About the Book
Title: Noble Magic: The Chronicles of Eledon Book Four
Author: Joni Parker
Genre: Fantasy
Lady Alexin (Alex)
battles a band of mortal wizards known as the Octagon, discovers the mysteries
of the five legendary diamond eggs, and finally comes into her true powers
gifted to her by her conquests and the gifts of her Titan ancestors.
Tasked
with the seemingly impossible, Alex must find a way to restore the entry points
to Seaward Isle or see its inhabitants face certain destruction as the grid
holding Eledon together threatens to fall apart.
Author Bio
Joni currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, but
she was born in Chicago, lived in Japan, graduated high school in Phoenix, and
got married in New Jersey. Not only was she married to a career Navy sailor,
but she also completed 22 years of active duty service herself. She holds a
bachelor’s degree in accounting, an MBA, and a Master of Military Arts and
Sciences (MMAS) from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
After her husband passed away, she returned
to the work in the Department of Homeland Security until she discovered her
love of writing. She retired again and has written two series, “The Seaward
Isle Saga,” a three-book series, and “The Chronicles of Eledon” with “Spell
Breaker,” “The Blue Witch,” “Gossamer,” and “Noble Magic.”
Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkerJoni
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JoniParker
Book Excerpts
From chapter 2:
A few minutes later, the Chamber Elf opened the
door and led them inside. The members sat in large chairs around three sides of
the room while the senior member, Lord Ashur, sat alone on one end—his long
white hair dangled over his bright red robe. Alex and Prince Darin saluted and
knelt before him.
“Rise, both of you. Prince Darin, I see you’re
with the Keeper again. What’s this adventure? I sent the Keeper to check on the
cottage, not to explore.” Lord Ashur leaned forward in his large chair and
gazed with amusement from under his white, bushy eyebrows.
“I apologize for the interruption, my lord, but
Lady Alexin arrived with an escort of a dozen rebels, now in our custody.
Apparently, they were searching for some documents, but couldn’t find them. The
Keeper did. And I’d like your permission to review them.”
“Keeper, show me these documents.”
Alex unrolled the scrolls, handing him one at a
time. She smiled as she watched his eyebrows move up and down.
He passed them around to the other members.
“How did you find them when the rebels couldn’t?”
“They were locked inside a vault in one of the
bedrooms. I missed it the last time I was there. Not only did it have these
scrolls, but it also had this.” She held
up the black bag and pulled out the gold chest, handing it to him.
Lord Ashur gasped and stared at the beautiful
chest. “What’s in here?”
“Open it.” Alex stepped back so Prince Darin
could see.
He flipped the top open and pulled back the
velvet cloth. “Oh my stars!” He picked
up one of the large diamonds in his hand. It flashed rainbows on the ceiling and
walls.
The members stared and gasped and gathered
around his chair for a closer look.
“How many are there?” Lord Mesner stared at it,
captivated by its beauty.
“Five.” Lord Ashur cocked his head to the side.
“Could these be the legendary Diamond Eggs?”
“May I?” Lord Root asked. “I saw them before
they were stolen and disappeared. I took my Elves to see them in Weston—they’re
the Crystals of Life. Years ago, my
uncle, Lord Dormus, brought them to Eledon from his visit to the Star Elves.”
He slid off his chair and rambled over; his blue velvet robe dragged along the
floor. Lord Root was the Pixie Elf representative on the Council and the newest
permanent member. He wasn’t much taller than Alex’s knees.
Chapter 3:
Prince Darin bowed to Lord Ashur. “While I was
waiting for the Keeper, one of my ship’s captains delivered an urgent report.
As you know, every month, the Water Elves send supplies to Seaward Isle. Two
weeks ago, two of my ships, the Rambler
and the Crustacean, set sail for the
island and were due to return four days ago, but they haven’t shown up yet.
I’ve sent several ships out to check the entry points to Seaward Isle, but they
can’t be found. I’d like the Mentors’ help.”
“Of course. The entry points are the only
things holding Seaward Isle to Eledon.”
Lord Odin rose from his chair. “This could be a
disaster, my lord. The Mentors must give it high priority. Seaward Isle must
not detach from Eledon. It could fall into the mortal world and take us with
it. It must be fixed. It can’t be overlooked any longer.”
Alex’s eyes grew wide. This was a real problem. Concerned, she glanced at
her grandfather. His face was pale and he was sweating. But she also knew he
was depending on her to find a solution. She didn’t have a clue.
Lord Ashur frowned. “I agree this is a problem.
Members, rise as we call upon the Mentors.” He rose slowly from his chair and
raised his hands. “Mentors, greetings. We call upon you to assist us.”
In the middle of the room, a small flame
appeared above the white pedestal. It was slightly larger than a man’s hand and
emitted no heat—this was how the Mentors manifested themselves to the Elves. A
female voice came from the flame.
“Lord Ashur and members…”
With a roar, the small Mentors’ flame erupted
into a large fireball, touching the ceiling. From the raging fire, a man’s ugly
face appeared and his deep voice boomed. He spoke in the mortal language called
the common tongue; few in the room understood what he said. Alex, Lord Odin,
and Lord Root understood it because they’d lived on Seaward Isle with mortals;
Lord Ashur waved his hand to translate the man’s words into Elf.
“Who killed Shinjan?” The man’s dark beady eyes
glared out at them. He had a large crooked nose; his skin was pasty-white, and
he had a mane of scraggly black hair. When he opened his mouth, long flames of
fire flowed out like snakes. “Who killed Shinjan?”
Chapter 4:
Off the coast of southern France, a luxurious
yacht, at least eighty feet long with large windows and open spaces for
sunbathing, rocked gently on the sea. In the lounge, four men sat on a leather
sofa, watching the television monitor mounted on the wall with a view of
Nemesis in the Elfin chamber. As he delivered his ultimatum to the Elves, the
men cheered and shook their fists at the screen. When he ended his threats and
the large fireball occurred, they burst into applause. The screen went black.
A few moments later, Nemesis entered the room
through a black curtain to a standing ovation. He bowed, then pulled up his
jeans and slicked his stringy hair away from his face. “I think they got the
message. Ecstasy, get this stuff off my face.”
Ecstasy clapped loudly and beamed with pride.
“Of course, my darling. Sit down. I knew you could do it.” Ecstasy was a man
dressed as a woman and threw his arms around Nemesis’ neck and planted a wet
kiss on his lips. As he backed away, he waved his wand. “Abracadabra presto
change-o! I just love doing your make-up. I love everything about you.”
Nemesis’ nose shrunk in size and his color
returned to tan. His ugliness was diminished, but didn’t go away. “All right,
already. Stop it! Now get a message off to the Dynasty Sisters. They need go in
first and get the wand.”
Ecstasy closed his eyes and waved his hands
over the crystal ball. He mumbled a spell under his breath and peered inside.
He leaned back with a sigh. “Oh dear! The girls have gone on a meditation
retreat to mourn their grandfather Shinjan and can’t be disturbed for the next
month.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me about this? We
did this for them. I told you to keep in touch with them.”
“I asked them yesterday and they said they were
going to be here. I’m sorry.” Tears filled his eyes. “They lied to me…again.”
“Damn it! Don’t cry.” Nemesis rubbed his
forehead. “All right. Someone else will go. Who wants to go in first?”
Silence.
Chapter 5:
Takura pushed his wire-rimmed glasses back on
his nose and smiled. “John, Oliva, good to see you today. Very windy outside.”
Olivia ignored the
fact that he didn’t call her by her correct name. For some reason, he’d never
been able to. “I’ve never seen it this windy before, have you?” She rocked baby
Will in her arms.
“No, never. There
must be problem with entry points.”
“As a matter of fact,
there is. One of the Elf supply ships just came back. Tulus, the ship’s
captain, told me that he couldn’t find them. We were wondering if you knew what
that meant.”
Takura’s eyes grew
large and he gasped, shaking his head. “None of them?”
“That’s what he
said.” Olivia sighed. “What does it mean?”
“It could mean
danger for us. We could separate from Eledon and crash into Earth. Not good.
Wind may be symptom of problem.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“How’s your
research going?”
“Difficult to
study. Maybe Tulus will help us. I must ask him.”
“What about that
other research you were doing on the ‘bubble,’ the shell over the island that
keeps us inside?”
“I show you.” He
led them to a table in the warehouse and smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “What do
you think?”
“What is it?”
Olivia leaned closer to it as John spun one of the propellers.
“A drone. We put
camera on it and fly it into bubble.”
“Really? When?”
“Yesterday. Rangor
took us on barge and we went close to edge, but we stay far enough away not to
get into currents. We fly drone into bubble and bring back video.” He typed a
command on the computer and a picture of him appeared standing on the barge
with a remote control in his hands. The drone flew away and the camera pointed
at the bubble. At first, the sky and sea appeared normal, but as the drone
approached the bubble, the camera lens fogged up. Suddenly, the lens cleared;
the drone spun around several times and the picture turned to static. When the
drone hit something metallic, it was thrown out and the lens fogged up again.
Just as the lens cleared, it approached the barge and landed. The last image
was a close-up of Takura’s jubilant face.
Chapter 6:
Once all of the presentations were completed,
Lord Ashur called on Lord Hillen during the recess. “Lord Hillen, you mentioned
that you have an interest in wizards and wizardry. Have you ever heard of an
organization of wizards called the Octagon?”
“I’m fascinated by wizards, but I’ve never
heard of this organization before. What do they do?”
“According to this wizard, eight of them formed
a group called the Octagon.”
“There have been several organized groups of
wizards in the past. Each time, they attempted to match their magical skills to
complement each other, trying to make their group invincible. However, the
problem is that they’re mortal beings and have short lives. In addition, petty
jealousies have caused great turmoil. In many cases, the members killed each
other in a fit of rage.”
The entire chamber grew silent as the members
turned to listen.
“It appears as if we’re all curious, Lord
Hillen,” Lord Odin said. “Now, can you tell us more about wizards? The one who
visited us was named Nemesis.”
“Nemesis?” Lord Hillen rubbed his chin. “And
why did he come here?”
“The Keeper was assigned a task by the Mentors
to remove a beast held in a vial. The only way to remove it was for the Keeper
to kill the wizard who created the spell. His name was Shinjan. She killed him
and released the beast as the Mentors requested. Now, however, this Nemesis
claims that this wizard’s death upset the balance in this Octagon, and he must
avenge the death before replacing the wizard.”
“An odd rule.”
“Indeed.”
“I can only surmise that the death of one of
the wizards created a vacuum that is tearing the group apart. The wizards of
today lack both the skill and discipline of those from years past. Nemesis is a
famous name for wizards, selected to show bravado and a tendency to violence.
Apparently, someone wishes to continue that tradition. But I’m shocked to hear
that the wizards came here to Eledon. We ran the last one out. What is the
Keeper doing to stay safe?”
“The wizard is after me, my lord. I confessed
to killing him since I was the one who told her how to reverse the curse.”
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