Battle Master (Ch 1 Teaser)
#3 of The Sorrani Chronicles, Formerly "Slave Trade"
Hello readers!
It's been quite awhile since I updated the Slave Trade story and for good reason: it's over!
What ISN'T over, however, is the Soraani series... and what we have here is a little teaser from chapter 1 of Book 2: Battle Master. I wanted to use this opportunity to reveal the central character of Battle Master, a pure white wolf in his early-to-mid-30s who has spent more than half his life in servitude to a Tenvierian lord. What is the history of this character? What is the future of the character? Well... that'll be for you to find out.
And yes-- there will be many, MANY characters returning from Slave Trade.
Battle Master Ch 1 (Teaser) copyright 2014 comidacomida
Baedyn sat with his eyes closed, back to the cold stone wall of his cell as his fur puffed up against the late fall chill. Although the exact passage of time was meaningless in the tower prison the Wolf would have estimated that it had been nearly an entire day since he'd bothered opening them. The way he figured, there was little in the small cell that he hadn't already seen often over the course of almost seventeen years. Besides, there were far more interesting things for him to see with his eyes closed.
The blackness wasn't all encompassing... far from it, in fact. Holding his left paw up in front of his face, Baedyn could still see the myriad glowing symbols-- the Fildoma that were spiritually inscribed in a swirling pattern from his elbow to his palm. Although the exact meaning of the arcane marks were unknown even to him the general purpose behind having them was clear: it identified him as a Soraan... One of Fate... even if his was a 'borrowed power'.
It had been weeks since he'd last had a reason to speak so the exhausted, raspy tone to his voice startled him when he reiterated, "Borrowed."
He laughed... the sound echoing around the room at an ear-numbing volume compared to the near silence in which he'd been living. He laughed... overcome by the insidious nature of fate and the way the sorra-- the prophecies came true. They always came true. He laughed... astounded that he was still in disbelief after the better part of two decades. He laughed... until he cried.
Eyes still closed, the all-white wolf thought back to the time when he wore the Fildoma on his right paw... when he was the Soraan he had been born to be. He had been called a Sorraachan-- a Fate Spinner, and he could do more than SEE what would or could be; he could influence it. Of course, it was just one more reason he had ended up a prisoner... not that he'd realized it at at the time. No... that was one thing his power could not help him see.
But the marks on his right paw-- he hadn't been born with those; they had belonged to his brother. Looking at the glowing marks through his closed eyelids, Baedyn watched them move in time with every gesture. The very power they gave him was the exact reason why his brother now bore his; the bearer of a right-paw Fildoma could, with the agreement of a fellow Soraan, take their power and gift them the ability to take another's.
It hadn't been an easy decision to make... not in the limited time they had. In the end, however, Baedyn WAS the older twin... by sixteen whole minutes, and he wasn't able to let the future he saw come to pass. Baedyn was the survivor; Baedyn was the strong one; Baedyn would be able to survive seventeen years and four days of captivity where his younger brother could not. Fate said that the bearer of the right-paw Fildoma would become their lord's tool, locked away, and that was something his little brother did not have the will to survive.
Raising his left paw in the blackness surrounding him Baedyn finally opened his eyes; it didn't make much difference since it was dark out and the only window in his cell was high overhead... scarcely large enough to let in the starlight. The room, however, was not as dark as he had expected; his Fildoma glowed. There was no reason for the symbols to create any degree of illumination unless--
Baedyn quickly scrambled up to his feet when he saw the glow intensify. It had started at his elbow, and was slowly expanding along the marks down toward his wrist, snaking its way over the top of his forearm and then back under it before curling around his paw. Finally, for the first time since he had his brother had been separated, the final symbol on his palm blazed into light. That could mean only one thing: his brother was returning.
The Wolf rubbed the thumb of his right paw over the Fildoma, shivering at the coldness to it. It HAD been seventeen years... which meant that his time as a prisoner was drawing to an end. Gazing across the cell toward the door that barred him from his freedom, the Wolf knew it was only a matter of time before he would be liberated... before his brother would come for him. Baedyn whispered the name he'd spent more than fifteen years saying only in his mind. "Talvin."