Character Feature: Cha'da (AKA Eden Nisim)

An image of Cha'da, as Illustrated by Ryan Johnson. Taken form the cover of Dark Moon.

Buy This Book Cha'da is a character I enjoyed writing, because in just about every way, she's caught between. She's a human that was half raised among goblins. She's a pirate by necessity, rather than choice. As a necromancer, she's a medium between life and death. She's from a technological culture, but loves magic. Last of all, she's neither good nor evil, with one foot in the light and another in darkness, choosing to walk the line down the middle.

Early Life of Eden Nisim

Cha'da was born and named Eden Nisim in the Northwestern Empire and is actually of the royal bloodline. Her father was originally slated to become Emperor, but he rejected the throne to marry a commoner for the sake of love. The paranoia of his younger brother, who inherited the throne in his place, eventually caused the man to hire an assassin, because he feared the rightful heir would usurp him. As a result, Eden's parents faked their deaths and the three of them joined a colonization mission under false names, to escape.

They were some of the original colonists to the world that gave rise to Heart Forge (the main city-state that features in The Wizard's Scion), so Eden/Cha'da is actually about fifteen-thousand years old during the events of Dark Moon.

When the empire nuked their colony, her family hopped into a shuttle and hid underwater (imperial colonization shuttles are actually designed to also function as submersibles). They spent most of that time sleeping in suspension tubes, because the shuttle's computer went to sleep and the alarm meant to wake them never went off. Instead, the safety systems of the tubes woke them when power ran low. By that point, the shuttle was stuck in the mud at the bottom of the ocean and her father destroyed the engines in the process of breaking them free.

In the end, they were forced to bail via the airlock and swim for the surface. Eden drowned, but her parents resuscitated her. They spent ages floating on the ocean in a little inflatable raft. When they ran short of food and water, her parents gave their rations to Eden. They died and she survived just long enough to get sick with Mind Fire, the local disease responsible for people gaining magic powers. During the fevers, she was "rescued" by a crew of goblin pirates, who'd originally planned to do rather unspeakable things to her and then (if she survived) sell her into slavery.

Their plans didn't happen, because Eden used magic to defend herself. Recognizing her potential and talent, the shaman of the tribe decided to teach her magic, including necromancy. The old goblin woman renamed her Cha'da (goblin for 'little red') and the two of them had a relationship almost akin to grandmother and grandchild.

Captain Cha'da, Terror of the High Seas

Sadly, the old goblin died and Cha'da became shaman in her place, but the captain of the ship was jealous of her height and challenged her to fight him to the death. Cha'da was forced to kill him just to survive and in the process, she became captain and chief of the tribe, at the age of sixteen.

She could have abandoned the goblins to their own devices, but after years of living among them, she'd come to think of them as family. If you've ever had the misfortune of witnessing a domestic dispute, then you can likely conjure an image of the kind of dysfunction she lived with, though goblins are far worse than that.

In the end, she decided to tame their wild ways, instead of leaving the only family she has left and she really does love them, despite their flaws. To that end, she's a pirate captain, but shes slowly guiding her crew to less violent ways, using selling people into slavery as a step toward getting them to stop thinking of murder as the first and only option. Her ultimate goal is to get them to settle down somewhere and run a tavern, instead of being pirates.

Nature or Nurture? Good or Evil?

In many ways, Cha'da is a result of her environment, but a part of her will forever look to the stars, longing for the home she left behind, fifteen-thousand years before. She wants to return, but doesn't have the means.

The reader of Dark Moon might initially think Cha'da is the villain of the story, but while she is an anti-villain, she wouldn't be the mustache-twirling type, even if she were male. It would be more accurate to say she's deeply pragmatic and has a sense of morals that are less restrictive than most, but she still has lines she won't cross and regrets how hard a woman she's become. She also has a strong sense of justice when it comes to men that abuse women and will go out of her way to punish those that cross that line, regardless of who the abuser may be or how much power they have.

Cha'da is a wild child at heart, who made Dark Moon enjoyable to write, because I wasn't quite sure what she might do next.

Cha'da's Rival

Levi, the primary protagonist of The Wizard's Scion, has a very complex relationship with Cha'da, because they very much got off on the wrong foot. Some of his crew went missing and Cha'da encountered them during her work as a pirate captain.

They tried to kill her with the weapons of their shuttle and she responded with a rather deadly necromantic spell, because that was the only sure way to save herself and her own crew. Had they not attacked, she wouldn't have harmed them.

She's not guiltless in the matter, but neither is she completely at fault and when Levi finally hears her version of events, he's forced to admit he might have done the same, in her place.

Final Words

Depite how she's introduced, Cha'da is one of the protagonists of Dark Moon and this is the first book in which I decided to pit one protagonist against another, which is something I've done several times since, though those other projects haven't been published, yet.

After all, when the hero faces the villain, you usually know what the final outcome will be, but when two protagonists face off, no one can predict the results. It's really fun to watch characters that should be allies beat the snot out of each other, until they realize what went wrong.

That's why I'll always have a special place in my heart for this character, because she helped me embrace a very different style of writing.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing her walk the line between light and darkness as much as I did.

Tags: the-wizards-scion, character-feature

Work In Progress #8: Troll War #8 (August 12-16)

This is the eighth and final part of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon.

Here's links to the rest of my blog entries on Troll War, in chronological order:

1. June 21-28
2. July 1-5
3. July 8-12
4. July 15-19
5. July 22-27
6. July 29-August 2
7. August 5-9

Coming to an End

I completed the rough draft of Troll War yesterday, so this will be the last post regarding my work on the novel.

For at least the next two weeks, I'll be editing, a much less interesting process, which is not my favorite part of writing, but still exceedingly important. It also wouldn't make for good posts, because it would probably be all one-liners to indicate what percentage of the work is done.

After that, I'll be querying literary agents, which is a process that I really shouldn't publicly post about, at least until I'm done querying agents and have either gotten a publishing deal or given up and set my sights on self-publishing the book. Past experience tells me some agents will take as long as six months to reply (they're being inundated with AI-generated trash that doesn't interest them and it takes longer than ever to sift the wheat from the dross).

So, in short, after this post, you won't hear from me about this project for a while, but I would appreciate the prayers of my fans to help me get an agent and a publishing deal.

How Long Should a Novel Take to Write?

That is a funny question that people tend to ask, which somewhat demonstrates a lack of understanding of the writing process. Are they asking how long, once I sit down to write? Are they asking about the whole process? Do they consider editing to be a part of it? Are brainstorming and advanced thought supposed to be included?

I find it quite a pain to come up with an answer, because I've been working on the plot of this book in the back of my head for about a year, but the plot was also something that was shaped by my characters, who always get a say, because their actions shape it and I can't ignore their personalities without making them less realistic.

Then there's the sticky issue of when did I really start writing? I'm not actually sure. I wrote some journal-style entries for Captain Vendros (Captain of Terror of Vok) sometime last year (2023), just after I had the idea for the novel, because I felt inspired. Some of that material was re-written for Troll War (it became part of his speech in chapter 16) and it also fed back into my planning process.

However, I can say with certainty how long it takes me to complete a rough draft: typically, eight to ten weeks and Troll War was one of the quicker ones. I write about a full chapter each day, which averages 2,500 words and I aim for somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 words. Some days I write more, some days less, but 2500 words is my average, unless inspiration is hitting me particularly hard.

I normally move slowly at first, unless I have a strong image for the opening scenes, because I have to feel out the personalities of new characters or work out how an old character may be dealing with/not dealing with the consequences of previous adventures.

Troll War was a relatively quick starter, a surprise, because the required action lent itself rather well to moving things along, but I still had a lot of slowdowns during the first week or so, because I had to make a lot of decisions about the setting and characters. The prologue wasn't easy to write, though it was fun. It took me two days to write, despite being only 2,200 words.

Once I was past that, however, things really picked up, because the characters are interesting.

I find the crazy, unstoppable nature of trolls fun to write and chapter 1 went quickly, though I've had to go back and edit it to make small changes or additions all throughout the novel, to make the important material there consistent, especially as related to Nepita's son, Prince Yetu.

I love the stubborn, unflinching nature of dwarves and find them easy to write, as well.

Once the conflict between the two got going, I was flying along, just the way I prefer, though there were slow downs with each new main character.

Sadly, I'm no longer flying and I'm to the prickly pineapple of writing: editing and polishing. That typically takes me two weeks, but in this case, I'm going to do that, then hand the novel off to a friend or two to read for a month or so. When they're done, I'll probably take the time for another pass of editing, which I'll likely do at a slower pace, because I'll be in the middle of another novel by then.

So, to answer this question: it takes more than a year, or just a matter of months, depending on the lens you look through.

Statistical Details

I moved faster than my average on this one. The novel is currently 116,072 words and took 8 weeks of work, five days a week, plus one extra day (41 days, not counting weekends), which comes out to 2,831 words per day.

That's a bit longer than I originally planned on (105,000 was an intentional low-ball estimate to give myself extra room), but my first pass of editing will likely cut between one to three thousand words. With careful adjustments, my sentences will get a shorter (my rough draft sentences can often be too wordy).

I usually also have to add material in editing, like a new sentence here and there, expanded descriptions, adding a tie-in to a later plot thread to early chapters, etc.

I expect the novel to end up at around 115,000 words. Lately I've been aiming for 100,000-110,000 words, plus or minus, so this good, but in my high range.

Some Notes on Changes

Chapter 37, 'Bushwhack', the actual climactic chapter, got renumbered to 40, because I kept hitting a wall this past week related to details that needed to be written first, requiring the addition of three chapters I hadn't planned out in my mind.

The chapters I hadn't planned for are 34 (Memorial Vale), 35 (Where No Plan Survives) and 36 (Abomination), which will be covered in the next three sections.

Chapter 34: Memorial Vale

Sureshot's team, minus King Windmaker and his guards, quietly arrives at Memorial Vale, while Anji watches the narrow entrance, ready to fire on intruders.

Privates Price and McBride (the previously unnamed private that volunteered to tend the horses, but which Logan ignored) head into the valley on point, followed by Illa, under cover of a concealment spell that makes them look like rocks, though strangely mobile rocks that are roughly humanoid in shape.

Anji intentionally puts a bullet though the third person's right eye, dropping Illa to the ground. The spell ends (Illa was the source), creating a panic. McBride turns back, just as Sureshot screams for everyone to get moving (it takes a little time for Anji to reload, since her rifle is single-shot and Sureshot knows it).

McBride hesitates too long and takes a bullet through the head, but Logan has the sense to shove the rest of the men through the gap and behind cover, along with Kadrek, leaving only Brosla and Sureshot outside.

Brosla is about to try, but Sureshot tells him to wait. Thirty seconds pass and Illa sits up, complaining about the pain, only to take a bullet through the other eye.

They rush into the valley and into cover.

Kadrek is in dwarven plate armor that can block bullets, so he moves to retrieve his wife, taking a bullet through his shoulder, because there's a weak point there.

Illa is dragged to cover around the time an angry ghost appears. With Illa unconscious, Sureshot is forced to address the issue, drawing her katana, Shaffurukattā. She pours a little magic into it and informs the weapon she's got a ghostly problem to deal with.

As a result, it magically turns the light of the full moon into a ghostly cutting edge, functioning as what's known as a 'moonblade', which has the power to destroy ghosts.

The ghostly queen demands an explanation for their presence, or their immediate retreat.

Sureshot requests safe passage through, but follows up with a threat to exterminate the old queen, who isn't impressed, snapping her fingers. That causes three more ghosts to appear, her sisters.

The newcomers discuss Sureshot and ultimately decide she isn't worth tangling with, because she's got a moonblade and the moon is full, vanishing away.

After Logan takes a potshot at the first ghost with an enchanted, ghost-killing pistol Sureshot loaned him, the old queen runs off, but insists the conflict isn't over (an empty threat, once Illa cxan convince them to back down).

Illa wakes and Kadrek has managed to conceal her injuries form those that don't know she's a troll, so he sells them on the idea she was grazed, twice. She wastes a little magic to make her hand glow for a "healing spell", further selling it. She also heals Kadrek's shoulder.

Illa uses a telepathic shout that's limited to just work on the ghosts of the valley to demand the safety of her friends, including King Windmaker and his men.

While she works, Sureshot loads one of her three Troll-Slayer rounds into her rifle, vowing to kill Anji for harming her men.

In another corner of the valley, Nepita senses Illa's magic, impressed by the nature of it, because she managed to limit the scope of a telepathic shout, which had always been considered impossible in the past.

Yetu is right beside her and he learns the technique, just by observing it being used.

At this point, we finally learn that Nepita fears Illa, because she's so talented with magic, Nepita might not be able to win a fight with her.

Wanting to learn the nature of the message, Nepita demands to speak with the ghosts of the valley, coming face to face with the ghost of Grandmother, or rather the version of her that Nepita left for dead after shattering every bone in her body.

As it turns out, Grandmother's habit of transferring her mind from body to body is a mental cloning process, not a transfer of spirit, so the valley is actually full of copies of the old troll, each with a different face.

Nepita threatens the ghost with a fate worse than undeath (being left a brain-dead spirit, via telepathic magic) to get the information: Illa asked nicely for the safety of her friends, then followed up with the same threat as Nepita. The ghosts depart.

Sureshot uses a telegraph crystal to call King Windmaker in, who imforms his guards the time has come and they rush into the valley with their war-riders, screaming!

Chapter 35: Where No Place Survives

The title of this short chapter is a reference to the fact that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy and this is certainly true in this chapter.

Sureshot's plans are ruined by the fact that the valley if full of trolls and Nepita's plans are ruined by the fact that the battle lines don't get drawn the way she'd likes, because she hadn't counted on the presence of King Windmaker and his personal guard.

Sureshot's team splits up, using the confusion of Windmaker's brazen entrance as a distraction. Sureshot, four soldiers and Brosla head south, while Illa, Kadrek, Logan and three soldiers head north. The intent is to search for the secret door to the palace in a stealthy fashion, while Windmaker does so out in the open.

Anji takes a shot at Windmaker, but the glass of his cockpit has been replaced with an enchanted pane her bullets can't penetrated. He flips her the bird with both hands, though he doesn't know where she is.

Windmaker sees the line drawing of a flower Illa showed him etched all over the back wall of the valley, realizing the trolls learned of the secret entrance and hid it in plain sight, by putting the mark everywhere.

Windmaker notices a company of troll Abominations (though he has no idea what they are) accompanied by the stolen war-rider and orders most of his men to wipe them out. Six of his guards stay to defend him.

Nepita sees Windmaker's entrance to the valley and sets off to face him, ordering Yetu to kill Illa, instructing him to request aid from Anji, if required.

Illa leads her group, but soon discovers the same frustrating fact as Windmaker and laughs hysterically for a time, just before Yetu locates her with echo-location magic tuned only to reflect off of Illa's mind, based on what he learned from Illa's telepathic shout.

Chapter 36: Abomination

This chapter focuses on the ultimate fate of Aketa, who throws herself into battle in the hopes of dying, because she's been telepathically brainwashed by the biomancers to make suicide impossible, despite her daily agony.

As a reminder, Aketa was burned head to toe in Chapter 8 and can't properly regenerate her skin or limbs and she's become the heart of the stolen war-rider, her muscles and tendons directly tied to its control systems.

Captain Stormbreaker (captain of the royal guard) has a nasty time keeping up with her, because she moves far faster than any driver can, because she isn't using handles and levers to drive. He loses a lot of men in the process of learning her capabilities and she even steals his war-rider's ax, demonstrating a level of dexterity that's impossible for any regular driver.

He puts together a team consisting of himself and three others, who seek to come at her from all sides, hoping to use the blind spots of a war-rider to their advantage, but Aketa uses a judo-like throw to hurl Stormbreaker into the machine coming at her from behind, then turns her attention to one side, making rude gestures at another of them (she can move the fingers of her war machines with great precision).

The dwarf she baited charges and the one behind her (a woman dwarf named Fidra) does the same, because the charging fool needs backup against someone so strong. At the last moment, Aketa performs another maneuver that's impossible for a standard war-rider: an leap into the air, including a backwards somersault.

She lands behind the two machines as they slam into each other and skewers both machines with her sword, ruining the steam chamber of the first and putting her sword through the cockpit of the second, forcing Fidra to watch a friend die.

Hauling her sword free, the two machines fall back and she heads off.

Captain Stormbreaker and the other member of the team recover and engage Aketa more cautiously than ever, dancing about the battlefield after a short break to talk, because she wants to tick the dwarves off so badly, they might just beat her. She even insults them by saying they've haven't touched her once and opens her armor to show them how she moves so nimbly.

Stormbreaker is horrified to see the abomination of woman and machine that she's become. She arrogantly (but not suicidally, because she's confident they can't touch her) leaves her armor open.

Fidra frees herself from the wreckage of her war-rider. She's in bad shape and tears her left arm wide open in the process of escaping the wreck with only a throwing ax for a weapon.

She ties a tourniquet on her left arm. Fidra is a champion ax thrower, so she's sure she can do the job, just so long as Aketa is close enough.

To that end, she bloodies her ax to add color and waves it in the air while Aketa's back is turned, catching the eye of her friends, who nod t her; the royal guard are excellent at non-verbal communication, so that's all it takes.

Her friends subtly maneuver Aketa into position, while Fidra hides and waits for her opportunity. It comes and she hurls the ax with all her might, despite her many injuries. Her tourniquet comes loose and she bleeds out, but he ax flies true!

Aketa is struck in the join between her fleshy right shoulder and the machine, ruining her ability to manipulate her right arm, just as she's raised her sword to block a downward chop from Stormbreaker! Her arms falls limp and her sword falls free!

Aketa screams, "Thank you!" just before the ax hits her, destroying her body so badly, she'll never regenerate.

The royal guard clean up the rest of the battle with ease, because the abominations were green troops, with no battle experience.

Stormbreaker has great respect for his fallen opponent, because he finally realizes she was in great pain the whole time and comes to think of her like a sister, because badly-wounded dwarves tend to volunteer for the most intense battles they can, so they can die on their feet, normally taking ten or more enemies down with them.

There's a red flash from the sky (events from Bushwhack and Terror of Vok's Hammer of Vok mode) that nearly blinds everyone.

Stormbreaker realizes the alien threat has arrived and regrets killing Aketa, because she was exceptionally strong and they could have used her against the alien menace.

He leads his men in search of King Windmaker.

Chapter 37: Sharpshooter

Sureshot's team is pinned down by fire from Anji, who kills Private Price. Sureshot gets some idea which way to look and orders everyone to scan the hill, hoping someone might spot Anji.

One of her men gets lucky and points, just in time to take a bullet through the right eye for his trouble! Sureshot sees the muzzle flash and aims, returning fire! Anji's reflexes are on a whole other level, however, and she twists her head to one side, avoiding the shot!

The first Troll-Slayer is wasted.

Unfortunately, taking the shot left Sureshot in the open, just as Anji finishes reloading! Sureshot dives for cover, but takes a graze to her ear!

Sureshot is deeply troubled by the loss of three men, so far, leading to this scene that peaks for itself (FYI, Hale is the most recently killed soldier):

“What’s the plan, Sarge?” Private Everett Holman, a short, bronze-skinned, tank-like man asked.

His words were followed by Private Julius Stevens, who offered his support, “Whatever you need Sarge, I’m up for it.”

The most striking feature about Stevens was his nose, which was longer and more pointed than most, a fact made obvious by being put in sharp profile by the darkness and light of the moon, working together.

Sureshot looked away from Brosla and the corpse of Hale, to instead gaze upon her men, who’d noticed how shaken she was and were subtly doing their best to get her back on task. She smiled at the and realization of the kind of men they were, just the kind she’d always preferred to work with. They were also battle hardened, unlike poor McBride, who’d been a new addition to the squad.

“I hate being on this end of a sharpshooter, but she’s got us pinned down.” Sureshot complained, “If we try to move, we’re dead, but if we stay, she’ll eventually find a position she can reach us from. I’ve done this to others, so I know exactly how deep the crap we’re standing in happens to be.

“I need some kind of distraction,” she hesitated and reluctantly began, “I hate to ask…” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, because she didn’t care to ask good men to lay down their lives for her.

Stevens grinned in the moonlight, his pearly whites reflecting the dim light better than his skin, “But you need a volunteer to take fire, so you can pinpoint her. I’ll do it, Sarge.”

“No,” Sureshot doubted herself and tried to refuse, “I can’t risk you like-”

“Sure you can, Sarge.” Stevens nodded, “No sharpshooter works alone. You can’t do this without us and you know it!”

“Sarge, since we’re dead either way, why not let us go out being useful to you?” Holman asked.

She hated to admit it, but the men had an excellent point, though she delayed the decision by loading another Troll-Slayer into her rifle with extra care, so she could consider their words.

Sureshot nodded, “Fine, Stevens, you’re up, but,” she hesitated and eventually offered some advice, “move as fast as you can, zigzag your way around, make yourself a hard target and act crazy. Pretend to panic, then do the smart thing, instead. Keep an eye out for spots you can take cover, once you hear a gunshot.” Stevens moved to begin his crazy dash, but Sureshot called out, “Wait! One last thing: good luck.”

Stevens nodded, turned back to Sureshot and winked, before shouting, “I’m not taking this anymore, Sarge! I’m outta here!”

He dashed out from behind his tree, jigging his way back and forth through the dark landscape, moving in and among the trees, fallen logs and rocks, ever ready to take cover.

However, Anji is as good as Sureshot, if not better. She takes the shot and puts a bullet through the man's right eye, just like all the others.

Sureshot uses the opportunity to return fire again, but Anji is already on the move, rolling away and she misses, again!

The second Troll-Slayer is also a waste, leading to this:

Tears streamed from Sureshot’s eyes as she dropped back behind cover, thinking, I missed again and wasted the sacrifice of another man that died to give me the opportunity to return fire! I can’t do this! I’m not cut out to be a sergeant anymore! I’m not the detached monster I used to be! I can’t sacrifice these men to save myself! Her conscience ate her alive over her unit’s losses, McBride, Price, Hale and now Stevens, too! It’s too much! I can’t live with this!

She loaded her last Troll-Slayer and made up her mind to be the final decoy. She’d take the risk on herself, to save Holman. It’s the least I can do.

Holman offered, “I’m ready when you are, Sarge. Just say the word.”

Not on my watch. Sureshot vowed within herself, but nodded, “Okay. Give me a moment to compose myself.”

It’s a good excuse. It’s believable. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

Brosla has been quietly observing Sureshot for months and has been a student of human behavior for decades, on top of being a student of humanoid behavior for thousands of years.

He knows Sureshot's lying and reasons she's broken down again, just in a subtly different way from what happened in the Utros palace. He knows how upset she is over the loos of her men and reasons, correctly, that she's decided to take the risk on herself.

Brosla turns his laser rifle to the lowest setting, on continuous beam,

As she rushes off into the moonlight, Brosa fires his laser and waves it all over the dark hill Anji has been firing from, setting fire to trees, as a sort of distraction, while he charges over and jumps in the way, using a rock to get some extra height, only to catch the bullet meant for Sureshot, taking it in the liver!

He falls and calls out, "Journal: triage!"

Sureshot smiles and aims as Anji tries to roll away, only to realize the bush beside her is on fire! She falls back into her earlier position and Sureshot fires, putting the bullet right down Anji's sights and into her eye.

The last Troll-Slayer does its job to perfection, snuffing out all magic in Anji's body, including the spark of life itself.

Sureshot holds Brosla's hand, because he's in tremendous pain (he's enduring surgery from his journal, which has no idea what anesthesia is), leading to another scene that best speaks for itself:

Trembling with pain, Brosla commented, “You-you do-don’t d-die on,” he took a ragged breath, “m-my wa-tch. Th-that’s a-an order.”

Sureshot was touched by his actions and understanding of something she’d been going though, though she hadn’t vocalized it. She looked down at the strange man from another world, overcome by the oddness of the way it had literally taken an alien to peer into her heart and recognize the turmoil there. In addition, he hadn’t just understood, but intervened to save her life, at great risk to his own.

You just don’t see men like this very often. He’s hero material, after all, but the desperation of this situation is what brought it out. She looked down at him and a strange certainty settled into Sureshot’s mind as the thought struck her: He’s my hero.

Sureshot nodded and leaned down to tenderly kiss Brosla’s forehead, because every hero deserved a kiss when they rescued a distressed damsel, even if that meant saving them from their own foolishness, “Understood.”

He lays on his back, looking at the moon as a pair of blue flashes occur, marking the arrival of a pair of ships dropping out of FTL.

The red flash of laser light happens next and he explains what's happening to Sureshot, though he does so with difficulty, because surgery hurts.

When they both see shooting stars, he tells her they're enemies.

Sureshot looks over to where Anji lies dead, filled with regret, because they could have sued her in the fight against the machines and were going to need the best fighters they could get.

She hands her rifle to Private Holman and instead draws her sword, heading off to find King Windmaker and Nepita, in hopes of preventing them from killing each other.

Chapter 38: Song of Compassion

Illa tries to talk Yetu down, but he's too committed and angry to hear her, leading to a clash of very physical magic in the air as they both materialize large and dangerous hands made of magic, though Yetu's have claws. They end up in a contest of strength, with Yetu slightly stronger than Illa.

At first, she takes a step or two back, just to relieve some of the pressure, but she's soon sliding backwards, unable to hold her ground as Yetu's magic presses her backwards, because he's improved quite a lot in the past few months! She slams into a tree and is pinned against it by the pressure of their conflicting magic.

Yetu surprises her with a third magic hand and she really goes on pure defense, barely able to hold two of them off with one hand, while she continues the contest of strength with the other, though she occasionally gets cut by the claws on Yetu's magic hands.

Fortunately for Illa, Kadrek and the soldiers hid before Yetu appeared and spend the entire duel working their way behind him. The soldiers aim their rifles and Kadrek advances, holding his ax up for a strike, only to whisper in the young troll's ear, "Last chance to surrender or me takes yer head!"

Yetu turns his attention on Kadrek and Illa falls down, confused for a little while and the soldiers take the shot, filling Yetu full of holes. He falls and Kadrek swings, but Yetu gets his concentration back in time for his much shrunken and weakened spell to latch onto Kadrek's ax, leaving them in a contest of strength vs. magic.

Yetu calls out to Anji for help, then does something amazing: he combines regular troll magic with Rage Song, by using a heavy metal style of harmonic growl. He telepathically reaches out, but Anji is already dead.

Illa says this:

“There’s no one coming to help you.” Illa spoke calmly and rose to her feet, walking across the clearing, “Anji is probably dead. Nepita has abandoned you, because she wanted to personally fight King Windmaker, right? You’re completely alone and the soldiers on my side would like nothing better than to kill you. Right now, I’m sure my husband, the dwarf, is pretty angry with you, because you tried to kill me. Why don’t you just surrender?”

Yetu's response:

Yetu looked up at Illa from his upside-down, prone perspective and howled at her, “Traitorous-” he cursed, referring to her as a female dog, before turning the scream into a shout of desperate emotion and rage that took on a life of its own!

Feeling as if he's cornered and refusing to believe Illa's desire to let him surrender peacefully, he uses a Shout of Ruin.

Havng expected this, Illa uses a unique spell of her own:

Illa had been expecting that and she’d been considering a counter to his Shout of Ruin, because after expressing herself through that technique, Illa had totally spent her rage with Nepita. She also had no other suitable source of rage to use, but she had plenty of compassion.

She had compassion for Yetu, because he was so twisted up inside, just like Illa had once been. She had compassion for Nepita, her own dear sister, who raised Illa from an infant and nurtured her magical talents. She cared for the dwarves, who’d never wanted to go to war with their own allies, the trolls. She could also sympathize with the plight of Oswil, which had been dragged into the war against their will. She most certainly understood the trolls and why they refused to back down. She especially felt for Brosla’s people, who’d very nearly been wiped out, with only one ship left, which might not hold enough people for their race to bounce back from the brink of destruction.

She sang a few notes and poured every bit of those feelings into the magic, much the same as she’d mixed rage and magic as one, to form a Shout of Ruin. The magic laid hold of her feelings and carried them aloft, via her throat, filling the air with a great sense of peace.

There's a brief conflict in the air between the Shout of Ruin and the Song of Compassion, but the song wins, hand over fist, because peace is more powerful than war and Illa's compassion is far stronger than her anger ever was.

Yetu finally believes her, because the song doesn't harm him at all. He rushes to her and sobs out the feelings that have been pent up inside for three years.

I went back to chapter one around this point to add a scene with Illa and Yetu in her quarters, alone, when she'd been ordered to test Yetu for magic talent. In this scene, Illa treated him with love and kindess, because she's his aunt and that was something he'd badly wanted his whole life.

The real reason he'd been upset with Illa wasn't a matter of betraying Nepita, the kingdom or the trolls, but rathee the fact that Illa left and abandoned him in a palace full of women that hate him and his mother, who, while she does love him, also uses him like a tool. Illa was the only one that had no expectations and offered unconditional love.

He cries as the battle in orbit occurs, producing the red flash that lights up the landscape. Illa recognizes the threat and gets everyone on the move with the intent of finding Nepita and King Windmaker, hoping they haven't killed each other.

Chapter 39: Royal Rage

Nepita sneaks up on King Windmaker and his few men.

We learn something interesting about runic enchantments that hasn't previously been explained: any user of magic can pour their energy into them, to make them stronger. This is because such magic items are normally powered by mythril, which when left to its own devices will produce random, spell-like surges of magic. Runic enchantments are normally designed to gobble up all the magic they can, to prevent the mythril from getting out of control.

As Nepita comes up on the a war-rider from behind, she pours magic into All-biter, extending the cutting edge far beyond the mere blade, then slashed upward, cutting the machines in half, including the dwarf guardsman!

Steam fills the are with a fog-like mist as the machine falls to either side, preventing me form having to describe what was left of the dwarf as Nepita gets covered in blood.

Another slash (using blind-fighting training from Anji) cuts the feet off four more of the machines, causing them to fall. The last of Windmaker's men still in a useful war machine draws attention to himself in a foolish way, getting cut in half, much like the first.

When the fog clears, Nepita swings sideways with both weapons at the four dwarves that charge to attack her. On her left, one loses the top of his skull, while the one next to him has his torso sliced in half along a diagonal path. To her right, one dwarf screams and dies from spider venom, while the last dies from a fear of choking to death, based on a childhood experience that traumatized him.

Windmaker is naturally enraged by the death of his men, but confronts Nepita by name and title. She had been planning to torture him for weeks on end, for the fun of it, but she's frustrated to learn he knows about troll women, in her mind ensuring his swift doom, though she still plans to toy with him.

Windmaker swings his ax down at Nepita as she sheaths her swords. As their maker, Windmaker is immune to their magic and doesn't care to explore their limits.

Using Rage Song to enhance her body's durability and strength, she catches the massive ax blade with her hand, getting only a little cut! Windmaker hauls back, trying to retrieve the ax, but Nepita increases her body density with the same magic, keeping it trapped as she refuses to let go.

Eventually, she does let go and Windmaker's war-rider falls. He perform the acrobatic stand that's unqie to his war machine, impressing Nepita.

She claps, then compliments and insults him in the same sentence.

Windmaker asks to talk face to face, ruler to ruler and she agrees.

He asks for peace, over and over, but she refuses and presses for details on why he wanted to capture Fort Freybell, which has previously been a point of contention, due to her paranoia, even though Fort Freybell isn't really important to Windmaker.

They argue about the reasons for the war, getting nowhere, and Windmaker brings the coming conflict with the machines into the discussion, but Nepita demands proof, just as she did with Brosla, through Shengis.

The battle is back on, but face to face and we learn Windmaker forged an ax specifically to kill Nepita, composing the runes for 'death', 'troll' and 'royalty' in one work. The ax is named Utrocide, because it can kill a troll royal with a mere touch.

It's the very ax in his hand, but as Nepita charges in with a Rage Song punch, he can't bring himself to use it, because he needs her alive and stong, to fight the machines.

Instead, he blocks with his shield, which she shatters. He tumbles away, due to the force of the blow and realizes she's toying with him.

Again, he asks to talk and she's annoyed, but relents. He holds the ax up for her to read, but she admits she can't read dwarf runes.

He tells her the truth and Nepita realizes he really is telling the truth about his desire for peace.

They have more discussion about the subject and eventually decide to settle the war with a bare knuckle brawl until one of them admits defeat or passes out, a match with no weapons, no armor and no magic. The loser will become a tributary monarch to the other and regardless of what happens, the winner will make sure the other is healed. They also make plans to get down to the real reasons for the war, together. This way, both of them remain strong and if there really is a threat from the stars, Windmaker hopes they'll face it together.

Before they begin, they discuss the matter of how he learned about troll women and how important it is for him to keep his mouth shut. He's tells her he's already sworn to take it to his grave, a promise he made to Illa.

He tells Nepita Illa is his daughter-in-law and they're amused by the discovery they've become family, something Windmaker hadn't considered before.

They brawl for ten minutes and Windmaker ends up badly bruised, more or less all over, because Nepita punches like an eastern martial artist. He decides to switch to wrestling, so he can choke Nepita out, because punching is getting him nowhere.

He gets her into the choke hold from behind, just as he desires, but at a terrible cost: she reaches behind herself and grabs him by the family jewels, crushing them in her hand!

Windmaker is in so much pain, he can't even cry out and just whimpers, but he locks the hold in and begins choking her, though he's a hair away from barfing all over her.

The red flash of the battle in orbit happens and they let go of each other.

“There’s yer proof.” Windmaker squeaks.

Nepita heals Windmaker fairly slowly, since she isn't very good at it, starting with his crotch.

Chapter 41: Severing War

Sureshot is the first to find the royals and makes the assumption Nepita is brainwashing Windmaker, so she comes up from behind and just about takes the troll's head off with her sword, which flares up for the job.

Windmaker asks her not to kill the Queen and Nepita delivers a fun line:

“We’re allies now,” Nepita growled, turned and looked Sureshot in the eye with barely restrained rage, “but if you don’t get that flaming sword out of my face, I promise you’ll spend the rest of your pathetically short life with it shoved all the way up your-” she used a curse word for the buttocks.

Sureshot backs down and there's some discussion of the situation, leading Nepita speak, starting this amusing exchange:

“We’ve got to stop the war, before we lose anymore good fighters. I just hope Anji is still with us. She can train…everyone…” She noted Sureshot cringing and asked, “What did you do?”

Sureshot looked down, sheepishly, “She killed several of my men, so I might have…possibly…put a Troll-Slayer through her head.”

Nepita looked really angry, but to her credit, she let it go, “We were at war just five minutes ago and what’s done is done, but it isn’t easy to stop a battle once it’s started. Any bright ideas? I’ve never needed to stop a battle before.”

Illa shows up, offering to super-charge her Song of Compassion to blanket the entire mountain, but it will need some kind of opening to get into people's heads, something to stop the actual fighting.

Windmaker tells Nepita a dangerous truth about All-biter, that is may be capable of cutting more than just physical objects. In the hands of a powerful magic user, it might be able to sever anything, including war.

While Nepita meditates to gather magic and produce an image in her mind of war, so she can cut it, Yetu and Sureshot pu=our their magic into Illa, until the trolls pass out and Sureshot's body aches all over, but the Song of Compassion is suitably supercharged.

Nepita then stands and slashes downward as she imagines war like a beast with millions of tentacles that touch soldiers on both sides of the war. She slashes the tentacles in her mind and a wave of incredibly powerful magic washes over Utros, leaving a sense of peace it its wake.

General Hendrix is at the front lines in the canyon leading up to Whitewall and the canyon is drenched in troll blood, because they've been firing artillery up the canyon to push Utros back. They've only moved 300 feet in a week's time and the canyon is miles long, while the trolls just stand and take it, because they have to hold the line.

He badly wants an alternative and his prayers are answered in the form of a rift in the ground forming between both sides, which is too wide and too deep to cross.

Kina is busy leading a mission to break past the Oswil blockade, because Utros is nearly out of .45-70 rounds, since Oswil stopped selling them to Utros. She intends to meet up with their underhanded supplier, who works for Lord Rolar, once her men leave the kingdom, but just as she's about to order her men to silently kill the Oswil soldiers blocking their way, a landslide forces them to return to the cave they just emerged from, which gets totally blocked, forcing them to turn around.

The third scene is a little hint of the next book, with a group of four gnomes in a mythril-tipped digging machine as they make their way to the Utros palace, a task they've been working at for more than a decade, all in the name of revenge for the actions of Shengis (actually Nepita).

There's a huge collapse ahead of them, which leaves their tunnel exposed to moonlight. The foreman and driver gets out and looks down, deciding the chasm is too deep and wide to bypass and their shoe-string budget isn't enough for building bridges, so it's time to give up and go home.

His men get the machine going again and start off without him, forcing him to run to catch up.

Epilogue

The opening of the epilogue is a series of short scenes covering the perspective of minor characters as they see or hear about the red flash in the sky, followed by the shooting stars, including General Warmaul, the jerky vendor from Wind Hammer (Bokhal Jadetoe), Kadrek's mine foreman, the mayor of Ruby Canyon, Lady Gunn and Lord Rolar. I forgot to include the faires (Lord Shadowfang and Lady Lovelymint), but I'll add them in editing, along with other minor characters I missed.

The point of these scenes is to add weight to the climax, showing how far away it was seen (the entire night side of the planet, though I also need to eventually cover the perspective of someone watching dawn or dusk at the time). I'm sure I'll find the right balance in editing. I'll have to do more of the same in the prologue of Machine War, which is the unwritten sequel to Troll War.

The next scene covers the impact of Scout 3455C4B1 with the ground. Its almost completely shutdown, due to a thermal overload of its nuclear power unit, because emergency atmospheric entry forced it to power down. T?he only systems working are all automatic, resulting in the thing bursting it's egg-like entry capsule, followed by blowing gasses out of its joints, to keep the melted plastic of the capsule clear of them. Last of all is a blast of coolant to help the remaining plastic harden as an extra layer of armor.

It will remain dormant for possibly as long as a week, because it needs time to cool.

The last scene of the novel is several days later, bringing Lord Rolar and Lady Gunn back together in the very same tavern/pub in which the novel started, because they've been summoned via mysterious telegrams.

Just after they settle at a table, King Windmaker, King Shengis, Sureshot and Queen Nepita (though they don't recognize her and she isn't mentioned by name, only description) step into the place, followed by an unusual mixture of Utros, Fortune Fields and Oswil soldiers.

Windmaker sidled over to the table and drew a chair over, loudly dragging it across the floor to put it beside Lady Gunn, while Shengis did the same thing, dragging a chair beside Lord Rolar. Stanton dragged her own chair to the table, turning it backwards so she could straddle it and set her chin on the back. Windmaker put an arm around Gunn’s shoulders, while Shengis did the same with Rolar.

Stanton smiled. It wasn’t a friendly expression. She pulled a very familiar pair of journals from her coat pocket and dropped them on the table.

“We had an interesting time going over these with a fine-toothed comb, just a few days ago, and you know conclusion we came to?” Stanton asked.

The two nobles said nothing.

“They’re fake.” Stanton declared, “Very well made, but there’s no evidence in either kingdom that they’re anything more than fiction.” Shengis and Windmaker both chucked, leaving the two nobles trembling with fear.

Stanton went on, “King Joshua has found you both guilty of treason, based on the evidence and sworn testimony of the victims, alone,” she paused for dramatic effect, “but you see, there’s a little problem with that.”

Windmaker squeezed the shoulders of Lady Gunn, while Shengis did the same to Lord Rolar, speaking in unison, “Extradition!”

“Exactly.” Stanton’s smile became all the more wicked and evil-looking, like that of a trickster god, “Now, you two have a choice: you can accept execution by firing squad here, between the three kingdoms, or you can accept extradition to the nation of your choice.”

Shengis offer a very long life in Utros as his guests. The implication is that they'll be kept alive as long as possible, as they're tortured for as long they last. Based on Nepita's prior threats, that would involve occasional healing magic, to prolong their suffering.

Windmaker offers them a chance to survive, with a daily stay of execution based on their ability to fight for their lives, implying anything but a peaceful existence.

Lord Rolar tries to cast a spell, but Shengis stabs him in a lung with a hidden dagger, preventing him from doing anything.

Sureshot gives them one final alternative: life in prison in Oswil, with hard labor, but only if Lady Gunn rolls on her very corrupt family and gives up every detail on their underhanded dealings. The deal is only on the table if the information pans out, so she has to give up something really good.

Ulitamtely, they take Sureshot's deal.

Conclusion

This is the end of my series on Troll War, but likely not the end of my work in progress series, which will continue to be posted on this blog.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my writing process. I know I enjoyed writing these log entries, though I'm going to have to find better way to do this, because it takes too much time on a Saturday. Perhaps I'll write the entries on each chapter throughout the week in the future.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war

Dark Moon Released!

Due to an error on my part, instead of one week's wait for Dark Moon to be released, it's out now.

I would have preferred to give a little time for it to show up in stores before release day, but I set the date as July 23, 2024, instead of August 23, 2024, largely because I've been dealing with a lot and yesterday, I got confused about what month it was, just long enough to put the wrong publishing date on this one. Oops.

Oh well. If it isn't in the store you'd prefer, please be patient. It may take a day or two.

Buy This Book The Steel Wizard, Captain Levi Jacobs, second-guesses himself over a shuttle and her crew that dangerously vanish into deep space. As search and rescue operations fail to turn up any any trace of them and he’s pressured to declare them ‘missing, presumed dead’, his worries grow.

After following a nearly-hopeless trail of bread crumbs, he discovers the shuttle crew managed to return to their home planet, but were killed shortly after arriving by a skilled necromancer-witch named Cha’da and her crew of goblin pirates. With his hopes of rescuing his people dashed, Levi turns his attention to punishing the responsible party.

In the background, strange mysteries unfold as the invisible moon no one knew the world had reveals itself as a crescent that grows toward a full circle in the sky!

As the sun sets and the full moon rises, Levi faces Cha’da in a magical duel, but nothing is as it appears. Cha’da isn’t evil, having killed the shuttle crew in self-defense, while subtly trying to redirect her blood-thirsty pirate crew to a less violent way of life.

As night begins and strange ‘Harbingers of Doom’ from the moon crash into the ocean, bent on harvesting life energy, the two enemies are forced to fight back-to-back, just to survive!

Will Levi and Cha’da live long enough to save the world or will the alien harvesters steal the souls of everyone they love as part of their dark harvest?

Tags: the-wizards-scion, novel, publishing

Work In Progress #7: Troll War #7 (August 5-9)

This is part seven of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon.

Here's links to the rest of my blog entries on Troll War, in chronological order:

1. June 21-28
2. July 1-5
3. July 8-12
4. July 15-19
5. July 22-27
6. July 29-August 2

Slowing Down a Bit

Learn More

I've been extremely busy in the past week, because I'll be publishing another installment in The Wizard's Scion relatively soon. This will be Dark Moon, which is actually my favorite book in the series, because it introduces Cha'da, the not-exactly-evil-or-particularly-good necromancer. I've always had fun writing her, because she has rather good reasons for all the bad stuff does, which once people hear them, they go, "Oh, I can understand that and I might have done the same." She and Levi become rivals, because he doesn't approve of necromancy.

My artist friend recently finished the cover art and all that's left for me to do is get my final pass of editing done, so I've been putting a little less time into new writing and using a lot of my free time to work on that. I'm about half done, so probably another week of work and then I'll need to set the release date far enough into the future that Draft2Digital's systems can get their ducks in a row, so it will probably be available for purchase in two weeks time.

Chapter 29: The Ember Throne

Sureshot takes her team into Unseelie territory and I switched to Brosla's perspective, because he needed some attention and character development.

He sees movement in the woods, which are far more dense than any forest has a right to be, with trees that have grown together, so their leaves block out most of the light, making the forest dark and gloomy, even during the day.

All the movement seems to be coming from the trees and he sees a creepy face in the bark of one of them.

He pulls his laser rifle off his back as he comes to the conclusion they're being watched.

He raises his concerns with Sureshot, who brushes them off, because she knows for a fact they're being watched by a dryad:

“That face in the bark of a tree I saw you frowning at was the dryad’s, just sticking out of the tree. She wanted us to see her, as a friendly warning to stay on our best behavior. She’s been moving branches around, probably because she noticed the way it bothers you and the soldiers. Dryads are normally a lot more…still.” Sureshot finished with a wry smile, “Just don’t take it personally.”

Shortly after, she declares they're gone far enough and orders the men to make camp, but not get comfortable.

Corporal logan refines her order with additional (screamed) instructions: no campfire, bedrolls only, no tents.

Half of King Windmaker's company of guards take the opportunity to pop their hatches, for some fresh air.

Sureshot lays back against a tree and closes her eyes, leading to this scene:

“Aren’t you afraid?” Brosla asked.

“Me?” Sureshot chucked, “No. I’ve dealt with The Ember Throne before. That’s the name of this country, by the way. The local fey are dangerous and unpredictable, but they’re not stupid enough to kill a special envoy from Oswil.” She said the last theatrically loudly, as if she wanted the dryad to hear her, “Isn’t that right, Matron Blueleaf?”

Brosla fearfully took a few steps back as the face he’d seen earlier appeared in the bark of the tree, above Sureshot’s head.

“My, but you’re a cheeky one…Special Envoy From Oswil, daring to lean on one of my trees, without permission.” The face spoke and looked down at Sureshot with mild amusement, “Is that you, Corporal Stanton?”

“Yes, but I’m a Staff Sergeant, now.” Sureshot answered, her eyes still closed.

“Ah. Always…moving up in the world, you are. I can hardly keep up with the pace at which your kind live. It seems like just…yesterday that I observed you swinging from the branches of one of my sisters, far to the northeast, in that little human…kingdom of yours.” The dryad’s head fully emerged from the tree and leaves sprouted from the bark of her scalp, like hair.

She was rather attractive, for a woman made of wood.

“Really?” Sureshot sounded unimpressed, despite the Dryad’s implication she’d been watching Sureshot grow up, “You have a sister in Oswil?”

“Every forest in the world has a dryad attached to it and we…talk. You’ve been of…particular interest.”

Brosla shuddered, disturbed by the thought of being watched by every tree on the planet.

“Is Lord Shadowfang available?” Sureshot finally got to the point.

“I’m afraid not. He’s being…difficult of late and does not wish to have visitors. The ruler of Utros has…upset him quite badly.”

“That’s a shame, but give him my best, nonetheless. Will you at least pass along a message?”

“No.” The dryad laughed, maliciously, “You leaned against my tree without permission, so I’ll do nothing of the sort.”

“Okay, then you can be the one to inform Lord Shadowfang that he’s missed a perfect opportunity to strike back at Utros, without getting his hands dirty.” Sureshot rose back to her feet and shouted as she strode toward her horse, “Strike camp! We head out in five minutes, back the way we came!”

The dryad loses the undeclared contest of wit with Sureshot, because Sureshot has just put her in the position of giving the fey Lord bad news, so she passes along a request for an audience, then passes the replay back:

Matron Blueleaf spoke with great resignation, “Well played, Staff Sergeant Stanton. Lord Shadowfang will see you…presently, but only one of your party, who will be…required to submit to a…little duel, to obtain an audience. Win the battle and you’ll have your…meeting, plus a personal boon owed by the loser to the winner. Lose and the life of your representative will be…forfeit.”

Sureshot asks for a volunteer and King Windmaker is first to speak, because he's always wanted to fight a fairy, but Sureshot ignores him, because he's too important to risk.

She asks for other volunteers and Brosla eventually speaks. He's nervous as can be, because he's always been a man of peace, but as a null, he knows he'll be immune to fairy magic, giving him the advantage.

Sureshot agrees and the dryad objects, but ultimately agrees:

“Surely you jest! Your imaginary friend can’t accept this challenge!” The dryad’s voice turned angry as she stepped more fully out of the tree, revealing a feminine form made from bark, wearing a dress composed of woven leaves, though her backside was still halfway inside the tree.

Sureshot laughed, “Oh, he’s hardly imaginary.” She stepped back over to the tree-woman, until her face was inches away from the bark of the dryad’s face, hissing, “He’s a null.”

“Ah, that explains the horse that directs itself. I cannot see or hear this…friend of yours, because I use magic to see. Lord Shadowfang will be…furious, but I won’t let on until after the…game is over, because he…disrespected me a few centuries ago.”

Brosla continues on alone, until he comes to a large, cave-like chamber in the forest, filled with wood-sprites, which are two feet tall, made of wood and since they're Unseelie, have whittled their tree branch fingers into claws, with dirk clinging to their roots/feet, which they walk upon, though they clearly root themselves from time to time. They look on Brosla with hunger, because they prefer flesh and blood for fertilizer.

The chamber is lit by flowing fairies with insectile features that fly around over head.

I intentionally went with scary and ugly fairies, because the Unseelie are the dark fey. All the pretty ones are Seelie/light fey. In my works involving fairies, they're often shape shifters and their prevailing mood tends to set their appearance. Whether any particular fey is Seelie or Unseelie depends on how they feel and their appearance reflects their nature, unless they concentrate on a particular form.

Three fairies step into the chamber, a huge, six armed spider fairy, a beautiful female fairy with perfect bodily proportions that would make even a supermodel jealous (her hands are bound, which should give a hint about which side she's on) and finally, one that looks like a vampire, who wears a crown of living wood, with amber jewels set into it, the biggest of which has a spider inside.

Brosla introduces himself politely and earns an immediate measure of respect for having good manners.

The one with the crown introduces himself as Skylad Shadowfang, ruler of The Ember Throne and the Unseelie Court. The spider fey is Trevan Spidercliff and the woman is Lady Posey Lovelymint, who's been his "guest" for the past five-hundred years, because he caught her spying on behalf of the Seelie Court.

There's a brief discussion between the fairies regarding Brosla and Lovelymint makes a gamble on the outcome of the coming fight: if Shadowfang wins, then she'll tell him anything he likes, but if Brosla wins, then she goes free. Shadowfang accepts the bet, because he has great confidence in his abilities to defeat a mortal.

Brosla is asked if he will take up challenge, but he has questions, first seeking clarification on the nature of the boon he will earn if he wins, which is explained as being a favor owed, which Shadowfang will repay with anything that's in his power, upon request.

Next, the alien asks about the nature of the coming duel and is praised for his wisdom, because he seeks clear knowledge, before committing himself.

Brosla and Shadowfang are to fight until one of them dies, loses consciousness or admits defeat. If Brosla survives, he'll become Shadowfang's slave.

He's offered the chance to suggest rules of his own, but he refuses, preferring to keep things simple.

The fairies consider him to have won a battle of wits, because he asked questions and then suggested no rules. If he'd asked for more rules, then Shadowfang would have insisted on a rule of his own devising for each Brosla desired, seeking to hobble his opponent.

Even Shadowfang treats Brosla with great respect, considering it a shame that he's about to die.

Brosla is given a moment to prepare and the battle will begin when he's ready.

Chapter 30: Humility

Brosla takes his rifle off his back and turns the power all the way up.

Shadowfang is curious to know what the device is, but Brosla insists that he'll demonstrate it in battle. Still, the fey Lord presses on, demanding to know what it is, leading to this conversation:

Lady Lovelymint looked amused as she spoke an obvious verbal barb, “Did you think him fool enough to reveal all, just because you desire it? His mystique may be the best weapon he has, yet you would rob him of it? Let a mortal surprise you for once, or are you a coward?”

Spidercliff chuckled, “Indeed! If your power is as great as you claim, then you need not fear what any mortal can do, no matter the weapon used.”

Shadowfang looked frustrated, “Of course, you both make an excellent point.”

Brosla declares his readiness and takes aim.

Lord Shadowfang employs brainwashing magic, which has no effect on Brosla, who shoots him through the chest, burning a hole right through the fairy's lung, causing him to fall over!

Feeling more confident, because his plan seems to be working, Brosla kindly offers Shadowfang the chance to surrender, that he might avoid further pain.

Shadowfang wheezes, "What is that thing?"

The conversation to follow was fun to write:

“An LM-20377 laser rifle,” Brosla answered with confidence, because he’d finally seen some evidence that his plans might actually play out the way they had in his mind, “which has been modified with top of the line heat sinks, the highest quality synthetic diamond lenses, so they’ll never scratch, modern power cells that hold five times the power of the original and last of all, the variable-strength beam emitter was customized to use the excess power in the cells at greater efficiency than it was originally tuned for. This weapon may very well be the most powerful hand-held laser in existence.”

“How can it do so much without magic?” The fey balked as he held a glowing hand over his wound.

Brosla reasoned he was healing himself with magic, because he wasn’t wheezing anymore.

Lady Lovelymint chuckled at the Unseelie fey Lord’s discomfort, which caused him to shout, “Well, what are you waiting for, Spidercliff? Kill this wretch!”

The spider fey shook his head, “Fight your own battles, my Lord, because I’m more interested in seeing how this will play out without my interference, especially since I’ve never been able to wound you. Besides, that weapon of his is fascinating.”

Shadowfang tries an invisibility spell, which also fails against Brosla's immunity to magic, so Brosla shoots Shadowfang in the foot as he tries to sneak around. While he hops around on one foot, Brosla shoots him in the shoulder, once more knocking him down.

“This is most interesting!” Spiderfang commented, “Never before has Lord Shadowfang taken a fall, but in one battle, he’s now fallen twice!” Lovelymint clapped her hands and mocked, “Twice in one day, my Lord? Can he make it three?”

“Concede your defeat, Lord Shadowfang.” Brosla spoke with calm confidence, “I do not wish to embarrass you further.”

“How dare you speak to me with such impudence, mortal?” Shadowfang screamed as he rose from a prone position to standing, without bothering to use his limbs, clearly a feat of magic.

Shadowfang is so angry, black liquid pours from every orifice of his body, flowing over his skin, an outward reflection of his shift in mood. His finger and toe nails lengthen into razor sharp claws and his body glows red, as a reflection of his rage as he charges at Brosla!

Knowing her fate hangs on the outcome, Lovelymint promises Brosla a boon from her if he wins, to keep him motivated.

Brosla switches his laser into continuous beam mode (equivalent to full auto on a modern assault rifle) and lays into the fairy with everything he's got, because he's afraid he's going to die!

Five full seconds of fire later, the rifle runs out of power and the fairy goes for a flying tackle, claws at the lead! Brosla is impaled through his chest and gut, but as they're falling, he kicks the fey lord in the family jewels, causing Shadowfang to cross his eyes and pass out, because it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Brosla has won, but only if he survives. He coughs up blood and manages to speak just long enough to say, "Journal: triage!"

His journal flies out of his pocket as a metallic sphere, which does a scan and then falls on him as a liquid, which flows into his wounds, to begin surgery. Unfortunately, the triage function was a last-minute addition and it has no information on anesthesia. I felt it was important to make sure Brosla doesn't rely on his journal to fix injuries, except when he has to, so I thought that would be a good consequence to using it.

He passes out from the pain, eventually waking up with his head in Lovelymint's lap. His journal is still at work, but the pain his lessened.

They discuss what he wants for his boon and he shares his story, though he's surprised she's already aware he's a Vokosian, claiming she was once friend with his god, Vok. She even occasionally visited the Vokisian homeworld (until her capture), to keep a promise she made to Vok that involves prodding the Vokosians toward peace and enlightenment.

Brosla requests her assistance fighting against the coming machine swarm (even going so far as to request assistance with a total genocide, since it's the machines or everyone else) and she agrees to do all she can, but insists that has not used up the boon, because what he's asked is in her own best interest. She promises to inform the Seelie Queen and do all she can to make peace on the planet.

Normally, most fey would jump at the chance to discharge the favor so easily, but Lovelymint respects Brosla too much to cheat him.

Brosla doesn't know what else to ask for, so she gives him a magic token (a wooden comb from her heair) he can discard as a sign he wishes to see her, claiming it will find its way back to her and then tell her where he is.

She vanishes (teleports away) to get to work, because time is of the essence. The outcome of this will be a matter of most kingdoms of the world coming together for the crisis, because the Seelie are well-known to only intervene in mortal affairs when requested to or when the situation is dire. However, that won't become important until book two.

Brosla steps over to where Lord Shadowfang literally sits in the corner, crying in the form of a child, because that's what he is. He's only seven-hundred years old, which is the equivalent of a seven-year old, when it comes to emotional maturity, though fairies mature intellectually much faster.

As it turns out, he's the son of the Seelie Queen and he ran away at the age of two-hundred, because she tried to discipline him (he was in the middle of the terrible two-hundreds, after all). Lady Lovelymint (his babysitter) was sent to keep an eye on him, but he outwitted her and made her his prisoner.

Brosla apologizes for hurting the fey Lord's feelings and that makes a lot of difference. He was able to handle the pain of getting injured, but since he's just a boy, he'd never been kicked in the balls before and was totally unprepared for that, on top of everything else.

The experience was very humbling for him.

Brosla requests of the fey Lord that he help fight the coming machine invasion, again asking for genocide of the machines. Shadowfang promises to do all he can, but like Lovelymint, he has too much respect for Brosla to cheat him, since doing as the alien has asked is in his own best interest.

He also gives Brosla a token (the spider jewel from his crown), telling him to crush it when he wishes to speak.

Sureshot arrives for the meeting (the Dryad passed word along) and she makes her request for safe passage through the forest, so she might attack the trolls from behind.

Shadowfang agrees and then comments that he's sometimes his own worst enemy, because if he'd only listened, he would have gotten what he wanted (he hates the trolls, because they beat his people in war), without owing someone a boon.

The thing I love about this chapter is that Brosla succeeded where no one else in history ever has: he's gotten the Seelie and the Unseelie on the same page, because they face an enemy the likes of which the galaxy has never seen.

Chapter 31: Crazy Iz’eol

Based on the suspicions of the science officer that another ship is hiding in the FTL engine wake of Terror of Vok (the only blind spot the ship has), Captain Vendros orders a Crazy Izeol (pronounced like "is-wall").

This involves dropping out of FTL space to turn in place. Further, feeling particularly paranoid, he orders them to open fire the instant they finish the turn, regardless of what's there.

They have time to prepare, so he orders all non-essential personnel to board escape pods carrying only what they need to survive, just in case.

The High Priestess enters her assigned pod carrying her religious vestments, because she reasons being able to comfort the survivors will increase their chances.

The others in the pod are initially angry to see her, but when they see the clothing she carries, they feel ashamed for judging her. The woman next to her recognizes the crisis of faith their only priest has been suffering through alone and offers her sympathy, because she once had a crisis of faith, herself, but hadn't ever considered the possibility a priest might have one.

The priestess is asked to lead them in prayer and they link hands as she begins for this scene (the High Preistess is named Et’aell):

They all bowed their heads as Et’aell spoke for all, “O, Great God Vok, hear us in our time of need-”

Her words were interrupted by a sudden, savage sideways twist that had several of them groaning with discomfort!

Et’aell’s voice filled with great fervor, her dormant faith coming back to her, because she was afraid she was about to die, “-and bless the hands that fight this battle, that we may-”

The ship stopped turning and there was a tremendously loud sound produced by the combination of every single cannon on the right side of the ship firing simultaneously, along with nearly a hundred missile launches!

“-survive the day! Deliver us from-”

Another volley of missiles was fired, producing a great wooshing sound as the missile thrusters interacted with the hull, causing sympathetic vibrations!

“-evil! Amen!”

There was a murmur of Amens from the others.

This takes the High Priestess another few step closer to once more embracing her faith.

Returning to the perspective of Captain Vendros, on the bridge, he's pleased to see the pursuing ship FTL space, right in the midst of the field of lasers and missiles that blanket the area, like a minefield.

The enemy ship made big mistake and returns to normal space that's occupied. The lasers and missiles end up inside the ship's hull., doing severe damage to nearly every system. In particular, the FTL drive was not fully disengaged, resulting in feedback to the main reactor, which can't handle the sudden reversal of current and it goes off like a bomb, vaporizing the whole ship.

The bridge crew of Terror of Vok cheer, but Vendros asks a very sobering question: did the enemy send a signal?

The science officer has no answer for him, so he tells them to assume it did and they get back into FTL space.

As it turns out, the enemy did send a final signal and two more warships are assigned to destroy Terror of Vok. That's how the machines do war: when any ship fails, it's replaced by two more, until that tactic proves to be ineffective, leading to the task being brought to the attention of the swarm's leader: Omega.

Omega is considered a god by the other machines of the swarm, because he made them.

Delaying a Chapter

Three days in a row, I planned to write a particular chapter, which will be titled 'Sharpshooter'. I sat down to write it each day and then felt inspired to write something else, including chapters 32, 33 and 37.

The first was because the overly shouty and generally awful nature of Corporal Logan (the Corporal assigned to Sureshot) needed to be addressed before going into the final battle, so I wrote Chapter 32 to address that on Tuesday.

I thought Chapter 33 would be Sharpshooter, but it turned into a chapter that helps lay out how the ground battles of the next few chapters will take place, revealing the plans of both sides (funny how the plan never resembles the actual battle), which I wrote on Thursday.

Then on Friday, I sat down to write Sharpshooter and finally realized the penultimate chapter needed to be written first, because the battle in orbit will literally hang over the rest of the climax, which is tentatively numbered 37.

Chapter 32: The Corporal's Core

In this chapter, Sureshot finally gets fed up with Corporal Logan's needlessly nasty treatment of his squad and requests a word in private as they make camp in the woods near the border of Utros.

I got stuck at the very beginning of this scene and then ran off to speak with a friend, because I've no experience with a Sergeant dressing-down a Corporal, but my friend was a Sergeant in the U.S. Army and he ran me through all the options a Sergeant might take. Armed with that knowledge, I ran home and finished the chapter.

As always, research is everything to my writing. I can't write what I don't know and I've never been in the military, so I have to lean on the knowledge of others, though my friend says I do this rather well with the information he imparts.

I'm reminded of writing She Goes to War, which was a novel my friend talked my into writing, because he wanted to talk about his time fighting the Vietnam War, ahem, Police Action (as he always calls it, with a wry smile on his face).

Sureshot starts by asking Logan why, leading to this scene:

“I know my men.” Logan gave her a defiant look, “They’re a lazy lot that need a harsh hand, which I give them.”

“I doubt that very much.” Sureshot used a deceptively calm tone, “If they’re defiant, then it’s because you’re too harsh, so let me rephrase: Corporal Logan, you will treat the men with common decency and respect. That’s an order.”

“With all due respect, Sarge, I’ve been with this squad a long time and I know-”

“Are you defying my direct order, Corporal?” Sureshot was amazed the man was being so stubborn.

“No, I’m just-”

“That was a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, Corporal.” Sureshot used a tone of warning, much like a glacier might produce a cracking sound, just before dropping one into a crevasse.

“I just think you need to hear my-”

Sureshot sighed and muttered to herself, “Well, don’t say you didn’t ask for it…”

She moved with the sudden speed and precision of a rattlesnake, punching Logan right in the eye! The man hit the forest floor like a sack of potatoes, but soon rose with the crazed, evil smile of a berserker, because he loved a good bare-knuckle brawl!

Meanwhile, Brosla and the soldiers speculate a bout what's happening.

Brosla asks the reason for the man's behavior, leading to this scene that I'll let speak for itself (the names you won't recognize belong to other members of the squad, while the 'younger private' referenced is a young man Brosla was trying to befriend):

The ironically black-haired Private Perry Snow grinned and joked, “Yeah, just the spiky stick rammed up his-” he cursed and the soldiers shared a rare moment of levity.

Brosla found the coarseness of the man’s words unnecessary, but it was nothing he hadn’t come to expect from career soldiers.

“Do any of you know what might have made him such a sour man? I was thinking I might try having a word with him about it.

“Please don’t.” Snow waved his hands in warning, “You’ll only make him worse. The only one that might make a difference-”

There was a distant, but very masculine cry of pain. It could have been Corporal Logan.

“-seems to be doing so, right now.” Snow smiled.

“You think so?” Austin asked.

There was another scream, much louder than the last, modulated to a higher pitch halfway through by whatever was going on becoming more intense.

“Oh yeah.” Snow chucked, “Sarge is almost definitely giving him what for.”

“What makes you think that?” Brosla asked.

Snow explained, making air quotes with his fingers at the appropriate time, “Three other sergeants have tried to ‘have a word’ with the Corp and not one of them stayed our sergeant afterward.”

The younger private nodded, “And the last was balling his eyes out like a little-” he cursed, “-when they came back.”

“But Sarge? She’s a fighter.” Snow chipped in, “She was in the 108th. You don’t mess with the 108th unless you got a death wish, but the Corp is so bull-headed, I bet he picked the fight. I bet he was spoiling for it, so he could try his luck and see how he measures up. He normally likes his odds against most anyone.”

Brosla shrugged. He didn’t understand the military mindset very well, because he’d always been a man of peace.

Illa stepped over and posited, “I think things will be getting better for you soldiers. Jane, Staff Sergeant Stanton to you, is an excellent leader and Logan isn’t her first Corporal. She once told me a story about straightening out another.”

“What happened to him?” Snow looked very curious.

“According to rumor, he learned a few lessons about challenging a master of far eastern martial arts. According to your sergeant, they just had a quiet discussion, until he saw the light and changed his ways. I’m sure-”

There was a third scream from Corporal Logan.

“-Logan will also see the light.” Illa finished her sentence without missing a beat, smiling as she turned to walk back to her husband.

Snow laughed, “I think he’s seeing it, right now!”

We finally get a scene from Corporal Logan's perspective as Sureshot holds him pinned, face down, in the dirt as she lectures him on both when to obey orders and when not to, including the nature of how badly he's screwed up, because he refused a direct order.

He has a flashback all the way to his childhood, starting with the loss of his parents, who were crushed by barrels of cheap booze that broke loose from the wagon carrying them, followed by his life in an orphanage.

He had a particularly rough day with a nobleman's son grinding his face into the dirt one day, resulting in his clothes being torn and bloodied (the other boy really messed up his face).

He went home expecting a little love and a healing touch (magic), only for the super-strict nun-like sister in charge to berate him for "playing so hard he ruined his clothes". She lectured him for a full hour before finally healing his face.

She calls him "Lazy and in need of harsh treatment", which mirrors his words about his men, though he isn't introspective enough to see that parallel.

He learned some harsh lessons form that day, leading him to believe three things: other boys are awful, compassion is never found where it should be and he more or less decides women are evil.

He eventually got old enough that he was kicked out of the orphanage and then drifted from job to job, because his temper always got the better of him. Eventually, his temper landed him a job as a bouncer at a pub, but he was a little too vicious.

One day he beat an Army Captain, a nobleman, so badly he permanently maimed him, beyond the power of healing magic. That landed him before a judge, but the judge saw something in him that might be usefully directed to the kingdom's good, let alone his own, giving him a choice between ten yearshard labor in prison, or Army service.

For a time, he believed he'd found his proper place in life and found pride in serving his king. Within six months, was promoted to Corporal, a decision multiple sergeants came to regret.

The troubles that landed him in the Army soon returned and from his perspective, "because sergeants just didn’t know when to shut up and listen to him, with women sergeants being the worst in that regard."

Coming back to the present, he focuses all of his significant hatred on Sureshot, but he finds he also has a measure of respect he's had for no other sergeant, because she beat him in a fight and did so with ease.

Staff Sergeant Stanton spoke softly in an educational tone of voice like a school teacher, “Now, tell me: what are you going to do from this day forward?”

Logan suggested she procreate with herself for the second time, laughing as the last of his fire held on for dear life.

Stanton hauled back on his arm, perfectly shifting it back into the valley agony she’d been expertly working it in and out of, producing a third cry of pain! She pushed it just that little bit further than she’d done before, until tears dripped from his eyes!

“Say the words, Corporal.” Stanton calmly demanded, still holding his arm with precision, as if she tortured men for a living.

Tired of the pain and sick of her weight on his back, Corporal Logan finally broke and said the words, “I’ll follow orders, yours in particular. I won’t argue.”

And when I say jump?”

“I’ll ask, ‘How high?’ ”

“Good.” Stanton released his arm and stepped off of him.

She treats him kindly and help[s him up, because she's no angry at all (just doing an unpleasant, but necessary job) and that leaves him somewhat confused.

He still hates her, but his feelings keep going in circles, from anger to resignation and even just a hint of admiration, before going back to the start, due to his wounded pride.

They return to camp, leading to this little gem (Alethis is the name of the planet):

Watching as Corporal Logan and Sureshot returned, Brosla was surprised the Corporal had a black eye, a real nasty-looking shiner, as the people of Alethis tended to call them.

Private Snow called out, “Hey Corp, what happened to your eye?” Brosla reflected that Snow seemed to be the bravest of the soldiers, because he was more or less poking a wounded bear.

Logan glared at the man with menace just shy of that require to kill with a look, only to incongruously respond in a quiet, embarrassed tone of voice, “I fell down.”

Brosla didn’t believe that for even one second, unless he’d fallen as a result of Sureshot knocking him down.

Sureshot gives Logan an order to test his behavior and even uses the word "please" to make a subtle point. He interacts with the men without his former shouting and nastiness.

Chapter 33: Snake in the Grass

Sureshot leads her team in a mission briefing in the dark of the night, while Illa uses a moonbeam peeking through the trees to highlight visual aids. She's given them the same lecture every day along the way.

I'm told by my friend, the former sergeant, this is the proper military way, though I wasn't surprised, because I arrived at this on my own, thinking it just made sense to cover the details until they're memorized.

The summary of their plan go as follows: Sureshot and her small squad, plus Brosla, Illa and Kadrek go first. Illa calms the ghosts of Memorial Vale and then Sureshot will use a telegraph crystal to notify King Windmaker she's ready, just by rapidly tapping it.

They'll locate the secret door to the palace (Illa holds up a line drawing of a flower, which she long ago cut into the stone slab with magic). Then either Illa uses magic to move the slab or one of the war-riders will do the job.

Once inside the palace, orders are to cause as much chaos as possible and ultimately, make way to the troll front lines from behind, so the siege can be broken.

The last item of business is Nepita (Illa holds up a drawing of her face). Sureshot reminds them NO ONE is to engage in combat with Nepita, aside frm herself, Brosla and King Windmaker. She doesn't tell them the real reasons (most of them have no idea Nepita is Queen of Utros), but does remind them of the insane power of the woman's swords, as an excuse to get them to run from her. She explains that Windmaker is immune to their magic, because he forged them, Brosla is immune to magic in general and Sureshot intends to put her down with a single shot, the instant she sees her.

They set out to begin their mission.

Switching to Anji's perspective, who happens to be hidden in Memorial Vale, she looks out at the desert scrub brush between the two kingdoms, scanning for invaders. Grandmother has said Memorial vale is vulnerable to infiltration, but Anji doesn't buy the idea of climbing the cliff wall at the back of the valley as a special vulnerability, vowing to search the palace for a secret exit.

She catches a strange snippet of sound drifting on the wind: the sound of whistling rocks. Anji recognizes it as the only outward sign of a concealment spell that Illa taught Kina (demonstrated in Chapter 6).

She sings to contact Nepita's mind, since she's also in the valley, informing her what she's heard.

Switching off to Nepita's perspective, she heads back inside the palace via the secret door (she recently found it), but does an unusual thing along the way: she growls, producing a red glow around her body as she physically lifts the stone slab out of the way! She's spent the past three months studying Rage Song and discovered a powerful strength enhancing spell.

She enters Illa's old room, where Yetu lives:

“Yetu, I’ve finally found an excuse to set you free.” Nepita announced.

Yetu bowed his head and spoke loyally, “Your will is my command, as from the beginning, my Queen.”

Nepita smiled, because her son was so bright, it was a real shame he couldn’t be her heir. He would have made an excellent Queen, if only he hadn’t been male, and if Nepita had a daughter with such potential, she would have willingly stepped down to allow them to replace her, but Yetu wasn’t female and that could never happen.

“I will publicly pardon your crime and even approve your use of Rage Song, but to sell it to the court, I’ll need your help to accomplish something I’m not sure even I can do alone: kill Illa. We’ll work as a team to overwhelm her. I’ll use physical attacks, while you overwhelm her with magic, then give you most of the credit. There’s no way the little-” Nepita cursed, referring to Illa as a female dog, “-can stand up to both of us.” She spoke confidently, despite her own reservations.

Yetu looked up and met his mother’s gaze with the kind of blood-lust she’d seen in the mirror when extremely angry and an unsettling smile, to match. He growled a little and his eyes glowed red. He chuckled softly at first, before launching into the full-blown, insane laughter of a man that had lost his marbles as a result of a suppressed and frustrated rage finally finding an outlet.

The laugh stopped suddenly and his eyes returned to normal as he eagerly nodded, “It will be done with great pleasure, my Queen! Thank you for giving me this chance to prove my loyalty! I’ll make you proud, Mother!”

Nepita beamed with pride, because not only was Yetu smart, but he’d finally come to the intensity of emotion that marked a good troll leader and it really was a shame he wasn’t female, because he had the perfect temperament.

“You already have.” Nepita smiled at her son and gestured to the secret door, “Let’s go kill your Aunt, before she leads the dwarves to this secret door, because I’m certain she knows it’s here.”

If they win, then Nepita plans to raise Yetu in rank until he's third in the kingdom, after herself and Anji. If they win, then he'll never again need fear the court, because he'll be in a position of power, able to kill them at will if they cross him.

Nonetheless, Nepita isn't sure of herself, for once, with no idea if she can defeat Illa or not, because she's the most powerful troll witch the kingdom has ever seen. She even considers calling on Anji for backup, if Yetu and Nepita aren't quite enough.

What I Skipped

Chapter 34 will be 'Sharpshooter', in which Anji and Sureshot finally have the sniper vs. sniper battle I've been foreshadowing since chapter 14.

Chapter 35 will detail Illa's magical duel with Yetu.

Chapter 36 will finally bring King Windmaker face to face with Nepita, while Aketa and her abominations keep the King's personal guard busy, in the background, though I may give Aketa and the abominations some limelight for a chapter of their own as they fight the royal guard.

These three or four chapters will be written next week, plus the Epilogue.

Chapter 37: Bushwhack

The chapter begins with one of the machine warships assigned to destroy Terror of Vok, Pursuer 72D5E639, which has arrived at Alethis ahead of Captain Vendros.

It begins scan of the planet, trying to determine why Vendros is running to the 'miracle' world, as it's referred to in records stolen form the Vokosians.

It doesn't finish it's scans, interrupted by a radiation surge marking the emergence of a star ship from FTL space, which it assumes is the early arrival of its target.

We switch to Vendros and his bridge crew as he makes preparations to exit FTL space. He's still in a paranoid mood, so he orders battle stations and sends non-essential personnel to escape pods, once again. He also orders the pilot to exit FTL space using OBSS, which is sort for Olgun’s Bait and Switch Sequence.

OBSS involves completely shutting the FTL drive off in an instant, rather than a more gradual shutdown. This slightly distorts space inside the ship, which can be dangerous, but before it can do any real harm, the drive is activated again for a brief instant, causing the ship to very nearly exit FTL space in one location, before actually emerging into normal space somewhere else, along the ship's current course. This creates a radiation surge at the first spot almost exactly like a ship that's about to appear, confusing sensor readings.

Vendos gives a speech/pep talk:

“Today we may die, but if this is our time, then we’re-” Vendros cursed, “-well taking our attacker down with us! I will do whatever it takes to defend the galaxy and I will gladly lay down my life to protect our last miracle and safely deliver our families to their new home! Men, are you with me on this?”

Everyone stopped their work for a moment and raised their fists, a gesture Vok was famed for using, though he normally did it with his hammer in hand, promising his readiness to fight. The gesture silently indicated their support, approval and willingness to die for their cause.

“For the galaxy, for our families and for Vok!” Vendros raised his hand, including himself in the gesture.

His bridge crew shouted the ceremonial refrain, “Our hearts and minds for Vok! Our lives for the cause! May Vok give our souls rest!”

Tears streamed from the eyes of Vendros as pride filled his heart. It was strange to hear his crew speak so religiously, but in a most unusual turn of events, he and his crew had rediscovered their faith through the High Priestess coming to doubt her own and he wondered if he’d seen the hand of Vok in that matter.

As his crew got back to work, he was left to his own thoughts, wondering about his own relationship with his god, as a still and calm voice entered his mind, I have always known the important destiny of your soul and never doubted your calling. I chose you before you were formed in the womb, for only you could do the things you have and will do. You became a pirate, because you needed the strength to defy an empire, that you might save the last of my people. My hand is upon your actions. Go now and wield my hammer in faith.

Vendros knew it had been the Voice of Vok and wept with the knowledge, overcome by powerful spirituality and the certain knowledge he was going to die, because Vok only spoke so clearly to men who were sure to lose their lives, that they might accomplish some final task he desired of them. He wasn’t afraid, because he was following Vok’s plan and that meant his soul was assured a place of peace and security in Vok’s heavenly hosts.

The bridge crew briefly looked at him with tears in their eyes and he knew Vok had also spoken to them, before turning back to their work with great fervor and certainty.

I particularly love how the plot thread of the High Priestess losing her faith was the direct cause of many others rediscovering their own. Her doubts more or less saved the souls of a bunch of hardened, atheistic pirates that had turned their backs on their god. I didn't expect that until I wrote that bit yesterday. I really wonder if that detail was somewhere in my subconscious, just waiting for the right time, or if it was inspired. I'll probably never know, at least in this life.

The High Priestess hears the order to report to the escape pods, but feels a powerful need to first put on her religious vestments, so she applies a quick makeup mask and then dons her robes, before running to the pod.

When she arrives, everyone there is comforted to see the way she's dressed and she leads them in prayer as the escape pod launches.

Out the back window, she looks on as Terror of Vok unleashes a blast from its most powerful weapons, a pair of huge, fixed-mount laser cannons, hitting the enemy warship from behind, though it soon begins spinning to face the other ship.

She prays for the crew of the ship with great faith, because she's finally come full-circle and embraced the faith she lost, likely stronger for the experience.

She prays quite fervently as the pod noses down into the atmosphere and loses sight of the battle. She also realizes she's now become the leader of the last group of living Vokosians, because Terror of Vok and her crew are extremely unlikely to survive the battle.

That's the last time the High Priestess will appear in the novel, but hjer story isn't over. In the next volume, she'll be an important character, probably a main character.

I'll just quote the entire next scene, because it's short:

“OBSS successful and we got real lucky!” The science officer reported, “We’re directly behind a Pursuer! Looks like they tried to take a page from our playbook, to destroy us as we exit FTL space.

The pilot completed a one-hundred-eighty degree turn and there was a shudder as he fired the main cannon!

“We’re ineffective, sir!” The first officer screamed, “It will take us hours to cut through their hull at this power level, the armor is so thick!”

“We have incoming drones and the enemy is coming about!” One of the gunners shouted!

“Jam all frequencies and activate Hammer of Vok Mode!” Vendros screamed, “Don’t let them get a word out!”

Hammer of Vok Mode was another of Olgun’s genius enhancements to the ship, based on his accidental discovery that the ship’s main reactors could handle running at two-hundred-fifty percent power for a few moments without sustaining damage. Having read the engineer’s report on the matter, Vendros had gone to the man and together, they designed the ship’s ultimate weapon and last surprise, a mode in which all available power was routed to the main cannons, to produce a beam so intense, it was hypothetically capable of boring a hole straight through a planet. It had never been tested, because it would certainly destroy the cannons, if not the whole ship, but Vendros and his crew had always been the kind to go down fighting. The software involved had been designed such that if the damage was catastrophic, then all reactor safeties would disengage, turning the ship into a flying bomb, in the hopes their death would take the enemy with them.

“Emergency power engaged!” Olgun’s voice came over the intercom, “Backup reactors coming online! Rerouting power from non-essential systems!”

The lights cut out and most of the workstations on the bridge died, except for the pilot’s controls, which were necessary to aim and fire the main cannons.

“Cutting life-support and gravity!”

Everyone was suddenly weightless and a few loose items floated around as the pilot lined them up for a more precise shot, because he knew exactly where the main computer of the enemy ship was, which was effectively its brain.

He waited for just a moment for his shot to line up and and then pulled the trigger on one of his control sticks, producing a blinding flash of red light that poured in though the window of the bridge!

As distant portions of the ship began to explode, because all of the main power conduits had been overloaded, Vendros knew the final measure of Hammer of Vok mode would activate and he just wished he could hear the thoughts of the enemy warship as it realized how screwed it was.

“It’s been a pleasure serving with you, my fiends.” Vendros spoke with emotion, getting murmurs of agreement in turn, before he raised his hand and shouted, “All hail Vok!”

His men matched his gesture and shouted in unison, “All hail Vok!”

Pursuer 72D5E639 is left effectively brain dead, without even having alerted its superior unit it had been killed, which will buy a little time before more ships are dispatched.

The next scene follows Scout 3455C4B1, a ground unit that sleeps in the hull of one of the few relatively intact portions of the destroyed ship. It's woken by automated systems and knowledge of the current mission is dumped into its mind.

It's coated in high temperature plastic, which forms an egg-like shape around it, the outside of which is cooled with chilled nitrogen gas, leaving it at a liquid center surrounded by a heavy shell of solid, ablative plastic. Explosive bolts blow an outer hull panel off and another explosion launches it from the hidden chamber. After a moment, a thruster pack (outside the entry capsule) comes to life, angling it downward toward the planet, just as the narrative reveals there's hundreds more, just like it, because they're falling in formation.

That scene marks the end of the last chapter of the book, but there will be an Epilogue that comes after it, to cap things off properly.

Future Plans

Next week should mark the end of the rough draft.

All I have left to write are chapters 34-36 and then the Epilogue.

The Epilogue should consist of briefly covering the perspectives of every major and minor surviving character in the book as they look up at the sky as the battle between star ships comes to a spectacular end and debris streams down into the atmosphere.

Some of the falling objects are Vokosian escape pods, several hundred are machine swarm ground troops in various configurations from small scout drones, to autonomous weapons, on up to leaders. I should probably add some new characters too. The Queen of the Seelie, for example, would be a good choice, because she'll be important in later books.

It's quite likely I'll accidentally leave some characters out of this in the rough draft, but I'll probably make myself a list and then check that as I'm editing, so I can add missing characters.

After that startling event changes Nepita's mind, King Windmaker will suggest a pact of peace and the two will discuss how to stop their people from fighting. They'll end up using All-biter to literally cut the war in half, because it's capable of cutting through even metaphors, at least with Windmaker coaching Nepita on how to use it.

The very last pair of scenes of the book will mirror each other, involving Lady Gunn and Lord Rolar coming to visit the dwarves and the trolls, respectively. Each ill be shown the forged journals provided to the opposite side and Lord Rolar will meet have a grisly death at the hands of the trolls, while Lady Gunn will be clapped in irons and held for questioning, because Oswil has a lot of questions for the traitorous woman.

Editing of this novel is likely to be delayed, however, because I've got to finish editing Dark Moon first and I'm not doing two editing projects simultaneously.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war

Work In Progress #6: Troll War #6 (July 29-August 2)

This is part six of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon.

Here's links to the rest of my blog entries on Troll War, in chronological order:

1. June 21-28
2. July 1-5
3. July 8-12
4. July 15-19
5. July 22-27

Part Three: The Drama

The week began with the start of Part Three, which is the final part. The intent now is to get my main characters together for one last climactic battle, just in time for the star ship Terror of Vok (the ship of Captain Vendros) and a warship from the machine swarm to show up in orbit, producing a brilliant pyrotechnic display in the night sky, because they'll be pulling no punches.

That should be just enough proof to finally sway the Queen of Utros, Nepita, into finally making peace, but as always, any plans I make are tentative, because my characters often do things I don't expect.

It's ironic, because you'd think I'd know what's going to happen, but once I set a character's personality, I have to honor that or the story would totally lose the suspension of disbelief, for violating a character's internal thought processes.

It's a lot of fun for me, though, because I find out, chapter by chapter. I may not know the overall plot and climax until I've fully cemented character personalities in my mind, giving me some measure of ability to predict their actions, but they often do the very last thing I would have predicted, once I sit down to write.

There was an example of this in my writing this week, in Chapter 25, that played into some dangling plot threads I setup in chapter 1, which I hadn't known how to make use of until then. I'll explain more, below.

Chapter 25: Shout of Ruin

The recently formed Oswil-Fortune Fields Alliance, which I like to refer to as OFFA, has blockaded the trolls in their own lands on their east and north borders, while they also have other enemies to the south and west, which are currently too frightened of Nepita's ten-for-one vengeance policy to attack. These would be the gnomes (probably to the south, but won't matter until the next book), goblins (south-west, most likely) and the dark fairies (definitely to the west, which will become important next week).

OFFA has strengthened their defenses around Fort Freybell, which became a point of contention between Fortune Fields and Utros during the recent failed peace talks.

In particular, the local portion of the blockade features dwarves on the front line, because they have more experience with melee combat, including a unit of demon-riders powered by tamed fire elementals.

Behind them, there's Oswil soldiers with rifles, since they're better shots than dwarves.

The third line back is composed of cannons and Gibson-guns (very much like a Gattling-gun; since this is a fantasy world with parallels to our own, I've chosen to replace the names of firearm manufacturers with names that start with the same letter, so things will be somewhat familiar, without every detail needing to be exactly the same) serve as artillery.

The back line is composed of Oswil battle-mages, who happen to be elves. These are also Oswil Army.

Fort Freybell is somewhat behind the blockade line, set on a hill. It's more or less an old, medieval-style castle of dwarf construction that the dwarves abandoned when the local mine petered out. It has some minor strategic value, but only because it's on the trade road between Fortune Fields and Utros.

Illa stands on a hill behind OFFA lines, with Kadrek beside her, wearing heavy armor and carrying a huge tower shield, so he had protect them both from bullets. Illa's intent is to counter the magic of the trolls, because she has the greatest knowledge of how it works, leaving everyone else free to retaliate.

Hidden among the trees of another hill, some distance away, are Sureshot, Brosla and her men. She's got her old rifle back (turns out the one Corporal Logan offered her is the very same she used in the 108th) and has decided to face her demons head on, now that she knows the root cause of her battle fatigue (an old term for PTSD). Her orders are to shoot the troll leaders as soon as the battle begins.

Trolls march toward their position with the intent of breaking through, to kill the battle-mages before they really get going. Prince Yetu (Nepita's son), Anji and several other trolls climb a hill opposite Illa's hill, just as the battle begins.

Sureshot has a brief conversation with Brosla about Anji, because she knows she shot the woman in the temple, a wound that should have killed her. Brosla looks though a pair of binoculars he obtained form his ship, confirming what she sees. She concludes the woman is a female troll and so is Illa, who she only knows as Leona Conway, which she now considers an assumed name. She vows to have a word with Illa, just as soon as she can, because she's angry.

The demon-riders are finally demonstrated in battle, covering themselves and their weapons in jets of flame as they wade into the troll lines, decimating them as they go. Cannons fire grapeshot (cannon balls linked by chain) into the troll lines, while the Gibson-guns produce a hail of bullets. Initially, things go badly for the trolls.

Sureshot shoots Anji between the eyes and Yetu freaks out, because the troll woman's presence makes him feel safe. At his lowest moment, Illa uses her magic to touch his mind, offering him the chance to surrender, with the promise he won't be harmed.

Coming to realize she's become a traitor (he recognizes her voice in his mind), Yetu allows himself to feel a deep-seated rage against troll women for the first time in his life, directing all of it at Illa.

He screams, "Get out of me head!"

His magic rages out of control and latches onto his vocal cords as he subconsciously uses a forbidden spell that female trolls have been murdering male troll wizards over, since the world was seeded with life by the gods.

His raging magic births an invisible, sentient spell known as a Shout of Ruin, which kills with sonic strikes. It inherits his hatred of Illa and crosses the battlefield, shattering metal objects, just to test its power, destroying weapons on both sides of the battle, though it gets stringer with each group it hits. It cracks the armor of the demon-riders, ruins troll and OFFA rifles, alike, but when it reaches the Gibson-guns, they explode into shrapnel. When it passes by Kadrek, his armor and weapons explode, badly injuring him!

It finally comes face to face with Illa, who's studied the Shout of Ruin, because she'd once considered it her best option for revenge on Nepita, though she hadn't been able to produce one, having not realized the spell was effectively alive.

However, having been in telepathic contact with Yetu's mind as he produced it, she learns the technique and counters the deadly spell with one of her own, using her rage against Nepita to produce it.

There's a tremendous clash of sound as the two sentient spells battle for dominance and try to consume each other. The eardrums of the trolls burst and the beeswax in the ears of OFFA soldiers (a precaution to counter the mental magic the trolls have been using since the beginning of the war), begins to melt, so they clasp their hands over their ears, to keep it in. The ground begins to quake and a distant mountainside produces an avalanche.

Sureshot is far enough away that she's not in any real danger, though she's in tremendous pain as she aims and fires on Yetu, convinced his scream is somehow the source of the magical sound.

Yetu's Shout of Ruin notices the rifle slug's approach and turns its full attention to vaporizing it, because protecting its master is one of its primary motives. This gives Illa's Shout the opportunity to consume it.

There's a brief moment in which Illa expects her victorious Shout to kill Yetu, but it doesn't happen. Instead, it focuses on the goal of killing Nepita, beginning a long journey to the Utros Palace, the results of which are covered in the next chapter.

Illa uses telekinetic magic to turn the broken fragments of Kadrek's armor into high-velocity, spinning blades, launching them at Yetu in a pattern like a shotgun. One of the fragments punctures a lung and the young troll goes down, totally unable to speak or scream, preventing him from producing another Shout.

Anji sits up and orders her men to retreat, because a second troll army is on the way. The intent was always to rotate though troll armies, giving them time to regenerate between battle, while the defenders are slowly whittled down. She has high hopes they'll soon break through the OFFA lines.

She notes the fact that Yetu used forbidden magic without knowing it, but in so doing, he also demonstrated his loyalty. Anji hopes to appease Nepita and prevent the young wizard's death, though his fate is currently unknown, even to me.

The Shout of Ruin was the element that I totally hadn't been expecting in this chapter, totally catching me by surprise and which neatly tucks into the dangling plot threads established in Chapter 1. The specific threads I'm referring to are Prince Yetu having magic talent and Yera (who has the mind of Nepita's Grandmother in her head) waiting for an opportunity to strike against Nepita.

Chapter 26: Weakness

Nepita arrives at the Abomination Barracks with Yera right on her heels, to have a word with Aketa about her unit's battle readiness. She watches Aketa eating a fried chicken, briefly amused, because the burn-scarred troll has been made an integral part of the war-rider captured during Part One, with her muscles and tendons attached to the control systems of the war machine, giving her extremely fine control over it.

Aketa and her men are eager for battle, because Aketa claims they desire to prove themselves. The real truth, however, is that Aketa wishes to throw herself into battle in the hopes of finally dying, because she has no desire to live the life of suffering she's enduring, all because Nepita selfishly refused to allow her to die.

Nepita steps out of Aketa's quarters and senses incredible magic. She concentrates to be able to see it, observing a ball of magic that's headed right for her, though she's surprised it isn't Yera's spell.

She produces a mental echo-location burst and discovers the attacking spell has a mind of its own, so she immediately mentally attacks it, just barely managing to stop it dead in its tracks, while it claims, Illa sends her regards!

Yera laughs and claps, because Nepita is now vulnerable. Being a villain of the classic, gloating type, she monologues, calling Nepita weak, then reveals who she really is (Grandmother) and how she came to inhabit Yera's body: her personal attendant offered up her body after Grandmother's body was damaged so badly even troll regeneration would likely fail to repair it. Grandmother wiped the woman's brain and then telepathically moved her mind into the new body, a technique she's been using for a very long time, since she's been around as long as Utros (hundreds of years).

Meanwhile, the other rush to aid Nepita, since Aketa and the abominations are loyal, but Aketa's body obeys the woman's commands and the rest are stopped with a mere snap of Grandmother's fingers, the fire-retardant coating on the abominations turning as hard as steel. When she enhanced their bodies with magic, as it turns out, she made sure they were open to being influenced by the very smallest of her spells.

Grandmother claims to have allowed Nepita to win their fight, so she could play the long game and steal the throne back during a moment of weakness. She goes on to make a list of Nepita's personal failings and then finally makes a simple offer: swear eternal fealty and let Grandmother retake the throne or she'll dump even more magic into the Shout of Ruin, so it can kill Nepita.

Nepita suggests that Grandmother procreate with herself and Grandmother follows through on her threat.

As death looms ever nearer, Nepita's life flashes before her eyes, revealing to her the murky details of the first time a woman of the court tried to assassinate her, just after she was taken out of the Play Room. She'd been pinned to a wall as the older, stronger woman strangled her, but because she wanted to hear Nepita beg for mercy, she let the child breathe, a huge mistake.

In the moment of white-hot rage, Nepita subconsciously tapped into Rage Song, the magic of male trolls. She screamed with fury and the magic enhanced her vocal cords, producing a sound capable of shattering bone. It wasn't a Shout of Ruin, which requires years of repressed feelings, but it was still forbidden, male magic.

With the woman's face mere inches from Nepita's mouth, her skull more or less exploded, just as Nepita's eardrums burst, because she'd lacked fine control over her magic, at the time.

The experience had been so traumatic, she suppressed the memory, but with it clear in her mind, she knew she had one chance to save he life, switching from telepathy to a magical scream!

Fortunately for her, Illa's Shout of Ruin was low on power and Grandmother had been too busy savoring her imminent victory, she hadn't quite fed it enough to overcome Nepita's scream! Her magic cancels out the sound of the Shout, killing it, while the eardrums of everyone but herself burst!

Despite damage to her inner ear, due to the tremendous volume, Nepita is on Granmother before she can recover, her enchanted swords crossed against the old troll's neck.

There's a long, tense moment as Nepita waits for Grandmother to heal and then says this:

When Nepita was certain Grandmother could hear her, she smiled, “Thank you for your presence making me paranoid. I’ve been so focused on the threat you pose, I’ve beaten back my rivals and stayed strong, but this wasn’t your day and you won’t get another chance like this.” She crouched without moving her blades, until their faces were six inches apart, speaking so softly only they could have heard, “I am not weak, but neither am I perfect.” She switched back to a more regular volume, “Thank you for your constructive criticism. I’ll give your words some reflection, Grandmother.” She straightened up, withdrew her swords, sheathed them and then barked an order to Aketa, “You and your men are on standby, until I can have a strategy meeting with the court. Grandmother has given me much food for thought.”

Nepita leaves Granmother's neck scarred by the touch of Nemesis and exits the room in high spirits, because she found the experience invigorating. She actually whistles as she walks the halls, with Grandmother trailing behind her.

The implication is that Grandmother can come at her as often as she likes, but Nepita will only be made stronger by the constant paranoia, just as it has strengthened her against other court intrigue.

There's a brief scene from the perspective of General Hendrix, who's on the wall of Fort Freybell, watching the movements of the trolls, who have three armies in play, each the size of a regiment. The first is nearly healed, the second just finished a stint in battle and the third is moving in to attack. He finally realizes the trolls intend to wear them down over time, using their regenerative abilities to their advantage and calls for reinforcements, because their battle lines are already weak, due to the previous two battles.

In the next scene, Sureshot climbs Illa's hill, because it's too dark for her to work with a rifle at such long range. She confronts the woman about what she is and Illa comes clean, telling her a short version of her tale. Sureshot does seem to forgive her for the subterfuge, once she realizes how dangerous knowledge of female trolls can be.

However, she still takes the information to King Windmaker and General Hendrix, because they've been making long-term war plans without vital information.

The discussion eventually reveals that Sureshot has seen Nepita's face, because she describes what the woman's weapons did to her.

The General orders Sureshot to be the core of the team they're planning to send to end the war, by killing Nepita, and she accepts.

Meanwhile, Anji arrives in the Utros palace during a strategy meeting, which is being led by both Nepita and Yera (Grandmother, though Anji doesn't know that yet).

Anji gets the Queen alone, telling her Illa has become a traitor and Yetu has used a Shout of Ruin. If I had to hazard a guess, Nepita has spared Yetu's life, but can't help but imprison him as a result. He will probably be seen again during the climax.

Musings on Vokosian Concepts of Time

Every chapter I write that takes place on the star ship Terror of Vok forces me to consider the implications of an alien culture. For example, during Cahpter 23, The Broken Priestess, I was forced to flesh out their religion.

Chapter 27 (see below), forced me to take a moment to consider their use of time. I had previously settled on a 'year-tenth' as the Vokosian equivalent to a month (used in chapter 13) and I settled on 'ten-day' as the equivalent to a week. There are of course better words for these terms in their own language, but I'm using somewhat literal English translations for the reader, to emphasize the difference in culture.

The invention of the term ten-day got me thinking of time in Vokosian units, which are decimalized, but keep in mind the comparison I'm making in the following table is analogous, not equivalent, so our terms and theirs don't refer to exactly the same amount of time:

Our Time	Vokosian Time	True Vokosian Meaning
Second	Day-Thousandth	1/1000th of a day
Minute	Day-Hundredth	1/100th of a day
Hour	Day-Tenth	1/10th of a day
Day	Day	1 rotation of their home world*
Week	Ten-Day	10 days
Month	Year-Tenth or Hundred-Day	100 days
Year	Year	1000 days**

This approach to accounting for the passage of time should make the Vokosians feel alien, without making it hard to relate to their perspective, while allowing some simple math to work out the details, because one hour is 1.6 day-tenths.

Now that I've set the Vokosian calendar in my mind, I was forced to go back to chapters 13 and 16, to fix some time figures, so instead of Terror of Vok arriving in three year-tenths, it has become one and a half, to keep my three month timetable accurate, but that's what editing is for. I'm always going back to add small details to match the clearer picture of the plot that I get in later stages of writing a novel.

Chapter 27: The Living Bone

The scene begins with the High Priestess of Vok (named Et'aell, by the way) alone in her quarters aboard Terror of Vok. She's unable to get alcohol of any kind, after the public spectacle she made of herself and when people pass her in the halls, they either make signs to ward off evil or tell her to repent.

She's spend the majority of a ten-day alone, aside from going out to get food from the galley.

She's still unable to cope with the shattering of her faith, because she's come to believe that Vok is dead, based on the way most of their species has been wiped out.

The doorbell rings and she shouts for them to go away, but it just keeps ringing. Eventually, it becomes knocks and finally, the door is opened by a security override.

Captain Vendros and his first officer step in, leading to this exchange:

“What do you want?” Et’aell demanded, half angry and half despairing. The Captain surveyed the untidy room, which reflected Et’aell’s internal state quite well, then settled on her unkempt hair and rumpled clothes, because she hadn’t done anything to groom herself in days. He sniffed the air and it was obvious her unwashed odor offended him.

Captain Vendros spoke with determination, despite what he’d just seen and smelled, “You have two choices, High Priestess. First, you can continue to wallow in misery over your broken faith or you can do something good, because the crew needs you.”

“No one needs me.” Et’aell gave the Captain a defiant look and then started to cry again.

The first officer shook his head, “You have no idea how wrong you are.”

“Have you forgotten what day it is?” Vendros asked.

“It doesn’t matter what day it is, because Vok is dead!” Et’aell despaired, “No day is more holy than another, because there is no more holiness and all we have left is just a matter of staving off our eternal punishment for just one more day! We’re doomed to burn in Xercil’s crematory and there’s nothing I can do about that!”

Captain Vendros spoke softly, “That may be what you believe, but there’s a whole crew of people on this ship that believe otherwise, who’ve gathered for a Ten-day Service that only you can lead. They still have their faith. They still believe. They still need you. Will you abandon them, just as you seem to believe you’ve been abandoned by Vok?”

His words were like a slap to the face. Vok may have abandoned his people by dying, but a sense of duty welled up within her as tears poured more freely from her eyes than ever before, because she was ashamed by her own, selfish actions.

“I don’t believe anymore,” she admitted, “but you have a point: I don’t matter. My calling was never about me and whether my faith is living or dead, the least I can do is go through the motions in our last days, to give the people of Vok what comfort I can, before their souls are given to Xercil.

“I’ll serve as this ship’s priestess and say the words they need to hear, but I don’t think I’ll ever find my faith again.”

“I’m sorry. I should never have told you the truth.” Vendros bowed his head with grief.

“You did nothing wrong and if Vok were still among the living, he would agree. Give me a little time to prepare, then I’ll lead the crew in a Ten-day Service.”

Roused from her depression by duty, the Priestess cleans herself up, cleans and dons her vestment, then applies her ceremonial makeup, going off to lead the service, only to discover that in her absence, the crew have cleaned the chapel, top to bottom, and they've filled the pews, with more standing at the back.

She doesn't know it, but Captain Vendros took a personal hand in all of this, ordering the crew to clean the room and then show up.

While she believes herself to merely be going through the motions, she delivers a sermon and leads the service, leaving not one eye in the room dry.

With the morning service complete, she attends to hearing the crew speak their minds to her, in private, again doing what's expected of her, but not for her own sake.

When evening comes, she leads a second service for those that were on duty during the morning shift, again without a single dry eye.

With a day spent in service to others, fulfilling her calling, she heads back to her quarters, questioning her own lack of faith, because she could see that Vok still lives on in the hearts and minds of her flock.

She isn't over the blow to her faith, but she has perhaps started to heal.

I'm enjoying this character and the internal conflict in her heart. I plan to use her as the leader of the survivors of the Vokosians in the second book, though I think her story will also make the sacrifice of Vendros and his crew during the climax more poignant.

Chapter 28: Pushing Back

Two and a half months after the near continuous battle for Freybell began, King Windmaker and General Hendrix stand on the wall of the fort, observing the battlefield as good men die to hold the line, more or less by the skin of their teeth.

Hendrix looks north, while Windmaker looks east, each hoping to see reinforcements, because King Joshua has pulled all but the minimum of soldiers from the borders of Oswil, promising thirteen whole regiments, while Windmaker hopes to see more of his war machines, because they've done without for far too long.

Hendix didn't expect to see anything, thinking he's too early, but he's happy to see cavalry approaching at a gallop, having moved faster than the rest of the army!

Windmaker is happy to announce a unit of war machines are on the way and they're truly relieved for just one moment, but as they look at the battlefield, they're still upset to see good men dying.

Later on, as ten regiments from Oswil arrive at the battlefield (the other three went out to strengthen the blockade), causing the trolls to flee, Sureshot is more than happy.

However, it won't be easy to assault Utros, because the narrow canyon leading to Whitewall and the Utros palace is small enough a dedicated force of a hundred trolls could easily hold it, for as long as food holds out.

Sureshot begins a discussion with her team about their upcoming mission to assassinate Nepita and General Hendrix presents her with three enchanted bullets, Troll-Slayer rounds that are sized for her rifle, ordering her to make each one count, because the Scott and Walcott Firearms Company refuse to make any more, for fear of what the trolls might do to them. Officially, those rounds don't exist and S&W will deny all knowledge of the fact they made them.

Sureshot discusses her plan to approach the Utros palace from behind (from the west), followed by climbing a sheer cliff wall, so she can summit the mountain and then drop down on the other side, to enter.

Illa suggests an alternative, using a secret passage the dwarves don't know about that leads to her old quarters, which used to belong to her Grandmother, then insists she has to go with, because the valley the secret door opens on is a graveyard for fallen troll royals, who never died peacefully and are therefore restless. She claims they won't harm troll royalty or anyone under their protection. Kadrek insists on going if his wife is going.

Sureshot initially refuses to bring the couple, because they died in her vision of the future, but Brosla manages to convince her that he'll keep all three of them safe.

King Windmaker challenges his ability to do so, but Sureshot informs the King Brosla is a null and therefore able to defy fate. Hearing this, King Windmaker volunteers to join them for their suicide mission, because he wouldn't miss seeing a null in action for all the gold in the world.

He promises to bring his personal war-rider and a company of his royal guardsmen, because the secret door is large enough to get such large war machines through. The plan becomes causing as much chaos as possible in the palace with the war machines, while Sureshot works to locate and kill Nepita.

There's also some discussion of the threat Weapon Master Anji poses to the team, based on her previous marksmanship, so Sureshot essentially vows one of her Troll-Slayer rounds will be used to put the Weapon Master down for good.

Sureshot's team get horses from the stable, while the war-riders are prepared for a long journey by bolting cylinders of enchanted coal to the area of their buttocks, making them look like giant dwarves with bedrolls strapped to their behinds. This is something adapted from my time studying the Vietnam War for another novel; the U.S. soldiers that fought the war kept what little they needed in the field in a small butt-pack that hung from their belt.

They head north, where they'll turn west on the main road, until they reach the territory of the dark fairies. Once there, they'll cross into fey land with the intention of making contact with the fey lords. They plan to tell the truth, that they intend to kill the ruler of the trolls, and hope this fact will assure their safe passage.

Future Plans

I'll likely write Sureshot's encounter with the fey on Monday.

I need to write at least two more chapters from the perspective of the High Priestess, as well, so I may write one of those on Monday, to further her character growth and the revitalization of her faith.

Regardless, the last bit of her story will be in the midst of the climax, when all non-essential personnel will be ordered off the ship, just as the battle begins.

Down on the ground, all heck will break loose as Sureshot's team and Anji's best soldiers meet in Memorial Vale (the haunted valley). That's when the sniper vs. sniper contest I've been foreshadowing will finally happen, with each of them gunning for the other, while Illa and King Windmaker go on without her. That battle will probably start with the death of several of Corporal Logan's men, who have always been intended to serve as a plot device to demonstrate when the crap has hit the fan.

I hope to complete the rough draft next week, but all plans are tentative, especially considering the fact I also need to get the editing on Dark Moon (Book 4 of The Wizard's Scion) finished, since my artist just finished the cover art.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war

Work In Progress #5: Troll War #5 (July 22-27)

This is part five of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon. This series can be read via this link, though it will be in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest.

Chapter 19: Diplomatic Impunity

I started the week's work by finishing this chapter.

After Illa's bombshell revelation about the trolls having used nothing but cloned shock troops for three years, just to soften the dwarves up (covered in the previous installment of this series), King Windmaker requests aid from Oswil.

Sureshot uses a telegraph crystal she brought with her to contact King Joshua. While they wait for a reply, they chat idly about Lady Gunn and it's revealed that she and her family have been under investigation for years, due to their underhanded business practices.

King Windmaker is just about to reveal that Lady Gunn was the one to tell him trolls invaded his land at the start of the war, when the reply comes through, requiring Sureshot's attention. It was funny to me, dangling the truth so close to Sureshot, only to whip it away, without her knowledge.

King Joshus immediately sends an entire regiment, with two more promised for the future. He also orders Sureshot to make an alliance with Fortune Fields.

Windmaker and Sureshot start making plans for future battles with the trolls, in case they don't accept peace.

Brosla contacts Captain Vendros, who shares his message again, giving the dwarves extra incentive to make peace and King Windmaker shows a lot of curiosity about the alien machines.

Chapter 20: Ceasefire

Prince Yetu (son of Nepita, pronounced as 'ee-too') brings a message from the front lines to Queen Nepita, in her throne room. He's so excited, he forgets his place and speaks out of turn, endangering his life. Nepita publicly chastises him to appease the court, then winks at him while they're all looking at him, because in the past three years, she's grown even more fond of him.

In an internal monologue from Nepita, we learn that Yetu was born under circumstances similar to Illa, slightly early, with his mind open to magic, though not to the same degree. As it turned out, he took to magic like a frog to water, soon learning to use physical magic the way Illa did, though without her around to teach him, he's had to pick that up through book learning. He was also given Illa's quarters, since he's the only one available that can use the same magical techniques she could.

However, he still lacks the respect a female troll commands and his duties mostly involve all the worst tasks the women of the court can think of to dump on him, because they hate him.

Nepita has been visiting him in the evenings, to help with his magical training, but also just to talk, because she loves him in a way a troll woman normally wouldn't feel for a male child.

Still, she's planning to soon send him into battle, because his magical talents will be useful when the invasion of Fortune Fields begins.

Yetu reports that Oswil soldiers have taken position between Utros and Fortune Fields, putting a stop to the war.

Nepita is so angry, she clenches her teeth hard enough to crack one of them. The sound snaps her out of her anger and it begins to heal.

Yetu tells her the reason the Oswil soldiers gave Angi: a battle was fought between dwarves and trolls on Oswil soil.

She turns to the court and demands, “Which of you stupid fools authorized that?”

The women of the court take a few steps back, leaving one of their own at the center of an open circle. Nepita murders the woman on the spot for her costly mistake.

Yetu tells her the dwarves have committed to peace and are now requesting a ceasefire, as relayed via the Oswil army.

Nepita strongly believes it's all a trick. Based on the fact that she fell back to give the dwarves the impression they were winning, she believes an outpost they recently captured, Fort Freybell, contained some hidden artifact the dwarfs were after. Having obtained what they were after on her lands, all along, she believes they're using Oswil as an excuse to get away with it. She's being needlessly paranoid and is totally wrong, but paranoia is a survival trait for trolls.

Nepita reluctantly decides to allow the attempt at diplomacy, because Oswil has forced her hand.

Chapter 21: The Olive Branch

Sureshot, Brosla and Prince Gorgo Windmaker, the 11th (Kadrek's brother), arrive at the Utros palace for peace talks. At Gorgo's insistence, they're unarmed, aside from Sureshot, who brought a pair of hidden knives and a derringer, because she's not fool enough to walk into troll lands without weapons.

Before they set out, Illa placed a protective spell on Sureshot, mysteriously commenting, "That should keep your thoughts safe."

Shengis stares them down for a few minutes, which is standard procedure. Outsiders think it's designed to make visitors uncomfortable, but the real truth is that he's waiting for Nepita to enter his mind, to take over for the negotiations.

Without her sword or pistols, Sureshot is extremely on edge, heightening her senses to the point she picks up on Nepita's magic as it enters the mind of Shengis. She has no idea what it means, however.

The peace talks begin with introductions and statements of intent, but things soon go south: Nepita is obsessed with Fort Freybell and its meaning to the dwarves, insisting Gorog tell her what they wanted with the little outpost. Naturally, he has no idea what she's talking about, but she doesn't believe him, threatening to make an example of him, to demonstrate what happens to those that lie.

Sureshot confirms their story that they came to make peace and takes the opportunity to share her king's perspective, handing over a letter of introduction to lend weight to her words.

Nepita more or less ends the peace talks by telling Sureshot, "You may be telling the truth, but I don’t have any reason to trust the dwarves and if your countries are allies, then Oswil is also my enemy."

Brosla makes one final attempt at peace by calling Captain Vendros, who tells his tale. Nepita listens with amusement, but ultimately calls Brosla a charlatan and illusionist.

Brosla is angry at her words, but Nepita demands proof of his claims. He admits he has none other than what he's given.

Sureshot hisses to the others, “Get ready to run!”

Nepita orders Gorgo shaved and stripped, then orders the others thrown in the dungeon, saying they'll be guests of the palace for the remainder of their short lives. Nepita's magic releases Shengis, leaving him to his own devices.

The guards in the room approach the trio with hostile intent, so Sureshot whips out her derringer, pointing it right at Shengis, insisting the gun is loaded with a Troll-slayer bullet. Slayer bullets are expensive, enchanted rounds designed to kill a particular species on impact,

She's bluffing, but Shengis orders the guards to stop. However, they don't listen, because they know their orders came from Nepita, not Shengis.

Sureshot decides not to waste her only round and shouts, "Run!"

Chapter 22: Escape

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, because it involved some good character development, fun action and a very unique scene with natural humor mixed in.

Gorgo is out the door right off the bat, but Brosla hesitates, because no one has ever pointed a gun at him! Sureshot slaps him, shoves him toward the door and then follows him out, while bullets zip past. Fortunately, the trolls are new to firearms and they're terrible shots (aside from Angi, but that will come much later on).

Out in the hall, Gorgo tackles and punches out a troll, tossing a captured rifle to Sureshot. She whirls around and fires on one of the chasing trolls, putting a bullet between his eyes! That action triggers her PTSD (she calls it battle fatigue), causing her vision to restrict so badly, she feels like she's looking down the scope of her old rifle!

She's nearly blind, so Gorgo grabs her elbow and drags her along, taking several turns, until he ditches their pursuers and then opens a secret door. Once they're hidden inside, two groups of guards, coming from opposite directions, meet by the hidden door.

There's a short argument about who lost the fugitives and the troll in charge decides the other team are traitors, sending them off to the dungeon for interrogation, which is the result of troll paranoia at work.

When they're gone, Gorgo demands to know what happened and Sureshot explains she can't use a rifle without getting tunnel vision, a result of battle fatigue (an old west/civil war term for PTSD).

Sureshot asks how Gorgo knows so much about the Utros palace and he explains that the dwarves were the ones to carve it from the bedrock in exchange for gold. In doing so, they added many secret passages to the design, just in case they ever went to war with Utros.

They discuss their available weapons and Sureshot offers Gorgo a knife. He refuses, deciding to stick with his fists, which he's named 'Nasty' (right) and 'Tricksy' (left).

She offers the knife to Brosla, who still looks shell-shocked. There's a short discussion of making a plan in his mind, ahead of time, to deal with the stress of combat and Brosla takes the knife.

Gorgo leads the way, but informs them getting out of the palace will involve going through the front doors (the only exit he's aware of).

Switching to Nepita's perspective, she shouts at Anji for losing the prisoners. Ultimately, she decides to add the women of the court to the search parties, so they can use telepathic magic to echo-locate minds and she personally joins the search, enthusiastic about the task, because she hasn't had time to go hunting since the war started.

Back in the secret tunnels, the fugitives hear singing, so Gorgo produces a small bottle of beeswax, insisting they plug their ears, so the song magic the Sanguine Sisterhood uses won't affect them (he has no idea that organization of assassins are the troll women from Utros).

Brosla refuses, because he's immune to magic, a fact that makes Gorgo a little jealous. Sureshot also refuses, believing Illa's spell will protect her, but Gorgo plugs his ears.

The troll women pass by them without noticing the minds of the fugitives, sweeping through the halls until they head outside.

The fugitives eventually reach the last secret door before the exit and make a plan to silently take down the pair of guards they saw stationed there on the way in. The plan is for Sureshot to handle one, while the other two focus on the other, with Gorgo tackling and Brosla cutting the troll's throat.

The door is opened and Sureshot uses her rifle to choke one guard, then snaps his neck. Gorgo tackles the other, according to plan, but Brosla hesitates and then chokes the guard out with his shin, instead of cutting his throat, because he just can't do it. When they're done, Sureshot snaps the second guard's neck, because such severe injuries take a lot of time for a troll to heal.

Gorgo is disappointed with Brosla, who hands the knife back to Sureshot.

Knowing the doors lead to a small, one room fort, Sureshot makes the next plan, asking the men to open the door, while she prepares to shoot every troll beyond them, from the cover of a corner.

The doors are opened and she sees Anji, holding a rifle very much like the one she used to favor, plus six troll men. She puts a bullet through the woman's temple, putting her down, then proceeds to wipe out the others, systematically. Again, the poor marksmanship of the trolls is their advantage.

Nearly blind again, Brosla takes Sureshot's hand, while Gorgo leads the way. They weave their way through the city, past many a witness, ending up at an alley with no obvious exit. The dwarf pops open another secret hatch and they squeeze through.

Nepita arrives at the alley on short order (citizens of the city pointed the way), but not in time to catch them. She investigates for a time, even going so far as to climb a building, but concludes there was no way they could have escaped without a secret door.

She kicks the ground for a time, looking for a different sound, but finds nothing. She draws her sword, All-biter (said to be able to cut anything), and taps the wall with the hilt, listening for something unusual. She finds nothing and slashes the wall in frustration, cutting right through the hidden hatch, which pops open as a result.

She scrambles inside, finding a natural cave that the dwarves modified, to make a trough down the center as it goes downhill. There's water dripping into the trough, which is wet enough to serve as a water slide.

She lays down and slides away as a scream echoing up the tunnel soon confirms her suspicions.

The fugitives are sliding down the tunnel, Gorgo at the lead, Brosla center and Sureshot last. She's scared by their speed.

I found the resulting exchange rather fun:

Sureshot: "Are you sure this is safe?"

Gorgo: "No, me’s sure it isn’t!"

Brosla (panicking): "What?"

Gorgo: "We should eventually end up in the underground river, but the trouble is, me don’t think there’s enough water in it to cushion our fall!"

Sureshot (angry and screaming): "What, pray tell, are you planning to do about that?"

Gorgo: "Me hadn’t really thought it through, but uncertain death is better than certain death!"

Brosla: "Can we slow down, before we hit the bottom?"

Gorgo: "Aye, that’s a good idea!"

Gorgo uses his knees to slow them down (he's wearing plate armor) and they end up in an amusing pile-up, sitting on each other's shoulders.

Nepita arrives on the scene, screaming, "I've got you now, you little-" she finishes the sentence by referring to them as fatherless children.

Sureshot calls for more speed, while she starts trying to shoot Nepita from her awkward, laying-down position. At the same time, Nepita tries to sing, but the ride is so bumpy, she can't stay on tune.

Sureshot wastes two rounds, but hits Nepita in the eye with the third, which only ticks her off (crazy sometimes just doesn't know when to quit)!

Nepita responds by swinging her second sword, Nemesis, which has the power to hit each individual with their own, personal weaknesses. She isn't close enough to physically strike Sureshot, but the sword produces an incredibly powerful wave of mental magic, which blows right past Illa's protective spell.

Chapter 23: The Broken Priestess

This was originally chapter 24, but after writing the two chapters, I switched their order to let the tension stew.

Captain Vendros has been lying to his crew for weeks, just to keep their morale high. Most of them have no idea that their ship holds the last of the Vokosian race, aside from Brosla, and that lie has been eating him up inside.

He decides to visit the High Priestess of Vok, that he might unburden himself in the appropriate way. She just happened to be among the group of refugees that ran toward his ship when the machines attacked.

I enjoyed detailing the religion of the Vokosians, which was necessary to properly describe the Priestess. They believe their god, Vok, is a skeleton and actually believe their own skeletons, inside their bodies, are extensions of him. Literally, they believe they carry their god inside their bodies, everywhere they go.

Xercil is another mythological figure from their religion and he's very analogous to the Devil. Xercil runs a crematorium, where he burns all the bones he can, specifically to spit in the eye of Vok. Vokosians that sin enough believe their souls will belong to Xercil when thy die, who will punish them by using them as fuel to burn bones, for eternity.

An interesting point is that the ultimate punishment for criminals in Vokosian culture involves execution followed by cremation, which supposedly ensures Xercil will obtain their soul.

Captain Vendros realizes he's interrupted the High Priestess' evening meal, but she doesn't mind. She asks him to wait a moment, so she can dress properly for the ritual he seeks to use.

When she returns, she's dressed all in white, with her face painted like a skull, so she can more reasonably serve as a stand-in for Vok. That is the true purpose of the priests of their religion, who are there to listen to whatever is on the mind of whoever sought them out. The duty of the priest is to listen and then take the secrets to the grave, because people sometimes need to unburden themselves. They listen to confessions of sin, difficult life experiences, good life experiences and more or less anything that might be on a person's mind. When they're done, the priests offer spiritual advice based on scripture and life experience, if appropriate.

Captain Vendros tells all, sparing no details, and she tells him he acted appropriately, with proper concern for his crew, because if they break down, because they're depressed, they many not fight as hard when the machines catch up to them.

He leaves feeling much better, but the Priestess starts to cry, wipes her makeup off on her sleeve, gulps down the alcohol she had with her meal and then heads off to find the ship's bar.

The next evening, Vendros arrives at the bar, finding the High Priestess drunk as can be. He confronts her about her public drunkenness (priests are allowed to drink, but never to the point of intoxication, because they might let secrets slip if they get inebriated) and she says, "Thank you for showing me the truth." To the whole room, she shouts, "Vok has abandoned us! We’re all going straight to the blazes of Xercil’s crematory!"

That deeply offends the entire room and most everyone steps out. The bartender cuts her off and tells her she's not welcome in his bar anymore.

She leaves, but collapses just outside.

The Captain picks her up with the help of his first officer and she pukes on their shoes. They take her back to her quarters, clean her up and put her to bed.

Captain Vendros heads for his quarters, feeling just as bad, if not worse, than he had before he spoke with her, because he never intended to destroy her faith.

I'm planning to add scenes between Captain Vendros and the Priestess from time to time, to keep the people in space relevant, since they're paramount to the climax and events of the next book. These will center mostly around the slow journey of the Priestess back to her faith, prodded there by Vendros. She will become the leader of the survivors that get off the ship at the start of the climactic battle that will overshadow events on the ground.

Chapter 24: Trauma

The opening scene of the chapter shows Sureshot on a mountainside, aiming her old rifle at the door of a log cabin a mile and a half away.

The door opens and a provocatively dressed woman steps to the threshold. She pauses to blow a kiss inside, then steps out. She's not Sureshot's target.

A man steps into the doorway and Sureshot smiles, because she has her target in her sights. She aims for the heart and pulls the trigger. She's at such extreme range, her shot is slightly off, but the man goes down, bleeding heavily, because she hit an artery, not his heart. She reloads and considers putting a second bullet in the man to finish him off, a little mercy.

She thinks on the man's crimes and decides letting him die a little slower is appropriate, because on top of his crimes against the crown, he also raped and murdered close to fifty women.

She's unbothered by his last-minute struggles, until a little girl runs to his side and takes his hand, soon followed by the woman. They give what comfort they can in his final moments and then the woman picks up the girl, leaving.

As it turned out, the monster had a daughter and Sureshot had killed him right in front of her. None of the preliminary work on the mission had turned up that all-important detail (she was sick and in bed, where she wasn't visible from outside the cabin), which would have entirely changed her team's plans.

The after-action inquiry finds no fault with Sureshot, but instead lays what little blame there is on the rest of her team. Nonetheless, Sureshot can't forget and can't forgive herself for her actions.

That's the event that broke the Army's best sharpshooter and forced her into early retirement, just over a year earlier.

Switching to the perspective of Brosla, Sureshot drops her rifle and starts crying about how sorry she is.

Gorgo complains, "Ye picked a fine time for a bout of battle fatigue!"

Nepita slashes Nemesis in the air again, but it has no effect on Brosla and leads her to adopt an expression of confusion.

Brosla is more or less left as the one to deal with Nepita, because Gorgo is focused on how soon they'll be landing in the chamber they're hurtling toward, asking Brosla to stop the assassin in the tunnel.

Brosla considers for a time and then orders his journal to form a network link with Terror of Vok, the ship of Captain Vendros. He orders it to use the ship's computer to calculate a new form as an 'area-suppression tangle-pistol', leading to another humorous exchange:

Journal (sing-song voice): "Working…"

Journal (chirping): "Please wait!"

Gorgo (worried): "Is that gonna work?"

Brosla: (testy tone): "I don't know!"

Journal (chirping): "Please wait!"

Gorgo (screaming): "Here’s comes the drop!"

Journal (chirping): "Task complete."

They fall free as the journal changes shape into a metallic pistol. Brosla raises it and fires, shooting a web-like blast of gooey stands that blocks the tunnel opening they fell from. He's just in time to catch Nepita, who's snared so badly, she can't move and the strands start constricting, preventing her from singing, due to the pressure.

They hit the floor pretty hard and Gorgo dislocates a shoulder. Brosla pops it back in place with the help of his journal's scanners and some holographic instructions on treatment.

Their rifles are wrecked, since they landed on them.

Sureshot is physically fine, but unconscious, twitching as if she's having a nightmare.

Gorgo wishes he had a rifle so he can put Nepita out of their misery, to which she responds in a wheeze:

Trust me, Prince Gorgo, I won’t soon forget what you’ve done to me. I will find you on the battlefield, all three of you! I'll catch you and then cut little bits off, an inch at a time, with the dullest, rustiest knife I can find. Then, once you’re nothing but a pathetic torso, I'll have a healer regrow your limbs and start all over again! I'll spent the next thirty years killing you, but you’ll die of old age before I'll ever let you-

Brosla adjusts his new journal-pistol to fine a more confined shot and then shoots Nepita in the mouth, webbing it shut.

They joke about how nice it is that she can't speak and then look down at Sureshot with concern.

Meanwhile, Sureshot is having an emotionally difficult nightmare, in which she's on trial for mass murder, with King Joshua as judge, the gallery filled with all of her victims and their families. Even worse, she has no lawyer, because no one in the land would defend her and there's five prosecutors, who intend to take turns interviewing witnesses, because they have a list that's hundreds long.

The first witness in Callie Blackwell, the daughter of the last man she shot during her army career. The prosecutor asks a leading question designed to paint Sureshot as a vile serial killer, so she objects, but is overruled and ordered to remain silent, on pain of being sent straight to the noose, ore or less setting the impression in the reader's mind that she's being railroaded.

With no choice, Sureshot is forced to listen as Callie says, "She killed my daddy! She killed my daddy! She shot him right in front of me!"

As the girl leaves the witness stand, she passes by the defense table and leans over to whisper, "You’re going down-" and finishes with a word so foul, no little girl should have known it.

Hours pass as the prosecutors question every single one of Sureshot's victims, who start sharing their opinions on just about everything related to Sureshot, especially her lack of a love life. They're out of line, but she dare not object.

Last of all, the prosecutors call a final witness: Staff Sergeant Jane Stanton. It's totally wrong in every way for the prosecutor to call the defendant to the stand, but no one argues, not even Sureshot, who's will has mostly been broken by the events in court.

Her short stay on the witness stand went as follows:

Prosecutor: "How did killing all of those people make you feel?"

[Long silence as Sureshot thinks]

King Joshua (angry): Answer the question, Sergeant!

Sureshot: "I-I enjoyed it. I was killing enemies of the crown and I took great satisfaction from seeing each fall, for the sake of my king."

King Joshua (growling): Are you actually trying to shift the blame to me?

Sureshot (crying): "No. I take full responsibility. I lost sight of why I was taking those shots and I started to enjoy it. I didn't realize I’d lost my way, until I saw Callie hold her dying father’s hand. I didn't realize I’d become a mass murderer in my heart, until I’d killed a man in front of his own child."

Prosecutor: "Are you guilty of the crimes you’ve been accused of?"

Sureshot: "I am and any punishment would be just."

[Sureshot returns to her seat]

King Joshua (raps gavel): I find the defendant guilty of all charges and I’m so disgusted by her mere existence, I order her execution to take place, immediately. Take her to the firing squad.

She's taken outside, chained to a fence and a line of women with rifles just like the one she once favored step out. They remove their executioner's hoods, revealing their faces are the same as Sureshot's.

"Ready!"

Sureshot decides her death would be justice and hopes it will relieve her of the burden of guilt she carries.

"Aim!"

She relaxes and an eerie calm takes her, because she's going to die and she can't do a thing about it. Even worse, she doesn't want to.

She accepts her fate and stares down the barrel of the very rifle she took so many lives with.

"Fire!"

Sureshot wakes to Gorgo slapping her with all of his strength, because he and Brosla have tried just about everything else. He just about dislocates her jaw in the process, but she does wake.

She looks up, seeing a peculiar mixture of hallucination, sleep and death magic, which she's almost certain was perfectly customized to her own psyche, designed to destroy her from the inside. She only survived because Illa's magic and Gorgo's fist worked together to haul her out of the deadly dream.

Oddly, she now knows the root cause of her battle fatigue: she enjoyed her job a little more than she should have, something she vows to reflect upon, once she has the time.

Gorgo leads the way and they follow the path of the underground river, which flows through the cave they're in. Eventually, they reach the point where the river flows into the canyon that leads to the Utros capitol. They're above the canyon, so they stay out of sight of the patrols, down below, and eventually climb down, near the bottom. From there, they make their way to the safety of the line held by the Oswil army.

Part Three: The Drama

The end of chapter 24 marks the end of Part Two, because peace will not be made in the near future and the real war will soon begin, with Oswil and Fortune Fields working together.

The first chapter of Part Three will likely involve the new alliance holding the line against the trolls, who will finally get serious, pulling out all of the stops. They'll start rotating their troops in and out of battle, so the alliance will continuously face fresh troops, while the trolls relax and heal between stints at the front lines.

Yetu will make his first appearance in battle, supporting his side with magic. Illa is likely to counter him and a magical duel will happen against the background of the battle. The duel will probably end in a draw; Yetu hasn't got Illa's talent, but he does have physical endurance she lacks, allowing him to cast spells longer, so they're more or less an even match.

Months will pass between chapters as similar events take place, over and over, with the line moving very little, if at all. The dwarves and humans will slowly be worn down and just when they're about to fail, fresh soldiers from Oswil will arrive to save the day.

From that point on, the war will turn against the trolls and a team of experts will be formed with the mission of deposing the ruler of the trolls. That's the point at which Illa will finally come clean to Sureshot and redirect their focus from Shengis to Nepita, because Illa believes that so long as her sister lives, there will never be peace.

The rest of part three will follow that team's cavalry charge behind enemy lines, on a search and destroy mission that has only one target: Nepita, the Queen of the Trolls.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war

Work In Progress #4: Troll War #4 (July 15-19)

This is part four of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon. This series can be read via this link, though it will be in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest.

Rewrites of Chapters 13 through 15

Inspiration struck me on Monday and I more or less started the week's work by rewriting Chapters 13 and 14.

Chapter 13 more or less got gutted and was renamed 'Dire Warning', removing the content of the message Brosla received from space, to make use of that info later on (Chapter 16), when he meets the king. Additionally, I added a little scene in which Brosla looks up at the stars and weeps, because he knows his race is nearly extinct. He vows to defend his new home world, even if it costs him his life.

Chapter 14 was lengthened by adding a scene in which Sureshot visits the telegraph office in Ruby Canyon, that she might send a message to the royal palace of Oswil. There's some argument about her authority to do so, but she reveals to the people in the office she used to be a Staff Sergeant in the 108th Phantom Recon, a unit that's notorious for being the King's personal problem solvers. Most everyone thinks of them as assassins and they're not wrong. This is the first major hint at Sureshot's troubled past, with more to come in later chapters.

T/he description of telegraph crystals was moved into Chapter 14 to match this new arrangement.

The reply is an order to return to the palace at a gallop and fresh horses are arranged at every city along her chosen route.

Chapter 15: Royal Decree

Sureshot arrives at the palace sore as can be from riding for about twenty hours straight, at a gallop. Fortunately, General Hendrix, the King's right hand man, arranged a hot bath in an enchanted, healing bathtub, to take care of that. She dozes for a short time as the magic does its work and is woken by a palace maid, that she might dress and tell her tale in detail.

She's led to the throne room, where she meets with King Joshua Wood, who's a ghost that's been dead for about four-hundred years. As the last of his bloodline, when he died, he was unable to pass on, because his death would have resulted in a civil war, due to the power vacuum. Oswil accepted a ghost for king and as a result, the kingdom is extremely stable compared to all others.

It's also very progressive, with a level of unparalleled freedom. For example, King Joshua gave women equal rights about a hundred years into his rule, because he felt it would improve the kingdom. His actions resulted in neighboring kingdoms doing the same, just to prevent their women from running off to live in Oswil.

Sureshot doesn't like being in her King's presence, due to his supernatural aura, but that had always been a part of her duties, before she retired from the Army.

She gives him a full report on the battle fought in Ruby Canyon and the King reactivates her in the Army, that she might lead a peace mission to confront both the dwarves and trolls about what they've done. He worries the war may turn into a three-way brawl between nations, but accepts the notion that may be unavoidable.

Sureshot is angry at being forced back into the Army, but has no choice, because the King invokes wartime rules that allow retired soldiers to be reactivated. She protests that they're not at war, but he explains that with a battle being fought on Oswil soil, the nation is at war, though one final attempt at diplomacy is called for.

To calm her, the King acknowledges Sureshot's mercenary existence as a gunfighter and offers her ten-thousand crowns for completion of the mission. Instead, she asks for regular Army pay, five-hundred crowns for completion and an unspecified favor from the King, regardless of the outcome. He reluctantly agrees, because he needs her.

Brosla was next in line to see the King and was watching the scene from the background. Seeing Sureshot heading off and believing his best chance to fulfill his orders lies with assisting her, he blurts out, "I have information pertinent to this discussion!"

Chapter 16: One Last Miracle

Brosla tells the King he's from the stars and as an aid to understanding, he reluctantly says he's from the heavens.

The King asks, "Are you an angel or a god?"

He explains how he's a mortal from another world that revolves around a distant star, further explaining that the stars are distant suns, very much like the local one. He makes sure to tell them he's just as mortal as they are.

He tells them dangerous creatures are on the way to their world, with the intent of consuming every natural resource, comparing them to an infectious disease.

Ultimately, the King doesn't believe him, even calling him a charlatan. Sureshot also refuses to believe his words.

To convince them, Brosla uses his mimetic journal like a communications device, initiating a holographic call to the star ship captain that sent him the message in the night, who agrees to help.

It's noted at this point that Sureshot has some minimal magical training and she could have become a weak wizard, but she got little further than learning to sense magic. She uses that ability, sensing no magic at all from Brosla or his shape-shifting journal.

The captain introduces himself as Turloth Vendros and the tale that was originally placed in chapter 13 is related, albeit in heavily modified form, with technological terms dumbed down for his primitive audience. In particular, there's an interruption to explain what a galaxy is and he refers to the computer virus as "a disease-like mental contagion that only affects machines".

Vendros ends his tale with a plea for assistance, begging that the people of the world do their best to make peace and then turn their minds to preparing for war with the machines. He also begs the King to teach his people about magic.

When he's finally done, the King believes the tale, because it's far too crazy to not be true. He promises to make an attempt at peace, because that was already his goal. He also promises to pass the request to learn magic to the wizards, but says it will be up to them. Failing that, if the dwarves can be convinced to stop fighting, he'll ask them to teach Vendros and his people about runic enchantments.

The call is ended and Sureshot asks, "Okay, but how does all of this relate to my mission? Either way, I’m going to make peace between the dwarves and trolls."

Brosla offers to go with her, because peace is now his mission. He thinks he has little to contribute, but still offers to do all he can to aid her.

She reluctantly accepts him ad they head off to speak with General Hendrix about the details, before getting a night's rest.

Chapter 17: Heroism

In the morning, they have a brief conversation about the "spark of magic", which is a trait necessary for someone to become a wizard or witch. Sureshot explains the spark as follows:

Life itself is magic. Some have a bit more of it in them, allowing them to exert their will to produce miraculous results. Those that have that ability are said to have the spark of magic.

Feeling the need for guidance, Sureshot takes Brosla to see her mother, who happens to be a fortune-telling witch.

They enter a pitch-dark room. There's a sudden, pink light from the inside of a crystal ball, which illuminates a small, round table and the hands of an old woman.

Sureshot takes offense at her mother's pointless showmanship, since they both know there is no need for theatrics to use magic.

Her mother sourly lights some candles with a snap of her fingers and there's a short argument about Sureshot's cynicism and the fact that her mother was wearing a long, pointed false nose with a wart on it.

The old witch (Vera) offers Sureshot the only other seat in the room and Brosla requests a chair for himself.

Vera turns her head in surprise, because she normally uses foresight magic to see just moments into the future, since her eyes are in such bad shape, she's nearly blind.

She's absolutely shocked, because she hadn't seen him coming and he's totally invisible to her magic!

She concludes that Brosla is a "Null-Magic Receptacle", or a "null", for short. She explains that nulls are living beings born with zero magic. No one knows how that can be, since life itself is magic, but it does happen about once in every generation. She further explains that nulls are invisible to fate and therefore have the power to defy fate. They normally die at a time of their own choosing and those that realize what they are tend to become the greatest of heroes, because they're such difficult forces to stop.

This will become important to the plot in later chapters and books. Most likely, Brosla will slowly become the primary protagonist of the series.

With that surprise out of the way, Vera asks Sureshot to take her hand and uses that connection to send her daughter's mind flitting to the future.

Sureshot experiences a flash of one possible future, minus Brosla, of course. She's surrounded by corpses of military men, a dwarf named Kadrek and a woman with snow-white hair, all shot in the right eye, specifically.

She unknowingly led them into a trap set by the troll sharpshooter (probably Anji), getting them all killed. She blames herself, because she refused to touch a rifle.

Sureshot draws her sword (named Shaffurukattā, which roughly translates as Shuffle Cutter) and whispers to it for a moment, then concentrates magic in her hands. Shaffurukattā drinks deeply of her magic and she slashes the air, producing a wormhole-like tear in space. The tear leads her behind the sharpshooter and she slashes right through the woman, producing another spatial tear, neatly cutting them in half, right down the middle. Her opponent was a troll, but not even a troll can regenerate from that, at least not without help.

She steps back through the tear to her dead friends and despairs, only to be surprised by the white-haired woman waking up, despite having a hole clean though her skull! The woman complains about the pain.

Sureshot asks, "What are you?"

The woman smiles and answers, "A housewife."

Then she looks around, sees Kadrek's dead and then bursts into tears.

The vision ends, but the details fade away like a dream, leaving Sureshot with a few impressions: the name Kadrek sticks in her mind (she knows a dwarf named Kadrek), there was lots of blood and she felt regret at not having a rifle, which bothers her, because she's sworn to never use one again.

Before they leave, Vera asks Brosla to protect Sureshot, because with a null standing between her daughter and fate, she hopes her daughter will survive their dangerous mission.

Chapter 18: Reluctance

Sureshot, Brosla and a unit of soldiers are riding through a forest, while she's deep in thought about the way she met Corporal Logan, the man in charge of the men assigned to her.

Logan offered her a rifle kitted out the way she always preferred, back when she'd been in the army, but the mere sight of it brought back hundreds of deaths that she'd seen through the scope of her rifle, because she'd been among the best sharpshooters in the kingdom.

The memories are painful and the very personal way in which she looked just about every one of those she killed in the eye before shooting them was troubling. She'd only killed enemies of the crown, but in the process, human life had become cheap and unimportant.

That realization had led directly to her retirement a little over a year before and her work as a gunfighter. She specifically been seeking jobs with a very human element, in which she helps people with their troubles, as the means to get her soul back.

She refused the rifle and Logan kept it for himself. Logan is hated by the men under his command, because he always shouts and insults them, never letting up. Sureshot is concerned for the men, but chooses to do nothing, because she won't be their Sergeant for long, knowing that if she intervenes, Logan is likely to take it out on the men, just as soon as she's out of their lives.

I'm setting up Logan to be a point of contentions later on, but he isn't all bad. He's a good soldier that happens to have some faults.

He had many reasons for offering Sureshot the rifle, including a little bit of desire to suck-up, a genuine understanding of Sureshot's reputation and some knowledge of the emotional trauma a good sharpshooter endures. In his own small way, he's trying to force her to confront her own demons, knowing that their best chance of success in battle will be with a rifle cradled in Sureshot's arms.

Knowing her own, vague regrets from the vision, she didn't argue with Logan bringing the customized rifle. She more or less hates herself for admitting it, but she may need it.

They arrive at the home of Kadrek and Illa. Sureshot tries to convince Kadrek to get her an audience with King Windmaker. As a result of the work she did for the dwarf, she knows there's royal guardsmen from Fortune Fields watching the dwarf's every move, though she doesn't understand why.

Kadrek initially refuses, but Sureshot doesn't back down, so he tell her who she is and then takes her to the guards. They refuse to help, because they can't leave their post.

Kadrek decides accompany Sureshot and Illa offers her assistance with the trolls, claiming she once lived among them. That leads to a bit of disbelief that Illa could know anything at all about trolls, causing Illa to reveal her magic powers, as a show of strength.

Sureshot agrees.

Chapter 19: Diplomatic Impunity

Kadrek, Illa, Sureshot, Logan and the men are hauled in front of King Windmaker, in chains, because they crossed the border with Kadrek, who is well known for having been banished.

King Windmaker is conflicted, outwardly angry, but despairing on the inside, because Kadrek's presence forces his hand. He shouts for his son and his wife to be taken to the dungeon.

Sureshot screams, "Diplomatic immunity!" and then demands that the chains be removed from her entire team, including Kadrek and Illa. She only allowed her team to be shackled, because it was the fastest way to get to King Windmaker.

Her letter of introduction is inspected and the King orders the chains removed. He's relieved to have a way out of jailing his own son.

However, while the chains are being removed, he starts a bit of a staring contest with Sureshot, as the means to judge her tenacity. She meets his gaze for ten minutes straight and the King blinks, with his eyes burning. When he opens his eyes, she's still staring.

She says, "Never try to out-stare a sharpshooter from the 108th."

The King recognizes the unit number and gets the implied threat. King Joshua sent an assassin to make peace, implying that if he doesn't agree to her reasonable demands, then she's was quite likely authorized to kill him.

Despite this fact, he quite likes her, because she's more tenacious than a dwarf and audacious enough to order him around in his own throne room. This is a little nod to the chapter title, Diplomatic Impunity.

Sureshot explains the events that brought her there and the King apologizes for the actions of his men. Sureshot explains that she's on a mission of peace.

The King promises to remain at peace with Oswil, promising his men will never cross the border without permission, ever again.

Sureshot counters that she didn't come for peace between Fortune Fields and Oswil. She came to make peace between the dwarves and the trolls. If he doesn't agree, then the consequence will be making an enemy of Oswil and fighting a war on two fronts.

The King explains how the war began and his inability to make peace, despite trying. He eventually mentions having captured many trolls, but they act as though they were born yesterday, knowing little to nothing.

Illa counters, "That’s because they were born yesterday, metaphorically speaking."

She explains that the trolls have largely been fighting the war with cloned shock troops, a strategy designed to soften Fortune Fields up for a real invasion.

The King is frustrated to learn this, because he's lost ninety-percent of his soldiers in the past three years.

Ill informs him, "That was the point. The real invasion will be starting any day now."

He laments not hearing her out three years before and that's as far as I got on Friday, before I had to head off to work.

I'll probably finish the chapter (on Monday) with an emotional plea for peace from Captain Vendros, via Brosla's mimetic journal.

Future Plans

The overall plot-line has started coming into focus for me, but as always, everything is tentative until the final draft.

Finishing Part Two

I"ll likely wrap up part two next week, the rest of which should revolve around attempts to force a cease-fire, for the sake of peace talks. With Fortune Fields so worn down, but willing to commit to peace, Oswil will get involved, sending an army to occupy the land between the two nations.

Nepita isn't stupid enough to start a war with Oswil while she's already in a war with Fortune Fields, so the cease-fire will briefly happen. The dwarves will send another envoy (Kadrek's brother), but Nepita will treat him the same as Kadrek, shaving and stripping him as her response, because she wants to continue fighting the dwarves (she's having fun).

Part two should conclude with the King of Oswil committing to aiding the dwarves, since they can't stand on their own after all they've endured.

Part Three

Part three will focus on the invasion of Utros and Sureshot's team will lead the charge, accompanied by King Windmaker. Their intent is to force the trolls to accept peace as they look down the barrel of a loaded gun, but it won't be so easy and Nepita will pull out all the stops to fight back.

I want to keep the situation in space relevant to the story, so Brosla will get occasional updates from Captain Vendros. During the climax, his ship will arrive in geosynchronous orbit with an enemy warship right on his heels.

As the battle on the ground rages (probably at night), there will be incredible pyrotechnics in the sky, leading to debris falling into the atmosphere like a meteor shower, because the two ships won't be pulling any punches, literally blasting each other to bits.

I want the battle in space to become the reason Nepita finally backs down and sees reason, but it's nearly impossible to stop a battle once started and the two rulers will have to work together to end it.

The novel should end with everyone from all over the region watching debris fall form the sky, including major and minor characters introduced throughout the book.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war

Work In Progress #3: Troll War #3 (July 8-12)

This is part three of my series on my work in progress novel, Troll War, which centers around a kingdom of trolls going to war with a kingdom of dwarves, all because a pair of corrupt nobles from a third kingdom were bored and curious to see which race would come out on top.

You can read a short description of Troll War to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing, on Mastodon. This series can be read via this link, though it will be in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest.

Writing this week revolved around completion of Part One, 'Setting the Stage', and the start of Part Two, 'The Players'.

Chapter 10: Discovery

I renamed this chapter and the old title, 'Exile' was used for chapter 10.

As Illa and Kadrek spend the day out on the town for the first time since their stay in the hospital, King Windmaker marches his personal guards and a full regiment of soldiers back into the city of Wind Hammer, with the recently captured trolls as prisoners of war. The intent is to house them in a prison inside the city.

The King and his personal guard break off and march their war-riders back into the palace, leaving one of the great doors to the palace open, symbolizing the fact the King is in, but the kingdom is still at war.

Meanwhile, the captured trolls are marched through the city, right past Illa and Kadrek. They see Illa and call out to her, begging her to save them, but their guards mistake their cries for prayers to a troll god. Kadrek, on the other hand, takes note of where they were all looking, right at Illa.

She comes clean and even fights past the instinct to keep the ancient secret of the trolls, telling him she's a troll woman. She apologizes for lying to him, having kept it going so long only because she feared for her life. He forgives her on the spot. Next, he asks her to promise she'll never lie to him again and in exchange, he promises to always stand beside her.

Chapter 11: Exile

Illa agrees to Kadrek's reasonable demand and gives him her word.

Kadrek does what he feels is right, taking her straight to the King, that she might offer information of value in exchange for her life.

The throne room is cleared of even the King's personal guard and Illa starts by prostrating herself before the King, saying she's a female troll, once more struggling with instinct just to speak. The King doesn't believe her, so he orders her to look him in the eye as she speaks.

He doesn't believe her, because everyone on their world knows the troll race was literally last in line when looks were handed out.

Getting angry, Illa introduces herself properly and a hint of her old pride rises to the surface, that she might speak with the tone of royalty. She explains her lineage and relationship to the current Queen of the trolls, her sister, Nepita.

Next, she tells the secret tale of Segawa, the Goddess of Beauty, who's always depicted veiled, because she's said to be so beautiful that any who looked upon her would instantly die, even other gods. Unknown to mortals, Segawa was married to the blind troll god, Benni. Unable to see his wife, he was safe to spend extended periods in her company, unaffected by her power.

Coming upon the scene of the newly-made trolls and seeing their ugliness, a result of the other gods selfishly giving all of their beauty to their own mortal creations, on top of noting the terrible curse the gods had placed on the trolls because their mere appearance offended them (trolls burn as easily as dry wood), she took pity on the first female troll, gifting the ugly creature with her own, divine beauty. In turn, she took the troll's ugliness for her own.

Angry with the other gods, Segawa threw off her veil and showed them her face for the first time, using it to shame them for their selfish actions. Ashamed at what they'd done, they kept the secret to themselves. Bothered by her own appearance, Segawa put her veil back on and told only the high priests of her church, though the trolls also knew everything.

King Windmaker asks for proof and Illa cuts her own finger off, allowing the King to watch her grow a replacement.

Convinced, the King asks where her loyalties lie and she says her loyalty is to Kadrek, promising to tell all, if the King will spare her life and allow her to stay by Kadrek's side.

The King is silent for a long time, deep in thought, so Illa begins totll more, but the King silences her, because he realizes her secrets will do the opposite of what she intends. Instead of giving the dwarves an advantage, if word got back to the trolls that they knew the deepest secrets of troll-kind, the war will become a holy war.

He wants the information, but not at the price of upsetting the trolls so badly that they'll never stop fighting until one kingdom or the other is destroyed. After all, the standing policy of the trolls was to kill anyone that learned the facts about their women, which had been the case so long it was actually instinct.

The rest of the court is brought back in and the three of them portray a bit of theater. The King pretends to believe nothing Illa has said and also pretends he's infuriated to have caught her in a lie. The guards try to seize her, but Kadrek stands in their way, shouting that he'll spit in his father's eye and fight the royal guard, armed with only a pocket knife.

The King gives Kadrek the choice to stay in the kingdom or be banished with Illa. Kadrek decides to go with her, so the King offers to marry them first, because it's the only way he might witness the event. They agree, so he has his dead wife's ring resized for Illa and does the same with the old wedding band from his own finger, for Kadrek. He marries them on the spot, then gives Kadrek a pouch of gold and two hours to purchase supplies for the road, suggesting they travel north, to Oswil, because they'll be welcome there.

When they're gone, the King orders the room cleared again, so he can be alone with his grief.

Chapter 12: Upping the Ante

Queen Nepita receives a message from King Windmaker, delivered by a captured troll he released to carry it.

The message is simple: for every dwarf that dies by a troll's hand, one-hundred trolls will burn to death.

Nepita is amused by his bravado and vows to show her counterpart what happens to brave men in her kingdom.

She walks to the work room of the biomancers, where abominations are being surgically assembled from parts obtained from troll men. The current subject is a bloated, three armed troll, who's in the process of having a fourth arm grafted onto his body, a difficult process that requires four surgeons working in unison. He's not bloated with fat, but with transplanted muscle.

Nepita demands a status report and they tell her fifty-seven abominations are ready.

This was done in editing an earlier chapter, but I went back and added a scene were Kina and Aketa reported to Nepita. For Aketa's failures, she was assigned to become an abomination.

The biomancers inform Nepita that Aketa has requested to have her body implanted inside the captured war-rider, that she might become an abomination of steel, rather than flesh. Nepita agrees and they inform her that Yera (The attendant of Nepita's Grandmother) has offered to enchant the war-rider to be self-heating, so it will never need fuel, claiming she's unlocked the secrets of dwarf runes.

Nepita is surprised, because Yera hasn't spoken in more than a decade, but she sees the utility of such work and agrees.

A new scene begins with King Windmaker standing on the wall of an abandoned castle far to the south of his kingdom, where a prosperous human farming kingdom once was. The land was abandoned, due to a volcanic eruption, which has steadily continued from time to time for more than a hundred years.

Opposite him, on the other side of the castle's gate, the lieutenant of a squad of fresh soldiers stands. Both of them hold enchanted lassos woven from mythril wire.

Down in the castle courtyard, most of the squad waits, mounted on fire-dogs. Fire-dogs are four-legged, steam powered machines that serve Fortune Fields much like firetrucks in modern times. Each has a big water tank on its back, while the soldiers sit on the neck, controlling the movements of the dogs with stirrup-like controls, while the ears of the dogs are handles to control the direction their heads point. There's an elbow-activated button on the water tank, behind the driver, which activated the water pump, allowing the dog to spray water from its mouth.

Another soldier on fire-dog comes into view over the horizon, screaming and cursing, because an angry fire elemental is hot on his heels! It's shaped like a stag, with blue flames for head and body and orange flame for legs and antlers.

The fleeing soldier passes through the ruined castle walls and out the back, while the King and Lietenant whirl their lassos, each getting a good hold of an antler! The elemental is held in place, while the fire-dogs spray it, shrinking it until it's only six inches tall!

The fleeing soldier comes around to face its backside and all of the fire-dogs are used to effectively pen the beast in with walls of splattering water.

The dwarf that lured the creature hops down and pulls an enchanted, mythril jar from his coat, complete with a screw-top lid. The lassos are released and the stag frees itself, while the dwarf sets the jar on it's side, saying, “Me brought ye some coal to eat!”

The elemental, desperate for any fuel it might use to regain its former size, enters the jar and the lid is screwed on, capturing it.

The King accepts the jar and looks through the air holes in the top, pleased the crazy plan worked.

The elemental will be handed off to dwarves with good animal skills, for taming, and will eventually be used as the power source for a new type of war-rider, a fire-breathing demon-rider.

One weapon isn't enough, however, so there's many more elementals to capture...

Part Two: The Players

Chapter 12 marks the end of Part One, which was all about setting the war in motion.

Part Two is about setting the rest of the story's plot in motion, starting with introducing some new characters (adventurers) and giving the human/elf kingdom of Oswil a reason to involve itself in the war.

The idea is to introduce a group of adventurers and then send them to both sides of the war, to make peace. This will consist of an alien anthropologist that has his own reasons to make peace (odd-ball with unusual abilities), a gunfighter/retired army sergeant (leader), Illa (glass-cannon/witch), Kadrek (fighter and negotiator) and an Oswil Army corporal.

There will also be a squad of soldiers, but their purpose in the story will be to die and demonstrate when the crap has hit the fan.

Three years pass between parts, giving the simmering war time to reach a full boil...

Chapter 13: One Last Miracle

This chapter introduces Brosla Ghinead, an alien anthropologist living on the planet, who's been studying magic for thirty years. He looks at least vaguely human, but a little on the tall side, with skin just a little too red (like a sunburn) and overly-sharp teeth, which he hides with something akin to dentures. He's a Vokosian, a technologically advanced, space-faring race with a a large empire.

He's woken in the night by a message from space that came marked with government codes at the highest level of authority. The source of the message is the captain of the last remaining ship, coming from a man that claims to have been the commander of Vokosian Empire's military.

The message details a war that happened in Brosla's absence, in which a machine intelligence became a self-replicating scourge on the galaxy. The galaxy fought back and managed to press the machines back to their own system, at which point the captain tried to make peace.

He laments the fact the galaxy needed a butcher and he chose to be a peacemaker.

The machines backed down and they eventually made trade agreements, to share scientific progress, but that was just a ploy. The machines got the Vokosians to replace all of their reactors with safer models that included safety features. No sign of trickery was found and the new design got used everywhere.

They only discovered the trick when a radiation pulse from the machines shut down every reactor in the empire, aside from more antiquated designs, resulting in more than a thousand worlds falling in a single day!

The lone captain escaped in his antique, personal ship and ran. Eventually he found records of Brosla's research on the strange planet and set a course, thinking magic might be the miracle his people desperately need.

The captain urges Brosla to get the locals organized to defend their world, because the machines will come, sooner or later. He also claims he will arrive at the planet in a little over three months time.

Brosla gathers his things and heads out, intent on speaking with the King of Oswil as soon as possible.

The intent of this character is that he'll become a part of the adventuring party

Chapter 14: Rock and a Hard Place

Jane "Sureshot" Stanton is a retired Oswil Army Sergeant and sharpshooter. She has a very old west, gunfighter look to her, since that's the theme I'm associating with Oswil.

She wears a long, leather coat, cowboy hat and cowboy boots.

She wears an enchanted katana on her back (she's the world's equivalent to half-Japanese), which is an old family heirloom.

On her hips are a pair of Scott and Walcott copies of the Cobb Single Action Army revolver. Even better, S&W employ a dwarf smith, who enhances some of their work with dwarf runes, so her pistols are enchanted.

I'm intentionally drawing parallels to Smith and Wesson, plus Colt, since named firearm manufacturers are very much a part of the old west. I don't want to use the real world names, because the world I'm writing isn't our world, at all, though it does have many similarities, especially among humans.

Sureshot is at a remote town on the frontier, near Utros, named Ruby Canyon. The town is half in and half out of the canyon mouth.

As she walks the town and talks with the mayor about the job she came to do, involving shooting a bunch of goblins, she notices an excess of dwarves around the place, counting seventeen at a glance.

She raises her concern with the mayor, who also finds it odd.

Getting a nasty suspicion, she asks when they last saw a goblin. He tells her four days.

She tells him her honest opinion: Ruby Canyon is caught between dwarf and troll armies, but she's interrupted by the sound of gunfire.

Hours pass and the battle ends with a town full of dead dwarves and a handful of dwarves burning trolls, to make sure they won't regenerate. Many of the dwarves were killed with extremely precise shots to the right eye, because the trolls had a sharpshooter with them that was showing off. This is a little foreshadowing for later chapters, in which I intend to pit Sureshot against the troll responsible, in a contest of sniper vs. sniper. The troll sniper is probably Anji, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Sureshot demands to speak with the commanding officer of the dwarf soldiers, but he's dead and so are the rest of their leaders.

Chapter 15: Royal Decree

Sureshot sends word to the King of Oswil via telegraph crystal, a one-inch, flat, square variation of a crystal ball coated in a magical, moss-derived chemical that glows when tapped or when hit by the same frequency of light it emits. Such devices come in linked pairs that glow at both ends when tapped. They're used for long-range communication in Oswil, using Moss Code, which is their name for their equivalent to Morse Code.

The King responds with a request for her immediate presence, so she rides as fast as she can for the capitol.

Sadly, that's as far as I got, but my plan for the rest of the chapter is for Surshot to report to the King, while Brosla waits for his turn to speak. Hearing the King's decree that men will be sent to seek peace between the dwarves and trolls, Brosla will probably reveal himself as an alien, telll his tale and volunteer to go on the peace mission. The king will assign a squad of soldiers and temporarily reactivate Sureshot's rank as Sergeant (likely against her will), so she can take command.

There might be a visit to a fortune-telling witch on the way out of town, who will cryptically prod them to go visit Kadrek and Illa, because they're essential to the success of the mission, on top of being main characters.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, rumors-of-war