D. T. Kane reads chapter 27 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.

http://dtkane.com

If you’re enjoying the Acktus Trials, or have already read it, please consider taking a minute to leave a review. Reviews help authors by increasing the visibility of their books, which helps get them into the hands of more readers. Thank you for your support! 

Follow this link to leave a review: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09QZ8MQ38

The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:

https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/

https://books2read.com/theacktustrials

Parts II and III of The Spoken Books Uprising also now available!

Part II, Declaimer’s Discovery: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R18NZ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Other Retailers- https://books2read.com/declaimersdiscovery  

Part III, Declaimer’s Flight: (out June 17, 2022)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XKGDYFM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

Other Retailers- https://books2read.com/declaimersflight

Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/

Characters in this Chapter:

Baztian (Baz): Our main character

Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)

Ehma: Leader of Citiless Patrol

Madame Scrivener Tessa: Leader of all the Citiless

Below is 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 June 12, 2022 as I record this, Episode 22.

It’s great to be back with all of you! I know you’ve had a new episode each week, but it’s been about three weeks since I last sat down to record, since I was away in Europe. I had a blast and could talk to you about it for the remainder of the episode. But I know this isn’t a travel podcast, so I’ll limit myself to two highlights from each of the three countries I went to. So if you’re planning a vacation and want to hit Ireland, Paris, and Brussels, here’s what I’d recommend:

1. Guinness Storehouse Tour and Gravity Bar in Dublin
2. Gap of Dunloe, Kilarney National Park
3. Visit the Eiffel tower, Paris
4. Get a bottle of wine and a sweet treat at an outdoor café. I enjoyed both Le Nemours and Café Blanc, which are both near the Louvre. If you’re just looking for pastries, also try Tartine Bakery, a couple blocks from the Louvre, or Café Liberte, which is in the Latin Quarter.
5. Atomium, Brussels. The Eiffel Tower of Belgium.
6. Belgian Liege Waffle with chocolate from Le Funambule next to Manneken Pis

On the writing front, I’ve had a very busy week back from vacation getting Declaimer’s Flight ready for publication. It comes out next Friday, June 17. You can still get your pre-order if you want to be sure you’re one of the first people to read it!

ANAYLIS CH. 27

Under Tome

So Ehma takes Baz and Rox through the hidden door she revealed down a long corridor that descends downward. She mentions they’re going to Under Tome. What the heck is that? Well, we find out soon enough, and we have our answer for where all the Citiless are living.

There’s a whole little city beneath the Great Library! “Reports of Tome being an abandoned shell were apparently grossly mistaken.”

Our heroes enter into the middle of a three-tiered chamber. They’re on a stone balcony overlooking a lower level full of rows of long tables, and at some of them there are people sitting writing, bent over parchment with jars of glowing elemental ink. And up above there appear to be living quarters and another balcony that encircles much of the space where it appears groups of young children are being taught how to write.

So this is pretty shocking based on what we know of the rest of society in Oration. There appears to be a whole society down here that doesn’t abide by the typical separation of powers, the division between Readers and Speakers. Now it really seems that that Citiless who was caught back in the beginning wasn’t an aberration–they’re all taught to read and write in Under Tome, the hidden city beneath the Great Library.

Perhaps the space’s defining feature, though, is this peninsula type walkway that extends past a barrier at the end of the lower level of the chamber into darkness. It leads out into a dark pit where light seems to die. And the pit is lined with countless bookshelves. Here’s Baz’s description:

Bookshelves. Endless numbers of bookshelves, each full to overflowing. They reached perhaps twenty feet up the wall, which by itself was impressive. But they also seemed to stretch down into the dark bowels of the tower. Down and down until the darkness swallowed them up. A semicircular room of Books with no floor, a ceaseless pit of knowledge. However, Baz could see no obvious way to reach any of the volumes, as the peninsula clearly ended well before it reached the shelves.

Madame Scrivener Tessa

So next Baz is introduced to the true leader of Under Tome, a woman called Madame Scrivener Tessa, who turns out to be Ehma’s mother. We can see where Ehma got some of her stern characteristics, as her mother is obviously a hard woman. She’s quite upset that Ehma would bring outsiders into Under Tome. When Ehma says it’s because they have Book Dragon blood her mother says she ought to have just killed Baz and Rox immediately, obviously making the same assumption about Baz as Ehma did.

But in his characteristic way, Baz butts in, explaining he isn’t a Reader, which prompts Tessa to order him down to the “Sanctum” floor where she is overseeing the Scriveners who are writing at the tables. What is it they’re working on? We’ll see soon.

The first thing Baz discusses with Tessa is how they’ve kept Under Tome secret for so long. Apparently they’ve been playing the Readers for a long time: they purposefully plant a few Spoken Books above ground each year, so the Trials participants have something to find and no reason to go snooping around the ruins. And as Tessa says, “men believe what they wish to believe, and none in the Triumvirate wish to think we exist.” An interesting idea here, and likely a true one. Confirmation bias is a real thing, where we tend to pay closer attention to evidence that supports our beliefs than evidence that contradicts them, and Tessa is obviously playing into that with the Readers. No one wants to think there’s a whole city of Cusses living beneath Tome, and she gives them no reason to investigate.

Of course, when Baz presses that there must occasionally be a curious competitor, Tessa acknowledges that does happen. But anyone who gets too curious have a strange habit of suffering unfortunate accidents before they can leave Tome.  So it seems that at least some of the deaths during the Acktus Trials are attributable to this hidden underground society ensuring its secret is kept safe.

Let You go? Oh, no.

So then we get into the meat of Baz and Tessa’s discussion. She orders Baz to tell his story. Baz asks if she’ll let him go if she likes it, but Tessa says he isn’t going anywhere–he’s seen too much. Hmmm, that’s a problem for Baz, right? He needs to find a Book and get it back to Deliritous so he can get back to Erstwhile and his brother.

But Baz sees no alternative but to tell Tessa his story, which he does, only leaving out that he can Read. We know Baz isn’t a very trusting person, and he’s certainly not going to put his complete trust in this stranger who apparently intends to keep him confined to Under Tome.

Of all the things Baz tells her, the one thing Tessa keys on is, why are you helping a Reader? Obviously this society beneath Tome does not view them as the rightful leaders of society. Tessa shows obvious disdain for the Readers–fight back against those who oppress you! Baz says she sounds like Tax.

You really teach everyone who lives here to Read?

Tessa becomes sad, though, when Baz asks if they really teach everyone in Under Tome to Read. Tessa’s sadness at the question drives home how messed up Oration’s society is, right? How truly evil it is to deny the ability to read to others. As she says, teaching others to read shouldn’t be a “great thing,” it ought to be like that everywhere.

And why do the Readers prevent others from learning to Read? Baz, of course, thinks it’s to prevent others from casting spells against them, but that’s not Tessa’s opinion. Most common men wouldn’t have access to Spoken Books even if they could Read them. No, denying the ability to read creates ignorance, which creates an ignorant proletariat, says Tessa. It’s a vehicle of oppression.

“An ignorant proletariat is a submissive one.”

The Big Lie

So now that Baz has told his story, he asks Tessa whether she intends to kill him and Rox. Not if they stay and help them. Help with what?

The Scribes’ great work. They’re finishing the Books of Power the Scribes began during the Burning. Now, pause here a moment. Recall back at the beginning of Part 2, the Conservator told us that the Scribes had been working on Books that only a select few would be able to Read, so that only those who truly deserved the ability to call power from Spoken Books could wield it.

But that’s not what the Scribes were doing according to Tessa. No, they were making translations. Of what? Baz asks. Translations of the languages of the Trinity into the Common Tongue, so everyone could learn to draw power from Books. They were doing the exact opposite of what society has taught.

But what’s the point of that if only certain people are born Bound to the Books, able to call forth their power. And here Tessa drops the first big bomb. *EXPLOSION* Eromer already foreshadowed this for us a few chapters ago, but here’s confirmation: It’s all a big lie–anyone can learn to draw power from the Books. Now, it’s true that some a born naturally gifted, able to draw the power without much training, while most have to study and work at it for a long time. But still, anyone can do it. The very basis of Oration’s society is built on a lie! Apparently one created by Deliritous’s ancestor to consolidate power among a select few of his allies. And now the lie’s been around for so long that even most Readers believe it for truth.

But woah, the implications here! If Baz could reveal this secret, think of the consequences. The anger in the masses. And what about here in Under Tome. If everyone can Read, does that mean they have a force capable of challenging the Triumvirate cities for control of Oration? Imagine a whole society that isn’t dependent on Reading spells to other people before they cast them engaging in battle with Readers who must work in pairs with their Speakers.

The Dark Ones

But really, dems small potatoes when it comes to the next bomb Tessa drops. BOOM!  Tessa seems to believe they don’t have many Books in Under Tome, and Baz wants to know why when there’s this seemingly endless wall of bookshelves descending into the ground right behind them. Well, those Books are all lost to them, Tessa says. Lost, because the Dark Ones are imprisoned in that dark pit.

It was the Dark Ones, these mythical demons to this point we’ve only seen people mutter about, who caused the Burning. The Scribes drew so much power trying to create their translations of the Trinity, they apparently weakened the barrier between this world and the Elsewhere, sort of this world’s version of hell, and permitted the Dark Ones to attack. And so now we finally see what Pront vi Lextor was up to in the prologue. He was descending the tower at the Great Library to go imprison the Dark Ones, who he’d inadvertently released on the world by  attempting to create Books that would permit anyone to learn to Read and draw the power of the Spoken Books.

Baz, of course, is incredulous, but he doesn’t have much time to question Tessa. Ehma shouts for her mother from back up on the balcony where we left her at the beginning of the chapter. Tessa is annoyed by the interruption, but soon we see it’s more than just a daughter bothering her mother. There’s a razor to Ehma’s throat, and Marla is there. She’s found Under Tome, too!

Quick side note: Did you catch how Book Dragons were essentially librarians before the Burning? Tessa mentions that they spent their days retrieving volumes from the vast pit of Books. Makes sense–remember how Eromer was rescuing Books in the prologue? Also, Tessa notes how people back before the Burning used to read for pleasure. Baz is dumbstruck by that–it’s not something he’s even contemplated. Another sad thing about this society. Can you imagine being prohibited from Reading for the pure joy of it?

CONCLUSION

Homework: Next week we’ll read Chapter 28, the climax of the novel. How will Baz overcome Marla’s unexpected appearance at Under Tome?

Quote:

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

D. T. Kane reads chapter 26 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.

http://dtkane.com

If you’re enjoying the Acktus Trials, or have already read it, please consider taking a minute to leave a review. Reviews help authors by increasing the visibility of their books, which helps get them into the hands of more readers. Thank you for your support!

Follow this link to leave a review: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09QZ8MQ38

The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:
https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/
https://books2read.com/theacktustrials

Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising, Declaimer’s Discovery, now available!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R18NZ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/declaimersdiscovery

Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/

Characters in this Chapter:
Baztian (Baz): Our main character
Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)
Ehma: Leader of Citiless Patrol

Below is 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, May 19, 2022, as I record this, episode 21.

This is the last of my vacation pre-recordings, so not much of a personal update since it’s only been a couple days for me since I recorded the last one. But one big piece of news: I completed my first draft of Part IV of the Spoken Books Uprising. It came in at around 97,000 words, so a bit under my estimate of 110,000. But I tend to underwrite my first drafts, so I expect it to creep closer to 110 by publication time.

Also, I’m ready to disclose the title: Declaimer’s Stand! So get ready, that’ll be releasing end of summer, beginning of fall.

Also, just a quick note, I’ve been working my way through the tome that is Ulysses by James Joyce, since I’m going to Ireland on part of my vacation. I’m not going to finish it before I go. It’s certainly an undertaking–sort of like putting a puzzle together, but you don’t have a photo of what the puzzle is supposed to be, and there’s a few pieces sprinkled in that don’t actually belong to it at all. It’s more of a pursuit than a read. But it is amazing how Joyce managed to pack so much meaning into virtually every line. I wouldn’t even consider reading it without a guide to explain all the smart things hidden in the book. I can certainly see how multiple re-reads would be rewarding, though to be honest, completing it just once will be a life accomplishment.

ANAYLIS CH. 26

So it’s a short chapter this week. Remember at the end of Chapter 25 we were left with Rox about to be executed and Baz shouting for him to show the Citiless the dragon blood Eromer gave them. And when Baz names Eromer, that gets everyone’s attention. It seems the Citiless know him. When Baz tells them Eromer gave them what’s in Rox’s pocket as proof of friendship and as partial repayment of  debt that can’t be satisfied, one of the Citiless even says, “Sounds like something Ero would say.” So obviously they’re familiar with him.

So the woman who was about to slit Rox’s throat instead reaches into his pocket and freaks out when she sees the blood. So a couple things: One, it would seem that these Citiless are actually who Eromer referred to as “The Keepers of What Remains.” Still don’t know what that means, but certainly implies there’s more to the Citiless than the Readers back in Erstwhile would like to believe. And two, everyone’s reaction to the blood confirms it’s some rare thing, as Rox said earlier.

Ehma is alarmed rather than impressed, though. She threatens Baz, thinking he’s harmed Eromer to get the blood. It turns out this whole time she’s been thinking he is a Reader, and can we blame her? He’s got a Bookpack and a Harbour apparently protecting him, after all. But Baz tells her to look under his hat and when she sees his brand, her attitude changes. “Her face softened.”

Still, they’re not just going to let Baz go. They have to “take him to Tessa,” presumably their leader. Aelan is concerned that Baz and Rox have seen their hiding spot that Ehma revealed by making the illusion of rubble disappear. Baz jumps on that opportunity to insist Eromer told him and Rox to talk directly to Tessa, keeping his cards close to the vest, getting himself a ticket inside the Great Library, presumably to find Spoken Books.

And so, our heroes enter the Great Library of Tome. What will they find within? 

CONCLUSION

Homework: Read Chapter 27. It’s a long one, and many revelations will be made! Who is Tessa, what secrets does she reveal, and did you gasp at the chapter’s end?

Quote:

“All life is theatre,’ he said. ‘We are all actors, you and I, in a play which nobody wrote and which nobody will see. We have no audience but ourselves….”

― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

D. T. Kane discusses chapters 24 and 25 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, with his audience. (NOTE: These chapters were previously narrated in episodes 18 and 19).

http://dtkane.com

If you’re enjoying the Acktus Trials, or have already read it, please consider taking a minute to leave a review. Reviews help authors by increasing the visibility of their books, which helps get them into the hands of more readers. Thank you for your support!

Follow this link to leave a review: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09QZ8MQ38

The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:
https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/
https://books2read.com/theacktustrials

Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising, Declaimer’s Discovery, now available!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R18NZ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/declaimersdiscovery

Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/

Below are my notes/script for the show, not a verbatim transcription:

PERSONAL UPDATE

Welcome back to D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club. Today is May 16, 2022 as I record this, episode 20.

A bit different this week, as we’re only doing an analysis section. The last two episodes were only narration because by the time you listen to this, I’ll be in Europe in the midst of a two-week vacation! So, I’m sort of coming to you from the past this week. Woah, time travel!

Since this will be a couple weeks old by the time it comes out, I won’t dwell long on the personal update. On the writing side, I am nearly finished with the first draft of The Spoken Books Uprising, Part IV (title to be announced soon!) I wasn’t sure I’d make it, but it turns out the draft is only going to be about 100,000 words instead of the 110,000 I’d estimated, so by the time you hear this, I should have a complete draft of that and be able to rest easy on vacation. I’ll probably be daydreaming about the plot for Part V, which I find much easier to do than drafting or editing.

As for the vacation, I’m off to Ireland for 8 days, driving counterclockwise around the country: 2 days in Dublin, then Cork, two days in Kerry, Ennis/County Claire, Galway, and then Longford and Cavan Counties, which is where my wife’s family is originally from. Then we’re flying to Paris for a few days and Brussels for two days. Man, I could go on about all the plans we have, but I’ll restrain myself for now. I’ll probably give some updates in the newsletters, so signup for those if you haven’t already (dtkane.com/email-signup, and I’ll of course talk about it on the show when I return, episodes 22 and 23.

ANAYLIS CHs. 24-25

Ch. 24

A Flying Book

So Chapter 24 picks up the morning after Eromer brings Baz and Rox to his cave. Baz gets up with sun, after worrying all night about his pending trip to Tome, thinking up all sorts of worst case scenarios, like Hellar using his Influencer to cause Rox to cut Baz’s head off.

But Eromer helps put Baz’s mind at ease a bit. How calm is this scene Baz walks out into? A glowing sunrise, Eromer floating in the air, eyes closed, humming, causing grain to flow out of barrels while his animals munch on it. Even surly Baztian has to smile.

Then Baz and Eromer have a brief, but fascinating, discussion. First, Eromer tells us that Pront vi Lextor essentially turned him into a flying book. “He illuminated us with the inks of the Books, and we became like them. Like them.” So that’s how Eromer casts spells without Books. The spells are tattooed right to him.

Well, the observant of you might wonder then, why hasn’t this be done more often? It’s awfully inconvenient lugging around all these Books. Well, apparently the process is dangerous. As Eromer tells us, his blood had to be changed “at the most fundamental of levels,” elements infused into it. Many of his kind did not survive the process.

At first, Baz seems to think Pront vi Lextor was some mad scientist, but Eromer corrects him. No, the dragons volunteered for the process. It was a great honor, as Pront vi Lextor was attempting to “restore the Orators to their old powers.”

*Also, I’ll also note about why tattoos aren’t used, recall that new Spoken Books can only be created by a Bound who can Write, so presumably that rule also holds true for tattoos. So the fact that there’s no tattooing is likely also for the same reason there are no new Books—no Bound can Write.

Of course, Baz immediately asks Eromer what he means, but Eromer demurs to answer. Still, it seems pretty plain: It was once possible for men and women to cast spells without Books, and the Enigma was trying to figure out how to once more grant them that power. Why didn’t he? Well, “the Dark Ones ruined [his] work.” And sometimes, Eromer tells us, he can still hear the Dark Ones’ voices when he sleeps.

Really interesting here. First, Baz recalls that he too recently heard voices, when he cast that shadow spell to save Rox and Deliritous from Marla and Hellar. And, those of you with good memories will also recall that Pront vi Lextor was hearing voices in the prologue. What does this all mean? Well, I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions, but… whoa!

Very Few

Baz’s conversation with Eromer is cut short when Rox exits the cave. Eromer agrees to watch over Deliritous while Rox is gone and they’re quickly on their way, flying on Eromer’s back to Tome.

While in flight, Baz asks Eromer how many other Book Dragons there are, and he replies “very few.” Apparently, there are those who find the Book Dragons “far more valuable dead than breathing.” Hold that thought a moment to the end of the chapter.

They catch sight of Tome, closer this time than when we glimpsed it from a great distance. Oddly, the tall tower of the Great Library seems largely intact, withstanding time’s decay, save for its roof, which has been blown off. Some sort of magic going on here? The rest of the city certainly hasn’t held up so well. Most of the buildings little more than “piles of rocks—rubble heaps covered in centuries-old decay.”

This is as far as I may go.

Eromer sets them down at the very outskirts of the city, still a decent walk into the ruins. But Eromer will go no further because of his failed oath. But he still wants to help however he can. So he tells Baz to remove an object he has in a pouch that’s hanging from his neck. And Baz gasps when he sees it! Now, we know it’s got to be something pretty special, because Baz doesn’t really seem like the gasping type.

A viscous liquid glowed within, swirling about the a container as if it had freewill. Baz couldn’t say what color it was; each time he looked it seemed to be a different one of the five hues of the elemental quintet.

It’s a vial of dragon blood, Eromer’s own. And according to Rox, “there is no greater gift.” Eromer directs Baz to give it to the “Keepers of What Remains,” though Eromer declines to tell Baz who they are. “There secrets are not for me to tell. You will know them. Know them.” Mysterious.

OK, I told you to hold the thought a minute ago about why some people want to kill Book Dragons. The text doesn’t draw this connection directly, but if their blood is as valuable as Rox says, perhaps that’s why some people want to kill them. Book Dragon poachers? Of course, we don’t yet know why their blood is so valuable. But we will soon 🙂

While Rox is still staring in wonder, Baz calls Eromer over conspiratorially and asks him for a favor, but we don’t hear what he asks. What’s that all about? Whatever it is, Baz seems to think that it will help keep him alive if he gets out of Tome with his hide intact. Baz isn’t putting his faith in Deliritous to hold up his bargain, even despite Baz’s apparent new found respect for the Torchsire heir.

Eromer flies away and Rox and Baz head off into the ruins, actually exchanging jokes with one another.

Ch. 25

Magic

So Baz and Rox have an uneventful day walking to the ruins from where Eromer dropped them off and they camp for the night in the shell of an abandoned house. They have dinner, and Baz is getting ready to get some sleep when Rox stretches his hand out over their small fire. He’s holding his completed wyrmtooth necklace. And he wants Baz to have it.

This is apparently a big deal. Listen to how Rox describes it: “In Enigma, when someone tries to trick you, but you see through their ruse, we say you can’t fool a wyrm, for a wyrm knows no Lies. A wyrm’s talisman grants its owner insight from the All Truth herself, an ability to see through deceit.”

This is a significant object in Rox’s culture, and he’s giving it to Baz because Baz saved him from the wyrm. “You take it. And my thanks.”

But Baz doesn’t want to take it. He can’t take a gift from a man he doesn’t even like. So he tells Rox, maybe I saved you, but I did it for selfish reasons—I needed you for survival, not because I cared about your safety. “I can’t believe there’s much of your Truth in that.”

“The words stung Baz’s mouth worse than any misspoken spell as they left his lips.” Baz insists he doesn’t regret them, but of course we know he’s saying that because he actually feels the opposite. He’s starting to come around to Rox and he feels bad about turning down the big man’s gesture.

But Rox is undeterred, and follows up with one of my favorite exchanges in the book:

“My mother once told me there is magic in Truth.”

“Magic? What’s that?”

“I do not know,” Rox replied. “but I think that’s the point.” The big man held the necklace out toward Baz with renewed vigor.

Now, I’m not sure how many of you have noticed, but I don’t use the word “magic” in this or most of my other writing. That’s because magic by definition, implies something fantastical or not understood. And, of course, from our real world looking into the world of Oration, what they do with Spoken Books and the elements is magic. But in world, it’s the way of things, so why would they call it magic? Doesn’t really make sense to me, so I avoid the term.

But here Rox does use it, so there’s something special about wyrm teeth according to him, something we don’t understand. What did he say a few lines ago? It grants the “ability to see through deceit”? Maybe that’s something more than a bit of superstitious dogma? We can’t be sure for now, but Baz does eventually accept the gift, if begrudgingly.

“Don’t get any ideas, Rox. I still don’t like you.” Which, again, if Baz really felt this way, he wouldn’t feel inclined to say this aloud.

Citiless

Baz is awoken by Rox at Dawn, because a band of Citiless have walked past their hiding spot. Rox suggests they follow them, as perhaps they’ll lead them to Books. Baz nearly dismisses the idea, but then rethinks his opinion of Citiless. His only source of information about Citiless is from Readers, and we know how biased Readers can be. And Baz realizes, the only Citiless he’s ever seen, the man who was tortured back at the beginning of the novel, could allegedly Read. So maybe Rox is onto something here.

But Baz isn’t going to take any risks, either. He pulls out a Book and casts one of the few spells he actually has experience with. A “sound deadening spell,” apparently one Deliritous had him cast frequently so he could sneak off to see Delida at night. Remember, Delida is the Creation Speaker who was supposed to accompany him on the Trials, and Baz implied earlier that her and Deliritous have an ongoing affair.

Also, just an aside, have you caught the symbolism of Baz now carrying the Bookpack? The torch has passed, he’s assuming power now.

So they start following the Citiless, who are apparently on patrol for the contestants in the Trials. Baz overhears them talking, and it sounds as if the Citiless have actually been tracking them since the Firelands. Perhaps a bit more organized than the Readers back in Erstwhile would like to think if they have such a scouting network.

The Citiless leader is a young woman named Ehma in a green shirt with yellow embroidery. And she appears to be carrying a bag with a Book inside. Bingo! Good call, Rox.

Rox and Baz follow them for quite a while, finally ending up on a broad avenue that leads to the base of the Great Library’s tower. Here, Baz is perplexed. There seems to be rubble piled up all around the tower, there’s nowhere to go. But then Ehma takes the Book out of her bag and begins Speaking. So she’s a Cuss, or is it an Orator here? Regardless, it appears that Citiless who was caught at the beginning of the Book wasn’t just an isolated incident. Ehma finishes her spell and portion of the rubble vanishes! Revealing a “tall, oak door with an ornate handle in the shape of a quill.” Where does that lead?

Today, you are my oath.

Well, we don’t find out yet. Because rubble suddenly crashes to the ground behind Baz and Rox. Baz catches a glimpse of Hellar running around a corner. He’s exposed them to the Citiless! Baz curses and reaches for a Book, but pulls out that Book of shadow he used earlier, and immediately drops it. Did he hear those voices again when he touched it? Maybe his imagination, but he’s not using it.

So it’s to Rox to defend them. He tells Baz that today, Baz is his oath. Then charges out into the Citiless like a mad bull. Valiant, I suppose, but probably not a great idea. This is the first time we’ve really seen Rox in battle, and he is a force, to be sure. Crashing into the Citiless like “a mad bull into a flock of sheep.” He cuts one’s hand off, breaks another’s nose, and makes a third run. But then Ehma catches him in a spell, freezing him in place. A moment later, another Citiless who snuck behind Baz holds a knife to his throat. They’re caught!

Ehma proves to be a hard woman, with “cold, gray eyes.” She is upset over the injuries to her friends and orders Rox be killed, as he’s “too much of a risk.” Baz immediately objects, as if we needed more evidence by this time that he likes Rox. Rox is just trying to fulfill his promise. Rox is just doing what every man hopes to be able to do: Fighting for something he believes in. Why should he die for that?

Frantically, Baz comes up with an idea: Rox, the blood, show them the blood!

CONCLUSION

Homework: Read Ch. 26.

Quote:

“There’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale.”

― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish

Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.

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D. T. Kane reads chapter 25 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.

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If you’re enjoying the Acktus Trials, or have already read it, please consider taking a minute to leave a review. Reviews help authors by increasing the visibility of their books, which helps get them into the hands of more readers. Thank you for your support!

Follow this link to leave a review: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09QZ8MQ38

The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:
https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/
https://books2read.com/theacktustrials

Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising, Declaimer’s Discovery, now available!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R18NZ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/declaimersdiscovery

Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/

Characters in this Chapter:
Baztian (Baz): Our main character
Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)
Ehma: Leader of Citiless Patrol

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

D. T. Kane reads chapter 24 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.

http://dtkane.com

If you’re enjoying the Acktus Trials, or have already read it, please consider taking a minute to leave a review. Reviews help authors by increasing the visibility of their books, which helps get them into the hands of more readers. Thank you for your support!

Follow this link to leave a review: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09QZ8MQ38

The Acktus Trials, an epic fantasy novel, available now:
https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/
https://books2read.com/theacktustrials

Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising, Declaimer’s Discovery, now available!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R18NZ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/declaimersdiscovery

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
Eromer: The Book Dragon!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download