Forging of a Knight, Book #4...
So I've been getting some great feedback on Book #3, Forging of a Knight, Prison Planet of the Mah-Lahkt. Apparently readers enjoyed the cast of characters, the return of Jesepha, the twists and turns with the good guys and the bad, and the final climactic battle against Shaz, ruler of Those That Stand in Shadow. Thanks to everyone who has been following and enjoying the series!!
So the question now is, where do we go from here?
Well, as astute readers will remember, there was a little reference to a certain half-orcne former thief and his inability to attend a certain party. What happened to him, and where did he go?
Enter Book #4, Forging of a Knight, The Stolen Thief!
A little break in the action from Those That Stand in Shadow, if you can call it that. Qualtan is hot on the trail of the missing Glaive, and this time, the enemies they encounter will be quite unlike anything either has ever dealt with before. A strange magic, a bizarre technology, twin races from myth few know of, and rarely speak of. Plus, an answer to an ongoing question - exactly why are the orcnes considered "bad"? Why did they join Those That Stand in Shadow? Why do the other Kind hate and despise them? Another surprise for Qualtan when he ends up JOINING a ragtag group of orcnes and learns more about them than even he thought possible....and don't forget a certain ex-knight who showed up at the end of Book #3...has the curse that has seemingly followed Qualtan throughout the series finally begun to ring true?
Forging of a Knight, The Stolen Thief, coming in 2015...a brief rough excerpt below...
Qualtan looked over the fragment, shifting it in his hands. It was white stone, roughly shaped, only slightly larger than a man’s hand. The sides were grooved from efforts at extraction. Qualtan felt he was looking at a tiny part of a much larger representation. The piece was done in relief sculpture, showing a rigid sideways standing figure, thin with stern features, pointed ear, and long hair. The figure was garbed in segmented pieces which probably comprised armor. A ray of light seemed to issue from its eye towards the sky, and caught within its expanding range was a strange boat-like craft with three other similar figures riding atop it beneath an attached shell or leaf-like covering. Another craft is cut off to its side from where the fragment had been removed.
“Contemaast had many more like this. There are different images, but they usually follow a similar theme: an elf-like being, either male or female, sometimes accompanied by smaller figures, with strange devices that seem to be in the sky, bizarre creatures, or the elf beings themselves manipulating devices or implements in the strangest of ways. Some contain symbols alongside the figures; others do not. Regardless they all fall under the category of Contemaast’s greatest obsession.”
“Which was?”Qualtan asked as he continued to review the curious stone.
“Elven mythology. These fragments represent much of their various myth-cycles concerning the Dokahlfar and the Vartahlfar, which are…”
Qualtan interrupted Lord Mountebank. “Yes, I know. The Ruinous Ones. The elves that split from the high elves, led by their leader Doka, along with the dwarven leader Varta and his evil dwarven host, seeking power beyond that of the tree and the root. There were many great wars between the two sides, with victories and losses to both, before the ruler of the high elves, Hermstead the Wise, defeated them. With aid called upon from their supreme god Triangel Hermsleaf, Hermstead cursed them, that because they wished to corrupt the light of day they would be forevermore driven from it. The Ruinous Ones supposedly fled underground and were never heard from again. Of course, Hermstead the Wise was considered of partial divine lineage from Triangel, and Hermstead eventually divided his lands between his sons, their claim to rulership based on their godly heritage to Triangel himself. Whether the Dokahlfar and the Vartahlfar truly existed, or if even Hermstead was real, of demigod blood, or merely an elfin king whose exploits were exaggerated over time has been lost in the many tales the high elves have weaved between their true history and the religious beliefs behind it. Either way, the dwarves have always disputed the tale, and because of it have shared little love towards the elves for years beyond telling, for they have no records in THEIR history of any evil kin or any leader named Varta.”
So the question now is, where do we go from here?
Well, as astute readers will remember, there was a little reference to a certain half-orcne former thief and his inability to attend a certain party. What happened to him, and where did he go?
Enter Book #4, Forging of a Knight, The Stolen Thief!
A little break in the action from Those That Stand in Shadow, if you can call it that. Qualtan is hot on the trail of the missing Glaive, and this time, the enemies they encounter will be quite unlike anything either has ever dealt with before. A strange magic, a bizarre technology, twin races from myth few know of, and rarely speak of. Plus, an answer to an ongoing question - exactly why are the orcnes considered "bad"? Why did they join Those That Stand in Shadow? Why do the other Kind hate and despise them? Another surprise for Qualtan when he ends up JOINING a ragtag group of orcnes and learns more about them than even he thought possible....and don't forget a certain ex-knight who showed up at the end of Book #3...has the curse that has seemingly followed Qualtan throughout the series finally begun to ring true?
Forging of a Knight, The Stolen Thief, coming in 2015...a brief rough excerpt below...
Qualtan looked over the fragment, shifting it in his hands. It was white stone, roughly shaped, only slightly larger than a man’s hand. The sides were grooved from efforts at extraction. Qualtan felt he was looking at a tiny part of a much larger representation. The piece was done in relief sculpture, showing a rigid sideways standing figure, thin with stern features, pointed ear, and long hair. The figure was garbed in segmented pieces which probably comprised armor. A ray of light seemed to issue from its eye towards the sky, and caught within its expanding range was a strange boat-like craft with three other similar figures riding atop it beneath an attached shell or leaf-like covering. Another craft is cut off to its side from where the fragment had been removed.
“Contemaast had many more like this. There are different images, but they usually follow a similar theme: an elf-like being, either male or female, sometimes accompanied by smaller figures, with strange devices that seem to be in the sky, bizarre creatures, or the elf beings themselves manipulating devices or implements in the strangest of ways. Some contain symbols alongside the figures; others do not. Regardless they all fall under the category of Contemaast’s greatest obsession.”
“Which was?”Qualtan asked as he continued to review the curious stone.
“Elven mythology. These fragments represent much of their various myth-cycles concerning the Dokahlfar and the Vartahlfar, which are…”
Qualtan interrupted Lord Mountebank. “Yes, I know. The Ruinous Ones. The elves that split from the high elves, led by their leader Doka, along with the dwarven leader Varta and his evil dwarven host, seeking power beyond that of the tree and the root. There were many great wars between the two sides, with victories and losses to both, before the ruler of the high elves, Hermstead the Wise, defeated them. With aid called upon from their supreme god Triangel Hermsleaf, Hermstead cursed them, that because they wished to corrupt the light of day they would be forevermore driven from it. The Ruinous Ones supposedly fled underground and were never heard from again. Of course, Hermstead the Wise was considered of partial divine lineage from Triangel, and Hermstead eventually divided his lands between his sons, their claim to rulership based on their godly heritage to Triangel himself. Whether the Dokahlfar and the Vartahlfar truly existed, or if even Hermstead was real, of demigod blood, or merely an elfin king whose exploits were exaggerated over time has been lost in the many tales the high elves have weaved between their true history and the religious beliefs behind it. Either way, the dwarves have always disputed the tale, and because of it have shared little love towards the elves for years beyond telling, for they have no records in THEIR history of any evil kin or any leader named Varta.”
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