The Long Way Home

By Mike Barnes

"The Long Way Home" is the first book in an eco-themed sci-fi saga. Kids who enjoy reading - or having read to them - books such as the Narnia tales will love this too.

The tale begins in the land of Gondwana, where centuries of peace come to a sudden and violent end. The kingdom is in the grip of a sudden and violent rebellion led by the would-be heir to the throne, Prince Brandon, whose lust for power has driven him to the edge of madness. In the midst of the fighting, our hero, Prince Xanda, is catapulted to a strange world which has not felt the footsteps of man for more than a thousand years.

If he is to save his father’s kingdom, Prince Xanda must master a special gift and use his cunning, as well as his physical strength, to get back home. Along the way, he will discover some uncomfortable truths about the history of his people.

This first book in the Earth Legacy series begins a cautionary tale of jealously, betrayal... and hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Barnes
• Release date: Dec 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310631740

Mike Barnes

MIKE BARNES is an award-winning poet and author whose stories have appeared twice in Best Canadian Stories and three times in The Journey Prize Anthology, and have won the Silver Medal for Fiction at the National Magazine Awards. He lives in Toronto.

Book preview

The Long Way Home

Mike Barnes

Copyright Mike Barnes 2013

Published at Smashwords

This ebook is provided without digital rights management to enable you to easily read it on whatever device you favour, or indeed on multiple devices. But the words written in it, and the publishing process, took many, many long hours of work and it is only right to reward that work.

So if your copy has not been paid for, please consider heading to www.mike-barnes.co.uk/earthlegacy for information on how to rectify that.

Copyrighted Material

First Edition, 2013

Edited by Alexandra Barnes

Published by Linked World

ISBN: 978-0-9576290-1-1

Mike Barnes asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this book.

Cover created from images supplied by NASA.

Illustrations by and Copyright © Alexandra Barnes.

All material in this book is Copyright © Mike Barnes 2013, and may not be reproduced in any form, for profit or otherwise, without the consent of the author.

All characters in this publication are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Dedicated to Arthur C. Clarke

A great and wise man.

Table of Contents

Prologue

1: The End of Peace

2: The Caretaker

3: The Adventure Begins

4: A New Lord

5: The Long Road

6: A Test

7: A Rocky Crossing

8: The Plains

9: The Hills

10: A Dead End?

11: Legacy of the Ancients

Epilogue

Prologue

Brandon’s eyes flamed as he stared down at the scene of chaos in the town below him. His heart was pounding hard, and he could almost feel his fiery blood surging through his body as he breathed deeply of an air thick with the scents of battle. The beautiful, tree-lined avenues of Linfallon seethed with screaming hordes desperate to escape the soldiers who moved triumphantly, house to house and shop to shop, taking what they wanted and caring little for the lives of any brave souls who dared to stand in their way.

He felt a surge of triumph well up from deep within that blackened, twisted heart. His long, dark, oiled hair gleamed in the light of the fires around him as he threw back his head and bellowed like some victorious great ape, fresh from a killing spree. Now his father knew pain. Now his father knew despair. Now, finally, after years of hiding his true self: now, his father knew his son!

Around him, the ancient castle burned. Stronghold of King Ferez, the adored ruler of Gondwana, it had long stood as a symbol of the kingdom and its people: proud, noble, fair and just. Now it lay in ruins, walls marred by gaping holes, towers leaning drunkenly or collapsed into rubble. The stench of destruction hung in the air where, just hours before, the sweet scents of spring had cheered the hearts of the merry citizens milling around the blossom-filled courtyards as they celebrated liberation day. The date which marked the fall of evil and the rise of the good kings was always a time of great festivity. A time when spirits were high and the populace was carefree. Brandon had picked his moment carefully.

A clatter of small stones made him turn, as he remembered that his victory was not yet complete. His father was his prisoner, but his brother, that awful bane of his pitiful existence these past 22 years, that loathsome spoiled brat of a younger brother who taunted him so with his achievements: his brother Xanda still lived free.

And he had not fled the castle, as any sensible man would have done. His fool of a brother had sought him out! He had somehow evaded the warriors which Brandon had sent to capture him and had fought his way across the castle, hunting out the architect of this vile treachery, intent on ending the bloodshed, exacting revenge... or dying in the attempt.

And now here he was, the lamb had come to the slaughter. How deliciously convenient!

His younger brother stood before him, brown eyes fierce with anger, dressed in full armour which hid his short, light brown hair and well-proportioned body. There was no denying Xanda's physical strength or courage, he could beat most men in armed combat and had clearly bloodied his blade many times while searching for his brother. But to Brandon he suddenly seemed a very comical figure indeed, and he fought the urge to laugh out loud. Did Xanda believe that blood ties would save him, that his elder brother would never dare to cut him down? Or perhaps Xanda truly believed that he could win the fight! Ah, if only he knew! Then he would not rush in, like a fool, to his death!

He, Brandon, held all the power now.

Normally considered handsome, Xanda’s face was contorted into a mask of anger and torment. His chest heaved after the efforts of numerous battles and his scramble up the ruined stairs. Behind him appeared the figures of two of Brandon’s men, but Brandon gestured them away impatiently. This was his moment, and his alone.

Xanda paused to regain his breath and to study the triumphant figure in front of him, conscious that his brother held all the aces in this deadly card game. For a time, neither man moved. Neither man spoke. It was as if each was trying to see into the other’s mind.

‘So it has come to this,’ Xanda shouted at last across the few feet which separated them, the crashes and cries of battle below drifting up and conspiring to drown his words. ‘Hate has finally destroyed my brother. But why? Why have you brought misery and destruction to our peaceful city?’

Xanda swept a wild hand towards the town below as he spoke, seeing for the first time just how far the violence had spread and how much damage Brandon’s attack had done. Fear suddenly came over him, fear which until this moment he had been too occupied to acknowledge.

‘What,’ he went on, his voice hoarse with emotion, ‘what have you done with our father?’

Now Brandon did laugh. A deep, booming, haunting laugh not of humour but of malice. Xanda stared in disgust, then took a step forward intent on ending this nightmare there and then. Brandon raised his right hand and thrust it towards Xanda as if to throw something at him. But instead of a physical object, a beam of energy lanced out and if Xanda had not foreseen the move and raised his shield he would have joined the legions of dead which already littered the castle walls. Instead, the bolt of lightning bounced from the shield and sizzled back at Brandon forcing him to duck in alarm. This only served to increase his rage!

‘The time for talking has passed, brother.’ Brandon almost spat the last word out in his fury, like it was some vile disease of which he was talking rather than his own flesh and blood. ‘Your time has passed, yours and all those like you who schemed and hid from me our family legacy, our great birthright and the true power we should wield over the subjects of this land. You and my so-called father always treated me as an outsider, but now it is you who is on the outside. The power is mine and mine alone, this land belongs to me! Your life is in my hands now. Do you wish to beg for it?’

Xanda remained cowering behind the shield, aware that with this powerful weapon he could not hope to beat his brother in open combat. Common sense finally prevailed, and he knew that if he was to right this terrible wrong then he needed to save himself, to flee so that he could muster the forces he would need.

With fumbling fingers, he tugged from within his tunic a small object which

Reviews for The Long Way Home

[shoreturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Even though I am an adult, I enjoyed this children's book. It was an interesting story. I look forward to reading future books in this Earth Legacy series. It was a quick read. I liked the drawings included with the story as well.

[sportzmomof5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.This is a book that gripped me from the start and held me hostage until the end. I read it in one sitting and wanted more! It has many twists and turns. The storyline is flawless and the characters are well developed. Can't wait to read more from the author