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  Copyright © 2015 by Ritu Ghosh. All rights reserved.

  Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  About the Author

  Ritu Ghosh is the author of the Defenders of Kron Series.

  An adventurer at heart, Ritu Ghosh grew up being a story teller to her kid brother and friends who followed her around to listen to her stories, which were usually entrenched in Mystery, Magic and great Adventures.

  She has written fantasy, horror and other short stories for many magazines. Ritu's insatiable thirst for learning new things had taken her on a great journey of personal adventure where she has explored many disciplines from film & production, design, teaching, business & marketing and everything in between. She ran a successful Social Media marketing firm before she got back to writing full time.

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  Read the first part of Defenders of Kron (The Black Dragon) Here:

  Aaron led a happy life with his family and friends in the peaceful village of Brinsar. His world changes overnight when he is attacked by some monstrous creatures. Now, he must leave everything behind and embark on an unknown journey.

  He finds himself in the world of intrigue, magic and power, and learns that he was destined to become a Defender and stop the Evil Force that is destroying his world.

  US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K3Q32Z6

  UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K3Q32Z6

  This book is dedicated to my Family,

  For their love and support.

  Map Of Kron

  Sword of the Giants

  Grace of the Lights

  Blood of Man

  And Magic so Bright

  Chapters:

  Journey Back to the Blue Mountains

  Crossing of the River Larkon

  Search for the Lurgs

  Attack of the Lurgs

  The Retreat

  The Dragon Eggs

  Arkion

  The Invisibility Potion

  Flynn’s Recovery

  The Trap

  The Menacing Lurg

  Journey to Dellwick

  The Town of Dellwick

  The Story of Dan Belcross

  Back to Arktor

  A Serious Discussion

  Flynn’s Dilemma

  Chapter 1

  Journey Back to the Blue Mountains

  “You can never beat me at this” Jane said as she crossed Aaron on her horse. She was riding really fast as she passed him, she passed Flynn and said the same to him. Aaron sped after her; he was smiling, much cheerful after a long time. Flynn tried to catch up with them.

  The Defenders were riding for about two days now. Dan, Ony and Belster kept their pace slow as the kids were being playful. Bo was riding with Ony and seemed to be contented and happy with the forest. He had never been to a forest on a horse before. Billy was riding much slower behind them as Dan kept a strict watch over him. Billy was not allowed to get involved or talk to the three kids. His job was to be with them, finish what they were supposed to do and go away.

  They had enough supplies with them for the whole journey to the Blue Mountains. They also had many weapons forged and given to them by the giants. They were riding through the forest of Arktor back to The Realm of Sargon.

  “My horse was far better than this one” said Belster, making a face. Dan didn’t pay any attention to him and kept on moving slowly on his horse behind the kids who were still racing. Belster had turned sour since his only daughter never came back from the troll dungeons a few months before. He was hardly friendly with anyone. He seemed to be having problems with everything.

  Jane was still leading and Aaron was trying hard to catch up with her. Aaron pulled hard on the rein of his horse and commanded it to go faster. Jane was laughing as she was able to keep up her speed without much effort. But soon, Aaron was riding next to her.

  "Where did you learn to ride like this?” he asked.

  “Ony taught me, we race all the time” said Jane and smiled at Aaron.

  She was not racing with Aaron anymore, she was riding alongside him.

  “Do you think we will reach Blue Mountains by tomorrow?" She asked looking into the horizon.

  “I don’t think so, we are going to take a different route to Blue Mountains this time. Dan said there will be a river that we have to cross” said Aaron looking at Jane.

  “River? That would be Larkon River. But I thought that straight road is much easier to reach Blue Mountains” Jane looked confused.

  “I know but Dan still thinks Mordok’s Lurgs could be out there and they could attack us."

  Jane didn’t say anything; she looked back at Dan, Ony and Belster and slowed down to reach their pace.

  Flynn appeared from behind them suddenly, “I am here, I win.” he said and went ahead of Aaron and Jane. They both burst out laughing.

  “Flynn, the race ended quite some time back” said Aaron laughing.

  Flynn pretended to laugh with them but he didn’t like it a bit. He thought Aaron is getting a little too friendly with Jane. He silently rode along with them.

  After sometime Dan took the lead and rode with Ony and Belster. Jane, Aaron, Flynn and Billy rode behind them, once in a while Jane would crake a joke or two and Aaron would laugh loudly.

  Flynn looked at Aaron through the corner of his eyes. He was not sure about it but there was something he was not comfortable about. Soon, he left them alone and rode with Billy for a while. Billy was looking very grim.

  “Have you been here before? In these parts I mean?" Flynn tried to strike a conversation with Billy.

  Billy shook his head and kept riding in silence.

  Sensing that Billy doesn't want to talk, Flynn did not make any more attempts to talk. He was lost in thoughts of his own.

  The evening was falling upon them and they have not had much rest. Everybody was weary from the journey, except Dan who still looked stern and adamant as ever.

  “We will stop here for the day” Dan said after consulting with Ony and Belster.

  The whole party stopped and was delighted. Dan and Belster made a fire and all of them sat around it. Soon, Dan got busy in discussions with Ony and Belster. Bo seemed to be lost in the fire and kept staring at it as if nobody was around.

  Aaron was sitting between Jane and Flynn; they looked at Billy who was sitting at a distance all alone.

  “Why is he running away from us like that?” asked Jane looking at Billy, who quickly looked away.

  “I don’t know, he won’t even talk to me. I tried speaking to him” said Flynn.

  “He
is warned by Dan” said Aaron in whispers.

  “Warned? But why?” Jane looked puzzled.

  Flynn slid closer to Aaron as though a great secret was going to be revealed.

  “I don’t know, even in Arktor, Dan asked me to keep my distance from him. I think it’s because he is a Werewolf” said Aaron.

  “So what? He saved Brandon’s life and fought the Black Dragon, he should get some credit for that, I think he has the right to be a Defender if he wants to” Flynn said furiously.

  “I know, but I have no idea why Dan is like this with him” said Aaron sadly "Billy is rather a good guy, he had always been nice to me”

  Jane was thinking deeply about something, she spoke after a few minutes “Dan never liked Werewolves"

  “What do you mean he doesn’t like them?” asked Aaron and Flynn together.

  “I have heard him say a few times that you cannot trust the Werewolves because you don’t know if they are controlled by the Evil Force or not” said Jane.

  Aaron looked at Flynn; he didn’t know what to say. Flynn’s father had turned into a werewolf himself after he was bitten by a Weatherwolf, while he was trying to save Aaron.

  Flynn didn’t say anything either but just looked at the fire which was quite pleasant in the cold evening. He warmed his hands.

  “But, I don’t think Dan is right, I know when I see good in someone’s heart and I know Billy is not controlled by the Evil Force. He follows his heart most of the time" said Jane smiling "Remember how much he wanted to help us?”

  Aaron smiled and patted Flynn’s back. Flynn gave a weak smile and wished that he could see his father again.

  The evening turned to night soon, but they hardly noticed the time passing by as they were engrossed in a pleasant chat. Aaron was not worried anymore, he was rather happy to be with Jane and Flynn. He had almost forgotten about all his miseries.

  The dinner was served to all, though it’s almost the same meat, bread, cheese and a little bit of plum juice that they ate the previous two days for dinner. Still, it tasted good in the middle of the forest on the cold night.

  Ony had his usual amount of ale and was now intoxicated and very happy. Bo sat next to him and both of them cracked jokes. Aaron, Flynn and Jane sat around. Dan was smiling listening to them while sitting alone on a nearby rock.

  Belster showed no interest in talking to anybody. He left saying he needs to gather more wood, if they had to be in the forest through the night.

  Billy slowly joined the group sitting in the circle and enjoyed Ony’s jokes. Aaron and Flynn laughed aloud. Jane giggled occasionally.

  “Wait till you hear the boar story” Ony told Bo.

  “What boar?” Bo asked in his shrill voice.

  “The biggest boar in these jungles that I have killed with my bare hands” said Ony filled with pride.

  Everyone’s eyes widened and they became really interested in what Ony has to say. Dan smiled silently and covered his mouth with his hand.

  “Yes, I was only nineteen and I was out hunting with my friends. There was a great legend that there is a big boar that lived in these parts and only a very brave and muscular man could conquer him” Ony said flexing his arms.

  “But you were not a man, you said you were only nineteen” said Flynn.

  Ony looked a little thrown off but he quickly pulled himself together.

  “Yes, see that was the challenge, how could a boy fight such a big boar?"

  Jane chuckled and looked at Dan who was now smiling sarcastically.

  “So my friends challenged me to finish this boar and as I was a brave Defenders’ son, I took up the challenge” said Ony lighting his long pipe.

  “So one day we camped in the forest. We waited silently for the boar to appear. We were ready with our axes and arrows. But the boar didn’t come, we looked all around, even made other animal noises but it never appeared, so we camped for another day. Now, we had no food with us so we had to hunt and make our own fire. We managed to catch a few rabbits but we were still hungry” Ony stopped to a take a puff on his pipe.

  Bo, Aaron and Flynn were gazing intensely at Ony now. They wanted to know more.

  Ony began again “The next morning, we were thirsty, so we went looking for some water, a pond or a stream may be. After walking for a long time, we became quite tired. Now you can imagine us giants without food and water, we were dizzy but we walked and walked to find water. At last, we found a small stream and drank to our hearts content. But we were still tired so we sat next to the stream”

  Ony let a smoke ring towards the fire, Bo watched it in amazement.

  “And then we heard the most terrible cry in the woods, something we could never imagine” said Ony.

  “Was it the boar? Was he nearby?” asked Flynn all excited.

  “Yes it was and it was pissed because we drank from its stream. The next moment we saw a giant boar almost our size just in front of us, my friends shivered. The boar had huge teeth and was as strong as ten horses put together. And he jumped on one of my friends to finish him. I was all prepared for the boar; I pulled my axe out and attacked the boar"

  “And then?” asked Bo and Billy together.

  “And then, the boar was not at all hurt, my axe was sticking out of its head. It came towards me and the big fight began. The boar and I were fighting hard now. I had no axe, only my bare hands” Ony started to act out the fight. He fell a few times and then pretended to attack a few times.

  “But as I said, the brave man will win at the end, so I finally conquered the big boar and saved all my friends” said Ony stroking his bushy beard.

  There was clapping and applause for his story. Even Dan was cheering, Ony bowed and grinned broadly.

  “You haven’t even heard the story of the time when I sailed to the north and fought a giant octopus” said Ony as soon as the clapping stopped.

  “You have been to the sea?” asked Aaron.

  “Oh yes!” Before Ony could finish, Belster cut in-between.

  “Enough stories for today. We have to rise early tomorrow” he threw the bundle of wood onto the ground and left.

  There was a silence for a while and then everybody slowly went to make their beds for the night.

  Aaron choose a clean spot next to Jane. She took out a small piece of cloth from her bag, he watched her in amazement as she put a spell on the cloth and it turned into a small tent. She looked at Aaron and smiled.

  “You know Ony was bluffing right, there were no boars in this forest ever” she giggled.

  Aaron laughed and nodded.

  “He has many stories like this, he told me many stories of his bravery.” Jane said.

  They spoke for a while laughing and talking. Then Jane went inside her tent to sleep. Flynn was watching them silently. He closed his eyes and pulled his blanket over his face, as if he was not bothered at all.

  Dan had taken the first watch and was sitting next to the burning flames, deep in thoughts. The night was becoming colder. Everyone fell asleep one by one.

  Next morning was still chilly when Aaron’s eyes opened. The sun was not visible in the sky yet just a golden glow surrounded the forest. Ony was on watch and the others were still asleep.

  ‘A lot has changed’ Aaron thought “A few months back, I could not have imagined sleeping out in the open let alone in the forest and today I actually feel safe doing so. I do not know when my next meal be or my next place to stay, yet I have a sense of completeness” he smile to himself. He looked at the little tent Jane had made for herself and thought about how little he knew about magic. He remembered the Sicil pendent and about his mother who was a Witch and father a Defender. He felt a sudden pride come over himself. He now knew the purpose of his life and it was much bigger that he thought.

  Slowly, everybody started to rise. One by one, they got up yawning and stretching. Aaron smiled at Flynn who was trying to keep his eyes open. Though he did not wanted any trouble for Flynn he was glad that Flynn came along. Aaron reall
y needed his support.

  Jane came out of the tent and turned it back to the small piece of cloth and carefully folded it to keep it inside her bag.

  After a small breakfast of fruits, cheese and bread, they started on their horses for the Blue Mountains. Ony lead them as he was well versed with this part of the forest and the others followed him.

  Chapter 2

  Crossing of the River Larkon

  Soon they reached at the end of the forest. Among the tall trees and shrubs, Aaron saw a stream flowing. Many birds and small animals were on these trees. As they approached further, the trees began to vanish and the stream turned into a big river. The river looked endless with trees and small plants covering its banks.