The Red Moon Chronicles Book 1: The Crown Of Xenthos

Curse of the Blood Moon

The sea was calm and peaceful. The stillness of the great Aegean Sea was brightly shaded blue waters, with various streaks of darkness. For Veronica, this was her very first voyage. The salty scent in the air, mixed with the stench of cedar, twine, and the soft cloth of the sails.

Elizabeth and Elise were playing dice in the mess hall bellow deck, spending time with the off-duty sailors. Keenio, the only man onboard the ship, stayed in the crows nest, Keeping a weather eye on the horizon.

Three more days passed, and no land was in sight. The world appeared to be an endless sea. Keenio finally came down from the crow's nest, and met with the sailors of the Athena.

"Prince Keenio.." the captain called out to him, directing him towards the helm of the great ship.

"Yes lady Saritha."

"Come, stand with me."

"What for?"

"Just come my prince."

Keenio huffed, and moved his way through the crew washing the deck. As he reached the helm he could oversee the entire deck, and all the sailors hard at work.

"What do you need?"

"Can I just talk to my friend plainly?"

Her scarlet hair flowed within the wind. Her Blue eyes rivaled Keenio's.

"So my prince, how have you two been?"

"Who?"

"You and Elizabeth. What stories can you tell me? I haven't seen or heard either of you since that contract in Rhodes, the Ialysus killer wasn't it?"

"Yes." Keenio's thoughts remembered that contract.

Keenio and Saritha stood over the map of Greece, painted on the wooden floor of the helm. His eyes directed themselves to Ialysus Rhodes. Then drifted back to Saritha.

"2 years ago. in the month of the Whale. I remember."

Yeah Keenio remembered indeed. That was the Contract that gave both him and Elizabeth matching scars. This man in Ialysus brutally raped and slaughtered no less than 12 women. Teenagers, all beautiful. The victims all were strikingly beautiful, their bodies were all ripped apart in the same way. Their eyes, hearts, breasts, uteruses, all of them were torn from their bodies. The pools of blood from the victims haunted Elizabeth and Keenio even now. It wasn't till they found the murderer that they discovered that it was a Lycian. It was one of the most difficult contracts that they ever fulfilled.

"Keenio?"

He was silent.

"KEENIO!!!"

"...Yeah."

"So what other stories do you have?"

"Stilphius was slain by Lemos. Elizabeth and I returned to Athens, I remembered a life I had left behind, and that's about it, sorry if it bores you."

"Well aside from recent events, I find it hard that you two haven't done any other contracts."

"We've done plenty..."

"Do tell.."

"Do you know about our contract in Corinth? Carystus? Dorion? or Pylos, Olympia, Cytorus, Cromna, or Sesamus? We even had dealings with the Amazonians around the Sangarius River."

"You really have had an interesting adventure haven't you?"

There were many tales Keenio could tell. All of them involving monsters, people, and demons. Him and Elizabeth have many stories they can tell. They have been all over Greece, and have even traveled across the Black Sea. So many tales, and all of them taught them a lesson or two, and even sharpened their skills. Keenio and Elizabeth have saved princesses, slain monsters of which only appear in nightmares, and broken many curses. They have both been heroes, and villains, knights and demons. Bards sing many of their tales.