Eve of Redemption: Books 1-6: (An Epic Fantasy Boxed Set)
EVE OF REDEMPTION
©2020 JOE JACKSON
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Contents
The Eve of Redemption Series
Salvation’s Dawn
1. The Calling
2. Under Orders
3. The Silver Blades
4. The Company of Strangers
5. Salkorum
6. Dedication
7. Storm of Memories
8. Arrival
9. Bond of Trust
10. Strange Bedfellows
11. Mark of the Demon
12. Uncertainty
13. Snake Trail
14. Protection
15. Mark of a God
16. Small Blessings
17. Dawn of Wonder
18. Charisma
19. Failures
20. Consequences
21. Gathering
22. Invasion
23. Salvation’s Dawn
24. Safely Home
White Serpent Black Dragon
Prologue
1. Conflict of Interest
2. First Blood
3. Blood Oath
4. Remnants
5. Murky Waters
6. Dark Seduction
7. The Earl of Lajere
8. Falling
9. Mandar-Czar
10. Unexpected Welcome
11. One Small Favor
12. The Wolf’s Hour
13. Resistance
14. Demon Against Demon
15. Complications
16. Faces of Evil
17. Recognition
18. The Unyielding
19. The Hunter’s Mind
20. Setting the Snare
21. Strength of the Avatar
22. Frustration
23. Downfall
24. The Hand of Zalkar
25. Full Disclosure
Serpents Rising
1. Unmasked
2. Alternatives
3. The War at Home
4. Intelligence
5. Preparations
6. Apprehension
7. The City of Black Glass
8. The Reluctant Prince
9. Complications
10. Moskarre
11. Lessons Learned
12. Into the Birthplace
13. Uldriana’s Trust
14. Dancing Shadows
15. Den of Cobras
16. Run Like Hell
17. The Weeping Woodlands
18. Full Circle
19. Sanctuary
20. Settlements
21. The Price of Success
22. Communion
23. Vengeance
24. Safeguards
25. Unrest
Legacy of the Devil Queen
1. A Vengeful Strike
2. Aftermath
3. Administration
4. Ripples Upon Water
5. Gathering Strength
6. Family Rift
7. Curious Arrivals
8. Separation
9. Wolf and Hunter
10. Collateral Damage
11. Wounds
12. Atonement
13. Countermeasures
14. The Last Demon War
15. The Name of the Beast
16. The Expected and the Unexpected
17. The Truth at the Heart
18. Where the Heart Is
19. Bindings
Epilogue
The Huntresses’ Game
Prologue
1. Serenity
2. Stability
3. Departure
4. The Garden of the Huntress
5. The Breaking of Bread
6. Huntresses
7. The Ashen Fangs
8. Perspectives
9. Fear and the Red Mask
10. The Huntresses’ Game
11. Trail of Fire and Blood
12. The Edge of Oblivion
13. Chasing Legends
14. The Cloud Dragon and the Oracle
15. Revenge of the Red Mask
16. Sisters of the Blade
17. Unacceptable Loss
Preludes to War
1. The Fog of War
2. Farewells
3. A Modest Proposal
4. The Spotted Lion
5. Considerations
6. Civil Unrest
7. Bait
8. Snag
9. Perfection
10. The View from the Other Side
11. An End to Subtlety
12. Successive Gains
13. Parley
14. Hesitance
15. Shifts
16. Feints and Maneuvers
17. Battlegrounds
18. The Prophecy Be Done
19. Counterstrikes
The Eve of Redemption Series
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Eve of Redemption Series
Salvation’s Dawn
White Serpent, Black Dragon
Serpents Rising
Legacy of the Devil Queen
The Huntresses’ Game
Preludes to War
Convergence
The Awakening
Gods and Kings
The Phoenix Ascension
The Light from Without
Salvation’s Dawn
1
The Calling
Dirt kicked up beneath her clawed feet as she picked up speed. The others were behind her, unable to keep up with their heavier armor. Her scimitars hung loosely in her grip, ready to be brought to deadly use, and she kept her wings tucked in tight to avoid drag.
The demons were ahead; it looked to be a pack of half a dozen. They were fleeing, of no real threat, but though the war was done, Kari’s personal one wasn’t. She’d been ripped from the heavens—against her will, no less—to return and fight these creatures, and she wasn’t going to let a single one escape her pursuit.
They split up and turned, some heading southeast to hide with
in the great swamp, while others tried to circle to the northwest, toward the great Sandur Jungle. Without hesitation, Kari turned with those headed to the swamp. The great forest to the west would still be closely watched and well-defended; there would be no escape for those. The ones seeking to hide in the swamp were of far greater concern.
The Southlands have suffered enough, she thought. Got to push them north into the heartlands, back toward our main forces.
It might’ve been for naught; the war was officially over, and most of the vast armies of the light forces were headed home. What few demons had escaped destruction would be hunted down over time by her Order. But Kari was a woman of duty and determination, and if she saw one of her people’s red-skinned enemies, she wasn’t going to let them escape.
One of the demons, realizing this, slowed and turned. Kari was on her own until her companions caught up, but she didn’t slow down until she was sure the demon—one of the normally cowardly corlypsi—wasn’t going to turn tail and run again. As she drew in melee range, Kari cut to her left and began to circle the creature, her eyes darting back and forth, watching for any of its craven companions to try to blindside her.
The demon growled and showed its black teeth, but she paid the pitiful display no heed. She’d killed so many of these vicious, crimson-skinned imitations of her people during the war and her past life that little they could do intimidated her anymore. She was a Shield of the Heavens, one of the highest ranks among the Demonhunter Order, and a corlyps on its own was hardly worth her time.
It lunged forward, and Kari stepped back and turned sideways, one blade held before her to keep it at bay. She checked her flanks again; there was no sign any of the others were trying to circle around. Typical, she thought. I must’ve chased down the one brave one in the whole lot.
It lunged at her again, and this time, its clawed hand came off with a backhanded swipe of a scimitar. The demon had no time to consider the wound or the pain, however, before she was upon it. She ducked into its defensive range, bringing one blade up to block any possible clawed counter while the other went low and sliced the back of its trailing knee. In the span of a breath, she turned to her right, swiping up at its draconic snout while her second blade cut across its other knee.
The corlyps had barely begun to stumble before Kari straightened out and sidestepped away from it. Two more watched her from a distance now, but they faltered when they saw their companion fall at the blades of a lone woman. Kari spread her wings out and then held her swords out to the sides in challenge, but the corlypsi turned and ran again. She considered giving chase, but they had too much of a lead, and engaging them all so far from her companions would, in hindsight, be foolish.
And much as I’d like to return to the heavens, suicide at the hands of a pack of demons isn’t the way, she thought.
Her companions, other former members of the Thirty-fifth Light Division, caught up to her after a minute. They put the wounded demon to the sword, but Kari was still watching the horizons. Five had escaped, had made it away to fight and kill another day. The war might have officially been over, but the fighting was far from done, the work of her Order likely never to be complete.
Kari spat.
She turned and looked westward as she heard a strange sound, one that reverberated only in her heart and mind.
“Colonel?” Captain Machall prompted from behind her.
Kari ignored him for a few moments, in part to listen for the sound to come a second time, and in part because she’d never gotten used to being called colonel even after eight years. She was a demonhunter, not a soldier, but like countless others, she’d been conscripted to fight in the Apocalypse against the Devil Queen and her forces. And because of her rank, she’d been named lieutenant colonel by the brigadier general under whom she'd served. Still, in her mind, she was always just Kari, and she'd preferred those under her command to call her such. Military decorum, however, dictated otherwise.
After a brief pause, she heard it again: the faint but unmistakable sound of a summons. It had to have come from the city of Barcon a few hours to the west, and Kari grimaced. She and her companions had specifically avoided the city on their way down from the mountains. Her intent was to go with her subordinate and friend, Captain Lawrence Machall, to help with the late harvest at his farm on the outskirts of Gavean.
So much for that, she thought.
She was being summoned for a hunt. The war was over, the Devil Queen Seril cast down, and eight long years of fighting were done. But just as she’d mused minutes before, she wondered what that really meant. For the common people and the greater armies, yes, the war was over. But for Kari’s Order, sworn to hunt down and destroy the Devil Queen’s creations, it would never truly be finished.
And we’ve fought them for so long, she thought. What will the end of this war mean in the long run? Will Seril’s creations end up extinct, or will something else rise up to lead them?
Kari looked around, considering the armies that were spread near and far across the land in the wake of the war. Worse yet, will all these armies sitting on other nobles’ lands get the idea to conquer? That’d be just what we needed, a nice war among the mortals now. Is it too much to hope we’ve found some peace?
A sigh escaped her. She’d hoped to push such questions aside for a while, to try her hand at a simple life helping on Captain Machall’s farm. But the summons of her deity’s priests meant she would enjoy no such respite. She glanced at her companions, who waited patiently for their former lieutenant colonel to give voice to her thoughts, and her draconic lips tightened into a line.
“Is everything all right, ma’am?” the captain asked, still maintaining discipline and respect for the chain of command.
“I’m being summoned by my church,” Kari said at last. “I guess I’m not going to be helping you and your family after all.”
Captain Machall and the others were disappointed; that showed plainly enough in their expressions. In those expressions, though, Kari could see that they understood what she'd been thinking just moments before. “You’ve got more important things to do than harvesting,” the captain said. He straightened up and saluted her respectfully, and the others followed suit. “It’s been an honor to serve under you, ma’am.”
Kari returned it with a typical salute of the Demonhunter Order, bumping her fist over her heart and bowing her head. “It was an honor to serve with you. I guess it was silly of me to think we’d get any rest after the war. Would you do me a favor, though, Lawrence?” she asked, taking a scabbarded katana from its place on her back. “Take this back to your farm and keep it hidden somewhere. With any luck, I’ll never ask for it. But let it collect dust somewhere.”
His brows rose as he took the sword with its brilliantly carved handle of a black dragon with red crystal eyes. “This is Taesenus’ sword, isn’t it? You took this from him in battle? When…?”
She managed not to smirk, mostly thanks to how distasteful a memory her fight with the Demon Prince was. “If someone comes after me looking for it, I want to make sure it’s someplace safe. Keep it out of sight.”
Her men exchanged awed glances. “Understood,” Captain Machall said, and he saluted her again. “Stay safe, Colonel.”
“You all do the same,” she returned. She bid farewell to her companions, the former members of the Thirty-Fifth Light Division, and turned back west toward the city of Barcon.
Stepping past the corpse of the demon she’d chased down, she spat again. Don’t feel bad, you won’t be the last.
As Kari began to jog, she gathered her hair into a tail to keep it out of her face as it swung about. She threw it over her shoulder to settle between her black, leathery wings. She could smell rain on the wind and the temperature was dropping; she didn’t want to be alone on the road when the full storm descended. Reaching the city before nightfall would mean she could find out why she was being summoned by the priests and then maybe indulge herself in a warm bath and a good, solid me
al.
Winter came early this far south, a chill dancing across her shoulders, sending her hair whipping to the side. The chill bit deeper than that, though, and Kari realized why accompanying Captain Machall back to his farm and helping with the harvest had appealed to her.