Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga)

  Contents

  Cover

  Hearts of Ishira

  copyright page

  Dedication page

  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

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  note from the author

  where to find Bethany-1

  Note

  Prologue

  ~ 1 ~

  ~ 2 ~

  Hearts of Ishira

  Book One in the

  ‘Hearts of Ishira’ Series

  by

  Bethany Aan

  Copyright © 2012 by Bethany Aan

  Cover Art Copyright 2014

  Cover Art:

  (Eye Tear) Image courtesy of idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  (Starry Night) Image courtesy of nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  (Fitness Young Man [torso on right] ) Image courtesy of luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  (Young Male Model [torso on left]) Image courtesy of farconville / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  (Wallpaper Star) Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  Additional images copyright 2012 by DoniStuff Designs

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form

  or by any means electronic or mechanical,

  including information storage and retrieval systems,

  without prior written consent of the author.

  Exceptions will be made for reviewers or bloggers,

  who may quote short excerpts in reviews.

  Contact: Bethanyaanerotica@gmail.com

  Hearts of Ishira is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, places, and events are purely the imagination of the author.

  (Except for the thing about the bee. That really happened.)

  A Note from the Author:

  It takes many months of long, hard hours

  as well as a lot of neglect toward the household and the husband

  to create a book like this.

  Please respect the work of the author and all those who support me

  by purchasing additional copies if you wish to share.

  Thanks, and enjoy!

  In loving dedication:

  To Mom

  who not only introduced me to sci-fi at an early age,

  but kept enabling me throughout my life by buying me books whenever you could.

  For the gifts you have given me, I can never repay you.

  I love you so very much, Momma.

  To the best cheerleaders and beta readers

  an author could ever have, who kept me sane,

  gave great edits, thoughtful insight, and kept me mostly on track:

  my cousins Arwen and Deborah,

  and my amazing friends Staci, Tamara, Bina,

  Glenn, and Mary.

  Thanks for reading each version and telling me which ones were crap

  and which ones you couldn’t get enough of!

  And saving the best for last, to my husband.

  You never gave up on me.

  You believed in me and loved me when I could see no real reason to do either.

  Every hero I write about has part of you within him,

  and every time my heroine falls in love with one (or more!) of my heroes,

  I fall in love with you all over again.

  I would never have truly understood the wonder of

  ‘happily ever after’ if not for you.

  I love you, Sal.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Pain. Horrific, brutal agony. In her leg, her chest, her head.

  Arianna held very still, taking mental inventory of her immediate reality. It felt like a spike was thrusting through her skull, making it almost impossible to think. She cried out softly, unable to keep the soul- deep groan inside. Her body shuddered with nausea from the pain, but she felt that she needed to move, to clear her head.

  From a distance, through the blood thrumming in her ears, she could hear screams. She had to get up, to do something to protect herself, though she didn’t know from what. Opening her senses, she fought to understand what was going on.

  The emotions and terror of other people close by crowded in on her, threatening to overwhelm her. Her natural empathy allowed her mind to feel what the others felt, their terror, pain, confusion. All of their emotions only added to her own, threatening to consume her. She had to get herself under control, and fast. As her mind began registering immediate threats, it slammed a mental shield in place, effectively silencing the fear and pain from her companions and allowing her to concentrate on herself for a moment.

  Drawing on the coping mechanisms learned from far too much experience with crippling pain, Ri sought to even out her breathing, slow her heart rate. She had to control the pain before she could do anything else. Fighting the urge to take a deep breath or to clench each muscle in her body and curl up against the agony, she sought to quiet everything in her being. She sent every ounce of fear and pain into her clenched fists, then concentrated on the tranquil lake of her soul as her hands warmed, tingling. Once she had a moment of stillness, she opened her mind, reached down into a well of energy and renewal that she hadn’t known she possessed until recent years, and opened the path that allowed her own healing energy to flow through her. Ignoring everything outside of her for the moment, she sent bursts of power into the epicenters of her injuries, breathing as slow and evenly as she could as she waited for it to take hold. Tears leaked from her eyes and slid through the dirt on her face, but she did her best to ignore them and focused on suppressing the pain.

  One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…

  The agony slowly reduced to a manageable level. Still excruciating, but no longer as debilitating.

  Within her head, a heavy whomp-whomp-whomp thudded slowly, her blood moving through her ears, blocking out most of the outside sounds. Her eyes tightened, her vision narrowing to a nearly impenetrable fog. She breathed through it all, knowing it would pass, that the gray cloud fogging her brain would clear in a few moments. She would be able to hear once more, as well. The whomping would end, the mist would lift, and she would open her eyes to find out which had run over her… a tank or a double-decker bus?

  With a burst of inanity, her mind focused on the bus. She wasn’t a fan of the military, after all.

  Startled, she thanked the cosmos that at least she still had her sense of humor. Good. She had a feeling she’d need it. She opened her eyes and had nearly recovered her senses when pain began creeping back in, stabbing at her on all fronts. Startled by the sudden resurgence, she automatically repeated her mantra.

  Center. Open. Flow. Wait. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…

  Better, she thought as the intensity lessened, but she frowned to herself. The pain should have stayed away longer than just a few
minutes. How badly was she hurt?

  And she was weak, so weak. Too weak. From pain? Blood loss? She was hurt, badly. Was she cut? Bleeding?

  Dying? Her mind suggested.

  A surge of energy exploded through her at that thought.

  No!

  Ri’s eyes popped open with the sudden onslaught of power. The gray cleared immediately, the whomping faded away.

  Suddenly, there were noises again. Screams. The patter of rain. Running water, insects, the movement of animals in the underbrush nearby.

  She focused on the screams. Screaming was bad. Screaming meant something was wrong.

  But what?

  Opening her senses once more, blinking to clear her eyes, she quickly explored the terror, pain, and confusion from younger people all around her.

  The natural urge to fix whatever was wrong, to find out what was going on and to help make it right, surged through her, lending extra energy to her efforts.

  Ri slid her hands forward, bringing them to her sides. It hurt, but she could do that much. Very carefully, she tried to lift her upper body, take a look around.

  She felt like she was being ripped in half. Agony speared through her torso, taking her breath and her focus. Shit! What the hell had happened to her?

  Dizziness swamped her, triggering the mantra.

  Center. Open. Flow. Wait. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…

  It was taking longer to control the pain when it spiked.

  Not good. This was not good. She must be hurt worse than she thought.

  Consumed with the need to act quickly and find help, Ri opened her mind and reached out with her senses, trying to find someone, anyone, that might be able to help her those with her that might need it. She didn’t really expect to find an answer, so she was stunned as she felt the surprised response from another mind. Grasping to the other consciousness, a distance from her location, she repeated the call for help, sending a bit of the pain she was in, as well as the screams and emotions from around her.

  The other mind immediately sent back an assurance of assistance, and as Ri’s energy flagged from the contact, she somehow knew that, who or whatever that mental touch belonged to, he was already sprinting into action, coming to her aid.

  The entire exchange took seconds.

  Opening her eyes once more, she focused only on what was around her.

  There were trees, bushes, vines… but none of them even remotely familiar. The trees had teal foliage, not green. Their trunks were black with copper veins running in and out of the bark. The vines were unlike anything she’d ever seen before, some with spikes and thorns longer than her hand and flowers that would have challenged her favorite fantasy artist to recreate. The colors were so far removed from her experience that the forest melded into a sort of Monet-esque watercolor of brush strokes…colors she knew but not in shapes she recognized. Her brain couldn’t process the differences at the moment. She shifted her gaze as insect-like creatures flew, crawled, or trundled over the forest floor.

  Her mouth dropping open with horror, Arianna stared blankly at the bugs’ eventual goal.

  Not three feet from her lay the body of a young woman whose neck was quite obviously broken. Blood pooled beneath her head and Ri thanked the Almighty that the girl’s face was toward the forest so she couldn’t see the dead eyes. She didn’t want to see the wound causing that puddle, either, considering how large the pool was. Bugs swarmed over that puddle, drinking it, wallowing in it, tracking away from it as they searched for something tastier. Other insects were already industriously pulling little chunks of flesh from the girl’s body.

  The bugs weren’t the only creatures interested in the corpse. Ri watched, horrified, as an alien creature crept from the woods, drawn by the scent of blood, and began sniffing and clawing at the girl’s body. The thing was small, about the size of a Chihuahua, but with too many teeth to be a dog. And too many legs, for that matter. Too shocked to count them, she felt the hunger broadcasting from it, the curiosity in the new aromas that it had come across. She could taste the blood it smelled, felt its salivary glands gush in anticipation of a meal.

  She watched in fascinated horror, unable to tear her gaze away as the thing opened its mouth wider than she would have thought possible and snapped its jaws down on the dead girl’s arm. With that one bite, it cracked bone and tore flesh. It huffed a snort of what Arianna sensed was satisfaction then trotted back into the woods. Dangling its gruesome trophy from its mouth, it grunted happily as it disappeared through the underbrush. Ri’s eyes lingered, adjusting to the unfamiliar landscape quickly now. She scanned the bushes and vines, searching for additional threats and hoping to find none bigger than what had just fled into the brush.

  From the gloom beneath the trees a larger, darker shadow began moving toward the girl’s body, its eyes glowing a wicked purple-pink color. With a whimper of terror, Ri scuttled backwards, away from the body and the multitude of creatures making it into a buffet. She came up against a tree, the bark scraping her bare flesh when she tried to use the tree to stand. Her lower leg was aflame with agony, but she breathed through the pain, taking stock of the situation again now that her faculties seemed to be returning.

  Her eyes widened as she registered more of her surroundings with a swift glance… the teal foliage that was like nothing she’d ever seen before. The roiling gunmetal and murky teal clouds flashing with neon purple lightning. The sky in the distance that glowed with a light lavender hue in the wake of the storm. The animals that were nothing like on Earth, other than in size and, apparently, appetite.

  What in God’s name was going on? Where the hell was she?

  One thing was certain.

  She was no longer on Earth.

  “Hello?”

  Nearby, someone was calling out to her. Ri turned her head very slowly, in deference to the gnomes with pick-axes that were currently busy at work inside her skull. A blond woman who appeared a little bit younger than Ri sat on the ground, looking like she had just awakened. She was chubby, with pretty blue eyes, but covered in mud and forest debris.

  And nothing else. Startled, Arianna looked down at herself, realizing that she was stark naked, as well. Her eyes widened as she looked around at the other women, some conscious, some not, who were dotted along a narrow, bare dirt strip that looked like a path through the woods. They were all naked save for blood, mud, and bits of forest.

  She met the blonde’s gaze. The younger woman stared up at Ri, then looked around, obviously trying to process their surroundings, as Ri had.

  “Where are we?” the girl breathed. Ri understood the blonde’s incredulity as she took in the strangely colored trees and flowers, some of the animals, and the sky that was purple through the clouds.

  “I have no clue,” Ri said, then cried out involuntarily when the effort to talk brought pain shafting through her ribs. Lord, they were probably broken. “How did we get here?”

  “I don’t know,” the girl shook her head, slowly getting to her feet. She moved toward Ri, her eyes quickly scanning the older woman’s body. When they reached Arianna’s lower leg, she blanched and even gagged a little, turning her face away before she could hide her revulsion.

  Ri blinked and followed the girl’s gaze. Then she fervently wished she hadn’t. The bones of her right leg were broken, part of each sticking through her muddy, filthy skin. Blood oozed from the wound, attracting the bugs. How had she managed not to notice such a hideous wound?

  Whimpering, she frantically slapped at the flying insects that were trying to land on her to feed, taking care not to touch her own flesh. She fought the urge to pass out, her throat spasming painfully to keep her bile down until she was able to bring her nausea under control.

  Ri couldn’t lose it now. Not now. Closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the tree, she frantically reached for that well of power within her, praying that she had something left to work with.

  Center. Open. Flow. Wait. On
e one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand… four one-thousand, five one-thousand, six… There it was. Blessed numbness set up below her knee. Directing so much power to that one spot took it from the others though and Ri fought the urge to pass out as pain rushed back into her head and ribs with a vengeance.

  “Hey,” the blond said, sounding a bit panicked. “Stay with me, okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Ri said, realizing that her voice sounded thready and not very convincing. The grayness was closing back in on her.

  With a herculean effort, she shoved it back. They had to help the others. No one seemed to know what to do, and from what she could see, Ri and her new friend were the only ones not in a state of advanced shock. The younger woman put a hand to Arianna’s shoulder, helping to shore her up.Unbidden, energy flowed between them, from the younger to the elder, and Ri sucked in a breath, her eyes widening as she felt the surge of renewing power flow through her. The girl’s eyes rounded and they stared at each other until Ri managed to stopped the stream.

  “What the hell was that?” the younger woman asked, dropping her hand and stepping back. “What did you do?”

  “I… think you helped me,” Ri said haltingly. “It felt like you sent me some kind of energy… or something.”

  “Like healing?” the girl asked, cocking her head to the side. Ri cut her eyes toward a distant scream, scrambling for an answer.

  “Kind of… either I took it or you gave me some extra energy, since mine’s so low.”

  “Wow,” the girl said with a bit of a surprised grin. “Didn’t know I had it in me!”

  Ri couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her, but it ended with a groan as her ribs reminded her they weren’t in the best shape right now. She breathed through the worst of the sudden pain, her eyes moving all around the area, taking in the frenzied women, the injured and dead, the predators closing in around the group.

  A plan. They needed a plan.

  “We have to get out of here,” she breathed, reaching for the younger girl but carefully keeping her shields in place this time. “Can you help me get over to the others? We need to get those girls organized, figure out how to get to safety… or something.”