Hello and Happy Tuesday. My cancer is back and has spread to both lungs, so I am struggling a little. Tomorrow I am having the port back in and on Thursday I start chemo again. I REFUSE to just give up, so my goal for 2024 is to finish The Storm King. It is a fantasy romance about a woman from our time (a cancer survivor who as a teen wrote fantasy romance. Not me). What happens when she is transported from modern day Midwestern America to the very fantasy world she created? The teenaged prince she invented is real, but he’s not a teenager any more and he’s bent on conquering his enemies and punishing them for what they did to him when he was a teenager. Too bad our transplanted heroine is one of those enemies.

So to keep myself on track and get this story finished I plan to post a chapter or a portion of a chapter on Tuesdays. This has not been edited, so you may find some goofs and typos. Please excuse them and enjoy!

The Storm King

_{copyright Maddy Barone 2024}

Chapter One

She was so close. After way too many years, she was almost done with school. Ashley let out a breath and closed her laptop before looking across the table at her best friend and roommate. “Maya, I am finally going to get my degree.”   

The sound of the coffee grinder at the other end of the coffee shop almost drowned out her words, but Maya looked over the top of her own laptop and smiled. “Yeah, you are. It’s been a long, hard road, but you are almost there, and you’ve fought like heck for it.” She gave Ashley a big grin. “After everything you’ve gone through, you deserve it.”

Tears stung Ashley’s eyes. It had been a long, hard road. She hadn’t graduated from high school until she was nineteen, hadn’t started university until she was twenty, and now would be getting her B.A. at twenty-five. At the same age, Maya was working on her doctorate.

“I’m a little old to be getting my first degree.”

Her best friend sniffed. “Ashley, you’re not old. There’s a woman in one of my classes who must be pushing sixty. I think you are amazing. Consider what you went through. A lot of people would never have gotten this far.”

Ashley glanced away, pretending to check out the coffee shop. She didn’t want to think about what she went through. Keeping up with schoolwork after being diagnosed with ALL—Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia—at fifteen had been impossible. Her normal had gone from giggling with Maya about nail polish, hairstyles, and boys to chemotherapy infusions, baldness, and bone-crushing pain. Then after a year in remission, it came back, and the treatment started all over again.

Maya pointed a finger at her, its perfectly rounded nail painted a glaring purple. “I know what you are thinking. But that is done. You beat cancer. Twice. And you’ve been cancer free for over five years. You look great.”

Ashley snorted. She looked better than she had five years ago. The weight she’d lost during her fight with leukemia was back. Sadly, it had all taken up residence in her midsection. She glanced down at her belly, mostly hidden below the table, with a sigh. At her 5-3 height, she was not exactly built like a model, and although her legs were long and slim her torso was barrel-shaped. An overweight apple, that was her.

Maya, on the other hand, was a tall blonde with sky-blue eyes and a slender, hourglass figure. Some people looked at her and saw only a pretty face and perfect figure, but she was more than that. Maya was brilliant. She was getting a Ph.D. in chemistry. Dummies didn’t get doctorates in chemistry.

Ashley sighed. Maya was beautiful enough to be a model and brilliant besides. If she wasn’t the best friend ever, Ashley would have hated her. But at fifteen, when most girls spent an hour every morning getting their hair ready for school, Ashley’s hair had fallen out in clumps from chemo. Maya had shaved her beautiful blond hair off in a show of solidarity. Best. Friend. Ever, Ashley told herself now, wrapping a lock of hair around her finger

“See?” Maya pointed at Ashley again. “Your hair is back, and it’s thicker than before. Glossy and shiny like polished walnut.”

Ashley flicked the lock of hair back over her shoulder. Her hair was medium brown, boring brown, and she usually wore it in a high ponytail that brushed her back a few inches below her shoulders. She lifted an eyebrow at her best friend. “Polished walnut?” she scoffed. “What am I? A sideboard?”

 Maya tilted her head consideringly. “No, more of a side table. A Victorian side table, all elegant curves and shiny polished carvings. You know.”

Ashley blew a raspberry. “Short and squat?”

Maya gave her a chiding look and closed her laptop. “You are pretty, and strong, and intelligent, and about to earn your bachelor’s degree. Ready for that last final?”  

“Yep.” Ashley unplugged her laptop, wrapped the cord around it, and shoved it into her backpack. A couple of history textbooks followed. She slugged back the dregs of her coffee and stood, pulling the bag over her arms and settling the familiar weight on her back. “You walking back to campus?”

“Yeah.” Maya also packed her laptop away. “I need to get back to the lab. I’ll walk with you as far as the fountain in the quadrangle.”

The two women left the coffee shop and walked the five blocks to campus. Spring in the Midwest was pretty. It sucked for people who had allergies, but luckily, neither of them did. Lawns were green, the sky was blue, the air was warm and sweetly scented from flowering bushes and trees that lined the boulevards. Ashley loved spring. She loved seeing the world come back to life after a long, cold winter. She let the scents of spring soothe her senses as their walk took them past a row of frat houses.

“Hmph. It is finals week, but the frat boys are on full display,” grumbled Maya. “And I do mean on full display.”

That was another of Ashley’s favorite parts of spring. She found a certain guilty pleasure in viewing the college boys on ‘full display’, as Maya put it, with sweat gleaming on their chests as they tossed a football back and forth

“They’re not on full display,” Ashley protested innocently. “They’re wearing shorts.”

Ashley tried to be discreet while ogling the young men playing touch football in their front yards. Of course Maya noticed. She made a choking noise. Or maybe it was a snort.

 “Hey,” Ashley said defensively. “I have some catching up to do when it comes to men.”

Maya smirked. “You like the eye candy?”

Ashley opened her eyes exaggeratedly wide. “Don’t you?”

Maya flicked a dismissive glance at the men. “I bet their IQs are smaller than the circumference of their thighs.”

“Ouch.”

“Besides, they’re too young.”

Ashley sniffed. “I’m only looking.”

“But you like them young, don’t you? I remember that fanfic you used to write.”

Ashley covered her face with one hand. “Honestly, do you have to bring that up? I was a teenager. Of course, my heroes were young. Back then I thought twenty-five was middle-aged.”

Maya laughed. “I’m just teasing. It was good. You always had the best stories on that fanfic site. Your imagination is incredible.”

It was her imagination that had gotten her through the long hours of chemo and hospital stays. She’d made up stories of warrior princes who loved their brides with fierce tenderness and knights in shining armor who rescued captive princesses. It kept her mind in a better place. But that was a long time ago. Nowadays she was too busy with school to make up stories. She waved a dismissive hand.

“No, really,” Maya insisted. “You made up entire worlds and cultures. Remember that one about the desert prince of Erabir who’d been captured and made a slave to his enemies the Thessians, and how the daughter of the Thessian governor helped him escape? It was good. I wish you had finished it.”

Ashley remembered that story fondly. It had been a favorite, but Maya was right: she hadn’t finished it. That was when the bone marrow transplant had taken over her life. Then, when she’d felt better, she’d devoted herself to catching up with schoolwork. “Maybe I’ll get back to that someday.” Remembering how the teenaged desert prince forced into slavery had sworn to love his rescuer forever made her smile. “I really did like Jerriel and Valdis.”

“Oh, yeah.” Maya fanned herself. “When the girl snuck Prince Jerriel out of town so he could get back home and she gave him her pearl necklace to remember her by? And he promised to come back and make her his princess? Swoon worthy. It only needed some hot sex to be perfect.”

Ashley touched the teardrop pearl pendant suspended from a gold chain around her neck. It had been a present from her mom and dad on her sixteenth birthday. She’d used it as a model for the one Valdis had given Jerriel in the story.

“Hot sex? Jerriel was only fourteen when he was captured and only sixteen when Valdis set him free,” she protested. “And they kissed good-bye.”

Maya flicked a dismissive finger. “You really ought to finish it. Make them older, like over eighteen. Then open the bedroom door and shine the spotlight on the bed.”

Ashley cleared her throat. “Maybe Jerriel won’t be able to wait until they get to the bed.”

“Whoo-hoo! I like it!” Maya crowed. “Now you’re talking! You have to finish that story. You’re a good writer. It makes me wonder why you decided to go for a history degree instead of creative writing.”

“Because what kind of job would I get with that degree? Besides, a history degree is more flexible. I am going on to get my master’s in library science.”

Maya tossed her a grin. “At least then you won’t be telling me about every siege in medieval history.”

Ashley stuck her tongue out. “Siege warfare is fascinating. You loved every minute of listening to me practice for my senior thesis.”

Maya made a gagging sound. Ashley laughed, too excited at the idea of being done with her undergraduate degree to be offended by the teasing.

They crossed into campus and walked along the concrete path that led to the Quadrangle near the north side of the center of campus. Ahead was the fountain, set in a sunken area dotted with benches currently filled with students taking a break between classes and finals.

Ashley recognized the four girls sitting on the edge of the fountain because they were in some of her history classes. Alex, Terri, Shelley, and Miriam were all involved in some medieval recreation group and always had interesting comments and questions in class. They were tossing coins into the fountain and laughing. School superstition said the fountain was magic and if you dropped a penny into it before a final you would get a better grade. Ashley had studied hard and felt good about her knowledge, but she dug her wallet out of her backpack and found a couple of coins.

“Seriously?” huffed Maya, following her to the rim of the fountain.

“Shut up. What can it hurt?” Ashley smiled at the four girls who shifted to make room at the fountain before sticking her chin out at Maya. “Besides, the money goes to Cancer-Free Kids. It’s a great charity.”

“Well, at least make a wish.”

“Fine, bossy lady.” Ashley closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face contrasting with the cool spray of water. “I wish for a good grade and a great future.”

“And love,” Maya interjected.

She gave her best friend a sidelong glare. “And I want to meet Prince Jerriel of Erabir and live happily ever after.”

She tossed the coins in and turned to Maya. “Happy?”

“You should have wished a Jerriel for me too.”

“You have a wallet. Make your own wish.” She hoisted her backpack further up her shoulder. “See you at home tonight?”

“Yeah, I’ll get ice cream and we’ll celebrate. Good luck!”

“Thanks. See you later.”

She’d barely begun turning to go to her very last final exam when someone bumped into her so hard she stumbled and fell. Her elbow connected with the edge of the fountain in a sickening flash of pain. The sound of it hitting was a metallic clang, which made no sense, since the fountain wasn’t metal. She heard Maya scream her name. But as the pavement rushed toward her, everything flickered to black.

******

“Ash? Ash! Ashley Marie Johnson, you wake up right now!”

Aside from the pain radiating from her elbow, the first thing Ashley noticed was how cold the air was. The second thing was that the scent of flowering bushes was gone, replaced by a nauseating stench. She pushed herself off the pavement with her good arm. The pain radiating from her elbow made her cup her other hand around it. Crap! she moaned to herself. It isn’t broken, is it?

“My final,” she groaned. “I’m going to be late.”

“What final?” Maya said in an odd voice. Ashley had never heard that tone from her. Snark, happiness, excitement, sarcasm, and sadness, yes. But this flat numbness barely covering hysteria? Maya didn’t do hysteria. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” she said with a quaver rippling through the flatness of her tone.

Ashley looked up at that. Her heart stopped in confused shock. The fountain was gone. The fresh air and sunshine were gone. Maya crouched beside her on a packed earth surface between two brick walls spaced about four feet apart. The buildings were tall enough to block most of the sun. An alley? It was filthy. There was garbage strewn all about. When she swallowed it felt like a razorblade was stuck in her throat.

“Where are we?” she demanded wildly. “How did we get here? How long was I out?”

Maya’s lush mouth was set in a flat line. “We got here only a minute ago. It’s like the concrete at the fountain collapsed under us and we fell through to … here.” She waved a hand to indicate here. “Wherever this is. We landed out there.” Another hand wave indicated somewhere past the mouth of the alley. “Since I didn’t want to get my head cut off by one of those madmen with swords, I pulled you back here.”

Madmen. Swords? Ashley stared at Maya, mouth open. The thundering noise she’d had barely noticed registered now. Horses’ hooves pounding on stone, women’s screams, men’s shouts, and the clang of metal on metal all mixed into a terrible cacophony that made no sense. She got to her knees to move closer to the mouth of the alley, and that was when she noticed she wasn’t wearing the jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt she’d put on that morning. She was wearing a long dress, like something from medieval England. It was high-necked and tight-sleeved, made of ivory silk with green embroidery at the wrists. The skirt was voluminous. Maya was wearing a similar getup but in pale blue wool.

Ashley grabbed a fistful of skirt. “What is this?” she moaned.

“No clue,” said Maya. “We had cloth on our heads, too, like veils, but I left them out there.”

‘Out there’ was past the alley. It was too much to try to figure out right now. One thing at a time, Ashley told herself. First of all, figure out where you are.  She crawled a few feet, still holding her hurt elbow against her chest, toward the mouth of the alley. The ivory dress that tangled her legs must have been beautiful once, but now it was trashed. Another thing to worry about later.

It was much brighter here at the edge of the building, and louder too. Men on horses cantered by with swords out, screaming war cries. Other men, on foot, either tried to defend themselves or flee. Either way, they were cut down. As Ashley watched, one man had his head completely severed from his neck. The head, its short blond hair covered by blood, hit the pavement and bounced toward her.

She lunged backward so fast she nearly fell over. The horseman who cut off the head watched it roll and saw her. A savage grin contorted his face as he raised his bloody sword and kicked his horse into a run, right at the alley.

Maya’s clutching hand yanked her to her feet. “Run!” she screamed.

Ashley hoisted up her dirty skirt and ran as fast as she could the opposite way down the alley. That stupid dress did its best to trip her, but she powered through. The horseman was right behind them. The only thing that saved them was the narrowness of the alley, which barely allowed the horse to pass and did not give much room for the rider to swing his sword.

The two women burst out of the alley into another street, where another dozen men on horseback all suddenly focused on them. Well, almost all. A couple were in the middle of assaulting a pair of screaming women who had their dresses pushed up to their waists. Ashley slowed, panting and staring in shock. She had studied history for more than four years, learning about various wars. Rape and looting were part of war. She knew that. Intellectually, she knew that, but she’d never seen it, never had a front row seat to the atrocities.

Numbly, she stared at the horrifying scene. I’ve gone insane, she concluded. That was the only explanation for this. I must have cracked my head when I fell against the fountain and now I’m in the hospital having a nightmare.

A really intense nightmare, in technicolor and with surround sound. With Maya holding her by her good wrist and her bad elbow holding the skirt against her waist, she couldn’t pinch herself. But she wanted to. She really, really wanted this to be a dream.

“Don’t stop! Run!” screamed Maya beside her.

“Run where?” she screamed back.

Retreat was impossible. They couldn’t go back to the alley. Ashley could swear she felt the horse’s breath on the back of her neck. The horseman behind them screamed a war cry practically in her ear. She turned to look up at him. Maya moved so they were back-to-back. Ashley stood staring at the guy who had followed them down the alley, and Maya faced the others.

This is it, Ashley thought. After years of fighting leukemia, she was going to die by having her head lopped off with a sword.