Swords with Souls: Not Fair B28

Not Fair

(Swords with Souls)

By Dan Watt

Author of BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

Taking her grandfather’s soul was so emotionally draining that Lara just wants to head out on her own. But the funeral arrangements need to be prepared and performed. She will ride out to give Haashir, Madame Swan, and Crimthann’s nephew, Sir Oliver, a message to pass onto his uncle. There were others as well. It would mean she would be at least two dates late in meeting the sword maker. In the meantime, her sister would help her grandmother wash their uncle.

“Lara, Lara,” she hears her grandmother’s gentle voice call.

She gazes at the shelves of books and trinkets that surround the fireplace but can’t bear to look at her grandfather’s corpse wrapped in blankets. His essence isn’t there anymore, he’s in a tiny bag she keeps separate from the baron’s.

“There is a concern we must think on, Lara,” her grandmother says touching her shoulder.

“I must ride and tell others about the funeral,” she replies absent mindedly.

“First, we must consider who will take over the house and land.”

“What do you mean?” she asks in an agitated voice. “You will.”

“Not now, with the new king,” her grandmother says seriously. “Only males can inherit a house and land. That is the current law of the land.”

“Madame Swan owns the brothel,” she argues.

“That’s a business transaction. And who know how long that will last.”

“What are our options?” she asks glancing at the front door.

“Your father is mad; it wouldn’t be long before he lost the rights to either the house or the land. You must marry.”

“I’ve not met a man worthy,” she scowls.

“It would be a marriage of convenience,” her grandmother says. “We should have discussed this before but so much else was happening.”

“What kind of man do you suggest?” She pulls her boots on.

“One you can control,” her grandmother says with no hint of humour.

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Swords with Souls: Unexpected B27

Unexpected

(Swords with Souls)

By Dan Watt

Author of BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

“Legends passed down amongst my people say they came long ago across a vast ocean in long boats oared by slaves our size. They survived by catching fish with their bare hands and rain water captured in troughs along the centers of the boats.” Endellion moves the torch side to side so he has a better view. “The slaves were both for labour and food as these giants, who their slaves called moon people, enjoyed the taste of human flesh and bone.” She pauses and stares directly at him. “Eventually, some of the slaves escaped and were adopted into native tribes. The moon people were hunted down. But some are believed to have escaped into the mountains. To disguise their true identity, they wore the skins and heads of bears and wolves and only attacked at night. Your people, thinking they were giant wolves and bears, hunted down almost all these noble creatures in retaliation. My people wonder if the moon people did survive and now are mating with the current giants sent into the north by your kings.”

He gazes at the corpse again. “If the giants are breeding with these monsters, they will become emboldened. War might be coming,” he blurts out.

“You need to train us,” she says. “Not just because of your people.”

“I don’t have time to train all of you, and,” he touches his ear, “it would be too dangerous to train you outside the Dark Forest,” he continues with one more weary glance at the corpse of the moon giant.

“Then I’ll find someone else for you to train, who can then train the rest of us,” she says with a smile. “A woman without quarter moon ears.”

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Souls with Swords: Unexpected B26

Unexpected

(Swords with Souls)

By Dan Watt

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

As he watches her walk alongside the narrow river that flows down the centre of the valley, he feels hollow. For comfort he places his hand on Alberta’s chest. The mare’s heartbeat gives him strength.

“We travel deeper into the forest for foraging and to learn it’s secrets,” Endellion says from a short distance ahead. “Together we learn what animals are female and whether they are pregnant or not, including the water creatures. We have forbidden each other from hunting those.” She stops and whistles.

Alberta rears up as two young wolf pups, a black bear cub, and more slowly an old fox rush towards Endellion. He is shocked once again. These are horrible monsters who kill human babies and livestock. He begins to draw his sword.

Endellion starts scratching the back of one of the wolf cubs. The fox barks at the bear cub and one of the wolf pups as they begin to fight. The bear cub puts it mouth around the wolf pup’s neck but doesn’t bite down. It’s at that moment he realizes they are playing, much like he would play wrestle with his brothers when they were younger. The fox barks angrily and the bear cub and wolf pup abruptly sit.

“We consider the children of all creature’s sacred,” Endellion says. “Lemmitty was already living with us for a few years when the pups and cub were brought home. She’s mothered them along with one of the goats named Minna.”

“Never name something you plan to kill,” he warns her.

“Of course not. So far, amongst men, I have only named you and your uncle. There are at least ten soldiers I will never name.”

He lifts his face to the light drizzle and curses. Maybe those soldiers will die quickly in battle. It would be better for them than whatever fate she has planned for them. There is no doubt in her tone that vengeance will be hers.

One of the wolf cubs moves towards Alberta. At first the mare steps back. The pup barks up at her without a worry. He is finding his day full of shocks as Alberta tenderly lowers her nostril to the pup.

He is in a daze as he watches the two wolf pups, bear cub and old fox follow Endellion along the river bank past the mini orchards and garden patches. After a while they veer left towards one side of the valley. As they get closer to the hillside, he notices a curtain of ivy. Endellion pulls some of the vines to the side and gestures him to go inside. She follows him in. On a boulder near the entrance is a partially used torch. Beside the torch is a flint and a pyrite stone. She holds up the torch as he strikes the stones over it. Once the beeswax covered jute ignites, she starts to walk farther into the cave.

“As we were exploring one of the girls found this cavern,” she tells him.

The cave’s ceiling is quite high. He and two of his brothers would have to stand on each other’s shoulders to touch the top. The walls are moist and covered in moss and split into two tunnels.

“The left tunnel goes a long way in but we want to go into the right one,” he hears her voice echo.

What he sees at the far end of the right tunnel gives him the shivers. The skeletal figure of a giant lies against the back wall. This giant is close to twice his own height. The skull has a hole above the right eye socket. What is most terrifying is the open mouth. He steps closer. There’s two layers of teeth. He looks along the arms and notices the skeletal hands have six bony fingers.

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Swords with Souls: Unexpected B25

Unexpected

(Swords with Souls)

By Dan Watt

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

That the girl his uncle saved is now in charge disarms him. Some of the girls have been here much longer. And some of the faie are here hidden within trees, the swamp he sometimes smells but has never seen, and the deeper parts of the River Tyne.

The archer takes him to a hot spring surrounded by a naturally occurring ground elder hedge. The steam coming up from the pool reminds him that his uncle believes there is a volcano not far away but hidden within a circle of the distant mountains.

Aquamarine eyes peer at him through the steam. He watches, stunned as she rinses out her hair and steps fully nude onto the shore beside a pile of clothes. She stands there a moment so he can fully gaze upon her pale skin as water gradually runs down it. Her eyes are large and farther apart than he is accustomed to seeing. And her neck is longer as if she has more neck bones than most. But it only adds to her beauty. He doesn’t miss the double-edged stone knife in her left hand or the archers hidden in openings within in the hedge. His mind tries to justify why she would want to ambush him. But her nakedness suggests something else. A challenge to his manhood? Even when he visited Madame Swan’s brothel as a young man full of desire, he never forced himself on a girl. It was always reciprocity. And he was always tender. But he also listened, and instead of just seeing objects of desire, he started seeing daughters, sisters, and sometimes mothers. He started caring about the girls and occasionally protecting them even when they didn’t want it. So, he stopped going. Now, he wonders if his absence has Madame Swan intending to remove him as co-owner?

Endellion’s eyes are not full of lust but venom and distrust. Yet he doesn’t believe its directly towards him, but his entire gender. At first her expression says, you men are failures and we no longer want you. He watches without moving as Endellion slowly pulls on her clothing without ever setting down the knife. When she’s done, she steps up close to him. “You are the nephew of Crimthann and the Sword Master?” she asks with her chin up and eyelids narrowed.

“I am,” he says in a neutral tone. He never gloats about others calling him the Sword Master, but he is that good, and this will not go well for her or the archers she thinks are hidden, if they attack.

To his surprise he does nothing as she places an edge of her stone knife against his neck. She stays like that a moment then nicks his throat ever so slightly. He watches in complete confusion as she puts the trickle of his blood on her knife between her lips and licks the blood off. What she does next baffles him even more. He watches aghast as she nicks her own neck and places the edge with her own blood between his lips. He’s even more concerned that he willingly tastes her blood. He had heard her people were enchanters but never believed it.

“We are family now,” she tells him. “Not cousins, but sister and brother. Now come with me.”

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Swords with Souls: Unexpected B24

Unexpected

(Swords with Souls)

By Dan Watt

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

Sir Oliver rides his destrier mare, Alberta, along the dirt road through the farmland at the back of his fiefdom. He makes sure to go slow enough to wave at the farmers in the field. Most of them are family. His parents had no love of the city, nor did his brothers. Alberta automatically slowed as they neared the edge of the Dark Forest. He needed to warn the women in the hidden valley of the possible war coming. A short distance in, he dismounts and pats Alberta’s shoulder. He tosses the reins over her neck. If there was trouble, she knew to flee and let one of his brothers know. Even though it was early, the thick canopy of the forest cast a dark shadow over everything below. He listens and watches intently. Beside an ancient oak he hoots like an owl. Two hoots come back in reply. He hoots again. A barely visible figure with a cocked crossbow steps into view.

“Oliver, nephew of Crimthann,” he says and waits.

“I remember you, come,” a female voice tells him.

He has exceptional sight but her face is too shadowed for him to make out and he hasn’t been here for at least three or more years. As he steps closer, he notices she is wearing a dark green gambeson and leggings. Her boots and belt are both brown. From her wrists to almost her elbow she has boiled leather tied on; the same as he does. He wonders if she also has the crisscrossing leather straps, he wears under his shirt. Hanging from her belt is a hunting knife. It’s in a poor position to draw. He would have to correct her and the others on that.

Half an hour passes before he sees light shining ahead and hears water running. The scent of pine and skunkweed fades as they come into an open area. Down a sloping hill is the valley.

“Wait here,” the archer says and he watches as she hurries down the hill.

He gazes over the valley. Thatch roofed houses made of clay, straw, and stone are spread sparsely on the sides of the valley’s hills. Women are working in patches of potato, barley, and other grains and vegetables. Surrounding the patches are fruit and nut trees. He can make out hazelnut, chestnut, and almond trees interspersed with plum, apple, pear, and cherry.  The Chestnut and cherry are set in the middle of the smaller trees. Along the hilltops of the valley are oak, sugar maple, and walnuts. Towards the centre of the valley, where the greatest amount of sunlight reaches, are patches of raspberry, blueberry, and grapes. It will be years before the valley produces a lucrative amount of food. Most of it will have to be sold outside of the kingdom in the form of wines and other forms of liquor. Otherwise, a very greedy king might enquire where these supplies come from. At the far end of the valley, he can see a ridge of mountains.

He sees the archer retuning and turns his gaze to her. 

“Endellion will see you,” she tells him.

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BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone (Arriving July 26)

Paper Back Arriving July 26, 2024

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

Cover by Fantasy-Art-Z.com

e-book available now

After Bran gets accepted to the same Bard campus his father once went to his father tells him of the wonders of  becoming a Bard and how it will allow him to travel anywhere in the world. Bran argues that he would rather help his father with blacksmithing. But his father tells him he has to go, and because it’s harvest time, he must go alone. His father also warns him that things are much more dangerous now. Before he leaves, his mother tells him that someday he must return the gemstone necklace he always wears. A necklace given to him by a girl he saved two years before.

Soon Bran will learn just how dangerous things have become as he travels towards the Bard campus, and that the gemstone is much more than just a symbol of its owner’s gratitude.

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone will take you on a journey of discovery, blacksmithing, and music. You’ll walk and run with Bran as he meets lurking dangers and learns of a constant threat from afar.

EXCERPT

His sight becomes blurry. Images fade in-and-out. Things grow extraordinarily large. Everything becomes unclear and black speckles dance in front of his eyes. He stands up and staggers outside into Cranny’s Forest.

“Off to the Campus, alone,” he sings:

Off alone, to a place far from home
Where the Bards are
So, I can sing to the Earth
Of a love, I don’t understand

Her long brunette hair
The tiny freckles around her nose
Are burned into my memories
And her evergreen eyes
As luminous as a pond,
Under gathering fireflies


For a moment of bravery
When I saved her,
from two ghouls
She clasped a silver necklace,
around my neck

Her farewell kiss,
a bonding reminder
That when we are older,
I must return to her,
This gemstone necklace,
That always rests,
against my chest

EXCERPT

Gently, he lays his lute on his lap, and gazes around at his surroundings. To the east there are alternate clusters of apple and cherry trees. Beyond the clusters he can see a wall of pine and spruce. Behind that wall the Druids roam. Through the rustling leaves, and gentle wind, he can hear the faint whistle of the Druids playing their flutes.  
He places the strap of his lute over his shoulders, and lightly twangs the strings. He wants to synchronize his lute sounds with their flute whistles but they are too distant. Something inside, some hidden essence, makes him sing as he plays:
​​​​​​​

He ran beside the forest to find the place of his destiny
Everything seemed dark and overgrown
Alone, he ran,
Through the dense woods

No one knows what creatures he met,
Nor the men who captured him,
Nor the one who let him go

Who would believe the monsters
he saw,
Two-headed men,
With hatchets
Covered in blood—

Swords with Souls!: The Hunt B23

The Hunt

(Swords with Souls)

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

“Kill him if you do and return with his head so we can show the people what a traitor looks like,” the king replies, and once again waving his hand, “and all of his family. They are all deemed terrorists.”

With a flourish, and without replying, Sir Oisin departs. He has no intention of returning to the king with any heads.

As he’s leaving, he hears the king say to the other royal guards except Sir Olaf and the new guard. “Go to your fiefdoms and prepare your fighting men for possible war.”

It amazes him that most of these propers don’t know how to follow a scent or a track. Maybe it’s because they’re taught they’re more important than other living things. They forget they learned how to build from birds, bees, and wasps. How to dig from rabbits and so many more. How to fish and hunt from bears and wolves and others. How to swim from otters. But that was so far back in their history they probably no longer remember. The exception is the rangers. Unfortunately, they are loners instead of leaders. Sir Ganbold would go to his tiny castle first, to collect his family and he would be prepared for an attack. Every one of his children were trained for battle and to ride a horse. If the party sent hasn’t caught up to Sir Ganbold and successfully killed him; there might be a chance to save him and his family.

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Swords with Souls: The Hunt B22

The Hunt

(Swords with Souls)

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

Sir Oisin trots to the entrance of the castle’s great hall and leaps off Ronnin. He watches as his noble stead walks over to a nearby trough and takes a drink before he hurries into the great hall. Behind the king stand the other main royal guards. Sir Afamefuna, rigid as usual but also older looking; Sir Oliver, steadfast and at ease; Sir Olaf, who leaned over to whisper to the seated monarch; and a new guard, with a similar build to Sir Olaf. It didn’t surprise him that Sir Olaf was going to gradually replace the current royal guards with his own. The current royal guards were so busy with their own fiefdoms that it wouldn’t matter, accept in this case Sir Olaf would have greater access to the king’s ear.

“You’re here, Sir Oisin,” King Leopold chides.

“As soon as I heard, Your Highness,” he replies, and gives a sweeping bow. The king’s conniving stare is ever present but the rest of his face looks grey and worn.

“You missed it by a few hours,” the king says with a sweep of his hand. “My son’s hand has been boxed, his royal blood wiped up, and my wife insane with vengeance. A platoon has been sent to kill Sir Ganbold but he is shrewd.”

“I will find him, Your Highness,” he swears.

“We will have a battalion of the army ready when you return,” the King says in a dark tone as he glances behind him at Sir Olaf.

“That we will, Your Highness,” Sir Olaf replies with a snarl in his voice.

“A battalion, Your Highness?” Sir Oisin asks. This could be bad, that many troops would look to prove their strength by eating off the common people’s land and bedding daughters and possibly wives who may not share their desires.

“It would be better if Sir Ganbold does not make the sea and his homeland but we must be prepared if he does.”

“I will go now and find him, Your Highness.” Sir Oisin also sees potential in this. A divided army is easier to defeat.

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Swords with Souls: Before You Go B21

Before You Go

(Swords with Souls)

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

As the memories flow through her thoughts, she prepares for the trip in her room. Then she hears her grandmother call, “Lara,” from the main room.

In the main room she sees that her grandmother’s hands are shaking and tears are pouring down her wrinkled cheeks. In her one hand is a tiny piece of quartz with iron in it, and in her other hand a tiny bag.

“Come,” she hears her sister say to her nephew. Once they leave, she takes the quartz and places it inside the bag. She turns back to her grandfather and nicks his wrist to gather blood in a vial. Then she waits. He chokes out more blood before his chest raises and as he is about to breathe out one last time, she covers his mouth with the bag. 

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Swords with Souls: Before You Go B20

Before You Go

(Swords with Souls)

Cover by Darren Joy

Fantasy Fiction

(Adult content)

Days pass as Lara focuses on preparing her trip to the Sword Maker. The merchant and carnival owner Haashir and his giant bodyguard Jedreck await her half a day’s ride away. The carnival owner is the only one who is allowed to bring a giant, a dwarf, and other oddities into the city. The king allows it because it demonstrates to the proper people how unlike these others are.

After the first carnival giant had died from a disorder that caused him to keep growing fewer people came to see the carnival. A year later, when Haashir met her grandparents at one of the king’s markets within the castle walls, Hasshir asked her grandfather if he wanted a job. After talking it over with their son, who years later would be her and Gwen’s father, her grandfather agreed. Her grandparents would travel with the carnival while their son took care of the homestead.  Her grandfather wore a wig and fake eyebrows made from bear hair her grandmother had collected from the bark of a tree a bear had used as a rubbing post. With makeup her grandmother made her grandfather look intimidating. Her grandparents didn’t need money so Haashir collected books for them. After three years her grandparents were ready to go home.

Word must have gotten around the carnival needed a new giant.  Shortly after her grandfather retired, Jedreck showed up and volunteered for the position. Jedreck was called The Warlord Giant. The king agreed to this name because he believed it reminded the people why giants must stay in their own land.

Lara remembers seeing Jedreck standing in an open space chopping wood with no one else around. His bronze skin glistened in the light rain. His long black hair blowing in the wind and slapping against his chiseled shoulder muscles and bulging chest. She was in awe. He was nothing like the giants she had seen before. They were usually thin and gangly. Jedreck looked like the perfect proper human. But that all disappeared when some proper humans walked by him.

She thought they were toddlers at first. She had told this story when the ranger Crimthann had stopped by on his travels to share news. She recalls how Crimthann had taken a swallow out of his pewter mug, wiped away the suds, and said in a very ominous tone, “There are giants I see now when I go with the collectors to drop off giants and collect propers that are much taller and stand with a confidence in their eyes that I rarely see. The same with the dwarves. Some of the new breed look like walking boulders. Their chins are held high and they are not afraid to look at the collector’s in the eyes. I don’t know if it’s from inbreeding, dwarves mating with dwarves only, or giants mating with giants only, or if they are mating with people we know nothing about.

‘It could be your fault,’ her grandfather had joked. ‘You warned them to keep their proper children hidden when the collector’s come.’

‘I did,” the ranger admitted. ‘After taking the first few sons and daughters from the dwarves and giants, and seeing the anguish in their parent’s eyes, I did warn them.’

Lara had heard so much lament in the ranger’s choked voice. She recalls her grandmother taking his hand and squeezing it. ‘Luckily, I did the job alone then,’ the ranger continued. ‘The quarter moon ears are another story. They shot warning arrows when I went to collect any propers. But I was able to tell them about the quarter moon babies left for the river to swallow. That was when the old king lived. He wasn’t as controlling or conniving as his son. A lot of what I could say and do in the past isn’t possible now.’   

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