Tales of Neroman (eBook)

The Silver Savior

Tom Burton (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018 | 1. Auflage
441 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-5439-4719-9 (ISBN)

Infos

With his world on the brink of civil war, naïve young farmer Aaron Silver is alarmed when he begins to receive visions of destruction. Determined to find answers to these terrifying visions, he joins with others on an adventure to unmask-and stop-the evil that threatens to destroy the world.

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With his world on the brink of civil war, naive young farmer Aaron Silver is alarmed when he begins to receive visions of destruction. Determined to find answers to these terrifying visions, he joins with others on an adventure to unmask-and stop-the evil that threatens to destroy the world. Set in the world of Neroman, and brimming with dragons, sorcery and magic, Tom Burton's debut novel is a must-read for anyone in search of the next great fantasy story!

Textauszug

Chapter 1
The Rain of Change

Year 196 of the Third Age

As the full moon shines the night sky, and the clear bright stars watch over the run-down Dock Town in the North of Neroman, restfully sitting on its shores. The peace and serenity of the night is shattered by the high-pitched screams of someone in pain. The screeching pierces the whole town, causing horses to neigh in fear and people to lift their heads from their tasks or their pillows. Soon after, the tower bell begins to ring. The man on watch in the tower swings a large wooden rod into the town bell. The resounding tolling melds with the woman’s tortured screams, unsettling the inhabitants of the town even more than the screams alone.

Men in light armour run out of the building in response to the bell. One man climbs atop the wooden walls to look out beyond the front gate. He sees half a dozen riders storming toward the town.

“Open the gate!” The man orders, and two other men run to the front gate. They haul on the gate lever and it slowly opens. The riders’ storm through the gate and rein in their horses in the courtyard. The men at the gate close the gate as soon as all the riders are inside.

The rider at the front, the Crown emblem emblazoned on his silver chest plate, dismounts.

“Where is she?” The man demands of one the guards. Before the guard can respond, the screams of the woman resume. The Crown man runs after the screams. The other riders slowly dismount and guide their horses to the stables.

Eventually, the man reaches the house from which the screams come and barges through the door. The man is met by two midwives, and one of them approaches him, hands held out as if to stop him.

“How is she?” The man asks nervously.

“She is almost there, but she is in pain!” the midwife replies. The man rushes to the sleeping chamber to find the screaming woman writhing on the bed. The man goes to her and takes her hand.

“Lucy?” The man whispers. Her eyes are closed, but they eventually open and look toward the man.

“Karl … is that you? Is that really you?” Lucy weakly asks. Karl smiles and nods.

“How are you feeling?” Karl asks, but Lucy rolls her eyes.

“I will punch you in the stomach, if that answers the question.” Lucy sternly replies.

Karl laughs. “In a few hours’ time, we will have a baby boy or girl,” he says, smiling joyfully. Lucy breathes heavily in distress, as she concedes to accept the pain she is receiving.

“Thank you …” Lucy whispers, as she begins to scream again. She tightens her grip on Karl’s hand.

Outside the house, two of Karl’s riders take up positions on either side of the entrance, standing guard over their commander and the woman inside.

“How did we not spot them before, Luther?” One of the guards asks the other.

The other guard gives a small shrug. “The King never has his soldiers venture this far north, Gared. Anything can be set afoot when no one is watching … I just can’t believe we lost so many,” replies Luther.

“Do you think we need to tell the king?” Gared asks.

“Did you not see what everyone else saw? This will change all of Neroman!” Luther snaps. “I just hope the King listens to his Lord Commander.” Gared is taken aback by the fear that he sees in Luther’s eyes. They speak no more as they settle into their guard positions.

Inside the house, Lucy’s labour pains peak. Karl’s hand bleeds where his wife’s fingernails dig into his flesh. Lucy’s screams stop abruptly, replaced by the small cries of a baby.

“Congratulations!” one of the midwives says joyfully as she swaddles the new-born baby in her arms. Karl beams at Lucy as she reaches out desperately for the baby. The midwife hands the baby over to Lucy carefully, tears in her eyes. Karl joins Lucy on the bed, and they gaze at the baby with delight.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Karl asks. Lucy pulls back the soft blankets.

“It’s a boy,” Karl whispers, swelling with emotion. Lucy wraps the blankets around the baby boy again.

The couple’s reverie is broken as the bell that signalled the arrival of Karl and his rider’s rings again. Karl steps to the window and looks toward the bell tower with worry. He calls to the midwives and says, “Stay with my wife.” As Karl gathers his cloak, Lucy reaches out to Karl.

“Where are you going?” Lucy whispers. Karl ignores Lucy’s question, instead he reaches for the table and takes a piece of parchment, and writes on it with a quil, once he finishes, he then seals it with melted candle wax, he keeps hold of the sealed scroll and stalks out of the bed chamber. As Karl leaves the house, he turns to the two guards protecting the house.

“Did you cover our tracks?” Karl sternly asks them. When his question is met with silence, Karl’s fury spikes. He grabs Luther by his chest plate and pulls him close. “You saw what they did to our men, and yet you still have no idea what they are a capable of! And now they are here, and they will kill everyone … my wife … my son.” Karl snarls. He lets go and rushes toward the barracks. The two soldiers fearfully follow Karl.

As Karl approaches the barracks, he calls out to the off-duty soldiers. “Soldiers, you hear the bells! Take up arms and man the walls!” Karl barks. The town soldiers grab their weapons and rush out of the barracks and up the wooden stairs to the walkway at the top of the walls. One of the soldiers takes up a horn from his side and blows, its clear call signalling all the other soldiers to come to the town’s defence.

Before long, the town soldiers’ man the walls, looking out as they see the green plains that run down to the harbour town. Karl joins them on the parapets, his face grim in the torchlight. In the darkness, he can just barely make out the shape of the rolling grassland, but he can see hundreds of torches in the distance, slowly coming closer.

Karl counts the men on the wall, coming to 50, his dozen well-girded soldiers and the local guard, armed with bows, spears, and a handful of swords. Turning to one of personal guards, he says, “There are not enough of us…”

“We have the walls, we can hold them off.” The guard reassures Karl, unsettled by his commander’s assessment. Before long, the men atop the wall hear growling in the darkness below them, and hooded figures sprint toward the wall.

“Archers, nock your arrows!” Karl shouts. There is a wooden clatter of arrows against bows as everyone follows his orders.

“Draw!” Karl continues, trying to make out what the shadows below him are doing. Karl holds the order to shoot, trying to gauge the enemy’s plan, and before he does so, a volley of arrows comes out of the darkness, some bouncing harmlessly against the wooden parapets, some skittering across the wooden walkway, others striking some of the men as they await Karl’s command.

“Loose!” Karl orders, and the archers launch their arrows into the darkness below them. With the higher position and the numbers of attackers below, the defenders kill more of the hooded figures than the other way around, but more of the hooded figures appear to replace the ones that have been shot.

“Fire at will!” Karl orders, and the exchange of arrows continues.

Karl marches along the wall, giving commands and motivating the soldiers to stand firm. Karl steps up to his second in command, “How many men do we have?” the man asks Karl.

“We are becoming fewer by the second,” Karl responds, looking not at the battle but at the town. He eyes the ships on the docks, and then turns back to the battle. Before he can say anything, the lumbering shadows of trebuchets take shape in the flat area outside the wall. Suddenly flames illuminate the field as the boulders in the slings of the trebuchets are somehow set alight. Hooded figures pull on the levers, and the flaming loads are launched into the air. Karl can only stare as the burning rocks fly over the wall and into the town, crashing into houses and streets. Karl hears the screaming of women and children as they escape the burning houses.

“Fall back!” Karl orders. The soldiers turn to him in shock. “There are too many of them! The town is lost. Sound the horn and pull everyone back! Do it now!” Karl snaps, and the man signals the bell tower with a flaming torch. The bells ring yet again.

“Fall back! Fall back!” The command is repeated along the wooden parapet, and the remaining soldiers quickly descend from the wall.

Karl descends from the walls and heads to the barracks, where he finds some of the soldiers picking up fresh weapons.

“Get everyone onboard the ships and leave as soon as you can. Head west.” Karl orders, as the soldiers rush to re-supply. The sound of the wooden mechanics of the trebuchets outside the walls is audible in the barracks. Karl turns to see more flaming boulders fall among the homes and shops of the town, shattering buildings into kindling and setting fires among the wreckage.

“We must hurry!” Karl shouts at the soldiers. The men rush toward the buildings that are aflame to see if there are any innocents among them. The soldiers shepherd the dock town citizens to the ships, where sailors and volunteers are quickly preparing to set off. The soldiers worked through the town quickly, ushering as many people onto the ships as possible. Before long, two of the three ships leave the docks and head for the West. The final ship awaits the remaining soldiers.

Over the crackling of burning buildings, Karl hears a creaking noise near the wall. A couple other soldiers nearby hear it as well, and they slowly...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.9.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-10: 1-5439-4719-0 / 1543947190
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5439-4719-9 / 9781543947199