Layla, p.1
Layla, page 1
Layla: Born at Night
Book 3.1 Ian’s Realm Saga
D.L. Gardner
Layla: Born at Night
Ian’s Realm Saga
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are works of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Dianne Lynn Gardner
Anniversary Edition @ 2023
published by the author D.L. Gardner
Cover Art D.L. Gardner and Mid Journey
And Mario Teosodio
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any matter without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Hacatine’s Desire
The Beginning
News of Tod
Going in
Trouble
The Boy Ivar
Layla
The Raft
Parting Ways
The Serpent
Elisa’s Gone
Brad’s Journey
Silvio’s prognosis
Prisoner
What we Want
The Blue Light
Whomticker
The Cell Phone
To Shore
The Old Goat
In the Reeds
Kaempern Advance
The Lean-to
The Gold Aura
The Dragon Shield
Longboats
The Dragon
PART II Fallen Morning | Aftermath
Not so Sweet
From the Plains
Tackling Memories
Brad’s Polygraph
The Isle of Taikus
Hacatine
Simbatha
The Sea Serpents
Back home
The Magic Thief
Staying Together
A Hot Beam
The Question
The Survivor
The Way of Wizards
Dreams of a Slave Boy
Celebration Begins
The Test
He’s Gone
Fire on the mountain
Pursuit
In the Wake of a Nightmare
Trust
Moored
Whomticker
Piercing the Portal
Taming of the Slave
Stalking
Stealth
One Last One
Spies in the Castle
Abbi’s conquest
A Traitor’s Miracle
Retaliation
Rolando
The Call
Doom
Home
Portal Travel
Acknowledgments
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About the Author
Hacatine’s Desire
THE BELLS RANG A WARNING that reverberated over the entire island of Taikus, the wharf, through the misty hills, and to the barracks below the castle. In her one-room flat, Layla listened with dread, hairbrush in her hand, eyes peeled to the reflection in the copper looking glass. The light of the lantern flickered behind her. Those were the chimes heralding the sea serpents, Hacatine’s spies, bringing news from the mainland. They were the bells of war, and having just received a promotion, to Layla they were the sound of deployment.
“Let’s go, Layla,” Jasmine called, banging on the door. Layla sighed, tied her hair back with a leather lace, threw on her fur vest, and buckled the belt that still carried her sword and daggers.
“It was only yesterday we returned,” she panted as she stepped outside and jogged next to her friend. “Is there no rest for the weary?”
“Rest means dead to Hacatine,” Jasmine replied.
They met with the other women and broke into a run up the white stone trail to the castle. Dark hair flew in the wind, beads beat against their tunics, their arms laced with leather guards. The silk of their shalwar rippled as they hurried, their quivers slapped against their backs. Moccasins lined with fur pulsed in unison over the road. But when they came to the stairs, all but Layla halted in formation, for her sisters were mere soldiers waiting for orders. Layla would approach the queen alone.
“Good fortune, to you,” Jasmine whispered as Layla left her side and drew near to the golden lions keeping watch over the porticos. Layla snickered. Fortune would be the last thing Hacatine handed out to anyone.
It was not protocol for the queen to meet her soldiers outside. It suited the sorceress to have her commanding officer bow at her feet in the throne room as she dictated her orders. That was the one thing Layla despised about her queen. Why didn’t Hacatine show leadership in the way she trained her soldiers? Did the woman even know how to fight?
No one greeted Layla as she entered the corridor, none save for the serpents chained to the ceiling still dripping wet from their journey through the sea. Black beasts of incredible length, like the great eels who slithered through the depths of the ocean. Their wings were now fastened to their sides so they couldn’t escape. Their wards, women like herself who had been trained for the task, stood high on marble columns whispering to the beasts to calm them. Layla pulled her perfumed headscarf over her face to drown the stench and moved through the hall quietly so as not to cause a distraction. They were terrifying creatures. Though Hacatine’s methods of restraining the serpents had proven faultless, Layla wondered what destruction they’d cause were they to break their chains. Surely these giants had the strength. The songs of the wards were all that kept them docile.
Once at the throne room, she nodded to the gate keeper standing by the entry. The woman cracked the door open.
“Ah, Layla,” the queen said when Layla stepped inside, and the doors were closed behind her.
“My queen.” Layla hurried down the aisle and took her place at the woman’s feet, kneeling. She kissed the ring presented to her and waited for Hacatine’s instruction to rise.
“I have orders for you,” the queen stated, and walked away from her. “I have questions for you. Up, up, child.”
Hacatine’s silver hair touched the carpeted floor and swirled as she spun about and waved a hand over the golden incense burner. A puff of smoke floated over their heads. The scent filled Layla’s nostrils with the aroma of war, stirring a blood-hunger inside of her. Layla took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Hacatine’s summons for war now streamed through her veins.
“Who is the enemy?” Layla asked, her fist grasping the hilt of her sword.
“We don’t know yet. How did it go with the little people?”
“They’re leaving Alcove Forest without a fight.”
“Ah! Good! As mindless as they are, they were wise at vacating their homes.”
“We had a scuffle with a few Kaempern scouts, but we had already raised the sails and the men had no ships to follow us and so we left with no bloodshed.”
Hacatine turned her back and walked away.
“Does that meet with your approval?” Layla asked. “That we left?”
“I trust your judgment, although I sense a war with them is inevitable once we log Alcove Forest.”
“Is that the next deployment?”
“No. We’re not ready to mine. Not yet. There are still obstacles to address. The wizards are still a threat.”
“Silvio?”
“Silvio and the magic thief.”
Layla rolled her eyes. How many times had they tried to corner the wizard named Whomticker? She hated traipsing through bramble bushes, looking for the rascal.
“Does he pose that much of a threat?” she asked.
“My dear Layla, anyone attempting to impede our objectives is a threat, large or small, magical or no. However, I’m not sending you to capture them. Not specifically, at least. If you can, then please do.”
“What is it you want from me?” Layla asked with a sigh.
“My spies bring word that there are rumblings from the heavens above the plains near Alcove Forest. They say it could likely be the dragon. Something has disturbed it. Perhaps invaders.”
“From where?”
“You must find the answer.” Hacatine walked to the incense burner again and waved a trail of smoke Layla’s way. Layla shuddered, aware of the spell, yet lured to it as if it were the juice of a delicious fruit.
“I will prepare my troops to kill.”
“No.”
Layla opened her eyes wide. “No? Then what?”
“I want the dragon, Layla. I know he’s out there somewhere. The Kaemperns could not have sent him too far. If something, or someone, stirs beyond our world, beyond the dragon’s world, then they will open doors for us.”
“The dragon’s door is sealed with the crystal.” Layla argued.
Hacatine’s face reddened, and she roared, waving at the walls that made up the grand hall they stood in. “Isn’t my castle made of rock? Didn’t the hands of our people chisel these bricks to form its foundation and build this fortress? Are we not in control of the elements? The seal that keeps the dragon imprisoned is a mere stone. A magical crystal that can be chiseled like any other stone, for aren’t we the sculptors of magic?”
“It’s been years since the dragon was expelled.”
“A nd finally, we hear its voice again, Layla. Yes. We’ve been waiting patiently. Our time has come.”
“We don’t know where his den is, nor have we located the crystal.”
“So, you will find out where it is. That is your assignment.”
Layla breathed deeply and, as if reading her frustrations, Hacatine continued.
“You won’t take soldiers. You’ll go with two or three sisters. If the dragon is stirring, there’s a reason. If there are invaders from another world about to enter ours, you will wait for them, follow them, and take them with your magic.”
“Not kill them?”
Hacatine drew near to Layla. Sparks spewed as their eyes made contact. “Wouldn’t it be best to find out how they got here? Unless they have an army that threatens ours, you are to spare them. I want them alive. Bring them to me. They have a secret that I desire. To move from one world to another with the dragon as my pet.”
“Very well, my queen.” Layla bowed, breathing in the fragrance of Hacatine’s enchantment.
The Beginning
THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK hour found twenty-year-old Abbi striding through the sterile corridor of Pilgrims Memorial Hospital, exhausted and relieved that Friday had finally come. She’d been an LPN for less than six months and already the job had thrust one gruesome challenge after another at her. Today she’d been on shift since four in the morning. Before that, she would study until her eyes blurred and her father shut off her bedroom light. That was well after midnight. She loved nursing, caring for people, and yet she wondered if she had the physical strength to keep up with the tasks! “Thank goodness it’s the weekend,” she sighed, pushing the changing-room door open.
Latex squeaked as Abbi pulled each finger from the glove and then rolled the rubber off her palm. Freedom from the day’s work, finally! She tossed the gloves in the bin, untied her smock, and placed it in the laundry. Grabbing her make-up case from her purse, she gave herself a once over in the mirror. Puffy eyes publicized her need for rest. There was no sense in trying to disguise how tired she looked. She tucked the renegade curls that dangled over her brow behind her ear and sighed. She would enjoy her excursion to the mountains with Ian tomorrow. For weeks they’d been planning a trip to Rainier to catch the fall colors. Unfortunately, her work always seemed to get in the way.
Out of the hospital’s baby blues, Abbi donned her coat and buttoned it. The emergency alarm buzzed, but she gave it little mind. During her first week, whenever she heard the emergency loudspeaker call for staff, she panicked. Now, unless it summoned her, she offered only a raised eyebrow. When she stepped out of the dressing room, a wave of nurses, along with Doctor Rollins, raced by.
The RN who oversaw her, Jill Brown, brushed shoulders with her. “Abbi!”
“What’s happening? You were supposed to get off at ten?” Abbi asked.
“Drive-by shooting. It’s going to be a long night.” Jill patted her on the shoulder. “Have a good weekend.”
Abbi trailed behind. The narrow hall suddenly grew lonely as the others slammed through the double doors and disappeared. Another shooting? Another calamity. Life in the hospital wasn’t like the life she’d known in high school. Always someone’s life hung on the edge of death. Always pain and sickness. Had she chosen wisely, pursuing a nursing career? Because this was going to be her essence now. Day in and day out, someone’s fate would be determined by how many sleepless nights she spends studying; by how steady her hands are; by how well she could collaborate with a team. “A long road ahead, but worth it if I can save even one person,” she reassured herself as she waited for the elevator.
Stars glistened in the clear night sky. Frosty air chilled her nose. She bundled her woolen scarf closer around her neck as she walked to her car, passing the ambulances whose lights still flashed. She couldn’t help but look at the stretchers being rolled inside. Three of them, one with a body covered from head to toe. One carrying a woman already hooked on IVs and oxygen. Another with a patient half the size of the stretcher. Her heart sank. A child. Abbi considered going back inside, volunteering her time to help, but that was unorthodox. For an indecisive moment, she cringed and then hurried to her car. If only the world weren’t so evil.
The Next Morning
Ian Wilson pulled back the ruby curtains which framed the front window. A golden sunrise painted the morning with shades of pink and gold. Clouds floated into the day, a beautiful scene, were it not for the telephone wires, rooftops, and chimneys obstructing the view. How he wished he could observe this symphony of color while standing on the mountain top! That had been the plan this morning.
He checked his watch. A quarter to six and still Abbi had not arrived. He paced across the hardwood floor and glanced at the old grandfather clock at the end of the hall. The ever-stagnant hands stretched to nine-o-seven. As always. One day, if he had enough money, he’d get it repaired. If that ever happened. His inheritance had all but run out, and the stress of having to keep up with the house, the utility bills, and food had become a laborious task, one that did not suit him. He tired of borrowing from Abbi, and yet his own efforts at making money failed sorrowfully.
When the smoke alarm beeped, he groaned and raced to the kitchen, shut off the burner and jammed a lid over the smoky pan.
By seven thirty, Abbi’s car finally arrived in his driveway. He looked out of the window as she stepped out of the spiffy coupe that her father had purchased for her. Her arms were filled with books, and a purse swung over her shoulder. A lucky girl, he thought, to have a dad who takes care of her. A pang of jealousy raced through him. Not because his father wasn’t around to give him things. He already accepted the fact that Alex had found a better place to live. If he could, he’d be living in that alternate world, too. He could never provide for Abbi like her father did. Abbi meant everything to Ian, and yet he had nothing to give to her.
She didn’t have to knock. Ian opened the door before she stepped onto the porch. Too upset to hug her, like he knew he should, he grumbled instead. “I thought you’d be here early—before dawn. That was the plan.” He walked away, leaving the door open for her, and for the lingering burned bacon smoke to escape the stuffy house. He’d been pacing the floor since 5:30 am, stopping only to make breakfast, which was now ruined. “Where were you?”
“Sorry, Ian. Homework. I didn’t even finish, but I brought it with me.”
“You brought it with you? I thought this was going to be a day for the two of us.”
“It will be.”
“How? I get to watch you do homework?” He tossed his arms in the air and returned to the kitchen. “I burned breakfast. Sorry. You’re welcome to the scraps.”
“I ate.”
“Lucky for you! I didn’t.” He picked a morsel of charred pork from the pan, bit into it, and then spat into the trash.
“Want me to cook something for you?”
“No!” Ian threw the spatula in the sink and turned the faucet on. Soap bubbles slowly rose over last night’s plate, the coffee cup, the dirty silverware. “We’re already too late. It’ll be noon before we get there.”
“That’s okay,” she answered from the living room.
“No, it isn’t okay,” he called through the walls that filtered his annoyance. “We missed the morning light, the fresh smell of dew, the sunrise, and the blue of the mountain at dawn. We missed out on the best part of the day.
“It’s only a little after seven.”
“It’s a quarter to eight,” he corrected.
Her book slammed shut. “I had a hard night last night,” she said. “I was so exhausted that I went to sleep when I got home. It only takes an hour to get to Rainier. You’ll be fine. We’ll have plenty of time to take a walk in the woods and have a picnic lunch as well.”
“You don’t understand. This is not just about walking. It’s not just about the woods, either. I miss it, Abbi. I miss living there.” He shut the tap off, dried his hands on his pants, and stepped into the living room. “I miss waking up in the forest, living off the land. Eating elk and nut bread. I miss that entire existence. I can’t stand it here in the city anymore. It’s not me.” How often did he want to just come out and say he missed the alternate world he and his dad found? He’d never find the same lifestyle living in the Seattle area. Or anywhere in reality. She knew. He could see it in her eyes. Neither of them would admit it openly to each other, though.
“You should get a driver’s license. Good grief, you’ll be twenty-one this year! It’s time. You could go to the mountains whenever you wanted!” Abbi said.
