The White Towers

by Andy Remic

  Eighteen months had passed.

  King Sameska of Zalazar sat in his study at the Palace of Heartwood, deep within the Mountains of the Moon. He was tall, and elegant, his skin smooth like polished oak, his eyes wide and a deep, dark green, and very kind. He was studying a vellum scroll as two great doors at the end of the chamber opened, and an elf strode forward wearing woodsman’s garb, and carrying a longbow of yew across his back.

  “Well met, Zardona,” nodded King Sameska. “You seek refreshment after your long journey from foreign lands?”

  Zardona waved his hand to the side. He looked deeply tired, deeply troubled. “After I have imparted the information I discovered, Sire.”

  “Go ahead,” said Sameska, drawing up a high-backed chair of hardwood, skilfully carved and inset with valuable gems.

  “Unfortunately, your deepest fears were correct, Sire.”

  “Yoon still builds his armies?”

  “Yes, Sire. I am sorry to report.”

  Sameska rubbed his chin, then glanced up. Zardona had a pained look on his face. A deep fear glittering in his azure eyes.

  “There is something more?”

  “I overheard a conversation. In a tavern in Vagan, their War Capital. It is said Yoon has somehow summoned Orlana the Changer, otherwise known as the Horse Lady. And with this, his new Demon Queen, he intends to bring his armies north.” Zardona swallowed, averting his gaze from Sameska. “Across the White Lion Mountains. To Zalazar.”

  “That is… not good.”

  “There is more. Yoon has reformed the elite units of old; the Iron Wolves, they are called. It is said they recruit and train new Wolves even now, after giving these special warriors some kind of deep magick; some evil that hides in their bones.”

  Sameska stood, and with hands clasped behind him, walked towards the high windows at the far end of the study. He gazed out at the beauty of his restored land. At Zalazar, the land of the elves.

  And he remembered the Old Hate that had destroyed his race a thousand years ago; and it burned him.

  “Come then, King Yoon. This time, your reception will be very different,” King Sameska said.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks, as ever, must go to my wife Sonia, and my boys, Joseph and Oliver, for making me laugh so much, so hard and so long. Our Singstar Nights are the Stuff of Legend. Greetings and thanks to my old comrade, Ian Graham; never a scruffier, beard-touting, tweed-wearing man will you ever meet; but also never a stauncher comrade. He is indeed a man to walk the mountains with, and I recommend you check out his fantasy debut, Monument.

  Thanks must also go to all the people who worked with me on our little film, Impurity; it was tremendous fun, and I love you all (although Brad still needs a haircut!).

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Andy Remic is a British writer with a love of ancient warfare, mountain climbing and sword fighting. Once a member of the Army of Iron, he has since retired from a savage world of blood-oil magick and gnashing vachines, and works as an underworld smuggler of rare dog-gems in the seedy districts of Falanor. In his spare time, he writes out his fantastical adventures.

  andyremic.com

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  Elf rats have left the building

  An Angry Robot paperback original 2014

  1

  Copyright © Andy Remic 2014

  Andy Remic asserts the moral right to be

  identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue record for this book is available

  from the British Library.

  UK ISBN: 978 0 85766 358 0

  US ISBN: 978 0 85766 357 3

  Ebook ISBN: 978 0 85766 359 7

  Cover art by Lee Gibbons

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  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by

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  condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and

  incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or

  localities is entirely coincidental.