Of Wolves And Serpents E-Book

Sven Vukelić

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Celestial Ocean
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 58

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

In a realm teetering on the brink of chaos, a decorated Commander's fateful mission goes terribly awry, unleashing forces beyond mortal comprehension. As ancient powers stir and loyalties are tested, she finds herself at the center of a storm that threatens to alter the course of history.

Questioned by a relentless Witchfinder and haunted by the ghosts of her past, the Commander must navigate a treacherous path between sanity and madness, between the tangible world and realms unseen. With each step, the boundaries between truth and delusion, between love and obsession, grow ever more tenuous.

As empires crumble and monsters rise, one question remains: In a world where serpents whisper and wolves hunt in the shadows of men, who is truly the predator, and who is the prey?

Leseprobe

Author: Sven Vukelić

Self-published by author: Sven Vukelić

Available on major e-book platforms

Title: Of Wolves and Serpents

Graphic design and layout: Sven Vukelić

Cover Design: Sven Vukelić

Illustrations: Sven Vukelić

Place and year of publication: Varaždin, 2024.

ISBN: 978-953-46208-0-9

Act I: The Expedition

Act II: The Landfall

Act III: The Aftermath

Epilogue: The Closure

Act I: The Expedition

Pain. Paralysis. Thunderous cacophony echoing all around. Taste of dirt. Blood-curdling screamsand indignant groans of dying men. Barrage of rocks and pebbles from a still-settling avalanche.

She looks up, and she sees a horned, hunched-over figure shift its murderous intention towardsher. A wave of sickly-sweet scent of rotting fruit overwhelms her as the figure startsapproaching.

She struggles to find a way out; a sword, a rock, an ally. And yet, her focus is wrestled away bythe gaze of the thing lumbering towards her. As it draws nearer, all that she can see, all that shecan think of… is the death in its eyes.

…

With a strained groan, a woman stretched and spread across her bed. The coarse linen sheets, damp with sweat, clung uncomfortably to her skin. She tried to remove sweat-plastered strands of dark, black hair from her face, taking several attempts to finally do so. For several more moments, the nightmare's tendrils still gripped her, blurring the line between sleep and waking.

Feeling every uncharacteristic ache in her otherwise athletic, five foot six body, she slowly and carefully rose upright. Her blue-grey eyes scoured the room warily, an effort made that much more exhausting by the curtain tightly drawn over the only window. A sliver of pale, silvery light seeped through a gap in the fabric, casting long shadows across the worn floorboards.

The musty scent of old wood and leather permeated the air as her eyes finally settled on an old, leather armchair positioned in the far corner of the room and the golden-haired male figure currently sitting in it asleep.

As if alarmed by her wakefulness, the man shuddered, jolting himself awake from a rather uncomfortable position he had managed to fall asleep in. He cleared his throat, a sound appearing most closely to a growl, and locked eyes with the woman's pensive gaze.

His lips curved in a warm smile, his eyes simultaneously radiating serenity as well as concern.

"Good morning, Commander," he murmured, mindful of the early hour. "Did you sleep well?" The silence that fell on the room seemed to affect neither his charming demeanour nor her inquisitive expression.

"I thought you'd have left by now, Lieutenant," the woman said matter-of-factly in an emotionless tone, breaking the stand-off that was starting to feel awkward.

The Lieutenant's smile widened. "Nonsense!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Your well-being is my main concern. It is my solemn duty to ensure your eudaimonia." The Commander's usually stoic facade briefly twisted into a smirk before she got up from her bed, stretching away the last of the aches wrought from the restless night.

She did not seem particularly uptight about being in her underwear in front of her subordinate, and neither did the Lieutenant give any indication of discomfort.

The Commander approached the window and with a swift motion moved aside the curtains, letting in some much-needed light into the room. She squinted as she tried to discern the time of day based on how high the sun appeared in the sky, knowing full well that once again she had woken up much later than her inner soldier was comfortable with.

After soaking up the sunlight for a few moments, she turned around and walked over to a water-filled basin to wash away the dread of the night. This prompted the Lieutenant to slap his knees and once again in an overly cheerful tone announce, "I'll let you get ready for the day. I feel it might be an eventful one. Good day, Commander." With a slight, courteous bow of his head, he then made his exit from her home.

As she listened to his steps leaving her room, the woman felt an inexplicable need to say something and keep him in her presence. And yet, no idea what to say came to her mind. The feeling was akin to that period of her youth as an up-and-coming officer of the Commonwealth Navy, when she had developed the unfortunate habit of chewing tobacco. She'd then go a long period without it when she ran out of the substance while on far-away deployments to distant Realms1 where supply of tobacco could hardly be justified as a priority.

She felt perturbed by this, but the answers to the question of "why?" that started to form in her mind were suddenly swept away by the sound of three firm, deliberate knocks resonating through the room.

Still leaning over the washstand, the woman made no effort to move and open the door.

Instead, she waited patiently to see whether the unwanted guests would take the hint. After the uniformed visitor's third attempt at knocking nearly rattled the door off its hinges, the Commander took the hint herself.

Without even bothering to put on any clothes, she strode over to her domicile doors and opened them, only to be met with three emotionless, soldierly faces very much akin to her own. The three burly men wore dark blue uniforms, their caps adorned with badges bearing a lightning insignia, clearly indicating their roles as Navy Constables.

As she met the central Constable's stare, she said nothing. She merely raised one of her eyebrows, a gesture very distinctly conveying both her inquisitiveness and annoyance regarding the reasons for this disturbance.

"Commander," the Constable said respectfully, "You are summoned for a debrief."

"I am on healing leave," the Commander immediately retorted in a manner indicating no further discussion was needed.

"I'm afraid not, ma'am," the Constable said with a calm yet firm tone. "The Magister has signed the order requiring your presence. We are here to escort you at once." Her eyebrow still raised, the woman tossed a glance to the other two Constables. Faced with the Commander's scrutiny, they squirmed in place, as if some already existing unease was forced to the surface, but ultimately they did not abandon their posture.

"I see," she muttered sharply and then shut the doors in front of the Constables' somewhat confused faces.

A few minutes later, she exited her home wearing her own dark blue, officer set of clothes, and without a word started walking down the street behind the three soldiers. The cool morning air nipped at her face, carrying with it the mingled scents of freshly baked bread and the salty tang of the nearby harbour. As the entourage made its way across the bustling streets of the already awake city, the rhythmic clack of their boots on cobblestones was punctuated by the distant cries of seagulls and the low murmur of the awakening populace.