Endure

The Protector Book 4

Endure

Written by M.R. Merrick

The Protector Book 4

Endure

Written by M.R. Merrick

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The Protector - Book 4 - Endure

By
M.R.Merrick

© 2013 M.R. Merrick

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Kindle Edition

ISBN:
 
978-0-9917862-1-3

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All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2013 – M.R. Merrick

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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the express written permission of the author. For further information please contact the author at [email protected]

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Cover design by M.R. Merrick

Cover artwork by
Parajunkee
Design

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This is a work of fiction. The characters, locations, and events herein are used fictitiously as an article of the author’s imagination. Any names or references to locations, events or persons, either living or deceased, are purely coincidental.

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Kindle Edition, License Notes

This
ebook
is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This
ebook
may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For my wife,

It is fitting that it starts where it all began. You are my rock. You are my northern star. You are my everything.

You and me, always.

Acknowledgments

Writing the acknowledgements for the final book in The Protector series is kind of a surreal moment for me. It was only a few years ago I found myself writing them for Exiled. My writing, these characters, and the story have come so far since then. It feels like a lifetime. How do you summarize a lifetime of gratefulness and thankfulness into a single page?

I’ll start by thanking my wife. We’ve been through so much together, especially on this publishing journey. You stood by me, supported me, and when I didn’t think I could do it, you carried me until I knew I could. You’ve been my angel, my rock, my everything. Without you, these books, these characters, this story…they wouldn’t exist outside my imagination.

Thank you to Valerie at Stuck In Books. You’ve been an anchor of support and have become a truly incredible friend. From encouragement to advice, to offering your opinion on my work before it’s ready for the public eye, you’ve been there for me. You’ve helped promote my work, and take these books to a new level of success by helping me find an audience. You’ve done so much for this series, and I hope you know that your kind heart and hard work will never be forgotten.

To Rachel at
Parajunkee
, you are amazing. Thank you for designing an incredible cover for me. I was terribly worried that a change would set off the series. However, you came in and created my favorite cover, which goes well wrapped around my favorite installment in The Protector.

To my editor,
Hollie
Westring
, thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for being there to get me out of bind, and for doing such a fabulous job. And a special thank you to Tiffany King for helping me through a difficult situation.

To Jason Pitt, Kelly Rubidoux, T.L.
Jeffcoat
, and Laura at Little
Read
Riding Hood, thank you for
you
support, encouragement, and hard work in making sure this book was ready in every way possible. Your commitment has made this story better than I ever could have managed on my own, and I’m grateful for all your contributions.

To my readers, thank you. That seems an unfitting word, because you’ve done so much for me. You’ve purchased my books, left reviews, and helped spread the word about my stories. Some of you have reached out to me about your passion for the series, and you’ve left a mark of happiness on my heart. I’m eternally grateful for everything you’ve done for me. Each time I sit down to write, I think of how far you’ve taken this series, and it makes me want to write bigger and better books, just for you. Because without you, these books are just words on a page. I wrote them, but it’s you who gave them a soul and breathed life into the story. Thank you, my dear readers, for being a part of this journey with me. I hope you’ll join me for another adventure!

Chapter 1

My elements had torn me apart. The world seemed to be a shadow’s reflection, drifting around me unseen in the night. I thought I was dead, destroyed by pain, sadness, and magic, but I wasn’t. I floated in darkness only wishing I had died. Wishing I had died with him.

I no longer felt the rain—I only heard it. It was a mallet and I was a drum, each pellet echoing and rippling across my skin. The gravel pressed against me, poking into my face, but I’d lost feeling throughout my body. I was numb.

My body twitched and then jerked, but still, darkness clung to my mind. I had become an empty vessel and the desire to win lay out on the road, ejected from my body and washed away between each stone. I wasn’t the Protector—I was an assassin. Every step I had taken to stop the end was a failure. Each choice I made led me inches closer to suffocating the flame inside another person. If I kept going, soon I’d have nobody left and true darkness would swallow me. Then again, all my friends were fighting for their lives in another world—fighting
my
fight. In this moment, for all I knew, all their final breathes had been taken. I was merely the wind that stole them.

Rayna had summoned the spirits to hold Riley and the Dark Brothers back so that I could escape and destroy the amulet, but once again I had failed. Even with a head start I couldn’t win the race. Riley had left moments ago, taking the amulet and turning Willy into a pile of ash. Since he had been here, did that mean all my friends were gone? Had he wiped them out with a single strike?

Thoughts crashed inside my mind, but as one idea came, another stormed in and replaced it with more fear and insecurity. Images of my friends fighting the Kivrakai of Vortan appeared in the darkness. Blood spilled across the cracked earth and bursts of colorful smoke rose from the crumbled altar in the background: green, yellow, blue, and red. They swirled amongst the rubble, churning in the air while the clatter of swords created an orchestra of stolen life.

The image shattered as the Visceratti came into sight. Their beady eyes moved inside narrow grey skulls and black veins rippled through the red. A hiss came through jagged teeth with bits of blood and flesh stuck on the edges. Chief and Jax squirmed along the ground, chunks of their bodies missing and dark puddles of blood around them.

Were these visions? Was my air element acting like a camera and surveying the wounded around me? Or were my fears being manifested between pulses of agony and splashes of rain? I couldn’t tell the difference anymore. I didn’t even know if I was awake or asleep.

My body jerked again. Something bumped beneath me and I realized the numbness of rocks pressing into my face was gone. Although it still echoed around me, I couldn’t feel the rain beating against my skin. I was no longer the drum. I was inside it, and new warmth rolled over me. I tried to move, but I couldn’t—there was too much pain. The inky blackness that filled my visions was a mousetrap, pinning both my eyelids against a thin plank of wood. Another bump. Pain stunned my body like I’d been thrown onto a bed of spikes. I was in misery’s embrace and she wouldn’t let me go. My face pressed against something that managed to be soft and rough at the same time. I didn’t know where I was, but it wasn’t on the gravel road.

The idle vibration beneath me stopped, silence, and then a door shut. Flashes of orange light filled the darkness. Even closed, my eyes winced from the brightness. Light? How long had it been? I had just been on the road watching my best friend’s ashes crumble in the rain. The questions vanished as something slid underneath me, causing an amplified ache to sear my body. I tried to scream but all that came out was a quiet squeak.

Cold nipped my skin, and drops of moisture rolled across my face. I fought to tear my eyes open and it was like Velcro being torn apart. Blinding light scalded my eyes, forcing them shut. When the light dimmed, I opened them again. The world was blurry and splotches of grey decorated what I thought was a blue sky. The storm I’d endured had all but faded away, leaving its memories behind to linger in the air.

The distorted world changed and twirled around me in lines of brown and black. Footsteps tapped along a floor. My body was lowered onto something that molded around me, bringing with it stabs of pain.

Something brushed across my face again and I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision. Brown and black merged together and someone moved above me, vanishing from my unfocused sight. Soft warmth covered my body, followed by a wet heat pressing against my forehead.

“Where am I?” I asked, but the voice that came out was hardly my own—a hoarse whisper cracking between dry lips.

A dark figured loomed over me. Something dangling from what I thought could be their head. I blinked a few times and tried to focus. An unclear face appeared decorated with splotches of hair, but I couldn’t see more than that.

“Willy?” I asked. Speaking his name made my stomach wrench. That one word hurt my throat more than the last. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more.

Cold liquid rushed over my lips and into my mouth. The sensation scared me and I choked, the abrupt movement igniting my body in pain.

“Hush, it’s time to rest.” The voice was deep and familiar, but it wasn’t Willy. It couldn’t be him; Willy was gone.

Black dots swam around me. I ignored my body’s demand and tried to sit up, but as I did, the dots merged together. I fell back and as the spots flashed and faded, I was left with a distorted image of the man above me. The face was round and covered in a thick beard. Black hair hung down around his head, pieces of it clinging together in a wet, dripping mess. As he became clearer, my heart began to race, but I had no adrenaline left to help me move. I knew this man from the Circle, both as a child and from when they interrogated us. This was the man who had pushed himself into my mind and verified my story to the council, only to vanish weeks later. This was the man Marcus claimed to have been working with all along—Riddley Peterson.

Chapter 2

My heart unleashed a rampage against my ribcage. My face and body were sticky with sweat and a haze of sleep clung to my eyes. Images from a dream flashed in my mind. The Dark Brothers stood in front of an old house arguing with one another. They looked angry, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Stabbing pain spiked all over my body when I tried to move. The image drifted away.

With all the energy I could muster, I engaged the aches and struggled to sit up. A weathered couch sat beneath me and blood-soaked bandages clung to my body. Wooden planks made up the walls and ceiling, giving off a rustic cabin look. The air was cool and damp, and wearing only crusty mud-covered jeans, I shivered. Willy’s face appeared at the forefront of my thoughts. I saw it in the knots of wood along the floor and the moisture-stained walls. My heart sank in my chest; if there had been any food in my stomach, I would’ve gotten sick.

I stared blankly at the floor—unable to think, unable to feel. I was void of life. First Mom, then Willy, and now I didn’t know what other lives I was responsible for losing. I wasn’t strong enough to go on like this. Not without my friends…my family.