Brave Men Die: Part 2 (21 page)

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Authors: Dan Adams

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‘Did I ask you to?’

Horns blasted in the distance. Everyone turned to the Kyzantine army but they made no move to attack, were indeed retreating in dribs and drabs back to their own line. As the horns blasted again the squabbling men turned toward the Kingdom and witnessed the arrival of Cygnus’ men. They marched in columns looking fresh and vitalised. They would make the Kyzantines think twice about continuing the assault.

‘These are the Howlers. My own personal command. Five thousand warriors, born and bred, trained since they were children. Better than this rabble here.’

Octans curled his hand into a fist and wound back to strike him. It was only Pollux’s interjection that stopped him.

‘I hope your soldiers know how to clean. There are a lot of dead Kyzantine bodies up here. Blood can be really slippery underfoot and we wouldn’t want any accidents would we?’

Octans smiled as Cygnus scowled.

‘Don’t worry about ours, we take care of our own.’

Pollux turned to the Fists who were milling about the rampart watching the confrontation. Although exhausted they all wore a smile.

‘Fists, we have one final duty to perform before we rest. Find every wounded and deceased Buckthorne man and see that he is removed from these blood soaked stones and taken care of.’

The men scattered all over the wall to pick up the fallen members of the Fists. Octans himself had battered into Cygnus’ shoulder to push past and helped a wounded man, supporting him under the arm and got him to his feet. As he walked past Cygnus, heading for the stairs, he couldn’t help but get in one last passing shot.

‘Better run along and find yourself a mop.’

CAST OF CHARACTERS

BATTLE BROTHERS BOOK ONE

MURUKANS

Buckthorne

Castor Fallon
member of the Nails
Pollux Fallon
member of the Fists
Cronos Scythe
Baron of Buckthorne
Hydrus Scythe
Captain of the Nails, son of Cronos
Byrn Emery
Buckthorne Master-of-Arms
Volans Thorr
Lieutenant of the Nails
Argol Larson
member of the Fists
Octans Werth
member of the Fists
Kryst Tipton
Captain of the Fists
Tobias Sutton
Captain of the Buckthorne Watch
Gerard Morgan
member of the Buckthorne Watch
Tove Curran
member of the Fists
Lucas Bray
member of the Nails
Jacob McCabe
member of the Nails
Ron Hudson
member of the Nails
Aron Patton
member of the Nails
James Cole
member of the Nails

Gravid’s Drift

Arryn Dunn
Earl of Gravid’s Drift
Cygnus Dunn
Captain of the Howlers, son of Arryn
Thol Dunn
second son of Arryn
Lacey Dunn
daughter of Arryn
Zeke Aspring
Captain of the Musea Pass
Brak Aspring
officer at the Musea Pass, son of Zeke
Barcus Ruthorford
engineer at the Musea Pass
Wez Lund
member of infantry

Sarkridge

Wade Hardison
King of Murukia
Daymon Hardison
Prince of Murukia, Commander of the Murukan Horse
Reza Hardison
Prince of Murukia
Walter Dejeski
Knight-General
Samuel Rodderick
Knight-General
Ryan Braithe
Knight-General
Ben Curdish
Knight-General

Carham

Hector Danyels
Duke of Carham

Magi

Ara Rowsell
Seventh Circle mage
Daria Gleason
Eighth Circle mage
Mira Sykes
Fourth Circle mage

Others

Duncan Avil
Commander of the Gorgon Pass
Lynx Kiernan
Murukan scout
Doric Ilett
soldier at Black Claw Gate

KYZANTINES

Dagenham

Sebastian Jorgh
Emperor of Kyzantium
Derrick Jorgh
General of Imperial Guard, son of Sebastian
Indus Jorgh
General of Imperial Guard, first daughter of Sebastian
Tucana Jorgh
General of Imperial Guard, second daughter of Sebastian
Pyxis Jorgh
General of the Wraiths, third daughter of Sebastian
Telis Dorado
Lord Commander of the Imperial Guard
Robar Ballis
General of the Imperial Guard
Thom Soto
Assassin
Madeline Vargas
Assassin

Tarkinholm

Cunx Rivera
Captain of the Wraiths
Calan Delgado
Member of the Wraiths

Redisberg

Chase DeVile
Lord of Redisberg
Odion Fizdis
Captain of the Redisberg First and Fifth

Skyview

Eugene Quandrus
Exarch of Skyview

SERAPHIM

Avernus Murcutt
Leader of Seraphim, mage of Seraphim first cell
Edrazil Nash
warrior of Seraphim first cell
Devilin Nash
warrior of Seraphim first cell

TYREANS

Granbury

Giles Bryson
King of Tyrea
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Adams is a Sydney-based writer. When he’s not penning kick ass war stories, he’s working on his guns — the arm variety, rather than the weapons featured so prominently in his books. He loves slushies and always finds himself climbing too many stairs on Wednesdays. Follow him on Twitter at @DanAdamsWriter

COPYRIGHT

VoyagerImpulse

An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers

First published in Australia in 2014

This edition published in 2014

by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

ABN 36 009 913 517

harpercollins.com.au

Copyright © Dan Adams 2014

The right of Dan Adams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

HarperCollins
Publishers

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ISBN 9 781 460 703 977

Cover design by Matt Stanton, HarperCollins Design Studio Images by shutterstock.com

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