The Curse
by
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“They burst
into the throne room, where the Emperor had his council sequestered. In every chair, corpses lolled. At the center, two figures stood upon the
dais. Barbarosa’s eyes were gone to one
slash already. His bloody arm dangled
limp, handless. His robes hung in
ragged strips, his body torn to shreds beneath.
“The other form was but a shadow ... slimmer, darker,
connected to the Emperor’s throat by a single, black line. As a hundred men poured into the chamber, it
turned its muffled head to watch them all.
Its eyes . . . not a man who saw them could ever forget. They were white as the driven snow, filled
with a madness beyond reckoning.
“Without a second’s pause, it pushed a blade through
Barbarosa’s neck, near tearing his head off to free the thing. The guards tried to avenge him . . . a
hundred to one, yet they did not stand a chance. It was everywhere, this monstrosity. Nothing ever moved so fast, nor with such lethal intent. Ten men fell in a heartbeat, then twenty,
then more. They heaped upon one
another, striving to face the butcher and finding the same end as they scaled
their fellows.
“The guardsman who had led them watched helplessly
while they were cut down ... one, two, even three at a time. As the last of his comrades died, he loosed
a spell in desperation, resolved to burn the room and everything in it, himself
included, lest the murderer escape. As
the room ignited, however, reinforcements arrived. His own stalwart comrades risked life and limb to pull him from
the blaze before he, too, could expire.
“When the fires died, they re-entered the chamber
and searched among the wreckage for the villain. Finding no signs, they supposed it just another pile of ash in
all the rest. But the young guardsman
had learned from his earlier mistakes.
He continued investigating the stacks of corpses, and finally did
uncover his foe, safe in the center of a mound of charred bodies. It broke from concealment then, slashing
both its swords across the young man’s chest.
He fell, bleeding, to watch with closing eyes as his companions met
their doom upon black blades."
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About the Book
On one side, an omnipotent, ruthless sorcerer. On the other, a legendary, demonic
assassin. Caught between them, one
knight, his beloved, and a magic sword.
When evils clash, what the hell can one hero do?
While the drums of war sound on the frontiers of
Rigald, within its borders, a different conflict has already begun . . . a
battle for control of whole human world and, at once, for the possession of a
single heart. Protected by the might of
his dark sorcery, the malevolent Lord Ari has acquired power enough to topple
the monarchy and usurp the throne. All
who have opposed his will have fallen, save one. Garen, first knight of Rigald, fights to defend his country, his
king, and Leesha – the headstrong peasant girl he loves – from the onslaught of
the dark wizard. The stage is set and
the players all assembled, but there remains in the shadows one last figure,
faceless, voiceless, cloaked in mystery and death, whose entrance will forever
change the fate of humankind: The Curse.
It's all about the villains.
About the Author
Adam Cleveland is a hermit . . . with hot-and-cold
running water, of course. He shares an
apartment in Athens, Georgia, with not just one, but two imaginary, abusive
roommates, and one uninvited but too-large-to-throw-out spider. When he is not writing about evil, he
pursues the complete corruption of his already dark soul as a student at the
University of Georgia School of Law . . . for which his roommates, quite
understandably, further abuse him. He
is also working very diligently on a sequel to The Curse.