Cryos & Jade: Cryos & Jade, #1

By Luke T Barnett

Can one find life where only death reigns?
Can a servant of death be turned to a servant of life?

Jade is desperate to escape her meaningless existence. Raiding the abandoned keep of a long-dead necromancer is just the thrill she's looking for...if it doesn't kill her first.

But something still lives in this place, something that has survived the tides of time and decay.

In more ways than one, Jade must decide between life and death, between redemption and escape. And hers isn't the only life on the line.

Volume 1 in a short story series by Luke T. Barnett, author of Half-Orc Redemption, Cryos & Jade is a quick read that will draw you in won't let you go. Pick up your copy today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luke T Barnett
• Release date: Apr 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393086055

Luke T Barnett

Luke T. Barnett grew up playing RPGs (both pen & paper and video game) and watching any fantasy movies he could get his hands on. All those sessions inspired him to write a series based on his gargoyle character Cryos and his favorite RPG class, the rogue. Writing since childhood, he has grown his craft over the years and continues to do so even to this day. He is kept very busy living on the shores of Lake Erie with his awesome, beautiful writer wife, his two story-loving sons, and his dragon-slaying, princess-loving daughter.

Book preview

Cryos & Jade

Luke T. Barnett

http://luketbarnett.com

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Cryos & Jade

Ixtus the Black, the dread of Thoral Island, was dead.

That’s what Jade told herself, standing before the black walls of his abandoned keep.

The king and the people still feared the forest because it. The king forbade any to enter the forest, saying the place was cursed.

Cursed.

That’s what she was: cursed to a life of drudgery and monotony if she listened to their fears.

That’s why she came here, to free herself.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her hand fiddled with the satchel at her side and adjusted the jade dagger beneath her belt. She didn’t believe in the curse. Didn’t believe that it had killed the queen. Didn’t believe she could die simply by being there.

Why then was she trembling?

It took an effort to push the fear aside, but she swallowed and raised a shaking hand. The touch of the door brought the reality of what she was about to do, and she shuddered. She took a moment to gather her courage, and then pushed open the door. It swung open without a sound.

Her stomach lurched at the rank smell of mold and rot that blew past her, as though a ghoul had opened its maw to consume her. She gagged and covered her mouth.

The hall stretched before her like an ancient tomb. A trailing thought of turning back ran through her mind. She tightened her grip on her torch and clenched her free hand into a fist as she forced her legs to carry her forward.

The dancing light revealed walls covered in mold and cobwebs. Some she was forced to cut away with her dagger. Her movements were halting. A crushing dread seized her heart and grew the further she ventured. She took in a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. It was harder to breathe in here.

She came to another door at the end of the hall, also covered with mold. Pulling a fine, silk handkerchief from the sleeve of her tunic, she pushed the door open.

The cruel, menacing faces of a hundred gargoyle statues glared at her. Their clawed hands reached out and clutched her on every side. She screamed as they dragged her deep into a darkness blacker than the keep. Pain pierced through her body. She felt their teeth as they feasted—

She shook as she reeled from the vision. Blinking, she saw only the still statues reaching out for her, frightening though they were. Her heart raced. Her blood thumped in her ears.  An attempted swallow caught in her throat, her mind screaming at her to run.

Steady. You’ve trained for this. Don’t let it win. You can do this. You have to do this. You want to go back to an empty life with nothing to