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  THE EXERCISE OF

  VITAL POWERS

  Legends Of The Order, Book 1

  Ian Gregoire

  Revised 2nd Edition Published 2018

  by

  Lucid Dream

  The Fantasy & Science Fiction Imprint Of Ian Gregoire

  Copyright © Ian Gregoire 2018

  Cover artwork by the design team at Damonza,

  with images licensed from Shutterstock.

  All characters, locations and events are products of the author’s overactive imagination, therefore fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-9996009-0-7 (eBook)

  ISBN: 978-1-9996009-1-4 (Paperback)

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword

  Author Bio

  Request

  Map

  Schematic

  Chapter 1: Follow The Leader

  Chapter 2: Failure Is Not An Option

  Chapter 3: A Problem Searching For A Solution

  Chapter 4: Accepting The Challenge

  Chapter 5: The Exception That Proves The Rule

  Chapter 6: Suspicious Mind

  Chapter 7: Questions And Answers

  Chapter 8: Kayden Is A Special Case

  Chapter 9: What The Future May Hold

  Chapter 10: Wild Speculation

  Chapter 11: First Impressions

  Chapter 12: Set In Motion

  Chapter 13: The Ulterior Motive

  Chapter 14: In The Company Of Living Legends

  Chapter 15: The Calm Before The Storm

  Chapter 16: To The Rescue

  Chapter 17: Close Encounter Of The Eerie Kind

  Chapter 18: To The Death

  Chapter 19: The Unbelievable Truth

  Chapter 20: Mission Accomplished

  Chapter 21: Mending Fences

  Chapter 22: The Master And The Apprentice

  Chapter 23: What A Difference A Day Makes

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to you, Kaitlin Gray. Most writers will tell you that the biggest obstacle they had to over come was their own self-doubt. Your support and encouragement has really helped me to get the better of mine, for which I am very grateful. So, if you keep on reading, I’ll keep on writing.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Writing a novel may be a solitary endeavour but getting it published certainly isn’t. A number of people contributed to getting this second edition of The Exercise Of Vital Powers into your hands, and that deserves recognition, so I would like to thank the following people for their hard work.

  First, I’d like to thank my editor, Elizabeth M. Hurst, for agreeing to take on the task and doing such a diligent job of giving my manuscript the extra editorial polish it needed. The blame for any issues readers have with the story should be laid at my door. Next, I have to thank the design team at Damonza.com who are responsible for the excellent artwork gracing this new edition of the book. They took onboard my ideas and produced a cover even better than I hoped for. Finally, thank you to cartographer and illustrator, Kate Moody, for coming in at the eleventh hour to produce the map and schematic for the book, in spite of the time constraints.

  To conclude, I want to confess that not so long ago I believed that the hardest aspect of being an author is to write and finish a novel. I have since come to realise there is something even harder than that: getting people to read your book. With that in mind, I am very grateful to those bloggers/reviewers who took a chance on reading the first edition of The Exercise Of Vital Powers in 2017 when so many others wouldn’t. There are six people in particular I’d like to thank, and they are: Angelica Ross, Brittany Hay, Kristen McDowell, Lukasz Przywoski, Rachel Green, and last but by no means least, Kim Missen; book two, if and when it arrives will be dedicated to you.

  FOREWORD

  This second edition of my debut fantasy novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, exists for a number of reasons, each of them amounting to the same thing: necessity.

  I originally wrote the book intending for it to be a standalone story, and it was subsequently published as such. Being a debut self-published novel, I had no expectation that it would sell well, and I didn’t. In fact, sales were even more disastrous than I had anticipated and there was nothing I could do to reverse that. But there was no imperative to do so; I had no reason to view the low sales as a problem to be overcome. At least, not while The Exercise Of Powers remained a standalone novel.

  Once I began writing a sequel I realised I had a dilemma on my hands. Did it make sense to write a book for a potential readership of two dozen people? Probably not. However, not only was I fully committed to the sequel, I also planned to write an additional three instalments after that. It was then necessary to do something to drastically increase the number of people who have read The Exercise Of Vital Powers by the time the second book is published. The only feasible means at my disposal to accomplish that objective was to release a revised second edition, addressing all the issues preventing the first edition from selling, particularly the external appearance of the book.

  The end result of this endeavour is the book you now have in your hands. While there is no guarantee of sales success, it is my hope that The Exercise Of Vital Powers will find the audience it deserves second time around.

  Ian Gregoire

  London, June 2018

  CHAPTER ONE

  Follow The Leader

  The moment they had all been awaiting since nightfall was close at hand. The dark, billowing cloud languidly traversed the night sky, gradually eclipsing the full moon, and plunging the abandoned fort below into darkness.

  Now!

  Kayden was the first to emerge from the trees, breaking into a sprint up the shallow incline towards the dilapidated south wall of the fort, her five companions in close pursuit. The black hooded cloak she wore—invisible in the dark—fluttered audibly as she ran with composed, steady strides. Her calm, economic running belied her intense determination. It was imperative they crossed the three hundred yard distance between the woods and the old fortress before the moon re-emerged from behind the cloud cover. If even a single person saw them, the mission was over.

  Eyes fixedly ahead, Kayden could just about make out the stone masonry of the wall towards which they were charging. She and her fellow apprentices were almost halfway there.

  Just as Sinton, and then Lazar—two of the contingent’s four male members—passed on either side of her, a glowing orb shot up into the air before erupting, its silent detonation illuminating the sky like a lightning strike. It had originated from the north side of the fort, allowing the would-be infiltrators to remain cloaked by darkness as they approached from the south.

  “Keep moving!” Lazar urged, barely above a whisper.

  It didn’t need to be said. Kayden was just as aware, as they all were, that simply being seen by one of the patrolling sentries meant failure. Though there was no reason to suspect the King’s Guard on duty that night had specific foreknowledge of an imminent infiltration, they were sure to be in a state of heightened alert given the three failed attempts that week. Their use of Zarantar was a good precautionary countermeasure against the darkness; the invocation of Kiraydan would have the same effect as a real lightning strike in lighting up the night sky. It was also a disturbing development. But there was no time to dwell upon it further; it was probably only a matter of time before someone much closer to their position sent up an orb that lit them up like a lantern.

  A second, and then a third and a fourth orb erupted in the sky in quick succes
sion...getting closer.

  Kayden reached the wall moments after Sinton and Lazar, just ahead of Bartis and Vartan—the other two male members of the group—with Neryssa, the only other female, arriving shortly after.

  They all crouched down low, pressed up against the wall.

  “We can use that as our point of entry,” Kayden whispered, pointing to a breach in the wall about eighteen feet above and a little to the right. “Sinton, go up ahead and make sure there are no surprises waiting for us on the other side of this wall.”

  “Hey! I was put in charge of this assignment, Kayden,” snapped Lazar. “Don’t you start issuing orders. I lead, you follow.”

  “Whatever you say, oh fearless leader,” retorted Kayden with barely disguised disdain. “Go ahead and order him to make sure the coast is clear, if it makes you feel better. Just be quick about it, the cloud cover won’t last forever and there’s a patrol approaching our position from the west.”

  “I think she’s right,” Vartan whispered over Lazar’s shoulder.

  Grudgingly, Lazar glanced at Sinton to give him an affirmative nod of the head indicating he should proceed.

  They all watched as their colleague shuffled to the right to stand directly below the breach in the wall, before invoking Makfayshulat to levitate into the air then disappear through the gaping hole in the wall. Seconds later his head peered back out and he signalled down that the way was clear.

  One by one the rest of the party levitated to enter through the breach in the wall to join Sinton with Lazar bringing up the rear.

  Inside, Kayden stood motionless waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark interior. She felt an all too familiar sensation nearby then her eyes were assailed by a pale blue light that lit the room they had entered. She spun around to pinpoint the source of the light, and saw the illumination orb floating in the palm of Lazar’s hand. Without hesitation she thrust out her hand, invoking Yuksaydan to neutralise Lazar’s invocation of Sinjaydan, darkening the room once more as the orb was extinguished instantly.

  “What the—” Lazar began.

  “Are you trying to give us away, you idiot?” hissed Kayden, cutting him off mid-sentence. “If any of the perimeter patrols see a light coming from that gaping hole in the wall, they’ll know we’re here.”

  “It can’t be helped. I need to take a quick look at the plans for the fort.”

  “Was there some reason why you couldn’t memorise the layout, like I did?” There was no immediate reply. “It’s all right, fearless leader, I know where in the fortress we are.” She made no effort to hide the condescension in her tone. “If you like, how about I lead and you follow?”

  Moonlight began to filter into the room as the cloud cover outside dissipated. Kayden could now see the rest of the group more clearly. Vartan was standing a few paces to her left—tall and stocky, with the olive complexion common to most of the people of The Nine Kingdoms, and short dark hair. Unsurprisingly, he was wearing his customary grim expression.

  Standing together a few paces to her right were Bartis, decidedly average in height, build and looks, and Neryssa, slightly shorter than the young man beside her, with a svelte physique, expressive hazel eyes and straight, dark hair flowing down to her shoulders. Standing just behind her right shoulder was Sinton—tall and athletic with the swarthy complexion and thick, tightly curled hair indicative of his Yantashan ethnic heritage. His usually warm, friendly demeanour was now characterised by a no-nonsense, steely determination. Which, of course, left Lazar, the unusually fair-complexioned ‘pretty boy’, standing directly in front of the breach in the wall ahead of her.

  Kayden stood her ground as Lazar closed the distance between them in three languid strides to stand almost on her toes, aggressively infringing her personal space. At five foot ten inches she was taller than most women, but Lazar had four inches on her, and she absolutely hated that he was able to look down on her—in physical terms at least.

  “I appreciate the offer,” said Lazar with mock sincerity as he reached into his pouch. “But I’m just going to take a quick look at the layout to get our bearings.” He pulled out a rolled up scroll and waved it under Kayden’s nose. “Then, I will continue to lead the group to the successful completion of this assignment, following the plan I devised.”

  He walked past her, ensuring that he shoulder barged her in the process, before gesturing for the others to gather around him.

  Kayden remained where she stood as the others discussed in hushed tones that they were presently situated on the second floor of the south wing of the old, abandoned fort. Their objective was located within the central keep of the fortress, on the uppermost floor of the four-storey structure, in the office where a military commander would have administered his forces two centuries ago. They would make their way to the centre of the fort to access the central stairwell within the keep, which was the only way to reach the top storey of the building.

  The discussion quickly came to a conclusion.

  Lazar instructed his five companions to form up in a line behind him. Both he and Vartan seemed to take undue pleasure in the announcement that Kayden should walk at the back of the line. She refrained from initiating an altercation with the pair, despite the temptation to do so. She duly brought up the rear of the party once Lazar had invoked Sinjaydan to create another illumination orb that he sent floating ahead of the procession as he led them out of the room into a corridor.

  As the group navigated through dusty, deserted corridors replete with stone walls haphazardly decorated by patches of mould, ceilings littered with cobwebs, and a musty smell lingering in the air, Kayden thought bitterly to herself how much quicker and easier it would be to complete the mission alone. Being compelled to work with others would only hold her back. Her cohorts simply weren’t her equals, despite being two to three years older than herself. They were not as gifted, powerful or knowledgeable in Zarantar, nor were they as skilled and accomplished in martial combat. If the mission ended in failure she would be incandescent, to say the least.

  Kayden was already certain that Lazar’s plan—born of simple-minded, conventional thinking—was doomed to fail. But she would continue to feign going along with it until the opportunity to assume command of the group presented itself, which it would, sooner rather than later. In the meantime, she would console herself with her thoughts of how the successful completion of the assignment would bring her one step closer to becoming a full-fledged Sanatsai of The Order Of The Pledge At Kassani River. And with her nineteenth birthday only a matter of weeks away, she was well on course to becoming the youngest inductee into the Order. If she could maintain her current rate of progress it was entirely feasible for her to condense the mandatory ten years of training into seven, or maybe six years. Possibly less.

  After several minutes of silent, uneventful progress through darkened corridors, the first sign of trouble materialised. Lazar led the group cautiously to a turning that brought them to a wide, enclosed walkway connecting the southern wing of the fort to the four-storey keep at the centre of the location. Right down the entire length of the walkway several lanterns hung from wall brackets, lighting the path ahead. Lazar halted abruptly bringing his fellow apprentices to a standstill.

  “No, no, no!” he muttered under his breath before extinguishing his illumination orb.

  “Lights mean patrols inside the fort,” said Vartan, anticipating Lazar’s concern.

  Kayden began to chuckle knowingly.

  Everyone spun around to face her. Sinton was the first to speak.

  “Are you going to fill the rest of us in on the joke?” he whispered.

  “I just find it somewhat amusing that our fearless leader is surprised to discover that the King’s Guard patrols the interior of the ruins as well as the outside.” She locked eyes with Lazar, quietly directing her next words at him. “But it’s actually worse than you realise.”

  “How so?” he asked, doubtfully.

  “The intelligence we were provi
ded with in preparation for this assignment was incomplete—therefore unreliable. Your stupid plan never took this into account, or even the possibility that anything could go wrong, at all.” The opportunity to assume leadership of the mission had arrived. “If we continue to follow his lead we will fail the assignment, just like the other three groups did earlier this week,” she added, in a thinly veiled appeal to Neryssa, Sinton and Bartis; Vartan would never side with her against Lazar.

  “Oh, that’s what this is about!” Lazar said in exasperation. “You just want—”

  Reflexively, Kayden raised a hand in a gesture to silence Lazar while simultaneously turning her head to look back down the corridor they had just walked through.

  “What now?”

  “Shhhhh!”

  Kayden continued to stare toward the left hand turn at the end of the corridor; they were not alone. Her almond-shaped eyes widened and her face blanched at the sight of pale blue light emanating from around the corner. It was growing brighter, getting closer… Sinjaydan; the light was coming from an illumination orb. She rushed immediately towards the nearest doorway still having a door set in its frame. Gently, she pushed it open, wide enough to allow her to slip through, then frantically beckoned for the others to follow her, before disappearing inside.

  Sinton was the first to follow suit without hesitation. Neryssa was the next to move, closely followed by Bartis. Though seemingly reluctant to do likewise, Lazar offered no resistance when Vartan grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him towards the doorway. As they entered the room Kayden shut the door slowly behind them.

  “You don’t think someone else from campus followed us here, do you?” inquired Neryssa in a whisper.

  “Quiet!” hissed Kayden. “No talking…and no Zarantar until I give the all clear.” Her authoritative tone brooked no disobedience.