THIS BOOK IS NOT YET PUBLISHED
Three young soldiers entering an inn, bedraggled from the weather and wounded from battle. The innkeeper was a loyal king’s man so he offered them the hospitality of his establishment for at least one night without charge. The soldiers were on a mission, but they were grateful for the chance to be out of the rain for a night. One of them, however, would be going no further.
Early the next morning, the other two left for the capital, but having been forced to travel on foot, the coup had outstripped them. Strange troops swooped down on them, and the battle was short. One, the king’s son, was stripped and his body was displayed beside that of his father for all to see that the dynasty was finished.
But the dynasty wasn’t finished; no one remembered that another son had been born a year earlier, and his one remaining friend wasn’t about to tell anyone, not when his only protection was an oblivious innkeeper and the fact that no one there knew who he was.
It didn’t take long for the innkeeper to discover who his young charge was; it was tattooed on his chest and his clothes had to be removed. The innkeeper, Harley, wasn’t about to turn his king’s son out even after he had recovered, and Daniel hadn’t been raised to take advantage of his title so he worked to earn his keep.
As the kingdom was coming apart without a king on the throne, Harley wanted to know Daniel’s plans, but Daniel didn’t know what to do either. Despite the tattoo on his chest, he was just a farm boy; he hadn’t been taught anything about running a kingdom.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, Harley sent for an old friend of his, a mercenary. Bosley took Daniel under his wing and taught him his trade, though Daniel was reluctant to learn it. Much to Bosley's and Harley’s dismay, Daniel insisted that Prince Daniel had died that first night; if he was to leave the inn, a young man by the name of Monk would be going.
Over the next three years, Monk grew from a boy into a man while Bosley tried to pour everything he knew into him, though it was difficult to tell if he had learned anything. He did seem to be up to any challenge when it happened though, so he must be learning something.
One winter, Bosley was too ill to travel so Monk took work at a ranch. That winter, Monk discovered that the farmer whose land adjoined the rancher’s had a lovely daughter and by spring, Monk sent Bosley on his way alone. A year later, Monk had a small valley he could call his own with a little house by a well and a lovely wife to come home to.
Two years later, Monk had a daughter who squealed her delight whenever he came home and an infant son in his wife’s arms, but his past came knocking, and it was all swept away by one man’s greed. The man, who had taken his mother from him with treachery and fire, came to take his new family from him in the same way and he wasn’t home to defend them.
Collecting taxes out of season, Lord Braska was riding around his district exacting punishment for those who couldn’t pay and to set an example for those who could. One lone woman, pretty and delicate, was too sweet a candy to pass up.
After Monk buried his family, he dug out his armor and weapons. Monk was dead now; it was time for Prince Daniel - it was time for some revenge - he wasn’t a boy anymore. With each piece of armor he buckled into place, Daniel remembered everything Bosley had tried to teach him.
Braska’s death wasn’t the only revenge Daniel took, though it was perhaps the sweetest. For nearly two years, Daniel took vengeance on anyone who brutalized the people to feed their greed, and tales of an avenging angel, or perhaps devil, sprang up all across the land.
One bitter cold evening, Daniel found himself overlooking a familiar inn. If it had been any other inn, he would have passed on by, but he decided to stop in. His life had gone full circle after a fashion, though he wasn’t wounded this time. He ended up staying for nearly a week as he thought about his future; he wasn’t ready to die yet, though he might have been looking for it not so long ago. By differing methods of inheritance, Daniel was the lawful lord of three different districts as well as the rightful king, so Daniel decided it was time to make himself known. It was time for him to be who he was born to be.
The first district he chose was the one where he had grown up. There, he discovered that the great sword he had always carried had belonged to his grandfather. He also decided to make use of the armor and saddle-cloth that had been displayed with it when he was a kid - it would fit the horse he currently rode, and with a little more stitching, it would advertise exactly who he was to anyone who saw him.
The next district he went to was in the foothills. There he learned that his ancestors had always kept hawks. There were some here, but the keeper hadn’t known how to care for them properly so they were in poor health. After setting them free, two of them decided to adopt him. It wasn’t long before he discovered that he could communicate with them after a fashion. With an intimate mental link, he could see what they saw and feel what they felt. He could even control their movements, but they resented that.
After settling matters in the third and last of his districts, Daniel headed for the capital. That is, he was headed there up until a hunter shot one of his hawks out of the sky. The shock and the hawks fall from the sky caused Daniel to fall from his tall horse and he fell badly. With his mind flooded with his own pain, as well as the pain and shock from the hawk, Daniel nonetheless managed to keep the hunters from finishing the kill.
Recognizing things that Daniel hadn’t been aware as signs of his bloodline, the hunters took Daniel and his wounded hawk in and nursed them both back to health. Unable to travel for the duration of the winter, Daniel learned many things from these people, things that had been expunged from the histories of the land, though some tales could still be found in songs and poems, something these people tried hard to keep alive.
During his convalescence, Daniel stumbled upon the ability to travel outside his body, and using this method, he went to the palace to see what was happening there; he’d stirred things up quite a bit over the last two years. Daniel wandered through the halls, halls that he thought were too empty, but the hour was very late and he had no idea how the current man who sat on the throne ran his household. He decided to wait until morning and see how things went then. He waited on the throne; he was, after all, interested in who had taken it after his father’s murder.
The man wasn’t anything like he expected. Looking more like a middle-aged librarian, King Tidus didn’t have any idea what to do with the men clambering for his attention. Buying time, he waded through them until he had reached the throne. As soon as Daniel and Tidus occupied the same space, they occupied the same mind and body leaving both of them stunned and shocked. Daniel was the first to recover, and to preserve things the way they were, Daniel took control, asking for reports and issuing orders in rapid succession.
After the throne room was quiet again, Daniel learned exactly what had been happening since his father’s death. He also learned that he had a brother. One of his best friend was also his younger brother - no one had ever told him and there was no reason to suspect - they couldn’t have looked any different if they had been born at opposite ends of the continent.
Daniel took the opportunity to sort out the dungeon where he found his other friend, Jon. Because of his current circumstances, he couldn’t just free one man with little explanation, so he set parameters and weeded through them all. When he was finished, he sent for Jon and presented him with two letters. The letters were really for Jon, but he wanted to make sure he spoke to both the innkeeper, Harley, and his father, about the Daniel he had become, so he addressed the letters to those two men, giving Jon permission to read them only after he had left the city. Finished, he went back to his own body only to discover that the connection, accidental as it was, was just as permanent as his connection with his hawks.
Because of what he had learned among the bards and because of the connection he now had with Tidus, Daniel decided to explore his ancestry on the other side of the northern mountains. At a small town at the base of the only pass, Daniel learned that the pass was cursed. He also learned that, despite the curse, someone was always trying to beat it. Currently there were two old men still living in the town incapacitated by debilitating horror. Since Daniel intended to cross over the pass, he had a vested interest in learning more about this curse.
While he waited for the pass to clear of its winter’s burden, Daniel went to see these two survivors. His touch took their horror into himself, relieving them of their burden, but Daniel was able to process it into a memory fragment, horrible to be sure, but still only just a memory.
On the other side of the pass, he discovered the source of the memory fragments and all of the rest of the fragments as well. All together, they told a story, a story of greed and the horror such actions brought down upon them, a horror that cursed the pass and the entire trail down the north side of the mountain. He also found the descendants of his own ancestors and fell in love with the woman he married.
While Daniel stayed with these people, learning some of their ways, he got a message through Tidus from Jon. Strange men were showing up along their southern border, strangers that were asking too many questions.
Daniel and his new wife headed south as fast as horses could travel, and after a personal appearance at the palace, which lasted longer than he would have liked, he headed toward his southern border at the head of an army.
Using the skills he had learned, Daniel found an enemy army and began to make plans. During the battle, Daniel was seriously injured but he still had his eyes. He discovered a soldier who was protected more than any other and he decided that he would take a hostage just like his long dead ancestor had done so long ago.
The hostage, he discovered, was a woman, and not only that, but she was the invading king’s daughter. Because of her capture, talks ensued. Her status as protected hostage would continue as long as her father remained within his own borders.
After spending the winter recovering and getting to know his hostage and her brother, Daniel found he was unwilling to carry out her promised fate if her father failed to hold up his side of the bargain, so he decided to approach him with a contract of peace that wouldn’t involve her death. Instead, he offered that she would marry his brother in law, thus joining all three of their nations.
On the way home, Daniel diverted their path enough to visit a long cold grave. Over the grave he was made to understand the dangerous consequences if he were to love one person too much; he had become much too powerful for that and his beloved wife was a weakness that could cause history to repeat itself. He had to give his soul to the land; he had to give his love to the land and all of its people every bit as much as he gave it to his wife. From that moment on, Daniel rode the land, keeping the peace and settling disputes, but every spring, his hawks brought him home to nest where he waited, enjoying his wife and their growing family until the fledgling hawks left the nest, then he would travel the lands once again. He did this, outliving more than one horse and more than one generation of hawks. He did this until the land finally claimed his life.
Three young soldiers entering an inn, bedraggled from the weather and wounded from battle. The innkeeper was a loyal king’s man so he offered them the hospitality of his establishment for at least one night without charge. The soldiers were on a mission, but they were grateful for the chance to be out of the rain for a night. One of them, however, would be going no further.
Early the next morning, the other two left for the capital, but having been forced to travel on foot, the coup had outstripped them. Strange troops swooped down on them, and the battle was short. One, the king’s son, was stripped and his body was displayed beside that of his father for all to see that the dynasty was finished.
But the dynasty wasn’t finished; no one remembered that another son had been born a year earlier, and his one remaining friend wasn’t about to tell anyone, not when his only protection was an oblivious innkeeper and the fact that no one there knew who he was.
It didn’t take long for the innkeeper to discover who his young charge was; it was tattooed on his chest and his clothes had to be removed. The innkeeper, Harley, wasn’t about to turn his king’s son out even after he had recovered, and Daniel hadn’t been raised to take advantage of his title so he worked to earn his keep.
As the kingdom was coming apart without a king on the throne, Harley wanted to know Daniel’s plans, but Daniel didn’t know what to do either. Despite the tattoo on his chest, he was just a farm boy; he hadn’t been taught anything about running a kingdom.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, Harley sent for an old friend of his, a mercenary. Bosley took Daniel under his wing and taught him his trade, though Daniel was reluctant to learn it. Much to Bosley's and Harley’s dismay, Daniel insisted that Prince Daniel had died that first night; if he was to leave the inn, a young man by the name of Monk would be going.
Over the next three years, Monk grew from a boy into a man while Bosley tried to pour everything he knew into him, though it was difficult to tell if he had learned anything. He did seem to be up to any challenge when it happened though, so he must be learning something.
One winter, Bosley was too ill to travel so Monk took work at a ranch. That winter, Monk discovered that the farmer whose land adjoined the rancher’s had a lovely daughter and by spring, Monk sent Bosley on his way alone. A year later, Monk had a small valley he could call his own with a little house by a well and a lovely wife to come home to.
Two years later, Monk had a daughter who squealed her delight whenever he came home and an infant son in his wife’s arms, but his past came knocking, and it was all swept away by one man’s greed. The man, who had taken his mother from him with treachery and fire, came to take his new family from him in the same way and he wasn’t home to defend them.
Collecting taxes out of season, Lord Braska was riding around his district exacting punishment for those who couldn’t pay and to set an example for those who could. One lone woman, pretty and delicate, was too sweet a candy to pass up.
After Monk buried his family, he dug out his armor and weapons. Monk was dead now; it was time for Prince Daniel - it was time for some revenge - he wasn’t a boy anymore. With each piece of armor he buckled into place, Daniel remembered everything Bosley had tried to teach him.
Braska’s death wasn’t the only revenge Daniel took, though it was perhaps the sweetest. For nearly two years, Daniel took vengeance on anyone who brutalized the people to feed their greed, and tales of an avenging angel, or perhaps devil, sprang up all across the land.
One bitter cold evening, Daniel found himself overlooking a familiar inn. If it had been any other inn, he would have passed on by, but he decided to stop in. His life had gone full circle after a fashion, though he wasn’t wounded this time. He ended up staying for nearly a week as he thought about his future; he wasn’t ready to die yet, though he might have been looking for it not so long ago. By differing methods of inheritance, Daniel was the lawful lord of three different districts as well as the rightful king, so Daniel decided it was time to make himself known. It was time for him to be who he was born to be.
The first district he chose was the one where he had grown up. There, he discovered that the great sword he had always carried had belonged to his grandfather. He also decided to make use of the armor and saddle-cloth that had been displayed with it when he was a kid - it would fit the horse he currently rode, and with a little more stitching, it would advertise exactly who he was to anyone who saw him.
The next district he went to was in the foothills. There he learned that his ancestors had always kept hawks. There were some here, but the keeper hadn’t known how to care for them properly so they were in poor health. After setting them free, two of them decided to adopt him. It wasn’t long before he discovered that he could communicate with them after a fashion. With an intimate mental link, he could see what they saw and feel what they felt. He could even control their movements, but they resented that.
After settling matters in the third and last of his districts, Daniel headed for the capital. That is, he was headed there up until a hunter shot one of his hawks out of the sky. The shock and the hawks fall from the sky caused Daniel to fall from his tall horse and he fell badly. With his mind flooded with his own pain, as well as the pain and shock from the hawk, Daniel nonetheless managed to keep the hunters from finishing the kill.
Recognizing things that Daniel hadn’t been aware as signs of his bloodline, the hunters took Daniel and his wounded hawk in and nursed them both back to health. Unable to travel for the duration of the winter, Daniel learned many things from these people, things that had been expunged from the histories of the land, though some tales could still be found in songs and poems, something these people tried hard to keep alive.
During his convalescence, Daniel stumbled upon the ability to travel outside his body, and using this method, he went to the palace to see what was happening there; he’d stirred things up quite a bit over the last two years. Daniel wandered through the halls, halls that he thought were too empty, but the hour was very late and he had no idea how the current man who sat on the throne ran his household. He decided to wait until morning and see how things went then. He waited on the throne; he was, after all, interested in who had taken it after his father’s murder.
The man wasn’t anything like he expected. Looking more like a middle-aged librarian, King Tidus didn’t have any idea what to do with the men clambering for his attention. Buying time, he waded through them until he had reached the throne. As soon as Daniel and Tidus occupied the same space, they occupied the same mind and body leaving both of them stunned and shocked. Daniel was the first to recover, and to preserve things the way they were, Daniel took control, asking for reports and issuing orders in rapid succession.
After the throne room was quiet again, Daniel learned exactly what had been happening since his father’s death. He also learned that he had a brother. One of his best friend was also his younger brother - no one had ever told him and there was no reason to suspect - they couldn’t have looked any different if they had been born at opposite ends of the continent.
Daniel took the opportunity to sort out the dungeon where he found his other friend, Jon. Because of his current circumstances, he couldn’t just free one man with little explanation, so he set parameters and weeded through them all. When he was finished, he sent for Jon and presented him with two letters. The letters were really for Jon, but he wanted to make sure he spoke to both the innkeeper, Harley, and his father, about the Daniel he had become, so he addressed the letters to those two men, giving Jon permission to read them only after he had left the city. Finished, he went back to his own body only to discover that the connection, accidental as it was, was just as permanent as his connection with his hawks.
Because of what he had learned among the bards and because of the connection he now had with Tidus, Daniel decided to explore his ancestry on the other side of the northern mountains. At a small town at the base of the only pass, Daniel learned that the pass was cursed. He also learned that, despite the curse, someone was always trying to beat it. Currently there were two old men still living in the town incapacitated by debilitating horror. Since Daniel intended to cross over the pass, he had a vested interest in learning more about this curse.
While he waited for the pass to clear of its winter’s burden, Daniel went to see these two survivors. His touch took their horror into himself, relieving them of their burden, but Daniel was able to process it into a memory fragment, horrible to be sure, but still only just a memory.
On the other side of the pass, he discovered the source of the memory fragments and all of the rest of the fragments as well. All together, they told a story, a story of greed and the horror such actions brought down upon them, a horror that cursed the pass and the entire trail down the north side of the mountain. He also found the descendants of his own ancestors and fell in love with the woman he married.
While Daniel stayed with these people, learning some of their ways, he got a message through Tidus from Jon. Strange men were showing up along their southern border, strangers that were asking too many questions.
Daniel and his new wife headed south as fast as horses could travel, and after a personal appearance at the palace, which lasted longer than he would have liked, he headed toward his southern border at the head of an army.
Using the skills he had learned, Daniel found an enemy army and began to make plans. During the battle, Daniel was seriously injured but he still had his eyes. He discovered a soldier who was protected more than any other and he decided that he would take a hostage just like his long dead ancestor had done so long ago.
The hostage, he discovered, was a woman, and not only that, but she was the invading king’s daughter. Because of her capture, talks ensued. Her status as protected hostage would continue as long as her father remained within his own borders.
After spending the winter recovering and getting to know his hostage and her brother, Daniel found he was unwilling to carry out her promised fate if her father failed to hold up his side of the bargain, so he decided to approach him with a contract of peace that wouldn’t involve her death. Instead, he offered that she would marry his brother in law, thus joining all three of their nations.
On the way home, Daniel diverted their path enough to visit a long cold grave. Over the grave he was made to understand the dangerous consequences if he were to love one person too much; he had become much too powerful for that and his beloved wife was a weakness that could cause history to repeat itself. He had to give his soul to the land; he had to give his love to the land and all of its people every bit as much as he gave it to his wife. From that moment on, Daniel rode the land, keeping the peace and settling disputes, but every spring, his hawks brought him home to nest where he waited, enjoying his wife and their growing family until the fledgling hawks left the nest, then he would travel the lands once again. He did this, outliving more than one horse and more than one generation of hawks. He did this until the land finally claimed his life.
RSS Feed
