Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

(A favorite scene from The Mercenary Prince, which is available for 99 cents as an eBook.)

Screams erupt from the direction of the celebration and the half-elves see people rush by the mouth of the alley. They hurry to the street in time to see Timoran sail through the tavern’s wall, the house across the street, and a distant barn. An excited whooping brings their attention to a heavyset man in robes who is cowering behind a well. Next to him is Trinity, but the cobalt-skinned woman is drooling and barely conscious. As the champions hurry to join their friends, Nyx’s eyes turn gold and she sees a throbbing cord of aura running from her rival to a blinding figure inside the building. With every crash and shout, a pulse of energy ripples along the thread and causes the chaos elf to spasm. The champion cancels her spell as she follows Luke through the broken doorway and witnesses a scene that is out of her nightmares.

“There you are, my channeler,” Stephen coos before casually snapping Dariana’s arm. He hurls his sister through the ceiling and patiently waits for the sound of her slamming into the solid roof. “I meant to attack Dariana first, but the wild oaf smelled me coming. Guess I’ve been on the road for too long. He took a very powerful blow, so he might be dead. My sister . . . I still hear the heart fluttering. Excuse me for a second.”

With a roll of his wrist, Stephen summons the silver-haired woman to his hand. He is about to touch her forehead when Fizzle rams into his face. The impact sends the madman back a few steps and into an iron maiden made of frozen ale. Blood pooling on the floor beneath her mouth and bone sticking out of her arm, Sari makes a fist to close the spike-covered doors. They shut with enough force to sever Stephen’s outstretched arm, allowing Dariana to fall into the remains of a table. Feeling the immortal fight against her creation, the gypsy tries to get onto all fours and pump more of her magic into the iron maiden. Cracks form along the device’s surface and it explodes with a backlash that sends Sari sailing through the shuttered window. Her leg is snagged on the broken wood and she dangles an inch off the ground until Nyx hurries to haul her back into the building. The channeler tears a sleeve from her shirt to bind the seeping wound, her hands shaking from being so close to the man of her nightmares.

“I’ve never been attacked by beer before,” Stephen says with a laugh. The man takes the blow from Fizzle to his face and lunges forward to catch the drite’s neck in his teeth. He turns to his side and puts his head, along with the squirming dragon, through the bar to knock the creature out. “Tastes sweet and tangy. I might have to take him along and cook him when I find the time. Who do I have left?”

“Just me,” Luke replies as he steps in front of his fallen friends.