In The Woods of Waiting: The Volkdrow Chronicles, #0.5

By Lou Yardley

Brenna, Franklin, and Jerm are three normal children in Red Fern. Well… they're as 'normal' as things get in Red Fern. They live in Ickne Noir's Home for Lost Children, but things are not quite as they seem. You see, Ickne Noir's may be a children's home, but it's also the place where neighbouring realms send their young spies and assassins. All the children there are deadly. Apart from Frankin… but you'll find out more about him soon enough.

 

A beautiful song leads them all into the menacing and mysterious Woods of Waiting. That song will set all three towards fates they could never imagine. Dark paths and dangerous things await in the Woods of Waiting.

 

Caution: This fiendish fantasy may contain monsters and swearing. Actually, it absolutely does contain both of those things.

 

Prequel to The Volkdrow Chronicles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Goblin Storybook
• Release date: Jan 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215252420

Book preview

Copyright

Published by

Lou Yardley / The Goblin Storybook

www.louyardley.com

Copyright © 2023 by Lou Yardley

Cover © 2022 by Neil Fraser / Neil Fraser Graphics

Legendary Runes, The Simbiod and Dragon Fire fonts © Creative Fabrica

Amstrong font © Canva

Lou Yardley logo by GetCovers

Venari logo by Sludgework

The Goblin Storybook logo by Gaming Zombies

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted at any time or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior, written permission of the publisher.

The right of Lou Yardley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988.

First published January 2023

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Dedication

To Max and Robyn x

An important note from the author

IN THE WOODS OF WAITING should be treated as something of a prologue to The Blade of Absolution, the first ‘full’ book in The Volkdrow Chronicles. It introduces some characters and sets the scene and tone for the story to come. I had thought to include it as the actual prologue in The Blade of Absolution, but that little beastie is already pretty chunky!

With that in mind, please be aware that you may have a few questions by the time you reach the final page of this one. I hope it whets your appetite and gets you excited for The Blade of Absolution!

If you’d like a prequel that is also a self-contained, fully fledged story, please check out Born in Sludge.

Otherwise, enjoy this introduction to a new tale, one full of monsters and danger.

Stay delicious,

Lou Yardley, December 2022.

About the Book

Brenna, Franklin, and Jerm are three normal children in Red Fern. Well... they’re as ‘normal’ as things get in Red Fern. They live in Ickne Noir’s Home for Lost Children, but things are not quite as they seem. You see, Ickne Noir’s may be a children’s home, but it’s also the place where neighbouring realms send their young spies and assassins. All the children there are deadly. Apart from Frankin... but you’ll find out more about him soon enough.

A beautiful song leads them all into the menacing and mysterious Woods of Waiting. That song will set all three towards fates they could never imagine.

Dark paths and dangerous things await in the Woods of Waiting.

Caution: This fiendish fantasy may contain monsters and swearing. Actually, it absolutely does contain both of those things.

Prequel to The Volkdrow Chronicles.

Timeline

Want to know where this little tale fits in the grand scheme of things in Venari? Check out this handy guide...

The First Age: The Time of the Gods Year 0-100

Not much is known about this time. Over the centuries, people have forgotten what was real and what was myth. Everyone’s pretty sure it was awesome though. Gods always behave themselves, right? It’s a shame no-one really knows where those gods are now. Some are convinced that they’ve slipped down the back of some sofa cushions somewhere. Wherever they are, we’ll find them in the last place we look. It’s always the way...

The Second Age: Dragon Rule Year 101-350

As you can probably guess, there were dragons here. It was all rather exciting. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on it soon. I can tell you this was when there was one single ruler for the whole of Venari... and, funnily enough, that ruler was a dragon.

The Third Age: The Fracture Year 350 onwards

The Fracture starts when the rule of Dragons is over. Various kings, queens, and other leaders spring up across Venari with varying degrees of success. You’ll get to know one of them, Queen Elsbeth, quite well in future books. She’s an absolute delight.

All of the Venari books so far have taken place in the third age. Chronologically, they can be listed like this (but this isn’t the order I wrote them in... because I’m bloody awkward):

Creep (Year 450)

Banished (Year 542)

Born in Sludge – (Year 545)

In the Woods of Waiting (Year 556)

Everfrost (Year 556)

The Blade of Absolution (Year 556 – this one is coming soon! It’s all very exciting!)

Knights of the Green Fire (Year 556 – webnovel – coming SOON!) 

At the moment, you can read most of these books in any order, but for the best experience, In the Woods of Waiting should be read before the main The Volkdrow Chronicles series (starting with The Blade of Absolution), otherwise things will get confusing. More news on this soon!

All of this First, Second and Third age stuff will make more sense as soon as I write the other books on my epic To Be Written list. At the moment, those stories are living in my head.

These books are high fantasy with gore, swearing and a few attempts of humour that made me smile while I was writing, so I hope they bring a smile to your face too. 

The Orb Weaver

Some time in the distant past

She was free once, able to soar through the skies of Venari, landing wherever she wished. Feeding on whatever took her fancy. Life had been good – for her at least. Those she fed on may have had other thoughts. Her song had ensured the tastiest of morsels had joined her for dinner. Some called it magic, but to her it was merely nature. It was what she did. It was what she knew. Some humans, gnomes and fauns called her evil. They said she was a monster. But such things never really made sense to Liluth. Would they vilify the spider for eating the fly? This was only nature, and those beings were just disappointed they were born too far down the food chain.

Liluth had been thinking these thoughts as she flew away from a township somewhere in the west. She hadn’t bothered to learn its name; it hadn’t seemed important. She’d fed there before, but this time was different. Danger had threatened to follow her and that never happened. Harpies had few predators in these parts – most creatures merely co-existed with them – but this was different. Magic. She’d been threatened with magic.

Powerful magic.

Settling in a cave, she thought about what that meant.

It’s tough when you’re no longer the apex predator, isn’t it?

The voice made Liluth jump; she’d thought she was alone.

It’s tough when you lose your freedom too, the voice said. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she caught sight of her new companion. A large spider-like creature stared back at her, its gaze making her skin itch.

What do you want? she asked.

"What do I want? What a strange question... especially since you’re the one who paid a visit to my home, the spider said. Uninvited, I might add. Do you know what I usually do to uninvited guests?" The spider didn’t wait