Excerpt: Hyperion Flame: The Legend of Elson Avreaux

He woke to louder rapping on his door, but as soon as he was aware of his surroundings, he realized that it was more than rapping: someone was trying to break in. He instinctively rolled behind his bed, grabbing the dagger and sword on his way. He pulled the sword out of its sheath and peeked over the top of the bed just as Julian and two other men broke in.

The sun was up now, shining through the open window and illuminating the entire room. One of the men blocked the entrance while the other stood in the approximate center of the room. Julian approached the bed. Elson stood, pointing his sword outward, but the two anonymous men cocked their hand crossbows and pointed them at him.

"I would suggest you put that down, Elson. I would rather deliver you unbloodied."

"How dare you address me in that way!"

"You have been stripped of your title, Elson. Now you must come with me before your reputation is damaged further."

Elson could no longer hold the sword steady and dropped it on the bed. "Fine, I'll go to my brother. Just point those crossbows somewhere else."

Julian nodded to the other two and they put down their crossbows. He walked around the bed toward Elson. "Put your hands behind your back."

Elson did so, grabbing the concealed dagger with his right hand. As soon as Julian was close enough, Elson pulled the dagger and threw it under-arm into one man's head, the blunt end slamming into his forehead and knocking him unconscious. He grabbed the sword off the bed and seized Julians arm, pulling the sword against the general's neck such that he was interposed between Elson and the remaining crossbowman.

"Drop it," Elson said. The man complied. "Now get out of my room. Tell my brother, if he wants to see me, he'll come here and not send his thugs to drag me elsewhere. Got it?"

The man nodded and left the room.

"As for you," Elson said into Julian's ear, "I don't want to see you ever again."

He pulled the sword from Julian's neck and kicked him toward the door. Julian took a moment to compose himself, then faced Elson. "Were I instructed to bring you dead or alive, I would choose the former. Remember that."

With those words he left, and Elson collapsed back into his bed, wondering what sort of trouble he had caused now.

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[Lex Nelson] tilted his head sideways, frowned, and his arms fell limp. "Great to see you," he said, his face not matching the cheer in his voice. He was larger than most of the people in his troupe, albeit quite average in size by Redcastle standards. He wore a light blue tunic and light blue pants which were held above his ankles by tied dark blue cloth. His hair was a deep purple, stained with the juice of kuriberries which were native to the jungles of Aryko.

"I see you've succeeded in making peace with our enemies," Rachel said.

He looked confused at first, then widened his eyes and smiled. "Oh, the hair. Not really. There were some soldiers down south who'd raided an Arykan caravan and taken the berries. They're inedible, you know, but they make a glorious color."

"So they gave you the berries?"

"Well, no." He blushed. "We had an especially bad performance down in Sifax. Luckily a lot of them missed so we picked up quite a lot. Did you want some? They're good for dying clothes, too. That's how I got this wonderful blue."

He pulled his shirt for emphasis.