by Damien Lake
“This is new.” Marik traced his fingers lightly across his eye patch. It had quickly become habit. “Rats earning someone coin instead of costing them it.”
“Watch here.”
Kerwin walked to the bar’s west end. Marik and Dietrik walked with him along the stools so they could see what happened around the corner. There he opened a narrow door at the end of one shelf. He coaxed the rat into the tiny space. With the panel closed, Kerwin gripped a round wooden knob between the shelves and the five doors in a row atop each other.
“And she’s off!” he cried.
He yanked the knob. It was actually a long, thin board that walled the space behind the doors off from the shelves. Kerwin held it and watched proudly as his rat skipped into the open shelf. Marik could see they were actually tunnels with one wall crafted from glass so people could see the rodents within.
Earlene scampered along her tunnel until she reached a point across from Landon. There she stopped for no apparent reason. Marik laughed.
“So what will you do when your racers decide they don’t want to race? Wait half the night for them to reach the end?”
“Credit me with a brain, will you?” Kerwin gripped the glass sheet that had only moments ago finished being set in place. It swung out like a cabinet door on brass hinges. He collected his precious vermin.
“I suppose watching five rats racing each other might be a bit of a laugh,” Dietrik said. “Unless the lot decide to go to sleep.”
“We’ll have food at the other end, usually. They’ll smell it and make a straight path for it. We’ll have races every few minutes all night! This will earn as much coin as the main games once the locals start picking their favorite ladies and rooting for them.”
“I would not care to bet against you. I have long since learned better than that.”
Dietrik and Landon fell into a conversation about the current Nolier situation. Kerwin leaned against his bar to speak to Marik. “You need to take better care of yourself.”
“So Dietrik keeps informing me.”
“Do you remember the conversation we had before?”
Marik nodded. “I’m not finished playing the game yet.”
“Looks like it has cost you a good chunk of your purse. A smart gambler knows when to quit playing. He knows to quit before a loss becomes a losing streak.”
“I agree. But I came out on top. My enemy won my right eye. And Dietrik’s hand. But I won better than you ever did with your catapult betting table at the Hollister.”
Kerwin looked skeptical. “You mean that fancy charm bracelet you’re wearing? I’m surprised to see it again, no less with you the one wearing it.” He shrugged. “My offer still stands. I’d love to have you and Dietrik at the inn as peacekeepers when the night gets rowdy. It’s good pay.”
“Maybe that would be good for Dietrik. But I’m not ready to retire from the Crimson Kings yet.”
A commotion could be heard from beyond the door to the gambling room. Marik watched. Abruptly the door flung opened. Through it strode Ilona. She looked radiant in a green dress that accentuated her curves. Her features were firmly set, and she already opened her mouth to deliver what Marik could sense would be a no-nonsense demand.
Her eyes swung to him. With hardly a pause, she called, “Good, you’re here. There is an idiot upstairs with a dirt-clod for a head causing a ruckus. Go explain life to him in a civilized world.”
“It’s nice to see you, too,” Marik returned. He walked to where she stood with her arms crossed. As he did so, he noticed she had gained an extra curve since last he had seen her.
He placed his hand softly to her belly. It was warm through the fabric, and motionless. Yet he could feel it. The extra flows of energy. The growing life within.
She studied his eye patch briefly without comment. He gazed into her eyes, as captivated by them as he always had been. For a brief instant they softened. Her guard lowered, and he could read affection there.
They kissed deeply. Marik felt the passion between them as clearly as the life of his unborn child.
Then she was Ilona again. “By the time you get around to dealing with the problem, one of my employees might be worse than manhandled. I have a business to run!”
“Of course you do,” Marik chuckled. “Let’s get things running nice and smoothly.”
Arm around Ilona’s waist, enjoying the life he knew he could lead with her in a kingdom free from peril, Marik walked through the door with her and up the back staircase.
Other books by Damien Lake:
World of Folcrist:
Chronicles of the Crimson Kings:
Steel and Flame
Arm of Galemar
Forest for the Trees
Masters of the Wind:
Silver in the Darkness
**Silver in the Daylight
** = In Production
Sneak Peek at “Silver in the Darkness”, Volume One of the next Folcrist series, Masters of the Wind.
Far to the north of forested Galemar, across the Stygan Gulf, lies the kingdom of Gusturief. While ruled over by a king, the land is far more under the sway of its ruling classes as a group. Thanes across the kingdom each control their own territories in the manner they each choose. Surfdom is not unknown, and a thanedom can be as wealthy or as impoverished as the skills of its ruling family make it.
The church of Sheirleon is strong in Gusturief. Some say it might be a bit too strong. Over the history of the kingdom, as famine struck down the population in centuries past, as the nobles retreated and ignored the commoners’ plights, it was the church who stood tall to struggle through it shoulder to shoulder with the masses. As a result, the church today holds power over the people equal to that of the government.
It is a delicate balance in which neither side holds dominance. From time to time, one side will test the other.
Now, in the small thanedom of the Terriquis family, events are about to unfold that might tip the scales forever.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Chapter 07
Chapter 08
Chapter 09
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Interlude
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Sneak Peek at “Silver in the Darkness”
Kingdom of Galemar
Southwest Galemar