“I then sent an even larger force of mercenaries, augmented by my own men, to sack the city of North Haven where I would supposedly liberate it in the same manner that had been so successful on a smaller scale for the past year. However, those forces have failed and my complicity and duplicity has been revealed, so I stand here before you, confessing my crimes as part of my punishment and to serve as a warning to any who would think to try to gain power by spilling the blood of others.”
Duke Ulric stood upon a chair and pulled out a dagger from the sheath belted around his waist. “As a further warning of what happens to men who abuse the trust and power of their position, I offer you this last warning.”
Without warning or hesitation, Duke Ulric plunged the blade deep into the side of his stomach and a red rose of blood instantly bloomed across the white expanse of silk and velvet. The rose turned into a river as he pulled the blade sharply across his abdomen before stepping up onto and over the balcony rail.
No one noticed the rope that the duke had secured around his neck and trailed down his back until it snapped taught, sending a spray of blood and offal down upon the front ranks of nobles gathered some twenty feet below him. When the blade plunged in and blood sprayed across Lord Beaumonte’s face and fine clothes, he understood the warning Azerick had given him, as well as the second chance he offered.
He continued to stare up at the swinging, dangling corpse of his cousin as people screamed, women fainted, and guards ran amok, unsure of what to do. After a brief moment of shock, Lord Alton gained control of several guards and ordered them to clear the courtyard and recover the duke’s body. This was indeed a speech that many people would be talking about for a very long time.
EPILOG
Azerick and Miranda rode down a deer path and entered a small grassy glade hidden within the woods not far from the keep. The bodies were gone and classes had resumed. North Haven was still busy repairing and fortifying the walls and gates around the city, but Miranda had urged Azerick to take her on a picnic until he relented.
The couple let the horses wander about the glade, munching green spring grass and drinking from the small, swift brook that gurgled peacefully nearby. Azerick spread a plaid cover over the ground where he and Miranda took a seat and shared a bottle of wine.
“I hear that the repairs are going well at the city,” Azerick said, trying to initiate some sort of small talk.
“Yes, you know Captain Brague chased the fleeing soldiers south until they ran into the support and baggage train that followed the mercenaries north. There were quite a lot of valuables on it. My mother insisted that much of it be returned, the more conspicuous pieces anyway that could be readily identified by the owners, but the rest has gone a long way to covering the cost of rebuilding. We have sent envoys to Southport to discuss the political ramifications and reparations due, but Ulric drained the city’s coffers to the point that we can expect little if anything from them for some time.”
“It is my hope that the extra ships under Zeb and my company’s control will bring in quite a bit of extra tax revenue with the increased trade,” Azerick replied.
Miranda flashed one of her perfect smiles that made Azerick’s heart beat faster than when he was forced to fight in the arena. “It has, and the ships you donated to the city will also generate much needed revenue when the ones we converted to haulers return with their goods, something for which mother would have thanked you personally had you bothered to show up at the ceremony to receive your reward.”
Azerick blushed under Miranda’s teasing. “Please tell the duchess that I am glad I was able to help and for the award she bestowed upon me.”
“So how does it feel being a noble, Lord Azerick Giles?” Miranda teased him even more.
“Like I just got dipped in oil and rolled in the dirt,” Azerick replied and wiped at his arms as if he were trying to rid himself of something foul.
Miranda laughed deeply then without warning leaned in and kissed Azerick on the lips. Azerick returned the kiss, tentatively at first, and then with a passion he thought he had lost forever. The couple held each other tightly and looked deep into each other’s eyes.
“Hooray, Azerick, you finally got the princess, you sly dog!” a voice shouted shrilly across the glade, spoiling the passionate, romantic scene.
“Wolf!” Azerick turned and shouted.
The glade was filled with high-pitched laughter and the sound of several pairs of feet running away deeper into the woods. Miranda’s melodious laughter echoed through the trees, filling his heart with a warmth and joy that had been missing for so long. Perhaps now he would be able to live in peace for once and enjoy a measure of happiness he had been denied for so long.
***
The dark-robed figures gathered around a stone table under the flickering light of large tapers and torches once again. The secret cabal was meeting in what looked to be a dusty tomb or crypt with only the bones of the dead to hear their dark machinations.
“Ulric has failed miserably,” one of the figures intoned unnecessarily. They all knew of the disaster at North Haven.
“It was not totally unexpected. His plan was overly complicated and rested upon the shoulders of too many unpredictable elements,” another said. “It is why we backed him but did not openly support him. Our contingency plan is still in place and completely unsuspected.”
“But the king is aware that a major plot to overthrow him only narrowly failed. He is certain to be more alert for treachery now.”
“Not necessarily. Ulric may have done us a favor by failing in his grandiose conspiracy. Even if he had taken North Haven and managed to unseat Jarvin, well, men talk. It would have been only a matter of time before his duplicity was uncovered and the people and the nobles would both be howling for his blood. With such a dramatic failure and expenditure of resources, few would believe that another such attempt at a coup will be coming anytime soon. If exploited properly, it may actually work in our favor.”
“Ah yes, I see what you are saying. Excellent, then we proceed as planned?”
“Absolutely, by this time next year, the bastard king’s head will adorn a pike right next to his wife and misbegotten offspring. It is the will of Solarian.”
“Blessed is the light of Solarian,” everyone around the table chanted in unison.
Deleted Scene
Mort and Nobby
Sandy’s ceaseless complaining was partly to blame for Azerick’s lack of vigilance and allowed the two bandits to spring out of the brush and surprise them.
Azerick gritted his teeth, frustrated at his lack of attention. The two men stood just forward and to Azerick’s left side. One was somewhat short and squat and brandished a rusty spear with a warped shaft, but it was the other man that Azerick was more wary of. He was an absolute giant of a man and would have been fearsome if he did not have such a boyish and guileless face. Both men were dressed in rough, worn clothing and a few assorted pieces of badly tended armor.
“All right then, let’s have whatever coin ya got so’s there don’t be no trouble an’ no need for nobody ta get hurt,” the short, spear-wielding man ordered.
The enormous man standing next to him, ready to yank the rider out of the saddle if he tried to flee, only smiled stupidly up at him.
Azerick rolled his eyes and cast his sunder spell onto the sorry-looking spear he held, neatly shearing the steel head off about two feet down the shaft.
“Did ya see that, Nobby?” Morton asked incredulously. “He twiddled his fingers and the head dropped right off.”
Nobby turned and glared at his large, simple brother. “Yeah, an’ maybe next he’ll waggle his ears and make that great useless glob sittin’ atop your neck fall off.”
Yes, take his rotten head right off his shoulders! Teach these buffoons the meaning of real fear just before you rip their hearts out!
Shut up Klaraxis before I find a stick to jab in my ear and stab you.
Pfft, how droll.
; “I wouldn’t like that, Nobby. ‘How would I eat? I guess I could drop the food down my throat!” Morton suggested happily. “Oh, but what if it rained? I would drown! Guess I could wear a hat,” Morton mused.
“Shut up, ya great moron, and draw your sword!” Nobby demanded.
“But I sold my sword, Nobby, remember? We was hungry and you said I would probably just hurt myself with it again,” Morton reminded his brother.
Nobby’s face burned red with rage and embarrassment. “You big, stupid, useless lout! The only thing you’re good for is providin’ shade in the summer! Eh now, what’s this here?” Nobby asked, noticing Sandy for the first time, peering past Horse’s broad chest.
“I think it’s a dog, Nobby,” Morton replied helpfully.
“It ain’t a dog, you idiot. It ain’t got no fur.”
“Maybe it got’s that disease what makes all the fur fall out like mum got,” Morton suggested.
“It ain’t a dog, stupid, it has scales. Look at that long neck and long tail attached to that big bum. A dog’s bum is narrower than its chest. I think it’s some kind ‘a lizard,” Nobby said as he reached his hand forward to pet the dragon’s head.
Sandy snapped visciously at Morton’s extended hand with her sharp teeth. “I am not a lizard and I do not have a big bottom!”
Nobby snatched his hand back, narrowly missing losing a few fingers. “Did ya hear that, Morton? It talks!”
“I did Nobby. ‘Hey, Nobby, if’n you’d moved any slower we’d be havin’ ta call ya Nubby! On account of ya losin’ yer fingers!” Morton explained with a loud laugh.
“Aye, yer right about that, Morton. Look here, it did nick me a bit on my palm it did,” Nobby replied with a small laugh of his own and showed his brother his palm.
Morton bent forward to look at the wound and Nobby slapped him hard across the face leaving a red imprint of his hand on his enormous brother’s left cheek.
“Now shut yer stupid gob, ya big lummox!”
“I din’t see it Nobby, ya moved yer hand,” Morton complained.
“I’m sorry, Morton, it was on the other hand, here take a closer look,” Nobby said and slapped Morton on the other side of his face as he peered down, creating a mirror image of the previous handprint.
“Oh, ya tricked me, Nobby! That’s a good one!” Morton brayed, oblivious to the malice behind the abuse.
“You two are the worst highwaymen I ever met,” Azerick said, tiring of the two men’s escapades.
The two brothers looked up at Azerick who glared down at them without the slightest sense of fear.
“We’re not really highwaymen. We’s just a couple blokes real down on our luck and we’re a might hungry is all,” Nobby explained plaintively.
“Aye that’s all, just hungry,” Morton echoed. “What with the cave-in them four fellows made, burying them soldiers we was with.
Morton turned toward his brother. “It was three men and a woman.”
“One was a woman? What one was that, Nobby?”
“The tall one with the broad shoulders and the big sword, ya idiot.”
A look of great relief spread across the huge man’s face as if he had just had an execution order rescinded. “Oh thank the gods, Nobby. I was gettin’ real worried!”
“Worried about what, Morton?”
“Well I found myself feelin’ kind ‘a sweet toward him—her, and I din’t know what to make of it. I thought I was gettin’, you know, not right,” Morton replied with relief.
“Morton, ya ain’t been right since ya was born. I think mum drank too much when she was carrying ya, and all them drops on the head probably din’t do no good neither. Probably couldn’t do no real harm neither though come to think of it.”
Nobby turned back toward Azerick. “We really ain’t thieves, not good ones anyway. Do ya have a bite ta eat ya can spare us?”
Don’t you dare feed these useless piles of guts! Creatures this stupid deserve to be rendered limb from limb so they cannot infect the rest of the species! Come on, we haven’t killed anything in over a week! Destroy them!
If you do not cease your bellowing I will go on a strict vegetarian diet. Nothing but fruit, vegetables, and roots with water to chase it down.
You wouldn’t dare! Fine, do what you want with these morons.
Azerick thought a moment and figured it would be better to give these two some food so they did not get themselves killed trying another stunt like this. Stupidity was not a crime but he was beginning to wonder if maybe it should be.
He pulled the magical sack containing his large store of food from a saddlebag and gave the two as much food as they could carry.
“Oh bless yer heart, milord!” Nobby groveled.
Morton was openly weeping at the sight of the food in his huge arms. “Look at it, Nobby. Ain’t it a beautiful sight?”
“You two need to find some gainful employment before you get yourselves into some real trouble,” Azerick suggested with a scowl.
Morton bobbed his head enthusiastically. “Oh aye, milord, we are. Mort and me, we’s gonna go north, maybe make for End’s Run. We heard there’s good jobs and miners are pullin’ out gold and iron by the cartload!”
Azerick’s only reply was a slow nod as he spurred Horse into a walk and left the odd brothers behind. He could see that Sandy was fuming by the way she stomped ahead of him, her tail swishing in agitation.
“I cannot believe that fat human said I have a big bottom! I do not have a big bottom. I have powerful haunches, the envy of nearly all sand dragons!”
Azerick could not help but look at her rump, swinging angrily with her odd gait and chuckled to himself.
FROM THE AUTHOR
I formulated a better way to proof my work and I hope it shows. I did have to break off in side stories once again and I know that puts off a few readers that want to quickly get back to our favorite protagonist, but they are all relevant to some degree.
Sandy is going to be a recurring character as are Wolf and Ghost. I particularly hope you paid attention to Sandy’s egg memory and the scary voice that popped in right at the end. That will be a major plot point in future books although not right away.
I took you through the frozen north with Zeb and his crew and had them face Zagrat and his abominations as they and their evil master become the primary focus of book five and felt a little build up and background was important since I have been hinting at it since the second book.
I hope I did not throw off too many of my readers with these side treks but it is the style of this series for now. I do hope to cut it down the further I go.
Now for the bad news. I wrote all four books several years ago and have spent the last year proofing, editing, and publishing them. It was how I was able to release them so quickly in succession. Now I actually have to sit down and develop and write the next ones so expect significant time between future installments. I should be able to get book five out by summer assuming it comes together as well as, if not better than, the four preceding it.
Thank you all for your appreciation, patronage, and most of all, patience as I find my style and improve my skills.
I hope you enjoyed this fun little tale and will try my other works. Please drop by at http://www.brockd.us and give them a read. Feel free to look me up on facebook! You can also check me out on my new blog at http://brockdeskins.blogspot.com. I post release dates, answer questions, and occasionally some new covers for my books! Definitely check out the blog. I apologize for all but abandoning my website and forum, but the blog is much easier for me to maintain and keep current.
Please tell your friends! I lack not only an editing team but publicists as well. Word of mouth and recommendations are the driving point of my sales. Pass the word.
The Sorcerer’s saga is an open-ended fantasy series.
The Sorcerer’s Ascension, first of the series, starts with Azerick as a young boy of wealth who loses everything before discovering great potential as a sorcerer while trying
to survive on the deadly streets he now must call home. Travel with young Azerick as he grows up, grows strong, and grows steadfast in his determination to survive and make those pay who have taken everything from him.
The Sorcerer’s Torment: Azerick flees The Academy but quickly falls prey to powerful beings that use his skills and power for their own amusement. What these creatures do not understand is the power of the young sorcerer's will and the lengths he will go to for vengeance. Despite becoming a prisoner, Azerick finds his first true love but can he keep it?
The Sorcerer’s Legacy: Azerick has found himself a home and tries to settle down. He takes on an apprentice and tries to put all the death and desire for vengeance behind him. But when the Rook finds him, Azerick is once again pulled back into Ulric's schemes. Knowing that all he has worked toward and everyone close to him is in danger as long as these schemes are ongoing; Azerick decides to put an end to it, once and for all.
The Sorcerer’s Vengeance: After narrowly avoiding being killed in his own bed by the land’s most feared assassin, Azerick leaves his school behind to find out who sent him and to put an end to the threat once and for all. Azerick’s search will take him to the very pits of the abyss and back to unleash hellish fury upon those that threaten him.
Shrouds of Darkness is a modern day vampire tale. Who doesn’t like those these days? Leo Malone has been a vampire for the better part of the twentieth century. Once a prominent Sherriff (vampire cop), he now earns his living as a private eye and occasional bodyguard for anyone that requires some serious protection. Leo is hired by the daughter of a mob accountant who has gone missing.
The fact that he is also a werewolf has Leo following a trail of grisly murders that will lead him through a web of intrigue and conspiracy involving his fellow vampires and the local werewolves that make New York their home, all the while trying to keep one particularly determined cop off his back and himself out of jail. Leo is wise-cracking, hard-eyed, remorseless killing machine who doesn’t take crap from anyone. I cannot encourage readers enough to give this book a try. Forget the fact that there are vampires and werewolves if that is not your thing. It's not what drives the story. Most people do not watch House because it is a medical show, they watch it because House is a hilarious, narcissistic, sociopath. That is what I have tried to bring out in this book.
The Sorcerer's Vengeance (The Sorcerer's Path) Page 39