De'Vas Chronicles Book 3: Chapter 1

Ash sat at his desk and read over the reports that Haylee had sent him about the fish farm expansions. He had opened a new farm to help meet the demands of District 71 from the trade deal he had signed with Raina four months ago.

Right now the new farm was in the red and a bit of a money pit, but Haylee was confident that it would be as productive as the others after a harvest or two. He trusted the otterkin woman.

As he reached to turn the page of the report, he caught sight of the kraken’s ring. The light from his window reflected the hairline cracks that ran throughout the chitin that made the ring. It had been four months since he had learned about the elemental living inside him. How much longer did he have until the elemental finally destroyed the ring and broke free? When it finally did, would Sparky be a friend or foe? Would he finally be strong enough to defeat it?

A knock sounded from his office door and he looked up to see a lizardkin standing in the doorway.

“Boss,” he greeted.

“Come in, Jek,” Ash said.

Jek was the second-in-command of the Frozen Scales, Naomi’s gang. Ash brought his attention from paperwork to the sharply dressed lizardkin with a sword on his hip that just stepped into his office.

“Boss. The guards by the portal called. We have a group of elves that came through the portal.”

Ash sighed.

“I don’t suppose they’re here to settle?” he asked, hopeful. There had been an uptick in paranormals coming to District 114 to start a new life. While beastkin still made up the majority of the district, it was becoming more diverse and the economy was growing as a result.

“They’re armed,” Jek answered.

“Alright,” Ash said as he stood from his desk. His hand pulled his sword, Riptide, from one of the drawers and placed it on his belt. “Let’s go meet them.”

“Want me to alert Faylen and Naomi?” Jek asked.

Ash shook his head as he made his way to the door.

“Their training with Silver at the beach. Let the girls have their fun.”

Jek and Ash left the Flatiron and started down Lilly Street. The lizardkin had fully established themselves on the street now and other paranormals of a scaled nature that decided to resettle in District 114 seemed to prefer Lilly Street, even with the dryad present. Any fear or concern was quickly dispelled by those who knew Lilly.

Ash noticed the ice cream parlor at the end of the street had finally opened. He didn’t know much about it, just that Naomi was interested in going there with him on a date. Now that it was open, he would need to take her.

They made their way through the rest of the district and Ash noticed small changes that indicated to him the population was growing. Small things, like storefronts advertising clothing to fit different paranormal races, restaurants advising reservations, and just the sidewalks being more crowded. Soon they neared the portal and Ash saw a few members of the Frozen Scales staring down four elves. Two dark elves, a snow elf, and a forest elf who looked like he was the leader.

“Welcome to District 114. How can I help you folks?” Ash asked dryly.

He knew why they were here. The same reason as the other dozen similar parties of elves had come to his district armed. Still, he was going to give them a chance, just as he had done with all the others.

“We want the lying bitch who claims to be Roth Willowson’s daughter,” the forest elf said with a growl, his hand resting on a sword.

Publishing Lilly’s father’s journal had been a blessing and a curse. The dryad was thrilled to see her father’s life work being read. The homesick paranormals of De’Vas bought the book as quickly as Sara and Maggy could print them. The first time Lilly had seen someone reading the book at The Twins, she had sat and watched them for over an hour, much to the distress of the diner when he finally noticed.

Others thought the work was fake, or didn’t like that Lilly was claiming to be his daughter. Roth Willowson was a beloved figure among many of the elves and there had been a few who took up arms.

“You’re not going near her and you will never refer to her that way again,” Ash said firmly. “Leave the district and don’t come back.”

The forest elf smirked and looked at his companions before turning back to Ash. There was the brief sound of grinding steel as his blade escaped its sheath and the elf took a fighting stance.

Ash pulled Riptide from his belt and pushed magic into the rune. Water Magic from the rune created a translucent blade over the chitin one that extended the dagger into a sword four feet in length. The forest elf looked surprised, but his shock quickly turned to a sly smile.

“That looks like a very nice sword. I’ll take it once I’m done with you,” he said.

The elf lunged at him. Ash sidestepped the attack and brought Riptide up, slicing the elf’s cheek. He had spent the past four months being drilled on swordsmanship by Mander and sparring with Silver. Well, being Silver’s punching bag might be a more accurate description.

The elf jumped back and brought his hand up to his cheek, when he saw the blood he snarled at Ash.

“You bastard,” the elf growled and readied himself to strike again.

Rushing forward, he brought his sword over his head and swung it towards Ash, which he blocked. The elf’s next attack was a stab that nicked Ash’s arm. Though the elf overextended himself for it.

A mistake Ash followed up on with a slash from Riptide. Pushing more of his magic into the rune on the sword, he extended the blade by four inches. The added length allowed the blade to cut deeply into the elf’s chest. The elf dropped his sword and knelt as he tried to bunch his shirt around the wound to stifle the bleeding.

Movement caught his eye and he saw one of the dark elves start to cast a fireball. Ash pulled his magic into his index and middle finger and lifted his hand to cast Bolt. Thunder echoed as he released his magic and a bolt of lightning slammed into the dark elf. The spell canceling before the elf fell to the ground unconscious.

He looked over the group of elves and they stared back at him with looks of unease. He had pulled on the elemental’s magic, more for show than a need for power, and his elemental scar was glowing bright blue.

“The Storm…” the snow elf hissed.

A moment passed and none of them moved, save the forest elf who was finishing a healing potion. Even he was glaring at Ash, but the fight had left them.

“Thanks for the practice,” Ash said to the forest elf. “Now get out of my district, and if you come for Lilly again, I’ll kill you.”

Ash and Jek turned and left as the rest of the Frozen Scales ushered the elves to the portal and out of the district.

“The gangs could have handled them. There was no need for you to get cut, boss,” Jek said.

Ash looked at the small cut on his arm. Blood was dripping from it, but it was too small to waste a healing potion on. He slipped Riptide on his belt and placed his thumb over the cut. He pushed lightning magic to the wound and smelled burned flesh as he cauterized it.

“Mander says I need to get actual fighting experience with a sword and maybe they’ll stay away if I put on an act,” Ash said.

“You make it sound like your threat was just a bluff?” Jek asked. “Three months ago I would have believed it was. Last month we buried the group of elves that tried to come back to the district after Miss Lilly.”

Ash looked at Jek, before turning back around.

“I don’t like people threatening my friends, Jek.”

Jek chuckled.

“I doubt they would have been much of a threat to Miss Lilly.”

Jek was right, Lilly’s vines would have torn them to shreds within seconds once they threatened the dryad. They would have still said awful things to her regarding her father, and that was a tender topic for Lilly.

“What do you have planned today?” Ash asked wanting a change of subject.

“The gangs are almost done with the school building. The last of the supplies should arrive later today as long as they aren’t held up by the human customs at the wall. I’ll oversee that,” Jek answered.

The school. Almost half a year had passed since he wrote down the plan for a school on the list of improvements for District 114. His mother’s company, Grayson Industries, had little business in education equipment and materials. As a result, it had been more tedious to get the needed supplies shipped across the border to De’Vas. Especially with the heightened tensions between several of the larger human governments and De’Vas. Though the governments had shifted much of the blame to WillCo.

“Good to know it’s almost done. I’ll start hunting for potential teachers,” Ash said, adding that to his endlessly growing mental list of things that he needed to do.

“Yourself, boss?” Jek asked.

Ash gave a passing glance to the playground as they passed by. Paranormal children laughed and ran around the equipment under the watchful eyes of their parents. Even with the kids being rough, the equipment still looked new. The gangs took a lot of pride in the playground they had built and it wasn’t uncommon to spot one doing minor repairs.

“I’ll finish up my paperwork and then get ready to head to District 208 with Bo. Silver wants us to look into something there,” Ash said as they passed by the playground. “Might check on Lilly before heading out. The girls are planning to do a slumber party at her house tonight.”

“Councilwoman Blackthorn’s liaison made herself right at home in the district. The rabbitkin is a regular fixture at the Flatiron and Mei’s den,” Jek said referring to Silver.

Ash smiled.

“That she did. Silver was a friend of mine before she became Blackthorn’s liaison,” Ash answered.

Silver’s identity as the real Cleo Blackthorn was still a guarded secret. One of her banshee sisters, Aerial, was disguised as Councilwoman Blackthorn and took over her duties on the council to thwart a coalition that was being built against her.

Sliver had also developed a friendship with Mei, the owner of Mei’s Den, and routinely worked at the restaurant. All while keeping her identity a secret, something Ash and her disagreed about.

“Well, boss, I’ll leave you to your day,” Jek said as he broke away from Ash to head towards the school. “If anything comes up, I’ll let you know.”

“Take care, Jek,” Ash said with a wave.

As Ash was about to pass by Mei’s Den, he stopped to look through the front window of the restaurant. They were just starting to open to get ready for the lunch rush that would begin in about an hour. He made a decision and entered the restaurant.