{"id":180,"date":"2012-09-17T09:36:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T13:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/?p=180"},"modified":"2012-09-17T09:36:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-17T13:36:11","slug":"zervakan-free-fantasy-novel-chapter-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/?p=180","title":{"rendered":"ZERVAKAN – Free Fantasy Novel – Chapter 45"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"\"<\/a>
Cover by TJ Lomas.<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\nI’m posting a chapter from my latest fantasy novel for free every Monday and Friday (click Zervakan<\/a> above for a synopsis and to start from the beginning). It’s in a “pre-published state,” meaning you might find the occasional spelling\/grammar mistake. If you do, please leave a comment below or email me at robsteiner01 [at] gmail [dot] com.<\/p>\n

If you’re uncomfortable getting something for nothing, you can hit the PayPal Donate<\/a> button in the Tip Jar section to the right. If you donate more than $3, I’ll send you a non-DRM ebook once the book is published (summer 2012). If you donate more than $20, I’ll send you a printed copy.<\/p>\n

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!<\/em>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ZERVAKAN<\/h1>\n

by Rob Steiner<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 45<\/h2>\n

Rida fell into the water writhing with green, slimy tentacles, realizing her death was near.<\/p>\n

If this is it,<\/em> she thought, tightening her grip on her saber, this thing will have a few less limbs before it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done with me.<\/em><\/p>\n

One tentacle wrapped around her ankle, its barbs sinking painfully into her flesh, and pulled her out of the water.\u00c2\u00a0 She hung on to her saber and swung at the green appendage, severing it.\u00c2\u00a0 Her forward momentum continued, and she flew through the air several dozen paces before landing hard in the water again.<\/p>\n

This time she lost hold of her saber as water filled her lungs.\u00c2\u00a0 She gagged, and then struggled back to the surface.\u00c2\u00a0 When she broke above the waves, she coughed up what felt like half the sea before whipping her head around, searching for more tentacles.\u00c2\u00a0 The mass of kelp had flung her far from where it still attacked the Teelamark<\/em> and the Windrider<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Explosions erupted behind Rida, and she turned in the water to see the Vendir<\/em> and Kingfisher<\/em> circling around and firing their cannons.\u00c2\u00a0 But they did not fire at the mass of kelp tentacles pulling the wrecked Teelamark<\/em> and Windrider<\/em> into the water.\u00c2\u00a0 They fired at the peninsula a half mile away.<\/p>\n

She wanted to scream they were firing in the wrong direction, but realized that was where Brya had seen the three Angra trails.\u00c2\u00a0 The two ships continued firing at the peninsula, pouring all their shells into the dense forest.\u00c2\u00a0 Trees disintegrated up and down the peninsula, and dark smoke wafted from the fires that broke out where the shells hit.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153General!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Rida looked up at the Vendir<\/em>, saw several crewmen calling to her while another tossed her a rope.\u00c2\u00a0 She swam for the rope, grabbed it, and they pulled her toward the ship.\u00c2\u00a0 Once she was close, they lowered a rope ladder and she climbed aboard.\u00c2\u00a0 When she crawled onto the deck, she turned on her back and lay there, breathing heavily and gagging.\u00c2\u00a0 The Vendir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> guns continued to roar from the cannon ports below deck, but at this moment, all she cared about was coughing up the rest of the seawater still in her lungs.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the crewmen, the ship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doctor by the look of his blood-stained white apron, asked her in broken Recindian how she felt.\u00c2\u00a0 Rida waved him off to tend to the more seriously wounded.<\/p>\n

When the firing tapered off, she pulled herself to her feet and looked to where the Windrider<\/em> and the Teelamark<\/em> had been.\u00c2\u00a0 All that was left of them were the masts poking out of the water and a field of debris bobbing around them.\u00c2\u00a0 The kelp tentacles no longer moved, simply floating on the water in a large gray-green mass.\u00c2\u00a0 The kelp seemed to be dissolving in the water, turning the area around the two sunken ships into a brackish mix of gray muck, wood shards, and body parts.\u00c2\u00a0 The crews of the Vendir<\/em> and the Kingfisher<\/em> were pulling aboard the survivors of the other two ships.\u00c2\u00a0 There were not many.<\/p>\n

The captain of the Vendir<\/em>, with much more gray in his hair and beard than the captain of the Windrider<\/em>, approached Rida.\u00c2\u00a0 His clothes were torn and wet, and blood covered his entire left arm.\u00c2\u00a0 Rida was reminded of her own bloody wound on her ankle, which began to sting when she looked down at it.\u00c2\u00a0 Following the captain was Nyla Meck, one of the Tuathan priests stationed on the Vendir<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A bloody debacle, General Myndehr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the captain said in fluent Recindian, pointing to the sunken ships.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we got the bastards on the peninsula, thanks to Nyla here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The young red-haired priest wore a blank stare that Rida had seen too many times on the faces of young men after their first battle.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was her idea to target the harrowers rather than that…thing out there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When a harrower falls,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nyla said quietly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153its Tainted spawn does as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Rida nodded, not wanting to dwell much on these supernaturalist creatures.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How did the Vendir<\/em> and Kingfisher<\/em> fare?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The captain shrugged.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We took a few bumps from the monster, but my men handled it well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He looked out at the wrecks of the other two ships.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know speed is of the essence here, General, but I would like to see if there are any survivors.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Make it a quick search, captain,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rida said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are several hundred people out there at the mercy of these harrowers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The captain nodded, and then joined his crew scanning the water for survivors.\u00c2\u00a0 Rida turned to Nyla and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can you…send a message to Melahara and tell her what happened?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Nyla nodded, and then raised her hand and closed her eyes.\u00c2\u00a0 She mumbled something in the Tuathan language.\u00c2\u00a0 Her eyes rolled beneath her lids a moment, then sprung open.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are also under attack!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Rida slammed her fist on the deck railing.\u00c2\u00a0 She limped over to the captain, who was talking with his first officer in Turician.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have to go now, captain.\u00c2\u00a0 The Tuathans are under attack and they will need your guns.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The captain frowned, glancing at the waters around the sunken ships.\u00c2\u00a0 When he saw nobody moving, he sighed.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Very well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He gave orders to his first officer, who began shouting to the other officers.\u00c2\u00a0 The Vendir<\/em> and the Kingfisher<\/em> eventually turned away from the wreckages of their sister ships and raced toward Tsall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cover by TJ Lomas. I’m posting a chapter from my latest fantasy novel for free every Monday and Friday (click Zervakan above for a synopsis and to start from the beginning). It’s in a “pre-published state,” meaning you might find the occasional spelling\/grammar mistake. If you do, please leave a comment below or email me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,28,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-stuff","category-novels","category-zervakan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robsteinerauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}