Surrendered Read online

  SURRENDERED

  EXPERIMENTAL HEART | BOOK FIVE

  SHANNON PEMRICK

  First Edition

  Surrendered Copyright © 2019 Shannon Pemrick

  Cover Illustration by Jackson Tjota

  Editing by Sandra Nguyen

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  ISBN 978-0-9984464-6-2 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-0-9984464-9-3 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-9984464-8-6 (hardcover)

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

  * * *

  https://www.shannonpemrick.com

  Contents

  Other Books in this Series

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Epilogue

  Leave a Review

  Glossary | Characters

  Glossary | Language

  Also by Shannon Pemrick

  About the Author

  To Joe

  For, well, everything.

  Other Books in this Series

  Book 1 | Destiny

  Book 2 | Pieces

  Book 3 | Secrets

  Book 4 | Exposed

  Book 5 | Surrendered

  Book 6 | Reborn (coming soon)

  Light of the full moon filtered in through the barred window of the cell. I sat in my corner, as always, contemplating my fate—remembering all the mistakes I’d made leading up to this point. I didn’t wallow in self-pity—it wouldn’t change a thing. Fighting the inevitable hadn’t helped me either. I wasn’t meant to have any other life.

  I looked to my friends who slept nearby. I just wish my mistakes hadn’t dragged them into this.

  My eyes grew heavy, my weakened state not allowing me to stay awake long when I wasn’t dealing with torture. I allowed slumber to come. The remaining memories waited for me.

  Chapter One

  Phyre held up his arms and announced, “Ambassador Laz’shika!”

  Orange light flickered across the forest clearing, casting tall shadows of people onto the trees. The night sky, while dulled by the air pollution of the city beyond the forest, twinkled with stars. People in decorative costumes danced around the fire while others mingled about in the clearing.

  As I expected, everyone wanted to talk to me. Some just wanted to congratulate me on my passing of the test and official Ambassador title, while others wanted to chat. I knew I was going to have to get used to it since I was now the Ambassador, but that wasn’t going to be easy for me. I wasn’t a people person. And on top of that, I had limited knowledge of rituals and customs for the tribes beyond the West Tribe. There are many people far more qualified than me.

  The ever-present voice in my head not belonging to me, spoke, “Oh, stop it. You’re plenty qualified.”

  One good thing that came of it was my reconnection with Arnia and Jaybird. They apologized for missing the test, but were happy for my end result. After speaking with them for a bit, they went to join a group of North Tribe shaman. The two had really hit it off with the tribe, and it made me wonder about their future after we were free. They could benefit from a teacher, and the North Tribe was the only one I knew of to have any metal shamans or metal elementalists in the area.

  I sighed with relief when I was finally allowed to sit down and relax for a moment. Raikidan sat down next to me, and my friends took their seats around us. They had stayed with me while I had endured all the greetings, and I was grateful. Their support made it easier to deal with, and Raikidan had also done his job by pulling me away when I became too overwhelmed.

  My brow rose in surprise when a stout, blond dwarven man with a large septum piercing came up to us and handed me a mug, his braided beard with metal rings and clasps with large decorative plates bounced in front of him. I hadn’t seen him since the competition in his city of Azrok, several months ago. “Vorn?”

  “Aye, lass.” He smiled and shifted his hammer as it leaned on his shoulder. “Ye didn’t think I be missin’ this ol’ party ye be havin’, did ye?”

  I chuckled and took the mug of ale. “Good to see you too, but did you really have to bring your hammer with you?”

  He laughed, his eyes shining bright. “Lass, ye know I don’t go anywhere without it.”

  “All right, you got me there.”

  I went to take a swig of my drink as he walked away when I noticed a woman looking like a near spitting image of Ryoko, frantically searching for… something. A dark-skinned elven man with tattoos, piercings, and a partially shaved head followed her, attempting to calm her down. Peacekeeper Ryoko and Varro? Why would two of the Peacekeepers be here? I had been quite surprised to see Peacekeeper Ryoko show up during my test, so seeing them here at my party was quite the perplexing sight.

  Looking around, I found Peacekeeper Pyralis mingling with his clan, along with a green-haired, golden-eyed woman. I guessed her to be Peacekeeper Reiki. Pyralis’ presence with his clan didn’t surprise me, due to the strong connection he had to them when I visited the clan over the summer.

  Mingling with some shamans, and now Vorn, were Peacekeepers Assar and Raynn, the latter throwing me off briefly since the Raynn we know looked eerily identical.

  “Where is she?” Peacekeeper Ryoko mumbled.

  “Calm down,” Varro said. “We’ll find her. We have all night.”

  I shook my head. Peacekeeper Ryoko, you’re going to make this night very interesting. “Ryoko, Varro, over here.”

  Ryoko looked at me, her brow twisted, and then squeaked when Peacekeeper Ryoko appeared suddenly in front of her. Peacekeeper Ryoko tilted her head and looked Ryoko over. Ryoko stared back at her with uncertainty.

  After she was done looking Ryoko over, Peacekeeper Ryoko laced her fingers into Ryoko’s hair. “Your hair is so silky. I could never get my hair like this. How do you do it?”

  Ryoko shrugged. “Conditioner. I can only imagine the beauty products we have now are a lot different than what you had.”

  Peace
keeper Ryoko thought this over and Varro chuckled. “After years of war, hygiene wasn’t a priority to put resources into.”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko nodded. “That’s true.”

  Ryoko touched Peacekeeper Ryoko’s hair. “Yours is really soft, though—more so than mine, if you want my opinion. Consider yourself lucky to have such naturally soft hair.”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko smiled wide and the two began talking about similarities and differences between them. Amused, I listened in while paying attention to the dances the Southern and Northern Tribes were performing around the fires.

  The two women had quite a bit in common, but they also had many differences, and I could tell this talk with Peacekeeper Ryoko made Ryoko feel a lot better about herself. She had always thought less of herself because she was a clone, feeling that being a clone marked her as unable to be her own person.

  “I just hope they don’t try to dress the same. Then we’ll have a problem.”

  “Oh, don’t even suggest that. I don’t want to deal with that again.”

  “Those twin assassins you trained?”

  “Yeah, that was stuff of nightmares.” Psychic assassins—the first of their kind. I was glad the project ended and they resumed standard psychic training.

  Ryoko’s ears twitched as the two went back and forth. “Off topic, but I’m going to forget if I don’t ask now. Peacekeeper Ryoko, did you actually end up dying alone? That ending to your life always seemed a bit fishy to me.”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko giggled. “No, I didn’t. Whoever made up that story is dumb. I had my pack.” She gestured to Varro. “And I also had him.”

  I looked at Varro with interest and he laughed. “Surprise!”

  “Surprise indeed.”

  “Life is full of them! You’re in for a bumpy ride in the next coming weeks.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  The voice chuckled but refrained from giving an answer.

  “Raynn and Assar were the only ones who really liked all the attention we received after the war, so the rest of us hid in the shadows,” Varro explained. “No one really knew what we were doing with our lives, and that was how we liked it. It was peaceful.”

  “Explains the theory about Ryoko, though,” Rylan said. “If people didn’t know what happened to her, or about her relationship with Varro and the others, they’d theorize she went off to be alone.”

  I nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”

  “You and Varro, really?” Ryoko questioned.

  Peacekeeper Ryoko shrugged. “He grew on me.”

  “We had known each other for some time prior to everyone getting together,” Varro explained. “Wasn’t really a spur the moment situation.”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko rolled her eyes. “He’s leaving out the part where I hated him during that time.”

  “You hated everyone in the village,” he shot back.

  “No, I just didn’t trust them. I actually hated you.”

  “That’s a lie, and you know it.”

  Ryoko giggled. “You two sound like Laz and Raikidan.”

  “We do not act like that,” Raikidan and I objected.

  “Oh, boy. Now you’re on the same wavelength.”

  The others laughed at the two of us. My eyes narrowed and I finished off my mug of ale. I looked away when someone approached us. I smiled at the man dressed in thick robes with various chains, pouches, books of different sizes, quills, and parchments hanging off it. Standard scholar garb, though to this day, I still didn’t understand why they insisted on using quill and ink instead of pens. “Me’kunar.”

  He pulled down his hood, revealing his mocha-tan skin tone and long black hair, with a bit of gray scattered about within it. Elven ears poked out of his dark tresses. His forest green eyes sparkled with a youth that contrasted with his age. He smiled and sat down in front of me. “It’s been a while, Eira.”

  I sighed contently. “Thank you for not addressing me by my new title.”

  “I suspected you’d be more comfortable if I didn’t.”

  I smiled my thanks. “So, did you come over here to congratulate, me or just chat?”

  He smiled. “A little bit of both. I do want to congratulate you on both your shaman status and your new job with us. Being picked as our Ambassador is nothing to sneeze at, and is a highly desired position. But I also want to thank you for the information you sent to me about the find in Larkren.”

  I grinned, remembering the trip to the seaside town several months back and the chance find. “I can only imagine it was of some help, yes?”

  His face lit up. “It was the best find of the decade! There has been so much information in that area, I’ve had to make several trips to make sure I got it all.”

  The image of him grumbling to himself about the long trek, while also being excited about collecting new information, crossed my mind and I laughed a bit. “I’m glad I could be of some use.”

  “I’m hoping you can be of more use soon, if you’re willing. While translating it is no problem, I need help piecing it all together, as a lot of it is only fragments. You’ve always been helpful when it came to piecing together fragment stories.”

  “You should help.”

  “I can try to help. I’ve got a book that can access the Library, so if you publish it in there, I can take a look at any time.”

  Me’kunar cocked and eyebrow. “You have a book? How did you gain possession of one?”

  Shva’sika waved her fingers. “I gave it to her.”

  Me’kunar laughed. “Shva’sika, of course. I shouldn’t be surprised in the least you gave her your family book.”

  “She’s my family, so I see no reason to keep it from her.”

  Me’kunar nodded. “Of course, of course.”

  The two fell into conversation on the Eternal Library, my elven friend telling him of the new entrance find, and the book discovery on the Makers, getting Me’kunar excited.

  “No way!” Peacekeeper Ryoko suddenly screeched, pulling my attention back to her and Ryoko. “You get a tail?”

  Ryoko blinked, her face strained with shock and surprise. “Yeah. It shows up before I have to shift, because of the full moon. I guess you didn’t?”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko groaned. “That’s not fair! I wanted a tail. Even if it was only for a few days.”

  I chuckled at her childish behavior. The two definitely acted alike.

  “You don’t need one,” Varro insisted.

  “But I always wanted one,” Peacekeeper Ryoko said.

  “You’re fine just as you are.”

  Peacekeeper Ryoko pouted. “But I wanted one…”

  Ryoko grunted. “Well, if I could, I’d give it to you. I can’t stand it. I had to cut some of my clothes to accommodate it.”

  “It’s not like it put a dent in your stock of clothes,” Rylan said.

  She poked him in the chest. “You be quiet.”

  I chuckled and kept my voice low before speaking to Peacekeeper Ryoko. “He’s got a tail fetish.”

  Rylan’s eyes narrowed at me. “Shut up, I do not.”

  “Yeah you do,” Blaze argued. “You get all weird when she has her tail.”

  Argus smirked. “Weird is an understatement.”

  The two laughed and Rylan glared at them with flushed cheeks. “I need another drink.”

  A capped bottle of beer was tossed to him, but before he could take a sip, Ryoko stole it and took a few gulps. Rylan gave her a scolding look, and she laughed before handing it back to him. I looked at my empty bottle and decided I needed more. As I was about to get up, Ne’kall and Tla’lli approached. They were helping each other carry something covered in feathers.

  I cocked my head with a raised brow. “What is that?”

  Ne’kall let go of his end and smiled. “A headdress.”

  “Okay…”

  Tla’lli giggled and held it out. “It’s for you. It belonged to the last Ambassador. She fashioned it from a skull that has been inherited
by each subsequent appointed Ambassador since the first.” She smiled. “We’ll hold onto it for you until Zarda is dealt with, but I wanted to present it to you now, so you knew it’d be coming your way eventually.”

  I smiled and took the heavy headdress from them. Red and orange feathers of various lengths splayed out across my legs, going all the way to the ground, as I did my best to look over the headpiece. A large bird-like skull, about a foot long, sat as the centerpiece, with two golden medallions on either side. Etched into the metal was the same symbol as on my cloak. That’s interesting… I thought the symbol was unique to Raikidan and me. I made a mental note to investigate at a later time.

  Looking over how it was worn, the skull would rest directly on the person’s head, the feathers arching out behind it and flowing down the back of the person. The feathers had yellow, blue, and white accents. The arch and placement of the colored accents reminded me of sunrays, or fire. “Thank you. What kind of skull is it?”

  Ne’kall chuckled. “What, you’ve never seen a bird skull before?”

  “No way that’s from a bird,” Ryoko said. “That thing is huge!”

  Tla’lli laughed. “That’s because it’s a phoenix skull.”