Bridge of Legends- The Complete Series Read online

  Bridge of Legends: The Complete Series

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Published by Sarah K. L. Wilson, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  BRIDGE OF LEGENDS: THE COMPLETE SERIES

  First edition. April 5, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Sarah K. L. Wilson.

  Written by Sarah K. L. Wilson.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Other Books by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Summernight

  DEAR READER

  1: Summernight Procession

  2: Advice of a Friend

  3: Scenter

  4: The Queen Mer Library

  5: Patrol

  6: Desperate Measures

  7: To Catch a Thief

  8: Plans and Hopes

  9: Lord Mythos

  10: Now or Never

  11: Bridge of Legends

  12: Grimoire

  13: A Curious Crime

  14: A Curioser Invitation

  15: Noxious Threat

  16: Legend Ball

  17: Unexpected

  18: Sunset Tower

  19: Byron Bronzebow

  20: Scent of a Name

  21: Queen Mer’s Son

  22: To Catch a Law Breaker

  23: A Gamble

  24: For a Sister

  25: Rampage

  26: Shaking Shame

  27: Cold Regret

  28: The Chase

  29: The Others

  30: Summernight

  31: Silk Dresses and Swords

  32: Hope Twists

  33: Breath of Ash

  34: Lady Sacrifice

  35: Ram the Hunter

  36: Flight from the Seven Suns

  37: Wake the Dragon

  38: Gondola Dash

  39: Flotsam Hope

  Epilogue

  Appendix

  Dawnspell

  1: Adrift

  2: Xin City

  3: Hooded Help

  4: Cure Mistress

  5: A Matter of Debt

  6: Whorls and Maps

  7: A Sister’s Price

  8: Betrothed and Betrayed

  9: Windsniffer

  10: The Hunt

  11: At Home in a Library

  12: Chaos Bubbles

  13: A Strange Pairing

  14: Wind Rose

  15: Black and White

  16: Tenacity’s Plaything

  17: In Tune

  18: Rope and Riots

  19: Sins of the Father

  20: In a Flurry of Wind and Dust

  21: Black Plumes

  22: Spiral to Destiny

  23: Hunting Redemption

  24: Map of Deeds

  25: Open Eyes

  26: Hail the Conquerors

  27: Empty Hands and Empty Promises

  28: Bloodhound

  29: Sealed in Prisons

  30: In the Dark of Night

  31: Desperate Times

  32: Cathedral of the Clock

  33: Grandfather Timeless

  34: Pendulum

  35: Abelmeyer’s Eye

  Epilogue

  Autumngale

  1: Burning City

  2: Rain on the River

  3: Inside the Clock

  4: The Whisper

  5: Ivory Cathedral

  6: Queen Mer

  7: Stalking Shadows

  8: Searching Through Time

  9: Kidnapped

  10: Visions of a Future Past

  11: Hunting Time

  12: At Home in a Library

  13: Meeting of Players

  14: Ghostly Guardians

  15: Cogs and Gears

  16: Lies and Rumors of Lies

  17: Choan

  18: At Sea

  19: Out of Reach

  20: Isle of Mer

  21: King Abelmeyer

  22: Scent of Gold

  23: Orange War

  24: Chaos Born

  25: Stalking Madness

  26: Beneath the Embalmer’s Guild

  27: Chaos Incarnate

  28: Come back!

  29: Unthinkable

  30: Bell Tower

  31: Yellow and Purple Sparks

  32: Triumph of the Mother

  33: All is Ever Lost

  34: Whisper of Rebellion

  35. New Legend

  36: Fight for Footing

  37: Close the Clock

  Epilogue

  Winterfast

  1: Too Silent

  2: On a Dragon’s Back

  3: So Little Water

  4: On a Whiff of Madness

  5: Blood is Not Thicker

  6: Rajit

  7: Scent of a Story

  8: From the Shadows

  9: Trapped in a Bookbindery

  10: Stalked through the Shadows

  11: The Road to Ice

  12: Too Late

  13: What the Histories Say

  14: Chase through Bones and Ash

  15: Murder

  16: Dragon’s Landing

  17: Cave Pictures

  18: It Can Always Get Worse

  19: Into the Darkness

  20: What the Lady Sacrifice Died to Hold

  21: Journey of Faith

  22: Where Journeys Take Us

  23: A Voice in the Darkness

  24: When Fate We Call

  25: And Fate Replies

  26: Never Fast Enough

  27: Betrayal

  Epilogue

  Springhatch

  1: Running River

  2: Ice and Water

  3: What Lies Beneath

  4: Winter Cold

  5: Promises Made

  6: Promises Kept

  7: Dragonblood Plains

  8: Chaos

  9: Tangled Hope

  10: Arise Vagrant Lord

  11: Crushed and Broken

  12: Never Say No

  13: To Know and Not Know

  14: Exodus

  15: From Depths to Heights

  16: Touch of Queen Mer

  17: The Heart of Choan

  18: Son of Mer

  19: Regrets and Guilt

  20: The Welcome of Yan

  21: Denials

  22: On the Wrong Foot

  23: Thievery and Destruction

  24: Crown

  25: Flight of Yan

  26: Three Days

  27: Landfall

  28: The Other Side of the Ocean

  29: Fevers and Nightmares

  30: Into Xytexyx

  31: Whisper

  32: Egg of Dragons

  33: Breaking an Avatar

  34: Deliverer of Death

  Epilogue: Gifts Make a Giver

  Behind the Scenes:

  For Cale, always.

  Other Books by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Dragon School Series

  First Flight

  Initiate

  The Dark Prince

  The Ruby Isles

  Sworn

  Dusk Covenant

  First Message

  Warring Promises

  Prince of Dragons

  Dark Night

  Bright Hopes

  Mark of Loyalty

  Dire Quest

  Ancient Allies

  Pipe of Wings

  Dragon Piper

  Dust of Death

  Troubled War

  Starie Night

  Ascendant Light

  Dragon Chameleon Series

  Rogue’s Quest


  Paths of Deception

  City of Ice

  Mist of Power

  Silver Eyes

  World of Legends

  Chase the Moon

  Shadow Quest

  Creeping Darkness

  Golem Siege

  Memory of Mountains

  Color of Victory

  Dragon Tide

  Dragonlet

  Dragon Staff

  Desperate Flight

  Bubbles of Hope

  Waves of Destiny

  Tides of Change

  Keys of Power

  Rock Eaters

  Underworld

  Chosen One

  Tangled Fae

  Fae Hunter

  Fae Captive

  Fae Nightmare

  The Unweaving Chronicles Series

  Teeth of the Gods

  Lightning Strikes Twice

  Thunder Rattles High

  Summernight

  Book One

  DEAR READER

  Please note the map and list of Legends that follows this note. You will likely find them helpful as you read. Enjoy this tangled tale and may your fortunes be much better than those of the five cities of the Dragonblood Plains!

  Sarah

  1: Summernight Procession

  Tamerlan

  Legends were coming alive.

  Or at least, that was how it felt to Tamerlan as he braced himself against the jostling crowd in the rising mist of the morning. Stale water, anticipation, and the smell of feast-day cakes baking filled the air, warring for dominance. He leaned a little farther over the edge of the railing.

  “Come on, little fellow! You can’t stay there or you’ll fall right in!”

  He was inches from scooping up the stray dog – a small sharp-nosed black puppy with wild scared eyes. He’d been edged to the very brink of falling into the canal and if Tamerlan couldn’t scoop him up he’d fall right in. The canals of Jingen were no place for dogs. Their slick sides weren’t made for ease of climbing – especially for someone with four feet.

  He pushed a little farther, smelling oranges and roses on the breeze as he hung over the railing. Was that Dathan below? His fellow apprentice hung from a sign pole below the railing, looking out over the canal. Fool! He would fall right in

  “Excuse me, Apprentice,” a merchant said, jostling past him, his conical hat knocking two other people in the face as he passed. He smelled of oil and figs and his thick belly pressed Tamerlan even closer to the railing. Quiet curses followed him but Tamerlan kept quiet, his face screwing up with concentration as he finally scooped the puppy up.

  “Got you!”

  The poor little thing tucked his nose into Tamerlan’s armpit, shaking from nose to tail. He wouldn’t be able to keep it. Alchemist Apprentices were little better than property themselves. But he could find a safer place than the edge of a canal.

  He pressed through the crowd, keeping the puppy held tight to his leather apprentice apron as he searched for a quiet alley. How many more people would join the crowd before the gondola procession passed through the District of Spices? Already street vendors pushing laden box-carts pressed against priests carrying smoking braziers. Goodwives wearing crisp aprons barely managed to keep hold of bright-eyed children in the press of the crowd.

  The people of the Alchemist’s District were layered over the canal like the tiers of a cake, some looking down from red-shingled roofs, some from high windows or balconies, others from along the rail on the street, and some – like his friend Dathan, below – lined the slick, narrow walkways along the canal.

  Tamerlan slipped into the alley, glad to find it mostly abandoned with the crowd so obsessed with the coming procession. There was a set of steps leading to a back door and underneath it, a safe looking shadow.

  “Will you be okay here?” Tamerlan asked the puppy, tucking him into the space under the steps. “Just keep your head down and no one will notice, yeah? That’s what I do.”

  He gave the puppy a last stroke, leaving regretfully. In a perfect world, he could bring the puppy back to his lonely room in The Copper Tincture. In a perfect world, he wouldn’t have been sold as an apprentice to Alchemists, but instead he’d be a librarian or a monk. Something that required a lot of reading and thinking. Something that didn’t involve manhandling crates of spices until he thought his mind would go dull from boredom.

  He slipped back into the crowd. He should check on Dathan. He’d been late with his duties three times this week and if Master Kurond caught him hanging from a flagpole, he’d be put on short-rations for a month.

  He eased through the crowd and down the crowded steps to the canal below, ignoring angry looks and fierce curses. The rock here was slick. Someone was bound to slip and fall in. It wouldn’t be Tamerlan. He kept a hold of the rockwork, his eyes fixed on the bend of the canal.

  An orange cat slid through the crowd – a bad omen. Tamerlan’s mouth went dry at the thought. He wanted no more bad omens. Acid washed up into his mouth and he swallowed it down, ignoring his churning belly. The cat was grabbed by a pair of hands hanging out from a Waverunner boat and pulled inside.

  “Just a cat, Apprentice!” a goodwife laughed at his expression. Her face was bright with excitement. “And now a meal for the Waverunners!

  He didn’t believe those nasty rumors. Just because the Waverunners never left their small house-boats and gondolas didn’t mean they ate cats. Or at least, he didn’t think so. And if they did, it wasn’t important today.

  The crowd murmured with anticipation, a thousand voices whispering the same hopes, a thousand eyes dancing with visions of the season. Some enterprising fool was even playing a lute beside the stone steps that led to the streets above, his tunes a litany of seasonal songs, blessing the waxing of summer, the roundness of fertility, the call of the river, and the strength of growing warmth.

  There was something about Summernight that made people forget their everyday lives as the days bled into the night, snatching minutes and hours that didn’t belong to them until the longest day of the year crowned the season.

  Tamerlan made his way carefully through the crowd, trying not to step on feet or elbow anyone. He felt tight and ragged inside. He’d heard a rumor yesterday. Just something in passing. But it had him worried. If the Legends would truly rise and walk the city again on Summernight – as the tale went – then why couldn’t they rise now? Why couldn’t they come when he might need them? Legends were as useless as wishes.

  Enough of that. He wasn’t a dreamy boy anymore with the luxury of imagining Legends walking the earth. He was a man with responsibilities – like keeping his friend out of trouble.

  If he didn’t get to Dathan in time the fool might even break an arm - then he’d be in real trouble. He tried to keep from glancing at the canal. He’d look when the procession arrived. He’d watch then. But what if she went by and he never even caught a glimpse? Or what if it wasn’t her at all, but he never found out. What if guilt and grief still ate at his heart a bite at a time? He shook his head, trying to clear it.

  “Dathan!” He called to his friend as soon as he saw him. Dathan stood out in the crowd just like Tamerlan did by wearing the uniform of Alchemist apprentices – a thick leather apron and rolled sleeves to reveal arms burned with acid scars. They were all fresh scars. Dathan had only been an apprentice for a year – bought from a destitute farm family in a landhold to the east of Jingen. He’d taken to city life better than Tamerlan had – he was more social – but it was only last week that Tamerlan had to hunt him down and help him finish his tasks before sundown. They’d traveled by gondola on this very canal. Strange how last week felt a million years away.

  Dathan was stretched out along the sign pole, trying to get the best possible view of the procession when it finally turned the corner into the Spice District. Tamerlan rubbed sweating palms on his apron. He needed to get his friend down before that procession arrived. What if Dathan saw his relief when it turned out his suspicions
were groundless – or watched him break when he turned out to be right? He’d never live that down.

  And he would break.

  He was close already – his nerve endings all alert, his hair on end, his senses sharper than ever. But he needed to deal with the problem in front of him first. Dathan might fall into the canal and drown if he wasn’t careful. His tools – strapped to the apron as usual – would sink him to the bottom in the blink of an eye if he lost his grip. He wouldn’t bob right back up like the street urchins across the way who even now were diving to find coins in the wrecks of ruined gondolas.

  The sound of a dozen throats sucking in their breath made him stand on his toes to look. Had the procession arrived?

  No. Just another fool falling from the street above to the canal ledge. A duck quacked loudly and took off, feet slapping the water as he fought to gain height.

  “Get off me you son of a -!”

  Chaos swirled as some people dove for lost belongings and stooped for coins while others tried to grab for what had never been theirs.

  The poor fool who fell was kicked into the canal and left to sputter and grope at the slick stone walls. Unless he found a friendly gondola, he’d have to swim a long way to find an entrance to street level again.

  Tamerlan lunged forward, scrambling along the narrow stone ledge – just wide enough for a hand-cart – that rimmed the canal.

  “Dathan!” he called. He was prodded with elbows as he passed. He felt the blows – there would be bruises tomorrow – but this was his chance. That was a chance worth gambling on. “Let me help you down! It’s not safe up there!”

  He tried not to flinch at the cries of pain from the crowd where he passed. He wasn’t trying to injure – but he chewed his lip as he watched Dathan rocking on the sign pole. He still hadn’t noticed Tamerlan and that perch was tenuous, the sign pole creaking under the weight.

  He climbed up the side of the wall, fingers feeling for the cracks between the stone as he tried to reach his friend. The toes of his worn leather boots scraped along the side of the slick stone wall, catching any purchase they could find. Dragon’s guts, but it stank along the canal! What was rotting in those murky waters?

  “Son of a Legend! Would you stay put?” one of the onlookers cursed, dodging Tamerlan’s kicking feet. “First one fool, then another!”

  “Dathan!”

  “Tam! Look at the view! Come on up!”

  And then he was level with the sign pole. Fresher air prevailed here. Peonies and roses in garlands were strung along the rail to the street above for the Summernight Festival. He breathed them in, trying to find calm in their familiar scents.