The Zenith's Spy: The Zenith Series, #1

By Dameon Cox

Zack Stand, the Zenith Lord's spy faced murders, bandits, torture, the intrigues of the High Lords and worse. Now, an ancient evil the first Zenith Lord defeated two millennia ago grows. Reports of evil power emanating from a subcontinent far from the Seven Realms caused concern. Zack is sent to discover the truth. What he finds is an unimaginable horror.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lezen Publishing, LLC
• Release date: May 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9780996006309

Dameon Cox

Mr. Cox grew up in Atlanta, Georgia before joining the United States Air Force, and served in Texas, France, and Germany. He worked with large mainframe computers and became a real estate broker before he obtained a nursing degree and practiced as a Registered Nurse. He then began to write and stated he found it more satisfying than his previous endeavors. Finding Fantasy most interesting, intriguing, and rewarding. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Book preview

* 5 *

Zack tied down the last of his belongings for the innkeeper, Darwin, to store in the locked area of his cellar.

All I own fits into three medium-sized chests. The remains of his household brought painful memories to the surface; he buried them and pushed the images of his murdered wife and daughter deep into locked chests within him. Ideas to examine each of those memories lay suppressed. His anger at those that could have saved his family on hearing their cries and did nothing had escalated to encompass most of humankind. Concepts and feelings about humanity stowed angrily and rapidly away with little notice of the process. I won’t be like those that ignored my family! The thought felt strange.

Zack took up his saddlepacks and left the rooms after one look around. He locked the door without regret. Downstairs, he gave the key to Darwin with the money for the chest’s storage for a year.

Zack paid for twice the time he planned to be away. Darwin’s clear puzzlement of his journeys over the past five years remained unspoken, and Zack mentally thanked the innkeeper for that. He remembered an overheard comment from a Guard’s officer to Darwin that had caused Zack to chuckle at the time: Taciturn neatly fits Zack. He never explains his whereabouts or deeds, and it does no good to ask.

Zack knew several of the Zenith Lord’s guardsmen that visited the inn’s common room, mostly officers. Many assignments included the Guard’s support, and word of his exploits garnered him respect. His steadfast refusal of offers to buy him ale, wine, or a meal drew Darwin’s obvious dismay, but the guardsmen never took offense.

Zack said farewell and walked toward the inn’s stable yard with a purposeful stride. Spellbinder, saddled and ready for him, pranced impatiently. The desert-dune colored gelding swung expressive eyes to his master. He wondered how Spellbinder might show his displeasure when they approached the ship. From his reactions, memories of previous voyages were definitely not among Spellbinder’s best.

The realities of his craft had dispelled danger’s thrill long ago; the excitement of a new mission remained, however. Zack’s heart greedily captured it with one reservation. Gaz said he had a premonition about this mission. I do, too, one of finality. Try as he might, Zack could not shake the feeling.

Horse and master developed a ground-eating rotation of gaits that spared both of them from exhaustion. Zack planned their stops for the maximum rest in the shortest time and the best accommodations available. The three-week trip to Elizabethville might take sixteen to seventeen days by rising early and riding until after sunset. He looked forward to the stop Gaz had reluctantly agreed to. Any thought of Quince brought Zack’s ire to the