Page 9 of On a Barbarian World

The strange showers had started a day ago. Sometimes they were just a few streaks across the sky, or like now, a rain of them. Kavon hoped it was the Great Warrior’s way of giving his support for Kavon’s quest for Durendal.

He heard voices ahead, and saw some of his clan spilling out of the great house. Farther down in the village, he saw people standing outside their homes, also joining others to watch the show in the sky.

Near him, he saw a young couple—a tall warrior-in-training with his arm around a pretty girl. She nestled into him, and the young man rested his face against her dark hair.

The tableau was an unwelcome reminder of the final thing he needed to gain favor with the king and bring honor to his family name.

He needed to find a wife.

He needed to marry the daughter of one of the powerful warlord families and make an alliance. He released a long breath. He had no interest in a wife. He liked sampling all the luscious women available to him when it suited him. Besides, the few warlord daughters he’d met so far were spoiled and pampered creatures. Not one had made his nanami sing. But it was a necessary piece of his plan, and he’d allow nothing to get in his way.

He looked up again, watching the trail of a particularly large and bright falling star. Maybe this was a sign his luck was going to change. That he’d find a woman who wouldn’t make the idea of marriage a chore.

Suddenly, a boom echoed through the sky.

Some of the people nearby gasped and a few screamed.

Kavon saw a huge object blaze across the sky, falling toward the ground. It carved across the sky like a fiery rock cast from Mount Vulc in the Northern Wastelands.

He didn’t take his eyes off the object’s path. Inside, he felt the rush of energy as his nanami flared. The object flew over his farmland and into the Wilds. There was an almighty din as it crashed into the ground.

Kavon turned. His warriors came to a stop behind him.

“Kian and Colm, you’re with me.”

Colm nodded. “Guess that ale and woman will have to wait.”

Yes, they would. “The rest of you, secure the estate.”

“Yes, Warlord,” they all called out before riding away.

Kavon looked toward the glow on the horizon. The light of whatever had crashed in the Wilds would be a beacon for everyone around—the wild darken beasts, raiders, Drog.

“Let’s go. Ride hard.”

It was a race to see who would get there first.

CHAPTER THREE

Kavon nudged his beast and murmured a command. Tarm moved forward, snorting and pawing the ground. As they left the walled area of the estate, Kavon nodded at his guards.

“Light wands,” he called to the others. He pulled his own glowing wand of rock from the leather saddlebags on Tarm. The rock came from his mines, and contained a living organism that caused the light.

He clipped the wand to the side of his beast and rode on.

As they neared the boundary to the Darken Wilds, the grass petered out, leaving a gray, rocky landscape. Ahead, the spires of the Grimore Mountains looked like sharp needles, or the teeth of some monstrous beast. He kicked Tarm into a gallop and soon they were charging across the desert-like landscape, the wind pushing his hair off his face.

He wondered if his miners had seen the object fall and crash. Probably not. The night shift would be deep within the mountain.

They crested a rise, and he got a glimpse of the crash site.

“By the Great Warrior…” Colm shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A large gouge had been carved through the rocky ground. Bits of…something were scattered across a wide field. Everything was burning.

“Come on.” Kavon directed his beast down the slope. He glanced around the surrounding area, but didn’t see anyone else approaching.

He stopped at the edge of burning debris and stared. Colm was right, this was unlike anything they’d seen or dealt with before.