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searching for a lesson in this, Shan decided that Onja had mistaken her
superiority for invincibility. As always, Onja was his teacher.
~
Continue to enjoy The Rys Chronicles with new characters, old favorites, and
daunting villains. The next story in The Rys Chronicles begins five years
after the fall of Onja.
Book III - Judgment Rising will be available in print in 2007.
Dreibrand is the master of his fledgling settlements in Nufal and Shan is King
in Jingten. Victory has been good to them, but the legacy of Onja awakens to
threaten everything they have fought for and achieved.
Order at www.braveluck.com
Excerpt from Judgment Rising
Shan and Tempet tumbled down the slope, bound by their unrelenting grips. Shan
kept his shield pressed against his opponent even as they struck rocks and
flopped through thorny shrubs. The shield channeled Tempet s energy into Shan
and insulated his body from damage.
Shan gasped when Tempet finally lost his hold and rolled past him. Lightning
crashed above and the pouring rain cooled Shan s hot face. His eyes matched
the flashing sky and the discovery that his shield could steal power
exhilarated him. With a cry of corrupted delight, he sprang to his feet.
Tempet was running away but his lifeforce could not elude Shan s aroused
senses.
Shan chased him, gambling that the other attacker would disengage from the
humans in order to help her companion. Beckoned by his enemy, Shan ran faster
and his suede-clad feet left only the occasional mark in the damp soil. Wet
leaves slapped Shan s face as he instinctively avoided the tree trunks hidden
in the dark.
Tempet turned abruptly to face his pursuer. Breathing hard, he held his
bitaran up and encased himself in a shield spell. No words were spoken when
Shan met his challenge and they exchanged blows with furious speed. Tempet was
careful to avoid contact with the shield because he now recognized the
enchanted device that weakened him like starvation. Many tabre had withered
before Dacian s shield.
Shan forced his foe to give ground. Magic blazed around their weapons and in
their eyes. Their physical confrontation was so intense that neither of them
bothered to use an attack spell. Gripped with a battle rage that had not been
seen since Jingten and Nufal had warred long ago, they swiped at each other,
determined to douse an enchanted weapon in blood.
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Shan scored the first wound, slashing Tempet s chest. A long stripe of blood
dripped over Tempet s pectorals and the pain was acute because Shan s sword
had been created as a bane to the
Nufalese.
As Tempet cringed, Shan slammed his shield across Tempet s arm, and the flower
of Tempet s strength bloomed in Shan s body again. Clearing his mind of the
unrefined desire for brutish combat, Shan blasted Tempet to the ground with an
attack spell. With his perfect blade, Shan would have cut the aggressive
stranger in half if Alloi had not entered the battle from afar.
Demolished by her attack spell, Shan fell to the ground hard. He barely
resisted the paralyzing effect of the spell.
Another attack spell exploded around his body as he scrambled away, but his
shield spell did not buckle. Shan sent his mind toward the female and viewed
her lifeforce with clarity for the first time.
She was a brilliant creature, imbued with intellect and power, and Shan felt
admiration before fear.
Intrigued by her quality, Shan wanted to communicate, but a renewed assault
from Tempet forced him to run. Leading the chase now, Shan spread his mind
over the land and saw the female trailing them. While she was still trying to
catch up, Shan stopped to exchange blows with Tempet, but then the female hit
him with a spell and he had to run again.
He ran deep into the forest before his endurance flagged. The forest enveloped
him like a hangman s hood.
I have gone too far
, Shan worried.
Deciding he had to even the fight, Shan stopped and frantically cast a spell.
Only his great power and skill allowed him to create a spell so quickly and
aim it so precisely. The harassment from the female had to end before he could
finish Tempet, but Shan did not launch a lethal spell at her. He had yet to
attempt communication with the female and his heart demanded that he give her
a chance. Perhaps she would be more open to reason than her raving companion.
Alloi tried to repel the spell that hit her like the crashing roof of a
burning building, but the strain of fighting such a strong rys had weakened
her. She regretted that she and Tempet had not taken more time to recuperate
before striking offensively. When her defenses folded, she screamed with pain
and lost consciousness. The wet forest did not muffle her cry but instead
transmitted her wail of dismay to her brother s ears. Tempet s emotions rioted
when he realized that his sister had been hit.
The rys King will pay!
he promised the world and descended on Shan.
The intense desire to bring pain to his enemy reinstated Tempet to his full
knowledge in the use of
his weapon. The bitaran spun in his hand its jagged head a blur of blunt
force. When the spinning weapon stopped, it was in a position to strike Shan
on his unshielded side. Shan blocked with his sword and then tried to ram
Tempet with his shield. Tempet avoided the leech-like shield and hopped back,
guarded by his whirling weapon.
Shan shot an attack spell at Tempet, but the fiery blue explosion did not fell
Tempet this time.
Inspired by his anger, Tempet charged. Shan caught the sparkling head of the
bitaran on his hilt and pushed it up beside his head. At the same time, he
tried to apply his shield to Tempet, but the male ducked inside his shield and
they grappled chest to chest with weapons locked.
Tempet snarled and his wild eyes blazed with fury. If holding Tempet at bay
had not completely taxed Shan s strength, Shan would have shuddered at the
sight. Onja had educated Shan about evil, but now a leering mask of pure hate
confronted him, and he doubted that he could ever negotiate with this
creature.
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Tempet spat in the face of the rys King and poured his power into the bitaran.
He transformed the shaft of the weapon into a molten mass and reshaped it.
Flowing over the bottom warding crystal and consuming its fierce glow, the
shaft became elongated and plunged toward Shan s side like a spear. It
hardened just before it reached Shan s jacket, and the enchanted point pierced
the delicate fabric of Shan s body.
Shan gaped with shock. The intense pain drained all sound from his scream.
Tempet twisted the bitaran and snarled with perfect satisfaction. Shan reacted
with the strength that only severe crisis can inspire. He pushed Tempet back,
which tore the bitaran out of his flesh. Before Shan s blood hit the ground,
he released a massive attack spell.
The explosion embraced Tempet with fire that clung to his body and dissolved
his shield spell. The flames burned brighter when they reached flesh and did
not wither until Tempet s head and neck were charred. His screams cracked his
crisp lips and he writhed in agony on the ground. Resisting the total oblivion
that the pain demanded, Tempet began to crawl blindly away.
Despite the success of his spell, Shan had no energy left to make the kill.
Drained by the blood gushing from his side and down his leg, Shan reeled into
a tree. Only now was his mind processing what had happened. He would have
never guessed at the ability of the weapon that had devastated his flesh.
Clutching his side, he had to watch Tempet crawl away into the forest.
Even with the incredible pain of his wound exceeding the endurance of his
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