“I’m asking you to take a great risk,” Argoth said. “I know you’re new to your powers, but you’ve proven yourself. I would not ask unless we had extreme need.”
She could leave her friends to die, or she could help. When put that way, the decision was clear. “Zu,” she said. “I’ve been trained as a ferret. I say send this ferret in that Shim may go hunting.”
Argoth smiled. He looked about the room. “Purity,” he said to the air, “I hope you’re listening. This is the quality of yours and Sparrow’s blood.” He turned back to Sugar. “You do your ancestors proud.”
Sugar nodded, but knew the dead were not watching over their living kindred. Mother was not here to approve or disapprove of her decision, which Sugar was already starting to regret.
“You’re going to need to memorize the layout of the passageways,” he said. “Are you ready?”
Sugar nodded, even though she didn’t want to, and Argoth rose and opened the doors.
Inside, Shim, Matiga, and Eresh stood around a candlelit table, and she realized the time of preparation was over. The war had begun. Humankind’s moment was upon them.
She wondered about Talen, River, and Ke. One of them should be here, not her. But she was what Argoth had. And she would not quail. Not while her mother’s blood flowed in her veins.
Sugar thought about Urban again. She thought about his ship. She thought about Legs.
Then she followed Argoth in.
The End
Dear Reader
I HOPE YOU enjoyed Curse. If you did, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or another favorite bookseller’s website. Even if it’s only a line or two, your hearty huzzah will be much appreciated by ye doughty author as well as fellow readers looking for good books.
For those wanting an even more noble reason, as with Servant, it’s rumored that the proceeds of the sales of this book are also being donated to foundations actively seeking to reintroduce hobbits back into the wild. These same foundations are also looking for vegan orcs this time, since the first batch tried to eat the hobbits.
Amazon (USA)
Amazon (other countries)
Terms & People
Political Hierarchy
While there are many variations, the basic power hierarchy in the realms of the Western Glorydoms flows from the Glory down:
Glory
|
Lesser Divines
|
Territory Lords and Warlords
|
District Lords and Village Bailiffs
There are still some small areas of the known world ruled by barbarian kings or chieftains, but almost all these pay tribute to one Glory or another in the form of treasure, slaves, or Fire. The major western glorydoms include Kish, Koram, Mokad, Mungo, Nilliam, and Urz.
The Six Orders of the Divine
Fire Wizards
Kains
Skir Masters
Guardians
Green Ones
Glories
Infamous Divines include: The Goat King, The Witch of Cath, and Hismayas, the ancient lord of the sleth.
Major Mokaddian Clans with holdings in the New Lands
Birak
Burund
Fir-Noy
Harkon
Jarund
Mithrosh
Seema
Shoka
Vargon
Koramites
Hogan
River
Ke
Talen
Sparrow & Purity
Sugar
Legs
Harnock
Mokaddians
Argoth & Serah
Nettle
The Creek Widow (Matiga)
Lumen (The missing Divine of the New Lands)
Rubaloth (Skir Master of Mokad)
Rose (Sister to Argoth, wife of Hogan the Koramite)
Shim (Warlord of the Shoka clan)
Armsman
Every clan has various martial orders within it. The ranks of the vast majority of these orders are filled with those who are not full-time soldiers, but farmers, laborers, and craftsmen. However, there are orders in some clans of elite and sometimes professional soldiers. These are the orders of the armsmen.
Bone Faces
Barbarian raiders from the South who have begun striking Mokaddian holdings by sea.
Dreadmen and Fell-maidens
Those without lore who are endowed by Divines with weaves of might. When such weaves are worn, they multiply the wearer’s natural mental and physical abilities. However, the weaves carry a cost: worn too frequently, the body wastes, consuming itself to fuel the magic.
Escrum
A weave that binds the wearer to a master, allowing communication over long distances.
Frights
Not completely of the world of flesh, frights feed on Fire. They most often prey on the sick and dying, attaching themselves like great leeches.
Godsweed
An herb with properties said to repel some creatures such as frights and the souls of the dead. The smoke from one thin braid can rid a house of an infestation for many weeks. But its effect does not discriminate between frights, ancestors, or even the servants of the Creators. Hence the saying: take care to appease those you’ve chased with smoke.
King’s Collar
A weave wrought by a special order of Divines called Kains. Such collars not only prevent a person from working magic, but also weaken the wearer, making those captured easier to handle.
Kragow
A weilder of the strange lore of the Bone Faces.
Military Units
A fist is made up of 8-12 soldiers. A hammer contains 2-4 fists. A terror contains 4-6 hammers. The leaders of these units are called fistmen, hammermen, and terrormen. A cohort contains 4-6 terrors.
Skir
Orders of beings that inhabit the heavens as well as the deep places of the earth and sea. While invisible to the naked eye, many do exert power in the visible world and can be harnessed by those knowing the secrets. But not all are useful to man. Many orders of smaller Skir are deemed insignificant, while other powers are so dreadful none dare summon them.
Stone-wights
A vanished race whose ruins are found in the New Lands. Some claim plague or war took them. Others find evidence they were destroyed by the Six themselves.
The Six
Seven creators fashioned the earth and all life therein. However, upon seeing the flaws in what he and the other six Creators had wrought, the seventh, called Regret, wanted to destroy the work and begin again. The remaining Six, whose names are sacred, refused, but they were not able to overcome Regret. And so it is that the powers of both creation and dissolution still struggle on the earth.
Sleth
Another term for “soul-eaters.” In Urzarian tongue it literally means “The East Wind,” which dries and kills life. Applied to those who, in rebellion of the Glories, use an unsanctioned form of the lore of the Divines. They are beings and orders of beings supposedly twisted by their polluted draws. Said to have gotten their lore from Regret, one of the seven Creators who, having once seen the creation, realized its flaws and wanted to destroy it.
The Three Vitalities
All life is made up of one or more of the three vital powers. There are many names for these life forces. The most common terms in the western glorydoms are Fire (sometimes called Spirit), Body, and Soul. There are rumors, among those who know the lore, of lost vitalities: powers that have passed out of human ken.
Weaves
Objects of power. Some can only be quickened and handled by lore masters. Others, wild weaves, are independent of a master and can be used by those who do not possess any lore. Weaves may be made of almost an
y material; however, gold is used most often for the wild weaves given to dreadmen.
Woodikin
Creatures that live in great families beyond the gap in the wilds of the New Lands. About half the size of a man, they are ferocious and spilled much blood in the battles fought with the early settlers. Although rare, single woodikin are sometimes seen in human lands.
Acknowledgements
Curse took a very long and crooked path toward publication, which makes the help and encouragement that so many offered along the way even more special.
My first thanks goes to the many readers who let me know of their eagerness to read this book. There are too many names to mention here (those of you who emailed and posted know who you are), but all of your support was much appreciated.
Smart beta readers are precious, and these folks provided loads of good reader insight: Caitlin Blasdell, Darren Eggett, David Hartwell, David Walton, Garrett Winn, Hannah Bowman, Kassandra Brown, Larry Correia, Mette Harrison, Stacy Hague-Hill, Stephen and Liesl Nelson, and Steve Diamond. A huge thanks goes to Alex and Amy Lamborn who were extra helpful with each iteration of the story.
A number of folks also provided excellent reader responses to a beginning I wanted to test. These helpful souls include Adam Teachout, Alexis Cooper, Cameron Wilson, David West, Eric Allen, Hyrum Grissom, Justin Fisher, Krista Hoeppner Leahy, Laurel Amberdine, Lindsey Tolis, Mark Holt, Martin Cahill, Melanie Goldmund, Merrill Nielson, Nick Dianatkhah, Ray Solomon, and Wes Amodt.
As for the art, Victor Minguez provided an awesome illustration. Dixon Leavitt stepped in at a critical juncture and made that illustration possible. And Devon Dorrity did a wonderful job on the cover.
Above all, my thanks goes to my wife Nellie who played the roles of reader, editor, listening ear (when this project ran into heavy weather multiple times), and business manager.
By John D. Brown
Thrillers
Bad Penny
Awful Intent (coming soon!)
Epic Fantasies
Servant: The Dark God Book One
Curse: The Dark God Book Two
Raveler: The Dark God Book Three
Shorter Works
Bright Waters
From the Clay of His Heart
Loose in the Wires
The Scent of Desire
Find more information at johndbrown.com. While you’re there, you may also want to join the many readers who have asked to be notified about John’s new release sales and other good stuff.
About the Author
JOHN D. BROWN IS an award-winning short story writer and novelist. He lives with his wife and four daughters in the hinterlands of Utah where one encounters much fresh air, many good-hearted ranchers, and the occasional wolf.
John is active on his website johndbrown.com where he reviews and writes about whatever takes his fancy. Feel free to drop by to post comments or contact him directly. He always enjoys hearing from his readers.
CURSE: The Dark God Book Two
Copyright © 2014 by John Brown
All rights reserved
Published by Blacksword Enterprises, LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from John Brown. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
Illustration copyright © 2014 Victor Minguez
Map copyright © 2008 Isaac Stewart
Cover design by Mythic Studios
ISBN 13: 978-1-940427-09-6
ISBN 10: 1940427096
First edition: August, 2014
Curse: The Dark God Book 2 Page 39