Hush (Dragon Apocalypse) (47 page)

There was the sound of leaves crunching from the left side of the boulder. Brand appeared around the corner. “Who are you talking to, Sorrow?” he asked.

Sorrow glanced at him, then back to the pygmy. Only the pygmy was gone.

She ran forward and placed her hands on the rock. “Did you see him?”

“See who?”

“A pygmy. He was albino.”

“They’re all albino, I think,” said Brand. “They just dye themselves different colors.”

“Did you see him?”

“No.”

“But you heard us talking?”

“I heard you talking, sure,” said Brand. “But I never heard the other half of the conversation. I thought you might be sleepwalking.”

She shook her head. “I think I saw a ghost.”

“Really?”

“Don’t sound so skeptical,” she said. “You’ve been to the Sea of Wine. You know that souls survive death.”

“I don’t doubt the existence of ghosts,” said Brand. “But, I’ve never met one. I have, on the other hand, met sleepwalkers. And crazy people.”

“I’m neither.”

“Just throwing out some theories.” He stretched his back and yawned. “What time is it?”

“Time for us to dig,” said Sorrow, heading back to her tent.

“Can’t we wait until dawn?”

“You can go back to sleep if you can. I’ve got things to do.”

“Like what?”

“For starters, I’ve got to move this boulder out of the way.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m pretty sure the pygmy just walked into it.”

“You think it’s hollow?”

“I don’t know. But, it occurs to me, if it really did roll down the mountain and come to rest here, it’s probably sitting on top of more graves. Maybe no treasure hunters have ever dug here. With a house-size rock on top of them, on this high ground, maybe these graves have been protected from rain. Maybe the skeletons haven’t rotted.”

“That’s a lot of
maybes
. And while you strike me as a person who generally gets what she wants, I highly doubt that golem of yours is strong enough to move this rock.”

“I have more tricks up my sleeve than mere brute force,” she said, looking back at him as she reached her tent.

“Fine,” he said, scratching his head. “You can show me your tricks in daylight. Right now, I’m going back to… to…”

His voice faded off as he stared at her. She followed his gaze and realized he was staring at her feet.

“Are you… are you wearing….”

“These aren’t boots,” she said. “I think… I think I might be turning into a dragon. I’m hoping I can find something in one of these graves that will stop this. Perhaps you can grasp my sense of urgency.”

“I see,” said Brand. He nodded, then headed back toward his tent. “Let me grab my shovel.”

Five hundred years ago, the famed Witchbreaker, Lord Stark Tower, launched a war against the cult of witches, nearly wiping them out. Today, only a handful of women still practice the craft in secret. A young witch named Sorrow has dedicated her life to changing this reality, vowing to wipe out the Church of the Book and launch a new golden age of witchcraft.

In pursuit of her goals, she bonds her soul with Rott, the primal dragon of decay, giving her nearly limitless powers of destruction. Unfortunately, tapping this power comes at the cost of her humanity, leading her into a desperate quest to find the greatest witch of all time, Avaris, in hopes of mastering her dark magic before it destroys her. But she's not alone in hunting Avaris, as fate throws her into an uneasy partnership with a man who wants to be the new Witchbreaker.

Can either of them survive their mutual quests when their journey leads them into battle with Tempest, the primal dragon of storms?

www.solarisbooks.com

The warrior woman known as Infidel is legendary for her superhuman strength and skin tough as chain mail. She’s made few friends during her career as a sword-for-hire, and many powerful enemies. Following the death of her closest companion, Infidel finds herself weary of life as a mercenary and sets her eyes on one final prize that will allow her to live out the rest of her days in luxury, the priceless treasure trove of Greatshadow.

Greatshadow is the primal dragon of fire. His malign intelligence spies upon mankind through every flickering candle, patiently waiting to devour victims careless with even the smallest flame. The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay the dragon once and for all. But tensions run high between the leaders of the quest who view the mission as a holy duty and the super-powered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who dream only of Greatshadow’s vast wealth. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?

Greatshadow
is the first book in an exciting new adventure series from a master of dragon fantasy.

www.solarisbooks.com

A heroine who really gets up close and personal!

Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex... other things, runs The Red Lantern, the best brothel in the city. She’s got elves using sex magic upstairs, S&M in the basement and a large green troll cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and she’d love you to visit, except...

She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, girls are disappearing, and if she can’t pay her taxes, Babylon’s going to lose the Lantern. She’d given up the mercenary life, but when the mysterious Darask Fain pays her to fi nd a missing heiress, she has to take the job. And then her past starts to catch up with her in other, more dangerous ways.

Witty and fresh, Sebold delivers the most exciting fantasy debut in years.

‘Ingenious, gripping, and full of pleasures on every level. Exceptional.’

— Mike Carey,
New York Times
Bestselling author of
The Unwritten

www.solarisbooks.com