Vengeance Borne: Book Five of New Blood

The future of Mankind relies on the Guardian of Maarihk. Can Natharr, Ellis the Elder, and the Knights of Ril endure tragedy to stave off Mankind's dark future?

Award-Winning Epic Medieval Fantasy

Paperback $21.77 | eBook $2.99

Sample Reading by Author | Reviews | The Story Behind the Story

Maps | Natharr Comic-Book Style | Glossary | Receive Chapter 1 Free

Sample

Drah's slitted pupils widened, then his head rose higher. “You have nothing more to say, Maarihk? No more clever words to satisfy my —”

“Just eat them!” Natharr roared, fists doubled and elbows bent. “I killed most of them for you! Eat!”

Drah’s head lifted a good twenty paces, neck flattening, and Arianna’s eyes goggled. She cringed, despite all the time she had spent getting to know the massive Great Beast. She had never seen anyone speak to the Dragon like that and she was so frightened that her bladder burned, threatening to release its contents. Not only that, every other Rilari moved away, as well, forty-three pairs of eyes on the massive creature. Horses trotted back a score of paces and some of the Rilari who had not gathered about the bloody soldiers took cover behind their belongings littering the faceless realm in unwalled squares. Gnarled Tallus with his disfigured, flattened nose, hugged Vall and Brall, his son and daughter, tightly to his sides, apparently the only parent still permitted to do so with the Rilari children-that-were-not.

“I am the King of Dragons,” the Great Beast of the Air boomed ominously. “Mightiest of all Great Beasts created by the Gods. You will not speak to me so disrespectfully.” The deathly calm in the Dragon’s voice was easily as horrifying as his countenance.

“You claimed that I had forgotten how to properly approach a Dragon in its lair!” the Guardian yelled, marching toward Drah aggressively, green cloak billowing behind him. “No offering! Is that not what you said?! Well, there is your offering!” He pointed at the bodies under the Great Beast’s massive claws, some of them squirming and whining, trying to escape. “Eat!”

The Dragon’s tongue appeared briefly before slapping back between his teeth. “You have remembered your courage of ages past.” Arianna’s eyes widened as the Dragon’s head rose, his mouth opening and sinuous neck widening, flattening like a snake making itself look larger. “Or seek your own destruction.”

Her narrow, dark eyes jerked back to Natharr, standing before the monstrous creature, fists doubled. She had not put up a shield between them but, in that moment, realized that she did not feel him. She had never seen him in such a rage unless lost in the throes of his Sight. She was certain that she should have been feeling his emotions like a hurricane wind, but there was nothing. Tentatively, she reached out, like touching a wolf that might be docile or might whirl and take her hand. She did not see his mind-colors, but the rage, the horror, the pain that seared her mind was enough to make her shudder, barely controlling herself enough to avoid sobbing. Something had happened — she did not know exactly what — but it was unspeakably horrible.

She did not get to consider it much more, because she heard the Great Beast taking in a great gasp of air, the sound like a massive bellows being filled. Drah’s head swung upward, neck bending, and a great gout of flames exploded from his jaws, roaring upward in a wide fan, hundreds of feet into the endless white. At the same time, great, semitransparent beams jerked upward from his back, five on each side, like mighty fingers. The beams of dragonglass were joined together by webs of thinner strands, those connected by what looked like frosted gossamer. It was the first time she had seen them extended in such a dramatic display, but she did not have long to marvel at the dragonglass wings because the sudden, reflected glare was so bright that she had to look away. All around, Rilari cried out in fear and alarm, everyone running — all except for Natharr. He remained where he was, head lowered, shading his eyes with his hand, but that was all.

Flames continuing to roar forth, the air heated around her to the point that her mouth went dry. She had known the Great Beast of the Air to be canny in his intelligence, even witty in his dealings with Korrik — whom he had renamed “the imbecile” — yet this was the first time that she had truly, deeply feared him. She had wanted to touch the Dragon’s mind but, in all the time she had spent there, she had never been able to gather the courage to even ask, let alone attempt it. Seeing this display, she was glad that she chose a rare incident of discretion.

When Arianna could finally look again, the fan of flames rising from Drah’s horrible jaws was fading, feathering inward from its edges, then his large head dropped to just above the unseen ground as quickly as anything she had ever seen. His lower jaw stopped just above the level of Natharr’s boot toes, then his head shot forward like a striking snake.

“No, please, no!” she screamed, covering her mouth with both hands — but the Dragon stopped, inches away from the Guardian, head as tall as the man himself. The Great Beast’s breath pounded at Natharr’s body, blowing back his cloak and hair, molding his cotton shirt around his hard muscles.

Still, Natharr did not move.