D. T. Kane reads chapters 16 & 17 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.
The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:
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Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/
Characters in this Chapter:
Baztian (Baz): Our main character
Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)
Deliritous: Baz’s master, heir to Torchsire Library
Below is a copy of my script/notes for the episode, not a verbatim transcription:
PERSONAL UPDATE
Welcome back to D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club. Today is Thursday, April 7, 2022, as I record this, episode 13.
Busy busy over here. Declaimer’s Discovery comes out next week! Hard to believe, I still have so much more to do it for. Live of a self-published author! Have to update the front and back matter in the first book, get the preorder for the third book setup so I can put a link in the second book, finish formatting the second book. Ah! But it will get done.
On top of that, I’m plugging away at Part IV as well. Not going as fast as I want, but I knew that was going to happen with the book release and podcast taking away from some of my writing time. And I have to keep reminding myself that’s all right. I’ve only got so many hours in the day, and I have a day job too! Deep breaths.
Not a ton to report on the personal front this week, though this week is my birthday. Woo! Man, 35 years old, tough to believe. I’m looking forward to a fun weekend in Buffalo, meeting up with my parents, sister, and her boyfriend. And hoping for a new pair of running shoes that I can use for my half marathon next month. We’ll see!
If you’d like to give me some last minute help to make my release next week a success, consider leaving a review of Book 1 of the series, The Acktus Trials, which of course we’re reading here on the podcast together. Thank you!
ANAYLIS CHS 16-17
CH 16
There’s a what down there with him?
So right off the bat our cliffhanger from last week is answered. Rox has fallen into a pit with a wyrm! A big one, according to Baz. Luckily, Rox didn’t fall on top of it, and it’s asleep, so there’s a chance to rescue him.
Initially, Deliritous doesn’t actually believe Baz there’s wyrm down there with Rox, looking skeptical. And Baz actually understands. Deliritous is vulnerable without Rox and his injury, and he’s worried for ten years that Baz will seek revenge on him. Baz even admits a few weeks ago, he’d have relished this situation. But now it doesn’t seem to appealing to him. Baz is changing!
So is Deliritous, apparently, since he ultimately decides to trust Baz, basically leaves it up to Baz to figure out how to get Rox out.
An Iridescent Halo
So what does this thing look like? Well, not the most creative monster you’ve ever read about, I’m sure. It’s basically just a giant snake, right? A long length of body with green scales, no limbs, sharp teeth, yellow eyes. It does have this odd glow to it, though. Almost as if the shadows themselves were afraid to get too near it. Hold that thought, it will be important in a minute.
So Baz assesses the situation and realizes he’s not going to be able to use spells to get them out of this. The wyrm breaths fire, so fire spells won’t work. And Baz isn’t great with the other spells Deliritous brought, so the wyrm would just eat Rox while Baz was trying to figure them out. I really like this. I’ve mentioned before, magic is generally more interesting for what it can’t do, than what it can. Blasting yourself out of a tight spot with fireballs might be exciting once or twice, but it gets boring fast. But figuring out how to save yourself without magic? That takes you on twists you might not have expected.
And how many of you expected this? Baz runs back to Deliritous and asks for the “metal hook thingy”–really a grappling hook. Any of you catch that we saw this getting loaded onto the horses back in chapter 8 and Baz wondered what use it could possibly have? Tricky tricky foreshadowing! And what’s the plan? Not to have Rox climb out, there’s no trees close enough to hold his weight, and he’d likely wake the wyrm besides. No, the plan is to give Rox the hook so he can retrieve his razor. Meanwhile, Baz is going to trust Rox to get his weapon while Baz distracts the wyrm. Woah! Baz still might now admit it to himself, but man, times they are a changin’! No way he would have trusted Rox at the beginning of the book.
Words of Import
So Baz throws a rock at the wyrm, draws its attention. The thing rises up, proving to be even larger than Baz thought: ten horses, nose to tail. That’s like 80 feet. I Googled it 🙂 Then the wyrm begins to Speak. Uh, who saw that coming? Well, maybe some of you. The dragon back in the prologue could talk, right? So maybe it’s not so incredible that this wyrm can too. Though it’s not speaking common tongue, but the language of Destruction. Interesting, Baz does get some sense of what it means. “Telling him to be gone, to leave its home.”
Idea from Tax that words are important even if they’re not fully understood. Welcome to D. T. Kane’s Epic Philosophy Book Club! What do you think? Is this sentiment true? I mean, in the context of the book, it seems there’s some truth to this. After all, Baz at least hinted earlier that Tax continued Baz’s education by having him listen to all the Retirees’ songs, and Baz seems to have learned something, even if he didn’t fully grasp it at the time.
What about real life? Well, let me pose this question: Ever read a book, then return to it years later and find all these new meanings you totally missed the first time? Well, does that mean it didn’t have any value the first time you read it? I don’t think so. We’re all constantly changing, and sometimes books and the meanings behind them can change for us too in different chapters of our lives. Should we simply not read something because we can’t fully understand it? I don’t think so. How would we ever learn anything?
OK, philosophy lesson over. So, I hope you think I did a decent job of building some tension here. But obviously, Baz doesn’t die. The wyrm almost breathes fire on him, but Rox gets his razor first and chops the wyrm up. Phew!
Chapter 17
Good Eats
OK, so we go from the Epic Philosophy Book Club to Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Rox cuts off the wyrm’s head and brings it with him and cooks it for dinner! Man! They’re a delicacy in Enigma, he says. Remember, that’s where he’s from. So initially, this seems like just the typical big brute eating a MAN’S MEAL. But come on guys, you ought to know by now I’m a little deeper than that. (Well, mostly. I did joke about throwing a rock at Rox last chapter!)
We learn that Enigmans actually sort of worship wyrms. Rox tells this quick story that all of them descend from a single mother, the All Truth. While all things are made of the five elements, the All Truth had no shadow in her, which is the element of conceit and uncertainty, says Rox. And we already know Enigmans place a high value on truth, so you can see the appeal of such a creature. Deliritous goes so far as to say that the Enigmans don’t really worship the Scribes. Their religion is Truth.
Isn’t Rox eating his god? Sure, but what else can you do when your gods are constantly trying to kill you? You fight back. And if you kill something it must be put to use. Death for no reason is a Lie! Rox, love it or hate it, he has his code and sticks to it.
Also, an interesting bit about the magic system here, that all living things are made up of the five elements. Don’t think that was explicitly stated before this point, but just a nice tidbit explaining the five elements a bit more.
A relatively ordinary man
Another significant thing that happens here: Baz sees Rox without his mask on for the first time while he’s eat and is struck by how ordinary he looks. If you didn’t notice how big he was, you’d think him just a normal man of thirty. Well, perhaps slightly more grizzled than average.
And the changes continue. We see Rox actually call Deliritous to task for failing to recognize that Baz saved him. He “deserves gratitude.” Baz can’t believe Rox thanked him, but are we really so surprised? Rox has been showing us for many chapters now he’s not just a dumb brute. In some ways, he’s the most moral of our characters. Baz is just in denial because of his brother.
Still, Rox isn’t all rainbows. While they’re talking about Rox’s obsession with Truth, Deliritous notes how there’s no bigger lie than breaking an oath. Or, Rox adds, “permitting another to go back on an oath.” A veiled threat here, just to remind Baz that Rox is keeping an eye on him. His moral code is both good and bad for Baz.
It’s more like they’re trying to keep people away
They briefly discuss the Citiless again in this chapter, because Deliritous confirms for us that the pit was likely a Citiless trap, though he says the Citiless do it so they can pillage valuables off the corpses after the wyrms kill them. Baz points out, though, that out in the wilds, most valuables like aren’t of much use. More like, they’re trying to keep people away from Tome.
Baz recalls that the Citiless who was captured back in Chapter 5 went on about learning to Read at Tome. Baz muses whether there might actually be something at Tome they’re trying to keep them from. Deliritous brushes this off, he thinks they’re just uncivilized heathens. Notice, though, how he evades Baz’s question about what a Declaimer is? “Mindless fiction.” Hmm, what’s going on here? Stay tuned!
No Stop Rune Required
Finally, we get to the end of the chapter, and Deliritous shocks Baz by doing what? He lets him memorize a spell. Just a simple one, to start a small fire. But what a huge step from even just a few chapters ago where Deliritous made Baz stand on the other side of the clearing before Reading to him. Also, a nice bit of parallelism here, the first spell Deliritous trusts Baz with is also the first spell Tax taught Baz. Coming full circle here. Now, is Baz going to grow to trust Deliritous as much as he does his own brother? Well, that seems unlikely. But certainly mountains are moving, if slowly.
CONCLUSION
Homework: Next week we’ll read Chapter 18. We head into the Firelands! Our merry band will face another challenge, and Deliritous shows us just how much he’s changed from that entitled young man we saw at the beginning of the novel.
Listener Question:
Quest: Share your favorite fantasy quote with me and I’ll feature it in a future episode.
Quote: When you don’t know what to do, do what’s right and do what’s in front of you. But not necessarily what’s right in front of you.
-Brent Weeks, The Black Prism
Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.
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