lyra didn’t have much time. She’d have to steal into one of the coastal huts and locate a newborn to pass off as her own. When she’d slipped into town the night before she’d put out feelers at the local tavern, pretending to be a nanny in search of work. Surely even the coastal towns had need of such a woman, but she was turned away. There were only three newborns in this coa
stal village, the tavern owner had told her, all boys, but like most coastal families none of the parents had the money to keep a nanny.

  With this knowledge the woman with the unusual eyes, who had introduced herself not by her true name of Lyra but as the common coastal name Estel, had slunk into the shadows, waiting for the right time to act. Her husband would be overjoyed when she told him he had a son and all thoughts of her infidelity would be forgotten. As for the parents of the child she would take as her own, she figured it would be a kindness the woman reasoned as she peered out onto the calm waters. In such a poor area families would probably rejoice at one less mouth to feed.

  Across the sea, the mist thinned as a patch of sunlight broke through. The woman cocked her head to the side in curiosity as a strange sight came into view.

  Another young woman with light brown hair sat beached on a cluster of rocks half submerged twenty yards out on the sea. Oblivious to watchful eyes spying on her, the strange woman sat unashamedly naked cradling a bundle of something wrapped in sea netting in her arms. The bundle squirmed and as the woman on the cliffside honed her gaze, she realized the squirming bundle was a baby.

  The woman on the cliffside’s mouth curled into a devious smile as she watched the young mother on the rock below tending to her child. A new plan began formulating in her mind as she threw back her hood and started for the shoreline.

  ❖

  The young woman on the rock noticed a change in the air almost immediately. She cuddled her newborn daughter closer to her breast as she scanned her surroundings. The ridge of her spine stiffened as the mist around her grew thicker. With more mist than moisture in the air the woman’s skin began to feel hard, like it was stretched to the limits over her bones. She had to get her baby back to the safety of their home before all the moisture left the air.

  Wrapping the sea netting covering her baby for protection the young mother slid off the rock and into the sea. Though the Landborn steered clear of the water, citing it too cold to bathe or swim in, the young mother didn’t notice the cold. She was used to it, felt the water running through her like her life’s blood. As her flesh met the tide the sea enveloped her, recognizing one of its’ own in her and her child.

  The young mother didn’t see the other woman standing on the shoreline. The woman watching her was camouflaged among the rocks. In the early morning mist the rocks on the shoreline glistened like large black sculptures, polished into fine glass by the sea.

  On the shoreline, Lyra raised her hand, feeling the power of the water rushing up to fill her. The waters’ power caressed her like a lover as she curled her fingers toward her outstretched palm. In the sea beyond, the water became choppy as whitecaps brushed the surface.

  The young mother scanned the water for the source of the disturbance but Lyra remained hidden on the shoreline.

  “Bring me what I desire most,” Lyra whispered firmly to the sea.

  The sea roared in response, protesting Lyra’s request initially before sending a strong current toward the mother bobbing violently in the black depths. Just as the young mother began to sink beneath the growing waves a force stronger than the sea itself thrust the young mother out of the water, hurtling her onto the rock she’d been lying on. Her baby flew out of her arms, drifting toward the shoreline in the current.

  “No,” the young mother cried as her screams were swallowed by the wind.

  A satisfied smile skittered across Lyra’s face as the baby was carried to her on the waves. The child’s mother dove into the sea but the current forced her in the opposite direction carrying the shrieking woman further out to sea. Lyra finally lost sight of her as the sea swallowed the woman, dragging her deep beneath its’ surface.

  Hearing a gurgle, Lyra looked down and laid eyes on the most beautiful child she had ever seen. Scooping the squirming baby into her arms, Lyra backed away from the shore. Smoothing the curl of downy chestnut brown hair off the baby’s strange blue-gray forehead and meeting the child’s wide, intelligent golden gaze Lyra cooed, “hello there, baby girl. Though you’re not the boy I wanted, you will be mine and I will call you Andromeda.”

  ❖

  Lyra took the child home and when her husband returned a day later from selling his wares to the wealthy members of court in the capital she introduced Andromeda as their new daughter. When her husband questioned the child’s strange complexion, Lyra explained it away as an illness. Lyra did not yet know what she had done or the consequences that would befall all of Vacantia for the child she had stolen.

  Andromeda would grow and thrive in her new home on the mountain top even as the sea and its’ people tried to reclaim what it had lost. The women in the village would whisper for years to come about the strange beautiful child with the trident-shaped birthmark below her right eye - a sure sign that she was something “else” - who was growing up in the Mistsplitter household. In the marketplace and after Saturday prayer the women congregated in the shadows and alleyways, telling stories of Lyra Mistsplitter selling her soul to the sea and taking a Waterborn lover behind her husband’s back, but Grus Mistsplitter loved his youngest daughter and chose to ignore the harsh gossip of the women in the village.

  Grus’s belief in his wife wouldn’t stop Lyra from abandoning her family one day however, and that loss would be felt in the family for years to come like a phantom limb that still gives the illusion of being wholly there.

  History of Esternwhorl #1

  The Beginning

  In the beginning, before the mountains of Vacantia or the seaports of Shroudania there was nothing but dark matter and the gods that lived within. Among them was Zarouk, the oldest and most powerful god.

  Zarouk fell in love with the goddess, Faeta. He begged her to be his and Faeta told him, “contain me Zarouk and I will be yours forever.”

  So Zarouk created Esternwhorl and contained Faeta within, making her the sea goddess. As a gift to his love Zarouk created a large land mass in the center of Esternwhorl and populated it with the world’s first humans to entertain his love. When the humans asked for nourishment, Zarouk stocked the land and Faeta’s boundless seas with animals to sustain the humans. The humans worshipped Faeta and Zarouk by building many temples in their honor.

  Faeta kept the world safe in her watery embrace and Zarouk loved her from afar, only to meet with Faeta once a year during the sailor’s moon. The children borne from their coupling were called Waterborn and they easily stood out with hair the color of rich soil and intelligent silver eyes. These Waterborn children were believed to be divinely blessed for they could walk on land and command the sea like their goddess mother.

  This went on smoothly for a time, but I must tell you of Zarouk’s jealous brother, Mellouk who was delegated to be god of the mist. He also loved the beautiful Faeta and was determined to split her from Zarouk.

  Mellouk clouded Esternwhorl with a thick mist called fog that blinded Zarouk from seeing Faeta and the rest of Esternwhorl and appeared to his brother. Mellouk told Zarouk that Faeta had taken a human lover and no longer loved him.

  In his rage, when the fog cleared Zarouk brought down his mighty fist in the center of the land of Esternwhorl, splitting the land into three uneven pieces. The largest would become the wealthy, powerful land of Shroudania home to tall, blond-haired, cobalt-eyed people with tanned skin, the next largest island was claimed as the rugged sea dependent lands of Vacantia home to olive skinned, dark-haired people with startling violet eyes, and the smallest island became the poverty stricken lands of Lostero whose people were cursed with skin so pale it was nearly translucent, hair the color of violently colored red autumn leaves, and eyes so dark they were nearly black.

  Zarouk appealed to the most prosperous family on each island, promising them wealth and immense power for them and their descendants if they would turn their backs on the sea goddess, Faeta and instead worship a new goddess, Zarouk’s younger sister Nalley, appointed the goddess of land.

  The greedy new Kings agreed and Fa
eta’s temples were destroyed and replaced with temples for Nalley. The Waterborn, no longer considered blessed, were hunted across all the lands until they all died out or went into hiding. Seeing their gods fighting amongst themselves the humans picked up the idea of war and strife rippled between the countries for many years to come. It was a very bleak time.

  With Shroudania being the largest and most prosperous of the three islands, they soon gained control of Vacantia and Lostero and enslaved their people. Vacantia, rich with fish and precious stones hidden in the mountains became Shroudania’s seaport. The first king of Shroudania put all the men of Vacantia to work as fisherman and miners to supply Shroudania with delicacies from the sea and the king with jewels for his palace. The women of Vacantia were some of the most beautiful in the three kingdoms and most were sent on large ships over to Shroudania for the wealthy men to keep as mistresses. Those deemed unworthy of service to the men of Shroudania were left to work in the mines alongside their men.