From Book 2

Book Two of The Frostbourne Chronicles will be out soon.  Here's a little taste.

Prologue

            Morkak sat in his makeshift mobile laboratory.  Laboratory…that was a joke.  The tired old Goblin spat on the dusty floor.  This was no lab, it was a refuse pile.  His own little hovel had been better equipped.  He limped back and forth on twisted legs, stirring a pot here, poking a fire there, and always taking time to threaten the living creatures that cringed in their cages that were scattered across the dimly lit room.

            The air hung heavy and still in his darkened room.  Morkak dreamed of the days before all this, the days before the Empire, the days before they broke his legs, the days before, well the other things they did were even worse.  He missed his home, but he did like causing a little mischief from time to time, and the Empire seemed to enjoy his particular brand of mischief.

            Morkak lit a greasy candle and hung a small beaker over it.  He added ingredients from dingy half-marked bottles, a pinch of this, a dash of that, the concoction turned a putrid pale green and caused the Goblin to gag.  Perfect, the brew was ready for a volunteer.  Morkak hopped off his stool and cackled wildly. 

“Here kitty, kitty.” He called with a voice like a zombie toad.   That reminded him, he should check on his other experiment soon.

            His concentration was once again abruptly interrupted as yet another unwanted guest entered his lab.  Alurial looked around in disgust.  Filth covered the floors, tables, and workbenches.  Smashed glass vials and bottles littered the floor; piles of refuse had been pushed aside and crammed into corners to make way for what Alurial could only assume would be more filth and crap.

            Morkak stormed, as best he could on his twisted legs, across his lab and confronted the tall, impossibly leggy, Alurial. 

“What are you doing in my lab!?” he demanded in a shrill voice.  “I told the guards I was not to be disturbed!  What do you want?  Never mind, just get out!  Out!  Out!  Out I say!” 

Morkak moved forward in an attempt to dislodge Alurial from his precious lab before she upset one of his experiments or worse, tried to talk to him!  The scantily clad woman was not impressed and remained where she was while the Goblin spent his tantrum.

            Alurial stepped forward and after kicking some trash and what might have been a dead marmot out of the way put her right foot on one of the short benches and leaned forward.  This provocative move was designed to get her closer to the Goblin and gain his undivided attention.  Her dress was slit to just above her hip bone and gave Morkak a breathtaking view of all she had to offer.  The Goblin bounced away cackling madly.

            “Heee heee!  That won’t work on me missy!  Your feminine wiles have no place here!”  Morkak pulled up his filthy tunic and revealed his mutilated nether regions.  “See, you have nothing for me!  Ha ha!  Now be gone!” 

Alurial had already determined another course of action if her first didn’t work.  In a move only slightly slower than a lightning strike, she snatched up the hapless being by his throat and slammed him into the wall.  Morkak hit with a thud and a cloud of dust.

            “Now you understand me creature!  I don’t give two humps in hell about you!  I would just as soon grind you under my boot heel as have to endure your incessant being!” 

She dropped Morkak in a heap and the Goblin decided it best just to lay there and listen. 

“However, it happens that we need each other.”  Morkak looked up questioningly. 

“How, what could you possibly want from me, and what do you think I need from you?” 

            His quizzical side had triumphed briefly over his cautious side and he was rewarded with a sharp kick to the ribs that sent him tumbling across the room.  Alurial waited for his coughing and wheezing to subside before she continued. 

“Now worm, come over here and perhaps we can continue this discussion in a more friendly manner, or do you enjoy this way better?”  Alurial’s horned mask held one side of her visage in a permanent grin, quite unsettling.  Morkak dusted himself off and moved over to sit at Alurial’s feet.

            “That’s better.  Now, I’ll help you with your Dragon’s Fire potion so our armies can burn that dreadful forest to the ground.”  The expression on the Goblin’s face told all. 

“How did you…?” he suddenly ducked as he prepared to be slapped when his new Mistress moved her hand. 

“Fear not Morkak.”  She took his grease smeared chin in her hand and held him still as she removed her mask.  “First, you will help me with this.”  Morkak tried not to scream, he really did.