The War of Blood and Bones: Humans

By Kenneth Guthrie

With his brother dead at the hands of the orc hordes, Thomas plans to embark on a quest for revenge that will take him far behind enemy lines. Thomas knows the orcs will not go down without a fight and he will need some help. However, the only ones offering are a weapon dealing goblin and a mysterious dark elf. What are his ally’s true intentions and who is really behind the coming war?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lunatic Ink Publishing
• Release date: Jul 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465946867

Kenneth Guthrie

Kenneth Guthrie is a writer of sci-fi, fantasy and crime novels.Profile image credit: Vincent Gerbouin at Pexels.com

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HUMANS

The War of Blood and Bones

Kenneth Guthrie

Copyright 2011 Lunatic Ink Publishing

Find more at Kenneth Guthrie’s Book List

TABLE OF CONTENTS

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

CHAPTER ONE: A BROTHER'S LOVE

Thomas stood staring into the fire pit. A second message had come today, detailing the gruesome state that his brother had been found in by the scouting party that had found him and his horse, Onis, after the orc attack.

Apparently, the orcs had been a particularly brutal lot and had torn poor Janis into dozens of tiny pieces before consuming most of his flesh. The bloody earth and his sword lying a few feet away on the ground were the only things really left of him.

Thomas thanked the heavens that his father had the forethought to engrave both his weapon, which sat in the sheaf at his side, and Janis's slim blade with their family crest. Otherwise, he would never know about the death of his brother and his brother would have ended up another unknown corpse.

Thomas truly hated the orcs. They had taken Thomas and Janis's mother from them at a young age. Thomas still remembered how his mother would always ask him or his brother to help around the kitchen when he was young. She had been a short woman with thick brown hair - quite the beauty by the standards of the day - with an amazing sense of kindness for those around her and a cheerful voice that made him think of water running over the rocks in a small stream.

She had been working in the kitchen when the orcs had dragged her from the small estate house that they had grown up in and taken to the woods to be feed on.

Thomas had been hunting at the time and had been unfortunate enough to be the one to find her. The ruined body of his mother still haunted him to this day. Now his brother had been taken from him by the orcs. Thomas knew that he was starting to break a little bit inside. Many men who had lost their love ones to the orcs had their minds break and the result was never pretty. Sometimes they would kill those around them, other times they would head into the hills to find the orcs that caused them so much pain. Never had Thomas seen a man return from such a state.

He stood staring into the fire for awhile longer, thoughts of his mother, brother and everyone else he had lost to the orcs passing through his mind. Finally, he made up his mind. The broken men who had entered the woods never to return didn't have what Thomas had - a force of soldiers ready to aid in his vengeance.

Thomas started walking. As he walked his shoulders straightened and his feet fell more firmly on the ground. He would have his revenge and then some.

*****

The command tent for the army was on the outer edge of the camp. A flag flew above the moderately big tent and inside he could see soldiers in a variety of different colors running around about their errands.

The army was built up of recruits from the local militants, which protected the towns in the area, so not everyone had the same uniform. Thomas often thought that it was a bit of a bad idea to take so many of the soldiers from the areas inside the human lands and bring them here. These men were an important defense in this world of strife and it would leave a lot of towns undefended.

Thomas, himself, wasn't a conscript. He had volunteered to join the army at a very early age. His father had been a famous soldier in his early years and those friends he had made during that time had thought that the son would be just as much a success as the father.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the truth. Thomas had joined mainly because he hadn't known what to do with his life and had been too young to really understand what the army was really about.

That naivety hadn't lasted long. The first death at Thomas's hand had been a farmer who had refused to pay his taxes and had gotten a little aggressive in his insistence. The memory of the blood on his hands and the knife he had used to kill him falling to the ground as the villages who had been watching the dispute between his small group of tax collectors and the group of farmers who had refused to pay their dues to the king had broken into a run then.

Thomas had thought before that experience that the army's job was to protect the people, but that experience had changed him. Thankfully, he had been able to change to another job inside the king's armies.

Thomas waited outside the tent for a short time before the guard leaning against the door noticed him.

I need to talk to Commander Clark, he told the scruffy looking man who adjusted his armor slightly and went inside to see if the commander would talk to him.

The army attracted these types recently, men who had enough of farming or apprenticing at some place or another. They were usually lazy and died very quickly on the battlefield.

He didn't have to wait very long. The guard came back out and grunted at him. Thomas wasn't a particularly firm leader with his troops, but it was tempting to give this man a yelling at.

He ignored the need for one more pressing. Walking to the back of the tent around the big table in the middle with books and scrolls flung haphazardly over it, he found the commander's desk. Commander Clark was one of the better leaders in the army at the moment - there was a high turnover in the leadership roles due to the constant bickering in the army.

The commander was a big man and he filled the small chair that the army assigned him to the brim. Thomas found him staring at a report that one of the scouts must have brought in earlier and decided to wait until Clark finished reading. The commander was notoriously short sighted and had some trouble reading. To interrupt him at this point would be a good way to get oneself into trouble in Thomas's experience.

Clark looked up from his document and stood up in surprise.

Thomas, my young friend, it's good to see you. I don't see enough of you in here these days. How are your soldiers doing?

Thomas never came to the command tent if he didn't have to. He had a natural distaste for being assigned tasks unless they were important and so waiting for someone to invite him here usually worked as a good quality filter for avoiding the sort of job that would land him in trouble. It didn't pay to be too keen.

They aren't too bad, sir. Thomas honestly liked Clark. He was a good soldier and if he had been blessed with better eyesight then Thomas would have been the first to volunteer to work in whatever force he had under his command.

Ah, that is good. The other commanders are always so pleased with the results that you get us, so it is good to hear that nothing is lacking. Clark smiled and sat back down at his desk before beginning to organize the stacks of paper that sat on the heavy wood of the desk's surface.

Thomas waited for him to finish before making his request. With Clark you didn't want to hurry him too much.

Sir, I would like to take my soldiers into the orc territory for a bit.

Clark looked up and smiled at Thomas, Oh, now why would you want to do that? he paused for moment, You know that the general has ordered us to stay on our side of the boundary line.

Yes, sir, of course, but you see my scouts have informed me that they saw a large force of orcs moving in our territory and I would like to confirm that there is nothing going on that we should know about.

Clark sat for a moment in thought. Thomas knew