Copyright Ⓒ 2018 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved

Prologue

"AHHHH!" The women's scream echoes through the trees as rime covers the forest around them, a faint mist rising from the cold of the fresh ice. The horse neighs as it senses mortal fear, the hooves pounding faster on the forest floor, filling the trees with its ghostly echo as it rushes after them.

The beings on the Root hear the scream and start to move together. Okay, those Half Bloods and mortals have decent weapons, but they know as well as I do that one dead monster begets another living monster or two. They'll try to set up a search and rescue party and slay whatever is in their path as quickly as possible.

Too bad for them a Dullahan is out on the hunt. The only way you kill one is by destroying the head. I doubt any of them has the speed to kill this monster in its own terrain. They certainly don't have the option of setting a trap. Which means that I can't send it away, not when it will turn around and take out the search party.

Blackness moves against the shadows as the rider emerges, it's tall form plunging ahead - bad choice of words there, I admit to myself with a grimace. The head is under the arms of the rider, resting safely between the reins of the muscular cloaked body.

Gripping my shield, I send my power out into the ground, sinking the Earth the horse's hooves sail over. It gives a startled shriek as its forelegs sink into the mud, looking down in confusion at the perfect angle. Summoning opal, I cover my two branches before releasing the first thick branch by lowering my shield.

WHOOM!

The horse cries out as the branch slices over its head, slamming into the chest of the rider, flipping his body backwards off of his Dark Mount, spinning him before he crashed into the ground.

Riderless, it fights, pulling at the muck before I raise my shield, releasing the other drawn back branch, smashing it into the horses face so hard it topples sideways in the mud. A Dullahans' stead, their Dark Mount, can never perish, even if I were to stab and hack it to pieces , the being would simply regenerate deep in the woods until a new rider is assigned to it. The riders are different; they can be killed a final time.

With the Riders body slumped on the ground I jump, hoping to end this fight as soon as possible and get out of the forest before the other monsters that go bump in the night wake up.

Spinning through the air to gain momentum for my thrust, I slice down at the head. A sharp whistling fills the air when the arm shoots up with ridiculous speed, the gleaming white edge of the Dullahans' signature bone sword aimed straight for my heart.

Authors Note : I just finished editing and publishing Asgardian Tales. It's bundled in with book 2 for smooth reading and is currently available as an E-book for free at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.