Hunt for Valamon
Author: DK Mok
Expected Release Date: April 7, 2015
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Description:
Deep in the heart of the Talgaran Empire, Algaris Castle has been breached. No one knows how, why, or by whom. The only thing taken is twenty-eight year old Crown Prince Valamon.
Seris—a young cleric caring for the ramshackle and happily book-infested Temple of Eliantora—finds himself unexpectedly recruited to the rescue mission. His sole companion is Elhan, a cheerfully disturbed vagrant girl with terrifying combat skills, who is rumoured to be under a dangerous curse.
Far out of his depth, Seris has no fighting ability, no survival skills, and no charisma, as Elhan keeps pointing out. All he has are a stubborn streak and the conviction that unless he returns with Valamon, dire consequences await his foster family.
Chasing rumours of rebel camps and rising warlords, cursed fates and the return of the vanished sorcerers, Seris and Elhan discover a web of treachery and long-buried secrets that go far beyond a kidnapped prince.
As enemies rise from both beyond the empire and within it, Seris and Elhan must confront their own bloody pasts, and rescue Valamon, before simmering tensions in the empire erupt into war.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
Valamon, crown prince of the Talgaran
Empire, stared at the crisp speech in his hand. The rest of the castle lay deep
in slumber, but in Valamon’s bedchamber, the candle had burned down to a crater
of wax.
There was nothing extraordinary about the
speech, aside from the fact he’d finally been entrusted to deliver one. It was
covered in copious notes from the royal speechwriter, including “remember not
to smile” and “look regal”.
Valamon glanced at his reflection in the
mirror. His dark hair kept falling into his eyes, and while he was reasonably
tall, he had the inconspicuous build of a worried philosopher. Judging by the
portraits in the banquet hall, “looking regal” involved brandishing a bloodied
sword while crushing a corpse beneath your boot, which Valamon had always hoped
was artistic embellishment.
Valamon wondered what would happen if he
deviated from the script and told the crowd what he really thought of his
father’s expansionist policies. It would probably involve a very high, very
cramped tower with a deficiency in doors.
Still, Valamon was twenty-eight this
summer, and something had to be done. He folded the speech into a small,
intricate lotus and left it beside the dying candle.
When he looked up again, there was a
contorted shape in his bedroom window, pressed against the glass. By the time
Valamon lunged for his sword, it was already too late.
DK grew up in libraries, immersed in lost cities and fantastic
worlds, populated by quirky bandits and giant squid. She graduated from
UNSW with a degree in Psychology, pursuing her interest in both social
justice and scientist humour.
She’s fond of cephalopods, androids, global politics, rugged
horizons, science and technology podcasts, and she wishes someone would
build a labyrinthine library garden so she can hang out there. Her
favourite fossil deposit is the Burgess Shale.
Check out DK Mok's website: http://www.dkmok.com/
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