"Emperor Hon's pacing is brisk, its narrative twists and turns are entertaining, and it takes place in an intriguing world riddled with mystery that will have the reader hoping for a Book 3 sometime soon." -Indie Reader
Supernatural abilities that haven't been seen on Earth in 7000 years come to life through genetically engineered teenage kids raised to be fighters. Cripple and wheelchair-bound, Zachary's confinement within self-proclaimed Emperor Hon's Palace is only one of his struggles. Aging at four times the speed of other humans, he and the other kids are cadets in Hon's Academy. Watching his brothers and sisters learning the art of the warrior makes him yearn to be among them. Four years have passed since his abduction. Zachary's rival, Victor-The Master of Flame-views Zachary as inferior and refuses to play nice. Torn between who he is and who he wants to be, Zachary must decide whether to use the abilities that terrify him or allow Victor to do as he may.
"Emperor Hon's pacing is brisk, its narrative twists and turns are entertaining, and it takes place in an intriguing world riddled with mystery that will have the reader hoping for a Book 3 sometime soon." -Indie Reader
Supernatural abilities that haven't been seen on Earth in 7000 years come to life through genetically engineered teenage kids raised to be fighters. Cripple and wheelchair-bound, Zachary's confinement within self-proclaimed Emperor Hon's Palace is only one of his struggles. Aging at four times the speed of other humans, he and the other kids are cadets in Hon's Academy. Watching his brothers and sisters learning the art of the warrior makes him yearn to be among them. Four years have passed since his abduction. Zachary's rival, Victor-The Master of Flame-views Zachary as inferior and refuses to play nice. Torn between who he is and who he wants to be, Zachary must decide whether to use the abilities that terrify him or allow Victor to do as he may.
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Overview
"Emperor Hon's pacing is brisk, its narrative twists and turns are entertaining, and it takes place in an intriguing world riddled with mystery that will have the reader hoping for a Book 3 sometime soon." -Indie Reader
Supernatural abilities that haven't been seen on Earth in 7000 years come to life through genetically engineered teenage kids raised to be fighters. Cripple and wheelchair-bound, Zachary's confinement within self-proclaimed Emperor Hon's Palace is only one of his struggles. Aging at four times the speed of other humans, he and the other kids are cadets in Hon's Academy. Watching his brothers and sisters learning the art of the warrior makes him yearn to be among them. Four years have passed since his abduction. Zachary's rival, Victor-The Master of Flame-views Zachary as inferior and refuses to play nice. Torn between who he is and who he wants to be, Zachary must decide whether to use the abilities that terrify him or allow Victor to do as he may.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781684330171 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Black Rose Writing |
| Publication date: | 02/22/2018 |
| Series: | Dawn of the Awakening , #2 |
| Edition description: | First Printing ed. |
| Pages: | 224 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
KNOW YOUR PLACE
Zachary emerged from slumber and into the reality of his life. He attempted to make the best of his confinement, but despair threatened to overwhelm him like a spreading rash. Each day seemed to grow longer. His physical confinement was a lessor irritability compared to the mental prison his captor held him in. Part of his problem lied in the fact he only required 3 to 4 hours of sleep. His only respite from the torturous silence of the long night was countless hours of reading by candlelight. During the day, he was allowed the use of his television and DVD player. The palace library was limited on media, but he had a variety of cartoons to choose from, Charlie Brown being his favorite. The other part of his problem was that he aged at four times the speed of everyone else. The long-isolated hours created a mental confinement. It made him realize that his childhood was passing him by at a supernatural rate. His whole life had been spent in this room, with an occasional exception under strict supervision. He did his best to keep a positive attitude and attempted to keep everyone he came in contact with appreciate being around him.
The wonderful smell of flowering trees being carried in by the draft of the open patch-colored, pane-glass window welcomed him this morning. A smile grew before forcing his eyes open. He knew the name of those fragrant trees in blossom: Gray Beard or something like that, Companion Moon had told him. She, being the closest thing to a friend, often comforted him. Her guidance went beyond her duties as matron and chaperone.
And as if summoned, Zachary heard a knock on the door. He recognized the soft rapping of her delicate knuckles and the rhythm of which she did so. "Come in, Companion Moon."
On the other side of the closed, ancient, hand-crafted, wooden door, Companion Moon looked at the two sword-strapped guards with raised eyebrows and they looked at her. A bold gesture for the Master Sentries to turn their heads toward her. She hadn't knocked or said a word and yet Master Zachary heard it as if she had already announced her arrival. She and the guards had experienced this phenomenon several times over. Once again, they shrugged off the incident as just another peculiarity when interacting with his kind.
The guards wore black veils draped over their helmets to conceal their faces. They posted for two-hour blocks and were not allowed to move unless toward a threat. They were the elite, the best of the best. It had also been rumored, and Companion Moon knew it to be more than a rumor, The Emperor himself would pose as a guard and pull duty at times. No guard ever slacked in their performance of duties for fear of unknowingly working side by side with The Emperor himself.
Pushing open the door, she took two strides in and prostrated herself. She bowed so low, her forehead touched the floor as well as her elbows and palms. Her shoulder-length, soft, ebony hair brushed the floor and her silk garments provided no sound to her movements.
"Rise Companion Moon, and good morning," Zachary said with a stretch and a yawn.
"Good morning to you, Master. Did you sleep well?" she asked, as she moved to close the open window.
"Leave it open, please. I like the smell." "Very well, I have your breakfast and your medication," she said, walking back through the open door into the hallway, retrieving a tray.
Zachary, having no use of or feeling in his legs, positioned his pillows against the headboard of the bed and scooted himself into an upright position to enjoy his morning meal. She placed the tray onto his lap: warm, soft, white bread, two pieces of thick-cut bacon, a thin slice of Colby-jack cheese and a cup of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows, topped with a dash of cinnamon.
"Thank you, Ms. Moon. It looks wonderful," Zachary said.
He looked into his food in thought.
She stood by, hands folded, eyes cast down.
"He hasn't given you an answer, has he?" Zachary asked without looking at her. He already knew the response.
"The emperor doesn't answer to me, Master. I have delivered the message to my superior."
"And, are you sure it got to The Emperor?" he asked.
Companion Moon's eyes grew large, yet she kept them fixed on the ground.
"I am most certain, Master. The thought of His Majesty not receiving a message coming directly from you is ... unthinkable," she said.
Zachary knew the truth of her statement. There had been a companion in service to him prior to Companion Moon. Her name was Companion Nami. She was beheaded in front of the entire palace for failing to properly supervise Zachary. Recalling the incident gave him pain. Nonetheless, he did so in her honor and swore to never forget.
It seemed so long ago when he took it upon himself to go without the pills. The medication slowed his thinking and his movements, not that he moved fast on a good day. He wanted to know what life was like without the pills. He wanted to know just, what if. What if he went without the pills for a while? Would he be able to walk again? He knew it to be a foolish thought at the time and even more foolish reflecting on the situation. But at the time, it seemed a good idea. The result had been unpredictable.
It was Zachary's mistake, not Companion Nami's. She paid the price for his wrong-doing with her life.
She did her part in providing him the little purple pills. He placed them under his tongue before spitting them under his pillow. What a mistake.
He forced himself to remember. He owed her as much. That evening the entire campus was in chaos. In and out of consciousness. Sweat soaked his sheets and his thoughts were not his own. Fires broke out here and there. Rumbling like thunder shook the ground. Images of the strangest kind flooded his mind in a cacophony of confusion and chaos.
After a period of which Zachary had no idea, the doctor burst into the room with a needle and injected him in the buttocks with something that made him sleep for a whole day. He was two years old.
At the time, he took only two pills, now at age 4, he needed more. "Why do I need four pills?" Zachary asked, now looking at her for any reaction which may betray a withheld comment.
Companion Moon answered without hesitation. "You are growing fast and you need more medication to assist you," she said.
"Why am I growing so fast?" he asked.
He knew she didn't possess the specific knowledge to answer the question with any real certainty. He didn't seek her company for specifics, just simple conversation. He wouldn't hold her to a wrong answer.
He read lots of books. Having an entire library at his disposal, he often read two books a day. He understood he wasn't like other people, his handicap notwithstanding. He knew four years had passed in his life but he took on the appearance of a 15-year-old.
"Because you are special," Companion Moon said.
"Yes, special. You keep saying that. I want to know why I'm special," He said while nibbling at his tray.
"You were a gift to us. You are the Savior," she said, as though it were rehearsed and common knowledge to all.
Those words meant nothing to him.
"I don't want to be the Savior. I want to be a boy. I want to play with the other children. I want to play baseball like in the stories I read," he said, with a toss of the now cold bread on the plate.
Companion Moon glanced down at his lower half before catching herself. She recovered quickly. The look wasn't lost on him. "I can use my wheelchair. I can still play. Maybe not as well as others, but I can try, I can," he said through watery eyes.
He had grown close to Companion Moon. She was his only family. The guards were forbidden speak with him and he was a captive in the third and top level of the palace. From his vantage point, he could only see half of the training grounds in the center of the rectangular 18th-century building.
At least he could see some of the outside world. But, other than what he saw out his window and what he read in carefully selected books and novels, he knew nothing of life or the world beyond his room, save the few times per week he was escorted around the palace property for some fresh air.
"I would like it very much to watch you play baseball, Master Zachary," she said with a smile, looking directly into his eyes.
His face lit up, "I would be great ... I think. Well, for someone in a wheelchair I would be."
She took on a large grin as a thought came to mind.
"What?" Zachary asked.
"Perhaps we could all be in wheelchairs and play a game of baseball," she said.
"Then it wouldn't be very fair," he said with a slight frown.
She gave a tilt of her head in confusion.
"I would totally win!" he said, as a huge smile brightened his face.
He noticed out of the corner of his eye a little, whiskered face emerging from a small space between the floorboards and the wall. It always amazed him, the small spaces his little friend could traverse.
Not now, Zachary thought to himself. She'll see you. Go away, Blink.
Blink was the name he gave his little mouse friend because she had a watery eye which blinked twice as much as the other. Some kind of injury, he assumed. There were cats at the Emperor's Palace for dealing with little friends such as Blink.
And as if Blink heard his words, she melted into the wall, into a world within a world where endless tunnels spanned the 500-year-old building and its many rooms.
* * *
She descended the inner pillars until she reached the first floor, the mess hall. She couldn't help herself. The smells hypnotized and all but took her over completely. Faster and faster she ran as the powerful aroma pulled her in as a flame does a moth.
Stopping herself at the threshold of total visibility, she stuck her nose into the open air where the many kids were seated and devouring their food. They whispered to each other in hushed tones, so to not be heard by the instructors, the Sifu. Her little nose moved from one side to the other as the aroma of sausage gravy and biscuits washed over her whiskers. She licked her face and only succeeded in turning her stomach inside itself. She loved biscuit & gravy day. The kids always dropped morsels on the floor. When they were dismissed to the training grounds, Blink would race out on the floor. Then it would be a crumble utopia of the buttery kind.
She watched as soft leather boots passed her by. The voices of the two roving Sifu could be heard.
* * *
"They look like children, young boys and girls," leather-faced Sifu Gao Zhang said as he looked over the cadets. Walking with his hands behind his back, he moved with an almost majestic gait to his stride. Many years in the martial arts trained his muscles to glide rather than step. Those years, he did not regret, but nonetheless, would not like to repeat. He earned his title of Sifu with his blood, sweat, and suffering. Every other battle-hardened Sifu had been honored with their position, given to them by the Emperor himself. They each had earned their title with equal effort. The Sifu looked to Gao Zhang as their unofficial leader. He hadn't sought the attention of his peers and comrades. They more or less forced him into the non-formal position of leader among trainers.
Today he walked with Sifu Pan Qian. She moved as if walking on air. Slight of frame, but at the same time, adorning sinuous muscle, evident from the limited areas of flesh exposed by her uniform. That uniform, which every Sifu wore, consisted of a black short-sleeved tunic with a high collar. The white cotton garment underneath gave a contrast on the sleeves as well as the neck. Black leggings were tucked into soft leather boots that slipped on and conformed to the foot as a hand in a glove. A thin leather belt, woven rope-like, wrapped around the waist two times and finished with a half square knot where one end draped just longer than the other. Hung on the belt was a thin stick used to discipline cadets.
The cadets wore similar uniforms: A plain white tunic and an ordinary rope in place of the ornate leather. The sleeves were rolled and there were no boots, just bare feet.
"They look like youngsters, yet they are only toddlers, merely reaching their fourth birthday," Zhang said as he looked over the tables.
There were ten tables. While most were full, other tables had only a few. Some cadets sat segregated. The Sifu allowed the cadets to establish their own cliques.
Qian stopped and looked at him, "Can we even call it a birthday? After all, they were never born, unless you call the glass tube a birth of some type," she said, with a confused tilt of her head.
Like crickets in the night, the whispering stopped as the two made their way around the mess hall and conversation picked up again as they passed. It wasn't as if the children were not allowed to speak during chow, it was viewed as a sign of disrespect for one to do it directly in front of the Sifu.
"The emperor says it's important we keep a certain amount of normality when teaching them. They are so different from other children, that they need some sense of humanity if they're going to feel like a part of The Empire," Zhang said.
"I understand normality, but the western way is anything but normal," she replied.
"To us, the ways of the West may only appear unorganized and sloppy. I think we only see what is on the outside. The media seldom shows the typical American family. Television is no way to judge a society. If so, the Americans would see us as mindless servants lacking individual goals and dreams of prosperity," he said.
"I have no idea how the Americans view us, and I don't care. The Emperor wants us to teach the cadets the ways of the West and yet we don't really know ourselves. I think they should learn our ways, the ancient ways, the way of respect and honor and family tradition." Qian said.
"And not the ways of the baggie pants, loud music and electrical devices that need to be the center of everyday life?" Zhang asked with a half-smile.
"Exactly," she answered, apparently grateful he understood where she was coming from.
"Remember, you are in charge of nothing. I can respect a candid tongue and appreciate a good debate, but do not forget your place. The Emperor is both wise and intelligent. He must have a reason to have the cadets learn the ways of the West. We only serve."
She nodded in agreement. However, he noticed the slight hesitation. The same thoughts plagued all Sifu. The cadets would ultimately be sent to the United States. He had no idea why.
"And what about him?" Qian asked, as her head tilted toward the upper levels of the palace. "Will he ever be part of society?"
"I'm afraid he will be a permanent resident of the Palace. The Emperor needs him to make more of the cadets," he answered.
"More! I thought this group would be more than we could handle."
"I think this is just the beginning of a larger plan," he said.
It had always been their people's way to not raise or allow a severely crippled person to burden a family. A child would be terminated early on if they could not be a productive member of society. Now that the Emperor had the DNA he needed ...
"Why keep the cripple around? Doesn't the Emperor have what is needed?" she asked.
Zhang slowed his stride and spoke low. "I heard rumors. His DNA can only live a short time outside of his body." She thought about that for a second. "So, without Master Zachary," she said again, just as softly.
Zhang stopped. Looking into her eyes, he said, "There can be no others."
"And do you think he will need more to accomplish his mission?" she asked while holding his gaze.
He broke off and continued his stroll. "The Emperor's objective is an aggressive one. He must have surprise on his side. I don't need to tell you it's the main reason he chose each of his Sifu."
She understood this all too well, her role in being among the chosen. She had been the only survivor of her family after a raid on her village. One of the numerous raids meant to cleanse the nation of the family names who could or would be able to claim a role of leadership within the country.
Emperor Hon had taken many children into his home, his family home, one of the few not destroyed or burned. He reclaimed this home, bringing back to life what was once a much-respected training ground. He would use it for his Sifu. They were to train his new military. It had been a plan created not by him alone, but also by the many families in the mountain region of the country who still believed in and would stop at nothing to see The Empire brought back to life by a rightful heir.
She was everything because of Emperor Hon. She would be nothing without him. They all acknowledged him as Emperor in and around the palace. But outside the palace property, he was to be treated as nothing more than a wealthy namesake until the time was right.
"We are surrounded by enemies. The North wants to take us over. And if anyone told the government what was happening here, we would all be killed," she said.
"Do you think anyone here would turn on their own family?"
She thought about it for a few strides. "People do strange things for money, Zhang," Qian said.
"I understand. But, how much money would anyone really pay for information about someone training soldiers, children?"
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Emperor Hon"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Raymond Springer.
Excerpted by permission of Black Rose Writing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Title Page,
Copyright,
1 - KNOW YOUR PLACE,
2 - THE PALACE TRAINING,
3 - COMPUTER CLASS,
4 - THE DOCTOR,
5 - DREAM WORLD,
6 - MOVIE NIGHT,
7 - SIFU PAIN,
8 - BONDING,
9 - I'M NOT THE ENEMY,
10 - TALENTS REVEALED,
11 - A NEW DAY,
12 - A FESTIVE ENGAGEMENT,
13 - TRAINING,
14 - MAKING FRIENDS,
15 - A HISTORY LESSON,
16 - THE CHALLENGE,
17 - THE HEAT IS ON,
18 - WE ARE ONE,
19 - PARTNERS,
20 - A DEEPER LEVEL,
21 - HIGHER LEARNING,
22 - YOU'RE A DEAD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN,
23 - LOVE AND DETERMINATION,
24 - SELECTION DAY,
25 - A FOOL,
26 - THE CHALLENGE,
27 - THE CHASE,
28 - THE TAKEOVER,
29 - MAKING FRIENDS,
30 - THE MINES,
31 - ADDICTION,
32 - CLOSE CALLS,
33 - THE FRONT DOOR,
34 - CHARLIE,
35 - TAKING IT AS IT COMES,
36 - NEGOTIATIONS,
37 - THE FLAG,
38 - SUPRISE,
39 - ANGER AND POWER,
40 - THE CIRCLE OF BENEDICTION,
41 - EXILE,
42 - V-DAY,
BRW Info,