Let's see what happens with Xavier now that strange things have started... ------ Chapter 2: Rescue and Remembrance Xavier blinked himself slowly awake. A room he didn't recognize. Carefully fitted stonework, painted in a pattern of sunset colors that made the room feel warmer, comforting. A soft bed under him, one that smelled new-washed. His head was slightly elevated, and looking ahead he could see the wall, also of stone with a polished wooden door – currently closed – in the center. Just tightening his gut in preparation [ Continue reading... ]
The Spirit Warriors: Choosing the Players, Chapter 1
November 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment
Earth: August 1999 Chapter 1: Encounter in an Alley This was a stupid, stupid idea. Xavier glanced back. Of course, they're behind me too. The oldest member of the gang was maybe two or three years older than Xavier; the youngest, maybe fourteen, a year younger. But there were at least fifteen or twenty of them, and only one of him. "So is this where I say I don't want any trouble, and one of you says 'too bad'?" he said. There was a dumpster to one side. If I can at least get over there, the wall and the dumpster cover [ Continue reading... ]
The Spirit Warriors 1: Choosing the Players, Prologue
October 31, 2023 By Leave a Comment
Here's the first of several samples of my newly-published novel Choosing the Players! THE SPIRIT WARRIORS Book 1: Choosing the Players By Ryk E. Spoor Prologue: Witness to the End Zarathan: 500,000 years ago "Should I be leaving?" Khoros said, looking somewhat up at his host. "Oh, pfft," the gigantic Toad said airily. "It's been quieter down in the great City for a week now. Don't know what got into those Sauran's heads, but I'm sure they're all feeling silly about their ideas of rebellion. Rebellion [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapters 23 and 24
March 19, 2021 By Leave a Comment
So our heroes finally get back home... and arrive to a warm welcome! ----- Chapter 23. Ingram gripped his anai-k'ota tighter. "You ready, Urelle?" "Almost." She held up her hands, gazing through a triangle made between them. "Ah! There's the Seal!" "Good," Silvertail said – in his rat form, sitting on the radiantly beautiful Princess Holy Aura's right shoulder. Cold rain did nothing to dim either Ingram's spirits or the glory of the four Apocalypse Maidens. He felt somewhat guilty for staring, but he'd seen Urelle having a [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapters 21 and 22
March 15, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Couldn't post on Friday and the weekend was busy, so here, two for one! Raiagamor's getting ready for the new arrivals he expects, and our friends are busy learning from THEIR new friends! ----- Chapter 21. He divested himself of the constricting ceremonial armor with a sigh of pleasure. Of all the minor annoyances of pretending to be the General, Ares Incarnate, it was perhaps that armor that was the worst. Not only was it an impediment to the flowing free movement he preferred, it also incorporated, rather unavoidably, a [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 20
March 11, 2021 By 2 Comments
So, they'd met some new people in an alley... ----- Chapter 20. Victoria spread her hands to indicate that she was no threat; the others copied her. "We are hardly enemies, sir," she said, "Or at least I would hope not, as we have not the least idea of where we are, and have little enough energy left for argument, let alone fighting. My niece," she gestured to Urelle, "is exhausted and in need of rest. Now might I ask who you are, and why we would be in danger?" The man – who appeared to be, now that Victoria got a better [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 18
March 5, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Well, they at least had a guide in this place... ---- Chapter 18. "All right, listen up," said Mick. He was now dressed in a leather jerkin, his wand in a holster on one side, a basket-hilted rapier on the other. "If we’re lucky, your Seal, or whatever, is just a little ways inside Elphame, right near the path, and so you can just be on your merry way. Sometimes my luck’s like that. But sometimes it really, really ain’t, and you poppin’ up in my bathroom makes me figure your luck, at least in this world, runs a lot like mine. So [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 17
March 3, 2021 By 2 Comments
They're off on a tour of worlds to find a way back to theirs... ------ Chapter 17. "DUCK!" Ingram obeyed Quester instinctively, and the glittering red-razor shards passed through the area his neck had just occupied, severing several strands of his lavender hair. He tumbled forward and dodged sideways, as Quester cast his last javelin. The adorable blonde girl – seemingly younger than Urelle – with the frightening red eyes and glittering crystal-skeleton wings dodged the hard-thrown spear as though it had been a pillow and [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapters 15 and 16
March 1, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Couldn't post the usual on Friday, so today you get two! They finally reach the Seal... and discover what lies on the other side of something that walls off a country even from gods! ------- Chapter 15. Urelle watched as Druyar methodically unlocked the seven different locks sealing shut the immense door that was at the end of the lowest corridor in the Freehold, five levels below the ground, through other locked and guarded doors. The big man very carefully examined each lock, laboriously comparing the symbols on lock with [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 14
February 24, 2021 By Leave a Comment
And we haven't seen what Raiagamor has been up to lately... ----- Chapter 14. "We have found them." Raiagamor could not blame Deimos for wearing a self-satisfied expression; it was a great achievement indeed, and especially so given what Deimos had gone through before. "You know where the Camp-Bels went to ground?" "We do. Even once we realized they had survived, they had left many subtle false trails, but one of our scouts finally located them. They are in a very well-hidden and defended redoubt not far from Amoni Agapis, [ Continue reading... ]
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