Demon of Vengeance, and Other Short Stories

By Maxine Easterwood

DEMON OF VENGEANCE, AND OTHER SHORT STORIES contains three pieces of short fiction by fantasy author Maxine Easterwood. All three stories explore different fantasy settings, from a bloody coliseum in a harsh desert wasteland, to an Earth where magical artifacts exist and twisted criminals seek immortality, to a medieval kingdom where underlying corruption threatens to upend the monarchy.

“Demon of Vengeance” revolves around the bitter warrior Yohan who is finally faced with the man he’s been hunting for months, a man who wronged him in the past. Unfortunately, the circumstances of their meeting follow Yohan’s arrest, and he is forced into a battle to the death in the center of a grand Coliseum.

In “The Key,” Cassie, a young woman who literally holds the key to immortality, is kidnapped by a couple of thugs who wish to use her to obtain eternal life for themselves. She must use her wit to keep herself alive while she waits for help to arrive.

“To Be a King” follows Augustus Rosa, the young heir to his country, as he learns the cruel truth about death and the fragility of humans, and nearly loses the person he cares about most. All of this happens as he attempts to restore balance to his kingdom, where a rebellious cult threatens to overthrow its order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maxine Easterwood
• Release date: Sep 28, 2020

Maxine Easterwood

Maxine Easterwood is a young novelist who dabbles frequently in the fantasy genre, but occasionally explores short stories when the expanse of her current novel becomes overwhelming. She is in the process of receiving her BFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, but has been serious about writing from a very young age. In addition to the written word, she enjoys illustrating her stories and characters and playing Japanese RPGs, which are her biggest inspiration. She’s lived in the tiny town of Dover, Delaware her entire life and has never left the East Coast. However, she dreams of one day going to Alaska and Egypt. Her small menagerie – including two dogs, a cat, a ball python, and a pair of guinea pigs – are her muse, and her emotional support.

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Demon of Vengeance, and Other Short Stories

Maxine Easterwood

Copyright 2019 Maxine Easterwood

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Demon of Vengeance

The Key

To Be a King

A Word of Thanks

About the Author

Demon of Vengeance

The roar of the crowd left a ringing in Yohan's ears. To any normal warrior of Praetoria’s Coliseum, the sound might be exhilarating, but most of these people were calling for his death, and Yohan found little pleasure in it.

This was what he’d wanted to begin with, right? His plan just hadn’t involved getting arrested and taken to Praetoria as a prisoner. He supposed it didn’t matter, he was here. He’d deal with whatever esteemed warrior was sent to kill him, and continue his hunt for the man he was really after.

His dual scimitars felt heavier than normal, like hunks of iron were tied to their hilts. Fighting for his life wasn’t anything new, yet standing at the heart of this massive amphitheater, where the audience wanted nothing other than his slaughter, made his stomach churn.

Somewhere at the front of the crowd, Isadora’s lithe form