A Quote from The Gryphon

This is a quote from one of my favorite characters -- Bant.  This is from book 2 of The Chronicles of Quat: The Gryphon.

Soon to be released!

A Quote from The Stone (The Chronicles of Quat #1)

A Quote from The Stone (The Chronicles of Quat #1)

The Chronicles of Quat Short Story: A Night at the Pools of Ar'Dynn

The Chronicles of Quat Short Story:

A Night at the Pools of Ar'Dynn

by Bryen O'Riley

Tad peered through the thickening fog, he couldn't see anyone. It had rolled in so quickly, taking the midnight trespassers by surprise.

“Etan?” Chet?” he called out to the others, his 12 year old voice cracking as ever, but his words were muffled by the fog that hid even the light of the full moon.

Tad held his lantern closer to his face, seeking the comfort of the small flicker as his mind inevitably considered the impossible legend of the Mists of Ar'Dynn.

The story was a favourite of the older people in Idynn, especially at the harvest festival when they liked to scare the children.

Tad forced his feet to move, he hoped, toward home. He warily watched the fog that was now swirling oddly around him. He'd never seen mist move like that before— it seemed almost alive.

No, he couldn't think like that. He knew that mist couldn't devour a person's soul— yet in that dark, solitary moment Tad believed it and even if it wasn't true he wasn't willing to risk it.

Besides, what's a soul? He thought wryly. He remembered when Vetton had asked that during the fall celebration last year. The old people didn't respond, they'd only complained that 12 year olds should be hauling wood for the bonfire not listening to children's stories.

Later Vetton had confidently assure both he and Chet that such a response proved the adults didn't know what a soul was either. Tad reminded him such a hypothesis was hardly verified. While Chet argued that it just meant it was too scary to explain, even to 12 year olds.

A scream pierced the fog, and his thoughts. Tad nearly dropped his lantern in surprise but it was only a split second before he was running at full speed toward the sound. He and Chet had finally been invited to join Etan and his friends for one of their nighttime adventures, proving they were finally growing up, but Tad hadn't seen or heard any of the others since the mist had rolled in.

As Tad ran through it, the Mists of Ar'Dynn swirled and seemed to reach for him. He was frightened by the unnatural fog and just behind that thought was the knowledge that all of their parents had warned them to leave the Pools of Ar'Dynn alone. Had they known the fog was like this? Did their warnings prove it was more than his imagination? Was it really real?

The scream came again, followed by a low moan of anguish. From his proximity, Tad knew he was close— he barrelled straight for the noise. His eyes barely distinguished branches and bushes in the dim lantern light before he needed to avoid them.

With his eyes constantly forward as he crashed through the woods, Tad did not see the ground drop away before him. His lantern dropped, the candle flame extinguished as it fell. He slid down an embankment toward what could only be one of the pools below.

The Chronicles of Quat Short Story: The Courage of a Chandar

The Chronicles of Quat Short Story:  

The Courage of a Chandar 

by Bryen O'Riley

Chandoon watched the Faellyn Isles grow smaller and smaller. His boat was pointed south at a fast clip. Speed was perhaps the most important aspect of a successful mission for him. In fact, it was always a large part of any activity that must be completed when one's life was ending before the mission had even begun.

He and the four other remaining Chandar had left a note, a fabrication, for the Fae and the Blanæuthra. It claimed that the Stone had warned them of the necessity of this suicide mission. It said that the Stone told of certain disaster if anyone else attempted to join them in the rescue of the Stone. It was all lies but the Chandar couldn't allow more people to die defending their homeland.

When the powerful men in blue robes came to their island to inhabit it, the Chandar hadn't dreamed they would be forced to master the skill of fighting and killing. The Chandar remembered when the Fae had first come to their island many, many years before. They thought the men in blue would be the same, a peaceful neighbor, but the Chandar couldn't have been more wrong. The Fae had been happy to train them, they needed an ally in their fight against the blue men, and the Chandar had learned. They had become fearsome warriors. They had given everything, their very existence, to their revenge.

Chandoon looked down at the last female Chandar, Nandeeroon, who sat slumped in the bow of the boat. She had agreed to their mission but was the most reluctant. Before leaving the island she had demanded that each of the males attempt to sire a child with her. Why, was a mystery to Chandoon. Not a single Chandar woman had become with child since leaving their island two years previously. The Fae Meddyg had studied the problem and found nothing wrong with the health of any Chandar, female or male. Even if she had become with child, what good would that do? If it were a boy, he would be without a wife and if it were a girl, there would be four men, each a possible father, to choose for a husband when she was of age in nearly two decades.

And then all the children had died. One by one, without getting sick or any other explanation. The entire nation of Chandar had mourned, and then they went to their island and slaughtered any man in blue that they saw.

But the blue men kept coming. There were more and more of them, a seemingly unceasing tide, moving onto their old island home. And they were powerful. For each single man killed, more than a dozen Chandar had to die. The toll was heavy and quickly felt. Two years and only five remained.

Chandoon thought Nandeeroon just wanted some hope, something to show that they could win; that they could continue. But they couldn't win. They had already lost. But they could help the Fae, and someday, he knew, the Fae would win. He had hope— it just wasn't hope for the Chandar.

There were several theories. The first was that being away from their island was killing them. They knew that they had a special connection to it and well-traveled Chandar had previously experienced sickness if they were away from the island for too long. That was probably true in the beginning and is probably what killed the children. But after a year or so on the Faellyn Islands the remaining Chandar did begin to develop an affinity toward the new island that was so very similar to theirs. But the women still couldn't conceive and some of the best warriors began to die like the children. Another theory developed, and as their boat approached their island Chandoon could feel its truth, that the blue men were corrupting their island and any Chandar who spent very much time there came to the same end as those who had died from being away from it.

But the change was much worse now. Chandoon hadn't been to the island in almost a year and he could feel the difference plainly. The natural order had been shifted, skewed. The blue men were rearranging the make-up of the island itself to suit their purposes and the nature that the Chandar had lovingly attended was off-kilter now. It was jarring to his very essence and from the sharp tensions in the boat he knew the others felt it too. They had known this was a suicide mission but now there could be no doubt. This return to their homeland would kill them. He just hoped it wouldn't kill them too quickly, there was work to be done.

Once they landed they had to traverse their former home into the middle of the island. It was easy for them, even in the dark, they knew their island so well. Finally, they came upon the city the blue men were beginning to build in the very center of the island.

The Chandar stole through the streets unnoticed in the dark.

The Fae had been happy to receive their help but reluctant to let the Chandar do very much. The Chandar didn't have special powers as the Fae and blue men did. They bled and died like anyone on the Continent would but they were fearless. That is what the Fae leader had said about them. Chandoon could feel his chest swell with pride remembering that moment.

But they were in the city now and he couldn't afford to be distracted. This final act was their only chance to thwart the blue men's plans and to thank the Fae for equipping and allowing them to seek their revenge on the parasites in blue.

The arrogant men in blue didn't even have a guard on their only finished structure of governance. The Fae's Stone had been located within this building by one of the Fae priests. They merely had to retrieve it and return it to the Fae before they all died.

The plan was simple and made simpler by the apparent lack of guards. Get into the building by any means possible. Get the Stone. Get out of the building by any means possible. Get the Stone to the Fae. Then, die.

An Excerpt from The Stone - Fortress Ruins

An Excerpt from The Chronicles of Quat: The Stone

by Bryen O'Riley

Fortress Ruins

Tad returned his mother’s letter to his pocket and resumed his watch of the motionless scene.

“So, do you think there will be a sign or something? How are we supposed to find the Stone among all those other stones?” Chet was nervously prattling in Tad’s ear as Tad scanned the ruins for life.

They were paused at the edge of the clearing, concealed by the forest. Tad couldn’t get the picture of the people drawn onto the rock lying face down before the Stone out of his mind. A stone couldn’t kill them. Right? There didn’t appear to be any guards but perhaps that had only been the case when the fortress was still standing.

“Shh!” Tad twisted his torso to give Chet a fierce glare before surveying the ruins once more. Chet always rambled on when he was nervous. It had to be the worst nervous habit that ever existed.

Tad discovered that one of the strings from his shirt had somehow gotten into his mouth and that he was chewing on it. He heard Chet heave an irritated sigh when he pulled the soggy end from his mouth. Chet thought it was childish to chew on clothing. But was it all right chattering on about nothing when silence was essential?

After several minutes of study, Tad had to conclude that nothing alive was among the rubble. Of course, something still could be but they had been careful and quiet, apart from Chet’s excited whispers, as they approached. If something lurked within the ruins, it had had no warning from them and would have no reason to remain hidden. That didn’t mean that nothing lurked in there but their waiting would serve no purpose. Something that chose to remain hidden for as long as they had watched and waited wouldn’t be showing itself in the length of time he was willing to watch the ruins. Tad and Chet didn’t have the luxury of time. They were nearing the end of their store of food, their patience with each other, and their commitment to a questionablyworthwhile quest. What they had come for all this way lay within their grasp. He wasn’t going to put this off any longer. They must find the Stone and so must enter the ruins.

“We actually found it!” Chet whispered excitedly.

He was motioning to something in the clearing and Tad saw that the very precise location of four great trees located exactly at the four directional points. Spaced exactly in between the trees were four enormous rocks, making a ring around the entire fortress. Chet was right. This had been clearly marked on the map. This must be the fortress that held the Stone. They had finally found it.

“I didn’t really think it existed until we found that map,” Chet nearly bubbled, “but here it is. At last! I can’t believe it, can you?”

Tad laid a finger over his lips as he tied Dend to a tree. Chet followed suit. They took as many weapons as they could easily wield and quietly slipped into the clearing.

Why am I doing this? Tad couldn’t suppress his mutinous thoughts as they approached the ancient rubble. I still don’t know what this stone is or why it is important. His mother’s letter had required him to Seek the Stone and to Believe it. Why? She had said, “You will succeed or everything dear in this world will end.” Was she insane? Why should he wander around an illegal and dangerous forest on a mere hint from her when she refused to answer nearly all of his questions outright? Am I crazy? Why am I doing this?

But he was doing it. He was at that very moment jogging warily toward a stone with unknown powers, guards who might want to kill him, and any number of dangerous beasts stalking the woods around them. He had to be crazy.

“Tad! Look out!”

Tad had been watching the ruins not the woods. Chet’s warning came just in time for him to pivot and dive out of the way of a wolf that was leaping for his throat. Where had that come from? He grabbed his untested spear and set himself for the next move as the animal spun and leapt again. He saw the sturdy, loyal form of his friend nocking his arrow from the corner of his eye.

My First Book Signing

Over the weekend, I had my first book signing.  I was absolutely amazed by the kindness of the retail store owner to put it together.  She did a lot more than set up a table for me to sit at as people walked by.  This kind woman formed an event.  She invited two other local authors, a tarot card reader, and a new coffee company - she even had a craft table set up for kids and refreshments!  She advertised the event and called it Star Day.