Cover:  Ciruelo Cabral

Into the Forge
Book one of the Hčls Crucible Duology
Takes place:  2E2195

But Mithgar . . . Mithgar is yet wild,
tempestuous, unkempt, savage, turbulent,
exciting.  We come here to feel alive.

A disturbance in the night . . .

Arrow yet nocked, Tipperton came to the porch.  Half on, half off the planking, another Rūck lay dead.  And to the left and slumped against the door lay two bodies.  The one on top was a Hlok -- Rūcklike but taller and with straighter limbs -- pierced through by a sword, his body yet impaled by the blade; he still clutched a bloody tulwar in his dead hand.  As to the other body, the one on the bottom, it --

-- groaned --

-- His heart leaping in alarm, Tipperton yanked his bow to the full and --

Wait!  It's a man, a Human.   Oh, Adon, look at the blood flowing.

Tipperton set his bow aside and, straining, dragged the dead Hlok from atop the Human.

Jostled, the man opened his eyes, then closed them again.

-- Excerpts from the book.