A Very Hairy Adventure

A Very Hairy Adventure

The History Tales of Kaynos

Tracey Alley

Copyright © 2010 by T. L. Ali

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Dedication

This one's for you Daniel, in thanks for a great review of the first book!  

A Very Hairy Adventure

The sun had almost set by the time Crown Prince Einreich, whom all of his friends referred to by his nickname of Slade, left the Noorvix barracks along with his friend Wulfstan after their day's training. Both filled with excitement about the rare and incredible opportunity that the day had presented to them. As they hurried away from the training halls, located in the north-west quadrant of the city, adjacent to the army barracks, Slade and Wulfstan were imagining scenes of heroism and grandeur if they could take advantage of the day's chance discovery. It would be the ultimate experience to date of their young lives and they were both supremely confident in their eventual success, in fact the thought of failure simply had not occurred to either of them.

It was the custom in the northern kingdom of Vestland for all young men and women to complete two years of military training once they reached sixteen summers. Although The Kingdoms of Kaynos had been peaceful for hundreds of years High King Erich nonetheless felt that it was important for the people of his kingdom to be well trained and well prepared. Given that the archipelago of Ostland, ruled by its bloodthirsty and violent overlord known only as The Dark One was a bare day's travel across the Eastern Sea and that Ostland's primary source of income came from the illegal slave trade none of Erich's subjects disagreed with his ruling. 

Wulfstan and Slade had begun their military training at the same time over a year ago. To Slade it had been an undesirable yet necessary requirement, one that he could not wait to finish. For Wulfstan, however, it had been a life-changing experience and he had already enrolled for further training in order to join the ranks of Vestland's standing army. Wulfstan's enthusiastic response to the military life had come as something of a surprise to Slade, who had always thought of his friend as a gentle giant, quiet and almost shy. Yet under the tutelage of Vestland's great generals and the warrior Knights of Ilmater Wulfstan had revealed his promise of ultimately becoming the perfect soldier.  

For Slade the only part of his training that he actually enjoyed was that given by the Knights, who combined divine magic with military skill. Slade felt drawn to the magical arts and often wished he could go on to study spellcraft in some form when his military service was finished. Unfortunately, at least to Slade's way of thinking, that path was not available to him; as a Crown Prince of Vestland's royal family Slade would leave the military to join the Black Lotus monastery where he would train as a monk for seven years before taking up the mantle of his royal responsibilities. It was yet another duty that he really did not want. 

Today, however, Slade had enjoyed his day in the barracks as much as, if not more, than Wulfstan. Not for the training itself, but for the gossip that had flown thick and fast amongst their instructors. Gossip that had given Slade an idea and was the reason he had sent word to his sister Ursula and their friend Ming to meet Wulfstan and himself at the Salty Dog tavern near the docks at sunset. As Slade and Wulfstan rounded the corner towards the dockland business district they could see the two girls sitting alone outside the tavern waiting for them. Exchanging a grin the two young men quickened their steps even more. 

Ursula and Ming had begun their own military training only at the beginning of the year and like all first year recruits still enjoyed the privilege of finishing their day early. Slade felt his heart begin pounding at the sight of Ming. While the four of them had been raised together in the palace only Slade and Ursula were related by blood. Ming and Wulfstan were orphans who had been brought into the royal household as small children. As the four of them were so close in age and similar in temperament they had quickly become inseparable companions. In the past year, however, Slade had begun to look at Ming quite differently to an adopted sister. So far he had kept his growing feelings for Ming to himself, unsure how she would react. Slade could not, however, deny that Ming's exotic beauty stirred his very soul each time he looked at her.