Sunday, January 8, 2012

Distant Familiarity Free Excerpt


In preparation for things to come and it being Sample Sunday and all, I wanted to give my readers a taste of something new that I am working on. The name of this short story is entitled Distant Familiarity. This is part of a free short story that will be available very soon as a download. More later on when and where.

The story tells of the events that occurred just prior to the prologue from Covenant of the Faceless Knights, detailing what happened to the three former heroes now turned High Council members: Rolin Hardbeard, Nimaira Silvershade and Tiyarnon, the High Priest. As always, I hope you enjoy this brief excerpt!





.... He watched as the other two mounted their steeds. Then the gates of Oakhaven swung wide to allow them passage. Moments later all that remained of their presence was a cloud of dust, which quickly dissipated in the cool breeze of Winter’s Veil. A new year was coming in Wothlondia and Tiyarnon hoped that 66 P.A. would be an even better year than the last for the citizens of Oakhaven, and for the whole of Wothlondia. 

 The three of them traveled for hours heading south along the River Divide, whose current ran in a southerly direction hundreds of feet below them. The river was used by many to bring goods and services to other towns for trade along its banks. The three bridges that crossed the River Divide, including Nature’s Pass, were at extremely high points where ships could easily pass beneath them.


Nimaira repeatedly used her significant magical abilities to propel the horses forward at increased speeds for several minutes at a time to hasten their pursuit. This, of course, made Rolin feel very disgruntled. To him it was bad enough to be obliged to ride a horse at all, let alone having it run at two to three times its normal speed for minutes on end! The dwarf did not like it at all—not eighty five years ago, and certainly not today!


 Tiyarnon and the others concluded that the priests had not taken the northern bridge, as the guards or patrols outside the city would have spotted them and reported this as being the case. Eyewitnesses explicitly expressed that the group headed south out of Oakhaven the evening before last. And they most likely would not have crossed the southernmost bridge. They would be too exposed to detection as the south was barren and known to be full of wild beasts roaming those open plains. 


This all meant that they had to have traveled over the River Divide at Nature’s Pass, which would have had them passing directly through the heart of Amrel and close to the forest elves who made their homes there. The elves of Amrel would have certainly noticed the acolytes within their domain, although such a route would have also given the travelers cover.  No one—humanoid or otherwise—passed through Amrel without King Dorinthal’s knowledge, for his eyes were vigilant and ever-present. 


Tiyarnon confidently spurred his horse further south toward the elven-made bridge, hoping his theory proved to be sound.



See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

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