{"id":10272,"date":"2018-09-06T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T11:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/?p=10272"},"modified":"2018-09-06T11:25:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T11:25:09","slug":"excerpt-thursday-sevenfold-sword-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/?p=10272","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt Thursday: SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Excerpt Thursday! And since SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION<\/a> was a Kindle US Daily Deal yesterday, let’s have an excerpt from CHAMPION!<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

\u201cBut where am I?\u201d said Ridmark. \u201cWhat is the name of this land?\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment, bewilderment overruled pain on the old knight\u2019s face. \u201cYou truly do not know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridmark shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Nine Cities, the realm of the Nine Kings of Owyllain, ruled by the Pendragon High King in the city of Aenesium,\u201d said Tyromon. \u201cAt least, it used to be. Then that harlot Talitha betrayed High King Kothlaric, and the Seven Swords appeared, and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyromon winced and closed his eyes. He went rigid, and Ridmark feared that death had claimed the old warrior.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d said Tyromon. \u201cI have not long until I stand before the judgment seat of the Dominus Christus, and it seems my vision becomes clearer. You wear the armor of a dark elven lord, yet you have the brand of a coward upon your left cheek, and while you speak Latin, your accent is strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Ridmark Arban. I am the Shield Knight of Andomhaim.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAndomhaim?\u201d said Tyromon, blinking. \u201cNo, impossible. The urdmordar destroyed Andomhaim long before our ancestors came here.\u201d His voice was growing fainter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn elven wizard called Rhodruthain brought me here,\u201d said Ridmark.<\/p>\n

That brought a blaze of wrath to Tyromon\u2019s face. \u201cRhodruthain? Are you certain?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEntirely,\u201d said Ridmark. \u201cHe carried a staff of red gold with its end shaped into a dragon\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe betrayed us,\u201d said Tyromon. \u201cHigh King Kothlaric defeated the Sovereign and scattered his hosts, but the Master Talitha and the Guardian betrayed us. This damned war could have been averted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened here?\u201d said Ridmark.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were betrayed,\u201d said Tyromon. \u201cKing Hektor sent us to reinforce the Arcanius Knight Archaelon at Castra Chaeldon. But that scoundrel Archaelon has betrayed us and sided with the Confessor. The Confessor\u2019s soldiers ambushed us, and we were overwhelmed. The orcs took many prisoners and carried them off to the castra. I fear\u2026I fear for their fate. Archaelon has turned to necromancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shuddered again, sweat pouring down his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen to me,\u201d said Ridmark. \u201cRhodruthain brought my wife and children here as well. A blond woman in a green dress and two small boys. Have you seen them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d croaked Tyromon. \u201cOnly\u2026one woman. Not her.\u201d His shaking hands grasped his sword hilt, reversed the weapon, and offered it to Ridmark. \u201cTake\u2026take my sword. Give it\u2026give it to King Hektor. Tell him that I am sorry. Tell him that Archaelon is a traitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is within my power, I will tell your king,\u201d said Ridmark, \u201cand I will tell him that you died fighting as a knight should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyromon sighed, slumped against the ground, and stopped breathing.<\/p>\n

Ridmark gazed at the dead knight for a moment, and then reached down and closed his eyes. He knew nothing about Tyromon Amphilus, and nothing about this realm of the Nine Cities of Owyllain and the wars of which Sir Tyromon had spoken, but Ridmark suspected a brave and valiant knight had just passed.<\/p>\n

-JM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Excerpt Thursday! And since SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION was a Kindle US Daily Deal yesterday, let’s have an excerpt from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sevenfold-sword"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pZ6ri-2FG","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/BNChampion.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10273,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10272\/revisions\/10273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathanmoeller.com\/writer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}