The fight master smiled as he spread his arms wide as if to encompass the entirety of this sad little village by the desert. ‘You seem to know an unhealthy amount about me,’ I said. ‘I imagine you still keep a few of those inch-long throwing blades secreted in your cuffs, don’t you? Wasn’t that why they used to call you the King’s Thorn? On account of the way you could flick those tiny finger blades into an enemy’s face or sword hand?’ Spiked caltrops to drop on the ground at your opponent’s feet when nobody’s looking? Powdered amberlight to blind him? Perhaps even a square of that legendary hard candy that gives you Greatcoats unnatural strength and vigour in battle?’ His right hand drifted to the end of my sleeve. ‘Thin, flexible, and nearly unbreakable bone plates sewn into the lining,’ he said, rapping his knuckles against my chest. The fight master started tapping at the dark grey leather of my greatcoat as he listed off its various offences. That part was a lie, of course, but occasionally it works. ‘That padded leather jerkin he’s wearing offers no less protection than my coat.’ ‘The coat stays on,’ I said, nodding to the big lout waiting to bash my skull in with fists bigger than any blacksmith’s hammer. Hard to imagine anyone choosing to live here, but then, dying here wasn’t such a good idea either. Like a yawn spreading through the crowd of onlookers, the villagers likewise rubbed at faces and forearms in an endless battle with the dust that blew in from the Eastern Desert – the enemy next door that threatened daily to bury everyone and everything beneath its sands. ‘You’ll have to remove your coat, my lady,’ he said, wiping the sweat and dust from his brow with a dirty rag. The fight master, a slender, moustachioed wine merchant who wore what I assumed were his festival colours of green and gold, leaned uncomfortably close to me.
The rising of the shield hero rise midi cracked#
The problem for me was that put the sun in the west and therefore right in my eyes when I faced the six-foot-six man-shaped boulder who now grinned from one misshapen ear to the other as he cracked knuckles that could probably smash through oak planks with ease. In the village of Phan, prizefights began an hour before sunset when villagers returning from their labours could witness the show without having to waste expensive oil for lanterns. The minute the big man had ducked under one of the frayed ropes tied around six rusted iron posts that marked off the fifteen-foot hexagon inside which we’d be fighting, he took up a position on the western-most corner. My first mistake was in letting my opponent enter the duelling ring ahead of me. Articles Writing advice and fantastical musings.Reading Occasionally I find time to read books.Story Journals Notes along the way as I write each book.Author Life Weird tales from the land of book publishing.Book News Latest news on upcoming releases.Adventure Sometimes we all need a little adventure in our lives.Travel Visiting new places is one of my favourite activities.Signed Editions Get signed and personalized books sent right to your door.Author Exclusives Short fiction and audiobooks available exclusively from the author.Our Lady of Blades Coming September 2024.Play Of Shadows A young actor fleeing a duel becomes the star of a mysterious play.Court Of Shadows A new darkness threatens and new heroes rise to face it.Fall of the Argosi Zombies, mages, and madness.Way Of The Argosi Ferius Parfax will become whatever it takes to outwit the mages who destroyed her people.The Argosi Learn the secrets of the Argosi and the origins of the legendary Ferious Parfax!.Crownbreaker Kellen’s vow to protect a young queen may demand a terrible price.Queenslayer Weary of outlaw life, Kellen unwittingly becomes a pawn in a game of empires.Soulbinder Kellen tries to rid himself of the shadowblack and discovers fate can be fatal.Charmcaster Kellen’s travels bring him to a land where destiny has a dark side.
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