Excerpt from "Battle Quest: A Symphony of War"

This is an excerpt from my fantasy novel, "Battle Quest: A Symphony of War". I'm excited to share with you a section of a chapter of the upcoming Battle Quest: A Symphony of War. Check it out!

*Excerpt from "Battle Quest: A Symphony of War"

Chapter 1

Under A Blazing Sky

The Elve of Hylore approached the shores of the haunted woods. A small battalion of 400 elves marched through the wintery landscape of pine and frost. Elijah starred through the lens of his telescope and saw the gates of the citadel. The enemy fortress was within reach beyond the hills. It was everything they were told and more. Beyond the gates were towers looming over the hills with spires stretching into the sky. It was a magnificent sight. Elijah was impressed with the structure of the infamous fortress known as Ironguard.

“Damn!” He told his mentor. “It’s too big for us to take. The queen should’ve sent more men.”

“There wasn’t much left to take. Besides, more of the enemy is out on patrol. We’re not taking it. We’re destroying it. This place is built like a small city. We’re to go in and plant the explosives and get the hell out. The rest of the battalion is simply to be on guard.”

Elijah turned to his mentor, Arannis, hoping it would follow through. They trained together back at the academy, and he hadn’t steered him wrong yet. Elijah wished he had his mentor’s confidence. He wasn’t as experienced like Arannis. This was Elijah’s first mission.

The Sparrows were the elite, special knights of Hylore and they were accompanied by the battalion. Elijah made it through the special forces academy and he kept reminding himself if he could get survive that, he could get through this.

The elves pressed forward till the noticed the bodies swaying in the dead trees. Their eyes had all been gouged out and they were stripped naked, dangling by rope. They were elves. The Elves fo Nivala were the distant cousins of the ones of Hylore, but they felt the sorrow for their fallen brothers. Elijah was not prepared to see hanging bodies. No amount of training could prepare him for that. 

Arannis ordered his men to stop marching. Through his years of training, his keen senses noticed an unusual set of razor thin wire connecting from one tree to another. He spotted the traps.

“Fall back! We need to go around!” He ordered.

The elves were beginning to turn and that’s when the enemy stood up from the bushes and began to fire. The enemy was just as fierce as they were told. Their armor was forged from black iron.. They were the longtime enemies of the world�"the Reckoners.

The hills erupted into gunfire as shots rang out through the woods. Elijah hid behind the nearest tree to reload. He glanced over at Arannis and saw he was spinning like a whirlwind. He preferred the old ways of combat as he swung his blade into the Reckoners. Elijah kept to his rifle and fired away.

Screams and grunts echoed beneath the trees as the Reckoners and elves were falling to the ground. Elijah’s mind was scrambling. Grenades were tossed, blasting both sides twenty feet into the air. 

Elijah began noticing there were few Reckoners left standing and there was a quick sigh of relief. The fighting seemed to soften when an unexpected roar came thundering from the sky. Everyone looked up and dreaded the worst. 

Swooping down from the gray skies was a massive black dragon. The wings were spread and its mouth was wide open, spreading its message of fear. Everyone down below could see that the beast was ready to strike. 

A stream of fire was unleashed�"lighting up the sky. The firs of the pine trees were set ablaze, causing the trees to tilt and fall, crushing multiple elves in their paths.

“Arannis!” Elijah ran over to his mentor.

Arannis laid helpless as the trunk of a tree fell upon his legs. Blood began gargling from his mouth.

“Elijah…” Aranis said, clenching the young elf’s hand. “Abort this mission. Tell your father happened here today.” Arannis’s eyes widened as all the life vanquished from his body.

The rest of the elves were ordering Elijah to pull back and follow as the airships were approaching. Elijah took out his bow and aimed the arrow high at the target gliding in the sky. The dragon was flying effortlessly as the elf tried making the shot. Elijaha’s skills were proving to be aggravating as he could get a clear shot at the dragon.

“We need to get out of here!” Tabor said. 

“Damn.” Elijah said to himself as he lowered the bow.

Fire continued to rain down as the dragon roared, sending a clear message to the elves. They could almost feel the heat of the dragon’s breath as they climbed the ladders to the airships. 

Elijah wiped the sweat from his brow when he noticed the dragon was within range. He saw the dragon had a rider sitting upon its back.

The rider was dressed in black armor with a skeletal helmet that was slightly different the the soldiers below. He coud tell this one was a commanding officer. The helmet was forged into a skull with two antlers molded from the head and curved like a crown. This was no ordinary pilot. 

The airships were speeding among the sky as the dragon sat in the distance, watching them all fly away.

“Did you see that?” Tabor said. “That was General Balor. The Supreme Commander of the Reckoning Army. I always heard he had a dragon.”

“And now we’ve seen it.” Elijah said.

“Yeah but that dragon…he could’ve shot us down from the sky.”

“It’s it obvious?” Elijah asked. “He’s sending us a message. He wants us to fly back and tell the queen what we saw.”

“Either that, or he didn’t want to burn down his precious fortress.”

“Let’s just be glad to get out of here alive.” Elijah leaned back on the rail, grabbed a swing of water from his canteen and reflected on what just happened. There was no way he was letting that dragon escape his mind. He couldn’t imagine who to tell the news first: the queen, or his father.