by Joe Jackson
Kari glanced at each of them but shook her head. “Tell me what news you’re talking about, Masters,” she said.
“We have just received messages from our church in the southern city of Marsdale,” Master Perez began to explain. “It seems reports began to come in to the Earl of Marsdale that smaller villages in the north of his county were sacked. From what we have been told, the Earl went out to see to the problem himself, and is feared dead.”
“Iron Clyde is dead?” Kari balked.
Master Arinotte cocked an eyebrow. “You knew the Earl?” he asked.
Kari nodded absently. “I met him when the Thirty-Fifth Light Division made its first trip to the southern end of the Barrier Mountains,” she said. “He seemed like one of us, you know? Had no patience or tolerance for the serilis-rir, and took every opportunity to help the Warlord flank Seril’s forces and drive them back north. Probably one of the grittiest warriors I ever met.”
“Indeed,” Master Perez said. “The Earl is a potent force for keeping piracy from the waters along our southern and western coasts, particularly the routes to the holy city. For the time being, we should assume he is containing the problem but needs our help. And that, Lady Vanador, is where your duties come into play.”
“I’ll get right on it, Master,” she said with a salute. “I’ll assign Erik to leading a force to Marsdale to see what they can do.”
“But now what is this you said about Taesenus and Typhonix?” Master Bennet asked.
Kari breathed out a long sigh. “We had a fight with Taesenus when we took Se’sasha to her mother’s grave,” she answered. “It would seem he’s not dead, but my brother Typhonix is lucky to not be dead himself. As it stands, he’s para...paralyzed from the waist down. His brothers are taking him to Tigron’s temple to see if they can do anything for him, but my mate wasn’t able to fix it, so I’m not sure Tigron’s priests will have any more luck.”
“Master Arinotte, send our top healers to Tigron’s temple to aid with Typhonix’ recovery,” Master Bennet said, and he was answered by a nod from the younger priest. The elder then turned back to Kari. “Taesenus is alive, you say?”
“Yes, Master,” Kari answered. “But not for long.”
~~~The End~~~
A Sneak Peek of Legacy of the Devil Queen
The dramatic sequel to Serpents Rising
The village was small and tightly-knit, and Erik and Sonja passed through to the other side in a matter of minutes. The demonhunter was shocked to find a group of men on the far side that appeared to have no wounds. Their movements when they noticed the newcomers answered his unspoken question: these had to be the ones responsible. They weren’t what Erik was expecting; they looked like typical, nondescript human men and women, nine in total, wearing normal, everyday clothing with nothing distinctive about them. Erik had expected them to more closely resemble the necromancers of legend: dark robe-clad people of ill repute.
“You there! What are you about?” Erik barked at them. Sonja glanced at Erik as though he was crazy to even bother trying to talk. The reason why came a moment later, when one of the humans raised a hand and muttered something under his breath. Erik swept Sonja behind him, and a thin beam of sickly, green light shot forth and hit him in the chest. It left a pang of cold just under the surface of his flesh, but otherwise seemed to have no harmful effect. “Why you son of a….,” Erik blurted, incredulous.
Sonja came around Erik’s side and her eyes glowed with barely-restrained fury. Erik had seen his sister use arcane power many times, but usually for utility purposes. She was adept with lightning strikes, but he had never seen her look so furious or as full of power as she did at that moment. Without a shout of protest or a word of warning, Sonja clenched both fists and threw them upwards, as though throwing a clumsy double-uppercut at some unseen foe. The ground before the necromancers rose up and formed a row of hardened, spiky stalagmites. Sonja then threw her hands open, and the rocky formations exploded into a hail of rock and razor-sharp slivers.
The humans dispersed quickly in the face of Sonja’s initial assault, their clothing and exposed flesh well-shredded. Sonja moved forward without pause, and Erik felt a sudden gust of wind emanate from her, apparently a shield of arcane force she erected. He wanted to stay with his sister, but Erik was confident she could handle herself with this newfound arcane might, so he ducked along the side of the closest house and tried to circle around to flank some of their enemies.
Aeligos and Serenjols were still down a side street, disabling as many undead as they could. They were working well in tandem, Jol doing more to draw attention so his agile brother could disable the zombies with his katars. Erik turned away from them and rounded a corner, and came face-to-face with a trio of spellcasters. Another flash of green light barely fazed him, and though a sheet of wind force staggered him back a couple of steps, these necromancers didn’t seem particularly powerful outside of their ability to raise corpses. Erik snarled and raised his blades, and began to give chase when the three humans broke ranks and ran.
Screams sounded off to the left, and Erik assumed Sonja was faring well against some of the other necromancers. He kept himself focused, however, on the one before him that was lagging behind the others. Even fully armored in plate, Erik’s long strides, superior strength, and half-guardian constitution let him catch up to the slowest of his enemies easily. He overtook the necromancer and dropped her with a single, quick thrust to the spine. He wasn’t sure he’d killed her, but as she flopped limply to the ground, he was certain she wasn’t going anywhere.
The others split up, one moving north and away from the village, while the other turned south toward their other companions. Erik was already leery about how many enemies Sonja might be facing, so he turned and pursued the southbound man. He chased the human along the edge of the village, but both stuttered to a stop when they saw the carnage on the end of the west road. Three bodies lay in a wide pool of deepening blood, impaled through by uncounted metal spikes. It took Erik a few moments to realize they were nails, but he soon got his wits back about him and threw his longsword end over end at the nearby necromancer.
The human dodged and turned to run again, and Erik followed in his wake, picking up his sword as he went. That cost him even more distance between them, but he skidded to a halt and brought his blades up before him defensively when the necromancer suddenly rose up into the air. Erik braced himself for an arcane attack, but it didn’t come. Instead, he watched wide-eyed as an unseen force tore the necromancer clean in half, dropping a rain of gore and innards to the ground before the body itself fell with a wet thud.
Erik’s heart was beating wildly in his chest, but he could hardly force himself to draw a breath. He took a few steps forward and saw Sonja’s back as she paced into the center of the village. All about her were the strewn bodies of the necromancers, some shredded, some torn asunder, while one was nailed to the side of a building in a crucified pose. Sonja turned to the side, and Erik could see her eyes glowing golden again as she used her eagle eye enchantment. Then, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared.
“Sonja…,” Erik muttered quietly, looking around at the gore. He could hardly believe any of it was her doing. His sister had gone through almost the entire Apocalypse without killing a single thing, whether person or serilian demon. Even during their work on Tsalbrin a few years before, Sonja hadn’t killed anyone, lending her strength to the group in terms of support and utility from her arcane magic. She had always been the sweet one, the most tempered hand, and almost too level-headed in combat.
All trace of that was gone to Erik’s mind, as he looked at the scene before him. He was hesitant to criticize his sister when she’d finally found some confidence and consistency in her arcane power, but it was hard not to after this display. Aeligos and Jol eventually found Erik, and the looks on their faces – at first, it was obvious they thought he had done this – said that he was far from the only one surprised, or concerned.
“Sonja?” Aeligos asked simply, and Erik nodded. “Gods. Did you get them all?”
“One got away; ran off to the north,” Erik said.
There was a rush of wind at his back. “No, he didn’t,” Sonja answered from behind him. “All nine of them are dead. The twins are headed this way with Sharyn and… reinforcements.”
Erik glanced at her, curious to why she paused before saying reinforcements. The ground began to tremble and the sound of hooves split the air, and Erik gestured for his siblings to follow him to the edge of town. Sherman, Katarina, and Gabrius rode by and waved, but they made a circuit around the village without stopping to talk first. Erik watched them ride, and then turned his attention to the approaching half-demon warrior with the black wolf at his side.
Join the action in Legacy of the Devil Queen here!
Thank Yous & Acknowledgements
Thank you for reading Serpents Rising and joining me in Kari’s adventures! If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on Amazon and let other people know what you liked (and even what you didn’t like). As an indie author, reviews are especially important for getting the word out about the strengths of my work, and it only takes a minute or two; you don’t have to write a term paper!
Serpents Rising could not be considered a completed work without a list of thank-yous and acknowledgements. These books benefitted from some great feedback from my beta readers, and some even required a complete rewrite to tighten up subplots. As with all of my works, a number of people have helped with this in some way, even going back to those who aided in the building of the world itself.
My highest thanks go to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has given me the time, the talent, and the wherewithal to continue this series. All the glory belongs to Him.
Editing thanks go to my wife Crystal, and to Erin Groppe. Thanks to Katie Merrick, who gives me feedback on the first drafts. Thanks to James Stringer, Cori Dyson, and Alexandra Engellmann for beta reading and making suggestions that helped make this a stronger work.
Thanks again to Richard Samanic, who introduced my friends and I to the world of AD&D, wherein the majority of this series’ world-building was accomplished. And thanks must be given once again to the players who helped me build the world up through Richard’s and my own campaigns: Robert Rothman, Pascal, Lenny, Dave, Mike Orlandi, Dave Christopher, Vincent DeBoer, Thanas Tsioplakis, Louis DeBoer, Erin Groppe, and Rachel DeBoer.
Thank you to Andreas Zafeiratos for the spectacular cover image(s). Reworking these covers has been such a fun ride, and I have Andreas to thank for it, and Bryce O’Connor to thank for introducing me to Andreas.
I will also repeat my thank yous here for some of my favorite fantasy authors, whose works helped to inspire me by way of their masterful storytelling, their technique, and/or their brilliant characterization: RA Salvatore, Tad Williams, Raymond E. Feist, Elaine Cunningham, and Alison Sinclair. And this list is only of those in the Fantasy genre; there have been plenty of other influences as well. Other names will join this list as my reading expands and my writing progresses.
Appendix A: The Many Unique Races of Citaria
Terra-rir (TEH-ra reer): the first of the rir, black-skinned, silver-blooded, mammalian draconic species created by Gori Sensullu. Very similar to humans in anatomy with the exception of more draconic heads, tails, and small claws on their hands and feet. They are born of a magical process which involves a pregnancy, but they have no navels.
Terra-dracon (TEH-ra drah-CONE): a mutation of terra-rir that possess leathery dragon-like wings; highly susceptible to a genetic defect called Dracon’s Bane that slowly kills them.
Terra-bengal: subspecies of rir that possesses white tiger-like stripes, and soft pads on their feet; much more lithe and graceful than a typical terra-rir.
Shakna-rir (SHOCK-nuh reer): green-skinned, desert-dwelling variants of rir; matriarchal, highly populous, and very militant; resistant to heat and flame.
Fures-rir (FYOR-iss reer): matriarchal, cold-dwelling variants of rir; all possess hair and eyes in shades of blue and are virtually immune to their cold climate.
Kirelas-rir (kur-ELL-ahs reer): mystical variant of rir differentiated by stripes on the sides of their snouts and mental powers; reclusive and few in numbers.
Seterra-rir (seh-TEH-ra reer): red-blooded variant created to be more human-like; their pregnancy is like that of humans, and accordingly, they possess navels.
Serilis-rir (SEH-rill-iss reer): also known as serilian demons; red-skinned, vicious creatures that come in six varieties, each with their own characteristics, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. The types are called solas, kryon, corlyps, brys, elite, and guardian. All serilis-rir are male except for the solas, who are genderless.
Serilian-rir (sur-RILL-ian reer): the result of a serilis-rir crossbreeding with any other type of rir. Also commonly called half-demons, they are as varied as their fathers’ types, and are accordingly named (half-kryon, half-corlyps, half-brys, half-elite, and half-guardian). Persecuted and despised by most people throughout history.
Bah’Qitur (BAH kih-TOOR): commonly miscalled bakatur; the bah’qitur is a very large, human-like race that has some reptilian features. They are very aggressive but are also a highly devout people. Virtually exclusive to the continent of Dannumore.
Czarikk (Sah-REEK): the lizardmen of Citaria come in two varieties: the more humanoid mulrassa, and the more reptilian sulrassa. Very reclusive people.
Luranar (LOO-ruh-nar): bipedal wolfmen common to the southeast of the continent of Terrassia; considered savage and uncivilized by outsiders, though those who travel through civilized lands are typically well-behaved and therefore accepted.
Kwarrasti (Kwah-RAHS-tee): bipedal catfolk common to the southeast of Terrassia; nomadic and aloof, they are somewhat reclusive and rarely travel into more ‘civilized’ lands.
Appendix B: The Merged Citarian-Koryonite Pantheons
The Citarians: These are the principal deities exalted by Gori Sensullu to keep watch over Citaria.
Gori Sensullu, “The Creator”: more common name for Arakiel, the creator of Citaria and its indigenous peoples; killed at the end of the Apocalypse.
Kaelariel Arakiel Jir’tana, “The Ascending Dawn”: son of Gori Sensullu who appears to be a guardian demon; god of freedom and death, lord of serilis-rir, and leader of the pantheon after the Apocalypse.
Sechre Tori, “First in Battle”: terra-rir god of righteous battle and patron of the military; the oldest Citarian deity exalted by Gori Sensullu.
Kris Fletcher, “The Ghost”: a human also called The Armored Shepherd; he is the god of honor and loyalty, and the patron of paladins.
Kerry Kijana, “Garra Ktarra”: terra-rir deity of the night, explorers, and skill; considered the greatest fighter among the pantheon; patriarch of the bloodline that bore Kaelariel.
Zalkar the Unyielding, “Avatar of Vengeance”: human god of law and the patron deity of demonhunters; called primarily “the Unyielding” by his followers.
Tisa Ch’Brakkh, “The Dawn of Hope”: terra-bengal descendant of Garra Ktarra and mother of Kaelariel; goddess of beauty; ascended directly to deity status.
Karmi G’Dorrinn, “The Lady of the Depths”: human goddess created by Gori Sensullu to be caretaker of the oceans and those who travel upon them.
Mitreus & Zitenius Satachi, “The Sandur Striders”: twin human rangers who were appointed as caretakers of nature and its defenders.
Carlos Bouron, “The Beast”: human ranger reincarnated as a sylvan beast; deity of shape-shifters, lycanthropes, and the more savage humanoid species.
Seril, “The Devil Queen”: terra-bengal goddess and mate to Gori Sensullu who turned on him; creator of the serilis-rir and enemy of the Light forces in the Apocalypse; killed at the end of the Apocalypse.
The Koryonites: These are the principal deities of the Koryon pantheon who agreed to merge with those of Citaria to aid in the Apocalypse.
Ambergaust Corami
n, “The Wellspring”: kwarrasti leader of the Koryon pantheon who agreed to merge his own pantheon with that of Citaria; god of life and marriage.
Carsius Coramin, “The Mother of Truth”: Ambergaust’s kwarrasti wife and goddess of birth and motherhood; matron to female paladins.
Bek Coramin, “The Resultant Truth”: daughter of Ambergaust and Carsius; kwarrasti goddess of wisdom and piety; nearly a paladin in her own right.
Cabal Coramin, “The Iron Fist of Heaven”: son of Ambergaust and Carsius; kwarrasti god of courage and battle.
Tigron Coramin, “The Celestial Mender”: younger brother of Ambergaust; kwarrasti god of healing and life.
The Outsiders: These are Koryonite deities who merged with the Citarian pantheon but have limited influence or even contact with the people of Citaria.
Krollmar Stonetender, “The Celestial Smith”: dwarven god of craftsmen who merged with the Koryon pantheon and subsequently the Citarian pantheon; impromptu god to all of the “little peoples.”
Belgrin the Wanderer, “Tender of the Roots”: half-elven god of nature, the arts, and peace who joined the Koryon pantheon at Tigron’s insistence, and subsequently also joined the Citarian pantheon.
Korbaz the Constant, “Lord of the Second Law”: kwarrasti god of decay; has limited influence over the Koryon pantheon, and less over the Citarian pantheon.
