Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3)

  Emerald Wars

  The Dream Travelers Series

  Book 3

  Nicole Knight

  Copyright © 2021 Nicole Knight

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  AISN: B0927XCVFC

  Thank you to my family and friends who continue to support my love of writing.

  Thank you to my Beta readers Ashley Appler and Kimberly McClure. This book wouldn't have been the same without your help!

  Violet has taken a risky gamble, and made the ultimate sacrifice, without knowing the consequences. When her cousin, Trin, discovers she has the ability to bring back the dead, she must embrace her new magic to help Violet. Meanwhile, Kennan continues to grow more powerful and plots Violet’s downfall. For him it's more than personal, it's a family affair.

  With the help of her husband, cousin, and the rest of the family, can Violet convince the rest of the magical world to help them take Kennan down, once and for all?

  This is the last book in the Dream Traveler trilogy, and has the final show-down you’ve been waiting for.

  Chapter One

  Trin

  I woke up from my sleep, not sure exactly what disturbed me, but something felt wrong. I may not have the sight like Great Grandma Victoria, but I have some of her intuition, and something is definitely wrong.

  I shivered.

  I looked down at my wet clothes and bed.

  What happened?

  Then I flashed back to my dream. We were drowning. Wisdom, Grandma Beetie, Axel, and I took the twins swimming in the sea. A rogue wave had taken us down, and I remember drowning, but that had just been a dream.

  The longer I sat there, the more I noticed. My throat and my chest hurt, like someone had smacked me in the chest, hard. My breathing was shallow, and there was a lot of water, my bed was soaked. There was too much to be sweat, and definitely wasn’t pee.

  Violet was in my dream, she saved us with her magic. It was like nothing I had seen before. She brought us back from the dead, and I didn’t even know that was possible.

  It felt so real. It was the most vivid dream that I had ever had. It felt like real life. I wanted to tell Violet about it, but she wasn’t here. She would tell me I’m crazy and that my mind is making a better version of her. She would give me some medical explanation from her world to make me feel better.

  I stood up from my bed and stretched my tired and sore muscles. It was chilly outside, and the fire in my fireplace went out. I was going to get sick if I didn’t change into something dry.

  Violet told me that her seasons have larger differences in temperature. In one season you can have blistering heat, and two seasons later you can get a snow blizzard. While we don’t get snow in the Morthlands, Ubrem Glacies sees a lot of it, with a lot less sunny days.

  I was searching through my closet when the warning alarm went off. It’s shrill sound was enough to raise the hair on my arms. Luckily it was just one alarm, which meant it was only a minor attack. The knights would take care of it.

  A second alarm went off, and then a third. The louder sound echoed off the stone walls and made my ears ring and a chill down my spine.

  Oh no, this is really bad. I threw the clothes I had in my hand over my shoulder. I ran to my bedside table and grabbed my knife, and the ruby hilted sword Thomas gave me as a present last week. It was beautiful to look at, and I hoped that would be all I ever needed it for.

  It was supposed to celebrate my great development in self defense. Now it meant life or death as a fourth alarm went off. The fourth alarm meant that the attacking force was so large we had no chance in defending them off. It meant that it was time to flee the castle.

  My family, I need to get them out!

  Where is Thomas? I’ll need his help.

  I sprinted through my door and down the hallways to the wing that held my family’s rooms. I hoped they had all just been waking up, and they weren’t all scattered throughout the castle. I had no chance in getting them all out if they had all started their day.

  I slid to a stop in front of Grandma Beetie’s room. I barged through the door and found her collecting scrolls and books.

  “Grandmother, what are you doing? Do you not hear the alarms? We have to go, now!”

  “I know dear, but these are important and they must go with us, or I don’t go,” she responded stubbornly.

  I let out an annoyed huff. I knew she was my grandmother, but she was a thorn in my side.

  “You have thirty seconds to get everything you need. I will gather the family and be back here at your door. You will go with me, even if I have to throw you over my shoulder.”

  “Good luck with that,” she said with a quick smile and a wink.

  I rolled my eyes.

  She wasted no time and turned back to the texts and continued throwing them in a bag. Not even a stitch of clothing was in there.

  Stubborn old woman.

  I ran down the hall yelling at family members and throwing open doors, catching them in different states of undress.

  “We leave here in thirty seconds, everyone together!” I shouted at them.

  I counted down the seconds in my head.

  By the time I counted down to one my entire disgruntled family was in front of Grandma Beeties door. She stood there watching patiently like she wasn’t the hold up.

  Why does she look so calm?

  People were running past us in different states of panic carrying different items. It was amazing to see what items were so important that people were willing to risk their lives to carry them out of the castle. Although, a normal castle staff member may not be in any particular danger, allowing them to do so easily.

  Violet's family, my family, that was an entirely different story.

  Thomas came running up the hallway looking like an avenging god. His jaw was set in determination, and sweat dotted his brow. He was wearing the sleek new armor that Violet, Axel, and I had designed.

  When his eyes found mine, I could see how relieved he was.

  “Thank the Goddess, I found you,” he said while trying to catch his breath.

  “And I found them. What’s the best way out of here? Through the hidden tunnels?” I asked.

  “That’s the closest exit,” he said looking around.

  He turned his head, looked at my family and then barked out orders.

  “We are going to make a break for the secret tunnels. You will be quick, and you will be silent. The sooner we get out of the castle undetected, the safer we will be,” he said sternly.

  Goddess, he is so sexy when he takes charge like he is right now.

  I took the point of our little convoy, with my sword poised in front of me. I led my family to the entrance to the tunnels. It was only a thirty second dash from the wing that housed my family, but it felt like it took minutes. Grandma is not as fast as she once was and Thomas had to stay in the back and practically drag her to match our speed.

  Once we were all in the tunnels I let out the breath I had been purposefully holding. I may have taken Thomas’ order of silence a little too seriously. I led the way down the ladder and through the various tunnels that had been discovered since Violet and Axel first came down here.

  The further down we went, the colder it got. I was still wearing my wet clothes, and I was
shivering. My sword shook in my hands from the jerkiness of my shivers. My Aunt looked at me with pity, but I ignored it and pressed on.

  After two lefts and a right, I found the tunnel I was looking for, but we weren’t alone. There were three armed men loitering in the area. I looked back at Thomas who was pushing up to the front of the group. He pointed to the single guy on the far left and pointed at me.

  I nodded that I understood. I would take him out.

  He pointed to the center and right man, and pointed back at himself. I nodded again.

  He raised one finger giving me the countdown. Then a second and third finger. Then we charged full steam ahead, as quietly as we could. All I heard was our very quiet footsteps and the low chatter of the men blocking our exit.

  I had my blade through the middle of my target within three blows of the sword. Thomas quickly cut through his first target before he spun around and brought his sword clean through the abdomen of the second man.

  That was quick, and bloody. Very, bloody.

  My sword was dripping with blood, and a little was on my hands. I could see why this freaked out Violet, I could even sympathize. However, I felt powerful, not scared. I saved the lives of my family with Thomas’s help. I wasn’t defenseless, I was “kick-ass,” as Violet would say.

  We herded my large family past the bodies and continued through a labyrinth of tunnels. It was designed to be confusing, and it certainly did the trick. I led us into the passageway that was supposed to lead us to a neighboring village. I had been so sure that we were almost to freedom.

  A dead end? Why is this a dead end?

  Then it hit me.

  We had this tunnel closed off after one of the other assassination attempts. We thought these tunnels were being used by those Kennan sent to kill Violet. This confirmed it, these tunnels were still in use, even though we blocked off the route we had thought they’d taken.

  I didn’t know any of the other paths. We were trapped down here.

  Think fast, Trin!

  Did anyone bring a shovel? Can I use my sword to dig us out? Could Wisdom make us some shovels or do something to get us out of here?

  I was about to turn around and ask him when I felt a tug on each of my hands and looked down. Star and Luna were on each side of me, looking up at me.

  “We can help,” they said together.

  It creeped me out that they sometimes spoke the same words in unison, like they shared the same mind.

  “How so?” I asked them.

  I am not one to turn down help at the moment, but I wasn’t sure how they could help.

  They let go of my hand and held their hands up in the air, facing the end of the tunnel. They pushed their hands through the air like they were pretending to push the wall away. I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, the end of the tunnel hollowed out, adding ten new feet of passageway.

  “Holy mother Goddess! How did you do that? When did you get magic?!” I asked them in shock.

  “We have always been connected to things such as dirt, and plants. Violet refers to it as things of the Earth. However, we started manipulating it in secret with Grandma Beetie. She told us it was a secret.”

  My head whipped around like it was on a swivel and pinned my grandmother with a look that could kill.

  Chapter Two

  Trin

  “Before you get all upset, Trin, remember you aren’t supposed to know everything,” she said.

  I’m the advisor to the Queen, it’s in my job description to know everything. Especially when it comes to our family. I was livid, and confused. What else had Grandmother kept secret?

  “And you are?” I challenged back.

  “Not everything, but I’m older and I am supposed to know more. I am also your Grandmother, so you will watch your tone,” she told me.

  “Sorry, Grandmother.”

  “It’s ok child. I will tell you about your magic another time,” she said.

  “My what?!” I asked, shouting the words.

  “You heard me child, but now is not the time. Luna, Star, please get us out of here.”

  How could she just drop another secret like that and expect me not to push it further? I had magic, and she hadn’t told me. My whole life felt like it had been a lie. Why would she keep something like that from me. Surely if the twins knew about theirs, it would be ok for me to know about mine. I could have trained with it, I could have done more to help Violet and Axel.

  This was extremely unfair.

  The twins did what Grandma Beetie asked and kept extending the tunnel. Eventually we got to a vertical shaft, which had a ladder that had been buried.

  The twins uncovered it with a bit of their magic. Thomas climbed the ladder. I watched as he tried to pry the ladder loose from the wall, making sure it was secured for the rest of us. I climbed up the ladder next. When I pulled myself out of the hole I was sitting on a wooden floor. I took a deep breath and I looked around. We were in an abandoned shack, an old dirty and musty shack.

  Once my family was above ground, we took a break to rest. We needed to lay low and wait for the siege on the castle to end. This abandoned shack was the perfect place to do that. If we stayed quiet, no one would know we were here. We were in the village just outside of the castle, so it would be easy enough for an enemy to spot us. I’m sure several of them would have already made their way here for supplies and to bully the villagers.

  After the siege of the castle was over, we would make our move during the middle of the day with the hustle and the bustle in the cobble streets as our cover.

  “Why are you wet?” my aunt asked me. I could see her nose twitch as she sniffed the air around me.

  “I’m not quite sure. I woke up like this. It’s strange because I had a dream that I had drowned.”

  “You did?” Wisdom asked.

  I nodded my head.

  Why would I lie?

  “I did too. In fact, you, Beetie, the twins, Axel and Violet were in my dream,” he shared.

  My eyes traveled over to Grandmother expectantly. I had a feeling she was going to tell me she had the same dream, and so would the twins.

  She smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

  “Me too!” the twins said in unison again.

  They have to stop doing that, it gives me the chills.

  “So what, we all had the same dream, and I’m the only one wet?” I asked. How was it possible that we could all have the same dream? I've never heard of any magic like that.

  “No, I was wet too,” Grandmother shared. “I just must have been up longer than you. I had already changed for the morning when you barged in.”

  “I too was wet, and changed,” Wisdom added.

  The twins chorused too.

  So I must have been the last person to wake up from the dream. Interesting.

  “I’m willing to bet that Axel and Violet have something to do with this,” I said to no one in particular.

  This certainly sounds like trouble, which Violet has a way of getting herself into. I wished I could ask her about what was going on. At least we are all ok, for the most part. I was still cold and shivering.

  Thomas pulled a bag off his shoulder, which I had only had a quick glance of before. He pulled out an armor set and handed it to me.

  “Thanks, but we only have the armor for guys. This will not be comfortable. My clothes will dry eventually,” I said, touched by his thoughtfulness.

  The clothes I threw over my shoulder had become wet from resting on top of my wet clothes. They were also a little bloody.

  “No, they’re yours. Axel had a set designed for you, and one for Queen Violet,” he shared.

  “Really?” I asked, shocked by the gesture.

  Axel had been adamant that I wasn’t supposed to be in the battles to come.

  “That doesn’t mean he wasn’t prepared for the worst. I thought of grabbing it, right before I came looking for you.”

  “Thank you, that was incred
ibly considerate,” I said.

  He blushed at my praise.

  “Alright everyone, you know the drill. Turn around and don’t move until I say so,” I announced to the room.

  They all turned their backs to me, and the twins giggled.

  I slipped into the leather armor, and my goddess, it was skin tight. I get it, it needs to be tight to be the exact opposite of the old armor, but what does a girl have to do to breathe in this thing?

  The dark brown leather covered my abdomen, and my chest. It clinched everything tight, providing a level of protection. The leather pants had a layer of padding on the thighs, to protect the major arteries in the legs. There were laces in the back that held everything in place. Well, everything except for my breasts. Had Axel had me measured by a seamstress, he would have realised this was slightly too small around the bust. I felt a little more exposed up top than I would have been comfortable with.

  Once I laced it up in the back I told them they could turn around.

  The twins gasped and said, “Trin, you look like a badass!”

  Their mother scolded them for their language and I smiled. Grandmother had a twinkle in her eye that told me she was proud to see me in this new role. I was leading, and I was protecting our family.

  The look Thomas gave me on the other hand, it set my skin on fire. I could see the heat in his gaze, and he looked like he wanted to take this armor off of me behind closed doors.

  I turned and saw my reflection in an empty glass case.

  My face was red, and my hair was damp and stringy, but my body looked fantastic in the armor.

  I am never taking this off.

  It framed my breast and my hips. The leather hugged my bottom, giving it a nice lift. I have never looked this good.

  That brought me back to an earlier thought. There was a lot I didn’t know about myself.