Free Epic Fantasy Adventure: The Bard's Tale: A Mysterious Journey (Sword and Sorcery Epic Fantasy Adventure Book With Elves and Magic) by Blaine Hart

Chapter 1 : The Witch Harpy of the North
    There are stories still being whispered among the people of Theugua. Stories told about creatures hiding in the darkest corners of the world. Stories told about magic that could turn good and honest men against each other, stories about deeds that are darker than even the moonless night sky. Even so, men are quick to forget. Soon those hushed stories became nothing more than children’s tales told in times of peace.
     
    For Ornsell son of Krull, that was always the case. The stories of the past were just legends that would never come to pass. He decided to start his day early and head straight into the woods to check the traps he had set the day before. As he proceeded along at a brisk pace, getting back home in time for supper was his only concern. Handling his axe with ease, he set off towards the forest. He was also planning to cut some firewood that would last him and his son, Vygarast, for a week on his way back home.
     
    Day excursions into the forest west of Midvein were ordinary for the village people. Though the winters up north of Theugua tended to be harsh and unforgiving, the men and women of Midvein were tough. They knew that the best way to survive the cold winds of the north was to be prepared for anything.
     
    The morning dew had covered everything in the forest with a sparkling veil under the rising sun. Ornsell had his hands folded in front of him on his chest to try and keep himself warm. Taking a deep breath every five strides or so, he soon found himself deep in the woods and his exertions made the chill less now.
     
    Winter mornings are the best remedy for an old man’s head like mine. This is as good day as any to explore deeper into the forest, how many good days yet until I can’t take a walk into the forest without needing Vygarast to help me? He laughed on the outside at the thought of being helped through the forest.
     
    His eldest and only son was destined to be a Bard, one trained by a living legend, Lanarast the Bold. Being around to take care of him was not in his son’s plans. So be it! He laughed it off. If Vygarast’s fate is to sing in the kings’ courts and charm women with his voice for the rest of his life, then so be it. However, a sudden frown and flush of emotion betrayed that thought. Memories of his life as a Bard (an amateur one that it was) kept interfering with his expectations for his talented young son.
     
    You can’t be jealous of your own son Ornsell. He has talent where you only had luck to rely on. Just get over it! With a quick shake of his head, he kept on heading deeper into the forest, sometimes choosing to follow the forest path, other times getting away from it. The forest was beautiful and full of life despite the chill. However, Ornsell could not get his son out of his mind. Lost in his own thoughts he ventured deeper into the woods. It was only after hearing a twig snap behind him that he jerked suddenly aware, his thoughts alarmed. He turned around only to see the dark shadows cast by the trees dance around him on the ground. Even if he couldn’t see it, something felt wrong to him.
     
    Bears are still asleep this late in the winter and it’s too early into the day for the wolves to hunt. Normally, Ornsell was not a man who fretted over a dry twig snapping, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something, or someone, was following him.
     
    A seasoned soldier, one matured in the last war of the Horizons, Ornsell wasn’t afraid of any man bearing a sword, nor even some who cast magic. Nature was his only concern and by paying his respects to the Great Mother every spring, he didn’t have anything to be afraid of. No, no matter how many times he thought about it, still something just wasn’t right.
     
    I hope Skann’s boys are not in the mood for one of their pranks again or they’re going have a day’s worth of bottom ache when I finish with them. Those kids smell trouble from afar, especially since