After a moment, the Duke nodded. “I fear so.”
Aravon whistled, and Colborn's head snapped around. “Ride ahead,” Aravon told him. “Find the camp and report back.”
Colborn dug his heels into his horse's ribs and broke into a gallop. He disappeared around a bend in the path, hidden by the thick forest. With every second he didn't return, Aravon's worry grew. Colborn still hadn't returned by the time they rode out of the forest and onto the broad expanse of cleared ground in front of a rocky hill.
A sea of tents and makeshift wooden shelters greeted them. Mud-covered lanes and wagon tracks ran between the structures in a haphazard layout. The dwellings radiated outward from the gaping hole carved into the side of the hill. At the entrance to the camp, someone had pounded a wooden post into the ground and hung a sign bearing the words “Silver Break Mine” painted in broad, crude letters.
Beside the road stood three wagons—one empty and two loaded high with ore that glinted in the bright sunlight. A small pile of golden nuggets lay heaped on the ground—a king's ransom, yet appearing as if they had been discarded there.
The question nagged at Aravon. Where are the people?
Silence met his listening ears, broken only by the creak of rope or the occasional flap of tent cloth.
Worry and confusion filled Colborn's eyes as he rode back through the silent camp toward their party. “Abandoned,” he signed.
Aravon turned to Duke Dyrund. “Where are the miners?”
The Duke shook his head. “They should be here.” He gestured to the tents. “Their wives and children, too. Pets, guard dogs, draft animals.”
Nothing moved or lived in the camp.
“Search the place,” Aravon instructed. He sent Noll and Zaharis into the mine while the rest of them turned over the camp searching for any sign of the miners or their families.
With every passing minute, the sickening dread within Aravon grew.
“Nothing,” Colborn reported after fifteen minutes.
Zaharis and Noll told the same tale. “Tools and carts left in neat rows inside the mine, as if the miners had just finished their shifts.”
Aravon had found pots and pans abandoned over now-silent fires. Beds were rumpled and rolls unraveled, clothes strewn about with the disregard of busy living.
Yet no trace of Silver Break's occupants remained.
“Blood?” he asked. “Signs of a struggle?”
Colborn shook his head.
“Tracks in and out of the camp?”
The Lieutenant's brow furrowed. “I'll look again.” He, Skathi, and Noll split up to search the perimeter of the camp for any sign of passage.
What could have happened? Aravon wondered. A hundred and fifty men, women, and children couldn't have disappeared from the face of Fehl without a trace.
Duke Dyrund grew more agitated. His horse, sensing its rider's mood, danced beneath him. Finally, the Duke dismounted and set about pacing the small camp as he waited for Colborn and the others to return.
Aravon couldn’t sit still; the question of what the fiery hell happened here plagued his mind too much to wait patiently. Leaping from his saddle, he strode around the camp, poking his head in the empty tents, prodding at pots hanging over cookfires long ago gone cold. Nothing he found gave any indication as to what had happened here. Not a single drop of blood, bootprint out of place, or scrap of torn cloth.
He strode to the mouth of the mine, but stopped as he caught sight of something lying on the ground beneath a rocky overhang. Crouching, he plucked up the object.
A book? The leather-bound volume lay face-down, opened to what seemed a random page. The parchment had been damaged by the morning dew, the charcoal etchings smudged and faded.
Yet, as Aravon flipped through the book, he found pages near the front that hadn’t been ruined. Someone had kept neat columns of numbers and letters, with notations made in the margins. The words meant nothing to him, but when he presented it to Duke Dyrund, the man seemed to recognize it.
“An overseer’s ledger.” The Duke frowned down at the book, turning past the damaged pages toward the back. “Keeping close tally on the mine’s daily production, with counts for…” He trailed off, his frown deepening and heavy lines furrowing his brow.
“Your Grace?” Aravon asked.
The Duke said nothing, simply stared down at the book in silence for long seconds. When he looked up, confusion filled his eyes. Without a word, he turned the book around to show Aravon.
The page he’d stopped on bore no notations, no tidy sums and signs. Instead, it bore line after line of scrawled words. The same words, written over and over.
“Why does it glow?”
Aravon narrowed his eyes. “Why does what glow?” He looked up at the Duke.
“I don’t know.” Duke Dyrund shook his head. “And without him here to ask…” He trailed off, a worried look in his eyes as he frowned down at the book again. “Whatever it is, it was important enough for the overseer to write it down.”
“That many times.” Aravon’s jaw clenched. Again, he looked around the camp, drank in the eerie silence, the utter absence of life in a place that had to have been a bustling hub of activity hours or days ago. A gust of wind sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.
He whirled at the sound of hoofbeats, but relaxed as he caught sight of Colborn riding back from the south.
The Lieutenant shook his head. “Nothing.”
Skathi and Noll appeared from east and west in that moment, and the worry that shone in their eyes mirrored Colborn’s.
“Not so much as a leaf or twig out of place, Captain,” Noll signed.
Ice ran in Aravon's blood. Where in the bloody hell had everyone disappeared to?
He turned to Duke Dyrund. “Orders, Your Grace?”
“We need to get back to Icespire,” the Duke said. His voice held a quiet urgency. “The Prince needs to know the fate of Silver Break Mine at once.” He closed the overseer’s ledger with its mysterious message and tucked it beneath his arm.
“We could send a message.” Aravon produced the bone whistle and the cloth bearing Lord Eidan’s scent and corresponding silver trinket. The Duke’s aide in Icespire served as the hub for the Enfield information network.
The Duke nodded. “Do it. Skyclaw carried word of the battle at Bjornstadt back to Icespire, so we’ll need Snarl to deliver it. But make certain Lord Eidan knows it's for the Prince's eyes only.” He dropped his voice to a low whisper. “There's only two ways the Eirdkilrs found out about this place. Either Ailmaer told them, or someone in Icespire did.” He shot a glance at Rangvaldr.
The Seiomenn shook his head. “Ailmaer may be a coward, but he's too greedy to give up the wealth of this mine for any reason.”
“Then there can only be one explanation,” the Duke said, his face growing pale. “There's a traitor in Icespire. Someone on the Prince's Council is spying for the Eirdkilrs.”
End of Book 1
----
The Silent Champions return in:
Battle for Peace (The Silent Champions Book 2)
A vast barbaric army is on the march. One hardened captain and his elite commandos are the kingdom’s last hope…
Captain Aravon fights to honor and avenge those who died under his command. Groomed for battle by his famous father, he’s proud to stand alongside his six special-ops officers against impossible odds. But as enemy forces surround his starving countrymen, a spy within his own ranks could turn Aravon’s mission into his final downfall.
Still scrambling to root out the traitor, he must recruit a rival warrior clan to join forces against the barbarian invaders. But when the infiltrator sabotages his plan of attack, the beleaguered captain fears his war-weary legionnaires will fall in another bloody massacre.
Outnumbered and under full assault, will Aravon taste vengeance or suffer crushing defeat?
Battle for Peace is the second book in the riveting Silent Champions military fantasy series. If you like
epic military action, sprawling battlefields, and hardened heroes, then you’ll love Andy Peloquin’s tactical warfare.
Buy Battle for Peace to witness a band of brothers bring down an army today!
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Pronunciation Guide
Eirdkilrs – EYERD-kill-urs
Hrolf Hrungnir – Rolf-RUNG-eer
Blodhundr – BLUED-hyoun-duhr
Oldrsjot – Odds-YOTE
Bjornstadt – BYOURN-stad
Ailmaer – Aye-MAR
Rangvaldr – WRONG-vald-uhr
Seiomenn – SIGH-men
Versthapp – VERST-hop
Eirik Throrsson – EYE-reek THRORZ-sohn
Hilmir – HEEL-meer
Enjoy More Series by Andy Peloquin
Plus, get backstory and insight into the epic world of Einan!
Queen of Thieves
They killed her family. They ripped apart her home. But to repay her debts, she'll have to sacrifice her innocence.
Robbed of everything she loves, Viola mourns the sudden loss of her mother. Now burdened with an impossible debt to the Night Guild, she’s forced to train as a cunning thief. Subjected to cruelty at every turn, the scrawny criminal apprentice vows to survive long enough to become the kingdom’s best.
Thrown together with unlikely allies, her burgeoning skills draw the attention of sadistic bullies and jealous rivals with dark intentions. But fueled by grief-filled rage, Viola won’t let anything distract her from preparing for The Guild’s most treacherous test.
In a cutthroat den of thieves, can Viola rise to power and outrun a brutal death?
Child of the Night Guild is the first book in the gripping Queen of Thieves epic fantasy series that’s not for the faint of heart. If you like grimdark battles, improbable heroines, and graphic scenes, then you’ll love Andy Peloquin’s unflinching coming-of-age tale.
Buy Child of the Night Guild for a pitch-black tale of thievery today!
Book 1: Child of the Night Guild
Book 2: Thief of the Night Guild
Book 3: Queen of the Night Guild
Hero of Darkness
The best assassin in the world doesn’t come cheap. Betraying him will cost your soul.
The Hunter is a name feared by all in Voramis. He is an outcast, driven by a cursed dagger with an unquenchable thirst for blood and death.
Yet he follows one simple code: kill those who truly deserve to die. His creed is put to the test when, deceived by a shadowy employer, he unknowingly slaughters an innocent man.
With the most powerful criminal organization in the city after his head, the Hunter must fight for his life and find a way to atone for his mistake. When his enemies harm the people under his protection, it will take much more than an army of criminals to stand in the way of his revenge.
If you love anti-heroes like the Punisher or Dexter in a breathtaking fantasy realm, then immerse yourself in Hero of Darkness today! Dive into an epic tale of one man’s struggle to survive in a world of magic, blood, and death.
Book 1: Darkblade Assassin
Book 2: Darkblade Outcast
Book 3: Darkblade Protector
Book 4: Darkblade Seeker
Book 5: Darkblade Slayer
Book 6: Darkblade Savior
Book 7: Darkblade Justice
Different, Not Damaged: A Short Story Collection
Heirs of Destiny
A kingdom of death. A war for power and profit. Young heroes caught in the crossfire.
Kodyn expected hardships along his journey to return a kidnapped girl to her father. Yet harsh deserts and cutthroat bandits prove far less lethal than the foes that await him in Shalandra, the City of the Dead.
In the shadows of golden spires carved from mountain stone, currents of corruption and vice run deep. Priests of the god of death rule with an iron fist, imposing a rigid caste system that elevates some to a life of privilege and condemns others to miserable squalor.
Together with Aisha, a fierce warrior from the north with the mystical ability to speak to the dead, Kodyn must survive the cesspool of high society deceit and betrayal.
Polite smiles hide sharp knives. Killers, criminals, and bloodthirsty cultists lurk around every corner. Can these youths overcome impossible odds to save the realm?
Click now if you love action, intrigue, and heroic deeds that will set your heart racing! For fans of A.C. Cobble, Jeff Wheeler, and Robin Hobb, Heirs of Destiny is a thrill ride on epic fantasy’s darker side.
Trial of Stone (Book 1)
Crucible of Fortune (Book 2)
Secrets of Blood (Book 3)
Storm of Chaos (Book 4)
Ascension of Death (Book 5)
The Renegade Apprentice (Book 6)
About the Author
I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy is my genre of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of fantasy heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy novels.
Fantasy provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand new way. Fiction at its very best!
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