Book Excerpt – The Last Prospector
I hope you enjoy the following excerpt from my book, The Last Prospector. In the chapter titled Treasure Hunt, Prospector and his new friend Tonyo are still getting to know each other. I think this piece says a lot about Prospector’s character and why Tonyo comes to trust him so easily.
Every five years or so in Cyannis, a large fair is mounted. All the breeders bring their finest beasties to show and sell. It’s a grand business and social event. Almost everyone in the blue tier comes to the fair to sell their goods, see the sights and catch up with old friends. When Prospector was nine, Gharyld packed everyone off from the Hearth to spend the duration of the Breeder’s Ball near Leohna.
It was a fine adventure for young Grayme Ceruleya and his siblings. They camped under the stars, competed in the contests and ate all the rare treats exotic vendors sold under the tents. There were magickers making pretty girls disappear and raconteurs from all over the tiers trying to outdo each other with stories. A troupe of acrobats from Roja flew through the air twice daily.
But what impressed Prospector and younger brother Dapamo the most were the Yatagan Brothers. They were two men expert at both throwing and catching knives. Their hands moved like lightning as they threw blades of all sizes at each other in a frenzy of motion. Neither one ever missed as each brother caught a knife with one hand while throwing with the other.
Prospector watched their show as often as possible. He even tried a few moves with Dapamo until Coryne caught them. Their mother put a stop to any more knife play, but memories of those sure-handed brothers stayed with Prospector. He had never since seen anyone move with such speed and dexterity. Not until he met Tonyo.
Now, the boy was standing close to Mak. In his hand was a straw viper. He’d snatched it up from the grass right before the big cat stepped on the well camouflaged snake. Straw vipers were among the deadliest serpents in Solstice. One bite could possibly kill even a large creature like Makyldun.
Prospector didn’t even see the snake. He was telling Tonyo some stories about Tibaryus and how very much he liked to blow things up. It was a beautiful day, the three of them were off exploring the foothills of the Knives. There were many caves and nooks hidden in the rocks. Prospector hadn’t seen any vipers during the many months they camped in the meadows. He didn’t even think to look for them.
But Tonyo’s sharp eyes missed very little. He moved so quickly that Prospector did not even have time to form a question in his mind about what the boy was doing. The nomad’s hand darted down into the grass suddenly. He came up with the three foot snake in a split second and now held the beastie with an expression of disgust. Prospector was impressed for truly. He just looked at the boy with admiration for a few moments. Clearly the boy had gifts that Prospector didn’t fully understand.
“Well, that was,” Prospector searched for a proper word to describe it, “good.” He nodded with appreciation and gratitude that Mak wasn’t bitten.
Tonyo wasn’t much of a talker. He just nodded back impassively and began to search for a rock to smash the viper’s head. He did not care for serpents, the bite of a sand viper killed his father when Tonyo was seven. He had killed many snakes in retribution since then. Prospector watched the nomad searching for something. He saw that look in the boy’s brown eyes.
“Hold on there,” he said gently, “whatcha mean to do wi’ th’ beastie?”
Tonyo looked at Prospector quizzically. “Kill it,” he said simply.
The crease between Prospector’s eyebrows darkened a bit, but his voice was still kind. “Nay, there’s no need to do that is there?”
He pulled his pack off of Mak, looking around inside until he found a burlap sack. Prospector opened the sack beneath the snake. He gestured with his hands for Tonyo to drop it inside.
Tonyo thought this was a ridiculous idea. “It would have killed us.”
Prospector let out an impatient breath and said, “Nay Tonyo, it would ha’ defended itself. It’s nay evil, it’s just a snake out livin’ its life. Defending yourself be a good thing but killin’ something just because you can, well, that’s not a good thing. Do ye understand Tonyo?”
Tonyo did not understand. To him it was just a useless serpent and a potentially dangerous enemy. But Prospector was both soft hearted and stubborn. Tonyo dropped the straw viper into the sack with a roll of his eyes. Prospector smiled happily. The crease disappeared as he carefully closed the sack and mounted Makyldun.
“We’ll be back directly. Jus’ gonna find a safe distance for the little bugger,” Prospector said as he leaned into the cat and cantered off.
Prospector and Mak headed north to deposit the viper safely far away from the exploration zone, finding a suitable spot near a pile of rocks. He left the bag, wished the serpent a pleasant day and rode back to where Tonyo waited. Prospector thought about how quickly the boy moved with the serpent. It was almost supernatural, but very unlikely that the nomad had been magicked or enchanted.
No, whatever gifts Tonyo had, they were as natural to him as all that curly hair. Prospector was very curious. That curiosity ratcheted up a few notches when he returned. The small nomad was easily moving a large boulder from a blocked cave passage.
THE LAST PROSPECTOR ON AMAZON.COM
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