The magic within will set you free⊠Spread your wings through the fire and flyâŠ
Powerless and weak, humans and dwarves have suffered under the whip and wand of giants and witches for centuries. Built upon the blood of slaves, the Nine Lands is a world of unimaginable wealth and power, but something is shifting on the mythical continent. An ancient, forgotten magic stirs in the veins of those bound by its evil chains.
Brought together by fate, an unlikely trio holds the key to release the Nine Lands from the shadows.
Theo, a young, rebellious human slave, searches for courage to free the ones he loves. When the cruel taskmaster harbours a sinister affection for his best friend, they must find a way to escape the prison they have always called home.
Ash, a palace servant, finds her mere thoughts can kill those who hurt her. She only wished poison into the apple. So how did the prince die?
Exiluk, a horned keradin, should return home. But the Nine Lands call to him for one last adventure that threatens to darken his destiny. Abandoning his humble upbringing, he is entranced by the treasures of the Nine Lands.
The magic within will set you free⊠Spread your wings through the fire and flyâŠ
Powerless and weak, humans and dwarves have suffered under the whip and wand of giants and witches for centuries. Built upon the blood of slaves, the Nine Lands is a world of unimaginable wealth and power, but something is shifting on the mythical continent. An ancient, forgotten magic stirs in the veins of those bound by its evil chains.
Brought together by fate, an unlikely trio holds the key to release the Nine Lands from the shadows.
Theo, a young, rebellious human slave, searches for courage to free the ones he loves. When the cruel taskmaster harbours a sinister affection for his best friend, they must find a way to escape the prison they have always called home.
Ash, a palace servant, finds her mere thoughts can kill those who hurt her. She only wished poison into the apple. So how did the prince die?
Exiluk, a horned keradin, should return home. But the Nine Lands call to him for one last adventure that threatens to darken his destiny. Abandoning his humble upbringing, he is entranced by the treasures of the Nine Lands.
The giant cracked the massive whip and it roared harsher than thunder. Human and dwarven slaves scurried to clear the ground and build the wedding site faster. What was often a beautiful and tranquil lake in the woods was a site of chaos, transformation, and exhaustion: the felling of perfectly good trees and the massacre of healthy undergrowth, dozens of slaves at the brink of collapse. The calm lake reflected the grey and pink sky and the thick green trees surrounding it.Â
Theodore eyed the blunt, rusting scythe he held and imagined jamming it into the taskmasterâs leg and running.Â
Crack! The monstrous whip so close to his ears they hurt, ringing. He hacked at the greenery, breaking and slicing it lowâattacking, hack hack hack at the thick stalksâwith satisfaction in watching them fall. He was so fed up and exhausted and angry and hacking was the only place his anger could go.Â
Piles of undergrowth and trees scattered the area and were being collected and removed. As the greenery was removed, the ethereal glow vibrant with luminescence, butterflies, bugs, and birds, and all manner of wonderful nature also left. An eerie, quiet glumness remained. Theo wondered if others noticed it.Â
The taskmaster, Kirakai, roared, âGet on with it you damned slime, it will be dark soon. This is going to be the finest wedding in history. You rats could never understand, so do as youâre told and do it faster.âÂ
We could hack him to death. He couldnât stop us all. Blunt tools or not. Theo imagined all the servants swarming the giant, jumping on him and hacking and grabbing and dragging him down and hacking some more. Every scenario he imagined ended up with humans and dwarves eventually being thrown about and broken like twigs. He couldnât understand why he couldnât imagine a victory. Even his imagination was weak. He hated that.Â
âTheo, youâre asking for the whip. Stop daydreaming,â Pika said. He was strong, as most dwarves were, and he broke the undergrowth with ease. Theo was human, and he wished he had the strength of a dwarf. âWhatever youâre thinking, forget it and work.âÂ
Heâs right, Theo thought. I need to stop thinking like that. All his life he had been told to stop thinking like that. The mindwatchers might hear his thoughts, and even if they didnât, thoughts like that were a waste because they never led to anything. The thoughts kept coming back though, no matter how useless or dangerous they were.Â
Theo continued hacking beside Pika, while Tico collected and disposed of the waste left in their wake. The air smelt earthy and fresh, and Theo tasted a drop of stale salty sweatiness as he licked his lips involuntarily. He was desperately thirsty. His muscles ached. Whatâs the point in thinking like that when I never do anything? Iâm a coward, and I always will be.Â
The setting sun reddened as it sank behind the trees beyond the lake, and everything softened. The lake rippled gently, refreshingly, and Theo yearned for cold, fresh water. His clothes were thick with dirt and sweat.Â
âBetter get some lanterns out here and forget your evening slop,â Kirakai said. The whip thundered once more, so loud everyone ducked.Â
âGreat. More work. No food,â someone moaned.Â
It had been like that ever since the wedding had been announced. The grounds were being razed so that they could plant seeds and regrow the site to suit a wedding, with colourful flowers and rich shrubbery.Â
Everything else was also already in full flow. They would accommodate many important guests from all of the Nine Lands, including royalty. They had been clearing and laying paths, running errands to the city, constructing arches and platforms, fashioning canopies, building the altar, adjusting seating heights for witches, rearranging stores, polishing furniture, preparing food, crafting, crafting, and more crafting. Everyone was at the brink.Â
The thought of Toarer getting married and living elsewhere with that demon of a wife made Theo feel heavy with fear and defeat. The fear squeezed his insides, slowly, firmly. That squeezing of his stomach reminded him of how starved he was. He wondered whether Toarer would sneak some food into the servantsâ quarters that night. The thought of food, real food, made his dry mouth attempt to salivate, but it just ended up in a thick, messy movement of his tongue against his mouth.Â
The whip cracked and Avira shrieked. Blood dripped from her arm.Â
Theo fought hard to stop himself shouting at Kirakai. It would only make things worse. You never do anything, he told himself, as he watched Avira weep and force herself to continue working. He felt as much hate for himself as he did the giants and witches that enslaved them all.Â
CRACK! Avira shrieked and curled her back awkwardly.Â
âYou, Blondie,â Kirakai said. âDo your damned work.âÂ
Theo was known as Blondie to Kirakai. He had unusual platinum blonde hair and pale skin. Terror and disgust flooded over him. Anger. No. Rage. He hacked and hacked. âIâm sorry,â he said to Avira. She was trying not to cry.Â
Kirakai knew the best way to get to Theo. The taskmasterâs perverse and savage attraction to Avira plagued Theo more than anything else. She was only fifteen. It disgusted him. It ate at him in his sleep and made his blood boil like a rancid infection. It made him want to kill everything in sight, including himself. Yet he was too much of a coward to do that. Too much of a coward to do anything.Â
He hacked and hacked, tearing everything green down, roared and hacked and screamed trying to fend off a wild insanity that crept over him, and he hacked and hacked, and his head went weird and everything went blurry.Â
âTheo?â Concerned, muffled voices.Â
The giant laughed, âWorked himself into another fit. Hah.â His words sounded as if they came from a distance.Â
Everything was black and relaxed. A woman sang words and sounds he didnât understand. Pleasant sounds. Harmonic, tranquil, powerful. An orange light swirled with the rhythm of the words. Theo wanted to remain there forever.Â
*Â ï»ż
He woke to darkness and the sounds of servants stirring in their sleep. He was on the floor on a thin mat. A thin mat and blanket were all the servants had for bedding. The hard wood beneath the mat pressed into his side.Â
Avira was close to him. She must have sensed him stirring for she opened her eyes and whispered, âYou had one of those fits and then you wouldnât wake. I was worried.âÂ
âIâm fine,â he said, remembering the orange glow and the woman singing in his dream. He wished he could remember or understand what she had said. It seemed significant, but he couldnât grasp much more than that.Â
âShh,â someone hissed. It was frowned upon to talk after lights out.Â
He turned onto his back and relaxed. Avira put her hand on his arm, and he found himself smiling and relaxing even more.Â
Sometime later, almost inaudibly, the door crept open and closed again. Pika tiptoed to his mat and lay down. Whatâs he doing? Theo thought. If he gets caught out and about at night, weâll all get the whip. Whatâs worth that risk? Iâll have to confront him tomorrow. Pika wouldnât do anything like that without good reason though. Pika was the smartest dwarf Theo knew. Smarter than all the humans, dwarves, witches, and giants, despite witches and giants saying humans and dwarves could never be as smart as them. Maybe I should leave him to it. I wouldnât have confronted him anyway. Theo felt an anxious knot in his stomach. I never confront anyone.Â
âFood.â Aviraâs voice. Her hand on his shoulder, waking him gently. The sounds of wooden spoons scraping wooden bowls, everyone desperately trying to get more food out of their portion. The smell of slop. Servants scurrying into action. Groans of exhaustion.Â
Avira came back from housemistress Mildred and the gigantic slop pot with two bowls and handed one to Theo. She moved awkwardly, the lashes evidently still causing her pain. Theo felt terrible.Â
âMistress said weâd better hurry, Toarerâs summoned us,â Avira said, hiding a smile.Â
The slop was made from the giantsâ leftovers, which was much better than plain crop slop, so Theo was grateful, yet it was thick and fatty and barely warm. A horrible, heavy, sloppy texture. Theo really hoped Toarer had a treat for them. He often did. They finished their meagre portion quickly, rinsed their hands in the washbowl that was already mucky, and joined the queue of servants waiting their turn at the single hatch entrance to the servantsâ quarters.Â
They climbed through the hatch and down the ladder that led to the servants' entrance to the top-floor hallway. At the foot of the ladder, rough wooden flooring and a door. Through the door, the top-floor hallway. It wasnât the grandest floor of the manor because it was seldom used. Old and dusty, elaborately framed landscape paintings decorated the walls.Â
Avira led the way and Theo noticed black and blue and yellow bruising at the bottom of her skinny neck where it met her shoulder, mostly hidden by her clothes.Â
âAvira,â he said.Â
âYes?âÂ
His heart beat hard and flooded him with anxiety and shame. âNothing,â he said. She wouldnât want to talk about it with me anyway.Â
They descended a flight of stairs to the second floor, which, along with the first and ground floors, oozed excessive grandeur. Toarer had deliberately chosen a room that offered distance from the rest of his family, whilst avoiding the dilapidated third floor so as not to cause offence. The second floor halls were lined with intricate wall carvings, tapestries, and ornaments. The floor was soft-pink marble veined with subtle black swirls.Â
Toarerâs room was enormous like all the other giantsâ rooms, yet much simpler. He had a big, comfortable bed and valuable paintings on the walls, but the elaborateness ended there. No ornaments, no jewels, no exotic rugs. There were many books scattered around the room, half read, half waiting to be read. There was a tray of uneaten breakfast and juice on a table. It smelt delicious. Meaty, buttery, fruity. Theoâs mouth watered.Â
âCome on, sit,â Toarer said, once he had closed the door. They climbed onto his giant bed and lay back. Theo took a deep breath and sighed. It felt like he was floating on clouds. He yearned to sleep on a bed like that for one night, to recover.Â
âDonât marry her,â Avira said, taking the words out of Theoâs mouth. She wrapped a bit of the silky, puffy cover over herself.Â
âIf I could get out of it...â Toarer said. âI have a duty to my family and the Land, and sheâs the ministerâs daughter...âÂ
âSheâs wretched,â Avira said.Â
âItâs a good job you donât have to marry her then, isnât it?â Toarer laughed. âMake sure you are careful with what you say and think beyond these walls though, the watchers might catch you.âÂ
Theo felt a pang of guilt. He had been indulging in his thoughts too much beyond the manor. The manor had protection from the mindwatchers, but outside of the manor, he was vulnerable. He imagined hacking Kirakai with his scythe again, remembering many of the indulgent and defiant fantasies he often had around Kirakai. Even the mindwatchers donât believe in me, he thought.Â
âLooks like the wedding stress has taken away my appetite,â Toarer said, putting the beautifully carved and gilded tray of food on the bed. âI couldnât even eat my breakfast,â he grinned.Â
A sausage had been half eaten but the rest was untouched. Sausages, bread, juicy fruits, jam, butter, orange juice. It all smelt and looked too good to be true.Â
âGo on,â he said, pushing the tray closer to them.Â
Theo waited for Avira, and as soon as she grabbed a piece of fruit, he dived in. It was indescribably good, and they ate until they might burst. Toarer watched them affectionately, letting them eat in peace.Â
âLifeâs going to be unbearable when you go,â Avira said.Â
Theo couldnât bear to think about it.Â
âI will be here as much as I can. It will always be my family house. I will not abandon you.âÂ
âDo you have anything to do with Pikaâs disappearances at night?â Avira said, picking at a piece of bread with rich purple jam on it. They were full now, but it was hard to leave such delicious food uneaten.Â
Toarer grinned mischievously. His big face was endearing. âI have not mentioned it because I donât want to get anyoneâs hopes up.â He appeared to deliberate for a bit. âWe are close now, though, and I know I can trust you both.âÂ
Theo perked up with curiosity, but he felt worried because he couldnât control his thoughts. He didnât want to get caught by the mindwatchers.Â
âPika has been working on something with me. For a long time, I just knew things didnât add up. When I got access to the ministryâs restricted literature, all my suspicions started unravelling. We have been researching and exploring an alternative history, and we have found some scriptures that could change everything. The only problem is that there are parts missing, we havenât patched it all together yet.âÂ
âWhat do you mean, change everything? An alternative history to what?â Avira said.Â
âEverything. The whole lore of the Nine Lands, for witches, giants, dwarves, and humans. We have got a lead, a quest that can prove our suspicions. So, we are going to visit the royalty of Okuden, and make a discrete detour.âÂ
It was so much to take in that Theo almost blanked. âWhat?â he said.Â
âEverything? Everything!â Avira was excited. âYou have to tell us everything then.âÂ
âI canât until I am sure. It would be dangerous for you to know, anyway. The mindwatchers might find your thoughts.âÂ
âUgh, Toarer, this is going to torment me. Please, tell us.âÂ
âNo. Itâs for your own good. When I return, when the time is right, thatâs when you will be told.âÂ
âTake us with you, please,â Avira said. âI would love to change history.âÂ
No way. This is treason. Itâs got a death sentence written all over it, Theo thought. He didnât want to seem a coward in front of Avira, so he kept his mouth shut.Â
âYou know I would if I could, but it would raise too many suspicions to take all three of you. We will be back as soon as we can.â The giant grinned a warm and comforting grin, with just a little cheekiness seeping through his lips. âDonât you worry, you will get your chance to change history with me if we have the luck that I think we will.âÂ
Is that supposed to be a good thing? Theo thought. He worried intensely. It was so much to take in.Â
The work bell rang and Kirakaiâs voice raged through the manor. âTo work, vermin. To work. Get that wedding ready like your life depends on it.â He chuckled with a deep, dumb voice. âIt does depend on it.âÂ
Theoâs heart sank as he slipped off the bed onto the floor.Â
âTell us,â Avira said. The bells rang louder, and the servants could be heard springing into action.Â
âI need more time,â Toarer said. âYou donât want to be late. You know what the taskmaster is like.â Toarer was right. Lateness meant lashes.
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In "A Tale of the Nine Lands," a dark and immersive epic fantasy unfolds, where the downtrodden rise against tyranny. The narrative weaves a tale of three disparate heroesâTheo, Ash, and Exilukâeach bearing the weight of suppression under a cruel regime of giants and witches. As they navigate a world rife with injustice and cruelty, an ancient magic stirs within them, offering a glimmer of hope for liberation. Their paths, though walked alone, are bound by destiny, converging towards a rebellion that could shatter their chains and change their world forever. This story is a testament to the resilience of the spirit and the power of unity in the face of overwhelming adversity.
A Tale of the Nine Lands is a heavy, graphic tale that is not for the faint-hearted. It is, however, perfect for readers who enjoy adventures about overcoming adversity, bringing down oneâs oppressors and watching downtrodden characters finally realize their true strength and potential. It is a raw and unflinching portrayal of the darkest aspects of history and humanity, yet it also offers a beacon of hope through its depiction of resilience and recovery. Such stories serve as a poignant reminder of the past and a call to action for the future, urging readers to reflect on the resilience within themselves and society.
I did wish that we had more background information given in the first half of A Tale of the Nine Lands that clarified why humans and dwarves were detested so much and thought to be so useless and weak. It seemed like this might have been a plot device utilized to build intrigue, and it did, however, it is crucial that these elements do not overshadow the overarching narrative. A well-crafted book should provide enough context to maintain the reader's connection without causing distraction. It is a delicate balance for an author to achieve, ensuring that the plot's complexity enhances rather than detracts from the reading experience. For instance, despite the plethora of fantasy novels I have read in my life, I had never heard of a keradin before. Even Google did not have much to offer except for specific characters from other books. This caused a block in my mind while reading that created a disconnect from the story.
Overall, A Tale of the Nine Lands was a thrilling read, and I recommend it to fans of book series such as Shannara or Dragonlance. This is the first book of a series that will prove to be explosive.