Tales of the MERC Part Two: A Deadly Introduction

By Mike Eschbach

As a former enlisted soldier, Malice thrived in the treacherous northern slopes of the Lochlan Heights. Fearless and independent, she earned five battle ribbons over nineteen treks and has the scars to prove it. Her dream had always been to command a combat platoon. Now, nine months after her commissioning, she found herself stuck in the mundane role of training officer for new enlisted recruits. It was boring, thankless work, trekking through the lower Heights, at least until one cold winter morning when she took the newest set of recruits on their first trek. Wakened in the pre-dawn stillness by her intuition, she struggled to guess what portents lay ahead. As the squad set out she grew certain that some momentous doom awaited. Upon reaching their destination, she found it to be the least likely doom of all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Eschbach
• Release date: Apr 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463951149

Mike Eschbach

I would describe myself as unassuming. I'm the 4th of 5 kids, a Penn State grad, a U.S. Navy vet and an entrepreneur. I've been married since 2002.I've been writing fiction informally since I was ten years old. I've outlined and written down ideas for stories in several different genres. It is only as I've gotten older that I've tried to take a stab at actually writing in effort to get published.I've written in a number of different fictional styles including retrospectives, faith based stories and humor. Right now my efforts are focused on world building in a military fantasy setting under the title 'Tales of the MERC.' Parts One and Two are currently priced at $0.00 - feel free to download them. Part Three is forthcoming.

Book preview

Tales of the MERC

Part Two: A Deadly Introduction

By

Mike Eschbach

For Joyce, who made it there and back again in a station wagon.

Thanks, Ma, for everything.

Published by Mike Eschbach at Smashwords

Copyright 2019

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook 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 favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art by Jessica Dueck at StarsColdNight. Please visit her website: http://www.jessicadueck.com

Map Art by Tom Ruple. Please visit his website: http://www.tomruple.com

Table of Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Author’s Page

Author’s Note

My intention with all of my stories is that they stand alone and succeed or fail on their own merits. Even as I was writing Part One: The Trial, however, I knew Part Two: A Deadly Introduction would be less a sequel and more a continuation of the first story. After all, Malice is reintroduced in part one only after Stout has completed the telling of his tale to Hari. You, the reader, are then left to guess at what Malice and Click were doing during the time they were gone.

With that in mind, I offer this thought: If you have NOT read The Trial please do so before you read A Deadly Introduction. It will save you some confusion and provide a measure of context as you move further into the series. Once you’ve completed Stout’s tale, you can then continue on in somewhat linear fashion in effort to find out what the two women were doing after they left Stout and Hari at the café.

As always, many thanks for reading!

Mike Eschbach

January, 2019

Chapter I

1500, Peaceday, 21st Inadrune, Autumn, 1032

It was a brief and hopeful moment for Click, one of pleasant conversation with Hari and both of his parents just outside the small café on Taborac Round. That was until Malice abruptly grabbed a tight hold of her hand. Unsure of the woman’s intentions, she waited in bemused silence, her apprehension growing.

Come, Click, Malice said, her tone strident and brooking no complaint. Let’s give the boys a bit of time to swap lies while we share some gossip over a drink or three.

She then dragged her son’s fiancé forcibly from the square without so much as a by-your-leave. With a final glance over her shoulder at Hari and Stout, she added, We will be back in a turn of the clock!

Surreal.

Swept off her feet, and not in a good way, the term seemed an apt description to Click of her abduction from the coffee house but a few moments before. The whole affair had a dreamlike quality, as if it was not really happening. If her kidnapper had been anyone other than her future mother-in-law, she would have shrieked in outrage. As it was, she followed the woman down a shadowed lane toward some unknown destination without a word of complaint. She wished Hari was with her, but he had stayed behind, held in check at his father’s