War Ascending

  Ink Sorceress: Book Three

  Author: D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2022. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  Book Description

  Chapter One

  The cool morning air was crisp, and the breeze had a slight chill to it that late fall day. It was a couple of hours after dawn and Luna sat on her horse next to King Sebastian as a beehive of activity took place around them.

  It’d been two months since the wasteland race invasion had been beaten back at a cost in blood in lives. Outside of a few assassination attempts, things had generally been quiet for Luna from day to day, as she trained, did her duty in guarding her liege, and excelled in her new life.

  In the wider seven kingdoms, there was a lot going on. King Hadrius of Cynia was in a state of war with both Queen Jacinta of Xevell and also King Sebastian of Thaenid her liege lord. Most of the fighting had been raids, and most of those had taken place in Xevell. As Jacinta’s ally, Sebastian had sent soldiers to help in the defense. However, she knew Hadrius hated Sebastian and wanted him dead for turning down his unreasonable treaty and marriage to his daughter.

  Her uncle was also at war. King Janus of Doryn had invaded Pirean, but King Sigurd of Pirean and Queen Ricola of Traeg were also working together against her uncle. Traeg hadn’t invaded, but they were staging raids and attacks along Doryn’s western border to distract and pull Janus’s full attention and resources away from Pirean.

  In both cases, it was currently a three-way lock, and there hadn’t been any major battles or conquered cities. There were a lot of movements of troops, raiding of supplies, and small skirmishes over the last two months.

  She suspected that the war with the wasteland races had a lot to do with that. The farms and small villages on the eastern side of Doryn and Pirean had been ravaged. The dragons had also hit Cynia harder than usual when they’d noticed the anti-dragon ballista emplacements and southern fortifications were lightly manned. Either way, half of the invading kingdoms’ attention was on recovering from that, and in locating enough food to get their people through the coming winter.

  She believed it was only by virtue of their hate, her uncle’s for Sigurd and Ricola, and Hadrius’s for Jacinta that the fighting had even started at all before spring. That, and of course their ambition had run away with them. Now that the empire had been dissolved and they were no longer under oaths of vassalage not to invade other kingdoms.

  The empire was officially and completely gone, and the temporary mutual defense treaty had run its course and expired. All of Thaenid’s soldiers had come home, the ships were turned over to the coastal kingdoms and ran by their sailors, and the outer land borders for the seven kingdoms were now watched only by the kingdom that owned that particular border.

  The only kingdom not caught up in the current madness of nascent war was Thiya, and she couldn’t blame King Allesandro for steering clear of it and maintaining neutrality. He was surrounded by non-expansionist monarchs, and the only external threat to his kingdom stemmed from the ocean on his northern and eastern coasts. He wasn’t accepting any treaties that included military defense, though he was quite eager to speak to the other monarchs about trade.

  As far as personally, over the last two months Luna’s friendship with Sebastian had deepened, and there was what she felt an unbreakable trust between them. She also felt easier in his company, and less tense. Her crush had run its course, since they hadn’t moved forward with it, it’d died on the vine, and she doubted they ever would.

  She was even pretty sure it was her curiosity in that aspect of life, and the longings of her young healthy body as she flowered into womanhood that had been half that equation to start with. Sebastian was a handsome man, powerful temporally and magically, and had a firmly rooted moral center that altogether was quite attractive. He still was that, but she didn’t waste any time daydreaming about what might be, when duty, responsibility, and need would keep them apart. Sure, she was a princess and a viable choice as his queen in that way, but in every other way if they got together it would cause his kingdom more problems, both internally and externally for various reasons.

  In the last two months she’d also had ten more spells added to her ink array, the last five just three days ago. She’d added detect poison, cure poison, and cure disease, as well as summon elemental from the nature sphere affinity. On the psionic side, she’d added telekinetic manipulation, Aero kinesis, aqua kinesis, clairaudience, clairvoyance, and psychic teleport.

  That gave her eighteen spells in total, when added to the eight spells she’d already had. The plan was to give her six more spells each month for the last two months of her magical growth, to reach the thirty her ink array and magic could support.

  She was also at two thirds her full potential, already four times more powerful than an average magic user, and she would double that in the last two months. There’s still be bigger fish, none more so than Sebastian, but also quite a few of the other court and independent wizards were more powerful than she’d ever be. Still, the majority of mages, monks, and other ink sorcerers would have far less power.

  As in anything, cunning and preparedness, being vigilant, would matter far more in the end. All that power would avail her nothing, if she wasn’t paying attention. On the good side, as Sebastian had said, her instincts in detecting enmity and dark intentions in others toward her or her charge had only grown. More than that, she could easily pick out outright falsehoods and shaded dishonesty in conversations now, not just life and death situations.

  She was also getting a whole lot better with her throwing daggers and tackling that learning curve far faster than she’d expected. Perhaps her disciplined mind, in shape body, and the discipline of being a sword master had translated in some way. Even if throwing daggers was nothing like sword work, they were martial disciplines that both required a focused mind. She could consistently hit with the blade from every distance, and her accuracy was getting better already as well. Though she was far from perfect. Shorter learning curve or not, it was still a lot of work and required dedication and discipline, and a whole lot of mind-numbing practice.

  Regardless, the reason they were on horseback with a lot of activity around them was they were preparing to head to the capital now that the palace device was complete and held enough power. It would take a day to ride, or a single moment of time to teleport, but there were so many people and supplies coming with them it would take two full days by caravan. There was a long line of wagons in front and to their rear.

  The nearest wagon held the wizard device that would become an integral part of the palace, though she still wasn’t sure how that would work. Sebastian was very canny about his family’s secrets when it came to magic. She also suspected he wanted to surprise her in some way, there was a teasing quality to his verbal dodging when it came to the device. It was much larger than she’d expected when he’d first told her about it, and completely filled one of the covered wagons which had steel reinforced frame, wheels, and axles. The device weighed close to two tons, and it was made from marble as well as having embedded gemstones. It was the one wagon in the line that was being pulled by six horses.

  The one thing she did know, because she saw the thing every day as Sebastian was constantly pouring his magic into it over the last two months, was that it was a replica. It was in the shape of a grand palace with large domes and high spires, carved out of the marble with magic. In fact, she was fairly sure it was an exact scale model of the palace to come, including the inside walls, carved reliefs, and all the rest save things. Things like furniture, stoves, artwork, and the like.

  She couldn’t feel magic on her own, but she knew from the wary glances the mages in the keep gave in the direction of Sebastian’s laboratory at times, especially over the second month, that the thing was brimming with a whole lot of magic. That just made sense, considering Sebastian had dumped his full personal potential of magic into the thing about twelve times a day, for the last sixty days.

  That didn’t seem safe, but then she wasn’t a wizard. Sebastian didn’t have any doubts the marble and encrusted gems wouldn’t have a problem containing it all.

  That was also the first reason they were taking a caravan instead of just teleporting. The device couldn’t be teleported. It was too much mass.

  The second major reason was Duke Embry had insisted, if respectfully, on splitting his Ducal guard down the middle, and then assigning the half Sebastian found acceptable to the Royal guards instead. Embry had argued
that it would be far easier and safer for them to both expand their guards slowly back to full size, than it would for Sebastian to start from nothing.

  She of course, had advised Sebastian to accept the gesture. All of Embry’s guards were sword masters, had been seasoned in battle from a tour in the military, and were utterly trustworthy. That wasn’t her young age or naivety talking, they’d all given oaths under magic to ensure honesty in their words and intentions.

  So, they had a hundred Royal guards along for the trip, as well as their wives and children which made it close to three hundred and fifty. Most of the wagon caravan was filled with the personal belongings of those families as well as the families themselves. It’d take more than two days to teleport them and their things, so the caravan would actually be faster.

  They planned to hire servants locally when they arrived, but the Duke had also provided the head servants. Experienced people that could run the kitchen, serving, cleaning, and stable staffs.

  Lastly, it just felt good to be in the saddle and outdoors. Outside of her daily dawn sparring to keep her sword mastery sharp on the practice field behind the castle, she’d spent most of the last two months stuck indoors looking after her liege. She’d missed her riding, since Sebastian didn’t share that passion, but it wasn’t something she’d complain about either. Despite the seriousness of the hardships of her new life, she had to admit she lived in comfort and luxury when it came to the small things. It was just… nice to be out for once.

  Even if it was a bit chilly, she was more than warm enough in a thick blouse, thicker small clothes, and of course the vest and pants of her riding leathers cut the wind. It was only her hands and face that felt the chill.

  She frowned, “What are you brooding about, your majesty.”

  Sebastian shook his head, “I got news this morning I’ve been loath to share. Especially as you appear to be in such high spirits in the moment.”

  She felt a dread shiver go down her spine, “What?”

  Sebastian replied, “You know your middle brother Cesare has taken control of the military, and he will be Alberto’s right hand when he inherits the throne. That he’s been directing the skirmishes in Pirean.”

  She nodded impatiently, the dread building as Sebastian took the long way around to get to the point. Something he very rarely did at all. It was also disturbing information in and of itself. Cesare was a monster, a cruel and sadistic man, and she already felt more down as she considered what that meant for the commoners of Pirean.

  Sebastian hesitated, then said, “Your uncle put his youngest son, Prince Siro, on the western border. To give him some experience. The fighting between Traeg and Doryn has been even lighter than your old kingdom’s invasion of Pirean.”

  Her blood turned to ice, and she just looked at him, already reading the truth on his face. Siro was her youngest older brother, and he had been her best friend growing up. The one that had protected her from Cesare’s cruelty, and Alberto’s hurtfully cold indifference. The one that she loved, and that she would do anything for. The one that had saved her life at great risk to his own, and that’d helped to sneak her out of the castle by providing a guard disguise.

  Sebastian finally said, “There was a skirmish with Traeg, a raiding force that was burning down farmsteads around a small walled city. He was in command there with an old general as an advisor. Siro thought he had enough men to stop it, especially because so many of your people already lack the food to get though winter. So, he led a sortie out of the city’s walls. The mission was successful, but your brother was killed by a crossbow bolt, while leading the charge.”

  Her world shattered, as something broke inside of her, and her mind went numb as her chest tightened. If it wasn’t for being in public, she’d have probably broken down, but to avoid a public display of grief she’d used her training and shut it all down. She felt… empty. She was in shock. It wasn’t just her comportment training as a princess. She couldn’t believe he was gone.

  Her voice was empty too, “Thank you for telling me, your majesty.”

  So much for the pleasant nature ride to the capital. She was also on duty, as the king’s personal guard, and that duty didn’t just go away. She wasn’t sure how to deal with it, if she could deal with it, but it would have to wait until she had privacy.

  She was also angry at her uncle, even angrier than she’d been at him trying to kill her with assassins over and over again. She just had to hold it together. She had responsibilities.

  Despite those thoughts and intentions, the building wave of painful emotions in her chest was unstoppable.

  Her eyes stung, and she blushed in mortification as she felt the tears start to fall from her eyes. She was angry at Sebastian now too, how dare he hit her with this in public. Her emotions started to spin out of control, and she bit her tongue hard in an attempt to control herself.

  Sebastian pulled out a device with a look of consternation on his face.

  “I put up a privacy illusion. I’m sorry for your loss, and for not telling you earlier, but everything was such a rush this morning. As it is, I don’t think the caravan will be ready to roll for another hour.”

  She lost it then, in privacy save for Sebastian, which was still mortifying but more tolerable than showing weakness as a princess before strangers. The grief and waves of conflicting emotions overwhelmed all her training, her discipline, and her mind. She felt lost and overwhelmed with grief at the knowledge of Siro’s death, but so very angry as well. Angry at her uncle for killing someone else she loved, angry at a faceless soldier who’d killed the trigger, angry that it wasn’t her sadistic middle brother that had died instead, which was a perverse wish that overwhelmed her with guilt.

  Worst of all, she was angry at Siro, who’d had to lead the damned charge.

  She was also angry at herself, and not just because she’d failed to control herself. If an assassin chose now to attack, she doubted her vaunted instincts would pick up the threat at all. She was in a sea of confusing and overwhelming emotions that drowned out everything, as the brief numbed disbelief she’d felt had shattered under the weight of grief that crushed her heart.

  Her mind was lost in past, as she invoked the memories of her youth and all the times she’d gotten into mischief, or the times they’d backed each other up against their older brothers. Or hid things for each other from their father. Who she’d thought was her father, but turned out to be her uncle. All while her body was wracked in anguish and heartache. It physically hurt, and she felt like she was dying herself.

  It was hard to breathe.

  Sebastian just sat there. Silently staring off politely in another direction in an attempt to give her the illusion of privacy. In that moment, she didn’t really care, but she knew later she’d be embarrassed and would appreciate the effort.

  When the storm of weeping and turbulent emotions passed, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Her whole body felt raw and hollowed out, and her chest felt like it’d been carved out by a dull knife. Her muscles were sore from tensing up and not letting go. She cleaned up her face, and imagined she looked awful, but it was time to go. The caravan leader was giving the orders to move out, and Sebastian would have to drop the illusion.

  She knew she wasn’t done grieving, but the initial storm had passed, and she thought she could hold back the surges until she’d gained privacy in her tent at night, if nothing else. It was a level of grief she’d never felt before, not even for her own mother and father. But then, the bonds of friendship and sibling love between her and Siro had been much deeper. Her mother had been cold and hard to get to know, and she hadn’t known Dalen was her father until after he’d already died. He’d been kind to her, smiles and encouraging words, but they had been rare moments, he hadn’t spent all that much time with her either.

  Point being, she’d never felt so devastated before.

  After washing her face with a hot damp hand towel courtesy of pyro and aqua kinesis, she smiled tremulously at Sebastian.

  “I’m sorry for that. You can lower the illusion. We need to go.”

  Sebastian shook his head, “I’m the one that’s sorry. It was bad timing and a bad place, and it wasn’t a weakness. I should’ve told you privately, and then left you alone to deal with it.”