The East Gate (Dawnbringer, Book 2) Read online

  THE EAST GATE

  DAWNBRINGER

  Book 2

  ELON VIDAL

  This book is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed

  in the novel are either products of the author’s imagination

  or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2020 Elon Vidal

  Cover copyright © Light Age Media

  A Light Age Media Production

  All Rights Reserved

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s

  Intellectual property. If you would like permission to use the material

  from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact

  [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Light Age Media

  Barcelona

  First Worldwide Edition: December 2020

  Version: 1. December 2020

  MORE BY ELON

  Eclipse (Dawnbringer, Book 1)

  (Before you read The East Gate, be sure to read Eclipse, which is the opening to the Dawnbringer series. Get Your FREE Copy here on Amazon!)

  Witchlight, Book 1 in Lightkey: The Intrepid Lucy Duceaul

  (Get this book for FREE when you click here and sign up to Elon’s newsletter! If this link doesn’t work on your device you can also go here or type the following: https://BookHip.com/XSBXCF)

  The Attraction Wielder – Juro’s Backstory (The Indomitable Ella Larisse)

  (Get this book for FREE when you click here and sign up to Elon’s newsletter!)

  The Time Wielder (The Indomitable Ella Larisse, Book 1)

  (Coming Soon!)

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  ELON’S AUTHOR NOTES

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  OTHER BOOKS BY ELON

  WITCHLIGHT

  THE TIME WIELDER

  THE ATTRACTION WIELDER

  CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

  REVIEW THE BOOK

  If you haven’t yet read the first book in the Dawnbringer series, be sure to get your FREE copy on Amazon by following this link. Or just search for “Eclipse (Dawnbringer, Book 1) to get it.

  It’s FREE, so all you have to do is download here it and start reading.

  “THE EAST GATE (DAWNBRINGER, BOOK 2)” will make much more sense. ;)

  Eclipse (Dawnbringer, Book 1) SYNOPSIS

  Dawn's destiny is about to change.

  She is a Halfling (half-Fae, half-human) who would much rather lead a normal life in botany helping plants flourish.

  A strange eclipse and a recurring dream of a light-harnessing Pixie in a castle signal a threat that can end the magical balance and the mortal world.

  The Council of The Enlightened and the gods themselves would much rather she perish.

  Can she harness the light source within?

  Get your copy of Eclipse on Amazon for FREE. Then, continue reading Dawn’s adventures in “The East Gate (Dawnbringer, Book 2).

  ONE

  Dawn wanted to cry in relief when she finally entered her room; it had been a long day. Too long, in fact. She threw herself on her bed and inhaled the familiar lavender scent of her bedding.

  She was happy to be back into a known space. She looked around, barely raising her cheeks off the covers. Her bookcase with rows of double-stacked books sprinkled with fantasy, poetry, and botany. The orchids were doing well on top of the bookcase, shielded from the direct afternoon sun that came through the window.

  "Dawn?" her father said softly as he tapped on the doorframe. "Can I come in?"

  She sat up. “Sure.”

  Her dad sat at the corner of her bed and looked around her room with a small smile.

  “A lot has changed around here, but not your room.”

  Dawn tried to see it from her dad’s perspective, and she smiled too. While she had changed a few things, a lot remained that was so unapologetically Dawn. From her old martial arts movie posters to her large collection of botany books.

  “I’m just cool like that,” she said with a small laugh.

  He nodded thoughtfully, and silence ensued.

  “What’s wrong, dad?” she finally asked when he still hadn’t said anything. “Besides the obvious.”

  “I’m sorry you missed your interview,” he said. “I know how important it was to you.”

  “I’ll give them a call tomorrow and see if they can still let me interview for the position. I might get lucky.”

  “I hope so, they would be lucky to have you.”

  “As my dad, I think you are contractually obligated to say that,” she laughed.

  “Well yes, I got to cash in that father of the year award.” He smiled, then ran his hand through his hair.

  It was getting a little too long, she noted, and he looked thinner too.

  “Are you feeling okay? That,” he pointed to the temporary three-stripe marking on her wrist from the caging spell, “it doesn’t hurt?”

  Dawn shook her head and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. If Maggie came around, she probably wouldn’t be able to see her, but besides that, there was no other side effect to the spell. She didn’t feel anything at all. Her father seemed pleased about that, at least, and he tried to make small talk about other things as awkwardly as only he could. It made Dawn genuinely smile for the first time in hours until he had to leave. Her brother came in for a few minutes as well to check up on her while her mother made a few calls.

  By the time she tried to settle in for bed, it was late, but she felt anything but sleepy. Dawn turned in her bed and tried to find the perfect position to settle in, but it didn't work. How could she sleep when she was going to face the Council the following day? She had no idea what they would say or do, and that was the part that scared her the most. Not knowing what was going to happen. She couldn't prepare for it, she could only show up and hope for the best.

  What if something is really wrong with me, she thought. It was rare, but Halflings sometimes got infections caused by magic. If a potion or spell was too powerful for them, it could make them sick. It was never anything serious or irreversible, like having endless hiccups or blurry vision. Nothing that warranted a visit to the council hospital.

  A scratching sound against the tiled floor interrupted her thoughts, making her turn to face the door. She listened, but there was just silence, making her wonder if she had imagined the sound. When a few minutes went by, and Dawn heard nothing out of the ordinary, she turned to face the wall again and drew the blankets up to her ears. She really needed to get some sleep, and she regretted not thinking to ask her mother to make her a sleeping potion earlier. But then again, she hadn't known that she would have trouble sleeping.

  Dawn took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind, centering her thoughts on one thing just as she had learned in meditation class during training. She focused on her steady heartbeat, following the rhythm into an empty space in her head that had nothing but peace awaiting her. She tried to hold on to that, feeling her body relax and her anxiety about the next day drifting away slowly. A
nd just as she was about to slip away into the promised emptiness, light filled the space in her mind, and she involuntarily opened her eyes.

  "Aargh," Dawn groaned in frustration as she pushed the blankets away.

  Her mind was determined to keep her awake, and there was nothing she could do about it. She thought of going to the kitchen to make a cup of herbal tea to soothe her and was just about to do that when she heard the scratching sound again.

  It was louder this time and seemed to be coming from directly behind her closed door. Dawn slowly got off her bed and reached for the dagger she kept behind her nightstand. As the only person in the house who could fight, it made her feel safer having it close by. She had never needed to use it until now, and she really hoped that it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

  A terrible stench suddenly filled the room, and Dawn wrinkled her nose in disgust. She had never smelled anything so bad, not even when Elijah had stuffed dirty socks that he had worn for a week in her backpack as a prank. It smelled like rotten cheese and something else she couldn't name, but whatever it was made her heart race.

  Dawn gripped her dagger tightly in her right hand as she reached for the door handle with her left, hoping that she was just overreacting.

  She flung the door open.

  There was nothing in the passage, and the horrible smell was gone, but she had a feeling something was off. Nathan's door was closed, and there was no other sound in the house or anything that looked out of place.

  Something sharp dug into Dawn’s back just below her shoulder, and she screamed. She swung around with her dagger, ready to cause some damage. She caught her attacker across the chest, the dark creature shrieking as it recoiled from the weapon.

  Dawn glimpsed the black creature with red eyes and pointed ears, but didn’t get a good look at it before it lunged at her, making a loud scratching sound against the floor.

  She jumped back and swung again with her dagger, except this time the creature was ready for her. It leapt out of the way, latching onto the wall and creeping towards her. Behind her, she heard Nathan's door opening. Dawn took her eyes off the creature for a split second as she turned to look at her brother in a moment of panic.

  “Hide!” she shouted, hoping her brother did just that.

  That small distraction was all the creature needed to catch Dawn off guard. It leapt at her, pushing against her chest with its feet and throwing her on her back. Nathan’s scream filled the house, and it jumped again, this time headed for her brother. The door banged.

  Dawn rolled onto her stomach, groaning in pain, trying to get a better look at her brother and the creature, but she saw nothing. Her chest felt like there was someone sitting on it, but she had no time to sit and recover. She was on her feet in seconds, breathing in relief when she saw Nathan’s closed door and her brother nowhere in sight.

  The creature had a dog-like form, only much larger, hanging onto the door with its limbs. It was scratching against the wood, the stench getting worse now.

  “Hey!” Dawn shouted, trying to draw the creature’s attention.

  The scratching stopped, and the creature’s neck twisted backwards, red eyes focusing on her.

  The wound on Dawn’s shoulder began to throb, making her grit her teeth in pain. She waited for the creature to attack, but it just stared at her. She tightened her grip on the dagger, wishing she had something bigger to fight with. Despite her weapons’ teacher always telling her that her mind was the greatest weapon she had, this was not a training session, and the only thing she could actually use her brain for at the moment was wishing for a better weapon.

  Dawn was all for people thinking that a pen was mightier than a sword and all that, but not when a magical creature was staring at you with red eyes like this!

  Said magical creature arched back and made a loud howling sound just as she heard her mother say behind her, “Dawn, don’t move.”

  The scent of flowers filled the air. The creature shrieked as a vine appeared and began winding around its body. Dawn took the opportunity to throw her dagger straight into the center of the creature’s back with perfect aim. And just as soon as she’d done that, she felt a sharp pain slicing through her. The pain took Dawn by surprise, making her clutch her chest as she struggled to breathe.

  “Mom,” she gasped, falling to the floor on her knees as the creature did the same.

  Her mother rushed to her side. “What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”

  “I can’t…breathe.”

  She struggled to inhale as she watched the creature wiggling on the floor, trying to get free of the vine.

  Her mother placed her hands on her face, “Take a deep breath in and hold it. Then out, slowly.”

  Dawn tried to do as she was told, but it was hard. She felt obstructed, not able to reach a full breath. The piercing pain cut through it and prevented her from barely moving. Her mother quickly turned her head from side to side frantically, then her arms.

  “Did it hurt you anywhere?”

  “Back,” Dawn managed to gasp.

  Her mother checked the wound before going towards the creature and pulling the dagger out. Dawn wanted to ask her what she was doing, but before she could, her mother went on to do the oddest thing. She waved her hand over the creature and unbound it with her magic. The creature howled again before disappearing in black smoke.

  The pain immediately left Dawn’s chest, and she could breathe again. “Nathan,” she said, making her mother turn towards the closed door and calling her son’s name.

  “Nathan, it’s mom. You’re safe.”

  “Why did you do that?” Dawn asked as her brother unlocked the door and ran into his mother’s arms. “You let it go.”

  “What was that?” her brother asked, his eyes wide with fear.

  Isabel walked with Nathan to where Dawn stood, and her brother took her arm.

  “Stay with him, please. I need to check the rest of the house.”

  “What’s going on, mom?” Nathan’s voice sounded small as he asked, which made Dawn hug him.

  “Two minutes, okay?” her mother said to her instead, and Dawn nodded in response.

  She took her brother to her room while their mother went downstairs, and they waited for a whole minute before Dawn became antsy. She had just been attacked, the memory was too fresh to stay there.

  “Come on,” she finally said to Nathan, taking his hand and following their mother.

  Her mother was on the phone with someone, speaking a thousand words per minute as she paced. She stopped and cast a worried look at Dawn, before continuing to pace again. When she was done, she took out a large container of herbs from the kitchen.

  “You should probably sit down,” her mother suggested, sounding too calm.

  Dawn wanted to ask her a thousand questions. Like why had she let the creature go? What exactly was it? Who had been on the other end of the phone call? And why was her mother so calm?

  But all she managed was, "What are you doing?" Her voice sounding strange to her own ears.

  She just felt so tired, as if she had been running all day. Her mother drew a chair and helped her sit down. Nathan asked something she didn’t quite catch, and she turned to look at him, seeing two versions of her brother staring at her. She just needed to close her eyes for just a second, she thought. Just a second would be enough for her to rest and maybe make sense of everything that had happened.

  “What are you doing?” she asked her mother. Wait, had she said that already?

  "Making a travelling portal," her mother replied.

  Dawn wanted to ask whom her mother was opening the door for, but her exhaustion finally claimed her, and all she saw was black.

  TWO

  When Dawn opened her eyes, she was in her bed, and the sun filled the room. She yawned and stretched. She then turned and saw Elijah in her room and couldn’t avoid letting out a short scream.

  "Dawn!" Elijah exclaimed as soon as he saw her, using magic to disappear from
where he was and appearing right in front of her.

  Dawn heard someone mumble about Elijah abusing magic, but she couldn’t even bring herself to agree with whoever it was; she was just so happy to see her friend. He hugged her tightly until she pushed him away before he rearranged her ribcage.

  "I'm so glad you are okay," he smiled.

  "Explains why you just tried to squeeze my liver out of my nose," she replied with a cheeky smile.

  "Still dramatic as ever, I see, nice to see everything is still intact."

  Dawn started to laugh, but the sound turned into a groan of pain when her whole body protested. She rubbed her shoulder and reached for her wound, feeling a slight ache leftover. She frowned, wondering what had happened again. She had to stop blacking out like this, like some damsel in distress in a bad novel. Speaking of damsels, what was Elijah doing in her house so early in the morning, treating her like one?

  That made her remember he wasn’t the only one in the room.

  She pushed Elijah out of the way and saw the guy standing in her doorway. He had been the one who’d said something! “Who are you?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

  “I’m Damon,” the guy said simply. His white hair was cut short on the sides and left longer at the top, the wavy strands betraying the naturally curly state of his hair. It softened the hard look on the young man's face, giving him the broody but secretly sweet boy look that she was sure girls fawned over.

  “Unless you are Madonna, you don’t get to just give me one name and expect it to explain everything.”

  Single name guy turned to Elijah, “Is she always this rude?”