THE
HYDRA OFFENSIVE
by
Joshua K Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
In
the east, King Eadric Garrard has crushed one rebellion but gets no
rest as the rebellion in the West is rapidly spiraling out of
control. If he can't get things in line soon, his reign could be at
an end.
Raedan
Clyve has traveled across the Vast Sea to secure treaties and trade.
Unchecked in his studies of magic, his powers are growing beyond his
control. The dark path he has set himself on leads to destruction and
chaos, but is it too late to turn back?
Kyrie
Salas captains the Dragon's Breath, chartered to carry the Western
emissaries across the world. She sees the potential in Raedan and
seeks to harness it. But will her emotions get the best of her?
War
has raged, battles have been fought, and lives lost. But the conflict
for the future of Ansgar is just beginning.
Excerpt;
Peter
Wellstone spread his ledgers across one of the tables and opened
them, the books seeming to fall open exactly at the right place. The
other council members spread their own books and papers. Alden looked
stern, reading the reports for a second time.
An
uncomfortable silence hung in the air. “Tychor sent a request to
his father,” Alden said at last. “He asked for enough timber to
build a small city.”
“Bugger,”
Peter said. He was responsible for the distribution of supplies and
building materials. “I told you that withholding supplies would
lead to trouble.”
“There’s
no trouble,” Eadric said. Lumber and nails and carpenters to
assemble the buildings were in short supply. The rebuilding of the
fortresses in Kerberos were more important than comfortable quarters
for the army.
“Yet,”
Peter added.
“His
Grace will not take kindly to having to send supplies to the front,”
Sinclair Dohr said. “His letters have been increasingly critical of
the war. And he isn’t the only one with those thoughts.”
“He’s
an overweight, pompous ass,” Eadric said with a shrug. “No one
listens to what he has to say.”
“They
may not listen to what he says, but they watch what he does,” Alden
said. “If he decides to limit the number of troops that he
contributes to the cause, or if he withholds supplies…”
“Then
I’ll deal with him like I dealt with Magnus Jarmann,” Eadric
said. As if having four of his dukes rise up in open rebellion
weren’t enough, he had to deal with the fifth’s complaining and
constant second-guessing. It was a wonder that Medwyn Chalmers stayed
in his mountainside castle, rather than bringing his “advice”
directly to Eadric.
The king
stood and began to pace. In the west, lesser lords and nobles alike
had been increasingly vocal in their complaints. Lands trampled by
armies, cities devastated, warehouses and granaries pilfered.
“He
wouldn’t dare join the rebels,” Eadric said. Of all of the men
who owed their position to the Crown, Lord Chalmers was chief among
them. His territory produced timber and iron in great supply, but it
was Eadric’s subsidies and edicts that made those materials the
most sought after in Ansgar.
“If
this stalemate holds, they may be more likely,” Sinclair said.
“When
the snows melt, there will be no stalemate,” Eadric said. “My
soldiers will crush this rebellion once and for all.”
The
council didn’t move for a long minute.
“Order
supplies shipped to the forward camps,” Eadric said at last. “Order
them to winter quarters.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Joshua
Johnson is the author of "Gunpowder Fantasy" The Cerberus
Rebellion and the creator of the Griffins & Gunpowder universe.
When he isn't working or spending time with his family, he writes
novels, short stories and novellas.
He
currently lives in Northern Illinois with his wife and young
children.
You can
visit his website at www.gunpowderfantasy.com
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/554457
Joshua will be awarding a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour an ebook containing short stories set in the same world as the novel, titled The Chesian Wars.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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