The Black Fortress

By Jim Melvin

Praise for Jim Melvin's The Death Wizard Chronicles.
". . . a masterful new fantasy writer . . .Jim Melvin's series, "The Death Wizard Chronicles," creates the world of Triken, where the evil, demon-spawned Invictus reigns over a tainted city and plots to take over the world.""

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Centuries before the rise of Invictus, Torg fought another great war.
A Short 28 Page Story-- Prequel to the highly praised Death Wizard Chronicles.

Torg, the Death Wizard and hero of The Death Wizard Chronicles, faces a hideous Druid Queen who controls an army of minions through the immense power of her will. Among those doing her bidding is a Stone-Eater: a fierce and powerful creature who obtains its powers from eating stone.
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Jim Melvin is the author of the epic, six-book epic fantasy, The Death Wizard Chronicles. He was an award-winning journalist at the St. Petersburg Times for twenty-five years. As a reporter, he specialized in science, nature, health and fitness, and he wrote about everything from childhood drowning to erupting volcanoes. Jim is a student of Eastern philosophy and mindfulness meditation, both of which he weaves extensively into his work. Jim lives in Upstate South Carolina in the foothills of the mountains. He's married and has five daughters. Visit him at: www.jim-melvin.com and www.deathwizardchronicle.blogspont.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: BelleBooks
• Release date: Mar 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611942804

Jim Melvin

Jim Melvin was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but spent the majority of his life in St. Petersburg, Fla. He now lives and writes in Clemson, S.C. Jim grew up on the shores of Tampa Bay, and he spent much of his childhood swimming in shark-infested waters and not even knowing it. At the time, he probably was too skinny to attract a bull shark's attention. About 10 other boys Jim's age lived on his same street, and they hung out morning, noon and night playing the usual sports that young boys love--football, baseball, "kill the carrier," etc.--but as a group they also were obsessed with playing fantastical games that contained magic, monsters and super heroes. It was in this setting that Jim's imagination was born and nurtured. To this day, he still likes to play "kill the carrier." (Not.) Jim wrote his first novel, titled Sarah's Curse, when he was 20 years old. It was shopped by an agent but did not find a home. Jim didn't care. His second novel, which he decided to call Death-Know, would be the one that hit it big. However, for the next 25 years there would be no second novel. Life got in the way. It wasn't until his mid-40s that Jim finally wrote book 1 of his six-book high fantasy series, The Death Wizard Chronicles. As it turned out, it worked out for the best. Life's experiences had rounded out the setting. Jim graduated from the University of South Florida (Tampa) with a B.A. in journalism. He was an award-winning journalist at the St. Petersburg Times (now called the Tampa Bay Times) for most of his career. As a reporter, he specialized in science, nature, health and fitness, and he wrote about everything from childhood drowning to erupting volcanoes. Jim likes to meditate. It clears his mind for long bouts of writing. He also enjoys the study of Eastern philosophy, which provides excellent fodder for high fantasy. Jim is married with five daughters. His three youngest daughters were adopted from Cambodia. Recently Jim finished book 1 of a young adult fantasy trilogy titled Dark Circles, which is about a group of kids who are transported to a land where it is deadly to sleep. His Books from BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books: Shadowed By Demons, The Black Fortress, Chained By Fear, Forged in Death

Book preview

Other Bell Bridge Books

Forged In Death (Book One: The Death Wizard Chronicles)

Chained By Fear (Book Two: The Death Wizard Chronicles)

Other Bell Bridge Books Short Stories

Torg’s First Death (Death Wizard Chronicles)

Rise of the Sun God (Death Wizard Chronicles)

The Black Fortress

by

Jim Melvin

Bell Bridge Books

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

Bell Bridge Books

PO BOX 300921

Memphis, TN 38130

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-280-4

Bell Bridge Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 by Jim Melvin

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

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Visit our websites – www.BelleBooks.com and www.BellBridgeBooks.com.

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Cover design: Debra Dixon

Interior design: Hank Smith

Photo credits:

Cover Art (manipulated) © Rainbowchaser | Dreamstime.com

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Author’s Note

The Death Wizard Chronicles is a six-book epic fantasy that debuted August 2012 (Bell Bridge Books). The main character, Torg, is a Death-Knower wizard who has died and then returned to life more than a thousand times over his millennium of existence. The story below describes a great war that occurred when Torg was 130 years old. The Death-Knower battles Stone-Eaters (beasts that obtain their powers literally from eating stone) and a druid queen (a bulbous creature that controls an army of insect-like druids through the immense power of her will). The character of Gulah, who appears in this story, also plays a significant role in the present time of Book 1 of The DW Chronicles. But most of what you will read here appears only here.

The Black Fortress

When a man was accustomed to stone beneath his feet, sand felt too fragile. The knight named Taala, who weeks ago had begun the long journey from the black-granite fortress of Nissaya to the great desert Tējo, now trudged wearily on a white sea of sand. The contrasts between his homeland and this foreign place disconcerted him. To make matters worse, the sun blew down like flames from a wizard’s staff.

Taala had been entrusted with a crucial mission. If he failed, Nissaya would be in grave peril. Yet he wondered now if failure was the more likely outcome. His horse had perished three days before while in the midst of Barranca, the rocky wasteland that bordered the western portion of the desert. Taala’s insistence on an urgent pace