Titans nest, p.1
Titan's Nest, page 1
TITAN’S NEST
T. D. OREL
Cover Design:
Edyn Elliott Barber
Bitten Knight’s Logo:
Alessandro Pizzi
Kingdom’s of Dazawrath Map:
Mist Beee
Copyright © 2024 by T. D. Orel
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Chlo,
Who supported this. I love you.
To Scooter,
Who always prayed for this. Thank you.
To Mom and Dad,
Who always believed in this. Thank you.
To Joans,
Who worked for this. Thank you.
To Nicole,
Who edited this. I’m sorry.
To the Reader,
Who picked this up. I can’t thank you enough. I hope you experience even a fraction of the joy I experienced creating this world.
1
DARREN DUSKFELL
“Not too far.”
“Yes, mum,” Maximus yelled over his shoulder as he darted off away from the tavern. “And be back before sun fall.”
“We know,” Maximus said as he batted his hand in the air. “And stay within the wall!”
The sun had already begun its descent behind the woods; we only had an hour or so until darkness swallowed the north and Maximus had no intention of staying within the wall. “Keep up, Darren,” he commanded. I struggled to match his pace.
I hurried after him through the muddy streets of our town, wet with the rainfall of spring. It no longer rained, but a single droplet occasionally pecked at my brow as we navigated through the maze of shops and homes beneath the gray clouds.
“I know you boys ain’t going out beyond the gate right befur sun fall…” old man Ritkey said through what few teeth he had left. He swept the wooden porch of his shop.
“No, sir,” Maximus assured him as he raced by.
“The realm’s at war, boys! Best not to be out late. Best not to be out at all,” he hollered after us. I let my eyes fall to the mud below me as I passed him.
“Hurry, Darren, we can’t miss him!” Maximus pushed faster as we approached the southern wall. “Who knows when he will be back again?”
Maximus flew through the open gate without hesitation, kicking up mud behind his long strides. I stopped myself just as I reached the opening, my boots cutting a trench in the muck be- neath me. A few leagues south I could see a billow of smoke rising from the woods in a dark arch.
Maximus realized I had stopped and flipped back around, rolled his eyes at my cowardice, then stomped back to me.
“We’ll stay far enough away, I promise,” he said hastily once we were face to face. I didn’t move, my lungs still gulping for air, an anxious knot tightening in my chest.
“Mum said to stay here,” I said quietly.
“Mum also said we couldn’t have a pup. But, who snuck that mangy mutt up to our room last winter?”
I narrowed my brow. “You did.”
“Aye, but I could tell you wanted me to.”
“Wanting to do something and actually doing it are very different things,” I sighed. “Come on,” Maximus pleaded. “Don’t you wanna see him?” He now grabbed me by the
shoulders. His long raven hair still wet from the showers this afternoon; the dark strings clung to his face.
I swallowed hard and took a shaky breath, then nodded slowly.
“That’s the spirit,” he said. “But, we gotta hurry. And you’ll have to climb it today if you wanna see him.” My eyes widened and my mouth felt dry. “Let’s go.”
I pushed down my fear and ran with him, being sure to stay as close as I could while the forest grew taller around us.
In the realm of Eclipto, our town, Hunt's Burrow, sat just a stone’s throw from our region’s capital. Despite this, we were hidden in the deep woods that crowned the city, just north of the main fortress.
The shadows grew longer and stretched across the valley in thin streaks as we reached our destination. I could now spot the towering black walls of the fortress through the gaps in the trees. Their sentry towers watched our every move as we slid down a rocky ledge off the main trail.
Soon the smell of smoke in the air over took the sweet scent of the earth and it clung to my tongue in an ashy coat. Far off I could hear the frantic roars of war. Marching. Screaming. Death. A cold sweat broke out upon my skin yet my face felt unbearably hot. My stomach squirmed nervously as if something had hatched within my gut and was attempting to wiggle free. I desperately wanted to turn back. Yet, the noise seemed to breathe new life into Maximus. He moved even quicker towards the sounds of chaos.
“Almost there, Darren,” he said with glee as he sprung over a fallen log blanketed in a dark moss. We fell deeper into the maze of pines.
“Here she is!” Maximus announced. He had reached a large, snow-white mass. He drew his hand over the smooth structure then gave it a sturdy pat.
“Come on,” Maximus said, turning to me, “this is the easiest spot to get up, I’ll help ya.” He laced his fingers together and squatted down. I ran my eyes over the wall of ivory then back to Maximus.
“I… I can’t,” I muttered, my eyes shaking and my hands nearly dripping with sweat. I refused to even touch the shape before me.
Maximus sighed, “You can’t live in fear, little brother.” He stepped closer and gestured his cupped hands towards me. “It will be worth it, trust me.”
“And… and then… then we can go straight home, right?” “Straight home,” Maximus nodded.
“None of your usual detours?” I pried. “Not one.”
“And, you’ll wipe down all the mugs tonight?” I added. A smirk ran across my brother’s lips.
“Every mug.”
I reluctantly stepped my boot into his hands, the mud squishing between his fingers.
I looked at him and added, “And, very kind of you to take the old barrels back to the cooper in the morning.”
“It would be my pleasure, my lord,” Maximus said sarcastically as he heaved me high onto the structure. I grabbed a thorn-shaped spike, then began to drag myself upwards.
Maximus bounded up the side like a cat and before I knew it, he had climbed past me. At the more difficult parts of the ascent, he would lend me his hand and pull me up beside him. The smooth edges, jagged spikes, and moisture from the clouds above lent for a challenging climb, even for Maximus. Dragon skulls were not meant for climbing.
We were now more than halfway up the giant skull and the wind began to wash over us with a frigid kiss. My breathing became more frantic and I did my best to not look to the grisly drop below us.
“Look, Darren!” Maximus exclaimed as he hung playfully from one of the spikes that protruded from the jawline. “You can see the tavern from here.” My entire body trembling, I slowly turned and looked.
All of Hunt's Burrow could be seen behind us. It looked so simple from high upon the skull. The city had been laid out like a poorly drawn square with wonky corners, a wooden fence boxing the whole shape in. The tavern our family owned, The Bat Belly, sat near the middle, and appeared almost indistinguishable between all the other beige buildings with their black shingles. A few wisps of white smoke rolled from chimneys such as ours, and drafted through the air like loose spiderwebs.
Maximus urged me to keep pressing on. A few vines of ivy had grown in long stretches across the skull and I used those to hoist myself across the cheek bones and up past the eye socket, angering a family of ravens who had made their home there.
“S-sorry,” I muttered and waved to them as they squawked at my intrusion.
“In all the Six Kingdoms, Darren…” Maximus howled with laughter, “they’re birds, you truffle. You don’t have to apologize.”
“W-Well pardon me for actually having some manners,” I sputtered. Maximus just shook his head. I peeked back through the eye socket. Down, deep below where I clung, a hidden forest had taken root inside the skull. Ferns and ivy grew wild, insects buzzed, and mushrooms lined the walls of the monster’s fangs. Fangs that were the size of our pointy little tavern.
“Almost there, brother,” Maximus announced as he stood proudly at the brow of the monster, which formed a cliff above me. He laid down across the ledge on his stomach and out stretched his hand. I cautiously scurried up to it, then he pulled me beside him once again.“This is the scary part,” he said. “If mum were to look this way, she could definitely spot us.” I nodded and kept close to him; we both feared mother’s scolding more than the fall. The climb shifted into a hike and we were able to march up the rest of the dragon’s crown.
We reached the center crest of the head and Maximus flung his arms in the air and he screamed like a barbarian. “We did it, brother! I told you, isn’t it amazing up here?” He let the heavy winds crash into him and his slick hair flared behind him in vicious whips. I nodded anxiously and looked for a safe place to rest. “Come on, Darren. Show some life,” he roared. “You are on the forehead of one of the six Primal Dragons!”
“Technically, they are called Verdour,” I corrected him quietly. I looked down over the edge of the dragon’s head and all I could think about was the inevitable descent.
We were now nearly level with the sentry towers on the outer wal l of the capital’s fortress, and for the first time, I could see into the city's walls. The city hid nested within a gigantic cavern, the cliffs that protected the inhabitants standing straight and immovable. At the center of the dark rock face climbed a triangular opening. It started as a small crack towards the top, then expanded as it fell down towards the earth, the gaping whole opening nearly a mile wide.
From the mouth of the cavern wrapped a crescent-shaped wall that cut off any who may seek entrance into the cave.
The black stone towers loomed beside us, sharp and lean, proud and mysterious. Ancient structures, built not long after the Verdour fell, filled the city with history and a sense of power. My neck pulled back as I gazed in awe at the mighty citadel known as the Obsidian Spire. Appearing to be carved from black glass, it ran from the city streets all the way to the ceiling of the cave in an enormous column. The smaller towers that didn’t fully reach the roof of the cavern reminded me of enormous stalagmites. Black banners with Eclipto’s violet crescent hung from every spire and flag post.
My eyes trailed from the hidden city to the ivory giant on which I crouched. What remained of the Primal Dragon’s skeleton wrapped around the city wall and cliffs like a snake coils around her eggs. The dragon’s spiked spine resembled a jagged mountain range that shaded the residents of Eclipto and crowned the cliffs in which the city had been carved. It's right shoulder and what still stood of its wing poked out the top of the dark emerald pines that sprung up around its corpse.
Maximus never pulled his gaze from the battlefield in the west. He growled in frustration, being so far away from the action, but the frontlines were no place for a boy of only fourteen years.
The billow of smoke I first spotted from the gate of Hunt's Burrow now draped over the forest and Eclipto in a dark curtain.
“I can’t believe they found a Hive so close to the Obsidian Spire,” Maximus said, keeping his eyes fixed on the forest, “and it must be a big one.”
“You… you don’t think…” I said nervously, “that the Swarmborne would come to Hunt's Burrow, do you?”
“Who knows,” Maximus shrugged. “I doubt King Voidrin would let them push that far.” A smile pulled across his lips. “The day I turn eighteen,” he declared and pointed a stiff finger towards the sounds of war, “that’s where I’ll be!” The falling sun silhouetted his figure. “I’ll join Eclipto’s army. I’ll never work another day in the Bat Belly.”
“You really wanna go to war?” I asked, pulling my knees tightly to my chest.
“What would you rather do, Darren?” He flipped around and glared at me. “Would you rather rot away in that tavern for the rest of your life? Serving mead to fat, smelly trappers? Taking orders from father? Or, join the army, and maybe get to see even an inch more of Dazawrath. Dazawrath is huge, brother, and somehow, we got pinned down in the farthest, most isolated corner of it all.” He turned back and looked towards the battlefield. “I won’t stay here. And if the army is my only shot of getting out, you bet I’ll take that chance.”
The sun disappeared behind the horizon and darkness coated the land.
“Oh no,” I jumped to my feet. “Mum is going to kill us, Maximus. We need--”
My ears popped and my whole body shook as every hair on my neck stood on edge. RABOOM!
I was thrown to my back.
I screamed in horror at the overwhelming vibrations. Even Maximus fell to a knee and covered his ears.
All of Dazawrath trembled.
I looked to the sky. High above the pillars of smoke something moved through the dark sea. The monstrous shadow of a creature crawled through the clouds.
I froze in terror; my heart punched at my chest as if it were trying to escape.
Giant wings spread out across the sky glowing with the heat of electricity. Tentacles of shimmering lightning danced from wing to wing. The dragon roared. I couldn’t clamp down on my ears tight enough.
“Did you forget why we came, little brother?” Maximus screamed over the cackling of power above us. Maximus rose to his feet and held his arms high above him again as if he were worshiping the monster that rattled my bones with such force. I felt like I would be sick. “It’s been twelve years since he came to do battle in the skies of Eclipto,” Maximus roared in admiration. “I give you… Kage Thunderforge, Lord Commander of the Bitten Knights!”
I could make out a figure upon the dragon’s armored shoulders. A sword flaring like golden thunder pointed straight above him in a fierce display of might. Upon the back of that monster he was no man at all. This was a god.
I felt my body raise from where I laid, as if his Fury began pulling us towards him. All sound became stripped from the earth and pulled into his blade. He slashed downward.
RABOOM!
A pillar of lightning a mile wide fell from the dragon and his rider. I forced my lids shut as the flash scorched my eyes with its radiance. Every tree in the surrounding forest bowed down, snapped in two, or ripped its roots from the earth as the shock wave pushed across the land. We were both slammed into the skull beneath us as the attack met the earth.
Everything fell black.
2
DARREN DUSKFELL
Four Years Later
“I’ll never allow it!” My father's voice boomed. Even through the closed door I could hear his every word. “You’ll work here! Just as I have, just as my father did, and his father before him.”
“I won’t!” Maximus roared back. “I’m going to enlist tomorrow; you can’t stop me.”
“I won’t have my eldest son abandon his family so he can go and play soldier. You’ll take over the Bat Belly.”
“Darren will.”
“Darren,” he bellowed, almost laughing. “Darren, is not… he’s not like us. The boy is useless.”
“Gord,” My mother attempted to intervene. “He works just as hard as any of us.” The room fell silent. I inched closer to the door.
Mum, you know better. I bit my lip and held my breath. I didn’t hear him hit her, but I heard her body hit the floor.
“Don’t touch her!” Maximus roared followed by a crash and shuffling of bodies.
“She knows not to open her mouth unless I tell her to. It’s her own fault.” I clenched my fist and my jaw tightened. “Darren cannot… he will not run this tavern.”
The door flung open, and Maximus stomped through. I didn’t even try to pretend I wasn’t eavesdropping; all three of them stared at me. Maximus paused when our eyes met, and pity
rolled over his face, knowing I heard it all. He sighed, his gaze falling to the creaking wooden floor beneath us.
I pushed past him and slid to my mother's side. She still sprawled herself across the floor in a mess of cloth and limbs, her dark hair wrapped around her face and her lip spotted with ruby blood. I could feel my father’s drunken stare locked on me. I looked up at him, his fat chins folding over one another. He adjusted his leather apron around his meaty gut, and spit on the floor near my feet.
His upper lip pulled back in a scowl. “Glad you were listening. I meant every word, boy.”
My shaking eyes locked with his. “I know,” I said back coldly as I helped my mother to her feet.
He turned and followed after Maximus.
“Darren, my love, he--” my mother began.
“It’s okay, mum… I know.” I helped her to one of the stools at the bar and grabbed a clean cloth. I dabbed at her bloody lip. “Why do you do that?”
“What?” She winced as the fabric met her wound. “Try to defend me to him--”
She snatched my arm. Even her petite hand wrapped all the way around my thin wrist. A fierceness fell over her face. “Until I am dead beneath the dirt, I will always defend you, Darren.”
A weak smile pulled across my lips and I kissed her on the brow. “I know, mum.” I continued to tend to her split lip.
“But, you need to stand up for yourself sometimes, Darren,” she said quietly, I rolled my eyes.
