Novels by Endeavour

The water was clear and Lisa had no trouble seeing the cave opening just ahead. Before swimming through the opening, she took a quick look behind her and saw Nestie just behind her. Lisa gave Nestie a quick wave and shot through the opening of the cave with broad strokes of her arms and legs. Lisa swam to the surface and was quickly amazed at what she saw. The sun shining through the opening of the grotto made the water luminous, turning it from emerald to a glowing neon. She looked at her hands from under the water and saw the fine bubbles on her skin turning her hands into silver. She looked up at the ceiling and saw the ripples in the water reflected on the high dome of the grotto, giving the cavern an otherworldly appearance. The stalactites hanging from the ceiling glinted in the green light and looked like numerous fingers reaching for the water below. Nestie’s head bobbed out of the water and he quickly wiped the water from his face with his hands. Lisa watched his friend’s re

The boat glided over the water, leaving ripples in its wake. The boatman jumped aboard and started the engine, steering the boat towards one of the many islets that dotted the sea. Nestie turned his head and looked at the cliff that they had just descended. He swallowed hard before saying to Lisa. “I can’t believe we descended from that,” he said. “Are we going back the same way?” Lisa smiled as she saw the expression on Nestie’s face. Her friend took the front seat on the boat while she sat behind him. “Do you want to?” Lisa asked. “I don’t know if I can make it,” Nestie replied. Then, he added. “Maybe I can, but you will have to pull me up.” Lisa laughed at Nestie and pinched his back. “Ow! What was that for?” asked Nestie, rubbing his back which Lisa had just pinched. “For being so adorable!” Lisa answered. “Look ahead of you and enjoy the scenery. Don’t you think the islets and the rock formations look stunning?” Nestie loo

Upon alighting from the tricycle, Nestie saw the ocean and the tall cliffs that surrounded a wide beach. They were a short distance from the sandy coast where several boats were docked. Out on the sea were numerous islets that rose from the water like the backs of turtles or upturned boats. Several of the islands were connected to each other like a pearl necklace, the sea between them becoming labyrinthine for boats to navigate through. Fortunately, the islets also served a purpose in protecting the moored boats on the small beach where Lisa and Nestie were standing as well as the inner islets in the archipelago from the strong currents and big waves coming from the open ocean. “Do you like what you’re seeing so far, Nestie?” asked Lisa who had just paid the tricycle driver and stood beside Nestie to admire the scenery. “I’ve seen so many coasts in my life, but this is still breathtaking!” remarked Nestie, drinking in the scene before him. They were on top of a cliff

Lisa woke up from the sound of birds outside the window. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the room flooded with golden light. She stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes before sitting up in bed. It looked like it was going to be a good day, she thought as she looked around the brightly-lit room. Celie was still sleeping soundly so Lisa silently got off her bed and prepared to take her morning shower. It was good that Celie was able to sleep without any incident. Her cousin needed to have a good night’s rest if she were to look great for her birthday party. After taking her shower and putting on her usual comfortable clothes of jeans and a cotton shirt, Lisa noiselessly left the room. She then walked to Nestie’s room and knocked on the door. “Come in, Lisa,” came Nestie’s voice and Lisa twisted the door knob. “How was your sleep last night, Nes?” asked Lisa. Nestie had already changed and was combing his hair. “Very well. Thank you,” replied Nestie.

Lisa lay in bed with her blankets to her neck. Celie was right. It was a cold night. Lisa, however, could not figure out why Celie insisted on having the windows open despite the cold. Her cousin’s actions had been a bit erratic and illogical these past days, thought Lisa. She knew that her cousin tended to be unpredictable at times even when they were young. Back then, it could just be attributed to their youth; Lisa, herself, remembered doing some wild things with Celie. However, they were now grown women and very much in control of their actions. Lisa could understand Celie’s predicament of having to live under public scrutiny and always acting as a model figure for her father’s citizens, but Celie’s sudden disappearances and escape from her security detail were quite irresponsible. There was a quick snort coming from Celie’s bed and Celie moved restlessly to one side. Lisa looked at her cousin and wondered where she had gone after her photo shoot at the Home for the Elde

“Is that you, Lisa love?” came Celie’s drowsy voice as Lisa entered the guest room. The lights were off and Lisa could only tell from the dark shape over the bed that her cousin was already lying down as if ready to sleep. “Yes, Celie,” said Lisa, looking at her cousin. “It seems too early for you to be sleeping. Would you mind if I turn on the lights?” Lisa switched on the lights and saw that her cousin was in bed with her blankets drawn up to her neck. There was a soft moan from Celie. “Oh, sorry. Is the light too bright?” asked Lisa. “N-no,” came Celie’s reply. “Keep the lights on.” Lisa was about to walk towards her bed when she noticed Celie’s face. Celie’s face was ashen and her lips were pale. “You look pale, Celie. Are you sick?” asked Lisa worriedly. “No. I’m alright, Lisa. Don’t mind me. I just feel tired, that’s all,” came Celie’s reply. “Sorry to hear that,” said Lisa. She nevertheless went towards Celie and

The director placed the back of his hand over his forehead and closed his eyes. He seemed that he was going to faint, but he quickly dropped his hand after a moment and stared at the scene before him. The star dancer was able to sit on the floor, but she was still crying and holding on to her ankle while the other dancers crowded over her. The singer was kneeling before the dancer with his hands clasped tightly together as if praying that everything would be alright.“Do you think you can dance tomorrow?” the director asked the dancer.The dancer tried to stand up with the help of her fellow dancers, but when she tried putting some weight on her injured leg, she gasped and fell on a heap. The dancers gasped and crowded over the injured dancer.“Obviously, not!” said the director. “Quickly get her to the healer and pray that her injuries would heal soon.” Then, to himself, “Or pray that you’d dance at least half as

It was early afternoon when the three men arrived in the center of Dagos. Gent held the reins up and the horses pulling the carriage stopped by the entrance of an imposing wooden building. The door of the carriage opened and a servant garbed in the green garments of local peasants came out. He bowed low while keeping the carriage door open for his master. After a few moments, a man in bright red and purple clothes descended from the carriage.Lankko appeared regal in his red shirt and crown of glorious blonde hair. The heavy gold chains around his neck as well as the sparkling jewels on his fingers completed his attire. He played the part of a wealthy merchant quite well and walked with his chin high, barely looking at the ground. At first, he made a slight tumble upon stubbing his foot on a protruding rock, but Enzir and Gent were quick to steady him.“Thank you,” said Lankko to his servants as he recovered his elegant pose. Then, he wiggled his arms to re

There was a coded knock on the door and Lankko peeked through a hidden peep hole before removing the latch. Lankko insisted on the additional precaution, knowing that it would be very dangerous for his master as well as himself should they be discovered by the Imperial soldiers hiding in the cabin.Lankko saw that it was Gent standing at the door and he was holding several woven baskets. He appeared to be alone. Lankko opened the door to let his cousin in and immediately closed it behind him.“Are you sure no one followed you,” asked Lankko as the metal latches clicked, effectively locking the door. Then, Lankko slipped a thick wooden bar across the door.Gent nodded at Lankko. He then walked towards the kitchen where he placed the woven baskets on the table. Then, he methodically removed the contents of the baskets one-by-one, revealing them to be different food items for Lankko and Enzir. Lankko followed his cousin to the kitchen and helped h

Enzir remembered the Imperial soldiers whom they fought at Remuel’s den. Those he hit with his energy bolts collapsed to the ground and turned into dust as smoke rose to the air. He also remembered how those whom he thought to have been stunned and lay unconscious would suddenly stand up when an Imperial officer held up a glowing necklace in his hand.Enzir was filled with concern as he realized the forces that he would be up to if he joined the resistance to topple down Terdu’s regime. “What can we do then, Lankko?”“I have to admit that I don’t know, Jad Enzir. Terdu has become too powerful that I don’t even know if it is too late to resist him,” answered Lankko.“You mentioned that the people could rise against him. Why don’t they?” asked Enzir.“As I said, Jad Enzir, people are afraid. They need a leader to rally them into action like Rodan did during the time of Sukram, however&n

“If those healing stones really do work, I think it’s bad that there aren’t many of them left,” remarked Enzir.Lankko nodded. “I don’t know if you still remember, Jad Enzir, but we used to have a lot of sun stones at the fortress. You place them under the sun during the day and they will shine at night when activated, replacing the need to burn candles or oil.” Lankko’s face brightened as he remembered how it was when the use of magical artifacts was ubiquitous.“I remember that. I had a lot of those in my bedroom,” said Enzir.“When Terdu banned the practice of magic, I think we lost a lot of our simple joys and freedoms,” said Lankko, hanging his head.“Why did he ban magic in the first place, Lankko?” asked Enzir.“You really don’t know, Jad Enzir?” asked Lankko, scratching his bald head. “I thought your teachers in magic history covered

After serving breakfast and washing the dishes, Lankko decided to go to work in extracting energy from an old healing stone that he was able to get his hands on. It was an old magical artifact that he got from his cousin who also managed to get it from an old friend. According to Gent, the stone worked by rubbing it vigorously between the user’s palms and placed over the painful area. The stone would produce enough heat to warm the area it was applied on and helped in the healing process. Lankko that there was not enough energy in the healing stone to extract but still went on the laborious process of finding out how it worked and develop a method for extracting its power. After several tries, Lankko was finally able to discover that the stone drew energy from the sun and placed it outside. He then directed several mirrors towards it before dropping the stone inside a glass vessel filled with a mixture of salts and minerals. Only then did the stone start to create bubbles that

Their driver stopped the car upon reaching an intersection and waited for the cars in front to move. They were near the center of the city and the traffic had become quite heavy even at that late hour.“How are you feeling now, Dr. Garcia?” asked Red, his handsome face slightly lit by the streetlamps outside. He moved closer to Ella to see her more clearly.Ella could almost feel Red’s warm breath as he leaned his body closer to him. She was glad to have left her handbag between them which acted as barrier between her and the attractive man beside her. She felt uncomfortable and wanted to look away, but Red’s intense gaze held her and she felt that she could not move. Sensing that her body was only reacting to Red’s magnetic personality, Ella blinked her eyes and broke her connection with him. She managed to look in front of her at the translucent privacy screen through which she could barely see the outline of the driver and the red tail ligh

The strong headlights of the black car illuminated the dark alley where Ella found herself trapped. She had not gone to that part of the city before and in her haste to get away from her pursuers, made the wrong decision to enter the narrow alley, only to find herself cornered. She raised her hand over her face to lessen the glare of the headlights as she stood helplessly at the end of the alley.In a moment, she heard the door of the black car open and a man got out. Ella could not see well because of the powerful beams of the car, but she could discern from the man’s movements that he adjusted his coat before slamming the door shut. He then walked in front of the car as he approached her.Ella got hold of her pepper spray and readied to defend herself. As the man walked closer, she tried to see his face but the light coming from behind him meant that his face was darkened.“Stay away from me!” shouted Ella. “What do you want?”The

Ella glanced behind her and saw that the two men who had stood beside her at the intersection were walking purposely towards her. She had already turned a few corners and it would be highly improbable that the men were following the same route. Ella felt the reassuring presence of the pepper spray inside her pocket and decided to quicken her pace. She jogged some distance and turned another corner, hoping that her pursuers would quit following her. After walking a short distance, she hazarded another look behind her and saw that the two men were back. They too had quickened their pace and from the hunch of their shoulders and their purposeful steps, Ella knew that they were indeed following her. She felt her pulse quicken and decided to jog the next several meters.Up ahead, Ella saw two people who seemed to be talking to each other under the streetlamp. She felt some comfort seeing other people on the street. It was short-lived, however, as she saw them stand up straight to lo

Ella passed under a streetlamp and was temporarily enveloped with yellow light. She walked with a steady pace, her footsteps hitting the pavement becoming the only sound in the night apart from the soft rustling of the leaves from the tree branches overhead. After a while, she saw the walking green man of the pedestrian traffic light ahead and walked briskly, hoping to cross the street before the light changed. She was a few steps away when she heard a click and the pedestrian light changed to red. The stationary red man replaced his dynamic predecessor, instructing similar bipeds on the sidewalk to remain still. Luminous numbers on the LED display underneath turned red as well and started counting down the seconds remaining before pedestrians were allowed to cross the street.Slightly disappointed, Ella slowed down before completely halting her steps. She had hardly stopped before the curb when a car came hurtling past, its horn blaring and its headlights full. It disappeared

Having made her decision, Ella was able to take off the burden of thinking about Red and his proposal to have dinner with her that night. She had a lot of work to do. There were samples to prepare, experiments to run, and reports to file. The least that she needed were distractions to prevent her from accomplishing everything that she had planned to do that day. Nancy and Matt had been nice enough not to bring up the topic of Red inviting her to dinner or the grant that Wyvern Minerals had hinted on giving. Ella knew that research grants had been more difficult to find lately and sponsors tend to be more selective in choosing those to which they would provide funding. Still, Ella believed in equal opportunities for everyone and she would not commit herself to activities that she considered unprofessional or unethical just so she could get what she wanted.The day was over quickly and Ella massaged her nape as she started preparing the last batch of samples. She looked at the cl

“What do you mean you’re not going?” asked Nancy once she had recovered from the shock. Matt bent his head to the side and acted like he was hammering himself with his fist.“Exactly what I said,” replied Ella. “I’m not going to dinner with him tonight.” She said it too plainly and without emotion that made it even harder for Nancy to comprehend what she was saying.“I don’t understand, Ella. He’s an extremely wealthy man and definitely not lacking in the looks department. What more do you want?” asked Nancy. She could not reconcile Ella’s objection to going to dinner with probably the country’s most eligible bachelor.“Goodbye, multimillion research grant!” Matt raised his hands as if in surrender, but did not look at his colleagues.“What is it, Elle? Tell me what’s bothering you,” said Nancy, a look of concern on her face.“Nothing&rsquo