Tempest of Betrayal: Supers & Sorcery, #2

By Allen J. Crom

Undead and giant insects and supervillains. Oh my!

The Dragon Tempest, now an established team of super-powered heroes, settles into its new role as protector of the city. The fame, riches, and danger seem unlimited.

When the city council sends The Dragon Tempest to waylay a diplomatic envoy, it touches off an escalation of a super-powered conflict that has been waged in secret for years.

While the dead begin walking again, superheroes go missing and lynch mobs threaten to destabilize the city, Rolfe must keep his team safe and bring the blooming chaos under control.

How can he succeed when everything he depends upon is betrayed?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allen J. Crom
• Release date: Apr 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386733096

Allen J. Crom

I’ve been a data entry clerk, a software developer, a network administrator, and a project manager. From 1997 to 2000, I made a living at an ISP, writing custom software for military vendors. I had been marinating in the tech industry for over 10 years by that point and enjoyed it for the most part. Despite being very analytical in my day job and studies, I really loved being creative. Mostly my creativity was used for software, but I also enjoyed writing poetry. I had written some short stories occasionally and always thought writing novels was out of reach. In the past year, I’ve slowly come to the realization that writing books and telling stories are the best way for me to scratch my creative itch. So, I decided to start with a random story in a random world of my creation, and get to marching. Let’s see how far I get. Hopefully with your support, I’ll be able to leave the old day job and make this author thing a full-time endeavor. I’d love to spend my retirement years in a second career building new worlds and telling compelling stories that subvert my favorite genres and tropes.

Book preview

Chapter 1

CROMKHAR CODEX - EMPIRES - Human - Organizations - Tempest: Decades ago, the venerable King Osric bestowed a group of Warped individuals official imperial status. That particular group was led by an individual named the Tempest due to his Warped ability, though his true identity was never known publicly. The group was often referred to as the Tempest Group or the Tempest Team, and over the many years, the term ‘tempest’ became synonymous with any team of Warped enforcers that were granted broad authority by the throne. Today there are often one or more such teams in the largest human cities.

The heavy wooden chair sailed over Rolfe’s head and smashed in pieces against the wall behind him.

Hey! You’re getting carried away, don’t you think? he called out from behind his cover, a new leather couch delivered earlier in the day. We just got that chair, and it was rather expensive!

It was your idea to take it up a notch, Brak shouted back. He sounded like he was in a good mood, at least.

The deep red couch that Rolfe was pressed against began to shift, and then rise slowly off the ground. He swore silently and looked about frantically for inspiration. Nothing. Time to cheat.

He pulled a tiny cloth pouch from his book, loosened the strings and tossed the bag to Orzum, who stood at a safe distance, spectating wordlessly.

Catch!

Getting his attention at the last second had the desired effect. Orzum looked, and then instinctively reached out to snatch the bag from the air, causing a pale yellow cloud of spores to blossom in his face. He grimaced and gagged.

Orzum, attack! Rolfe commanded. He took some pleasure in this turn of events, though he knew that both of them would chastise him for it.

Without any hesitation, Orzum turned and rushed headlong into Brak. Those mind-controlling spores were so much fun. The two of them went down in a heap, with Brak caught completely off-guard. Orzum was supposed to be observing from the side and making notes. The heavy sofa came crashing down with a muffled boom.

Rolfe took the opportunity to find another hiding spot while he thought of his next move. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anywhere left to hide, not even a shadowy corner. He had been almost too effective in lighting the interior of the base with his luminescent compound. It glowed brightly along every seam where floor, wall, and ceiling met. He ducked back down behind the couch and began to dig through the various pockets and pouches he had sewn onto his jacket and pants. There had to be something useful left.

He heard grunting and scuffling, followed by the annoyed voices of both men.

That was underhanded, Rolfe!

Fight by the rules, would you?

Rolfe grinned and stuck his head up to see Orzum heading back to the doorway, rubbing his eyes. The spores did have an itching effect on the eyes, but he would be more upset later when he went to the lavatory. His attention snapped back to Brak in time to see a lantern being hurled at his head. He whipped his head to the side just in time, and the lantern shattered against the wall. Not just the wall, but against his master painting.

The life-sized painting of Rolfe went up in flames. It had been a long project for the painter, riddled with arguments and changes. They went through dozens of sketches, each depicting a different scene with Rolfe in some heroic battle pose while some supposed criminal was in a desperate defensive position, ready to run or surrender. He had sweated, bled and cried in the making of that painting. Although cried was probably an exaggeration.

Now you’ve gone too far, Rolfe growled.

Oops, was all that Brak had to offer.

The three of them grabbed towels and blankets to beat out the fire quickly, but the painting was scorched and ruined. There was now a cloying stench of smoke pervading the room.

Well, that escalated quickly, Brak said. I’m sorry about your painting.

Rolfe did not respond. He just sat on the floor and stared up at his burnt art. Orzum cleared his throat and changed the subject.

Alright, we may as well start cleaning up. And make a shopping list to replace everything you fools destroyed. It’s going to cost us, he said.

We’d spend a lot less in the long term if we just built a separate practice building. It wouldn’t need to be as amazing as what the Silver Tempest uses, you know, Rolfe suggested automatically without taking his eyes off the painting.

He was referring to when the Silver Tempest had invited them to their own base a few weeks back. They hosted a mid-morning meal while they regaled each other with stories of exciting or unbelievable bounties. There were just as many stories about some of the richer nobles themselves who had issued the bounties. It seemed that the more wealth they were, the more eccentric and bizarre they behaved, much to everyone’s amusement and discomfort.

All members of the Silver Tempest were there, which was a rare sight. It was Proteus, Zetta, Shann, Alain, and Soren who made up the team. They were often only seen in pairs when out in the city on official business. They had spent the rest of the day together in their custom hazard room, which was more of a small stadium with a high ceiling. It was constructed to be extremely sturdy and fire-resistant, with none of their fragile furniture or other belongings in the way.

The Silver Tempest said we could use their building if we plan ahead and let them know, Orzum reminded him.

"Yeah, but maybe if we