Original Fiction
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Length: 12,900 words (Novella)
Format: eBook for Amazon Kindle
Price: $.99 @ Amazon.com
Plot Synopsis: When two wounded men burst into a tavern with stories of dragon slaying and the promise of treasure, it was too much to resist for the human cleric named Bishop and his elf friend Thormir. They'd always wanted to know what it was like to take down a dragon, and now the opportunity had arrived. It seemed like such a simple quest to go back to the dragon's lair and finish off the wounded creature, but their mission turned out to be far more than what they had expected. This action-packed story uses elements of fantasy and horror to create an unforgettable adventure with quite a few surprises.
Here's a sample of the story:
Normally a cleric would not be found in a local tavern, but in this case he was there to oversee security for his brother. Bishop never drank, but a free meal every night was more than enough to keep him coming back. When confronted by the higher clerics and priests, Bishop would always claim that he was keeping an eye on his parishioners, which was not far from the truth. Often times Bishop’s presence would keep some of his congregation from having ‘one more last one’ and embarrassing themselves in the tavern.
Just when Bishop and his elven friend Thormir were starting to think that this night would be like any other, everything turned upside down. A man, holding a wound on his chest, stumbled into the bar and collapsed on the floor. Immediately thereafter, another man rushed in and helped the other back onto his feet. They were both quite dirty and looked like they had just left a battle.
The second man then quickly drew his sword and screamed ‘Ogres!’ just as the doorway burst open in a hail of busted wood and splinters.
A nine-foot tall male ogre stepped into the tavern, raising his club to take another swing after successfully bashing the door. Dressed in ragged leather armor over its disgusting wart-endowed skin, the monster’s putrid stench quickly filled the room. The tavern patrons began to run away from both the sight of the hideous creature and the vomit-inducing smell that emanated from it.
Thormir quickly drew his bow, knocked one arrow while holding another in his mouth, and fired two quick shots at the ogre. One glanced off its left shoulder and struck the wall behind it while the other made but a minor flesh wound in the ogre’s arm.
While most of the tavern patrons were toppling over each other to get away from the fight, either upstairs to the rooms or towards the back of the bar, three took a stand – two men and a dwarf. Most of the customers were working men from the local mines or forest and did not normally carry any kind of substantial weapons with them. While most did have at least a dagger, they didn’t have the nerve to take on a nine feet of angry ogre with it.
The dwarf, armed with an axe, charged at the ogre and struck a serious blow to its knee. The ogre stumbled a bit, giving the dwarf a chance to bury his axe in the creature’s back. However, the ogre managed to deflect the incoming blow and backhanded the dwarf, knocking him flat on his back.
While the dwarf was picking himself from the tavern floor, another ogre entered the room. It immediately went for the other two men who had decided to take a stand with the dwarf.
Keeping his place at the end of the bar, Bishop began reciting a short prayer while facing Thormir, who was standing in front of the bar preparing to fire two more arrows.
Thormir suddenly felt a boost of energy and was able to quickly fire off two successful arrow shots. The first one landed in the neck of the ogre that had just knocked down the dwarf, while the second caught the right shoulder of the ogre engaged with the two men. The shoulder shot was enough to slow down what might have been a fatal blow to one of the men.
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