Sunday, June 20, 2021

End of the Line


A world where enchanters put their long-ago efforts into living creatures, not swords and such.  And those creatures were mostly human beings.  And the result is that there are seven magical bloodlines, seven different magical talents, where, if the breeding comes out right, a baby is born who in adolescence will show his clan's magical ability.

His clan's.

Because, with almost no exceptions, only the boys become blood warriors.  Women can only be breeders, and, if they excel at that, leaders.

The seven clans are obsessed with breeding for talent.  Since blood warriors are the might of the clans, and the clans don't just compete but raid and skirmish against each other, breeding is all that anyone cares about.  How many blood warriors has she given birth to?  How many has he sired?

Hauke shows all the signs of being a blood warrior.  Unfortunately for him, none of his father's or mother's other progeny do.  Which means he might be good at the warrior part, but the women who lead the clan have no reason to keep him around for the bloodline.  Do they?

If you're interested in this 106k-word fantasy novel, it's a free ebook, available here.  See my entry Ebooks Update for a full list.