Master of Chains - Jess Lebow [0]
The Fighters 01 - Master of
Chains
The Fighters Series
by
Proofread by BW-SciFi
Ebook version 1.0
Release Date: June, 23rd, 2008
Dedication
To SC. Hi, and hi. The best I've written for the best I've ever known. You make me happy. For being the princess.
Acknowledgements
Above all, thanks must go to my editor, Susan Morris. Your hard work and insights were a tremendous help, and this wouldn't have been half the book without you. I'd also like to thank:
Connie Beetlestone for tirelessly reading the rough draft but mostly for her enthusiasm. (You helped me get through the rough spots.)
Jay Adams for being a great sounding board for ideas.
Philip Athans, just because he's so cool.
Steve Whitman, for being brilliant.
Phil Tasca, for also being brilliant.
And last but not least, the baristas at the 1st and Pike SBC, for putting up with me while I wrote the whole dang thing.
PRELUDE: 1359DR
Young Lord Purdun stepped around a ruined tombstone and pulled his sword from its sheath.
"Quiet now," Purdun said.
"What is this place?" asked Menrick.
"From the looks of it, I'd say it's the entrance to a family tomb." Purdun pushed aside the dried, thorny vines covering the facade of the stone building with the tip of his blade. The dark, dead plants made a light grinding noise as they slid across the decrepit, withered stone.
"Well, well," said Lord Purdun. "What do we have here?"
Unlike the rest of the tomb, cracked and worn smooth from hundreds of years of rain and the elements, the stone underneath the hanging vines was a slick, polished black that shone like a mirror. Carved into its surface were hundreds of tiny figures. Each of them had been crafted down to the most minute detail.
"Help me clear away the vines so we can get a better look."
Menrick stepped up beside the young lord, and the two of them together cut down the dead vegetation.
A rectangular slab of jet black stone covered most of the front of the tomb. At the center of the wall an archway cut the slab in two. It looked to be outlining what must have been the entrance to the tomb, but the one-time doorway was now bricked up.
Menrick bent close to the stone, examining the carvings. "It appears to be obsidian."
Lord Purdun ran his hands across the smooth, black stone. "This is remarkable. It looks to have been carved within the last tenday." He took a step back and scanned the path leading up to the tomb. "But there isn't so much as a single footprint or chip of stone. No one has visited this place for years."
"My lord, the stone is likely enchanted," said Menrick. "Judging from these carvings, whoever rests here left behind a lot of mourners."
Purdun turned his attention back to the carvings. The figures were mostly human, though there were some dwarves, elves, and what appeared to be half-orcs depicted in the scene as well. All of them were looking toward a large ziggurat in the distance with a lone figure standing atop it. The figure was of a woman, wearing a cape with a thick collar. She held over her head a large box. Beams of energy or light radiated from the box, and the woman's eyes gazed upon it in obvious adoration.
Carved in the middle of the box was a strange rune. It looked like two entwined threes, twisted and gnarled, reaching toward the ground-a bodiless, headless spider ready to sink its clawed legs into an unsuspecting victim.
On both sides of the archway, the scene was repeated in exact detail. Same woman, same box, and same strange, twisted rune.
"Look at this." Menrick ran his hand over the edge of the arch. "Oh my."
Purdun took a step closer. A jagged, rather chaotic pattern was inscribed around the archway. It reminded Purdun of the golden illumination on the pages of one of his favorite books, back in the manor library.
"What am I looking at? This pattern?"
Menrick nodded.
"Yes, that's very exciting," said Purdun, shaking his head. "Whoever crafted this stone had a real flare for decoration."
"This isn't decoration, my lord. It's an invocation."
"A spell?"
Menrick nodded again, not taking his