The Wizard Killer - Season 3: The Wizard Killer, #3

By Adam Dreece

The past has a way of catching up with you. The random moments that flash by, the places you don't remember being, the things you shouldn't know but do, they're all pieces of a puzzle you keep ignoring until it's too late.
That's when your heart stops and you realize all the warning signs were there. But now, you're trying to stare down a mad wizard, fire everywhere, hoping Lady Luck's going to help you out one last time. You promise you'll be wiser, that you'll make amends for the things you've done, but in your gut, you know the time's come. Life's about to call your bluff, and the only card you've got to play is pure, raw rage. - Wes

Season Three returns us to the world of Mondus Inferno, and the plight of the man with no name, for the most soul-shattering season yet! As enemies betray their conscience, and allies their convictions, the man without a name finds his past and present on a collision course. Strap in for the next exciting season of the Post-apocalyptic dark fantasy series, The Wizard Killer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adam Dreece
• Release date: Jun 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781988746111

Adam Dreece

Off and on, for 25 years, Adam wrote short stories enjoyed by his friends and family. Regularly, his career in technology took precedence over writing, so he set aside his dream of one day, maybe, becoming an author. After a life-changing event, Adam decided to make more changes in his life, including never missing a night of reading stories to his kids again because of work, and becoming an author. With that out of the way, he returned to fiction, and with a nudge from his daughter, wrote Along Came a Wolf and created The Yellow Hoods series. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his awesome wife and amazing kids. Check out Adam’s site AdamDreece.com, or follow him on Instagram @AdamDreece, on TikTok @AdamDreece, Facebook /AdamDreeceAuthor or email him as well [e-mail]

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The Wizard Killer - Season 3Title Page

Copyright © 2018 by Adam Dreece.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at [e-mail].

ADZO Publishing Inc.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

www.adzopublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

ISBNs: 978-1-988746-04-3 (pbk), 978-1-988746-03-6 (MOBI), 978-1-988746-11-1 (ePub)

Dedication

To those who have so little yigging sense that they keep encouraging me, I quote Egelina-Marie from The Day the Sky Fell (The Yellow Hoods #5),

You’re my kind of crazy.

And to my wife who calms me down, picks me up, pushes me forward, and cheers me on.

PREVIOUSLY

In Season Two, the man with no name came back to life in the desert and found himself robbed of his healing sword. Running into the Blindfold Man, he learned that he was being hunted by the Wizard of the Fallen City, who would stop at nothing to get to him.

Barely surviving the Wizard’s fire dome, which burnt the tent-city and everyone in it, the Wizard was revealed.

Meanwhile, the flashbacks have revealed that they are all tied to a mysterious red orb, and that the man without a name used to be a Lieutenant who suffered a great loss at the hands of the High Acolyte of Banareal.

Welcome to Season Three

CONTENTS

Episode One

Episode Two

Episode Three

Episode Four

Episode Five

Episode Six

Episode Seven

Episode Eight

Episode Nine

Episode Ten

Episode Eleven

Episode Twelve

Episode Thirteen

Episode Fourteen

Episode Fifteen

Episode Sixteen

Episode Seventeen

Episode Eighteen

Episode Nineteen

Thanks for Reading

Playlist

About the Author

Also by Adam Dreece

For Audiobook Lovers

EPISODE ONE

In the Present

Ania glares at me, waiting for a reaction. She’s got that burning look of someone whose ambition, filled with secrets, is savoring this moment.

The wind kicks up ashy mana residue, stinging my eyes. Rubbing them with the back of my filthy hands, I take a moment to take a deep breath and think.

She’s waiting for something, like for me to admit to a crime or play a card for a game I don’t know we’re playing. There’s no banter, no evidence the cat wants to play with the mouse. She’s got something on her mind and she’s not going to let go of it.

The sickening stench of the magically burnt lake-bed town runs right into my brain, stopping my inner scribes of random thoughts. I notice how heavy my body feels.

All the running and fighting aside, pulling Oner out of me with that gemstone, like Blindfold Man did with the Jackal, took a lot out of me. A yigging lot. Thankfully, it looks like Ania and her crew missed the show. Well, other than the two Oner killed.

Glancing about, the lake bed’s got a dark burnt line marking where Ania’s fire dome had surrounded the entire oasis. Did she really kill everyone in this tent-city just to get to me? That doesn’t make sense. What could she have learned about me that would be worth that amount of carnage? I hate not knowing what I am.

Ania’s got grey streaks in her hair and creases around her dark-rimmed eyes; probably taxes for the power she now wields. It’s also a reminder of how much time has passed since I saw her last.

The wizard robe has seen better days. It floats ominously behind her, waiting like an obedient, wounded dog. It creaks in the wind like it’s made of old, worn floorboards. Eerie.

Looking back at the damage, I shake my head. You hold a serious grudge, I say to her, raising an eyebrow and smirking dangerously.

No response.

My instincts are telling me to create a distraction and bolt, but where to? It’s all flat until you hit the ridges around this place, and it’s a dangerously long run versus twitchy soldiers with lightning rifles. I have no doubt that even if she’s tapped out of mana, her soldiers are eager to earn a bit of their self-respect back. It’s written all over their faces, desperation is painted in their eyes.

Whatever happened past the northern ridge with those ghouls, it clearly shook them to their core. I’m sure there was a lot more of these guys when they started. Again, what the yig’s Ania doing bringing that much firepower down to try and get me? Or was it for me? Maybe my ego’s getting in the way of me seeing what’s really happening here.

The driver of the levi-car’s standing with the door as cover, his lightning rifle resting on the hood of the levi, and it’s pointing straight at me. His index and middle fingers keep tapping on the trigger eagerly, like he wants to claim killing me was an accident. The muffler on the end of the lightning rifle is scratched up badly but still serviceable, so he’s not likely to knock himself out or go deaf from the boom of firing.

The three bandaged soldiers in the levi’s flatbed keep glancing down at their feet. The flatbed has a twelve-inch rim with bench seats all around, undoubtably things tucked underneath.

Their blue and gold uniforms at first look dusty, but they aren’t. They’re faded and threadbare, maybe even vintage. They’ve been stitched back together, sometimes carefully and sometimes badly. Ania’s sleeveless dress is the same color and condition as the uniforms. It’s like they are trying to convince themselves that they are part of an era that’s long dead and buried. She’s got an out of place belt, made of woven vines or hemp, with three grey pouches on it.

You think I care about the ones you killed so many years ago? Ania turns from looking into the distance to giving me a punishing glare."

Yeah, what else could it be about? This seems a bit much for two two people you didn’t seem that fond of. I bow my head, letting a laugh out. Seriously, that seems like a world-class grudge.

You understand so little about the world. Do you have any understanding of what’s been happening? She shakes her head dismissively.

Oner’s bloody serrated blades are lying at my feet, the bodies of two of Ania’s soldiers lying beside me, and my mana-pistol’s about two yards away. The idea of making a dash for the pistol crosses my mind, but I won’t make it. Not with the eager look in the eyes of these soldiers. I probably won’t even be able to reach the swords before they’d boom a hole through my chest.

In fairness, that guy was dying, I say, still not convinced Ania doesn’t care about the two I killed some time ago. And I didn’t know I was going to do that. But he bought us precious time against that flaming Carn. As for that woman, she tried to kill me. It was self-defence. I’m ignoring the part where you guys took me hostage.

She leans forward, further intensifying her gaze. You think this is about them? I would have killed you on the spot if it were.

Then what else could it be about? I shrug, hoping she’ll give me something. All this talk about me not understanding, or being out of the loop, is getting under my skin, makes me want to stab something.

After studying my face for a few seconds, she leans back and relaxes her expression. Don’t you know me? Or… She stops herself and waits and we stare at each other for a while.

What do you mean? I offer an honest shrug.

This woman’s smart, I wouldn’t put it past her to be playing mind games with me. Yig, if she had a blindfolded giant of a man convinced it was in his interest to hunt me down, she can probably do anything.

Don’t let her get in your head. Don’t be an idiot.

She looks down as if she’s lost in thought for a minute. As if in response, the wizard robe’s hood lifts up and turns to face me. The inky abyss within its hood sending a chill hurtling through me; through the wall of my foggy memories and striking my very core.

Instinctively, I take a half step back, and my hands spring forward defensively. Then I feel something inside me like a knock. My eyes go wide and dart about as I break into a fresh sweat.

What the yig was that? Something inside me just reacted to that thing like a tied up animal being poked with a sharp stick. The buzzing in my head cranks up and then fades away, as if trying to calm me down. Is this Ania’s doing? She’s not wearing the robe, so she can’t be in my head, or can she? Yig. I wish I knew how this all worked.

I