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An Elvish Rebel's Field Guide to the Art of Hit & Run
Disaster narrowly averted. New alliances and old enemies.
Fentor's foes are advancing. His hairline is receding. His uniform is ... cheaply dyed.
Mere weeks ago, the elves had been his bitterest enemies. Now, against all odds, his conscience had forced him to switch sides and save them from obliteration (although, they still didn't really like him much).
With few supplies, few friends, little time, and a world to save, Fentor will have to find a way to build a rebellious movement. Also, if there's time, find a hat—or scarf, or something—to hide his rapidly retreating follicles.
****
Fentor was sent stumbling back, obliged to match every forceful, wild, yet well-timed swing directed at him. All refinement forgotten, he did his best to simply fend off the onslaught and keep his balance. He made every effort not to kill his attackers. They did not extend the same courtesy to him.
“It’s very rude to try and kill someone who’s showing you mercy, you know!” Fentor said, panting heavily.
“Hear that, Cartín? A lesson in manners from Lord Lonochy himself!”
“Well, I’ve never been more honored,” the Norimandian replied, in a voice so dry and droning that even Fentor almost snickered.
“What about ‘All life cares for all life?’ Does that mean nothing to you?” Fentor asked.
“Call this the exception that proves the rule!” Cartín said, punctuating his words with several quick thrusts.
“But this is so dreadfully unfair! I’m one of the good people now!” Fentor pouted.
****
Hiding from Elatea and her Greycoats. Desperately recruiting equally desperate crooks, runaways and ne'er-do-wells. Lacking any semblance of a plan or cohesion, but making up for it with bravado and panache.
The war with elves continues, the same as ever, but Fentor knows that if he doesn't act soon, everything will change forever.
Fentor's foes are advancing. His hairline is receding. His uniform is ... cheaply dyed.
Mere weeks ago, the elves had been his bitterest enemies. Now, against all odds, his conscience had forced him to switch sides and save them from obliteration (although, they still didn't really like him much).
With few supplies, few friends, little time, and a world to save, Fentor will have to find a way to build a rebellious movement. Also, if there's time, find a hat—or scarf, or something—to hide his rapidly retreating follicles.
****
Fentor was sent stumbling back, obliged to match every forceful, wild, yet well-timed swing directed at him. All refinement forgotten, he did his best to simply fend off the onslaught and keep his balance. He made every effort not to kill his attackers. They did not extend the same courtesy to him.
“It’s very rude to try and kill someone who’s showing you mercy, you know!” Fentor said, panting heavily.
“Hear that, Cartín? A lesson in manners from Lord Lonochy himself!”
“Well, I’ve never been more honored,” the Norimandian replied, in a voice so dry and droning that even Fentor almost snickered.
“What about ‘All life cares for all life?’ Does that mean nothing to you?” Fentor asked.
“Call this the exception that proves the rule!” Cartín said, punctuating his words with several quick thrusts.
“But this is so dreadfully unfair! I’m one of the good people now!” Fentor pouted.
****
Hiding from Elatea and her Greycoats. Desperately recruiting equally desperate crooks, runaways and ne'er-do-wells. Lacking any semblance of a plan or cohesion, but making up for it with bravado and panache.
The war with elves continues, the same as ever, but Fentor knows that if he doesn't act soon, everything will change forever.
699 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2025
1 person is currently reading
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 24, 2025
Stop drinking the Kool-Aid
While I’m no war-monger, I am an unapologetic & avid supporter of the troops. Protectors risking their health, lives, and sanity; healers sacrificing their own peach of mind; mages donating their life-force for the good of the cause. But the never-ending search for more inevitably ends up with more people having less. We should never put others in a position in which they are expected to surrender their basic needs for our comforts and egos. There’s something to be said for Nature’s law: ‘Let the hungry eat, the weary rest, the able work…’.
There is nothing wrong with progress and innovation in themselves; the problems rather lie with leaving a vacuum. Well-laid plans need to include replacing/retraining the past and not merely producing a different future. While time IS a cost factor for change, there are many others that cannot be ignored. Otherwise, the price of change may outweigh the benefits.
Empty pockets make for empty bellies.
People should not have to struggle merely to “just get by”, nor go to war against their own leaders to get rid of systematic poverty. Not sure if this is a call to action for the masses or a warning to the corrupt. Perhaps both?
The below applied to plants in the book, it’s crucial to keep this in mind regarding people:
‘It is terrible to force a living thing to do your bidding.’
Some age advice from the author:
Don’t rationalize evil.
‘Obsession is potent, but hollow at the core.’
‘When your head’s full, keep your hands full.’
Forty crowns a day isn’t worth the weight of a dirty conscience.
Fave line (one example of the author’s style - storytelling of yester yore):
‘…suddenly bone-tired. Indeed, he was tendon-tired, muscle-tired, and organ-tired. He was a complete anatomical model of weariness.’
May the nations learn to live in such a way that ‘all life cares for all life’ so that this world (and all the realms) is a happy and healthy place to exist – and that we know no worse than ‘a tulip garden trampled’.
While I’m no war-monger, I am an unapologetic & avid supporter of the troops. Protectors risking their health, lives, and sanity; healers sacrificing their own peach of mind; mages donating their life-force for the good of the cause. But the never-ending search for more inevitably ends up with more people having less. We should never put others in a position in which they are expected to surrender their basic needs for our comforts and egos. There’s something to be said for Nature’s law: ‘Let the hungry eat, the weary rest, the able work…’.
There is nothing wrong with progress and innovation in themselves; the problems rather lie with leaving a vacuum. Well-laid plans need to include replacing/retraining the past and not merely producing a different future. While time IS a cost factor for change, there are many others that cannot be ignored. Otherwise, the price of change may outweigh the benefits.
Empty pockets make for empty bellies.
People should not have to struggle merely to “just get by”, nor go to war against their own leaders to get rid of systematic poverty. Not sure if this is a call to action for the masses or a warning to the corrupt. Perhaps both?
The below applied to plants in the book, it’s crucial to keep this in mind regarding people:
‘It is terrible to force a living thing to do your bidding.’
Some age advice from the author:
Don’t rationalize evil.
‘Obsession is potent, but hollow at the core.’
‘When your head’s full, keep your hands full.’
Forty crowns a day isn’t worth the weight of a dirty conscience.
Fave line (one example of the author’s style - storytelling of yester yore):
‘…suddenly bone-tired. Indeed, he was tendon-tired, muscle-tired, and organ-tired. He was a complete anatomical model of weariness.’
May the nations learn to live in such a way that ‘all life cares for all life’ so that this world (and all the realms) is a happy and healthy place to exist – and that we know no worse than ‘a tulip garden trampled’.
Displaying 1 of 1 review