It’s May-hem month at BestSelling Reads. Here’s an action-packed excerpt from the third book in the Leonard the Great series
By Roger Eschbacher
A breath later, Leonard was running alongside Merlin and Sir Ronald. “How far is the port—” Before Leonard could finish the sentence, he was hit hard from behind and knocked to the ground.
“The beast!” cried out Sir Ronald.
Despite a searing pain that made it difficult to see straight, Leonard managed to push himself up from the floor only to be knocked down again by the Questing Beast. Leonard managed to catch a glimpse of his attacker and was astounded how closely it resembled Merlin’s earlier description—serpentine head, feline body, deer hooves—a truly bizarre combination of parts from different animals. The beast’s most notable feature, however, were it strange and terrifying eyes that glowed purple and seemed to be a bottomless well of malice. As their eyes met, Leonard couldn’t help but feel he was looking into the depths of Hell.
Just then, a blast of dragonfire passed over his head, so close it filled his nostrils with the stench of his own singed hair.
“Taddy! Be careful!” shouted Merlin. “You almost scorched Leonard!”
“Sorry!” said the dragon, snapping at the beast’s tail as it made another pass through the group.
Leonard leapt to his feet and drew his sword, trying his best to follow the Questing Beast’s movement through the darkness beyond the circle of light from Merlin’s staff. When the beast dashed in and bore down on him, Leonard barely had time to move out of its way before it rushed by and whipped its tail mere inches from his face.
“Leonard! Duck!” shouted Merlin.
Instinctively, Leonard dropped to his knees just as “Sha-dur!” reached his ears, followed by a stream of giant hornets. He watched as the insects from Merlin’s spell followed, then engulfed the beast, which yelped in pain before doubling back and heading straight for Merlin. The old man’s eyes popped wide, and he fell to the ground, dropping his staff which clattered on the stones before its light faded and plunged the tunnel into absolute darkness.
Leonard strained his eyes and ears, trying desperately to see or hear something, anything. But there was nothing—not even the buzz of a hornet. A fiery blast of dragonfire erupted from behind, making Leonard wince, then gasp at the terrifying sight in front of him. Only a few feet away, the beast sat astride Merlin, a long string of its drool descending toward the wizard’s face. As the dragonfire faded, Leonard instinctively leapt forward, drawing his newly acquired short sword as he went, and plunging it into the Questing Beast’s flank. The beast howled in pain and rolled in the darkness in an effort to dislodge Leonard from its back.
With his left hand, Leonard held on to as much fur as he could grab while repeatedly plunging his blade into the howling beast’s body with his right. Another blast of dragonfire lit up the tunnel and the monster bucked and twisted, bringing its full weight down on Leonard’s chest as he blindly thrust his sword one last time before his head slammed into the tunnel floor and all went black.
Elvenking: Leonard the Great, Book 3
In Leonard’s most thrilling adventure yet, the future of everything is at stake.
Leonard reluctantly agrees to travel with Merlin and Taddy the dragon to Svartalfheim, the mysterious world of the Dark Elves. Why? Merlin claims Leonard’s grandfather, Claws Crimson, the hard-hearted and cantankerous king of the Dark Elves, is in mortal danger and needs his grandson’s help.
Is this claim true, or is this just another one of the old wizard’s puzzling schemes that end up getting Leonard in more trouble than he ever could have imagined? Leonard suspects it’s a little of both.
As they travel through several more perilous worlds of Norse mythology, the adventure builds to an epic battle between good and evil—where not only is the future of his grandfather’s kingdom at stake, but the future of everyone and everything that Leonard has ever cared for.
Exclusively on Amazon.
Roger Eschbacher
lives in Los Angeles with his awesome family, a hilarious Border Terrier, and a grumpy Russian tortoise.
In addition to writing fantasy and sci-fi adventure novels, he writes TV animation for Warner Bros., Netflix, Cartoon Network, Hasbro Studios and more.
Roger’s YA space opera Ghost Star is a winner of the Kindle Scout competition and received a publishing contract from Amazon’s Kindle Press imprint.
Ghost Star and other books by Roger are listed on this page. Please buy lots and lots of them. 😊
Get to know more about Roger on his:
- Bestselling Reads author page
- Amazon Author Page
- Facebook Author Page
- Twitter @RogerEschbacher
- LinkedIn profile
- IMDb
- his website
