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Category:
Young Adult/Teen
Publisher: Scott L. Collins
ISBN-10: 1482741563
Type: Fiction
Pages: 229
Copyright: Dec 21, 2012
ISBN-13: 9781482741568
Price: FREE! (eBook)
Middle Grade Fantasy about a group of four, two brothers and two sisters, fighting back against the evil king to free the kingdom, and their parents, from his tyranny.
Daniel and Aidan have spent their lives apart from the rest of the kingdom of Castiglias and its subjects. For the last three years, they have been left with only each other for company since King Argyle's men came and took their parents to be slaves. The boys' survival has been dependent on the lessons learned from their parents, as well as their own unique powers.
When Argyle's men come to take Daniel, Aidan uses his little-known gift to fight off the gathering party. He does so with only two goals in mind: to save his older brother from a lifetime of serving Argyle, and then escape together. Fleeing the only home they have ever known, they must avoid Argyle's men, werewolves, and a fire-breathing dragon looking for an easy meal.
What begins as a fight to save one boy and then disappear unexpectedly turns into a battle against the evil forces of Argyle, a war that may affect the lives of not only the many children waiting to be taken, but the existence of the kingdom itself.
Excerpt
As they entered the clearing, a small boy appeared on the roof of the house directly over the front door. His shoulder-length blond hair blew in the breeze as he spoke, his slender frame silhouetted in the moonlight, the light of which made his pale skin even whiter. He looked almost ghostlike standing atop the cottage, a specter of doom.
“My name is Aidan. This is my house. I know why you’re here. You’re here to take my brother, Daniel. He’s all I have left so you can’t have him.”
The boldness of his tone brought a quick halt to the procession of men, not out of fear, but out of curiosity and amusement. A few chuckles filtered through the crowd of mercenaries. Aidan continued.
“Laugh if you will, but I’m warning you. You won’t leave here alive if you try to take him. Leave now. Leave now and never come back. If you do that, I won’t hurt you.”
“What, might I ask, is one little boy going to do against the lot of us?” the commander asked in a stern voice, stepping forward from the rest of the men. A large sword was sheathed across his back and a deadly dagger strapped to his bare leg. Aidan had never seen a man this large, especially one with the scars to indicate a long and dangerous past. One poorly healed scar ran from just above his left eye down his face and across his throat. Aidan eyed it, but said nothing. He merely stared down from his perch on the roof, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin defiantly.
It was then that they heard it. The forest coming to life. Five of the largest bears any of them had ever seen emerged from around the sides of the house, two on one side, three from the other. All took position in front of the door. Four mountain lions strode up on each side of Aidan and stood, hair raised, muscles tensed and ready to pounce. Wolves wandered into the clearing from the woods and paced nervously from side to side with growls rising in their throats. Their eyes, which seemed to glow as they reflected the moonlight, never left the men. Overhead, animals could be heard scurrying in the branches.
“This is absurd. I’m not going back to the king and tell him that I got chased off by a child and his circus.” Drawing an arrow from his quiver, one of the men in the front stepped into the clearing, nocked the arrow and drew it back to its full length.
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