The Trials of Ildarwood: Spectres of the Fall Read online

  Copyright © 2021 S.C. Selvyn.

  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 publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  ISBN: 979-8-51644-350-3 (Paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-64365-069-2 (Hardcover)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2021913541

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover illustration by Jeff Brown.

  Chapter illustrations by David Perez.

  Copyediting by Leonora Bulbeck.

  Proofreading by Jake Devine.

  Book design by Lisa Vega.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  First edition published July 2021.

  Avylaan Kingdom Press LLC

  PO BOX 190

  Raynham Center, MA 02768

  www.theildarwood.com

  To all the people, young and old, who struggle every day,

  and also to the caring souls who help them find their way.

  ACKNOWLEGMENTS

  To everyone who helped make this dream come true.

  John David

  for years of partnership, patience, sacrifice, and understanding.

  Mom, Mom, and Dad

  for your faith, your guidance, and your love.

  Clay, Billy, Wendell, Zane, Will

  for your wisdom, friendship, and support.

  My family and friends

  for inspiring the stories I hope will one day inspire the world.

  Marcus, Cameron, Ally, Lily

  for convincing me this book was worth finishing.

  Malorie and Jill

  for your mentorship, and for lighting that first spark so many years ago.

  And to Patricia

  for helping me believe in myself.

  Thank you.

  FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE

  A brief appendix has been provided at the end of this book to aid in your travels through the Ildarwood.

  It can be used to learn more about the various spectral elements, it has a list of key individuals from this book, and it contains a timeline of important events from throughout the history of this world.

  For exclusive content, full-color illustrations, and a high-definition version of the map of Ranewood, please visit:

  www.theildarwood.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue • 1

  PART ONE

  Origins of the Eight • 15

  I

  The Ones We Love • 17

  ii

  An Old Stone Facade • 37

  iii

  The Faces We Keep Hidden • 63

  iv

  The Troublesome Seeds We Sow • 85

  v

  The Nature of Appearances • 112

  vi

  For All We Leave Behind • 143

  vii

  Shades of Yesterday • 168

  viii

  Matters of Perception • 195

  PART TWO

  A Forest Full of Secrets • 223

  ix

  A Sign of Coming Storms • 225

  X

  Shadows of the Heart • 248

  xi

  Some Prices Must Be Paid • 275

  xii

  Betrayers Among Us • 305

  xiii

  Spectres of the Fall • 337

  xiv

  Wherever Truths May Lie • 364

  xv

  The Weaver and the Web • 391

  xvi

  Remnants of the Past • 425

  xvii

  The Root of It All • 458

  xviii

  Whispers in the Wind • 484

  PART THREE

  A Blight Upon the Woods • 507

  xix

  Even Stars Forget to Shine • 509

  xx

  The Source of Untold Sorrows • 541

  xxi

  With Bitter Cold and Callous • 568

  xxii

  A Glimpse Behind the Veil • 597

  xxiii

  A Time for Disparate Measures • 622

  xxiv

  Lost Beneath the Surface • 650

  xxv

  The Darkness Deep Within • 676

  xxvi

  What Embers Still Remain • 707

  Epilogue • 730

  Appendix • 749

  Prologue

  Aiden, you need to wake up! We need to leave!” Staring down at the precious bundle beside her, Evalina Verdani watched with dismay as the young boy yanked his blankets up over his head.

  “But it’s still dark out,” he whimpered.

  “I know, honey,” Evalina replied with as much patience as she could muster, “but something’s happening in the city, so we need to leave now.”

  Grumbling and turning, Aiden twisted the covers more tightly around himself, intent on delaying the inevitable for as long as possible.

  “Aiden? Aiden!” Evalina tried once more. “Aiden, I’m serious!”

  “No! It’s too cold!” he shouted, convinced that he might somehow get his way.

  Then, sure enough, Evalina did rise up from his bed, giving the drowsy eight-year-old one brief moment of victory before he heard her mutter, “We really don’t have time for this.” An instant later, Evalina tore every blanket from the bed in one fell swoop and flung them clear across the room.

  “Get your ass out of bed right now!” she demanded, causing Aiden to scramble to his feet. “It’s not safe here anymore!” Then she grabbed the case she had stuffed full with his most cherished possessions and dropped it with a thud beside the door.

  “Wait! Where are my clothes?” Aiden whined, his arms wrapped tightly around himself as his teeth chattered. The words had barely left his mouth before a shirt and a pair of pants flew at him in the darkness from across the room. His mother simply had no more patience for delays.

  In the hallway, Evalina tossed a number of cloth bags at her eldest son, Rennie, who had only just turned ten. Though his wild black hair and bright silver eyes made him look vaguely like a taller version of Aiden, his golden-olive complexion was far closer to that of both his mother and his older sister, Levara.

  “Take these down to the carriage, and make sure the horses are ready,” Evalina ordered. “Aiden will be right down.” But before Rennie could even manage a response, a distant BOOM! caused the entire house to tremble.

  “That didn’t sound like thunder,” Rennie mumbled as the two glanced outside and struggled to see past the torrential rain.

  “That’s because it wasn’t,” Evalina replied before hurrying Rennie along.

  “What about me?” Levara asked, her arms overloaded with stuffed bags and loose clothes.

  “What part of ‘pack lightly’ didn’t you understand?” Evalina demanded.

  “Do you have any ide
a how much money we spent on all of this?”

  “Of course I do, Levara! I’m the one who spent it!” Storming past her daughter, Evalina glanced back only for an instant to add, “I already told you we don’t have enough room in the carriage for everything, so figure out what you actually do need, and leave everything else behind.”

  “Are you serious?” Levara shouted as she slammed her baggage onto the floor while watching her mother descend their spiral stairs. “Why do you hate me?”

  “Levara, please! We really don’t have time for this! Now, go get Torian, and grab the case I packed for him by the door. And make sure you carry him down so he doesn’t wake up!”

  “Wait, what?” Levara screeched as she bent over the second-floor banister. “Why do you always make me carry the heavy one?”

  “Because apparently I hate you, Levara. Now hurry up!” Only then did Evalina finally turn her attention toward the withered Ildarwood tree growing up through the center of the house. Surveying it one last time, Evalina lamented how frail it had become. It had once been the most beautiful feature of their estate, but its smooth gray trunk had grown brittle and dull. The tiny crystalline flecks in its bark had lost all their luster. Its long, slender branches had turned to hardened ash, and even the silver glass-like leaves no longer shimmered in the light. Most disheartening of all, however, was how the small glowing bumps along its limbs and trunk barely even flickered in her presence.

  “The horses are ready,” Rennie announced as he stepped inside, “and I’ve moved all that stuff you packed into the carriage.” Yet even as he spoke, Evalina’s gaze remained fixed upon the tree.

  Staring at the unusual scene, Rennie suddenly realized how much his mother’s appearance had also diminished in the preceding weeks. Her once-radiant skin had grown blemished and pale; her warm, loving smile had been replaced by a fretful scowl; and for the very first time, her hair revealed all the countless streaks of gray she had always fought so hard to keep hidden from the world.

  In that moment, an unnatural silence fell upon the house as Evalina placed her hand upon the tree’s crumbling trunk. For just a few brief seconds, there was no complaining upstairs, and the racket of rain against the windows somehow seemed to subside. Even the rumbling booms in the distance slowly gave way to peace and tranquility.

  Evalina ran her fingers along the branches of her beloved Ildarwood tree one last time but then recoiled with regret as one of them crumbled into dust before her eyes. So meticulously had she cared for the tree over the years that it very nearly killed her to see it in such a state. Still, she refused to surrender more than a single tear of Silver to mourn its demise. Within seconds, the tear streamed down her cheek, then evaporated into a shimmering spectral mist before it could even hit the floor.

  Taking a deep breath, Evalina then cast her gaze upward, toward the burning gray sphere that floated high above. The domed Asterport on the roof housed the manor’s protective Ildarstar, which on any other night could be seen like a beacon from miles away. By that night, however, it had decayed to the point where only a tiny shimmering portion of it remained. No longer did it shine down proudly upon their Ildarwood tree, for its time protecting the Verdani family and their home was very nearly at an end.

  “Will you please just hurry up already?” Levara’s shrill voice exclaimed, piercing the peaceful silence and echoing throughout the manor’s empty halls. Only then did the violent clatter of rain against their windows finally resume.

  From the darkness upstairs, Aiden emerged with a green knitted blanket wrapped tightly around him. Struggling to carry as many of his toys as he could fit into an oversized satchel, he said “You forgot a lot of stuff!” as he sauntered down the stairs.

  Rolling her eyes, Evalina shouted, “We’re almost out of time, Levara! What’s taking so long?”

  “I’m tryin’ to get him dressed!” Levara snapped back.

  “I told you not to wake him!” Evalina reminded her, but if there was one thing she had learned about her daughter, it was that her disobedience knew no bounds. Turning to face her eldest son instead, Evalina implored, “Can you please go out to the carriage with Aiden and keep him safe till I come out?”

  “Why can’t we just wait in here with you?” Rennie questioned, increasingly frightened by the thunderous noises in the distance.

  “Rennie, please, I really just need you to go outside and make sure we’re ready to leave, okay? I’ll be out in a few minutes, I promise!” Placing her hand upon his cheek to try to reassure him, even she became startled when a massive BOOM! in the distance shook the house far more violently than any time before.

  “They’re gettin’ closer, aren’t they?” Rennie asked before turning to face his mother–only this time, the eyes that met his gaze were not the warm silver ones he had spent his life staring into. Somehow, in an instant, they had been replaced by a vibrant emerald hue that glowed in the shadow of the tree’s bare branches.

  “Get out to the carriage, and lock yourselves inside,” Evalina ordered before Rennie could say another word. “Now!” she demanded. Then, with a single motion, she drew a long, slender sword made of Ildarglass from beneath her cloak and held it at the ready. “Levara!” she shouted again, her eyes fixed upon the front door and the limitless darkness beyond.

  “I’m comin’!” Levara wailed as she hurried down the stairs, several large bundles in her arms, and several more strapped across her back.

  “One of those had better be your brother.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Want me to carry you too while I’m at it?”

  Wincing, Evalina knew then was not the time to put Levara in her place. Instead, she simply turned her attention back toward the Ildarwood tree, her sword gripped firmly in one hand.

  “Are you comin’ or what?” Levara asked, her tone split between bitter irritation and genuine concern.

  “I just need another minute,” Evalina insisted. “I’ll be right out.”

  After rolling her eyes and bracing herself for the deluge outside, Levara raced out into the night and did not stop until she finally reached the carriage.

  “What took you so long?” Rennie asked from within.

  Unloading one bundle at a time, Levara replied, “I would have been a whole lot faster if she hadn’t made me grab him too!” Then she lifted Torian’s half-asleep frame up into the carriage and said, “I don’t remember Mom ever treatin’ any of us like a baby when we were seven.”

  “True, but then again, she actually likes him, so—”

  “Whoa, is that why we need to leave?” Aiden asked, his face pressed against the window on the other side. Above the forest to the north, the skies had taken on a violent golden hue–one that only grew brighter by the minute. Distracted by the dazzling display, the four Verdani children almost did not notice the blinding flash of light that erupted from the Asterport atop their home. Were it not for the complete lack of thunder in its wake, the Verdani children might have mistaken it for lightning. Yet as soon as they realized that the tiny shimmering Ildarstar they had cherished all their lives was gone, they came to understand how truly dire the situation had become.

  They could mourn its disappearance for only an instant, however, for the Verdani children were swiftly overtaken by an invisible force that burst forth from within the house, causing the carriage to lurch to one side and drawing whinnies from the mighty beasts tethered to the front.

  “What was that?” the children asked all at once, though none of them had an answer.

  Only then did Evalina finally emerge from the manor and abruptly close the front door. Sliding her fingers across an Ildarglass panel directly above the knob, she sealed the manor shut, then raced through the rain to the carriage.

  “Hey, what just happened in there?” Rennie asked as soon as she arrived, taking each of her bags from her and setting them off to one side.

  “If anyone ma
kes it out this far, they need to think the house has been abandoned,” Evalina explained. “Hopefully, they won’t try to break in if it looks like we’ve fled.”

  Then she stepped away from the door and hurried to the front of the carriage, where she was met with alarmed snorts from both of the family’s Ildarhorses. Composed entirely of entangled Ildarwood branches and coiled vines, they clopped about uneasily before their mistress, both seemingly aware of the danger fast approaching. It took only the gentlest of touches on the nearest creature’s neck for Evalina to calm them, and she needed only to think of her destination to communicate her intentions. After that, both Ildarhorses whinnied and clopped along the carriageway’s puddle-soaked stones, and Evalina knew for certain that they had understood their orders. “Please, just get us there in one piece,” she added before returning to the carriage and climbing inside. Then, just as soon as Evalina had slammed the door shut, they were off.

  Before they disappeared into the thick forest surrounding Silvermarsh City, Evalina had only a few precious moments to look back at the place she had called home for ten years. With deep remorse washing over her, she watched, heartbroken and helpless, as its once-ornate facade began fading and crumbling with nobody left to give it life. In that moment, Evalina shed one final tear before wiping it away and convincing herself that she would not shed another until they finally reached safety.

  The ride was not at all comfortable for the Verdani family that night. Their gentle speed did little to cushion the bumps and shakes caused by drenched woodland roads that had long ago fallen into severe disrepair, and every pothole they hit caused both passengers and luggage to leap into the air and collide.

  Along the roads they traveled, the only light they could find came from the beaming white eyes of their trudging steeds, making it all the more challenging for Evalina to keep an eye out for any signs of danger. For what seemed like an eternity, she scanned the woods and roads they passed, desperate to know if they were being followed. Feeling some small semblance of hope as they reached the halfway point to Ranewood, Evalina wondered if perhaps they would escape without incident. Then the very last of her hope vanished in an instant upon catching sight of the one distinct shape hidden in the darkness that she feared above all others.