Ruins of Darkness and Dragons: Tales of Fire, #1

By Aaron Knol

What secrets are buried in the dragon ruins?

 

Aldred is holding onto his last shred of hope as he makes his way to the ruins. As an archaeologist, he searches for remains of the dragon race that wiped itself out centuries ago. So far, all of his quests have turned up with nothing. If he fails this time, it will be his last chance. But his hope is extinguished when he meets his partner for the dig.

 

Hashkeh is a humanoid tiger, a member of a beast race. Tigers and humans do not get along. Neither man wants to work with the other, but they're not allowed to do this work alone. As they reluctantly start the dig, the stereotypes each holds about the other's race begin to break down.

 

As Aldred and Hashkeh's hatred shifts into a shaky friendship, they learn more and more about the past. The history they've been taught is not always accurate, and sometimes the legends are true.

 

And though the dragons are extinct, they still have a message to send.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aaron Knol
• Release date: Dec 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201838843

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Cover art by R. Janda

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 Waiting for Someone

CHAPTER 2 Common Heartbreak

CHAPTER 3 Mutual Respect

CHAPTER 4 Mates

CHAPTER 5 Dreams

CHAPTER 6 Sacred Land

CHAPTER 7 Spiritual Warnings

CHAPTER 8 Finding Traps

CHAPTER 9 Puzzles

CHAPTER 10 The Regime

CHAPTER 11 Two Levers

CHAPTER 1

WAITING FOR SOMEONE

The sun wa s high in the noon sky, its beams assaulting the dry lands below.

It had been weeks since the earth saw rain.

Aldred looked up at the heavens, scanning for any sign of rain clouds. Nothing. There was nothing. Nothing but a never-ending blue sky that stretched into the horizon. It didn’t seem like there was any mercy to be had for him today.

He sighed, his red hair hanging limp from sweat. He hated it. He hated the heat. Hated this dry hell that he’d been sent to. The archaeologist closed his eyes, imagining his room at the inn. There would have been a cool breeze that blew through the open window this time of day. Tamworth was the perfect city. Weather-wise, that was. Aldred hated the people. Then again, the people hated him as well.

Another sigh escaped his lips; this time a chuckle accompanied it. He didn’t know why he was laughing. Perhaps he was going mad. Did the heat get to him? No, no, it wasn’t a manic laugh. It was a bitter one. A laugh that only a man filled with regret owned.

It was a laugh that the man was familiar with. He’d had that laugh all his life. It was the laugh his father had as well.

Shaking the distant memory of childhood from his mind, he scanned his surroundings. His little campsite was nothing more than a makeshift canopy of leaves, just big enough for him to sleep under. He was expecting rain as the clouds followed him from the North on his travels. Alas, the clouds saw where he was headed, and decided not to follow him all the way. There was the skeleton of a fire that fizzled out long before morning came. He didn’t need the fire for heat, it was only to cook on and to boil his water for the crushed coffee beans he liked to drink for breakfast. It wasn’t healthy. The innkeeper in Tamworth told him as much multiple times, but he didn’t really care. Dying by coffee sounded like a good death to him. At least he’d die by something he loved. Tucked under the canopy were his belongings: a knapsack, a bedroll, a set of extra clothes, and a sword made from the finest steel in the Eastern continent. His knapsack was filled with bread and cheese—enough to keep him going for a while longer. He’d nearly starved on the road far too many times not to bring an abundance of food.

There was a little stream to the North that he had to cross on his journey from Tamworth. He could hear it in the distance. It was weak and small. He needed only to step over the stream. It wasn’t large enough to even get his boots wet, never mind wade through.

The High Regime had told him of a river that needed crossing. The official that briefed him on the quest even pointed it out on a map. Aldred snorted. What a joke.

Finishing his scan of his surroundings, ignoring the towering buildings half-hidden with moss and vines that he was tasked to investigate but hadn’t even set a foot in, he found that his promised partner still hadn’t shown up.

A part of the same brief that warned him about the mighty river he had to cross was that he would work with someone else to examine the ruins. It was with another government of sorts. At first, it was strange to Aldred. Why not survey the outpost alone? But there was a truce with this outpost, the official said in his brief. Even though Dragon Ruins usually held magical items, these ruins did not. No items were sensed around here and thus it was agreed that the two governments would work together to find the secrets this place held.

It didn’t look like Dragon Ruins, but Aldred didn’t argue. Coin was coin, even if he did have to survey ruins that might have only been an abandoned village.

His partner was supposed to arrive a day ago. Was the information as wrong as it was regarding the damned stream? Aldred wouldn’t have been surprised. There was more organization in a brothel than the High Regime itself. In the lower ranks, at least. The actual higher-ups of the Regime didn’t bother with the lesser folk. Not unless it was for their benefit. Each and every one of Aldred’s quests so far was not beneficial for the coin purses or pride of the High Regime, because every single one of those quests turned out to be another disappointment.

It was like that with every adventure he’d gone on in the past couple of years, though. At least now he was getting paid to come home empty-handed. Before the High Regime employed the archaeologist, he was nothing more than a homeless man, fancying himself an adventurer. He never found anything worthwhile, and that meant he never found anything worthwhile to sell either. At least now he had coin to spare. Still, it would have been nice to get at least one successful job. He knew that the High Regime was getting tired of the excuses and lack of results. This could very well be his last quest. And then what?

Then nothing, he thought. Then he’d go back to doing the only thing he knew how to … Steal and cheat his dinner onto the