WindSeeker

Table of Contents

WINDSEEKER

PROLOGUE

PART I: Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

PART II: Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Amber Quill Press, LLC

WINDSEEKER

by

CHARLOTTE BOYETT-COMPO

Amber Quill Press, LLC

http://www.amberquill.com

Windseeker

An Amber Quill Press Book

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination,

or have been used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Amber Quill Press, LLC

P.O. Box 50251

Bellevue, Washington 98015

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing

from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

Copyright © 2002 by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

ISBN 1-59279-023-2

Cover Art © 2002 Trace Edward Zaber

Rating: R

Layout and Formatting

Provided by: ElementalAlchemy.com

Published in the United States of America

Also by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

At Grandma’s Knee

BlackWind

BloodWind

DarkWind

In the Heart of the Wind

In the Teeth of the Wind

In the Wind’s Eye

NightWind

Prince of the Wind

ShadowWind

Shards Anthology

WindChance

WindFall

The WindLegend’s Saga

Book I: Windkeeper

Book II: Windseeker

Book III: Windweeper

Book IV: Windhealer

Book V: Windreaper

Book VI: Winddreamer

Book VII: Windbeliever

Book VIII: Winddeceiver

Book IX: Windretriever

Book X: Windschemer

To: T.M.D.

Thank you to all the readers

who have been pleading with me for the sequel.

Sorry it took so long.

I hope you’ll love Brelan as much as

you’ve loved Conar!

"He was considered to be the greatest warrior Serenia had ever known," the Talespinner agreed. "His

was the stuff of legends, they say."

"Tell us about him, Grandfather," the child asked.

"Aye!" another little boy said. "Tell us about the Prince of the Wind."

The old man smiled, his watery eyes crinkled with amusement. "Don’t you boys ever get tired of hearing

about him?"

"No!" the children, all boys under the age of twelve, shouted in unison.

He shook his mane of thick white hair and gazed up at the stars over their campfire. It was such a clear,

beautiful night, just a hint of fall in the air. He could hear the waves breaking on the shoreline not far away

and, if he tried hard, could smell the tang of salt spray.

"You were a friend of his, weren’t you, Grandfather?" someone asked.

"Aye, that I was, Jordie," the old man sighed.

"A good friend, weren’t you, Grandfather?"

The old man’s lips twitched. "One of his best friends, boy." He ran his hand over his wrinkled face. "One

of his very best friends."

"Please, tell us about him."

Sniffing, the deep dimples in his cheeks quivering with emotion, the Talespinner sighed and began, his

ancient voice breaking with memory.

"He was a golden man, was our Prince. Tall, slim. He had eyes the color of the sky; so pretty a blue

you’d think they belonged to a girl. He wasn’t muscular, not at first, anyway; that came later. But he

could wield a sword almost as well at Prince Tyne Brell of Chale, who was considered to be the best

swordsmen of his time until the Raven came.

"His people loved him, for he was a just man, a good man and he was ever loyal to those who were

loyal to him." The Talespinner’s eyes grew dark with long-ago shame. "Even when you did not always

stand by him, he stood by you."

"And he rallied the people against the evil of the Domination, didn’t he, Grandfather?" one of the boys

whispered.

"Aye," the old man answered, his thoughts coming back to the boys at his feet. "He did at that."

"Did you fight beside him, Grandfather?"

A half-remembered laugh, the laugh of a free-roaming gypsy, the wicked laugh of a man who had

narrowly escaped many a trap, came from the Talespinner’s lips. "I tried, at any rate," he said.

"What about his lady?" a little boy asked, his head dipping in embarrassment as the other boys moaned

in mock exasperation.

"Ah, his lady!" the Talespinner sighed. His fading eyes closed for a moment, picturing the lady in his

mind. "She was a goddess, she was. All midnight dark hair and eyes the color of emeralds. A little thing

she was, trim and fit." He winked. "She could wield a crossbow better than any man in the Prince’s Elite

Guard."

"You’re joking!" a little boy said, as if on cue.

"No, I am not!" the old man gasped. "She saved my hide a time or two with that wicked bow of hers!"

"Tell us about the priest," came a shuddering voice.

The old man sobered. "Why do you want to hear about him?"

"He’s part of it, isn’t he, Grandfather?" the youngest boy asked.

The Talespinner nodded. "Aye, he was the worst of it, he was."

"Tell us!"

"His name was Tohre, Kaileel Tohre, and he was the most evil man to ever draw breath on this planet or

any other. He was a viper in the midst of the doves."

"What about the others, Grandfather? What about his brothers and the men of the Elite? Tell us how it

all started. We want to hear it again!"

Chuckling softly to himself, the Talespinner nodded and looked up to the garden wall, his watery gaze

straying over the seagate to the vast expanse of darkness beyond where even the stars seemed hidden.

"Well, it began when he made a pact with the demons," the old man said. He shook his head. "When the

Prince of the Wind became entrapped by the very evil he had always fought…"

PART I:

"What the hell are they doing now?" Teal asked, squinting up to look at Thom.

"I’m not sure you want to know," Legion sniffed. He was sitting on the ground, his back to a large

boulder, his ankles crossed, arms folded across his massive chest. "Whatever they’re doing doesn’t

concern us, du Mer."

Thom Loure scampered back down the ledge, sat on a rocky outcropping, and took the wedge of apple

Teal du Mer handed him.

"You know," Loure said, taking a large bite out of the juicy flesh, "I don’t remember ever being that

horny when I was Coni’s age." He grinned around the mouthful of apple. "How ’bout you, Legion?"

Legion snorted. "I don’t think anyone in the history of the world has ever been as horny as Conar

McGregor." He made a wry face. "You’d think he had invented sex all by himself."

Teal turned, pulled himself up the ledge, and peered down. His eyes went wide with wonder. "By the

gods! They’re still at it."

Legion reached out to tug at du Mer’s shirt. "Will you get your ass down from there before he sees

you?"

Teal slapped away his hand. "He can’t see me."

"All right," Legion warned, "if he catches you spying on him, you’ll wish he hadn’t."

Looking up at the brilliant spring sky, the sun sending rays through a few scudding white clouds, Thom

stretched out his long legs in front of him. He followed a careening sea gull as it made its way across the

heavens, dipping and soaring, its wings barely moving in the stiff breeze.

"He’s as free as that gull." The big man mused. He scratched his bald pate where bristly black hair was

beginning to show. "It’s good to see him happy."

Legion nodded. He took a deep breath and looked at the high-flying gull. "Liza’s the reason. She’s

made him content."

Thom brought up his lanky legs and circled them in the perimeter of his equally lanky arms. He squinted,

lowered his rubbery forehead into a frown, and pursed his thick lips; signs the big man was thinking.

"They’ve been married, what now? Two years almost?" Loure nodded. "Aye, two years, and the bloom

is still on their marriage. No fights, no arguments, no spats." He turned his big head toward Legion

A’Lex. "Is that normal?"

"No," Legion said, "not as far as I can tell."

"Highly unusual," Teal du Mer mumbled. "Or so I’m told."

Legion craned his head around and reached up to tug on du Mer’s cambric shirt. "Damn it, Tealson, will

you come down?" Teal slapped away his hand and Legion took in the unwavering stare on his friend’s

dark face. "Just what the hell’s so gods-be-damned interesting, anyway?"

Thom, his curiosity aroused, pulled himself back up the ledge. "By the sweet mercy of Alel! What is the

man doing to her?"

Legion scampered up beside him and let out a slow whistle. "Wouldn’t you think that would hurt?"

Teal shook his head, a faint blush beginning to form on his dark gypsy face. He plowed long fingers

through his chestnut hair, ruffling the thick curls. "Do you think he’d tell us where he learned that trick?"

the half-breed asked.

"Aye, and just how will you explain to him how we know he can do such things as that?" Legion

sneered, his bearded face tight with impatience. He gawked down the ledge. "Merciful Alel! How is that

possible?"

Thom’s large mouth dropped open and he blushed. "I don’t believe I would like to try…"

Teal and Legion put rough hands on Loure’s shoulders and jerked the Elite captain down the ledge, for

Conar’s head had swung toward the ledge above him.

* * *

shoulder as they lay on the chill beach beneath a soft fleece blanket.

Prince Conar McGregor turned to the rock ledge and a gleam of menace lit the pale blue depths of his

wicked eyes. "Have they really?" he asked in a low growl.

His wife laughed. "It’s not the first time they’ve been near when we’ve made love, Conar. They do

know we do it, Milord."

"I’m not inclined to have them spying, lady."

Liza pulled a long tress of ebony hair over her shoulder and tickled his nose with it to erase the stern

lines on his handsome face.

Conar’s voice was tight with annoyance. "And it will be the last time they do so."

"I care not how much they know this woman loves her man, Milord."

Despite the protection of the blanket, he felt ill at ease with other people viewing their moments of

passion.

"Well, I care." He sat up and shook his golden mane of hair. "They’ve got no business tagging along

behind us, anyway."

A tiny frown marred the perfection of Liza’s forehead. Her sweet oval face puckered in echo with her

coral lips. "Are you going to say something obnoxious to them?"

"Not necessarily," he answered as he leaned over and picked up his cord breeches. "But I’ll be

gods-be-damned sure they don’t spy on us again." He wiggled his lean flanks into the tight garment.

" ’Twas probably your father’s doing," his wife reminded him. "With all the problems your twin, Galen,

has been causing of late, I think your King fears for your safety." She frowned, her husband’s safety

uppermost in her own mind as well. She took the gown he handed her and wriggled into it under the

covers, pulling it on over her feet and hips. "Your father thinks Galen may try to do you harm, Beloved. I

agree."

"The two of you had better be worried for Galen’s safety," Conar hissed. "That ill-begotten brother of

mine has always plotted against me in one fashion or another. That’s nothing new. He’s just pissed off

now that I’m happy with my Toad."

Liza giggled at his wagging brows as she pulled the gown over her arms. "Very happy if this afternoon

was any indication, Milord."

Conar grinned. "Besides, Galen won’t try anything for awhile. After the last raid I sent my Elite troops