***Book 1 in the Adventures of the Crown series***When a devastating earthquake hits the land, unleashing a horror upon the Falanthyst Kingdom and opening a chasm to a catacomb long forgotten. Fenryn, a young warrior, set outs to find a way to stop the calamity that has hit them. There he meets an elven woman, Lynnette. The two become fast friends and seek a solution to the walking horrors that are infesting the land. However, one problem leads to another as their adventure has only begun, from bandits to kidnapping. They face it all. Yet there is far more to Fenryn's past than meets the eye. Who is he? Where does he come from and what is his destiny? A story full of adventure, magic, royals, and knights, come dive in on this action-packed journey of Fenryn and Lynnette's or as we could put it; The Adventures Of The Crown.
View MoreIt was night time in the lands of Terra, and with no moon to give light to the countryside, things were pitch black. A lone torch flickered deep within a chasm, a sign that at least one person was still awake at this hour. The cloaked figure stood before the entrance of an old catacomb. It had been uncovered recently when an earthquake had shaken the ground, causing the earth to split into two. The trip down into the far reaches of the earth had been a long one, taking the person several hours. Luckily there were several ledges on which to rest, and the person had come prepared for a long journey.
Taking a deep breath of air in, the figure lowered the hood of their cloak to reveal a male with shoulder-length blond locks, and deep blue eyes. He seemed to be a young adult, likely no older than twenty. His skin was free of blemishes, and he had an air of curiosity around him. It was obvious in his expressions, that the catacombs interested him a great deal. The man held the torch out in front of him, as he attempted to read the runes littering the ancient door frame above his head. His lips thinned as he tried to make sense of the strange letters, but ultimately he failed in doing so. “Must be in the old tongue of the Gods,” he said to himself, his smooth voice concealing the annoyance within. “But there is no doubt about it. This is the place I need to go if the rumours are true.”Taking a few paces forward, the man frowned deeply, noticing the door to the catacombs was open. He hoped that this was not a bad omen and that any dangers within had not found their way outside just yet. The rumour that had led him to this area, had been one of an ancient spirit of an old God. One that had the power to raise up corpses as an undying army. Apparently, this God had been trapped away deep underground by the Goddess of Death: though one could never really know the truth without asking the Goddess directly, and that was no easy task.Cautiously, the man moved through the doorway and down several flights of stone steps. At the end of the stairs, he was met with long, thin corridors. Several of them branched out into larger rooms: full of old tombs. Despite the fact that dust littered the rooms from the floor up: it smelled quite musty and damp. There was no sound coming from any of the rooms here, and so the man continued on down the long hallway and towards another flight of stairs. He knew that the creature he sought would be further down, where there would be more corpses for it to raise and control.The sound of movement coming from further down in the catacombs caused the man to pause at the end of the stairs. He listened cautiously before slowly poking his head around the corner. A sigh of relief escaped his lips when he noticed that the sound was coming from a couple of rats that had made their nest here. They scurried about, finding offence to the light from the torches that littered the catacombs. The relief the man had felt, seemed to wash away within moments as the realisation hit him like a mound of bricks. “But who lit the torches?” He quietly asked himself. He carefully stepped further into the small room, unsheathing his sword slowly. The metallic sound echoing throughout the room. It wasn't as if the dead truly needed the light in order to see the path ahead of them, did they?His blue eyes scanned the area around him, but he saw no sign of any undead creatures. However, his eyes did notice footprints in the dust. He had not noticed them before and realised that they had entered the room from another path than the one he had taken. Frowning deeply, the man's gaze followed the path the prints took. Whoever it was, seemed to know the path in which they needed to take. There seemed to be no hesitation in their movements throughout the catacombs. Yet there was only one set of prints. A clear sign that they were alone.Steeling himself, the man took a deep breath in, then began to follow the direction the footprints lead-in. He wasn't so sure the person wasn't the God, but he also wasn't sure they were not in fact mortal. Treasure hunters would often explore such strange places in hopes of finding riches, and he hoped that this was the case here. He himself had no interest in such trinkets. His only concern was the dangerous walking dead rumoured to be here.The path he followed led further through the tunnels, and into the mountain. He wondered why someone would build a burial chamber so far down in the earth like this, but then there were many strange things about the days before the War of the Gods. Thinking about it too much unsettled the man, and so he shook his head of such thoughts and continued on his way.As he moved slowly through the narrow tunnels, the man noticed that ahead of him, there laid a barricade of metal bars that blocked his way further in. He wrinkled his nose in irritation. He hoped he had not missed a turning, as turning around in such tight spaces was difficult. He looked back down to the floor for any sign of where the footprints led, and he became puzzled. They continued on as if the bars had not hampered the person at all. Taking a closer look around him, he knew there had to be a switch or similar that would allow him access into the room ahead. Even a God could not pass through metal, surely? He took a step backwards and regarded the area before himself for anything that seemed out of place. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for one small rock that stuck out of the wall. It was hardly noticeable to anyone not actively looking for it.“Ah-ha,” he said smirking to himself, “I knew there had to be something to open you up.” He reached a hand up, pushing the bit of loose rock inwards. With a resounding click, the bars ahead of him slowly began to sink into the floor. Keeping his sword ahead of himself, the person carefully moved out into the more spacious room. He was relieved to see that this room was equally as empty as the rest of the catacombs. However, there was most certainly something different about this area. What it was, the man could not quite tell, but the air here felt constricting. More torches littered the room, and the footprints seemed to pace the room. It was as if the person suddenly was unsure which direction they needed to go. It was of little wonder, as there were many more paths that led out of this room than there had been before.The man wondered if continuing to follow this person was a good idea, and he hesitated for a moment. The sound of scraping coming from one of the paths alerted him to someone, or something, approaching him. He turned around slowly, sword raised in a position to attack. With bated breath, the man waited for what seemed like an eternity for whatever creature was heading in his direction. What he saw made the man's face pale. He had not expected the rumours to be true, after all, he had not seen any sign of anything abnormal here, until now.The skeleton at first did not seem to notice the man, which was no surprise as it lacked any eyes to speak of. Only hollow dents showed any sign of where two eyes had once been. The creature continued on through the room before it paused in its steps. Slowly its head cocked to the side as if it seemed confused by something or other. The man's eyes widened as he took a step back from the bony creature. It seemed to be looking right AT him! Impossible, but there was no denying the snarl now emitting from it. The thought that perhaps the skeleton could see him, sent shivers down the man's spine. Coupled with the grotesque sound the creature was making, it made the man want to run. However, he stood his ground. Sword held ready for the inevitable attack. As if sensing the human man's fear, the creature leapt forward with surprising speed. It had been slow, and almost dumb upon arrival, but now it almost matched the man in speed and knowledge of the battle. It held an old sword that had obviously seen better days, yet it was still strong enough to parry the blows set by the human.With a loud ringing sound echoing the room, the man parried the skeleton's own blow. He hoped there was a chance that he could kill the creature if such monsters could truly be killed. His attacks to the torso did nothing to slow the dead beast, and only angered it further. Instead, the man attempted to disarm the skeleton. With a swift swing of his sword, the arm of the skeleton was removed from the rest of its haggard body. The creature stumbled about, trying to fend off the attacker and reach its sword arm. However, the man gave the creature no such chance to re-attach its arm, if that was indeed possible. Its head rolled to the floor as the man's sword decapitated it with another swift blow. The skeleton then crumbled to the floor in a pile of dust.A huge sigh of relief escaped the man's lips. He was glad that it was indeed possible to re-kill something already dead. Though this did not settle his fear much at all. If the only way to kill the undead was the removal of the head, then it would take a lot of effort if there were more of the creatures to fight than just the one. Besides, if this God could truly bring the dead back to fight, then newer bodies might not be as easy to take down, and may even be re-animated more than once. At the thought of an army of these creatures entered his mind, the man thinned his lips and once more took up the task of finding out which direction the other person had taken. If they were not skilled fighters, then they could be in danger of joining the undead. He just hoped that this was not already the case and that he could get them to agree to work with him. The person seemed to have travelled down several paths before settling on one in particular. Or at least they had not backtracked through the tunnel. This either meant it was the correct path, or they had died down there.The sound of more scraping coming from another tunnel behind him, caused the man to glance back. This time he could tell there was more than just one creature coming this way. The man did not wish to find out just how many there were. Swiftly he took to the tunnel. It was not as tight as the others and he felt relieved that he could defend himself here if he suddenly found himself facing another enemy. It did not take him long to reach the other end of the tunnel, and he found himself in front of several piles of dusty old bones. Evidence that the person had combat skill, and had already dispatched several skeletons here. The man was glad that they were not so vulnerable as he feared, but he also worried that this person might be as dangerous as any dead creature. Still, he was not to be deterred by possibilities.The sound of steel hitting steel echoed throughout the catacombs as the man took in the sight before him. It jerked his attention towards one of the tunnels. The sound seemed to be coming from that direction. He was sure of it. Though it was hard to tell just how far away the sound had come from. The walls bounced sound around like the wind blew a leaf in the gardens. Heading through the tunnel, the man moved cautiously, but with swift steps. It did not take him long before he reached another spacious room. He blinked several times as he took in the sight before him. He had expected to see a burly man with rugged good looks, or maybe some kind of bandit, but instead he saw a very lithe Enerawyn woman. Or an elf, to most humans.Greetings to all my wonderful readers!As you've likely noticed, I have actual artwork of my characters for the cover of my book now. This was a commission I paid for from a very dear artist friend by the name of Rydi on DeviantART also known as lucia-garcia on ArtCorgi.We've known each other for a long time now, and I was super happy she gave me permission to use the old commissions in this way, so if you like her style, feel free to check her out.Thanks for reading my story and feel free to check out my others also here.Have a wonderful day!
The wooden stocks around Asher's wrists felt like they were cutting into his skin. He could feel it rubbing and with each movement, it sent a wave of sharp pain throughout his arms. He wasn't too impressed by being caught and locked up again and he gave the two men a smile that dripped with hatred. “Asher,” Fenryn said as he ignored the man's smile, “how nice of you to join us.” “Not by choice, but here I am,” Asher replied, he looked between the King and Vaughan for a moment. “I'm surprised you even found me. How was it that you did that, hmm?” He then asked. “Oh, my people get around,” Fenryn said with an air of politeness, “we wanted to ask you some more questions if that is fine with you?” “Do I have a choice?” Asher asked in return. The knight escorting him, forced Asher to his knees before Vaughan waved the man away. “You always have a choice,” Vaughan said as he waited for the three of them to be alone, “you could refuse and then I'd fi
Several weeks passed since the bandits had been dealt with, and things had mostly returned to normal. Fenryn and Vaughan had returned to the castle, but they had reluctantly left Lynnette in the village. She had wanted to go back with them at first, but Athera convinced her to stay there until her health improved, if it ever did.In the meantime, Athera agreed to stay in the village with her. There she acted as Fenryn's diplomat between their people. She couldn't guarantee that other clans would want to work alongside humans, but she offered what help she could give. The clan was unsure of their leaders choice, but in the end, they too made the village their temporary home and offered to help bridge any gaps between their races.Lynnette was able to move around with the help of the Rattus' invention. A chair with wheels. It wasn't a perfect mode of transportation, and she had to be pushed if she wished to travel anywhere, but she felt better with what little freedoms i
An hour passed by before Fenryn sent a few people to 'search' for Asher. He wanted to give the illusion that the man had escaped, and that he wanted to re-capture him. He knew the man would be long gone by now, and with Vaughan's spies keeping track of the man, he wasn't too worried that someone would find him. Fenryn wasn't sure if he wanted to re-capture Asher for real just yet, and Vaughan had said that it might prove beneficial to allow the man to go if only to find out what his next plans were.Athera gave the news that Lynnette had finally awakened, and seemed to be doing well. Though Fenryn could tell that his friend was not her usual self. She seemed to be unable to move much and some parts of her seemed unable to move at all. Sometimes Lynnette's hand movements would be fine, but now and then she would lose the ability to grip anything.It was obvious that she would not be able to continue her Knight duties if she ever was able to function properly as a person
It was another few hours before Teo knocked on the door to alert Fenryn and Vaughan that the procedure was over and that Lynnette would survive. Though despite this, Teo had a worried look written all over her face. As the two moved into the room, Lynnette was still in bed. She was not awake, and Athera sat next to her on a stool.The elder woman looked over to Fenryn as he and Vaughan entered. She seemed as worried as Teo and this worried the King.“She'll be fine, won't she?” He asked cautiously. “We got back in time, didn't we?”Athera's lips thinned, as she returned her attention to Lynnette. She placed a cool cloth on the woman's forehead to keep the fever down. She then said uneasily, “we could not remove all the venom, but she will survive.”Teo moved into the room and took a small bowl from the bedside table. Within the bowl was a small metal object. “It was a good thing you brought Athera here, as she kne
Another whole day passed by before Fenryn saw the familiar shapes of human buildings. The mist had almost lifted entirely during the journey back to the village, though he never once saw another Fae during that time. He was curious about it, but the clan leader named Athera gave no explanation on the matter and merely smiled at him. Fenryn wondered if the Fae merely knew without communication, but he could tell that he would get no answers. At least not from Athera. He wondered if Lynnette would explain it more to him later.If she survived...The clan seemed overly nervous when they reached the edge of the woods and Fenryn could tell that they very rarely came this close to human civilisation. Some of them seemed less afraid, but not by much. He wondered if those had a little more experience than the others when dealing with humans, but it couldn't have been much, especially when comparing them to the Malruthiia.He attempted to calm them down, but no matter wh
The morning sun had not yet disturbed Fenryn from his sleep. The little wolf was curled up next to him, her ears twitching every so often as a fly landed on them. The two seemed quite happy to stay asleep all day, but the unicorn had other ideas. He had woken up before dawn and for a time, he wandered about the area of the woods that they had stopped to rest in. He had taken the moment to feed himself and to watch a small family of foxes playing. Once they had returned to their den, the unicorn returned to his new companions. Lowering his head, the unicorn prodding Fenryn's cheek with his horn. The man grumbled something or other that included another human's name, then rolled over onto his other side. The unicorn made a disgruntled noise before it decided to 'walk' over Fenryn and 'accidentally' hit the King's head with his hooves. Fenryn woke with a start and sat straight up, startling the pup in the process. “What-what was that!?” He almost yelled as he looked aro
Morning couldn't come quick enough for Vaughan. He had been up all night with worry. His bruise had healed well enough that the apprentice that Teo had ordered to tend to Vaughan's needs was happy enough to leave him alone now, but he had been given strict orders, not to overexert himself at all. That did not mean he had listened, of course. He paced the edge of the woods for the best part of the night, even though he knew Fenryn would not be likely to return so soon. The other half of the night he spent his time checking on Lynnette. She seemed to have lost quite a bit of colour in her cheeks since she first had been hit by the spell, but she was still alive and he had to be thankful to Teo's skill for that. Naturally, all this worry kept him from any real sleep and now he had less patience for those around him. Most of the Knights kept their distance from Vaughan, for fear that he would force them into some unreasonable training exercise. Only a few people braved g
Moving once more through the wood with the wolf pup in hand, Fenryn wondered how Lynnette was doing. He hoped he could find her clan in time, and convince them to return to the village with him. He could only pray that they would trust his word and go with him. He tried to think of a compelling speech that would be enough to win over her people, but anything he thought of sounded forced. The pup in his arms had settled down to sleep, and he couldn't help but think that she was adorable. However, he knew that she wouldn't stay so small and cute for long, not if she grew to be as big as the rest of her pack. He wondered if there were others like her pack in the world. So much was unknown about the Lightmist woods, and he was unsure if anyone would ever know more about them. Shaking such thoughts free from his mind, Fenryn returned his thoughts to his mission. “Do you think the Fae are watching us?” He asked the pup but expected no response. “Lynnette said they helped p
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