Witchbreaker (Dragon Apocalypse)
Page 35
“Someone’s at the wheel!” Gale shouted, racing into the shadows. Sorrow gave chase, though Mako beat them both to the wheel, cursing as he tried to grasp the pale, wraithlike form he found there. Sorrow squinted in the darkness, seeing a short, light-colored head just behind the wheel. Bigsby? As Brand approached, the light fell upon an albino pygmy who smiled at Sorrow with a familiar grin.
“Walker!”
“Sorrow. I’m happy to have found you at last. Stagger’s guidance was most helpful. It’s a shame you waited so long to call to him.”
“Not that we’re ungrateful, but why were you looking for us?” Brand asked.
“Because you’ve created an atrocious mess,” said Walker. “It would be unfair to task others with cleaning up your mistakes, not that many haven’t tried.”
“What mistakes? What are you talking about?”
“Twenty years ago, you robbed most of the world of their faith in the One True Book. The Silver Isles have sunk into outright despotism in their attempt to maintain order. War, famine, and pestilence are daily life for most men now. But as bad as the material world has become, your greater error was to provide Tempest a doorway to a place he did not belong. The dragon has used the intervening decades to craft a new empire, one with a far larger population than his old one. I’m weary of hearing my demon friends grumble about the new management, and have persuaded a few of the more rebellious ones to join me in rescuing you.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Brand said, “Twenty years? We’ve barely been gone twenty minutes!”
“I informed you earlier that time isn’t constant between the various realms,” said Walker. He spun the wheel hard to the left.
“Where are we going?” shouted Gale.
They splashed into a broad river between smoking black banks of gravel. For an instant, given the horrid heat that wrapped around her, Sorrow thought they were riding on a lava flow back on the Isle of Fire, and expected the boat to burst into flames. The sky above was a writhing mass of angry clouds, crackling with lightning.
“The river!” Jetsam called out as he leaned overboard. “It’s pure blood!”
“Nonsense,” Walker said with a giggle. “Nothing here is pure.”
“This isn’t blood,” Sage said as she looked around the landscape. “It’s memories!”
“You’ve good eyes,” said Walker. “What else would fill the rivers here? Nothing burns its way down a parched throat like memories.”
Sorrow went to Slate’s side and took his hand. He squeezed her fingers gently as he stared down into the red currents lapping the hull.
“I’ve never felt such thirst,” he whispered. “Even knowing all that I now know of my origins, I still ache for memories.”
She placed her fingers on his chin and turned his face toward her. She stood on tiptoes to kiss him gently. “We both have a fresh chance to make new memories.” She looked across the wasteland. “Though, I admit, making good ones in a place like this might prove to be a challenge.”
Bigsby climbed up the rigging for a better look. “I give up,” he said. “Where the hell are we?”
Walker’s fingers slipped from the wheel as he fell to the deck, laughing as tears ran down his cheeks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Maxey lives in Hillsborough, NC with his lovely bride Cheryl and a clowder of unruly cats. He is the author of the Bitterwood fantasy trilogy, Bitterwood, Dragonforge, and Dragonseed, as well as the superhero novels Nobody Gets the Girl and Burn Baby Burn. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of anthologies and magazines such as Asimov’s and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. The best of these stories appears in the collection There is No Wheel. For more information about James, visit dragonprophet.blogspot.com.
The warrior woman known as Infidel is legendary for her superhuman strength and skin tough as chain mail. She’s made few friends during her career as a sword-for-hire, and many powerful enemies. Following the death of her closest companion, Infidel finds herself weary of life as a mercenary and sets her eyes on one final prize that will allow her to live out the rest of her days in luxury, the priceless treasure trove of Greatshadow.
Greatshadow is the primal dragon of fire. His malign intelligence spies upon mankind through every flickering candle, patiently waiting to devour victims careless with even the smallest flame. The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay the dragon once and for all. But tensions run high between the leaders of the quest who view the mission as a holy duty and the super-powered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who dream only of Greatshadow’s vast wealth. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?
Greatshadow is the first book in an exciting new adventure series from a master of dragon fantasy.
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
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The invulnerable, super-strong warrior Infidel has a secret: she’s lost her magical powers right at the moment when she needs them most. To keep a promise to a fallen friend, she must journey to the frozen wastelands of the north.
Her quest leads her through the abstract realms of the Sea of Wine, where she uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all life. Hush, the primal dragon of cold, has formed an alliance with the ghost of a vengeful witch to murder Glorious, the dragon of the sun, plunging the world into an unending winter night.
Without her magical strength, can Infidel possibly survive her battle with Hush? If she fails to save Glorious, will the world see another morning?
‘Greatshadow’s level 30+ adventure is charming, not po-faced, with a group of flawed, sarcastic, quick-witted and oddball adventurers that are equally comfortable with set-piece battle and rapid fire sarcasm.’
Pornokitsch on Greatshadow
‘A magnificently entertaining romp bursting with charm.’
SFX on Greatshadow
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A heroine who really gets up close and personal!
Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex... other things, runs The Red Lantern, the best brothel in the city. She’s got elves using sex magic upstairs, S&M in the basement and a large green troll cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and she’d love you to visit, except...
She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, girls are disappearing, and if she can’t pay her taxes, Babylon’s going to lose the Lantern. She’d given up the mercenary life, but when the mysterious Darask Fain pays her to fi nd a missing heiress, she has to take the job. And then her past starts to catch up with her in other, more dangerous ways.
Witty and fresh, Sebold delivers the most exciting fantasy debut in years.
‘Ingenious, gripping, and full of pleasures on every level. Exceptional.’
— Mike Carey, New York Times Bestselling author of The Unwritten
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Babylon Steel, owner of the Red Lantern brothel – and former avatar of the goddess of sex and war – has been offered a job. Two jobs, really: bodyguard to Enthemmerlee, a girl transformed into a figure of legend... and spy for the barely-acknowledged government of Scalentine. The very young Enthemmerlee embodies the hopes and fears of many on her home world of Incandress, and is a prime target for assassination.
Babylon must somehow turn Enthemmerlee’s useless household guard into a disciplined fighting force, dodge Incandress’s bizarre and oppressive Moral Statutes, and unruffle the feathers of a very annoyed Scalentine diplomat. All of which would be hard enough, were she not already distracted by threats to both her livelihood and
those dearest to her...
‘Reading Babylon Steel is like having a refreshing chat with that hot, tall, slightly intimidating girl that always looks like she has a lot of fun in her life.’
Pornokitsch on Babylon Steel
‘Sebold has a flair for storytelling... Babylon Steel has a believable seaminess, while its tough lead has plenty of good reasons to be the way she is.’
SFX on Babylon Steel
‘A pacy fantasy romp... an adventure painted in primary colours.’
The Guardian on Babylon Steel
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Title
Indicia
Also by James Maxey
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eightteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About the Author
'Greatshadow' by James Maxey
'Hush' by James Maxey
'Babylon Steel' by Gaie Sebold
'Dangerous Gifts' by Gaie Sebold
Table of Contents
Indicia
Also by James Maxey
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eightteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About the Author
'Greatshadow' by James Maxey
'Hush' by James Maxey
'Babylon Steel' by Gaie Sebold
'Dangerous Gifts' by Gaie Sebold