horses. It disintegrated their bodies straight to the bone. Suddenly, Indrid was hit on the side of his helmet. His grip on Apollo’s thick fur came loose, and he slid off of her back, landing hard on the ground, patched with grass and gravel. He could tell that he was hit by something that had been thrown at him. It didn’t have power behind it and bounced off of his helmet. And it didn’t feel like metal. When Indrid looked around, he saw a bloody femur lying nearby. Unable to remount, Apollo
Indrid again tracked all the way back to the beginning. “Now,” he said, “a room within a room, within a room.” He opened the first door and walked in to a smaller room. Then he opened the next door and walked through. Next, Indrid counted the points on the antlers of the deer. There were only thirty. He climbed up one floor and counted again, thirty-one. So he walked up five more floors to the level that would have the thirty-six-pointed deer. The hall led to a closed door with a stone pedestal
top of the plateau, Indrid Cole’s recent home was being invaded. Once again, there would be no more Capital of Men and, most likely, no more King. “General!” Melborne shouted from the tree line. Indrid was glad to hear his voice. The medical officer had survived. He laughed at the fact that a man with no combat training had survived the bloodbath. Indrid lay there out of breath, bleeding from his head, ears, and lips. “What do we do now?” Melborne asked. Indrid looked at the men
when one lacks experience, one must refer to second hand information—the documents and journals I’ve asked you to read hundreds of times. You may be a fine warrior, but your knowledge of history and political affairs is minimal.” Indrid ignored the comment and walked ahead of him. At the end of the hall there was an airy sound of a flute reverberating from Gretchen’s room. The door was open. On the opposite side of the hallway was a rack holding a rainbow of dresses. She paraded in and
since I let that beast come with us to The Ponds, Montague will make sure to keep you from seeing me,” Indrid said in a resentful tone. “No. My cousins would make sure of that.” Indrid stopped in the middle of the path. “Is that what you want?” Anna tilted her head. “Of course not! Are you serious?” she asked, half-frowning. His lack of rebuttal affirmed that he was. Indrid continued walking. “They won’t find out,” she said, following him. Indrid’s face became serious
“My lord! There! That is the woman we saw!” one of the guards shouted and pointed at the dark shape dancing between the elm trunks. “I remember her. I remember seeing her there through the mist!” Indrid and Anna looked horrified. Montague was sure they had seen the same woman in the bivouac. “What a fine day to celebrate,” the gangly woman said, smiling up at the clouded sky. She held her arms out, catching drops of the cold drizzle. The
ways to get to him; from underground. The trolls are my allies,” said Burton. “Trolls?” Anna asked. “Yes, trolls.” “I didn’t think that they were real.” “They are as real as those waterbirds you keep seeing. And all those old stories that you were told as a child about the monsters in the sky; they were also real. Our sky is occupied by an evil force,” Burton said. The news was a paradigm shift for Anna. What she thought she knew about the world was no longer true. The myths
a successful mission, liberating planet Naan from the Nekrum’s chokehold, Burton Lang bathed in relief. The slow pulse of death was of no concern. Sir Simon, the legendary Dark Knight, who’d sailed to the edge of the world, stood before him. “Indrid Cole didn’t make it. I thought you should know.” “Then, in a few moments, I’ll be thanking him for saving you,” said Burton. “I know who you are,” said Simon. “She told me all about you.” Burton started choking. His heart pounded harder
The most anticipated nine months had come to pass. It was just days before the new prince was expected to join the World of Men. In the early hours, Montague La-Rose returned to his chambers to find the Queen pacing anxiously around his desk, reading a manuscript. Parchments were scattered across the room. Olivia held up a sheet, discolored and burnt around the corners. “This document says that the following enchantment is meant to protect one’s mind from psychic attack,” she huffed, then