The Sword of Valoarem (Book One of The Redhawk Series - Second edition)

By Brad Bohlen

Daniel Bowen was looking forward to an outing in the woods, but when he decides to investigate a mysterious cave, he gets more than what he bargained for . . .

As he battles through the strange new land of ogres, elves, and dragons—struggling to survive and help others—Daniel must use all of his knowledge, strength, and skills if he's ever going to find his way home.

Travel with Daniel into an unknown realm—one filled with beauties, mysteries, and dangers, one where Daniel's strength and character are tested as he learns that he may have been made for more than just this world all along.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brad Bohlen
• Release date: Oct 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781737845812

Brad Bohlen

Growing up on a small farm in Minnesota, Brad Bohlen is a country boy at heart. Also a Wisconsin Registered Land Surveyor, Bohlen enjoys his own battle against the elements with hunting, fishing, and hiking through the woods looking for wild edibles. The Sword of Valoarem is the first book in the Redhawk series

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Book One of The Redhawk Series

The Sword

of Valoarem

Brad Bohlen

The Sword of Valoarem

Copyright © 2021, 2015 Brad Bohlen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. The people, corporations, organizations, institutions, circumstances, and events depicted are fictitious and a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance of any character to any actual person, either living

or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN 13: 978-1-7378458-0-5

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2021919647

SECOND EDITION

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: 2015

Second Edition Published: 2021

Cover illustration © Tristram Drew.

Bohlen Publishing

Farmington, Minnesota

Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

I’d like to dedicate this book to all those who have come before me and

have now left this world behind and

traveled into the unseen realm to be with God.

Especially to my brother, Josh, who went missing in the fall of 2012

and has never been seen or heard from again.

No body was ever found.

I’d also like to send out a thank you to all those friends and family

members whose support and encouragement have meant so much to me.

I really couldn’t have done it without you.

I’d like to send out a special thank you to the Bystroms,

Mrs. Christiansen, and Mr. Benck. Your loving kindness,

gentleness, and tender correction have sincerely

touched my heart and made life a bit more bearable.

Thank you again and I ask that God would grant you

a generous reaping of what you’ve sown.

ONE

It was a beautiful autumn morning as Daniel loaded up his backpack with the items he’d need for the day’s excursion. Work had been slow, so today he was going to take his dog and head to the state park, which was not too far from where he lived. The park was a huge area with rolling hills, steep terrain, a trout stream, and a lot of woods, which was where he planned to look for some mushrooms that grew around the bases of large oak trees this time of year.

On his way to his pickup, he wondered, Do I have everything? Backpack; lighter, bottle of water, small flashlight, knife, a few munchies…oh, and I’d better grab a light coat. Spinning midstride to retrace his steps, he nabbed his jacket off the hook by the door.

Okay, Scout, he said. I think we’re all ready. Let’s go for a drive, shall we?

Scout was his energetic golden retriever that loved going just about anywhere with him, especially if it meant hunting of some variety or running around the woods with all those different smells, and maybe something to chase too.

As Daniel opened the door of the pickup, he said, Kennel up!

Scout jumped in with such enthusiasm he almost did a face-plant on the passenger-side window. Then he sat down, turned around, and looked at Daniel as if to say, What’s taking you so long? Let’s go!

Chuckling to himself, Daniel hopped in the truck, patted Scout on the head, and said, I think you’re going to like where we’re going today.

As they drove down the road, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. He was really looking forward to getting back to some of the things he really enjoyed, like being out in the woods, hunting, fishing, and just getting away from the doldrums of everyday life—all the things he hadn’t been able to do for a while. It’d been a really long couple of years, with the loss of his parents in an accident, the sale of the small farm where he’d grown up, and the convoluted mountains of paperwork that you have to go through when someone passes away. He could never have imagined how difficult a process it’d be to continue to live after someone you care about dies. In his twenty-eight years of living, he’d never seen anything like it, with the laws, the lawyers, the state, the IRS, and seemingly everyone else coming in like a pack of vultures to take whatever they could get their hands on. Thankfully, it was finally over, and he could get back to some semblance of a normal life.

Daniel rolled down the window as they pulled up to the ranger station. A man came out of the station, looked at the front window, and asked, I see your pass is expired; do you want just a day pass or a season pass?

Better make it a season pass, Daniel replied. I’m hoping to get back here at least a few more times before winter.

That’ll be twenty dollars, and let me get some information from you, the ranger said, then stepping behind the truck to take down the license plate number.

It’s getting late in the season to get a season pass, but with a day pass costing five bucks, you only have to come here four days to break even, Daniel thought to himself as he dug into his pocket and pulled out the twenty bucks and his license.

Here’s a map of the park, said the ranger after taking the money and writing Daniel’s name down. Have a nice day, Mr. Bowen. The park closes at 10:00 p.m.

You have a nice day as well, said Daniel as he was putting the truck in gear.

As he was driving away, Daniel threw the map on the dash. He didn’t need it; he’d been here many times before and knew where he wanted to go. He was headed to the farthest parking area where there were a lot of mature trees and where the terrain was pretty rugged. He wasn’t going to the trails that most people stayed on—in fact, he almost never did. He liked being in the areas that were more wild, more natural—the places most people didn’t care to go because of the stickers, the vines, and the possibility of some minor cuts or maybe even getting a little dirty.

Reaching his intended destination, Daniel let Scout out of the truck. Scout gleefully ran around sniffing every rock, tree, and bush in the immediate area, lifting his leg on more than a few of them. It was as if he were saying: I’m new in town! Here’s my calling card! Look me up!

Chuckling at the predictable scene, Daniel grabbed his gear and headed toward the woods. With Scout wildly running ahead, Daniel reflected from past experiences that it’d take a little while before Scout wore off some of his pent-up energy and settled down. Figuring he’d calm down soon enough, Daniel just continued on his way.

As Daniel walked from place to place, looking at the bases of large oak trees for the elusive maitake mushroom he was trying to find, Scout settled down, just like Daniel had thought. Then, with hardly a word or whistle uttered between them, Scout began to follow Daniel loosely wherever he went. Daniel was glad he’d taught Scout to follow him without having to constantly call or whistle; it sure made things a lot more pleasant and peaceful.

After a couple of hours of searching, and finding only one small cluster of mushrooms, Daniel came to the top of a ridge where the land and the trees broke downward toward the stream some distance below. He’d planned to go down to the stream where they both could take a break, have a bite to eat, and where Scout could get some water and cool off a little, but he hadn’t planned on how steep it actually was. Daniel knew the general area, but he’d never come by this route before. To his surprise, he now stood at the top of a thirty-foot-high wall of jagged rock with no apparent way down. He wanted to get to the bottom, but being deep in the woods, Daniel sure didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks; after all, if something were to happen, like twisting an ankle, breaking a leg, or worse, there was a good possibility no one would find him for a long time.

As he surveyed the cliff wall to his left and then to his right, looking for a path to the bottom, Daniel spotted a few large oak trees below, and one in particular caught his attention. It was a large tree, maybe four feet in diameter, with something he couldn’t quite make out at one side of its base. But considering the fact that the mushroom he was after looked like a small, dark bush, he believed it might pay off to give it a closer inspection. And if it was one of the mushrooms, it looked like a good-sized cluster.

After deciding to follow the ridge to see if he could find a route to the bottom, it wasn’t long before Daniel spotted a path the deer seemed to be using to get up and down the rock wall.

This isn’t going to be easy, Daniel thought, but if the deer can do it, I should be able to.

The path was a very narrow ledge of broken rock, barely wide enough for one foot, let alone both of them. Then it went down along the wall at a very steep angle. Committing himself to the task, he used his hands to steady himself and tried to place each foot in a secure position. What he hadn’t realized before he’d started, however, was that after only a short distance the path was littered with pebbles and loose debris. But by the time he’d figured out how slippery it was, it was more dangerous to go back than it was to go forward. His decent was an awkward kind of half climb and half walk-the-line position, but gradually and steadily, he made his way to the bottom.

Off the treacherous little ledge and standing on solid ground, a frazzled Daniel exclaimed, That was worse than I thought! I don’t ever want to do that again!

Then, as he was taking a moment to catch his breath, he wondered, Now how do I get Scout down here?

Looking back up the rock wall, Daniel saw Scout peering over the edge, anxiously awaiting some command that’d reunite the two of them. His eyes seemed to be pleading as if to say, "You’re not going to leave me behind, are you?"

Okay, buddy, Daniel said as he positioned himself close to the wall, just in case he had to try to catch Scout, it’s your turn.

That was all Scout needed to hear to start down the small trail. He was a little apprehensive at first, but then, as if he’d been doing it his whole life, he proceeded down the little path with great ease.

Reaching the bottom, Scout enthusiastically greeted Daniel as if they’d been apart for a long time. Daniel then reassured his four-legged friend by repeatedly telling him, Good boy! while rigorously petting him for a moment.

We won’t be going back that direction, Daniel said to Scout, as if he could understand what he was saying. Now let’s go find that tree again, shall we?

Daniel had a keen sense of direction, so it wasn’t too difficult to find the tree he’d seen earlier. Still some distance away, the dark shape at the base of the tree appeared to be just what he was looking for, but as he drew closer, Daniel realized it was just a branch with dried, curled leaves on it.

Feeling a little disappointed, he looked at Scout and said, Oh well. I guess that’s just how it goes. But at least we’re getting some good exercise and enjoying a wonderful day.

No matter the outcome of his search, Daniel couldn’t think of a better way to spend a day, let alone a beautiful autumn day like this one. He paused a moment to take in the mottled sunlight filtering through the tree canopy, then he turned to head down to the stream below. Only a short distance down the hill, Scout began to get a little animated, his nose excitedly searching the forest floor. Suddenly, a rabbit bolted out of the scrub next to Daniel, racing for the far horizon. It was near enough to startle Daniel, but Scout instantly launched himself after the fleet-footed blur. Recovering from the start, Daniel watched with amusement as Scout closed the distance between himself and the rabbit, now headed back up the hill toward the rock wall.

Man that dog is fast! Daniel thought.

But just as it looked as if Scout might have a good lunch, the rabbit darted under a large boulder, which Scout couldn’t fit under. Scout started clawing at the ground, stuffing his head into the small space between the ground and the rock above, and barking as if to say, Hey, that’s not fair! Then Scout ran around to the other side of the boulder, apparently trying to see if there was another way to get under there. In all their excursions, Daniel had watched this scenario play out many times before. Sometimes the rabbit won, and sometimes Scout won. Sometimes it wasn’t a rabbit at all but rather a squirrel, a woodchuck, or even a raccoon. At any rate, it looked as if the rabbit had reached a place of relative safety, but Daniel thought he’d give it a look anyway.

As Daniel approached the area, he saw what appeared to be a huge, rather squared-off chunk of stone jutting out from the rest of the rock wall. It jutted out at least twelve feet and was about twenty feet wide by approximately ten feet high. From Daniel’s perspective, it looked as if someone had leaned a two-car-garage-sized boulder against the rest of the wall. As he drew nearer, he could see there was a large, vertical V-shaped crevice at the spot where the stone met the wall, as if the stone had been cantilevered and its attachment to the wall had just given way at some point. And it appeared to have given way as if on a hinge, creating a small space under most of it; the space being larger near the wall and nonexistent toward the end.

By the time Daniel had reached him, Scout was almost in a frenzy, trying desperately to get the rabbit out from under the boulder. With Scout calming down as he approached, Daniel looked at him and said, I think it got away there, buddy.

Scout’s pleading eyes, however, said it all. Please do something! his look said. Make it come out from under there!

All right, all right, Daniel capitulated. Let me take a look and see what I can do.

After letting out a sigh, Daniel took off his backpack, pulled out the little flashlight he’d brought, and laid his gear off to the side. Then he got down on his stomach to peer under the boulder and see where the rabbit was. Not really expecting to see anything, Daniel was a little surprised when he spotted a pair of amber eyes staring back at him, highlighted by the light and about ten feet under the boulder.

You were right, buddy, it’s under there, Daniel told Scout while getting back on his feet. But I’ll have to get something long enough to try to chase it out the other side.

After scanning the vicinity for a suitable sapling, Daniel then used the multi-tool he virtually always had with him to make a long, relatively straight pole. Pole in hand, he returned to where the rabbit was, got back down on his stomach, and slid the pole under the ledge. Looking at Scout, who was right next to him, he said, Go get ’em! as he pointed to the other side, which was a common command he used when they were hunting.

On cue, Scout ran around to the other side, stuffed his nose into the little space, and sniffed loudly. It was as if he thought he could somehow suck the rabbit out from underneath of there. After only a moment, however, Scout backed up and watched with anticipation as Daniel slid the pole under the boulder. Then Daniel started swinging the pole from side to side as it neared the spot where the rabbit was. He was really hoping the rabbit would run in Scout’s direction and not come running straight in to his face.

It worked! The rabbit dashed out the other side, virtually right under Scout, but Scout’s jaws came down on only air, and the chase was on again. Rolling on to his side, Daniel watched as the rabbit darted downhill through the woods with Scout in hot pursuit.

Watching until he couldn’t see them anymore, Daniel laughed and said, That ought to keep Scout busy for a while.

Daniel knew from experience that if Scout caught the rabbit he’d bring it back to him to receive praise and attention. Then Daniel would let him enjoy his hard-won catch. He also knew that if Scout didn’t catch it he’d return or catch up to Daniel wherever he happened to be. Scout had a good nose on him, and Daniel couldn’t hide from him for long, even if he wanted to.

Okay, we’ve had our bit of excitement for the day, Daniel thought as he rolled to his other side to grab his gear. Better get back at it.

Reaching out to grab his backpack, he noticed a small opening in the rock wall, just under the point where the leaning boulder met the wall. The dark, softball-sized opening was only a few feet under the boulder, but it was far enough under that if he would’ve been standing, he would’ve never seen it. As Daniel rose to his knees, his gaze fell upon the pole he’d just used.

Well, what the heck? Let’s see what else we can find, Daniel said aloud to himself.

Taking the pole in hand, Daniel slid under the rock, which was only about two feet above the ground, and moved closer to the hole. In position, his torso a bit pinched between the ground and the rock above, Daniel started to slide the pole into the little hole, half expecting to hear something growl back at him and quite ready to make a mad scramble out of there if something came flying out at him. He pushed the pole in farther and farther until he couldn’t slide it in any more without losing his grip on it. Then he swung the far end of the pole from side to side to see how much room there was at the other end. As the opening wasn’t very big, it made the whole operation seem somewhat like that of rowing a boat.

When he pinched his fingers between the pole and the bottom of the rock above him, and still hadn’t struck anything at the other end, Daniel exclaimed, Holy smokes, that’s not just a hole, that’s a cave!

Now where did that flashlight go? Daniel thought as he pulled out the pole, then sliding out from under the rock. I want to get a better look in there.

With flashlight in hand and his curiosity overflowing, Daniel moved back to the little opening. Fearful there might still be something inside, he kept his head at a distance as he directed the flashlight into the hole. The bright sunny day in which he’d reveled in earlier, however, suddenly became a challenge to overcome; the flashlight just wasn’t bright enough to allow him to see anything inside. Wedging himself uncomfortably under the massive boulder, Daniel blocked the sunlight by cupping one hand between the rock and his face, while simultaneously working the flashlight in between himself and the surrounding rock, trying not to dislocate his shoulder in the process. To say the least, it was incredibly awkward.

After about a foot or so of rock that surrounded the opening, Daniel could clearly see there was a large open space, but he couldn’t see much more than that because the opening was just too small. Looking at the broken and cracked rock around the opening, he considered his options. Maybe with something to pry with, I can get some of this to move and enlarge the opening? I suppose I could cut that pole into smaller lengths and see if that’ll work. As he began to slide out from under the boulder, Daniel paused and placed a hand on the bottom of the obvious, garage-sized rock looming above him, internally musing, Just so long as this bad boy doesn’t come crashing down on me in the process.

Up to that point, Daniel hadn’t given it much thought, but now, the thought of being trapped or crushed under tons of rock made his stomach turn. He looked closely at the massive stone perched against the rock wall and pondered how much it would take to bring it down upon him.

This thing has to weigh more than a hundred tons, Daniel reasoned aloud, a little trick he’d learned to slow things down and work through a problem. But with this thing being about twenty feet wide, the little bit I’m going to be doing shouldn’t affect anything.

He then decided to go ahead with his plan to try to enlarge the opening. And after he’d slid out and cut a couple of good-sized lengths off the pole, he crawled back under and began to work some of the rock loose. At first, nothing wanted to move, but after sharpening one end to a point, scratching some of the loose pebbles out of the cracks, and using the blunt end to pound at one spot or another, the first sizable chunk of rock broke free. It was large enough he had a hard time just sliding it out of the way so he could continue to work. And the task wasn’t made any easier by the fact that Scout had returned—without the rabbit—and had crawled under to investigate what Daniel was doing.

Without warning, Scout licked Daniel’s nose, causing him to jerk his head back and bonk the head on the rock above. Daniel tried to get Scout to back-out from under the rock, but Scout’s curiosity forced him ever forward. He squirmed his way in to being all but on top of Daniel, tightly wedging both of them together in the small confines; so much so, in fact, that Daniel was growing concerned they’d be a permanent addition to the landscape.

In time, however, Daniel finally got Scout off him and both of them crawled out from under the boulder. He then took a few minutes to reassure his four-legged companion that he, indeed, was a good boy.

Once Daniel had gotten Scout to stay out from under the ledge, he then returned to the task of trying to enlarge the opening. After the first piece, the others seemed to give way a bit easier, and steadily the opening enlarged to the point where he thought he could fit through. Sliding out from under the ledge again, Daniel took a break to brush himself off and figure out where he’d placed his flashlight again. After telling Scout to stay, he then slid back under to see what he could see.

Peering in with flashlight in hand, Daniel cautiously pushed his arms and head farther into the opening. The thought had not eluded him that some animal might still be in there, and that he needed to be ready to pull back as quickly as possible.

When his head cleared the rock surrounding the opening, Daniel could see what appeared to be a room, with the remnants of what looked like some type of furniture. A cupboard protruded from the dirt to his left and the edge of a tipped-over table, half-buried, rested near the wall opposite him. He could also see the side an old clay pot resting against the opposite wall. It was pretty apparent to Daniel that someone had made this room, having hewn it from the rock somehow; the walls seemed to be relatively vertical, and the floor and ceiling—or what he could see of them, at least—appeared to be flat.

Daniel’s mind suddenly exploded with dozens of thoughts like, Who could have done this? Why would they do it? When did they do it? And what, if anything, was still inside? His excitement grew as the questions rolled about in his mind. Clearly, he had to go in.

As he began to pull himself farther in, however, he stopped as though he’d been struck by