Flames on Water

  Flames on Water

  God of Dust Book 1

  By Jenni Trivedi

  Flames on Water

  Copywrite © 2020 by Jennifer Trivedi

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

  First paperback edition June 2020

  Book cover created by Oliviaprodesign

  Dedicated to my husband, who has been my editor and my cousin who has been my encouragement.

  Prologue

  Kaiden gritted his teeth in determination. It was a miracle he’d made it this far without being found. He ran his hand along the cold stone wall of the tunnel, feeling his way along. There should be a cavern ahead of him. He could hear the faint echoing sound of dripping water. He shuffled forward, peering into the darkness. A few more steps and Kaiden could just make out that the floor ahead of him descended steeply towards still water. There were flickering lights in the distance, seemingly rising out of the water itself. That must be the Island of the Gate.

  At first, Kaiden hadn’t believed it even existed. Few knew anything about it, but Kaiden knew more than anyone. Now that Hannas was dead. A thrill of excitement pulsed through his body. He could not remember when he had last been able to feel like this. He savoured the moment, that feeling of being alive. The books were far heavier than he had anticipated. Kaiden took a deep breath and slowly lifted the sack that contained them back over his shoulder, making sure to make as little noise as he could. This was what he had been planning for; he could not afford to hesitate. Through the Gate was the only place he would be safe now.

  Chapter One

  The Spirit that I have seen

  Layla stepped off the bus and into a large cold puddle. The winter rain ran in rivers down the sides of the road. It swept through the leafless bushes in the hedgerows. It hammered down on the leaking roof of the bus shelter. She shivered and wrapped her arms tightly around her body. The bus pulled away with a loud hiss of hydraulics, spraying water up the back of her legs. Layla pulled up her hood and made her way behind the stone bus shelter. There was a hole in the hedgerow, and beyond that were open fields. The great British countryside lay spread out before her; rolling hills, obscured in places by patches of woodland. It was cold and windy there, at the top of the hill, and Layla did not pause to study the view. She had seen it plenty of times. She set off along the brow of the hill, keeping the hedgerow on her right. As soon as she was out of sight of the road, her spirit appeared beside her.

  ‘That went better than I expected,’ she said, floating along beside her.

  ‘Why, what did you expect, Rin?’ Layla snapped crossly, thrusting her hands deep into her pockets for warmth. Her transparent double floated ahead of her, thinking.

  ‘Well at least you didn’t cry this time,’ she said at last, ‘That’s a good sign. You are one step closer to being able to let her go.’

  ‘If you are trying to cheer me up this really isn’t working,’ Layla said angrily, eyes fixed on the muddy ground ahead of her. Rin floated down beside her and placed a transparent hand on her shoulder.

  ‘I know it is hard Layla, but you will have to let her go sooner or later. It’s been a month now.’

  Layla pulled away from her, saying nothing. Rin sighed, then quickly looked around. She let Layla walk on ahead and looked up at the darkening grey sky, sniffing the air. The rain was easing up a little now. It fell through her as if she wasn’t there. Layla stopped and looked back.

  ‘Rin?’ she called, ‘what’s the matter?’ Her spirit frowned and turned to face downhill. At the bottom of the slope was a large area of woodland. The wind whispered ominously through the bare trees. Something wasn’t right. Layla hurried back to her side. She glancing around nervously as the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. No one was there, yet she felt like something was coming. The air smelt faintly metallic. Rin flickered beside her.

  ‘You feel it too,’ Rin said. It wasn’t a question; she could feel her other half’s unease.

  ‘What is it?’ Layla asked following Rin’s gaze. Skeletal branches reached up towards them, quivering in the wind, as if in expectation. ‘I’m not sure,’ her other half replied staring at the woods. ‘There is a strong flow of magic in the air. It’s being sucked towards…’ The woods exploded. Muddy earth flew into the air in a great plume. Trees fell with a crash. Branches snapped and the ground itself seemed to groan as roots were ripped from the soil. A second after the explosion came a roar like thunder, then the shockwave hit the girls on the hill, threatening to knock Layla over. She threw up her arms to shield her face as she was battered by gusts of warm air and rainwater. Then everything fell quiet again. Layla stood with her arms in-front of her face for a while, stunned, her ears still ringing from the blast. What on earth could have caused such an explosion? A bomb? Cautiously Layla lowered her arms. Below her the trees seemed to have settled again, although they still creaked in protest. Through their branches she could see the crater. It was smaller than she had expected, but it was deep. Even as she watched a large holly bush lost its purchase on the lip of the crater and fell, bouncing and rolling out of sight. She considered running away. To get help or just to get away she wasn’t sure, but Rin was already heading towards it.

  ‘We need to get over there, now,’ she said forcefully. ‘This is something magical, no one else would understand.’

  Layla nodded nervously and followed. The slope was steep, and the waterlogged ground was slippery. Layla had to work her way down slowly for fear of slipping. She reached out for Rin’s hand and felt it enter her own.

  ‘I’ll be with you, but invisible for now. Don’t worry, I will still be able to protect you. No matter what happens,’ Rin whispered. ‘Now let’s hurry.’

  As she faded from view Layla turned back to the woodland, concentrating on the sensation of Rin’s hand in hers to give her courage. As she got further down the slope the trees loomed up over her, dark outlines in the fading light. Then, as she got closer to the crater, she could make out the contorted shapes of fallen trees, bare roots thrust towards the sky, silhouetted against a strange unnatural glow. She stumbled, her heart hammering in her chest. She had reached the edge of the crater.

  Its sides sloped steeply to one central point at the bottom. This was where the light was coming from. In the deepest recess of the crater burned a pillar of flames, the size of a large bear rearing on its hind legs. The unnatural illumination cast odd shadows across the scorched walls of the crater. It shimmered and flickered as if it were alive, and was almost too bright to look at. Layla took a deep breath, seriously considering turning back despite what Rin had said, but suddenly the ground gave way beneath her feet. She skidded down, towards the light. Her bag fell unnoticed from her shoulder as she scrabbled for some purchase on the steep slope. The ground was warm to the touch, and crumbled to ash beneath her flailing hands. Layla dug in her heels and managed to slow her fall, stopping breathlessly a few feet from the fire.

  She lay panting, gripping the ground beneath her tightly. When she had recovered from the shock, she quickly checked herself over. Her clothes were covered in dirt and ash but she was unhurt. She sent her senses out for Rin and could still feel her presence close by, even though she could not see her. Reassured Layla stared up at the pillar of fire. Now that she was closer it seemed more like a huge open doorway. She felt suddenly exposed, clinging to the side of the crater in full view. There was no doubt in her mind that something was going to happen.

  Carefully she scrambled and slid to the shelter of the fallen holly bush and waited. As she squinted through the leaves a patch of flames suddenly turned a bright crimson and a figure emerged. Layla shrank back behind the bush. Almost as soon as the figure appeared the flames vanished with a deep boom that seemed to vibrate every bone in her body. Layla stared at where the doorway had been. She could still see the outline of it when she closed her eyes, it had been so blindingly bright. Where had the figure gone. She began to look around, scanning the crater for any sign of life, and then she saw it. It was a boy, not much older than her.

  Chapter Two

  Stay, Illusion

  He was lying face down on the charred floor and did not appear to be conscious. Layla risked sneaking closer. Scattered around the prone body were large leather-bound books, seemingly unscathed from the fire. Layla decided to ignore them for now and focused her attention on the boy. He was as colourless and transparent as Rin. Could he be a soul? Layla though with excitement. As she watched he stirred slowly, raising himself to his hands and knees and shaking his head, as if to clear it. Then he slowly looked up, at the waving trees and dark, cloudy sky above him. Layla was struck by the childlike wonder in his face. He didn’t seem to have spotted her yet, although she was not far from him now.

  He was muscular, yet skinny, like a gymnast, and he carried himself with a similar confident grace. His eyes seemed a little too large for his face, much of which was hidden by a long fringe. His hair was fine, easily ruffled as he turned his head this way and that, taking in the walls of the crater around him. Before he could turn far enough to spot Layla however, he stopped suddenly, and began checking the floor purposely. He reached for one of the books beside
him, and to his evident surprise his hand went right through it. He stared at his hand, then looked down at himself. His bewilderment calmed her fears somewhat.

  Layla carefully got to her feet, arms slightly outstretched to help her keep her balance. He turned to look at her at once, instantly alert.

  ‘Who are you?’ she asked, hesitantly ‘Are you a soul? You must be.’ He stared up at her, as if assessing her, brushing his fringe to one side to see clearly. He frowned then looked away.

  ‘At this moment I don’t know what I am,’ he said, getting to his feet and peering down at his transparent hands.

  ‘Maybe I am a soul as you say. These books might tell me but it looks like I can’t even pick them up.’

  ‘I can help you read them,’ she offered. There were so many questions she wanted answers to, and it sounded like these books had the answers. They seemed solid enough, unlike the boy.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said nodding thoughtfully. ‘We should probably read them somewhere else though.’

  He looked behind him quickly, as if expecting the Gate to still be there, and she noticed that he relaxed when he realised it was gone. Layla nodded to show that she understood, and began to gather up the fallen books.

  ‘Thank you for doing this for me,’ he said seriously, ‘My name is Kaiden, I’m glad I met you.’

  ‘I’m Layla,’ she replied smiling. He did not smile back. He was looking around the crater, turning quickly at every slight sound.

  The sides of the crater were steep and hard to climb. Layla held the books to her chest with one arm, and clawed her way up. She had to kick her feet into the wall with each step to give herself enough of a foothold, and several times she skidded back down as far as she had climbed. Kaiden made it look easy. He hardly seemed to notice the slope, effortlessly walking up it while Layla was forced to crawl. Every time she slipped, he apologised as if it was his fault, which made her feel a little less frustrated.

  Finally, she sat, filthy and exhausted, at the top of the crater with all of the stupid books, trying to get her breath back and wondering what she was getting herself into. Kaiden paced around her as she rested, obviously eager to leave. He kept glancing at the crater as if he expected something to happen. It made her nervous again, and she got back up.

  As they walked out of the wood Layla questioned the strange boy eagerly. There was so much she wanted to know she hardly knew what to ask first.

  ‘Where did you just come from?’

  ‘Ennua.’ He replied bluntly, still distracted.

  ‘I’ve never heard of Ennua, what is it like?’ Kaiden frowned thoughtfully.

  ‘It is nothing like this place. Ennua is a dead world,’ he said darkly.

  Layla was startled by his tone of disgust and the implications of his words. For a while they made their way in silence up the hill towards the hedgerow and the road beyond. It was almost too dark to make out now, but the street lights had turned on, and their light could be made out between the waving foliage.

  ‘So, can these books tell you what you are, how can you not know?’ Layla asked at last. Kaiden glanced at the books clutched tightly to her chest.

  ‘In Ennua I wasn’t like this, I don’t know what happened to me when I went through the Gate,’ he answered. ‘These books came from the Gate between our worlds. My friend read them, then sent them to me in a package and told me never to open it. I would have done as he said, but after he committed suicide I just had to know. I still don’t know why he would do such a thing. I read one of the books before I considered that he could have died because of them. Then I thought I might be in danger too. I had to get out before the Angel read my mind and discovered what I had done.’

  His voice was calm and factual, without any trace of emotion. Layla was stunned.

  ‘You have mind readers in your world?’ she asked.

  ‘Not mind readers, only the Angel can read minds. Don’t you have anyone like that here?’

  ‘An Angel? No. No one can even do magic,’ she lied, thinking that Rin didn’t really count. She felt the disapproval of her other half beside her and realised she had said too much. She should be more careful.

  At the corner of the field the hedgerow was briefly replaced by a low stone wall. Layla reached up to drop the books over it then climbed over herself. Kaiden tried to copy her, but ended up falling through the wall as if it wasn’t there. Layla supressed a smile at his awkwardness. They were now in the garden of her house. Layla quickly gathered up the books again and led him to the front door.

  Unlike most of the thatched cottages in the village Layla’s house was a large isolate property with pinkish roof tiles and a separate double garage. Her parents had had the house built when she was born, and Layla suspected that her mother had been the one to design it. Her mother had loved designing things.

  Once inside she hurried upstairs to her room and dropped the books onto her rickety little desk with a sigh of relief. The old wood creaked under their weight. Layla’s room was small and featureless. Like so many new builds the whole house lacked any character. The walls were the typical neutral magnolia, the floor was linoleum. Easy to clean and cheaper than the real wood it was meant to imitate. Kaiden came up to stand beside her, looking around with mild interest. She wondered how different it was from what he was used to. Eager to learn more about his world she opened the book that just so happened to have ended up on the top of the heap. To her surprise she could not recognise a single word. The page was covered with little symbols, written hastily. She could not tell where a word started or finished, or even which direction she should read.

  ‘I can’t read it,’ she said in confusion, turning to Kaiden.

  ‘It’s the language of my world,’ he said, stepping forwards and running a hand along the symbols from right to left.

  ‘That’s so weird, we speak the same language I thought we would write the same too.’

  ‘How do you write?’ Kaiden asked. Layla hesitated, but there didn’t seem to be any harm in showing him. She could sense that Rin was uneasy but she didn’t seem to be worried about the boy in front of them. Something else was troubling her. This worried Layla, and she would have liked to ask her about it, but it appeared that Rin did not want Kaiden to know about her. Not yet. Layla brought him one of the many battered old books from her bedroom bookcase. He stared at it intensely, eyes flicking over the letters, as if willing the words to make themselves understood.

  ‘What does it say?’ he asked eventually, looking up at Layla. She glanced at the book she had picked at random and blushed. It was one of her favourite story books from when she was little.

  ‘The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse,’ she replied, pointing to each word on the cover.

  ‘It’s for children. The two mice always complain about their homes, yet when they try living at each other’s houses they miss what they left behind. The moral is you never appreciate what you have until you have tried living without it.’

  Kaiden continued to stare at her in confusion.

  ‘I have never heard of a book like that before,’ he said with a frown. ‘What is a mouse?’

  ‘Um…like a little furry animal.’ Layla responded awkwardly, thrown by his question.

  ‘They don’t really talk though, not in real life. It’s just a story,’ she added hurriedly, returning the book to its shelf.

  ‘So the book lies?’ Kaiden asked, incredulously.

  ‘It’s not a lie exactly, no one thinks mice can actually talk. It’s a story, you know? Made up.’

  Did they not have storybooks in Ennua? Layla though. He still looked confused and Layla didn’t know how to explain so she changed the subject.

  ‘I suppose you want to read your books now,’ she said, encouragingly.

  Kaiden nodded and leaned over her shoulder to stare at the crowded pages. He signalled with a jerk of his head whenever he wanted her to turn the page and Layla was astonished by how fast he read. She knew he was right beside her, and yet she felt no heat from his body, and no breath. As she stood in silence flipping through the mysterious book the strangeness of the situation began to dawn on her, and she began to feel increasingly uneasy. What if this boy wasn’t actually human? He could be a daemon or something else in a human form. Rin did not seem worried about him, but she was being cautious. She didn’t seem to want him to know about this world. Layla didn’t know her reasoning but it made her anxious. When Kaiden spoke, she jumped.