Blade and Bone by Jon Sprunk

Author:Jon Sprunk [Sprunk, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633882706
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2018-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

Three Moons opened his eyes and groaned. Holding a hand to his pain-wracked forehead, he sat up. I hope to hell I’m dreaming this.

The cave was gone. The desert, too. Instead, he sat inside a ring of huge stone megaliths. Like towering sentries, the stones formed a perfect circle around a clearing. Beyond them rose a forest of huge trees. Three Moons couldn’t identify their deep black wood or the broad teal leaves. Up through the dense canopy was an expanse of orange that didn’t look like any sky he’d ever seen before. Even the grass underneath him was strange, its turquoise shafts topped with spaded points. His thirteen comrades lay around him in the clearing. Some were coming to.

Three Moons stood up slowly, nursing his injured shoulder. The forest went on in all directions for as far as he could see, limited as that was by the lush foliage. Fear had settled in the pit of his gut. He jumped when a hand tapped him on the back.

“Easy, Moons,” Captain Paranas said as he spun around. “I suspect I already know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway. You have any clue where we are?”

Three Moons shook his head. “Not a one.”

That wasn’t entirely true. He had his suspicions, but they were too dire to say aloud. As the rest of the Blades woke up, they joined him in looking around. Their expressions ranged from professional wariness to outright disbelief.

“Are we dead?” Ino asked.

“Can’t be,” Pie-Eye said. “I don’t see no heavenly garden.”

Raste snorted. “You think you’re going to paradise, Pie?”

“Fuck right I am!” Pie-Eye checked his weapons. “I’m a fucking hero is what I am. Everyone knows heroes sit at the table of the gods with bunches of pretty girls to serve their every pleasure.”

“This isn’t paradise,” Ino said. “It’s downright eerie.”

Captain Paranas spoke up. “All right. Stow the chatter. Niko? There you are. We need to know where we are. That magic doorway took us a long way from the desert, and I need to know which direction we take to get back.”

“Get back?” Pie-Eye asked.

Three Moons said nothing. This had been his doing, and he didn’t want to be the bearer of what would surely be some unwanted news. I hope we haven’t jumped out of the cauldron only to end up roasting in the fire.

“That’s right,” Captain Paranas said. “We’re going back to report what we found. We still got a war to win, soldiers.”

Raste made a rude comment under his breath, but the mercenaries got busy. Wounds were cleaned and bound while the last remaining scouts—Niko, Jauna, and a younger man named Syanos—fanned out to search the area.

Three Moons went over to the nearest megalith. It stood almost three times his height. The sides were smooth and flat, giving no indication of its purpose. Unless it’s just a landing spot for that portal. But who built it and why?

“Moons,” Captain Paranas said in a low voice. “We need some answers here.”

“I know, Cap. But I don’t have anything to tell you.

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