Untamed Eclipse

Untamed EclipseA Song of Sun & Shadow: Book 2Raven Flanagan Copyright © 2023 Raven FlanaganAll rights reservedThe characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.Cover design by: Faera Lane For my dedicated DM, Justin, who helped inspire the spark and characters of this story. Contents Title PageCopyrightDedicationUntamed EclipseOneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTenElevenTwelveThirteenFourteenFifteenSixteenSeventeenEighteenNineteenTwentyTwenty-OneTwenty-TwoTwenty-ThreeTwenty-FourTwenty-FiveTwenty-SixTwenty-SevenTwenty-EightTwenty-NineThirtyThirty-OneThirty-TwoThirty-ThreeThirty-FourThirty-FiveThirty-SixThirty-SevenThirty-EightThirty-NineFortySolara’s Dawn PreviewBooks In This SeriesAbout The AuthorBooks By This Author Untamed Eclipse OneYou never forget the day you die. It leaves a stain on the soul that never truly goes away. Perhaps I was wrong to leave home two years ago when visions drew me to the river of red that took my life.Hidden deep in the Ellrend forest during a bleak midwinter, wind howled through my ears like the wailing of a deranged beast. A cold bite stung my bare feet as I padded through a thick blanket of shimmering snow. The frigid air kissed my naked skin when it breezed through the gnarled limbs of the ancient woods.That cold didn’t compare to the harsh winters I’d experienced in my youth. If I managed the northern freeze in Gwathendor, I’d survive this sharp chill, and nothing beat the wretched winters of the Thanaten kingdom I’d been born into.The Mithran magic running through my veins aided in keeping me warm. Though that sun magic was at odds with my Thanaten half’s shadow magic, I’d wielded both without strain since my birth.Years ago, when my feet touched ground on the mystical Ellrend island, the lost coven of witches who’d made these forgotten woods their home sensed the untamed power roiling within me. Their Matriarch offered to teach me how to control my magic, and I grasped the opportunity, even if it meant leaving my world behind.Along with the coven’s daughters, I learned to command the raw magic that burdened me. I contained both sun and shadow magic, but also something greater that the divided elves lost a millennium ago when the gods vanished from the world. In time, I advanced easily through the witch’s teachings until they determined I was worthy of joining their daughter’s coming-of-age ritual.Six witch daughters walked with me in near silence. Their mothers and the Matriarch trekked ahead of us, guiding the way along the path that they once walked themselves. Light struggled to penetrate the thick branches overhead, but generations of witches making the journey to their sacred river wore the path through the overgrown forest.The witches held this river sacred above all others because they claimed that the petrified heart of the goddess of magic rested at the headwaters. And that was our destination.Their legends told that thousands of years ago, before the god-war that caused the Rift in my homeland, when the gods still walked as titans amongst their people, the goddess favored the Ellrend witches. Allegedly, her heart found its resting place here upon her demise, and a new river sprang forth.The witches bathed in the flowing river to heighten their power and earn the right to become a matron in the coven. Not all of us would emerge again, they’d warned. God-heart or no, my power outweighed theirs and I didn’t fear a dip in the frigid waters.In my time on the island, I’d never traveled this far from where they’d offered their knowledge. As the silence stretched, I noted a lack of life the further we walked from the village. Here, no birds sang in the sky, and no creatures chittered from the underbrush.A feeling of pins pricked down the length of my spine, and the tips of my pointed ears twitched.Through a break in the trees, the rippling music of running water stole my attention. A few steps later, our procession followed the trail of a swiftly flowing river, gradually widening the further we went upstream.The calming waters soothed my mind prior to noticing a subtle pink tint in the sapphire waters. The longer we trudged over the crunching snow and squishy mud, the faster the water darkened, until the smooth riverbed stones vanished under a stream of surging, bubbling crimson. And the darker it became, the stronger the scent of rust grew on the wind.Shafts of sunlight winked out as the forest became impenetrable. A wispy breath passed my lips in that split second of pitch darkness. Gradually, the fauna and undergrowth cast a luminescent glow over the surrounding woods, and my eyes widened to absorb the mystical sight.The coven Matriarch’s raspy voice cleaved through the silence. “Here she comes, daughters. Brace yourselves to witness what remains of our great goddess, whose magic has strengthened our power and blessed our coven over the centuries.”Her fingers tightened on her staff as she forced her aged bones to carry her around the bend. She led us through the last cluster of trees where a sudden gust of warm air breezed over our skin, feeling like the hot kiss of a summer day.As we broke through the dense forest and proceeded toward the edge of the river, a break in the overhead branches revealed a brilliant moon hanging low in the darkened sky, so close I imagined reaching out and brushing my finger along the bottom. The moonlight shone on the steam rising from the rippling red waters and divulged the river as the source of unusual heat.Ignoring the coven’s gasps of awe, my eyes went round, and my lips parted at the massive, hill-sized stone rising from the water. Orifices and cracks around the structure oozed with thick red fluid that dripped down the sides of the rotund, dark stone and seeped into the water.The ground trembled beneath my feet, like thunder deep in the earth, when the petrified muscles of the misshapen heart pumped again. Scarlet gushed from the crevices