Sapphire of Souls (Fantastica Book 2) Read online

  They split the guard duty. Nixy and Savon took the first, Father Veristy and Thaelos the second. It was decided the fire should be doused since human intruders at this point were far more likely than creatures.

  The first watch passed uneventful, but the priest woke everyone with a scream in the middle of the second watch when a buzzard, or a fat crow, mistook him for a corpse and swooped too close.

  The next morning and most of the day was also eventless. The same sort of destruction littered the roadside as before, but it all seemed more recent. Nixy told the elves to be ready for anything. Dutifully, Thaelos and Savon rode with arrows nocked. Neither of them had loosed from the back of the horse, save for the previous day, but both were above average marksmen, and neither of them seemed worried.

  Nixy's caution was proven wise when they rode up on a still smoldering wagon. Two freshly killed young men were laying in the middle of the road, and as she spurred Prism ahead of the others, she caught sight of a third man pinned to a wagon by a short sword through his chest.

  He was still alive, though barely. He was pointing off into the trees and Nixy didn't catch it at first, but his warning came just in time.

  “Trap,” he whispered with his last breath.

  Nixy turned and urged Prism back toward the others, and only the horse's powerful lurch forward carried her out of the way of the arrow that came streaking from the forest.

  Immediately, Savon and Thaelos loosed arrows back into the woods, then all four of them were forced to charge beyond the wreckage in search of some sort of cover.

  End of Preview

  Demon of Destruction, Fantastica Book Three

  will be available soon. To receive the release announcement directly from Amazon follow M. R. Mathias’s Amazon Author page by clicking the yellow bar under his author photo here:

  https://www.amazon.com/M.-R.-Mathias/e/B0040CD21I

  Other titles by

  M. R. Mathias

  The Wardstone Trilogy

  Book One - The Sword and the Dragon

  Book Two - Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools

  Book Three - The Wizard & the Warlord

  The Legend of Vanx Malic

  Book One – Through the Wildwood

  Book Two – Dragon Isle

  Book Three – Saint Elm’s Deep

  Book Four – That Frigid Fargin’ Witch

  Book Five – Trigon Daze

  Book Six – Paragon Dracus

  Book Seven – The Far Side of Creation

  Book Eight – The Long Journey Home

  Book Nine – The Tome of Arbor

  Book Ten – A Gossamer Lens

  The Saga of the Dragoneers

  The First Dragoneer – Free for Kindle

  The Royal Dragoneers – Nominated, Locus Poll 2011

  Cold Hearted Son of a Witch

  The Confliction

  The Emerald Rider

  Rise of the Dragon King

  Blood and Royalty – Winner. 2015 Readers Favorite Award,

  and 2015 Kindle Book Award Semifinalist

  Short Stories:

  Alpha Sint-Holo

  Autumn’s Breath

  The King of Fools

  Crimzon & Clover I - Orphaned Dragon, Lucky Girl

  Crimzon & Clover II - The Tricky Wizard

  Crimzon & Clover III - The Grog

  Crimzon & Clover IV - The Wrath of Crimzon

  Crimzon & Clover V - Killer of Giants

  Crimzon & Clover VI – One Bad Bitch

  Crimzon &Clover VII – The Fortune’s Fortune

  Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #1 Dingo the Dragon Slayer

  Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #2 Oonzil the oathbreaker

  Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #3 The Greatest Quest

  To hear about new releases, sales and giveaways,

  Follow Author M. R. Mathias @DahgMahn on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit http://mrmathias.com/

  Or to receive new release announcements directly from Amazon follow M. R. Mathias’s Amazon Author page by clicking the yellow bar under his author photo here:

  https://www.amazon.com/M.-R.-Mathias/e/B0040CD21I