The Warden’s Son Book 2:
Blood of Vanris

by Nikki McCormack

Kasiel’s healing injuries still trouble him, almost as much as the memories of what he did at the Hall in Katovan. Though he trains to become a better fighter and mind-crafter, a deeper understanding of the roles he is expected to fill makes it harder for him to come to terms with his place in Vanrian society.

Then the southern kingdoms emerge with a new weapon for fighting Vanrian mind-crafters. One that could change the course of the war. The situation leads to Kasiel being required to take a more active role in the conflict sooner than planned.

With his country’s growing need of mind-crafters like him, Kasiel learns what it really means to be at war, and what it feels like to lose. He is about to discover how far he’s willing to go to protect the ones he loves.

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Information:

Title: Blood of Vanris, The Warden’s Son Book One
Author: Nikki McCormack
Cover Art: Robert Crescenzio
Publisher: Elysium Books
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Length: 401 pages
Release Date: April 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9903922-0-5

Excerpt from Blood of Vanris: The Warden’s Son Book Two

by Nikki McCormack

Copyright © 2024 by Nikki McCormack. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

CHAPTER ONE

Muscle rippled beneath the kanodrak’s silver-gray scaled hide, her long claws digging into the stone under her feet like it was clay. Her milky white eyes watched Kasiel while he watched her in turn, his gaze drifting to the elongated front incisors that dipped below her lower jaw. She was a massive beast, larger than the average horse. Kasiel, by comparison, was rather unimpressive standing before her, his mind reaching out to hers in search of some connection. In fact, he couldn’t remember when he had last felt as insignificant as he did now, facing that magnificent predator. Perhaps at that moment when he was almost five years old and Edmund, the man who would raise him as a son, had him pinned in the mud so they could cut the tops of his ears off.

A sweat broke out across Kasiel’s forehead as he tried to stop the surge of dark hatred that thought brought up, but he wasn’t fast enough. The kanodrak growled and rejected his presence, seeking welcome into her mind, with enough force that he staggered back a step. She lashed out with one paw, sweeping his legs out from under him. Kasiel hit the ground, curling around the flare of pain in his still-healing chest. The stitches were long gone, but the area over his heart where Edmund’s dagger cut him remained sensitive.

The somewhat feline beast lowered her armored head, the tips of those extended front fangs almost brushing Kasiel’s face. Her milky white eyes stared at the side of his face as she sniffed at him. Then she snorted, depositing a spray of mucus on his cheek, and loped away.

Kasiel stayed on the ground, waiting for the searing pain in his chest to pass. Once he managed to catch his breath, he wiped his cheek off with one sleeve and sat up. Adnar stood watching him from outside the bars that walled the front of the canyon off from the habitat where the kanodraks resided. He tossed his head, throwing his long blond hair back from his face, the corners of his mouth curling down.

Kasiel heaved a sigh and climbed to his feet. “That didn’t go so well.”

“Did she have her claws retracted when she struck you?” Adnar asked.

“Obviously. I still have all my parts.” Kasiel struggled to keep the bitterness from his tone. Judging from the way Adnar’s eyes narrowed, he failed.

“Then it could have gone much worse.” Adnar unlocked the gate and held it open for him. “You need to focus.”

“Maybe it’s not me. Maybe she’s the problem,” Kasiel snapped.

Adnar’s fist tightened on the bars. He slammed the gate behind Kasiel with a solid clang and slapped the lock into place. “Do you want to know how I know you’re wrong?”

Kasiel drew a breath, trying to leash the quick temper that nagged him at every turn lately. “How?”

“Because a kanodrak is never wrong.” Adnar double-checked the lock, then faced him. “If you are still having this much pain, perhaps you should not be working with the kanodraks yet.”

A white light of frustration burst behind Kasiel’s eyes. “I’m fine. It’s healing more every day. I can do this.”

Adnar stalked up to him, glowering down at him with his head cocked to one side in a distinctly animalistic way. The ahndhomen wasn’t that much taller than Kasiel, but his superior bulk and the intimidating way he moved, like a predator prepared to strike, made him seem bigger.

“You’re right, Ahninveth Hahren. It isn’t your injury that’s the problem. It’s your head. You need to be one hundred percent focused on this, and you’re not even close.”

Hatred for his Vanrian name piled on top of his frustration. “I don’t care! I have to learn this!”

Adnar didn’t react at all to his outburst, and Kasiel suddenly felt like an idiot. He reached out to the next canyon over with his mind and found Sylaryth, his tethdrak, basking in the last of the late afternoon sunshine. The large reptile responded instantly, welcoming his presence with a glimmer of excitement. Kasiel slipped into his head and looked out through his eyes, seeing several more of the beasts lounging in the sun nearby. He soaked in the tethdrak’s contentment for a second before drawing back to himself.

“Apologies, Ahndhomen. It’s not the kanodrak,” he admitted. “I almost died in Katovan because I couldn’t balance my awareness between myself and Sylaryth. Worse, Syl nearly abandoned the others when I got taken. They might have all died if I hadn’t managed to turn him back. I need to get better at controlling my ability, so something like that doesn’t happen again.”

The aggression in Adnar’s stance faded, and he gave a slow nod. “This is something you will struggle with as a Feral. Only through practice can you perfect being in their head and yours at the same time. Particularly in your case. The ability to see through their eyes, while it does give you some advantages, also puts you at greater risk. It is one thing to split your attention between more than one mind. Another entirely to try seeing through their eyes and your own at the same time. Balancing that will be difficult. I encourage you to be always reaching out to different beasts. Not just the ones you work with here, but any creature. Wild dogs, birds, rodents—practice finding them and linking with them. Look at the world through their eyes. Make it second nature.”

Kasiel peered out into the habitat. The kanodrak was drinking from a stream that flowed along the floor of the canyon. As if aware of his scrutiny, she lifted her head and looked back at him. Her heavy tail swished once, and she flexed her long claws into the ground, then she trotted off deeper into the canyon.

“How do you do it, sir?” he asked, turning his attention back to Adnar.

Adnar’s face could have been chiseled from stone for all the emotion it showed. “I cannot see through their eyes.” He strode toward one of several doors embedded in the canyon wall. “We will work with the tethdraks tomorrow, Ahninveth.”

Kasiel stared after him, at a loss for words.

His commanding officer, a powerful Feral and the only one in Etrion who could control the kanodraks, couldn’t see through the eyes of his beasts. Adnar told him the gift was rare when Kasiel first mentioned seeing through Sylaryth’s eyes, but Adnar was an ahndhomen. A mind-crafter of the highest rank under the dhomvalen himself, who answered only to the ruler of Vanris. It never occurred to Kasiel that he might be able to do something Adnar could not.

Kasiel walked along the tunnel that took him between the two canyons, rubbing at the long scar across the left side of his ribs. It hurt to rub it, but the scar tissue would limit his mobility if he didn’t loosen it up. Edmund had intended the injury to be fatal. It would have been so if Sylaryth and Jethan hadn’t burst through the door at that moment. Their timely arrival had saved his life.

In the other canyon, Kasiel took the key and let himself in to the tethdrak habitat. Sylaryth came bounding up before he had finished closing the gate. Nearly full-grown now, the tethdrak’s back reached up to about mid-ribcage on Kasiel. The dusty tan and reddish scaling over his body had lightened as he matured, the mask pattern that ran around his eyes and up to his horns turned a pale rust color now. His massive claws dug runnels in the hard ground when he skidded to a halt, stopping a few inches shy of slamming into Kasiel, who made no effort to get out of the way. He trusted Sylaryth.

The powerful beast angled his nose toward the ground, his backswept horns pointing to the sky. Kasiel placed his palm against the heavy armor plating on the tethdrak’s forehead and Sylaryth pressed into it with a surprising gentleness. A series of contented, deep clicks emerged from somewhere in his throat and a vibration moved through the closed frill around his neck. In response to his mental touch, Kasiel received a flood of affection from the beast and a weary smile curved his lips.

Overhead, the sky was picking up a hint of orange with the approach of sunset. He sent a quick thought to Sylaryth, showing him where he wanted to go. They turned together toward a large, flat formation of red rock that rose about ten feet above the canyon floor not far from the entrance. The tethdrak bolted ahead, lunging up the sloped backside of the formation to stand at the top. He flared the frill around his neck and called out with a high-pitched shriek, declaring the spot theirs. Then he leapt off the other side and came bounding back to Kasiel, dancing from one foot to the other with his impatience.

Kasiel chuckled and broke into an easy jog, trying not to jar his sore spots too much as he indulged the tethdrak. They climbed up together this time and Kasiel sat at the edge, secure on the gritty sandstone as he dangled his legs off the side. Sylaryth lay down beside him, resting his uncomfortably heavy, angular head across Kasiel’s thighs. It was a discomfort he was content to endure for the bond they shared.

A few minutes had passed when Sylaryth’s head jerked up again, and he turned to look back the way they had come. Kasiel slipped in behind his eyes, watching in the intense array of colors the tethdrak could see as Kenna and Jethan paused outside the gate, talking for a moment. Then Kenna let Jethan in and locked it behind him. Splitting his vision, Kasiel tried to watch his tehnaak, his spirit sibling, approaching through Sylaryth’s eyes while also tracking the slowly changing sunset through his own. The effect was nauseating.

“Kenna promised you wouldn’t let the tethdraks eat me,” Jethan said, joining them on top of the rock.

Sylaryth returned his head to Kasiel’s lap as Jethan sat on the other side. Orange light was spreading across the sky, a hint of pink bathing the clouds at their edges. The horizon itself shone a bright, searing yellow that was hard to look at. Layers of soil that formed the towering canyon walls began glowing a bloody gold.

“We’ll see how it goes. Is she joining us?”

Jethan reacted with a look of mock offense. “We’ll see how it goes?”

Kasiel fought a smile, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth gave him away. Jethan bumped his shoulder, earning a half-hearted growl from Sylaryth for the disturbance.

“She’s not. I asked her to do a quick favor for me. How did training go with the kanodrak?”

Irritation flared in Kasiel and Sylaryth tensed in response. Aware of how sensitive the tethdrak was to his moods, he tried to force it down. “Not great. Adnar wants me to go back to working with the tethdraks tomorrow. He says I’m not focused enough.”

Jethan picked up a pebble and tossed it off the side of the formation. He gazed out, the brilliant sunset reflecting in his eyes as its colors gradually climbed the glowing walls. “He’s right, Kas. I’ve noticed it too. You haven’t been yourself since Katovan. Whatever’s bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”

The irritation flared again, and Sylaryth lifted his head, claws digging into the rock. “I don’t want...” he started raising his voice, then stopped himself. This was Jethan. No one deserved his temper less than his tehnaak did. “I’m sorry.” Sylaryth’s feet relaxed, his claws leaving behind gouges in the stone. “I’m just... I haven’t been sleeping much.”

Jethan was quiet until the tethdrak settled his head on Kasiel’s thighs again. Then he asked, “Is it because of what happened with Edmund?”

Kasiel clenched his teeth and nodded. “Sometimes. I have nightmares where I stab him again like I did in that room. Only in my dreams, he grabs my hand that’s holding the dagger in his chest and won’t let go. He starts crying, telling me how he wishes things could have been different. I can’t pull away, even though I know I’ll bleed to death from the wounds he inflicted if I don’t do something. Then I see bottles of my blood sitting on the table, fifteen or twenty of them, and I realize I’m already dead, I just haven’t fallen over yet because he’s holding onto me. The foolish thing is, even after that, I still feel guilty for stabbing him.”

When Jethan opened his mouth to speak, Kasiel held up a finger to stop him. He slipped back behind the tethdrak’s eyes to watch the sunset in that more brilliant array of colors, letting it distract him as he continued. “That’s not all. There are also the nightmares with Danica. We’re back in the building where I met with her that night in Katovan. She’s crying and screaming at me for killing her father. Her face is mangled. Torn open by the claws of a tethdrak.” He set a hand on Sylaryth’s shoulder. “My tethdrak. There’s blood dripping from her jaw. I can see her teeth and tongue moving through the jagged rips in the side of her face, but she refuses to let me help her because I killed her father.”

Jethan let out a low whistle. “By the Break, Kas, it’s no wonder you can’t sleep or focus.”

Kasiel swallowed against the tightening in his throat. The searing light had climbed almost to the top of the canyon walls now, casting a red glow into the spreading darkness below. “I killed them, Jeth. I killed the man who raised me and the father of my childhood friend.”

A sharp edge entered Jethan’s tone when he spoke. “Technically, Syl killed Garrick, and you know why. Because they were killing you. They deserved it.”

“Danica didn’t deserve to lose her father. Her mother died of a sickness that ran through the village when she was seven. She didn’t have anyone else.”

“That may be true, but you didn’t deserve to be kidnapped and have your ears cut as a child, either. They lied to you your whole life and used you for experiments. I know Edmund was the only father you knew growing up, but you’ve got to let him go. You have a tehsheyn now. A chosen family that won’t use you or lie to you.”

Kasiel glanced at his tehnaak, fighting the wave of nausea that came with trying to hold on to his split vision. “I know you’re right, but I had never killed anyone with my own hands. Starting with the man who raised me...” He retreated fully behind his own eyes to stare down at his palms.

Jethan shifted closer and put an arm around his shoulders. “Hang in there. The power of those memories will fade in time. Until they do, you’ve got me, and you’ve got that big bastard.” He gestured to Sylaryth with his free hand and the tethdrak lifted his head to snort at him.

Kasiel chuckled softly, the brief humor not quite penetrating the melancholy that hung over him.

Sylaryth stood then, staring at them expectantly.

Jethan looked from the beast to Kasiel. “I take it you’re ready to head in?”

Kasiel nodded. Sylaryth was so tuned to his desires and intent now that he sometimes reacted to them before Kasiel had a chance to. They stood, and he paused long enough to place a hand to the tethdrak’s forehead briefly before heading out through the gate with his tehnaak.

“Have you come up with any theories about why Edmund wanted your blood bad enough to risk dying for it?” Jethan asked while he waited for Kasiel to lock the gate behind them.

“No comforting ones, but I don’t suppose it matters now. Unless you think he could have survived.” Kasiel’s chest seized at the thought. That idea had also haunted his dreams and sabotaged his tenuous focus of late.

Jethan shrugged, his gaze moving up to where the last hints of sunset were turning a dark purple on the horizon. “It isn’t impossible. It would depend on how deep the wound was and how fast help arrived, if it ever did.”

“That’s not the reassurance I was hoping for to help chase away my nightmares,” Kasiel muttered dryly.

Jethan waved his comment away. “I’ve got a plan for that. Let’s get some food and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“All right. I can’t object to a decent meal.”

They strolled to the palace in comfortable silence. A private smile curved Jethan’s lips now and then when he peered out into the evening streets. Kasiel considered asking about it, but he didn’t quite feel like chatting. Perhaps that was selfish. His tehnaak was clearly pleased about something. Maybe after he had eaten, he would find the energy to be more social.

When they arrived at Kasiel’s private chambers in the palace, Jethan stopped outside the door. “I almost forgot. There’s something I need to grab from my room. I’ll be right back.”

The mischief in his grin captured Kasiel’s curiosity at last, but he trotted off down the hall too fast for questioning. Kasiel vowed to give it the attention it deserved when his tehnaak returned. He entered the large sitting room outside his bedroom where a covered platter already sat on the table. Whatever delectable dish waited hidden within smelled fantastic. He closed the door and took a step in that direction, halting mid-step when someone knocked. Puzzled, he turned and opened the door. A slow smile crept across his lips.

Nerith stood there, one side of her silvery hair pulled up in a braid that showed off a pointed ear with several decorative cuffs and earrings upon it. Her lavender eyes glinted with delight when she smiled up at him. Then she put her arms around his neck and kissed him as she advanced into the room, moving him back. He slid one arm around her waist, pushing the door shut behind her with the other, and kissed her in return, frustration and sorrow melting away as she opened her soft lips to him.

 After a moment, he drew back and met those captivating eyes. He had yet to see anyone else in Etrion with eyes quite that color. “I thought you were working late with the healers again tonight.”

She stepped back against the door, her arms sliding away until her hands rested on his shoulders. “Someone convinced me that a night off might be good for me, especially with the right company.”

He chuckled, recalling the mischief in his tehnaak’s eyes and that pleased little smile. “Someone being Jeth.”

She grinned.

“He’s not coming back tonight, is he?”

Nerith shook her head, tapping him on the nose with one finger. “Nope. You’re all mine tonight.”

They migrated to the couch and ate together while Kasiel asked about her last several days of training as a healer. Soon, she would undergo testing to see if she was ready to advance to the status of full healer. It was easy enough, given her nervous excitement around the coming assessment, to keep her talking about that. It allowed him to avoid burdening her with his troubles. Twice she tried to redirect the conversation to him, but he found ways to flip it back quickly. He didn’t want to dwell on the dark places his mind had been stuck in of late. Better by far to let her dominate his thoughts for a few hours.

When they finished eating, they lingered on the couch sipping mead for a while. Nerith traced the coppery-red symbol tattooed around the scar on his right cheek with one finger. She had a similar scar on her cheek now, given to her by a trio of men who didn’t approve of Kasiel’s presence in Vanris. Those three loitered in prison cells now, however, while she sat here with him, warm and safe.

Her head came to rest on his shoulder. She ran her finger along one side of the chain of symbols and runes tattooed around his neck, the final symbol hanging like a pendant on his breastbone. Letting his head fall back on the couch, he closed his eyes, getting lost in the feel of her touch on his skin. Her hand sank from there down to the scar across the left side of his chest, finding it through the fabric of his shirt.

“Want me to massage this scar?”

He cracked one eye open to look at her. “Not really.”

Anytime she suspected he may have neglected to work on the scar tissue enough, she would do so, and she was merciless. Still, even with the threat of that torture, he wished they had more time to spend together. The long hours she dedicated to working in the healer’s building to prove herself to her instructors left little opportunity for them. It wouldn’t be much longer, though. After she passed her tests, as he was confident she would, she would have more freedom.

Nerith breathed a laugh. “Oh, so fragile.”

“I’ll have you know I was raised to be quite fragile,” he answered, lightly tickling her side with the hand wrapped around her waist.

She squirmed, grabbing his wrist, and kissed his shoulder. “Then the man who raised you failed miserably.”

He opened his eyes, regarding her as a flame of uncertainty ignited in his chest, sparking out to his extremities. “Are you tired?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Want me to walk you home?” That wasn’t at all what he would like to do with her, but they were both tired and distracted. She deserved his full attention if they took their relationship farther. Besides, he had never progressed beyond kissing with anyone. What if he did something wrong and made a fool of himself?

Nerith shook her head and stood, pulling on his hand to draw him up with her. Then she led him into the bedroom and sat him back on the bed as uncertainty and longing waged war in his body. Slowly, she lifted his shirt off, pausing a moment to admire him, something he suspected she wouldn’t have enjoyed as much before all the combat training beat the spindly teenager out of him. She removed her shoes while he pulled off his boots, then went to his wardrobe and got out a pair of soft sleeping pants and one of his longer shirts. The former she tossed to him. The latter, she took into the bathing room. He obeyed her unspoken order and changed into the pants. She returned a few minutes later wearing his shirt in place of her clothes. It hung almost to her knees.

Kasiel watched her walk around the bed and climb under the covers, hoping the hunger she sparked in him didn’t show through too much. His apprehension lost power before his desire to touch her in so many ways, but her drowsy smile said tonight was not that night. He could be content just having her close to him. Taking a deep breath to calm his heart and the fire burning at his core, he slipped into the bed next to her. Nerith moved over against his side and rested her head on his chest. Kasiel wrapped his arm around her and placed a kiss on her forehead. Then he settled back and closed his eyes, waiting for his racing pulse to slow so he could sleep.