The Angaran Chronicles: The Underside; An Extract by Ben Agar (great books to read .txt) 📕

dozen well-trained, well-armed mercenaries in each. Having to deal with them on top of the vampires had pushed them almost beyond even their enhanced physical fitness.

As they walked, Anargrin tried to ignore his tiredness and reached out with his senses. He could sense twenty-one presences in the next carriage, all of them of nonmagical potential.

There were meant to be ten locals taken from the town, so ten of that twenty were perhaps them. The other ten were most likely more mercs, and the twenty-first might be this Berrk character.

Or it might not be, as Hunters can hide their magical potential. He could easily be there, but Anargrin wouldn’t be able to detect him at all.

“You sense them?” Anargrin asked Jelcine while they walked.

“Yeah, twenty presences total,” she said. “I may not be all Mr. Super-Uber Senses like you, Mr. Perfect, but I’m still pretty damn good.”

Anargrin clenched his jaw. “I’m not perfect, Jelcine. Stop calling me that, please. Anyway, we’re here to save those people, not kill them. So please be careful.”

Jelcine sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.”

Anargrin shrugged. “I am more than old enough to be your dad, so fair enough. I guess.”

What Jelcine said next took him off guard. “You know you should get over that age gap, Anargrin, no matter how huge it is, and ask Raleas out. Who knows how long we’ve got left, Anargrin? Use that time to be happy.”

Anargrin knew who she meant, and he sighed. “Let’s talk about this later, Jelcine. Now isn’t the time.”

Jelcine shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

They came to the door, and Anargrin slid it open. Then he jumped onto the next deck, pushing their backs against the wall—Jelcine left, Anargrin right.

“How long until you can blink again?” Jelcine asked.

“Just over four minutes,” he said as he checked his watch.

“Anargrin, I have a bad feeling about this,” said Jelcine.

“Yeah, me too,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

Then Anargrin slid the door open, and what they saw caused them to start and gape in utter horror.

Twenty total mercs crouched behind the seats, rifles raised to cover the doorway. Just in front, standing out in the open, was a man who fit the description Raleas had given of this “Berrk” character. He held a smoking pistol and smiled at them psychotically as, in front of him, lay the corpses of ten people, ten people dressed in simple civilian clothing. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and it looked like they had been shot while on their knees, execution style.

“Well, well, well,” said Berrk. “I am so glad you made it this far. I am so glad you fought and struggled so hard but found, at the end, it was all for nothing. I could’ve pulled the pin, left you drifting off the mountainside. But to miss the shock and horror on your faces, to miss that would’ve just been heartbreaking. You can go ahead and die now.”

Berrk threw back his head and burst out laughing. “Thank you. Thank you oh so much.”

Still laughing, Berrk bowed a low, theatrical movement.

Then the Blackreach mercs opened fire.

 

Can one live up to their own expectations? Or are we all fated for hypocrisy?

The magically enhanced super-assassin, Anargrin and his team are the elite of the elite; black operations sent on the most dangerous of assignments to undermine the authoritarian theocratic regimes of the continent of Angara. Anargrin believes the past should be remembered, never obsessed over. Still, when he and his band of misfits are sent to investigate a Hunter Coven that stopped all communication soon, evidence indicates Anargrin’s enemy’s involvement. An enemy that is responsible directly and indirectly for much of Anargrin’s traumatic past, evidence that reveals a conspiracy hidden within the slave trade.

A conspiracy that threatens to engulf the entire continent in blood.

Due to be released on the 1st of November 2021, pre-order here!

amazon.com/Angaran-Chronicles-Underside-BAD-Agar-ebook/dp/B09FJM625N?ref_=nav_signin&

Imprint

Publication Date: 09-05-2021

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
An extract from my upcoming novel, which is to be uploaded on Amazon on November the 1st, 2021!