Wilde's Fire Read online

  “Your Brad did not do those things. Dughbal tried to taint your friend years before the two of you ever entered Encardia. My brother heard your prophecy. He traveled to Earth, hoping to find you, but your mother’s protections over you were powerful. Dughbal found Brad in the forest, but was unable to turn him. The boy’s mind is strong. However, the poison of the coscarthas was stronger.”

  “So, when he was lost in the forest when he was ten, really Dughbal had captured him?” Another lump forms in my throat.

  Griandor nods.

  Tremors take control of my hands. Brad was so frightened. I thought he’d never go in the woods again. “Why didn’t he remember anything?”

  “Your mother erased the memory of the encounter.”

  She lied? Why didn’t she tell me the truth? I understand why she didn’t tell me before I came here, but why not now? “Did my mom know Brad was going to be a part of this war?”

  Griandor arches his eyebrows. “Your mother knows much. She is a fool to keep it from you, but I understand why she has. Her desire for you to stay on the path of Light is her way of protecting you. Find a way to forgive her; she has lost everything, much as you have.”

  I nod, but Griandor’s plea for forgiveness does not make me any happier. Mom may have her reasons, but she needs to keep me in the loop. I don’t want to be surprised. I want to know if someone else I love is going to die, so I can spend as much time with that person as possible.

  “What about Mark Evans?” I ask, remembering I still have a reason to be mad at Brad.

  Griandor places his hand on my shoulder. “That was a misunderstanding, Katriona. Mark Evans had intentions for you Brad was not fond of … neither was I.”

  My heart sinks to my feet. I shouldn’t have doubted Brad, or thought he was a monster. I shouldn’t have brought him here. Tears fill my eyes. I cover my face with the sheet.

  “None of this is your fault. Brad was not right for you. I believe you are aware of that, but you can still help him. When the war is over, I will see to it that his life is returned to him, that he is sent home, and that his heart is mended from the loss of you in it.”

  I stifle my tears and look up at the kind god. “How do I end the war?”

  Griandor smiles. “What Dughbal does not know is our father stripped his immortality from him when he was cast down from the heavens. Dughbal may have great power, and continue to steal great power from innocent lives, but he can be killed. You must seek him out, fight him, burn him as you do his daemons,” he says, eyes flashing with golden flames.

  “You need to stop him soon. Daemons draw the magic out of their victims and become stronger with each new life they steal, making Dughbal more powerful. We fear he may venture into the remaining seven worlds and decimate life there, the way he has here. The gods and goddesses are at an impasse with Dughbal. If we fight, our battle might destroy worlds, and the life they carry. If we do not fight, our lack of interference could do the same.”

  Overwhelmed. That’s how I feel. “How am I supposed to get to him? I couldn’t even kill his bats.”

  “You need to establish your own army. It will not be easy for you to convince Maher, Dufaigh, and Murchadha to follow you—”

  “Who is Murchadha?”

  “He is another Leader of Encardia. The three have grown fearful of Dughbal and are afraid of any more blood being shed. You must do whatever it takes to convince them.”

  Putting my head between my knees, I swallow hard. “I have to work with the Ground Dwellers?”

  Griandor places his hand on my head. “You must find a way to unite everyone.”

  “And the others? Dughbal said he captured them,” I say, not wanting to think of the Ground Dwellers or of a marriage to Perth. Instead, I worry about the children, my family, and my heart.

  “It will be your first test to find them and save them. There will be many more tests along the way.”

  “How—?”

  “Going forward, you must trust in yourself and those around you. Most importantly, you must trust in those you love. You will need no other guide. You could fail, Katriona, but we hope you do not.” Griandor removes his hand from my head and clasps his fingers in front of him, eyes staring beyond me again.

  “My sister predicts you will revolutionize this world. She predicts you will surprise many … even yourself. Be strong, child. We will be watching, and will send messages when we can. However, the closer you are to Arland Maher, the harder it will be for us to communicate. He protects you in more ways than one.”

  Griandor grins, then fades from a man back into the swirling golden light.

  “Wait!”

  He pauses, not returning to his human form, but floating in the air around me.

  “Who betrayed us? Dughbal said there were two of his servants living amongst us.”

  “Katriona,” Griandor says, his melodic voice vibrating on my skin, “you must discover this on your own. Trust yourself.”

  Before he disappears, his light touches my face, taking the pain out of my eye. My skin is still swollen, but the ache is gone.

  I’m alone.

  I don’t have to leave this room to know Arland is gone, Brit is gone, Mom is gone, everyone is gone. Pulling clothes from the drawers that have been maintained for me by dedicated soldiers of Arland’s … of mine, I get dressed.

  Sliding my claymore through its holster, I walk out of the bedroom, probably for the last time ever. I turn to close the door, but cannot see it. It’s as if no room exists on the other side, just as the stables didn’t appear until Arland whispered Nochtann.

  I’m not sure what everything Griandor told me means, but I will go forward. I will find the soldiers, my family, and my heart.

  I will seek out Dughbal and destroy him for hurting those I love.

  My name is Katriona Wilde, and I have fire.

  Thank You For Reading

  Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!

  Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Krystal Wade live and die by your reviews, after all!

  About the Author

  Official Homepage | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | GoodReads

  Krystal Wade can be found in the sluglines outside Washington D.C. every morning, Monday through Friday. With coffee in hand, iPod plugged in, and strangers – who sometimes snore, smell, or have incredibly bad gas – sitting next to her, she zones out and thinks of fantastical worlds for you and me to read.

  How else can she cope with a fifty mile commute?

  Good thing she has her husband and three kids to go home to. They keep her sane.

  A Division of Whampa, LLC

  P.O. Box 2540

  Dulles, VA 20101

  Tel/Fax: 800-998-2509

  © 2012 Krystal Wade

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information about Subsidiary Rights, Bulk Purchases, Live Events, or any other questions - please contact Curiosity Quills Press at [email protected], or visit http://curiosityquills.com

  Cover design by Harvey Bunda (http://soulspline.deviantart.com)

  ISBN 978-1-62007-056-7 (ebook)

  ISBN 978-1-62007-057-4 (paperback)

  More from Curiosity Quills Press

  The God Particle, by Rod Kierkegaard, Jr.

  (http://bit.ly/god-particle)

  Ricardo Alomar’s four best friends are discovered dead at the launch of their high-tech start-up company.

  The police can find no cause for their mysterious deaths, but as their bodies start disappearing from the morgue, Ricardo is drawn into the investigation of his friends’ strange behavior and their even stranger invention: A kind of time-displacement generator utilizing the Higgs boson — the so-called “God Particle”.

  Shadow of a Dead Star, by Michael Shean />
  (http://bit.ly/shadow-of-a-dead-star)

  As an agent of the Industrial Security Bureau, it is Thomas Walken’s duty to keep the city of Seattle free of black-market technology. But when a trio of living sex-dolls he has recently intercepted are stolen from custody, Walken finds himself seeking a great deal more than just contraband.

  He will be forced to use his skills and preternatural instincts to try and keep his career, his freedom, and his life.

  Worlds Burn Through, by Vicki Keire.

  (http://bit.ly/worlds-burn-through)

  Chloe Burke has nightmares of a world burned to ash and the strange boy who saves them both. Underneath the dreams lurks a deeply buried reality; Chloe and a handful of others are survivors of a decade old apocalypse that burned their home world to the ground.

  Now their ancient enemies hunt them again. To keep their adopted world safe, Chloe must undergo a ritual of blood sacrifice that will have life-long consequences if she survives. Her lethal protector, Eliot Gray, must keep her alive long enough to do it.

  Together they will uncover even more dangerous secrets buried in the past’s deepest, darkest ashes.

  The Department of Magic, by Rod Kierkegaard, Jr.

  (http://bit.ly/department-of-magic)

  It’s hate at first sight.

  Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo compete for the same job in a dusty office of a secret Federal agency. When their new boss is murdered, Jasmine and Rocco plunge into a nightmare gallop through a world of ghosts, spooks, vampires, demons, and Voodoo gods.

  With a magical cast of characters and a wry insider’s view of the Federal government, here at last is a Harry Potter for grownups.

  The Stein & Candle Detective Agency, Vol. 1: American Nightmares

  (http://bit.ly/stein-and-candle-vol1)

  Morton Candle is a hardboiled ex-paratrooper just back from storming across Europe. Weatherby Stein is a fourteen-year-old boy genius and scion to the greatest occult family in Europe. Together, they form the Stein and Candle Detective Agency – ready to take the weirdest jobs in the Freewheeling Fifties. This pair of paranormal gumshoes has the brains and brawn needed to take on monsters, madmen and magic –all to close a case.

  From a vampire’s decaying mansion to the mob-controlled streets of Havana, they’ll take on roadside attractions gone wrong, hordes of the living dead, and ride against the Devil in a high speed car race to the death.

  Bone Wires, by Michael Shean (http://bit.ly/bone-wires)

  In the wasteland of commercial culture that is future America, police are operated not by government but by private companies. In Seattle, that role is filled by Civil Protection, and Daniel Gray is a detective in Homicide Solutions.

  What used to be considered an important – even glamorous – department for public police is very different for the corporate species, and Gray finds himself stuck in a dead end job.

  That is, until the Spine Thief arrives.

  The Kulture Vultures & the Plot to Steal the Universe, by William Vitka & Bill Vitka (http://bit.ly/kulture-vultures)

  “Only five people can save the world. But there’s a problem. They’re dead.”

  In the black of the cosmos, the Combine rules over entire planetary systems with an iron fist. Having harvested and destroyed the culture of billions upon billions to ensure that they, and only they, are the dominant form of entertainment in the universe, the Combine maintain a monopoly over hearts and minds everywhere with their terrible sitcoms.

  Just so happens that the best pirated culture comes from Earth. The human monkeys might not be smart, but damn if they aren’t entertaining. Earth’s biggest fan, a lowly intergalactic cab driver named Zel, joins a few not-so-loyal companions in a race to prevent humanity’s extinction – by resurrecting Earth’s great pulp writers and scientists. The only ones with enough creative craziness to figure out how to stop the Combine.

  Daughter of Glass, by Vicki Keire (http://bit.ly/daughter-of-glass)

  Sasha Alexander has a powerful ability. Either that, or she’s dangerously mad.

  Her father shrouds her in isolation, convinced he’s protecting her. But the seven guardians that only she can see insist she’s gifted. Her companions since her mother’s suicide, they protect her from hurt, pain and fear. They also keep her from feeling love.

  Sasha doesn’t know how to react when Noah explodes through her defenses. This strange young man with the scarred hands suddenly makes her feel again.

  But unless she can learn to control her own emotions, the biggest danger to them all may be Sasha herself.

  Please visit http://CuriosityQuills.com for more great books, serialized stories, and discussions.

  Table of Contents

  Appetizer:

  Book Cover

  Title Page

  A Message From The Author

  Dedication

  Main Course:

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Dessert:

  Closing

  About the Author

  Copyright & Publisher

  More from Curiosity Quills Press