Series 2, book 1, except: The Cell

Freshly kidnapped, Mhaldin is taken into captivity. From miles away and from total safety, his sister Fenera watches with her thoughts..

Then, around 10:30 on the clock, she saw a flicker of thought come through into her mind.
'Mhaldin, are you there?' she thought. Before he could reply, Fenera felt Mhaldin get struck in the face with an open hand.
“Wake up” a voice shouted in Mhaldin’s ear. Mhaldin opened his eyes and was immediately blindfolded. Fenera could feel him get pulled to his feet and hurried along by two men who grabbed his arms.
'Where are they taking me?' Mhaldin thought.
'How could I know?' Thought Fenera.
'You’re not in your normal bed' Mhaldin thought. Fenera thought about all that had happened today, sprinkling her thoughts with bits of optimism. Although it was hard for Mhaldin to feel happy when he was being hurried along as roughly as he was, he was still able to project happiness.
'It’s good to know so many people care' he thought. Fenera felt him get hurried across a hard floor and from what she could hear, the floor indoors and stone.
“So when do we get off duty?” one of the men holding Mhaldin asked.
“Not sure. I’ll ask the captain once we’re done with this kid” answered the other man. The entire trip took a minute or two, but after descending down a long flight of stairs, they came to a halt.
Mhaldin was scared, so was Fenera. What would happen now?
'Don’t be afraid Mhaldin, my new partners and I will get you out' Fenera thought, 'four of us are mages, we’re going to save you'.
'I know you will' Mhaldin thought.
“Alright, here’s the kid” one of the men holding Mhaldin said. “You want him? He’s yours.”
“Thanks for your help and for the ride in your machine” said a third voice, “you two can go.” The two men holding him released him, Fenera and Mhaldin both heard them run up some stairs. Another person grabbed Mhaldin’s arms, one in each hand and he was led forward a few steps, then abruptly stopped. The sound of rustling chains could be heard.
“From now on I am your master” said a voice. “My men will be extensions of my power over you. You are a belonging, a tool, an item and my men will make you work and like a tool, you will obey. If they tell you to stand you will stand, if they tell you to sit you sit, if they tell you to speak, you speak. You will not see me ever because I have better things to do than guard you, but my men will keep you under their solid watch. If you are thinking about escape then throw those ideas away now, it will never happen, I swear it. Your family is gone, your life is gone. Here you either sit and wait for my men to give you my commands, or do what they say. Do you understand?” Fenera felt Mhaldin nod. A hand struck him across the face.
“Do more than nod, tell me you understand, your master commands it!” Mhaldin did nothing.
'Just say yes' Fenera thought.
'He’s not my master' Mhaldin thought.
“You are insolent scum. But you will learn to obey my men and me by extension. It won’t be too long before you’ll grovel to their feet. I promise!” A fist punched him in the gut and the man behind Mhaldin held him up. The fist punched again, and again, and again, and again. When it was done, the man who had done all the speaking left, his footsteps could be heard going up the stairs.
When he was gone, Mhaldin’s blindfold was ripped away.
He was in a cell, big enough to squeeze four or so good sized horses in. All four of the walls were barred, so it was more like a cage. The room it was in the center of appeared to be a cellar as there were great piles of boxes and other junk lying about. Close to the door to the cell was a narrow flight of stairs going up. On one of the opposite walls was a small trapdoor, which Mhaldin later learned was the latrine. It seemed like a bottomless pit.
There were four other men in the cell with Mhaldin. One of them stepped to the door and produced a key while one man held Mhaldin still. Two others were bringing a heavy chain forward, one end they passed to the back of the cell opposite the door.
'In the name of all the gods…' Mhaldin thought when he saw what was tethered to the end of the chain: a heavy metal collar which opened and closed like a shackle. One of the men grabbed Mhaldin’s hair to hold his head straight while it was brought up to Mhaldin’s neck and closed around it while someone locked it shut with a key. The man at the front of the cell moved to the back and fed the chain through the back of the cell, clipping it neatly to a latch attached to the floor. Now Mhaldin could not leave the cell with the collar on. He tried loosening the collar. Such a cold, heavy weight was so odd. He wasn't used to being chained up like a dog.
The three men in the cell then drew short wooden clubs, each roughly a foot long.
“Are you Mhaldin Viex?” one of them demanded. Mhaldin said nothing and sat down near the end of the cell, unwilling to say anything and deeply intimidated. He fingered the collar idly. “Are you Mhaldin Viex?!” the man demanded again, “you don’t want your master to get mad, do you?” No words were said.
The three men grouped around Mhaldin and raised their clubs. Fenera closed her eyes tight, but couldn’t stop the flood of pain that came through. An eternity later, the beatings stopped. Fenera thought to check her body for bruises but knew it wasn’t she who took the beating. Even so, her left shoulder throbbed: many heavy blows had fallen on Mhaldin’s left shoulder.
“We know you are” one of the men said.
“Stupid little boy” another of the men spat, then kicked Mhaldin as hard as he could, causing Fenera, miles away, to wince and stop to catch her breath. “Come on, let’s go. That trip was too long for me, I need a drink. We’ll torture the kid later.” The others agreed with him, each took their turn at kicking Mhaldin before heading upstairs with the last one closing the cell door and locking it. The last thing they did was put a mageforce-charged amulet by the cell, just out of Mhaldin’s reach. It was the amulet which blocked mages from using mageforce in its vicinity. The kidnappers left sight, chatting coolly.
'Mhaldin, are you alright?' Fenera thought.
'Just a few bruises' Mhaldin thought. 'I’ll be alright. Please go to sleep, you need your rest. Don’t lose any sleep for my sake. I’ll still be here the next time you go to sleep, I promise'. Mhaldin’s thoughts told Fenera that he believed that it was daytime where he was every time night fell where Fenera was. They took time to comfort each other with thoughts and memories, then Fenera did as she was told and went to sleep.

Series 2, book 1, except: Mhaldin gets kidnapped.

Anar Viex is hosting a party for the Higharc. During the course of which, the party is attacked by some apparently cowardly men with bows. They retreat quickly. Anar thinks its over, but someone is missing...

Anar was fuming with frustration and sighing relief. Despite the two hundred arrows raining down on his guests not one had killed anyone which was a blessing. There were five moderate wounds which angered Anar greatly. The attack had ended when the sentries attacked and drove off the cloaked attackers. From what he could tell thus far, damage had been minimal. Not a single sentry had been killed and the entirety of the grounds had been secured.
Anar had been inside when the attack had occurred so he could not have known how the attack actually went. From what he had heard, the attackers had advanced, loosed arrows, and retreated. A few had engaged the sentries and some exchanges of swordsmanship did happen though as far as Anar knew no one had died. Their remarkable lack of accuracy had probably spared more than a few high profile Jindarian personalities.
“What could these people have possibly wanted?” Anar said to himself as he looked into the common room. The band had begun to play their music again and an increasing amount of people were resuming their dance. The rumor was spreading that the attackers had been mere pranksters. Those wounded would probably be perfectly fine by next morning, if not by midnight. Anar had made sure that the wounded and their families had been taken upstairs. To those who had been indoors during the whole attack, the thing seemed less real and could be ignored. Anar saw that the party could simply resume while reinforcements were brought in from the city to secure the surrounding woods. The only fear Anar had was that the servants watching the horses in the woods had been murdered.
“Assassins, good ones, would have been less chaotic” Anar said aloud as he waded through the crowds of guests. “They must have been insurgents or political enemies wanting to show us how strong they think they are.” Anar shook his head, deciding he would try and figure out who the attackers had been the next day. The attack had been so harmless. The only thing it caused him was some terrible frustration.
‘Can’t we have one perfect night?’ he thought as he looked about, eyes methodically moving from face to face as he looked for Asseah. ‘Where is she?’
“Anar!” screamed Enereus’s voice. “Anar!” he was screaming urgently, coming through the crowd. Rossus stood near him, searching the crowd frantically. Enereus’ tone was a blend of urgency and panic, a fast and fearful voice used in emergency.
“What’s wrong?” Anar asked in as calm a voice as he could, approaching the two.
“Mhaldin’s been kidnapped.” At least twenty people gasped.
It took some time for the words to sink in. For what seemed like an eternity Anar stood rooted to his spot, the words echoing through his head and heart. Was that why the attack withdrew? It made too much sense. Anar couldn’t think of any reason why the attack would withdraw.
“What?” Anar asked calmly, unable to take what he was hearing. “Say that again?” He needed to hear it again; he had to make sure he had heard those words properly.
“Sir, I am so sorry” said Enereus. “We have multiple people, including your daughter, who say that he was taken by the attackers. We were fighting the attackers at the front of the house. I’m told the men who took him struck the back of the house, so we couldn’t stop them They’re long gone by now. One thing’s for sure though, they abducted Mhaldin.”
“Mhaldin?” Anar asked. “My…my son was kidnapped?” he was starting to have trouble speaking.
“Yes, I wouldn’t report this unless I was absolutely sure of its truth. Look around you and see if you can find him. I also have many people that all say the same thing” Enereus replied. “Lord Chrakann of Chazz himself is amongst those who say they saw three robed men grab him tie him up, gag and blindfold him, punch him a few time in the gut…” Anar wouldn’t hear this and silenced Enereus with a gesture.
‘No’ was Anar’s first thought. ‘Enereus is making a mistake. Mhaldin couldn’t possibly have been taken. Where is the proof?’ A small part of his mind was telling him that he was denying it because it was too terrible a thought to accept. “Show me” Anar calmly said as he soothed himself with a slow intake of breath. Enereus nodded and led him across the manor.
As Anar walked he kept his eyes open for his son, trying to spot him among the groves of faces he walked through. He saw friends and strangers but not the person he was looking for. This was an ominous sign.
“Rossus, what are you still doing here?” Enereus asked while the three walked. “Make sure the valkyrie princess is safe!”
“Yes sir!” replied Rossus with a salute and left.
The two reached the back of the manor facing the forest.
Anar was immediately aware of a girl wailing and he found its source: Chi who was sitting at a table and sobbing while her mother patted her shoulders. Anar felt his calmness break away from him when he saw this second sign. Could it possibly be true? Was Mhaldin gone?
“What happened?” Anar asked with some urgency in his tone. “Tell me Chi, what happened?” Chi’s tearful reply was hard to discern but Anar’s focus was immediately drawn elsewhere. There, on the ground near the edge of the tables, lay the sword of Rarend.
“Oh no” Anar whispered as he strode over to the fallen blade and lifted it up to confirm that it indeed was the legendary weapon. “By the gods, no. Oh no…” Enereus joined him. “I…I told him nothing would happen” Anar rasped.
“Forgive me sir, forgive me” Enereus glumly pleaded.
“Find him then!” Anar yelled while his legs seemed to liquefy. He slumped helplessly to his knees. He grabbed Enereus’s waist. Enereus knew the task was impossible but didn’t say anything. “Find him then!”
“We’ll try” said Enereus though he knew he could not succeed. The guard broke away from Anar’s grip and left.
With Enereus gone, Anar was able to comprehend what he had just confirmed He went over it in his head, again and again. The more he did this, the more real it became. The guests formed a circle around Anar, looking nervously at him.
They soon parted like reeds to allow Asseah through. She had a wild look on her face, a sort of confused terror like something someone would have on when fleeing a mysterious danger.
“What happened?” Asseah asked Anar frantically. “Where’s Mhaldin?”
“He’s gone!” Anar cried and was unable to speak another word. It was too real for him to take.

The All War

The All War is the name of book 6. It is also one of the central cruxes of the whole of series 2, which focuses around the struggle to bring the All War to an end.
It begins with the Erayics and the Jindarians fighting one another over tensions caused by their differences in ideology. The Higharc of Eray is democratic while the kingdoms on Jindaria are monarchies. Trade disagreements and immigration fuels the rage and the two sides fight. In the background lies Usor'an, who lives in exile since the end of series 1 and seeks to regain control of his old kingdom, the Demon Empire. He plans to control the Demon Empire and use it to side with the Erayics to crush Jindaria.
At the same time, a separatist group from the Demon Empire called Demopact is making profit off the All War by selling weapons to both sides. One of the contracts on behalf of the Higharc: protect a band of mercenaries who have been contracted to kidnap Anar's son Mhaldin.
When Mhaldin is rescued, the boy betrays his family and joins Demopact. He dislikes their close relationship with the Higharc and makes Demopact think the Higharc has betrayed them by poisoning their members, killing enough to secure his place as the head of Demopact. Mhaldin then helps Usor'an become the lord of the Demon Empire. Then, side by side, Usor'an and Mhaldin unite the demons and attack Eray and Jindaria together.
The All War thus enters a new stage. With the original causes of the war forgotten, and a mutual enemy bearing down on them, Jindaria and Eray unite against Usor'an. The war thus becomes a prolonged war of attrition with the potential to last centuries.