Dark Consort: A Blood Wizard Chronicles Novella

By Jay Erickson

Vagabond High Elf, Stormwind, is badly wounded and imprisoned by the Dark Elves following a conflict with the Pononga- a sect of hereditary warriors who remain devoted to their sacred dynasty, the Singh Imperium, and who vehemently reject modernization. Captured by the enemy, and forced into servitude, Stormwind slowly learns to know and respect what it means to live by a true code of honor.

Meanwhile, a plot boils underfoot to force modernization among the clans of Dark Elves, and the wandering High Elf finds himself at the very center of it. Can Stormwind come to terms with what it means to serve a cause greater than only himself, or will he bear witness to the destruction of the very culture he has come to admire?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Erickson
• Release date: Aug 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781942958017

Jay Erickson

JAY ERICKSON grew up in Midwestern USA before joining the United States Air Force at the age of nineteen as an aircraft mechanic. During his active tour, he earned two degrees in Computer Applications and Aerospace Maintenance. In 2001, he separated from active service and became an Air Force Reservist. Since that time, he has held a variety of jobs from working at a casino, to crane operation, to masonry. Even with a myriad of different careers, though, writing has been his primary interest and hobby since high school. As an avid reader, he has always held a deep love for Fantasy and Science Fiction. So it was a natural fit for his writing. Now he's taking that hobby one step further by publishing the novella, BLOOD WIZARD CHRONICLES: STORMWIND for others to read. Mr. Erickson resides in Northwest Indiana with his wife and two children.

Book preview

PRAISE FOR

Blood Wizard Chronicles Novella-

Dark Consort

The character of Stormwind is aptly named, as he floats in to people’s lives and shakes them up in more ways than one! The author weaves a complex tale marrying classic heroism and mystery elements with modern ideas in a complex fantasy world. Stormwind’s character acts as a catalyst, moving the action and keeping the reader guessing as to what might come next. Follow Stormwind’s path and get a deep and exciting look into the culture, intrigue, and emotions of a unique race of Elves through this new novella from Jay Erickson.

-Anastasia Trekles, author of Core

Jay Erickson spins a tale so engrossing it left me hungry for book 3 and thirsty to re-read book 1. An intriguing tale that maximizes characterization, instantly taking me into his world. Highest regards, you won’t be disappointed.

-C.E. Rocco author and Editor-in-Chief, Old School Publishing

Blood Wizard Chronicles Novella-

Stormwind

"Stormwind is an intense, character-driven melodrama that never ceases to be entertaining. It’s heroes are immediately likeable and the action is vivid, but it has just enough substance to make the reader think. Plus, it has so many plot twists both M. Night Shyamalan and Christopher Nolan are jealous!" 

-Nathan Marchand, author of Pandora's Box and co-creator of Children of the Wells

Blood Wizard Chronicles-

Pariah

"Pariah is a fine example of intricate world-building with an interesting take on the standard fantasy tropes. A complex tale featuring adult themes and intriguing, relatable characters, it’s a promising beginning to the Blood Wizard Chronicles series."

-C.S. Marks, author of The Elfhunter Series

Books by Jay Erickson

The Blood Wizard Chronicles-

Pariah

Recreant (Coming Soon!)

Blood Wizard Chronicles Novellas-

Stormwind

Dark Consort

Pononga (August 1st, 2016)

Copyright © 2016 by Jay Erickson

All rights reserved.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents depicted herein are either products of the author’s imagination, or, if real, are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, either by an electronic or mechanical means, including, but not limited to, photocopying, or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your book provider and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to review it favorably.

BLOOD WIZARD CHRONICLES NOVELLA: DARK CONSORT

Edited by Katherine LaSelle

Cover design and layout by Jay Erickson.

Character Actors- Grant Erickson and Miranda Bigart

Photography by Jason Bigart

Additional art royalty free by FreeVector.Com

Published By: Halsbren Publishing LLC. La Porte, IN. 46350

ISBN 978-1942958017

Made in the United States of America.

DEDICATION

To my wife, Amanda, and my two beautiful daughters, Lily and Jasmine. This novella is for you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prelude

Arrival

Bay of Islands

Pononga

Honor Bound

The Golden Bay

Honor in all Things

Tome

The Trial

Alraune

Jun

The Way of the Pononga

Dame Fujiwara

The Greatest Honor

‘Mere’-der

Mere Coincidence

Dishonored

Changes

BONUS MATERIALS-

Bonus Chapter

Important List of Names and Terms

About The Author

Other Titles By Jay Erickson

Map of Kuldarr

Website Link

PRELUDE

The attacker came forward again. Stormwind raised his club to defend, but the Dark Elf was too quick. He knocked the club wide and then leapt into the air in a spinning round house kick. His foot fully impacted with Stormwind’s face and the High Elf twisted around violently, tumbling to the ground.

Still he moved, trying vainly to stand up. The student walked up to Stormwind and stepped on the club, denying the High Elf his weapon. The pale warrior looked up defiantly at his attacker, his blue eyes glittering in the amber light. His body may be beaten, but his will refused to surrender.

Frustrated and angry at his denied retribution, the student screamed at Stormwind and then kicked him savagely in the head, knocking him onto his back and rendering him unconscious.

Noriko heard Gentarō finally let out the breath that he had been holding. The Pononga veteran saw it just as clearly as she had. This warrior was strong in will. His body could be beaten, he could be killed, but he would never willingly submit. He had the spirit of a lion.

The spirit of Pononga.

ARRIVAL

Stormwind’s bright blue eyes eagerly took in the horizon. Of all his travels, of all the cultures he had visited, this one was the most different. A pleasant aberration that challenged everything he had ever learned about architecture.

Tall dark towers loomed in the distance. Erect silent sentinels that looked over the land beneath them. These towering monoliths stood hundreds of feet tall, carved from the very same stone as the massive cavern he was now standing in. He knew they were buildings, and yet they did not resemble anything made by man that he could even put a name to.

The towers seemed slightly statuesque, like the design had originally meant to resemble a person. In reality, they were convoluted and warped. They were abstract. None of the structures held any true distinctive shape. Neither rectangular, nor rounded, but instead were a variation of both.

Sometimes the apex of the tower looked almost like a human head, with smooth stone matching the humps of cheekbones, or the protrusion of a nose and lips. Other buildings seemed as if that face had flipped upside down. The ‘bodies’ were narrow in some places and bloated in others, like tumorous growths disfiguring the stone bodies.

It was like looking at a reflection, the tall High Elf thought as he viewed them from a distance. They were a reflection upon rippled water instead of a mirror. A slight distortion of what he normally saw, that now created something grand.

That or they were modeled after an insect’s hive? Stormwind found that a much less appealing prospect when thinking of his kin. The Dark Elves were mysterious, yet they were still Hym and that made them mammalian. As far as he knew, mammals didn’t make hives.

He briefly looked back at the ferryman who was navigating them through a maze-like channel of dark stone stalagmites, which to Stormwind seemed to eerily resemble ink-colored icebergs. The ferryman’s ebony-hued hands worked deftly as he pushed off each calcareous deposit with the skills due to a lifetime of practice.

The canoe, or ‘waka’ as the ferryman had called it, was the principal means of transportation within Tilliatemma, Capital of Dakoria, and seat of power for the Dakhym peoples. Stormwind thought it bizarre that canoes were used in a cavern, but as they cleared another range of stalagmites, the pale-skinned Elf saw why.

The Dark Elf city of Tilliatemma was not just an underground cavern city; it was a metropolis of interconnecting islands that resided on a massive body of water. Tilliatemma was an under-mountain seaport.

Stormwind stared at the ingenuity of his distant cousins. Small flickering lights danced across the surface of the still waters illuminating their way to the distant islands. It would be some time before he reached the shoreline. As he waited, his mind began to wander back to where the decision to come to Tilliatemma had begun.

Sixteen winters, he thought to himself. It had taken him over sixteen winters to finally arrive to this point after he had told the Purist Aodhfin Bray where he was going. Sixteen winters since he had last fallen in love with a woman. He had not been able to admit to himself then that he had loved Carmella, but in retrospect he knew that he had. In that entire time, he had never sought the embrace of another woman. Not once. Stormwind found it ironically amusing considering the two of them had never even had the chance to be physical. Nevertheless, there had been a connection; he had known it, and she had known it. It was strong and fierce, and he knew now that it had been love.

And now, she was gone.

Her son was a grown man now, either raised by Carmella’s father, or perhaps even Bray himself. Stormwind had never found out. The warrior High Elf looked back to where he had come from, remembering another boy he had met over a decade now past. Dark skin, red hair, and fiercely intelligent: Ashyn Rune.

He had promised that boy too that he would return one day, and he never had. Only a scant matter of time since dealing with the Symbioun and the Wild Men, and now two children were grown men.

Where had the time gone?

Stormwind had told Ashyn on their parting day that he was heading for Tilliatemma, but fate had other plans in store for him. It was not that he had openly lied to the boy, far from it. He had just become… distracted. His cousins the Ferhym had not been as receptive to his presence in the Shalis-Fey woods as he would have hoped, which forced him to divert his course or otherwise brook violence from his distant cousins. That left him to travel far east to the gnomes’ city of Gnomesgate and catch a ship heading north to the human bastion of Buckner.

From there, and in a strange turn of events, he had become embroiled in a civil war between the nation of Fermania’s capital city and the outlying regions that had formed a resistance against the ruling body known as the Seafarer’s Caucus. The battling humans had made the lands unsafe to travel upon, especially as an Elf, and he had become a forced resident of the city. He could have retraced his steps and back-tracked to the gnomes, but it had been an exciting time in the region. It was not every day a High Elf got to witness a civil war of humans. His adventurous heart had seen no reason to leave.

After the conflict was over the Seafarer’s Caucus retained their power, and the human countess ruled the nation with a gentler touch. The time for Stormwind to move on from the humans had arrived, so he continued to see what the East Coast offered for another few winters. The vagabond witnessed the deserts of Oganis and the Red-City of Jaës. He walked in the Defiler’s Gates Badlands, and sailed to the Eastern islands of Miftero. Now, finally, after all that time, he finally found himself here, Tilliatemma. Home of the Dakhym.

The waka coasted through the still waters silently. The ferryman’s stick gently guided them along an invisible path that only the ferryman could see. After a while they breached the first island, and the ferryman effortlessly pushed off the rocky surface to continue down the narrow natural channel to something deep within.

Why can’t I get off here? Stormwind asked eagerly as he looked at the dark-skinned Elf.

This is the island of Pā Clan Togakure, he responded politely. Clans do not allow Pākehā into their lands.

Pākehā? Stormwind asked with a raised eyebrow.

Non-Dakhym, the ferryman replied, showing no signs of insult.

Stormwind nodded. I was told Tilliatemma was welcoming of other cultures, and that they were a large trade hub, much like the Human city of Buckner, he stated.

The ferryman nodded. That is correct. Tilliatemma is the largest trading city of all the Dakhym.

But…

We regulate all trading to the Bay of Islands, he answered. That is where all Pākehā stay unless so invited by one of the clans, or if they become part of the clan’s ‘Iwi’.

Iwi?

The ferryman closed his mouth tight and scrunched his eyes in thought. It would be something close to what you would consider a family, he said after a moment. Then added, But family is different for Dakhym, blood relation isn’t necessary. That is whanau.

I see, Stormwind answered as he looked up to the large stone structures as they passed the island of Clan Togakure. Stormwind could see a low stone wall that circled the perimeter of the island. Many more lights were lit across the surface of the wall.

They passed many more clan islands in silence before the water opened up again. Directly in front of him the Elf could see dozens of waka along with other merchant vessels all surrounding a central massive island. Unlike the stalagmite structures of the clan Pā’s, the buildings on the island were erected, not carved out of the natural stone.

The Bay of Islands, the ferryman told the High Elf. It is the only island that sits between all the clan clusters and acts as our chief hub of trade.

As they moved closer to the larger island, Stormwind could immediately see other people scurrying about the merchant vessels; many of them were not Dark Elves.

How do those vessels exit the mountains? he asked curiously.

The Dark Elf pointed to the east, deep out into the darkness of the cavern. "There is an opening in the mountain, large enough for five large ships abreast. It leads to a deep bodied river that channels safely through the mountains and out to the ocean. I am told it is many