Conflagration - Book One in The Phoenix Blade Trilogy

Conflagration

Book One - The Phoenix Blade Trilogy

By D.R. Racey

Copyright 2012 D.R. Racey

License Notes 

This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. To share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for you legally, then please return it to the author at drracey@gmail.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author. 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, actual locations and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 

Table of Contents

Chapter One - The Search

Chapter Two - Reclamation

Chapter Three - Annihilation

Chapter One 

The Search 

Blood ran down Valus' brow as he used every bit of his remaining strength to swing his sword from the ground and high up over his head. Junai, covered in blood, ran with all his speed and strength towards him. Valus fought as though a warrior possessed. His muscles bulged with every action. He waited for the right opportunity, perhaps his last, as Junai moved closer. He began the downward sweep in what seemed like slow motion, and Junai was unaware of the danger he faced. In a blind rage, Junai lunged toward him and his sword pierced Valus' chest. The blade cut straight through as if it were not a body it was plunging into, but rather a soft piece of fruit. Black fire and mist encircled Valus. The blow was deadly, and they both he knew it.  

A smirk came over Junai's face as he thought of his triumph. It was then that Valus' flaming blade struck the warlock. The blade slid through Junai's shoulder and continued to sever him in half. The flames of the sword seared the flesh and burnt cleanly through him. A look of shock came over Junai's face as he slowly fell to his knees and then forward to the ground.  

Valus had given everything he had for that final blow. He was aware of the severity of his wounds, and he knew that his triumph was only a partial victory. He fell to his knees, only briefly managing to stay up with the aid of his sword. The rising sun was bright upon his face as he placed his hand upon his bloody chest. He slipped to the ground and his mind flashed back through all that he had been through in the previous weeks. The battles he had endured, the adventures he and his companions had experienced, his home within the Danlor Academy, and her face... 

***** 

The bright morning sun began its ascent over the eastern horizon of the Clendorin Plains and gleamed across the Tranquil River as if it was a sparkling mirror in the distance. Already he could hear the bustle of feet moving down the corridor as the students within the Academy rushed to their first lessons of the day. They chattered with one another about the tasks their Masters and Mistresses had placed upon them during their training and of what they were to learn in their future studies. 

Every student endured many weeks of interviews and rigorous tests of body and mind before acceptance into the Danlor Academy. Now they would begin their training. The school focused on the disciplines of battle, healing, and wizardry. Each student normally focused on only one complex discipline. However, some challenged themselves even further and sought to combine more than one set of teachings.