The Shadowed of Gilead Series

Cidraso, inventor and director of Galleo’s water department, has no idea what he is about to unleash upon everyone he loves when he pulls a small silver book from a search engine of the illustrious Galleo Library.  The forbidden—and inhabited –technical manual from The Tower of Gilead will lead to an ill-fated scheme and set his son, Castel, and two friends of newly imagined races on the dangerous road to Gilead in the company of messengers, shadowed, and rather unique individuals. One, a respectable and rising engineer, is framed for murder and driven to insanity by solitary confinement.  He strikes a Faustian deal with the shadowed who torments him then double-crosses it in a bid to escape.  He kills the one man who tries to help him and continues down the path of perdition even seeking the life of an innocent young man. Castel is started on his way by an old adventurer and linked up with one of the fabled actium caravans charged with delivering the unique metal to The Tower of Gilead.  Carrying illegal technology back to the place it came from and seeking adoption by the exceptional, Gileadan parents of his close friend, he must conceal the information and keep it from falling into the hands of any of the unsavory personalities that follow him especially the suspecting Rogue Hunter looking after the caravan. The Tanthris, Crea, Castel’s almost sister and partner in crime can “feel” the world about her if she would only pay attention.  She walks where angels fear to tread and is always ready to give Castel a hand up.  If only a little dragon didn’t take such an interest in her. Sef is an Insidis who sees the world in its entirety and is wise enough to listen to the messengers of the Glorious One.  His run in with a vengeful escaped criminal results in a fancy new sword and a target on his back that stubbornly refuses to go away.  From the breathtaking imagination of Frank S. Wacholtz, this fantastical tale of guilt and innocence; a collision of destructive technology, spiteful nature, and hungry dragons invites the reader into the world of Choaradar, where gunpowder is illegal technology, the steam engine is yesterday’s news, and armored machines shelter the souls of those too fearful or proud to face eternity.

A skeletal bone knight stands alone with his nightmare in the crumbling sewers of Meleckireem.   An animated machine, he has no need or even desire to breathe.  Around his sturdy legs, the dark tendrils of violent temptation wrap their inky coils searching for some unrevealed gap in his defenses that they might devour his soul within. A young man grips the upper yardarm of ship so fast and tall that striking the deck should he slip is only a remote possibility.  The wind lashes at his hair as bruised and bloody hands struggle with knots he only recently tied.  It could be worse.  He could be down on the deck getting pummeled by his best friend. A small hunter, possibly a woman, seems to almost float beneath the surface of the impossibly high grass as she swings across the tops like a spider skulking through a vast moonlit sea.  Thunder and wind, courtesy of an approaching storm, mask her approach almost completely.  Her prey is unaware and is unable to appreciate the disturbing way her emerald eyes capture the pale light before the sky descends upon him. A great winged-dragon, a Cho-Whissir, of royal blood hunts on the winds above the cloud shrouded farmlands thoroughly infuriated by the concealing weather.  Something more precious than gold has been taken from her, and she means to get it back.  May the Glorious One help the one responsible, because she intends justice for all involved. A powerful and malevolent shadowed curses the departing shiny and his so-called “deal”.  The souls are his to keep and expend at whim.  They’ve no right to make such a demand of him.  The blood was going to be spilt anyway.  He kicks one of his useless subordinates after the fleeing human and hurls curses after them both.  It won’t be until later that he realizes the over-confident shiny never specified which. “Test of Innocents” continues “The Shadowed of Gilead” series in an exciting romp through the world of Choaradar as Castel and his friends make their way ever closer to the Tower of Gilead.

The dark jungle zips by before suddenly disappearing below the small animatoid revealing a great unfinished tower rising from a hidden valley in the distance.  It’s broken crest stands out against the snow-capped mountains beyond as a reminder of a task left undone.  Surprisingly, as the sound of passing wind fades near the height of the leap, a faint, slow and majestic music emanating from the forgotten prison tantalizes the ears with suggestions of sadness and woe. An older girl dressed in black with scarf across her face whirls away from a crashing fist in the morning light.  The dark-haired young man it leaves an imprint in the side of the wagon where her face had been moments ago.  There is no doubt left in her mind.  Castel is trying to kill her at last. Bluish moonlight filters through a gap in the canopy into a sunken grotto deep in the jungle.  A diminutive robed figure waits in the branches of a tree overlooking several small waterfalls that venture over the edges.  The eye can only just catch the a second black-clad figure working quickly but silently around the edge of the large, hidden pool. Rough looking horseman trudge through the pouring rain past a flooded cemetery that has long since given up the faint hope of keeping its occupants buried.  The rusted iron fence which once might have been intended to keep it’s occupants in leads to a dilapidated town of sagging roves, diminished lights, and locked doors.  It isn’t long before the bloodied nooses hanging from a great oak beside the inn send a shiver down their spine.