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eBook Category: Fantasy
eBook Description: In this third adventure, the Emerald Eyes wizards and talking birds find themselves in a land a millennium back in time. Xentrix the dragon is with them and they rescue a flying girl about to be sacrificed on a pyre in front of a pyramid. She is Kondel a Pyram, a humanoid creature with wings who live inside magical pyramids. The enemy in this world are ancient human priests determined to eliminate all flying creatures from their land. Birds have already disappeared and it appears that Kondel is the last of her species left. But is she? Cindy, Sylvia and the others set out to find the truth about the evil priests and search for Kondel's kind. Will their magical powers be enough to overwhelm the priests who appear immortal with the ability to travel through time? And why are the tiny birds so important in this latest quest? All will be revealed in this third story of the Emerald Eyes trilogy. Remember, it is a complete story in its own right and can be read even if you have not followed the earlier Emerald Eyes adventures.

eBook Publisher: Eloka Systems
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2004

This eBook is part of the following series:

• Ross Richdale's Emerald Eyes Series

10 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [221 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [189 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [194 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [717 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [214 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [220 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [232 KB] , hiebook (KML) [553 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [323 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [176 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [223 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [269 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [293 KB]
Words: 64900
Reading time: 185-259 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Even before she opened her eyes Tulco realized something was different. It was too dark. Usually the floodlights from the gas station forecourt filtered in through the curtains of her bedroom. Everything smelled wrong. There was an aroma of canvas, grass and wood smoke.

"Mom!" she cried.

Her feet hit the carpet while she was still only half-awake. But it wasn't carpet but cold grass that tickled her bare feet. There was something else. She found herself fully dressed in gray sweater and jeans.

"Oh hell," she muttered and felt around the dark enclosure.

Her fingers found the flashlight she always had by her bed. Perhaps it was one of those vivid dreams she always had before something important. Today it was a two-hour state exam at school.

No, the darkness, smell and grass were still there!

Tulco switched the flashlight on and saw canvas an arm's length above her head. She was inside a tent. Before she had time to do anything else, the flap opened and a woman walked in.

"Cindy!" Tulco gasped. "We're back though the void aren't we?"

Cindy nodded. "Yes."

Tulco sat back down on her bed and discovered it wasn't a bed but only a sleeping bag. "Who's here?"

"Me," said another familiar voice. Cindy's twin Sylvia pulled the flap further back and smiled at her.

"And us," a high-pitched voice squeaked.

Two yellow and brown birds were perched on Sylvia's shoulder. Tulco grinned. "Muftin and Maxine," she said. "I knew you two couldn't stay away from any trouble." She swung the flashlight around so the twins were bathed in its beam. "There's trouble, I guess."

"We guess," Sylvia replied. She sat on the sleeping bag. "Xentrix never told us."

"He's here?" For the first time, Tulco's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Was," Cindy replied. "He flew out an hour ago on some patrol. He said that he'd explain everything when he returned."

Xentrix was a dragon who had helped during their previous adventures together. He had not, for obvious reasons accompanied them to Earth where the three led an ordinary life away from the magical lands of their birth.

Tulco frowned. "And me. What am I?"

Cindy didn't laugh at the seemly silly question. "Let's look," she said.

Tulco heaved and turned the flashlight back on herself.

"What do you reckon, Sylvia?" Cindy said. "Are those wrinkles across her face and that gray streak in her hair..."

"Cindy!" Tulco screamed. "It's no joke."

Sylvia laughed. "You look like someone about to have her seventeenth birthday. You aren't that chubby thirteen year old we met last year."

When they'd met Tulco a year earlier, she was a thirteen-year-old youngster who was later magically changed into a woman in her twenties, the twins' age. On their return to the non-magical Earth, she reverted to a high school age.

"But I'm not your age?"

"No," Sylvia replied in a more serious voice. "There's something else, too."

The two birds flew down onto Tulco's lap. One looked up with her head cocked sideways. Maxine squeaked. "We can talk so there must be magic in this place," Maxine squeaked.

"You could talk on Earth," Cindy whispered. "That was your choice, remember. That doesn't prove anything."

"I told her that," the other bird cut in, "But would you take any notice of me? Oh no."

"Hush up, Muftin," Cindy said. "Will you see if your magic has returned, Tulco?"

The teenager nodded. On Earth, there was no magic. She was an ordinary teenager but here... She gulped and tried to form a vision of something to change, perhaps make the tent light up. However, nothing happened.

"Oh hell," Tulco said. "Are Gikre and Simon here?" Gikre was a dwarf who raised her as a child and shared their previous adventures and Simon was Sylvia's boyfriend.

"No. I guess Gikre's home with your mom. I've no idea why Simon was left behind."

Tulco rolled her eyes. "So how long have you two been here?"

"A few hours, the same as you," Cindy said. "We were in another tent. Xentrix woke us an hour ago but we let you sleep."

"Thanks." Tulco's voice sounded sarcastic.

"Well nothing's happened," Sylvia said. "It's not dawn yet. Xentrix said it was safe to light a fire and we've just done that. We've got supplies..."

"There's always supplies," Tulco grumbled. She saw the others gazing at her. "Okay," she relented. "I know it's not your fault. It's just that all I really wanted was to be an ordinary Earth girl. Mom and Gikre are wonderful, school's great and I have friends..."

"And we aren't?" Sylvia whispered.

"Oh Sylvia, of course you are but, you know..." Tulco pouted.

"The boys will still be there when we get back," Cindy said

Tulco flushed a bright red, grunted and felt in her pocket for her tiny blue mobile phone. It wasn't there. "Oh well, it wouldn't have worked here anyway."

"Nothing modern is here," Cindy said. "Only the flashlight and our clothes."

Tulco nodded. She found a pair of socks and strong leather boots by her bed. They fitted perfectly but that was to be expected. She put them on and walked outside.

Sylvia's fire flickered in the darkness and white smoke blew away from them in a slight breeze. The sky overhead was dark, it was cool but not cold and small insects flew in the firelight. There appeared to be just grass that had been flattened around the camp but nothing could be seen beyond the circle of light.

"Xentrix said not to walk too far from the camp," Cindy said.

"We're in the open," Tulco replied. "This fire will be seen from miles away. Is it safe?"

"Xentrix reckoned so and you know how cautious he is?"

"I guess. How long is it until dawn?"

"We've no idea," Sylvia replied. "My watch says it's six in the morning at home but that's no help."