Sneak Peek at Book Two

Book two, Forces of Nature: Ebon Dragons is due to hit the shelves before Christmas of 2019.

Here is an excerpt from the prologue:

On a small island off the northeastern coast of the island continent of Jakaniwa, Myrithus sat in his favorite spot. A large red maple seated directly behind him, shading him from the suns. A small brook babbled nearby. He trapped his tail into his folded legs and concentrated on its sounds. He always felt that it got him into meditation faster. The winds lightly gusted, rustling the leaves of the maple tree, adding to the ambient white noise that Myrithus loved about this particular spot. He felt himself drifting within himself. The calmness and stillness began to take hold of his body. Even though his whiskers fluttered in the breeze, he focused his mind on the sounds of the brook. He began to allow his thoughts to drift where they please, as a small fish that was trying to jump upstream had broken the monotony of the sounds, disturbing his concentration. His tail broke free and swung with flair at the disturbance. His eyes flared open, trying to find the source of the noise. His eyes dilated as he saw the blue salmon trying to fight the stream.

Before the fish had any time to react, Myrithus was upon it in a flash and had caught it. He immediately bit its head off, chewing and swallowing it. The body still wriggled in his hand, as off in the distance, he could see many dots lining the horizon of the ocean. He tossed the fish's body into the water and hastily made his way up the maple tree, climbing high into the branches. Being a Rakshasa of the black panther variety, he was very adept at climbing trees. Being a monk of the highest level, afforded him even more grace and speed with which to climb them. He concentrated on the horizon. The suns were high, but still glared on the water's surface. The pupils of his eyes were but slivers as he patiently waited to determine to whom these ships belonged, tail whipping softly back and forth. He picked at his teeth with a claw where a piece of fish bone had gotten stuck.

He began to see the ships more clearly, but the heat from the suns still distorted them enough that he couldn't see the flags yet. It didn't matter as he began to recognize the bows of the ships. The ships did not run in a tight formation, nor did it seem that there were any ballistas on the bows. Still, the fact that they were Argonisian ships made Myrithus stand up quickly, and concentrate harder. There were several dozen ships that he could see, and his heart raced, tail whipping back and forth more quickly. He wanted to make sure they weren't war ships ready to attack, before alerting the Emperor of their presence. It wasn't long before he could see a dozen Jakaniwan war ships having rounded the island, closing in on the fleet of Argonisian ships. These were the new long-bows, that could hold two catapults in the front, and from what he could see, they were all loaded and ready to fire.

The Argonisian ships did not alter their course, and the Jakaniwan ships had taken a barricading formation 200 yards off of the coast. He watched as two of the long-bows fired a single shot, that both fell short of the lead ships of the Argonisian fleet. Those ships came to a stop, as did the others as they caught up. He could clearly see the flags of the ships now, and the Argonisian flagship began to raise a distress flag.

As it reached the top of the mast, he suddenly noticed more dots lining the horizon. These dots seemed to writhe and change shape. The flagship of the long-bows was getting a rowboat ready to send over their captain, no doubt to have a chat. As he looked back up along the horizon, he began to see some of the Argonisian ships break off and start heading west. The dots were black and had grown in size. His eyes dilated as he realized they were dragons. There were only three of them, but they were big. The rest of the ships began to scatter in every direction, but it was too late. The dragons were upon the ships flying by and spraying their acid breath. He saw that the color of the acid was different than he knew it to be. He watched as a blob of the acid struck a ship. The softest materials were eaten quickly and the blob of acid stuck to the ship, and before too long it was sinking.

Myrithus scrambled down the tree and ran faster than he had ever run. He had to warn the people of the village on this island. He pushed his monk speed to limits he had never achieved. He began to misjudge his steps, sending rocks and debris flying off from his steps. He didn't lose his balance, as his tail helped him to maintain it. He had never seen dragons of those type. The acid was light blue and shimmered with a strange quality. Its consistency and the way it seemed to stick to the ship was different than he knew of mythril or obsidian dragons. Their acid breath was liquid and didn't glob up or stick to things. He had even seen an obsidian dragon in action, and its acid was almost clear like water. On top of all of that, they looked different. The scales weren't shiny, and the horns were more prominent than the other types.

Myrithus slowed to a normal run as he was coming to the top of a hill just outside of the village. As a Rakshasa, his normal run is still faster than most humans could hope to achieve. He slowed again as he hurdled the ten foot wooden fence surrounding the village. He didn't just land, but kept his momentum and continued to run, only it was more like a jog to him. The ground was soft from a morning rain, but the claws on his bare feet helped him to keep his traction. Even still, he slipped a little as he rounded a hut, bumping into a basket full of rice that was being carried by an old lady. She turned around and yelled at him in their native language, waving her fist at him. He had no time to say that he was sorry, and he slowed to a stop as he had made it to Master Wei's hut. He gave a short prayer to their God before he walked in as was customary. Unlike on the Jakaniwan mainland, they worship Ellelone Laneyran, the Goddess of nature and survival. This prayer is to ward off evil spirits that try to follow you into the house.

Master Wei was meditating, the frail old human had his blind eyes still open. “You are out of breath. What is the trouble?”

“We must abandon the village.”

“Today?” His old voice creaked as it went up in pitch.

“We must leave this very instant, Master Wei. There is no time to explain.”

“There is always time to explain. What is the source of the danger?”

“Dragons,” Myrithus answered plainly, albeit frustrated.

“Why are we standing here? We must go now! Warn the village!”