Demoniac Dance
Jaq D. Hawkins
language
(Golbin Publishing, May 23, 2014)
A young girl is drawn to the world of the magicians, but will she have courage when she encounters their allies... the goblins?Long ago, in a time forgotten, the ruined city was filled with people and goblins were believed to be only a legend. Now a young girl flees her home in the small settlement south of the river, escaping from an unwanted marriage. Desperation takes her to the riverside, the site where as a toddler she remembers being treated kindly by a goblin who had befriended the human ruler, Count Anton. But another memory of that day unsettles her as she pushes the small boat into the current. A memory of bubbles in the river, and of blood. There's something in the water still. It is a time of grim omens. Driven by a premonition that she belongs with the northern people across the river, she soon meets the children of Magicians...and of goblins. Yet there are greater challenges to face. Trouble is brewing, and at the center of the conflict lies tension between species as well as between the ever combative northern and southern humans. Count Anton is caught between those who are eager to assist him and those who have their own agendas. Meanwhile, a new enemy arises from over the sea. Foreign humans come to invade, expecting an easy conquest of the rich lands that Count Anton has so wisely kept productive of food supplies. The goblins see the danger of this invasion to their own uneasy peace with the familiar local humans, but they disagree among themselves as to whether they will best serve their kind by helping the surface dwellers, or by leaving all humans to kill each other once and for all.The magic of powerful enchanted weapons belongs to the goblins alone, but a goblin sword gifted to Count Anton might save the humans, conquering all in its path, if Anton can work out how to invoke its power.Ever vigilant against unseen enemies and unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, the children of magicians must survive in a world where goblins dance with dragons in the skies, where monsters and men, friend or foe, might take any form.Second in the Goblin Series, but can be read as first for those who prefer quick action over world building.