Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) Read online

  Tales of Quelondain:

  Tyler’s Story

  Mireille Chester

  Copyright © 2012 by Mireille Chester

  Published by Mireille Chester

  Smashwords Edition

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any way, shape, or form without the express written permission of the author. For more information, please visit http://mireillechester.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For my niece, Chelsea,

  who asked me to write a book she was allowed to read

  A huge thanks to my beta readers. Dominique, Heidi, and Charla, you guys always manage to make me smile. Thanks for putting my doubts to rest every time I start to get nervous.

  Hugs to my family for putting up with all of the time I spend on my laptop.

  Kisses to my online family. Finding all of you was a godsend.

  Prologue

  Tyler knelt beside Jenna, a frown squinting his dark brown eyes.

  “I’m fine.” She shifted her weight and sucked in a breath. He put more pressure on the gash on her leg, trying to get the bleeding to stop.

  “I told you I was only going to be gone a few minutes. What in the world was so important it couldn’t wait until I got back?”

  “I wanted a drink.”

  Tyler’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry. I should have put the packs closer to where you could reach them.”

  She shook her head. “I should have just waited.” She tried to hide the pain as he put more pressure on the cut. “I still think you should have gone with the pack. You can tell them which way to go.” Jenna’s light grey eyes caught his and his heart jumped. He made himself more comfortable and shook his head.

  “Trent put me in charge of guarding you. I don’t think leaving you alone in the woods with injuries qualifies as keeping you safe.” He gave her a lopsided grin and was rewarded with a snort. She tucked her long dark brown hair behind her ears. He frowned and shook his head. “Good guardian I turned out to be…”

  Jenna laughed and he glanced at her before turning his attention back to her leg. He was sure the bleeding was slowing but didn’t want to take the pressure off to check.

  “You were fighting three of them when this happened to me. What were you supposed to do? Ask them to hang on a minute while you came to give me a hand? Besides, you got the one that did this.” She touched his arm lightly. His heart gave its customary jump at the feel of her hand. He felt the blood start to rise into his face and he looked away from her.

  By the moons, she’s your brother’s mate, he scowled at himself. Or at least she would be as soon as all of the fighting was done and Trent made his way back home. Damn his twin for leaving him in this situation. He’d had a good thing going with Bree. No. It had been a good thing for Bree. By the moons, how could a woman be so ignorant? No. If he ever did find anyone, he hoped it would be someone like Jenna, or his Aunt Hayden. He wanted to laugh at himself; someone like his mom. A woman who could fight, hunt, and fish; one who didn’t mind a little hard work.

  He concentrated on the blood under his hands which helped keep his mind off of the fact that Jenna was sitting, leaning back against a tree and that he was kneeling between her legs. His heart was still pounding with the adrenaline of the fight and he took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

  “Are you alright?” She rubbed his arm and even though his head knew she couldn’t feel anything for him because she was fated to Trent, his body refused to agree.

  “I’m fine.”

  She shrugged, leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Do you think we stand a chance?”

  He nodded then realized she couldn’t see him. “Yes. I do. If there is anyone out there who can do this, it’s Aunt Hayden.”

  “But if Braw touches her with his staff…” She let the comment hang in the air.

  “If that happens, I suppose you won’t have to worry about the great scar that gash is going to leave on your leg. I can’t believe they killed Marie. Everyone knows a healer isn’t to be harmed.” A small growl made its way up his throat.

  “Maybe that was the point. If she was dead, then more of the injured would have less of a chance of living.”

  “True.”

  Tyler felt a pressure in his chest and he took a deep breath to get rid of it. When that didn’t work, he rolled his shoulders and stretched from side to side.

  “What’s wrong?” Jenna was frowning. She leaned towards him.

  “Nothing. I just… I must have pulled something during the fight.” The pressure in his chest was getting stronger. He struggled to suck in his breaths.

  “Tyler!”

  He felt heat waves roll through him, his head started to spin and his vision gradually blurred.

  “Tyler!” Somewhere in the fog he heard Jenna yell his name before he felt the ground hit his back as he fell. He heard someone scream and realized it was himself. Something deep inside of him ripped apart and everything momentarily went dark.

  “Ty…!” Jenna’s yell cut off just as the pain receded. He lay on his back, his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. A sob raked through him and Jenna’s echoed his.

  “Trent!” The name escaped his lips as a moan. He reached up and pulled Jenna to his chest, her tears soaking into his tunic. “Please, no,” he whispered. But even as he said the words, he wrapped his arms around her and knew. His brother, his twin, wouldn’t be coming back.

  Chapter One

  Tyler lay with his hands behind his head in the tall blue grass by the waterfall. The sun warmed him and he smiled. His mind wandered to the crossing not too far from where he was. The hill crossing, they called it. It was where his Uncle Jasper had first seen Aunt Hayden. Not having had the pleasure of being fated himself, he couldn’t try to imagine the shock his uncle had felt when he’d found he was fated to the Chosen One. He chuckled. He wasn’t sure what would have been a greater shock; the fact that she was the one who would save their world, or the fact that she was a Wedelve and human crossbreed that had been raised in the other world.

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He missed them. He missed all of them. He thought of his mom and dad, of what they must be going through at this very moment. It had been almost five years since the shifters had fought the humans in Paradin and defeated them. A growl made its way up his throat. Damn Braw and all of his foolish notions. Thankfully, his Aunt Hayden had been able to defeat the human dictator and destroy his evil staff before he’d been able to use it to wipe out every shifter in Quelondain. There was no doubt in his mind that once the Namaels and the Majs had been eradicated the idiot would have moved on to the other beings native to this world.

  He took another deep breath. Too many beings had died because of that man. He swallowed hard and tried to fill the emptiness he felt with a few more breaths. He had known that today of all days would be hard. This day a year ago had been agonizing and today wasn’t showing any signs of being any different. He’d managed to keep all thoughts of his brother away for the first hour he’d been awake. Now that his twin had entered his mind, it was impossible to push the memories back down. He tried to block the sensation of being torn apart the instant Trent had been killed. He couldn’t remember one time in his entire life when he and T
rent had been separated for more than a few hours until his brother had decided it would be safer to live away from home when he’d found Jenna, the one he’d been fated to. He’d told Tyler he was sure he wouldn’t be able to keep from bonding to her if they stayed near each other and had asked him to keep her safe until after the war on Paradin.

  This thought required another deep breath on his part. He’d managed to keep her alive, though it had been a close call on more than one occasion. Leaving her in Sageden once they had made it back home had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. The breeze blew his shaggy dark brown hair into his face and he bushed it away. Brave Jenna with her nerves of steel and fighting skills equal to any Namael or Maj guard he knew. He remembered how she’d almost broken his cheekbone the first time they’d sparred because he’d underestimated her. From the instant he’d felt Trent die he’d known; there was no way he’d be able to stay in Sageden. There was too much there to remind him of the brother he’d lost. Every bone in his body had told him to bring Jenna along. He’d spent hours arguing with himself over the matter. He’d finally had to admit to himself that he was starting to fall in love with his brother’s mate and that had been the deciding factor for leaving her behind. She was Trent’s, not his, and the guilt he felt over his feelings for her made it impossible for him to bring her along. Beautiful Jenna with her dark brown hair and penetrating light grey eyes. He tried not to think about how he’d wiped her tears and hugged her close before kissing her softly and leaving.

  He groaned and shook his head to rid himself of the past. A chirp overhead helped bring him back to the present. The blue bird landed on his knee as he sat up to welcome her.

  “Hello, there.”

  A picture of the two of them flashed in his mind and a feeling of happiness accompanied it. He smiled.

  “I’m glad you’re here, too.” He patted her little head. “How were things in Sageden?”

  Pictures of his friends and family popped into his head as the bird relayed feelings to go with them. He held his breath until she was done. “They’re all fine?”

  She bobbed her head in answer and lifted her wing to reveal the note his mother had tied to her leg which he carefully removed.

  Dear Tyler,

  Just a quick note to let you know that everyone here is fine. We all wish you a good day on your birthday. Here’s hoping you find yourself in good company. We miss you.

  Love,

  Mom and Dad

  He folded the note and tucked it into his pack. “Well, I can’t think of anybody else I’d rather be sitting here with on my birthday.” He patted the little blue head. “Though I can’t for the life of me think of why you insist on coming back to me. I don’t imagine I’m much fun to be around.”

  The blue bird flashed a picture of the two of them and a feeling of quiet. He smiled. “Yes, it is nice and quiet here, isn’t it.

  The two of them watched the waterfall for a few moments.

  “Well, I’m going to go hunt for my birthday supper.” Tyler smiled as she showed him images of some rabbits in the clearing not too far from where they were. “Thank you.” He frowned and tilted his head to the side, then scrambled behind some bushes as something made its way through the woods in their direction. The bird flashed images of him tackling a doe as they watched two of them bound past where he’d just been sitting.

  “Not likely,” he chuckled. “I want to live to make it to my nineteenth birthday.” He looked up again as a buck followed behind the does. His throat tightened as he remembered the buck he’d helped bring down while out hunting with his dad and brother. He was starting to get up when the sound of something smaller than the deer made its way to his ears. A coyote loped into the little clearing and stopped short at the sight of Tyler’s pack and blanket on the ground. It whined, looked in the direction the deer had gone, and turned back to the pack before his form blurred and he shifted.

  Tyler frowned. The boy didn’t seem much older than fourteen and he wondered why someone who hadn’t turned of age yet was running without a pack. He grunted to himself. He wasn’t exactly in a position to judge. He’d only been thirteen when he’d left Sageden to be on his own, still two years away from being considered an adult, and yet he’d done just fine on his own.

  The boy ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, his dark grey eyes darting around nervously as he glanced around. He took a deep breath and knelt so he could look through the pack on the ground.

  “Well, that’s enough of that,” Tyler muttered to himself. He stood and strode toward the other Maj. “Hey, now! Those are my things!”

  The boy jumped to his feet, dropped the pack, shifted, and bolted into the woods.

  “Wait!” Tyler watched to see if the coyote would be back then got busy getting his things hidden when it became obvious that it wouldn’t. He still needed to go hunting and didn’t want to take the chance that the boy would be back.

  The bird chirped and flashed a picture of the coyote in human form and Tyler felt the sadness it felt at the sight of him.

  “You’re right. He’s not well.” He remembered how thin he had looked. “Can you find him?”

  She bobbed her head and flew away. Tyler shifted into a grey wolf and headed in the opposite direction toward the meadow and the hill crossing. Maybe that was what he needed to do, he thought to himself. He should try to get himself a crossing stone and cross over to the other world. As soon as the thought entered his head he rejected the idea. His uncle had told him it was the most painful thing he’d ever done. He tried to imagine how it would feel to live without his wolf half and shuddered. It seemed impossible. How would a being hunt?

  He spotted a dark brown rabbit in the shade of a tree and his mind focused on the hunt. He let the wolf take over and though it would have been easier had he had another dog with him to help, he was well trained and the rabbit met a painless death as he clamped his jaws on the back of its neck after a short chase.

  His form blurred and he felt all of his bones rearrange themselves as he turned back into his human form. He grabbed the rabbit and started walking back to his campsite.

  “I wonder if Bird found him,” he wondered to himself. He set himself to the task of lighting a fire so he could cook his supper. He felt the bird’s irritation even before she had made it back to the clearing. He looked up as she settled herself on a branch not too far from him. “What happened?”

  Pictures of her flying along flashed through his head. He saw her spotting the coyote as he ran away, saw him turn to look up at her as she swooped down to try and talk to him. Tyler’s deep brown eyes widened as the image turned to one of him stopping short.

  “He tried to eat you?” A growl made its way up his throat. “What did you do?”

  A picture of the bird pecking the coyote on the nose made him laugh.

  “Well, he deserved it.” He checked on the rabbit over the fire. “Is he gone?”

  She bobbed her head.

  “Alright.”

  She flashed a picture of him with his pack on his back and his blankets rolled.

  He nodded. “I’ll be heading out in the morning.”

  He saw his parents reading a note.

  “If you don’t mind. You just got back.”

  She did her impression of a head shake and showed the two of them together again and a feeling of questioning.

  “Of course you can come back.” He pulled the rabbit off and set it aside to cool while he wrote a note to his parents.

  Dear Mom and Dad,

  I’ve spent the past week at the waterfall near the hill crossing. Tell Aunt Hayden that she’s right; it is beautiful here. I’m going to be heading farther south tomorrow and am thinking of stopping in Growlen to top up my supplies.

  I love and miss you both. Give everyone a hug from me and please thank them all for the birthday wishes.

  Love,

  Tyler

  He carefully tied the note to the bird’s leg and gave her a pat on the
head. “I’ll be in Growlen in about a week or so. I’ll wait for you there.” He felt more than saw her smile then watched as she flew toward Sageden and his family.

  Once supper was eaten he busied himself setting out his blankets for the night. He’d have to sleep lightly just in case that boy decided to come back, but he wasn’t too worried about it. If he was running at the sight of Tyler, chances were he wouldn’t pose a threat. Tyler frowned. One of the first things he’d be sure to tell him if he came back was that Bird was off limits in terms of snacks. He shook his head. Who in the world tried to eat blue birds? There was nothing to them.

  He took a deep breath and looked at the two moons appearing in the darkening sky.

  “Happy birthday, Trent.” He closed his eyes and wished that for his birthday, tonight, he wouldn’t dream of the moment his brother had died.

  Chapter Two

  The sun was high in the sky and the warm rays streamed through the trees. Tyler looked up and smiled. The Blue Woods. He never tired of being here. The dark blue trunks with their even darker blue leaves varied in shades of blue greens to midnight purples. It was the only place he knew of in Quelondain where the grass beside the streams and lakes was green instead of blue.

  He adjusted his pack on his shoulder and hopped onto a fallen log before jumping to the ground on the other side. Bird had asked him why he chose to travel on two feet when he could get where he was going much quicker on four. He’d shrugged. He wasn’t really in a hurry to get anywhere. In fact, other than the odd town he would enter to stock up his supplies, he really didn’t have anywhere specific he wanted to go. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn’t want to be in Sageden. The sound of the woods around him; the birds chirping, the small animals scurrying, the wind blowing through the brush, all of it was so familiar and comfortable that when he did enter a town nowadays, the hustle and bustle of it all made him edgy and nervous. It was rare for him to stay for more than a day or two before he was back in the woods.