WiP Extract - Dark God's Rise - Chapter 1

What are we working on, now we've finished the fourth book in the Strays of Lunar One series?

Well, there are several, but I always have a focus project, and the others get done as I can fit them in. The next focus project is rewrite of Dark God's Rise, the second book in the Chronicles of a Dark God trilogy.

And here's the first chapter, in draft: 

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1 - The Temple Deeps

The temple deeps were cool and quit. Brianda stalked carefully through their shadows, avoiding the
pools of light cast by flickering lanterns. The silence made her ears ache, making it hard to concentrate on the game at hand.

Personally, she didn’t see the point of playing, but Raomar had said Ghost needed something to do, and that they needed to train.

“Thought you said you weren’t my master,” Brianda grumbled, and the ex-guildmaster had given her an icy stare.

The Northman, standing slightly behind him, had scowled, and shaken his head in warning.

“I am master enough in this,” Raomar had replied. “And Ghost needs the practice.”

And then he’d put Ghost in charge of the game…a pre-adolescent regardless of her mixed heritage. The child had chosen Raomar as the ‘bait,’ and set Grunwol, his Northlander protector to guard him, while she and Brianda raced to reach him without being detected or taken out by the others.

Which is why I’m sneaking through a wine cellar instead of drinking the contents of these barrels, she thought, coming to a halt and peering around the final cask in the row.

Raomar had chosen an area bathed in the warm glow of a wall lamp set above a small table and two chairs, but he wasn’t seated. Instead, he stood in front of one of the chairs, looking down at an isolated cask before filling a long-stemmed glass with shimmering gold liquid.

Watching him, Brianda admired the way he conveyed that the contents of his glass were more important than anything that might come out of the cellar dark.

The straw-gold hair of his kevarag-elf heritage gleamed in the lamplight, its fine yellow strands marred by three streaks of blue. Those streaks marked him as one of Enshul’s favored. His dark-blue cape swishing around his fine, black boots as he raised the glass, examining its contents.

Brianda didn’t let him distract her for too long. Somewhere, in the cellar’s shadows moved a greater threat. Grunwol was hunting her with the same intensity with which she’d approached Raomar’s waiting spot.

As she thought it, Raomar raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the cask in whose shadows she hid. Brianda froze, wondering where Grunwol was hiding…and how he could hide so effectively.

The man was huge, as big as a bear, but considerably more like the wolf his name recalled.

Brianda took a long, slow breath, and peered cautiously back around the barrel. To her relief, Raomar had returned to his seat and was reading the piece of parchment that had rested there. Brianda didn’t know what was on it, but he seemed to find it interesting enough.

Probably a stock list, she thought, and didn’t let him fool her. While he might look like he was studying the parchment, he was probably looking beyond it. It made her wish she knew where Grunwol was, and brought unbidden memories to mind.

The last time she’d been in a cellar like this one, she’d been… Brianda took a sharp breath, cutting the thought off. Forcing her attention to the situation at hand, she looked around for another patch of shadow to move to.

She cursed softly when she didn’t find one, knowing it was one her first master would never have tolerated the mistake.

He’d have punished me, for sure, she recalled, her sadness vanishing in a wave of unexpected anxiety, as the memories returned.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t move back the way she’d come. It was that her target might have seen her over the top of the parchment and she couldn’t move to another position without losing sight of him.

And that would be a mistake, she noted, wondering where Grunwol was. The man could move like a ghost, and he had both reach and mass on her. The thought sent another shiver through her.

Gravarik! The fear following the name chilled her to the core, and she shook the thought away.

That was another time and place, she reminded herself, …And another Northman.

She shoved aside the memory that Gravarik had not been just a Northman, but…

That had been the information her master had required.

“And I got it,” she whispered, not intending to speak the words out loud. She pressed her lips together, shuddering. I got it.

Knowing her voice had given her away, for sure, Brianda hastily retraced her steps, eyeing the racks of casks around her. Gravarik had kept her in a cellar like this…had pursued her through it when she’d escaped. She climbed the casks…

Letting the thought trail to nothing, Brianda glanced across at the casks opposite. The racks stood six casks tall. Brianda stopped. Six was tall enough for her to touch the supporting beams. With a quick look toward Raomar’s warmly lit space, she darted across the aisle and scrambled quickly up the rack.

She’d almost reached the top when she heard the slight sound of movement. Praying the shadows near the top of the rack would conceal her, she froze. Glancing toward the sound, she saw Raomar had come to the end of the casks and was standing silhouetted against the lamplight, his hair forming a golden nimbus around his head.

He stood there for almost a minute, studying the shadows around the base of the racks.

QQIf he looks upQQ, Brianda thought, and resisted the urge to scramble to the top of the casks. She only had two barrels to go, but movement would draw his attention as surely as any noise she might make in her haste.

What followed was a duel of wits, Raomar’s curious gaze against her ability to stay motionless in the narrow shadow she occupied between the casks. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Raomar moved back into the circle of light and out of sight.

Releasing a quiet breath of relief, Brianda resumed her climb. She only had two more barrels to traverse. Four feet. They were the longest four feet she had ever had to cover.

When she was finally able to haul herself onto the topmost cask, she crouched, looking along the row to make sure she was alone. She wouldn’t put it past Grunwol to have made the heights on the racks his hunting ground.

The Northlander was well-known for his ability to climb with an elegance and grace that made many cat burglars green with envy. Brianda felt both a sense of surprise and relief when the area she could see remained empty of his presence.

Fairly sure she couldn’t be observed, she straightened carefully, reaching for the support beam above her, and glanced around once more. When it remained clear, she stretched up, gripping the edge of the beam, and hauling herself upward.

Her arms ached with the effort, but she swung a foot, hooking it over the beam, as well. A shadow shifted to her right, and Grunwol turned his head. Brianda caught sight of the pale oval of his face and gleam-toothed grin, and gasped. His green eyes glittered with mischief.

“Gravarik.” The word was out before Brianda could sensor it.

She flicked her foot off the beam, and pushed away from the edge.

As quick as she was the Northman was almost as fast. Brianda felt his fingers brush the back of her wrist as she dropped toward the casks.

As she landed, she heard the soft rustle of cloth and glanced towards it.

The damned kevarag had the ears of a cat!

QQWhich, given his clan…QQ she thought, shoving the logic aside as Raomar pulled himself onto the top of the casks, and moved carefully toward her.

Out of the lamplight, his hair became a pale outline surrounding his head, negating the camouflaging effects of his green and brown splotched skin. Brianda took a swift step back as he advanced.

The beam above her creaked, and she ducked, feeling the brush of fingertips against her collar. It was a momentary distraction as Raomar swept toward her, the grace of his movements reminding her, once more, of a wild cat.

Brianda slide-stepped to the edge of the casks, sliding her hands to the edge, and the beam above her gave another creak. The barrels shook as Grunwol dropped onto them, and Brianda pushed herself over the edge, dropping to the floor.

Grunwol dived toward her, his hand closing around her wrist and jerking her to a halt. Brianda’s body slammed against the casks, and she gasped in protest. As she did, something dropped past her.

Raomar!

Brianda hooked her legs up out of his reach, but Grunwol gave a grunt of effort and swung her out from the casks. She flailed, trying to find her center as he released her, letting her drop to where Raomar was waiting to catch her.

“Game over,” he managed as he caught her.

“Game over,” Brianda agreed, resisting the urge to fight and pushing down the panic surging through her.

Raomar released her as soon as she relaxed, and she managed not to bolt when a small voice interrupted them.

“My turn,” Ghost demanded, her voice coming from the shadows alongside them.

Turning toward it, Brianda sensed Grunwol hesitate at the top of the casks.

The shadows parted and a young elf stood before them. Child didn’t do her justice. She was past what humans termed ‘childhood,’ having seen more summers than Tara’s seventeen.

“Ghost.” Raomar sounded annoyed.

Ghost gave him a look of solemn attentiveness.

“Yes, master?”

Raomar glared at her, but Brianda saw the slight smile curving his lips. She saw when Ghost noted it, but didn’t see any hint of an answering smile on the child’s face.

“My turn, master?”

Raomar ducked his head, the pointed tips of his ears parting his hair, and the angular planes of his face creating shadows over his skin. They shouted elf to the world…and, coupled to the green and brown of his skin, shrieked kevarag!

Most would have taken that as a warning…and the fact he belonged to that race should have frightened her more than Gravarik and his master. The kevarag were rumored to dwell in the darkest centers of ancient forests, in the deepest chasms of the mountains…and deep within the mountains themselves.

They were also rumored to worship dark gods and demons, as well as shapeshifters, and the butchers of more human settlements than history could account for. None of these things bothered her when it came to this kevarag.

She’d seen in him the stern guildmaster, but also an elf wallowing in the depths of despair, as drunk as a lord as he tried to drown his pain. And she’d seen him loyal to his friends, placing himself in mortal danger to free them from the ancient power that sought their lives—and souls—to fuel its freedom.

Those friends were currently safe—resting in an upper room in the temple, because the cellar had reminded them too much of the cells and underground temple in which they’d been held and readied for sacrifice. They had traveled with them in order to satisfy a request from the gods.

Since their arrival at the temple, Raomar hadn’t made a second attempt to drink away the pain of his goddess’s rejection. Brianda suspected he still felt the pain, but that he kept it well-hidden…until he thought his companions were asleep.

She also suspected that Grunwol and Ghost were aware of it, but like her, they kept the illusion of sleep, as their master grieved.

A thud on the cellar’s flagstone floor broke into her reflection, and Grunwol landed beside her. She flinched, and the barbarian chuckled.

“Gotcha,” he whispered, nudging her in the ribs.

“Gotcha, yourself,” she grumbled back, smiling in spite of herself.

“Your turn,” Raomar agreed, speaking to the child.

Ghost’s amber eyes lit with delight, and she bounced happily on the balls of her feet.

Raomar gave her a mock-thoughtful gaze. “Now… What game shall we play, I wonder?”

Ghost scowled. “It’s…” she began, only to be interrupted by Grunwol.

“Why don’t we ask Ghost what she wants to play?” he suggested, smirking at the kevarag, adding, “It is her turn…”

Raomar rolled his eyes, and Tara smiled at the word play between them.

She’d seen the same kind of thing before…between the brothers and sisters of a far-distant court.

Her heart caught at the memory, and she quieted it. There was no point in grieving for things she couldn’t have had. She’d been the half-bred bastard of a favored concubine, and would have been banished to the streets if the spymaster hadn’t taken her on. The bonds that led to this kind of teasing had never been hers…before.

Still smiling, she stepped a little closer to the shadows, only to have Grunwol lay a heavy hand on her shoulder. He drew her back to his side, shaking his head.

“Nice try.”

Brianda shrugged.

“You can’t blame me for the attempt,” she told him, and he gave an amused snort.

Raomar ignored the by-play, and turned to Ghost.

“What would you like to play?” he asked mildly.

“Stalkers!” the child announced.

“And who are you going to stalk?” Raomar asked, and Ghost looked him squarely in the eye.

“You,” she replied, looking as sinister as she knew how.

“Truly?” the kevarag responded. “And what about Brianda and Grunwol?”

“Ah, ah.” Ghost wagged a finger at him. “That would be telling. Off you go.”

Raomar smiled at her and sauntered down the aisle between the racks, turning a corner and vanishing out of sight. As he disappeared, Ghost approached Brianda.

“No listening,” she admonished the barbarian when he stooped to hear what she whispered in Brianda's ear.

Brianda smiled at the target she’d been assigned and moved quickly and quietly out of sight, taking to the shadows as soon as she reached the end of the aisles. From their shelter, she watched as the girl whispered a name into the barbarian’s ear, and then waited until he’d walked away.

She had to smile at Ghost’s look of consternation, when the child realized she hadn’t given Raomar a target name, and watched as the girl scampered in the direction in which the kevarag had disappeared.

As soon as the girl was out of sight, Brianda turned to the casks and climbed to the top. Up there, in the dust-covered shadows, she began to stalk the temple deeps once more.

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This one isn't completed, yet, but the first book is, and you can find it at one of the links on Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/3nXnLB   

 

The cover art and design here was created by Jake at JCaleb Design.