 - Last login: 6 days agoHectorValdez
- Hector the Bard is a 36 year old guy from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
- Likes 712 pages, 1 video, 15 photos • 32 fans • Received 12 reviews
- Member since Aug 25, 2005
I like Kentucky basketball. I play volleyball. I like classic rock, swords, armor and Shakespeare. Graduated from University of Kentucky in mathematics. See my site at http://www.theindigoknight.com.
It's fantasy with action!
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Here's a freebie for my fellow stumblers... ;)
Prologue to The Indigo Knight by Craig Heck
If it weren't for the creaking of the boards, the silence would have matched the darkness. Ulgren couldn't perceive any light, but then his eyes were closed. They wanted to open because of a looming sensation, and once opened found that the cabin was pitch black.
It must be early morning, Ulgren thought. The looming had become a haunting. He raised in bed and listened. The boards of the ship creaked lightly all around him. Waves cascaded into the side of the ship. Otherwise, there wasn't another sound.
Ulgren closed his eyes again. Something was wrong. He had felt this before, when brigands had attacked the ship.
He jumped to his feet at the thought. It was brigands. He knew it, and he clothed himself hastily and unsheathed his sword. He felt the weight of it in his hand. The time was near that it would be needed.
He stealthily left his cabin and listened more. No other noise. But then the sound of the ocean was louder now, especially to the starboard. He stood to the port side of the ship. Peering around the corner of his cabin, he saw the outline of the brigand vessel in the moonlight. He was reminded that he used to get a shooting sensation of fear by the remnant of a feeling he now experienced. He smiled now, though. He knew the brigands thought they had the upper hand.
Ulgren slipped away to the captain's quarters and entered without a knock. The captain was already up, a candle already burning. The old captain, Laroh, looked casually on his young apprentice. The calm assurance was in his eyes. He was dressing for battle. He knew there were brigands, even though no warning cry had been called.
Ulgren wasn't surprised that he was ready. The old man's perceptions surpassed all others' he'd known by many, many times. Ulgren only wondered how he himself knew the situation and awoke to it. The smile that Laroh produced for him showed pride about his advancement, to which Ulgren warmed.
"So how will we beat them this time?" Ulgren asked.
The old man with his sagely white beard maintained his expression and he finished tying his cloak about his neck. He then said to Ulgren, "Get all of the men from below onto the port side."
Ulgren didn't move immediately, but guessed at what could happen and grew more curious, shown in a wider and expanding smile. He nevertheless didn't ask a second question but went down below and roused the men from their hammocks. He then led thirty men to the port deck and waited.
A sound of clanging rose off the starboard bow. Voices from there became audible but indistinct, then distinct. Ulgren felt the perspiration on his forehead as he was nervously excited about what was to come. He had overcome the fear of death to much a degree because of his faith in his captain, a wizard in his own right.
The men behind him, though, were rigidly tense. They hadn't the same faith. Ulgren decided to make one last effort to calm them before battle. He walked down the aisle of single-filed men with a gait of confidence, one that they would hear and know. He returned to his position in front without a word. However, the presence of sweaty, wild brigands remained at hand. Ulgren clenched a good grip on his sword.
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