THE FOURTH SHAROCK
by
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Silvia ran for the temporary safety of the next line of defense. The branches of the Oaks below were starting to shake and creak both over her head and beneath her feet. Something big and scaled sprang out of the darkness onto her back. The creature knocked her down flat on the swaying tree bridge. Silvia struggled to regain her footing but the thing was incredibly strong. It had wrapped its two fore arms tightly around her as it raked at her stomach and lower side with its hind claws in an attempt to disembowel her. The armor gave her some protection but it was thinner down below and Silvia didn’t know how long it would endure. As if in answer to her unspoken question she began to feel a sharp pain in her side and she could feel a warm wetness spreading inside the armor. The beast was making a strange sort of growling purr. The thing seemed to be enjoying the easy kill. "Easy!" That really made Silvia angry. "Easy! not in your lifetime lizard," yelled Perimeter Captain Silvia Tamarack. With tremendous effort
Silvia managed to stand with the heavy creature still cling to the back of her armor like a third skin. The thing was heavy and it twisted and tried to knock her off balance again. Captain Tamarack smiled to herself. "It had taken him two years to do it but Eldon
had drummed balance into her head. She had learned the hard way but after that she had been feared in the wrestling pits by her training companions. The slight adjustments she made as she fell came as naturally to her as breathing. Silvia and the thing hit the branches with a crash but this time she was on her knees and her arms were free. The big lizard took a swipe at her helmet that rattled her head a bit but she took the hit in stride. When her right hand emerged it held one of her long slim daggers. She immediately shoved it under one of the smaller scales on the creature’s underbelly. Silvia smiled as she probed for a vital organ and twisted the dirk most professionally. The purring of the
lizard suddenly changed to a deafening roar as the beast turned this stinging hard skinned creature loose and leapt fifteen feet to a nearby tree. Silvia stood to face the lizard like creature. She watched the enemy clinging to the tree trunk with three paws and rubbing at the wound on its underbelly with the other The lizard was snapping it’s huge slavering jaws in a most unnerving fashion. As she watched the big lizard she searched with her peripheral vision for her shield and spear. The shield was nowhere to be seen it must have fallen to the ground below. Her spear was several feet to her left on the shaking tree bridge. To hesitate is to die. Silvia ran for the spear. The beast hesitated for a moment and then leapt toward her from its perch several feet above her and to the front. Silvia was a cat’s whisker quicker than the lizard and the beast found her well-placed Elven spear sticking out of its throat. Branches started to break around the two locked in mortal combat. The Oak trees started shearing off their lower branches in order to rend the tree bridge. Silvia turned her spear loose and ran for the stable far side of the tree bridge. The lizard was mortally wounded but it still had some fight left. With its dying effort the lizard leapt for the fleeing hard skin.
Ten more paces and she would be into stable branches. "Not again," thought Silvia to herself as something big and heavy hit her in the back again. Silvia’s hand actually touched the safety of a secure branch only to find herself dragged away. With a loud crack the huge quivering branch that was supporting her and the creature sheared and both of them crashed down through some lower branches and thudded to the ground.
Silvia had the wind knocked out of her. She lay there for a short while trying to focus on her surroundings and trying to breathe. She was nearly in an uncharacteristic panic at being unable to move. She forced herself to concentrate, "Where am I?" "The ground! I’m on the ground! Ants!"
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About the Book
Many centuries ago an Evil King took his pleasure in conquering and subjugating his neighbors. When there was none left to enslave he grew bored. Then to his great pleasure the Krill, a people powerful in magic paid him a visit. He went to great lengths to befriend the Krill who knew the magic of moving to the lands beyond the lights in the night sky. The Krill were brilliant but they were gullible. In time the Evil King stole the magic of the Krill and used it for his pleasure. His armies ravaged many new lands. New lands by the score were crushed under his boot.
At the zenith of his power the Evil King was betrayed by eight of his most trusted generals. With the aid of the Krill they had marooned him and his bodyguard in a cold savage land. They underestimated him. Four centuries later he ruled this land of fearsome beasts under a blue sun. He learned patience. A thousand years later the Krill, never a race to leave any loose ends, checked to make sure he was dead. He was waiting. The Krill were the first to feel his wrath. General Carnith was the next of his betrayers the Evil King found. The fool hadn’t even run. General Carnith had allied himself with the old ones. The Evil King’s dark armies had driven them from land to land for centuries without number. He found others. Two of his betrayers were killed, two he captured. They now wished that they were dead. The remaining four Generals, including Carnith vanished without a trace.
For many, many centuries he searched for his four remaining traitors. His anger never abated as he searched patiently from his high mountain fortress. Finally, after many long centuries he found them. All four enemies were in one land. General Carnith was there with what was left of the old ones. General Lom with his Lombark allies. General Tyre with his humans. General Aquanus was there with the ones that lived in the sea. He attacked at once. The Evil King flooded his minions into this new land. To his surprise they were ready for him. They slaughtered most of his army and chased the few that survived into hiding. He barely escaped back to his high mountain fortress. Grievously wounded and barely alive he returned to his throne of sculls. For centuries he tended his wounds and planned his next assault. He raised an army, larger and better than before. The Evil King was no fool; he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake twice. A direct assault was out of the question. If metal is too hard to break then soften it first. The Evil King quietly sent hundreds of his most clever servants into this hard land to sow mischief and turmoil. The Evil King waited a long time for his evil seeds to grow and mature. The time was almost right to strike again.
This is the story of Galen. Hunted even before he was born. Befriended by the Elves. Protected by Good Wizards. Guided by an Elvin Queen with the gift of seeing the future. His future and the future of his posterity are entangled with the Evil King’s. Galen’s choices are to either die under the Evil King’s boot or to face one of the most powerful evil creatures that ever existed in single combat and defeat him….if he survives that long.
About the Author
Randy A. Bourgeois was born on