Crossbones: Episode 1

by Stefan M. Nardi

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Erasmus sat back, considering what he had just been told. ‘It does explain a lot though. Have you ever heard of the Fae courts?’

  Eldric shook his head, Dean however, nodded. ‘They’re just a legend though, stories to scare naughty children.’

  ‘Not exactly. The Fae are indeed real, they just prefer to hide themselves from us. However the important part is that there are actually four courts of the Fae, one for each of the elements. Ice, earth, fire and air. For you both to have the abilities that you have, you’re fathers must have been Fae from the courts of Ice and Fire.’

  Dean and Eldric had been listening to Erasmus’ words intently. Eldric slouched back in his seat.

  ‘Well that doesn’t sound too bad.’ He said casually, ‘So we’re only half human, big deal. We’re still the same people we were before you told us that.’

  ‘That is true.’ Erasmus replied

  ‘Why do I sense a but coming?’ Dean asked with a grimace.

  ‘Well…there are actually thousands of half Fae children in the world but not many of them have powers like yours. In order for a half blood child to manifest powers, one of the parents has to be a very powerful Fae but even then the powers are usually quite weak. In order for a child to have powers equivalent to those that you both displayed, they have to be someone very powerful indeed…’

  Deans thoughts strayed back to the events of the night before and the final words of the ships captain.

  ‘Ok, so we have fathers who are some powerful, mystical creatures. Again, big deal.’ Dean said.

  Erasmus sighed. ‘You still don’t get it, do you? There are only four Fae powerful enough to have a half blood child as powerful as you two. The kings of each of the courts.’

  Dean was lost for words, all he managed to get out was a simple ‘Oh.’

  Aldan was a bustling city, tall stone buildings lined the streets, reaching into the sky. People filled the streets as merchants bartered for their wares and craftsmen plied their various trades. The port was filled with ships of all sizes, navy vessels, merchant ships, trading galleys and slave ships. That last part was what Eldric hated most, no one deserved that. To be locked in chains and forced to wait on another man, forever marked as his property. It was disgusting. Eldric forced the thought out of his mind for the time being.

  It had taken them three days to sail to Aldan after they had parted with the slaves. They had docked the ship in the port and left it under the watch of the harbor master. They were now seated in a comfortable little inn, sipping on cups of cool mead and wolfing down bowls of hot stew and bread. The inn was a busy little place, they had managed to get a small table in the corner of the room, the rest of the tables were packed full with sailors, soldiers and men of various other occupations. In the corner, a minstrel sat strumming on a lyre and singing a song about a sailor who had run away with his captains wife. Eldric took a swig of his mead and cast a glance at a group of rowdy soldiers at the next table.

  ‘Some people have no consideration for others.’ He muttered.

  Dean followed his gaze.

  ‘Just ignore them, they’re not worth the trouble.’

  Erasmus grunted his agreement through a mouthful of bread. Eldric let out a sigh of frustration.

  ‘Fine.’

  Dean smiled. ‘Besides, we have more important things to focus on. Now that we’re here we should probably figure what we’re going to do exactly. We can’t just kill Shaide, if we want to bring down the pirate lords then we have to completely destroy them and their organisation.’

  ‘Great plan. Now how exactly do we do that?’ Eldric said sarcastically.

  ‘I’m still working on that…’ Dean muttered.

  Erasmus cleared his throat, the brothers both looked at him.

  ‘I may be able to help with that. Do you remember when we were talking about coming to Sitaria and you mentioned the civil war. Well that war never really ended, the loyalists were routed but there is still an underground rebellion which remains loyal to the descendants of King Raldar. If we can find them, they may be of assistance, seeing as Kaldorn is one of Shaide’s men anyhow.’

  ‘Well that’s a start.’ Dean said ‘Now any idea how we find them?’

  Just then, there was a loud crash. The three men looked up to see the group of soldiers laughing as one of the bar maids was picking herself up off the ground. Eldric got up from the table. He walked over to the woman and helped her up, he whispered something to her and she nodded and then scurried back into the kitchen. Eldric drew his sword and walked over to the table of soldiers.

  ‘Eldric!’ Erasmus called.

  Eldric either did not hear or did not care.

  ‘You should apologise to the lady.’ He said as he approached.

  The guards laughed at him. One of them stood up and faced him, drawing his own sword.

  ‘And if I don’t, what are you going to do little man?’

  Dean sighed, ‘Oh well, if we’re looking for rebels I guess prison is a good place to start.’

  By this time the entire room had fallen silent, several people left their tables and hurried out of the doors. Dean got up and drew his own sword.

  Erasmus lent his back against the wall and continued to sip on his mead, they could handle this.

  Dean walked up behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder, the man turned just in time for Dean’s fist to connect with his face. Erasmus looked on, casually sipping from his mead as chaos erupted across the room. Chairs, cups, hats and men flew through the air as the inn filled with the clash of metal and the screams of men. Dean and Eldric were in the thick of it, crossing blades with any guard they could see. The fight quickly erupted into the street as Dean threw one of them through the door. Erasmus got up and followed them outside. He pushed the door open and stopped dead in his tracks.

  The two brothers stood just in front of the doorway, hands raised in the air. They were surrounded by a regiment of guards who had their pistols leveled at them. Evidently, someone had gone to fetch the city watch and they’d gotten quicker since he’d last been here. Erasmus raised his hands as well. This was not going to end well. He looked around, there were too many of them. Even with their powers, they’d be dead before they could take them all out. As he looked around, a flash of sunlight from the roof of a nearby building caught his eye. He smiled to himself.

  ‘Don’t move a muscle.’ He hissed at the brothers.

  One of the guards stepped forward.

  ‘Well, if it isn’t Erasmus Santiago.’ He grabbed Erasmus and pulled him forward. ‘We thought you were dead.’

  ‘Hello Roland.’ Erasmus smiled ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

  The man laughed, ‘Disappoint me? Oh no, this is fantastic. Now I can kill you myself.’

  The brothers exchanged a confused look but remained silent.

  Now it was Erasmus’ turn to laugh. ‘Maybe one day, Roland. But not today.’

  Just then there was a sharp crack and Roland fell to the ground with a scream, clutching at his leg as it soaked his pants with blood. Several more cracks followed in quick succession and more of the guards fell to the ground. The rest of the guards looked around confused and fearful. Suddenly the street was filled with men and the guards were surrounded. Dean and Eldric looked to Erasmus for guidance, he grinned at them.

  ‘It’s okay, they’re friends.’

  Dean and Eldric lowered their hands. Erasmus knelt down next to Roland.

  ‘You made the wrong choice that night Roland, you chose gold over loyalty.’ Roland groaned in pain.

  Erasmus stood up again and looked around at the remaining guards, they had all dropped their weapons and were now standing in a group, fear written across their faces.

  ‘Run back to your castle and tell Kaldorn that he better lock those gates tight, because we’re coming for him.’ He looked down at Roland again, ‘and take this filth with you too.’

  The guards looked around uneasily, unsure w
hat to do.

  Erasmus sighed. ‘Go now’ he shouted at them, ‘otherwise, I will let them kill you.’

  With that, the guards scurried to pick up their wounded, one of them hauled Roland to his feet and helped him along. The men surrounding them snickered as they parted to let them through. Once they were gone, Erasmus turned back to the men who had come to their rescue.

  ‘Portas!’ He called out ‘Where are you? I thought I saw your ugly mug in that inn. I assume that was you and Eros on that rooftop with the rifles?’

  Two men pushed their way to the front of the crowd, they were both big and burly like Erasmus, they looked very similar too. Erasmus laughed and ran to embrace them. Dean and Eldric looked on bewilderedly. Dean cleared his throat loudly, Erasmus looked up.

  ‘Ah yes, of course. Dean, Eldric, these are my brothers Portas and Eros and these…’ he said as he waved his hand at the surrounding group, ‘are the rebels I was just telling you about.’

  Eldric glared at Erasmus.

  ‘You could’ve told me that before I started the fight and nearly got us all arrested.’

  Dean burst out laughing.

  ‘Oh please, you would’ve started that fight anyway.’

  Eldric grinned. ‘Yeah, probably.’

  The group of men laughed as they exchanged handshakes with each other.

  ‘You’re not going to forget about me are you?’ said a voice from behind them.

  Erasmus and the brothers turned to see a woman striding towards them, a rifle held in one hand. She was one of the most strikingly beautiful women Dean had ever seen. She was small and slender, with dark red hair and deep blue eyes. She was dressed the same as many of the men in the group, she had long trousers with a shirt, over which she wore a brown leather jacket. Dean could not take his eyes off her.

  Erasmus bowed deeply, ‘My apologies, my lady. Dean, Eldric allow me to introduce Kayleigh Vestar. Leader of the rebellion and rightful princess of Sitaria.’

  As a self-published author, reviews are extremely important, they are often a deciding factor in whether or not a reader will purchase a book. So, if you enjoyed Crossbones: Episode 1 then please leave a review!

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  Crossbones continues in Episode 2 (this season gets better by the book!). Episode 2 is available NOW!

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  Stefan M. Nardi grew up on a healthy diet of books, books and more books (pretty sure there was some lollies and other junk in there too). He read his first fantasy novel, Deltora Quest when he was 6 years old. Coincidently it was about the same time that his dad sat him in front of the TV and put Star Wars in the VCR. From then on he was hooked, he consumed every fantasy and science fiction novel, television show and movie he could get his hands on. He is now a self-confessed nerd and can be found most days with his eyes glued to a television or wedged firmly in the pages of a book.

  After writing many horrible first chapters of various stories which usually ended up in the bin, in 2015, at the ripe old age of 21, he managed to get to the second chapter of (and eventually complete) a story and released his first fantasy serial 'Crossbones'.

  He currently lives in Brisbane, Australia with his loving girlfriend (Hi sweetie!) and his wonderful parents and brother. He also now feels like one of those annoying people who talk about themselves in the third person all the time and is going to stop now. He promises.

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