Sentinel Code (Chapters 1-10): The Dragon Striker Chronicles, #1

By Dan Van Werkhoven

A preview of Sentinel Code, the first novel in the action packed Dragon Striker Chronicles.

It took Klara ten years to become a Sentinel warrior…

It took her half-brother four days to get her kicked out.

Klara Koskova has a simple dream: become a Sentinel like her legendary father.

However, when a dragon from beyond the mysterious gates kills her sister, that dream turns into a desperate vendetta. Klara vows to stop at nothing to avenge her sister.

Mikhail Koskov is on the run.

His mother has vanished with a dangerous secret, and his employers—the tyrannical Alchemist Guild—have turned their gaze to him. Mikhail must unearth the truth before the Guild finds him.

Unfortunately, the only man with answers is in the most secure Sentinel fort in the country. The only way in is to be a Sentinel…

But that’s nothing a few forged documents won’t fix!

While Klara and Mikhail fight to survive the Sentinels’ brutal training program, the Alchemists search for an excuse to declare war on the Sentinels. If Klara helps her fugitive brother, she’ll give the Guild the justification they seek.

Klara must choose between the future of her nation, avenging her sister, or saving Mikhail.

And she can only pick one…

Grab this preview of Sentinel Code today to join Klara as she does the impossible… put up with her half-brother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark IV Multimedia
• Release date: Jan 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386720928

Book preview

Prologue

Sergei Koskov lay sprawled on his back, staring up at the indomitable mass of the wingless dragon looming over him. Thick, black armoured plates covered its entire body, and poisonous barbs tipped its long tail. The worst of dragons .

A Nishkuk.

The heavy thump of ballistas should have been echoing through the huge, dimly lit cavern. Instead, only the cries of wounded Sentinels and the growl of the Nishkuk filled the chill air.

Sergei had told the Alchemists to keep the ballistas at the ready—at least until they’d proven their new cannons. But they never listened to him. And now he had to fight a dragon with only a sword.

He rolled over and leapt to his feet as razor-sharp claws slammed into the cavern floor behind him, sending debris pelting harmlessly against his thick, green Sentinel coat.

All around him, Sentinel warriors yelled and bled while the Alchemists hid in fortifications with their useless contraptions.

Fall back! Sergei yelled, pointing his thick five-foot-long blade at a makeshift bulwark a hundred yards away.

Five squads of Sentinels fell in around him and they sprinted with him to cover. The speed extract surging through their veins carried them the hundred yards in seconds. With a strength-extract-boosted leap, Sergei cleared the chest-high bulwark and landed gracefully on the far side, soon joined by the rest of the Sentinels.

Papa!

Sergei spun. A Sentinel watcher hurried up to him. Above her half-mask, her blue eyes gleamed with excitement. The hood of her Sentinel coat had fallen back, unleashing the mess of blonde curls tied in a rough ponytail.

Just like Vera… Sergei blinked away the image of his dead wife. Lokteva, I told you to wait in the Alchemist fortifications.

They sent me to inform you that the harpoon cannons aren’t working, Lokteva said.

Sergei’s throat tightened, and he struggled to breathe. "Who the depths do they think they are, commanding Sentinels? And it’s obvious that their cursed cannons aren’t working—"

An otherworldly shriek pierced the air and as one, the Sentinels clamped their hands over their ears and turned to the Nishkuk.

A hundred yards from them, the dragon—deprived of victims—circled, its four eyes scrutinising the huge cavern. It saw Sergei and the tattered remains of his division hiding behind the bulwark. Rage burned in its eyes.

For one brief moment, Sergei wondered if they could force it back through the glowing emerald oval suspended in the air to its left—the gate from which it’d entered this world. He dismissed the thought. The dragon would just return.

Sergei spared a glance at the infinitely more secure Alchemist fortifications behind them as the Nishkuk took a step towards him and his Sentinels. Lokteva, return to the Alchemists and inform those muckers that if they don’t get those harpoon cannons working in the next minute, it won’t be that Nishkuk they need fear.

With pleasure, Guardian! Lokteva said. She hesitated, then darted forwards and hugged him. Love you, Papa, she whispered and stepped back, saluted, and broke into a sprint.

Sergei stood frozen a moment, stunned. Then saw the smirks in the eyes of his Sentinels. Let’s kill this mucker, he said.

The ground shook and Sergei turned. The giant Nishkuk thundered towards them.

Scatter! Sergei bellowed as the dragon leapt.

It sailed over the bulwark and smashed into the ground behind them.

Sergei scrambled to his feet, and his hearts froze in his chest. The dragon bore down on the lone figure of Lokteva.

Lokteva glanced back. Her foot caught on the rough stone and she fell, arms flung wide.

Sergei launched into a sprint. Adrenaline mixed with speed extract and his body groaned as he forced sinew and bone to move with impossible speed.

In a second, he reached the Nishkuk’s hind leg, and, with a snarl, he plunged his heavy sword between its claws.

The Nishkuk yanked its leg back, dragging Sergei’s sword with it. It lifted its head and shrieked, an awful sound that grated at Sergei’s ears.

Twenty yards away, Lokteva curled into a ball, her hands clamped over her ears.

Get up! Sergei yelled, running for her. He glanced up at the Nishkuk. The dragon, still screaming, looked at Lokteva, then at him.

The icy hand of fear itself clutched at Sergei’s gut. The Nishkuk knew.

No… Sergei pushed himself harder. He could almost feel the bones in his legs splintering as he pushed, faster than ever before.

Ten yards.

The scream cut off as the Nishkuk—jaws wide—plunged towards Lokteva.

Run, Sergei yelled, his voice muffled by his combat half-mask. His heavy boots struggled for purchase on the uneven stone as he drove all his bolstered strength into each step.

Finally, Lokteva moved, scrambling to her feet. She met Sergei’s gaze, pain and fear clear in her eyes.

Run, Lokteva!

Lokteva turned towards the Alchemist fortifications, already leaning into a run.

Two yards.

The Nishkuk’s head descended like a coil train.

One yard.

Sergei reached towards Lokteva. He just needed to knock her clear—

—too late.

Searing pain lanced through his left arm as he slammed into the side of the Nishkuk’s monstrous head. Sergei screamed. Blood and saliva covered