Taylon

Taylon

by Scott J. Kramer

A Territories Novel

Taylon

By Scott J. Kramer

Copyright 2016 by Scott J. Kramer

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or
the publisher.

Prizm Books, a division of Torquere Press
Publishers

P.O. Box 37, Waldo, AR 71770

Taylon by Scott J. Kramer Copyright 2016

Editor, Deelylah Mullin

Cover by Kris Norris

Published with permission

www.prizmbooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-944449-94-0

All rights reserved, which includes the right
to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever
except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. For information
address Torquere Press, LLC, P.O. Box 37, Waldo, AR 71770

First Prizm Books Printing: August 2016

DEDICATION

To my brother Kevin: a warrior at heart,
even if he is just an engineer.

To Phillip, Charlee, Brandon, and Jackson:
the new boys in the family. I’m just glad I had girls to balance
everything out.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my editor Deelylah Mullin. Without her, I
would be a poor word peddler trying to push passive off as a good
story.

To my beta readers:

Stephanie Ahrnsen—A no nonsense kind of gal.
That chicken has to get to the other slide.

Lizzie Schreyer—If only I could clone her
and have many students like her…I would be all gray instead of
half.

Phillip Ricke—A wordslinger himself,
critical, yet does it with a smile.

Erin Kerr – A terrific student that will
overcome, and make the world proud.

Carolyn Kesterman, Joanna Sonderman, Cole
Berger—Thank you, all.

To all my students: The words I scribe, I
tiredly sling for you. Take an adventure, read a book, and escape
the world. Do your homework. Especially…oh you know who you
are.

TAYLON

War has been declared and demon possessed
Queen Euphoria has struck the first blow against the Territories.
Little does she know, Da’Lynn a dark elf possessed by an evil
herself has command of the elf army and is moving in to defend the
land.

Kara, realizing the trouble brewing, seeks
out her non-human friends, hoping to sort out the trouble ahead.
But will Hambone, Snow, Ra’na, and the wizard Ynob be enough to
stop the ensuing apocalypse?

Prologue

Guilaud sat on his throne, weary of the whole
ordeal. Sealed within this chamber, his
kingdom
, his worst
fears were coming true. He was a failure.

His precious wife Rose, lost forever now. Of
course he had defeated the evil—the mind numbing wraith. Hurrah for
saving the world. But Guilaud of Deharem could not save the only
person he cared about.

A clawed goblet rested next to his chair.
With a sweep of anger, a muttered word, it soared across the room
and disintegrated upon impact. Nearby, a large mirror pulsed with a
blue light before returning to darkness.

Why?
It was a question that tormented
his mind. All his planning and research, even his disaster with the
demon box, led him to this. Rose was supposed to live again, be by
his side. Not a decaying corpse within a cage.

Slowly, Guilaud raised his head, surveying
the room. All of this was done to contain and protect his people,
but they were probably wondering where he had gone. Faldoa no more,
this was his crypt to rule.

Normally, he would scribe his analysis, the
outcome, into his journal as he had done countless times before.
Writing eased his mind, and coaxed along the logical process. But
he had left that behind in his rush to complete the ultimate
spell.

How foolish had he been? Hindsight made wise
men out of mad men everywhere. Maybe if he hadn’t rushed. Maybe if
he had taken one more day to consult with the elves, or maybe the
council of mages.

But his love for Rose blinded him, hungered
to avenge and set things right.

Guilaud stood, and stepped down from the
dais. Slowly, he approached the glass cabinet where he kept his
unique possessions.

From inside he withdrew a ring, a marker upon
his journey here. So much had he learned from that moment, as from
the box. But a wizard could not turn back time.

His finger slid into the ring comfortably.
The bluish gem caught the torchlight, illuminating his knuckles.
Guilaud closed his eyes, one hand over the other. A prayerful
gesture, one that was utterly foreign to him.

Carefully he raised his head and opened his
eyes. With each step he turned. At first his steps were solemn, but
then they faltered, and quickened, until a panic set in.

“Rose?” Guilaud called out, as he frantically
searched the room for her.

It had worked before. He had spoken to the
dead man. So where was Rose?

“Rose!” His voice raised slightly, not the
call of a royal king, but of a child seeking one he loves when they
are absent.

Still nothing appeared to him in the dimly
lit chamber.

“Rose…” His last desperate plea slipped out,
weak and fading.

Only a soft sinister laugh came forth, but it
too was weak.

Guilaud turned to the dark mirror, fire
ablaze in his eyes for just a second until sadness consumed them
again.

For what seemed to be the fifth time today,
Guilaud of Deharem, mighty wizard, king of Faldoa, fell to his
knees, covered his face, and wept like a child.

Chapter One

Taylon stared down at the table, his eyes
losing focus, his mind a complete blank. The maps began to merge
into one big fuzzy nothing. Something inside him groaned. He was
not up for this. Sleep. That’s what he needed.

During the six weeks since the
demon
queen
announced the campaign against the Territories, the
captain had not slept. His head throbbed; his heart ached. Each day
new torment becokened Captivity did not suit him. Yet, the only
reason he cooperated with Euphoria was Rose.

Taking a moment, Taylon stood up from the
table and walked around the small room. Locked in this war chamber,
he was sheltered from whatever was going on outside these walls.
But he found solace in his cell, for he didn’t want to deal with
the
jubilation
of Faldoa’s citizens.

The door swung open suddenly, causing the
captain to jump. He expected it to be one of his soldiers, but
instead the queen stood there. She closed it behind her.

“Taking a break?” Her words were like ice,
cold and jabbing.

Euphoria decked herself out in a lovely black
and red dress. The way she explained her new wardrobe to her
subjects was that she was the fire that would bring new life to
Faldoa and beyond. The smiths forged her flame motif into the
shields and swords. Plus, the first attack after blowing a hole in
the wall was to light the forest on fire so the good people, the
humans, could see the smoke and rejoice.

“Do we have to do this now?” Taylon sounded
exhausted and distraught. Euphoria only smiled and walked to the
table, looking at all the scattered documents and writings.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should know by now not to
annoy me.” Her long fingernails raked the table.

Taylon ignored her and leaned against the
wall. It was all child’s play. She was toying with him. He massaged
his brow. Light reflected off something and caught his
attention.

A sword?
But it wasn’t there before. A
quick glance toward the queen confirmed she was busy, with her back
turned, looking at the maps.

“Have we learned any more from the scouts?”
She threw her comment at him over her shoulder.

“Um, no. They haven’t returned.” Taylon edged
along the wall and covered the weapon with his body. His fingers
slipped around the cold hilt.

“Stupid humans…” Euphoria muttered, but did
not turn around.

Could it be this simple?
His palm
began to sweat as his fingers tightened on the weapon. Slowly, he
stepped closer to the table.

“I shall have a word with them when they
return.” Euphoria flipped another chart to the side, but didn’t
move toward him.

One shot at this. It would end it all. Why
hadn’t he thought of it before? Another step. His heartbeat
quickened. Why had he put up with this torture, this turmoil for so
long?

Taylon raised the sword to his waist, angling
the blade up. A thrust through the chest would do it, end the life
of Euphoria the demon. She had not faced him yet, and hopefully
would not. One more step.

“My queen.”

As she turned toward him, he felt her eyes
upon him. But his resolve was strong. Taylon thrust the sword
upward, feeling the blade slice into her flesh. A small whimper
escaped her. Euphoria fell forward, clutching at her chest.

It worked!

Taylon stood there stunned, holding the dying
queen in his hands. He stepped back and let her drop. Blood pounded
in his head as his whole body rushed with adrenaline.

“Yes…Yes….”

He looked down at Euphoria but something was
wrong. The clothes began to change. No longer regal garb, but a
servant’s gray smock.

Laughter echoed in as the door slid open.
Shock, panic, terror all rolled into one as he saw Euphoria stroll
through the opening. Quickly he looked to the floor only to
discover a servant girl hunched on the ground, a sword jutting out
of her back like a fin.

“No…No!” Taylon screamed at the ground and
then at the queen. His anger had built to a fury and he ran at the
real queen. Every fiber of his being raised the bloody sword, ready
to strike the creature dead. Her smile hinted that she knew
something he did not. Taylon didn’t care as began his attack.

Bam!
Some invisible wall knocked him
backward with as much force as he delivered. The shock jolted his
ire loose, bringing him back to reality.

“Now now,
temper
my brave little
warrior.” She laughed again, watching him struggle helplessly
against the barrier. Eventually Taylon slumped to the ground,
weeping.

Euphoria bypassed him and went to the dead
servant girl. She stooped. Horrid sounds of slurping and bones
cracking bounced around the chamber as Euphoria fed. Taylon closed
his eyes and shuddered.

After a few minutes, the queen stood, wiped
some remaining blood off her cheek, and turned to Taylon. All that
was left of the decoy was some torn clothing and the sword.

“I had to test you. I work you so hard, and
thought sooner or later you would try to kill me. The stress and
torment is no equal to that of saving Rose.
Poor
Rose.”

Grief gripped him as he realized what she
said was true. He was ready to throw it all away to kill Euphoria.
Rose would have been lost permanently if it had been the queen whom
he actually skewered.

“But now that you have that little bit of
nonsense out of you, you can finish up on the plans. We move out
tomorrow,” Euphoria said as she walked toward the door.

It took Taylon a moment, but he got to his
feet. “But…we hardly have enough explosive for the wall.”

Euphoria turned back to him, looking deep in
thought. “Yes, that could be a problem for you. We still leave
tomorrow.” As she left, her laughter rang through the hall.