The War of Blood and Bones: Manipulators

By Kenneth Guthrie

In this bloody climax to the War of Blood and Bones Trilogy, the humans and orcs assemble at their battle lines for the tense conclusion to this series that will leave one hero dead, another changed forever and Lerk, our goblin weapons dealer, caught in the middle of it. This is the closing chapter in the series that has chronicled the greatest struggle the orcs and humans have ever experienced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lunatic Ink Publishing
• Release date: Aug 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465787521

Kenneth Guthrie

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

Book preview

MANIPULATORS

War of Blood and Bones Series

Kenneth Guthrie

Copyright 2011 Lunatic Ink Publishing

Find more at Kenneth Guthrie’s Book List

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Goblin And An Elf

The Taming Of The Lerk

Bloody Walls

A Meeting Of The Races

Corruption Incorporated

Bye, Bye, Buddy

Old Friends

Battle Lines

The Death Of Lerk?

Homecoming

A Funeral

GOBLIN AND AN ELF

Lerk watched as the human walked back towards his men on his way back to the southern army's camp. That one had been one of the more useful humans he had met in his long life, but he had outlived his usefulness to Lerk.

The big blond human turned for a moment and waved his gauntleted hand as he walked away. Lerk had explained that he had no longer need for him, but with what he would do next he wouldn't have minded having a good commander on his side to help.

Lerk turned towards the plains. He was tall for his race and stood nearly to the midsection of the average human. He had always been singled out as one to obtain glory because of being different from other goblins in so many ways, but the truth was that was just their impression of him, not the reality.

Lerk rubbed his hand through his scrubby brown hair. He had grown much too old for this kind of thing. His body ached from all the walking he had done recently and he had been drinking much too much, so his body was starting to weaken from the effects of the strong human beer that he preferred.

He pulled the small red flask that he always kept at his side. Somehow thinking of drinking was enough to make him want to do it. He had run a very long way chasing those damn orcs and his body was near its breaking point.

Still there would be no resting for him. His job here was not finished and he hadn't achieved what the merchant king had commanded him to do.

He started walking towards the place where the orcs had died. That human truly was an amazing fighter. The orc he had taken down was an incredibly skilled warrior and the human had proven himself to be much more than Lerk had expected when he had seen him at the orc camp for the first time.

Lerk walked in to the clearing. There were fewer trees here and Lerk could see the plains in the distance. So close... he mused. The orcs had attacked a small human fort and rampaged across the land for quite some time before the humans, with Lerk and his companions help, had managed to find and stop them. The orcs had been close enough to their chosen battleground to have nearly brought the war that Lerk was in charge of starting to fruition.

Not yet, he reminded himself. There was much more that would need to be done for his mission to be a success.

Lerk started to walk around the small cleared area. Just behind a tree a little ways away he heard some moaning. There he is.

Making his way to the tree line, he nearly stopped himself. His friend, if he could be truly called that, was sadistic beyond belief. Lerk had met many others of his kind in his career as a weapons dealer, but this one was quite the evil specimen.

He stepped around the tree to find his friend enjoying his hobby again. A human was nailed to the big tree which the elf was standing next to and an orc was lying on the ground below him, stakes holding him firmly to the earth.

The human was whimpering quietly as the dark elf inserted another large splinter of wood into the chest of the ugly white skinned creature. It spasmed slightly as the splinter cut into its skin, joining the forty or so that had already been inserted. The human's face didn't even really change expression at all. Underneath the brown patch of hair that hid this one's face, Lerk could see that his eyes were completely glazed over.

The orc was in no worse state. The skin on its lower body had been peeled away and larger splinters had been forced into its limbs. Lerk could see that the forest floor was covered in blood leaked from the many wounds that covered the orc's body.

When will you be finished here? We have other things that need to be done, you know, Lerk said to the elf irritably.

This filthy human will be dead soon and the orc is nearly no fun at all, so I will only partake of its meat before we leave. You will not wait long, Lerk, the elf replied.

Lerk had known Steel for a very long time now. Usually, Lerk would avoid using him for missions such as this one, but he needed a skilled warrior and there was no one as skilled as Steel when it came to fighting.

Lerk left the lanky black clad elf to his hobby. They could afford to rest a little and Lerk had long ago realized that Steel was much easier to deal with after he had eaten and engaged in some torture.

Lerk sat down next to the dead orc leader on a broken stump that was far enough away not to hear the elf or his playthings at their business. He could enjoy a little rest before they started on the final part of their plan.

THE TAMING OF THE LERK

Six months earlier...

Father! Father! the young goblin cried on seeing him arrive home to their large estate house in the wealthier part of Shindar. Lerk had paid a lot of money to have this home. He had had the earlier owner assassinated for a hefty sum and then he had needed to bribe the family into selling it to him. The big house was mainly built out of rough stone taken from the mountains of the dwarfs a long way to the west of here and it was warm in the winter and cool in the summer because of it.

Today the big windows that were built at regular intervals around the building were fully open. His wife Axi would be doing her usual summer clean out of the several rooms they had for guests to stay in.

Lerk hastened his step to meet his youngest son, who stood waving at him on the porch of the big building.

Hello, my youngest, how are you? Lerk asked as he walked up the steps to accept the little one's warm hug.

Good, father. Better now that you've finally come home.

Lerk smiled down at the young one. He'd told his family that he was going