Ireland, 1014 AD, was a turbulent time; but wing walkers Kate Phillips and Jen Fillmore discover that the fate of the island is tied to an island in another world-Gudsrika Isle in the world of Bigna. Caught in a world between medieval mercenaries and twenty-first century cell phones, Kate and Jen find their lives hurled into a sinister domain of deceit, treachery and tomblike dungeons. Brought to Gudsrika Isle to prevent the magic of the BOK, the sacred writings of Gudsrika, falling into the sorcery powers of wicked Queen Ionta, they must trust the supernatural power within their lockets to save them from being imprisoned for eternity by Rapio-the dark, mystical leader of Gudsrika. BOK, the first book in The Locket Chronicles, is a continuation of the lives of two characters, Kate and Jen, in the first series by Carole Bailey, The Morgan Chronicles.

The Locket Chronicles

BOK By Carole Bailey

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Carole Bailey
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-0940-0

Chapter One

The eagle circled lazily in the afternoon breeze above the waving golden grain that edged the north side of the gray concrete runway. Each updraft took the bird's giant wingspan higher in the blue sky, closer to the sun.

"Icarus," Kate whispered, remembering her college Greek mythology class. "Be careful my feathered friend. Don't get too close to its blazing surface and melt your wings."

Soaring upward on each thermal, the eagle momentarily froze and then glided downward, caught the next upward thermal and repeated his flight pattern. Fixed into a stare, Kate could not pull her attention away from the strength in the eagle's air voyage. She stretched out flatter atop the fabric covered frame of the Stearman airplane's wing to get a better view. Each movement of the powerful brown and white bird drew her further into the eagle's world filled with the tranquility of the moving wind around him. She knew the feeling. She knew the serenity. She knew the freedom.

Her thoughts jumped to another eagle—another time—a time she walked the beach along the shores of the Del Coronado Hotel in Southern California with her cousin Jen. The summer afternoon sun warmed the sand beneath their bare feet. Stopping to gaze at an eagle riding the ocean of air currents rising from the Pacific Ocean's white capped waves, their future was in flux. College was behind them and the world was open to them.

"Kate," Jen said. "I know we can do it. It will be fun. How many women wing walkers do you think there are?"

Kate shrugged in fake mockery. "As many as angels that dance on the head of a pin?" she grinned.

Jen ignored her playful remark. Instead, she pointed toward the grace of the eagle, floating on the air column rising from the sea. "How many people get to soar like an eagle, free atop the wings of a Stearman with the wind pushing at your face?"

"As many as elves that soar on the back of reindeer with Santa on Christmas Eve?" Kate's smile broadened across her face.

Jen picked up a flat stone and skipped it in the receding wave. Throwing her arms out, she spun around like a top.

"Kate! Can you just imagine the wonderful feeling of being up with the birds—unencumbered?"

A vivid video played in Kate's head of the air show they had watched earlier in the day. Seeing the graceful movements of the women daredevils dance on the wings of their Stearman, thrilling the crowd below, brought a glow to Jen's face that Kate had never seen before. Kate could feel something was happening to Jen, it was just a matter of time before Jen let her in on the radiance that smoldered inside her.

"My guess is you are about to tell me," Kate smiled. At times like this Kate let Jen do the talking. To Kate, Jen was an elf who danced with the angels all the time.

"We can be Team Cousin." Jen laughed at the team name she had just thought up. She too had flashes of the dazzling fearlessness of the wing walkers, free on the wings and dancing to their own beat. The thought excited her sense of purpose. "It is what I ... we have trained to do. It is what we are meant to do." Arms outstretched, she twirled in a circle around Kate. "It's our destiny."

"Are you crazy, cousin?" Kate asked following Jen's circular movements with her own, minus her arms out. "We fly airplanes. You know, inside—cockpit—controls. We don't get on the wings and walk around on them."

The eagle caught another thermal and, wings stretched to their fullest, rose again toward the setting sun. His silhouette radiated a fiery glow.

Jen stopped mid-twirl. Adrenaline pumped wildly inside her with the idea of being free outside the cockpit—flying arms stretched out like the eagle's wings. Her eyes squinted in search for her feathered friend.

"Ok, you fly—I'll dance and sing on the wings," she said. "Perhaps it is why I spent all those years in gymnastics."

Kate laughed. "All those years dancing on the balance beam gave you a college scholarship."

"That too," Jen smiled. "But now college is yesterday. We've got today, tomorrow and forever ahead of us." Her enthusiasm spilled into her words. "Now I can use the wing spar as my balance beam." She put one foot before the other like she was atop a balance beam.

Kate bumped Jen's shoulder with a slight nudge. Jen played along and tumbled to the ground as if she had fallen off the imaginary beam.

"Glad you were in the stands cheering me on all those years and not my spotter," Jen laughed.

Kate offered her hand to help Jen up but when Jen took it she pulled Kate down to the sand. The ebbing tide swirled around them and then flowed back to the sea. Sitting in the damp sand, they threw their heads back in laughter.

Catching her breath, Kate heaved a sigh. "What am I to do with my ever-so-young cousin?"

Jen's lips formed an elf-like, devious smile and said nothing.

The eagle broke from the ocean's air currents and flew directly at them. It briefly swooped closer and then, with one flap of its mighty wings, soared toward the setting sun.

"Licet volare si in tergo aquilae volat," Jen said.

"What?"

"Licet volare si in tergo aquilae volat," Jen repeated. "That is what you told me the morning we headed out to get our private pilot's licenses."

Kate smiled. "A man can fly if he wishes, if he rides on the back of an eagle."

Jen jumped up. "Come on, cousin." She pulled Kate up and jogged along the water's edge. Kate followed closely, although she knew, if Jen wanted, she could outrun her. Within one hundred yards Jen slowed to a fast walk.

Kate caught up with her. They walked a few steps in silence. Sea air refreshed their lungs. Waves lapped at their bare feet. Wet sand squished between their toes. They were two friends becoming a moving silhouette against the sun as it dipped further into the blue Pacific water.

Kate knew there was no arguing with Jen. Cousins, they were each other's best friend. Though they were born on the same day—Kate two hours ahead of Jen—they were as different as their mothers who were twin sisters. Jen, much like her mother—Colley Morgan Fillmore, was the adventurer, the one who took them to the edge of their personal envelope. Kate, like her mother—Chris Morgan Phillips, was the ponderer, the one who wanted to know every scenario before she ventured out. But in the end Kate usually gave into the scenarios Jen animatedly painted, not wanting to miss any voyage Jen wanted to hoist their sails and travel on.

A small heart-shaped rock caught Kate's eye just as a wave wash over it. When the wave receded, the white rock had disappeared. So easy to miss something beautiful, Kate thought. A blink of an eye—a receding wave—it's gone. She shook her head and smiled. "Okay, cousin. We don't want to miss your ... uh ... our destiny. Let's go talk to the wing walkers."

And that day they went back to talk to women who walked the wings of airplanes and let freedom fly around them. Their life direction was changed forever.

So here Kate was, years later, at an air show, waiting to take to the flying stage, with Jen gracefully performing her elegant gymnastics high above the crowd. Their destiny? Maybe. But maybe it was so Jen could show Kate where elves and angels danced with the wind in their faces.

Screeeech!

Kate's attention was brought back to the eagle above her.

With one long high pitched cry the eagle momentarily became a...