Dan Decker Books

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Twenty Two

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
Adar didn’t have a clue how to make the ship door work again. The ramp he had slid down on his way into the ship was only distinguishable from the rest of the wall of the hold by the rough metal texture that covered it. Otherwise, he was unable to tell where the ramp ended and the wall began.
He ran his hand along the textured area that he was certain became the ramp when it separated from the wall, halfheartedly hoping that it would open merely from his touch.
He snorted. This isn’t the technology of my fathers, he thought. If anything, it might be made so that a human touch keeps it from working.
It was a pity that he’d been in too much of a hurry to watch the ramp as it closed. If only he wouldn’t have been so busy killing Hunwei at the time.
He had scoured the ship, fighting and killing half a dozen Hunwei and several turncoats. He’d also found other human captives in addition to those that had been brought aboard just before he’d rushed into the ship.
They all stood in the back of the hold now, murmuring quietly among themselves.
A clanking sound came from the direction of the ladder. Adar spun, blaster at the ready.
He growled when he saw what was going on. “Get down from there, Hucky.”
The boy flashed him a grin. “I promised to remain still for a couple of minutes. It’s already been waaay longer than that.” The kid continued to climb the ladder towards the next level of the ship.
“Hucky,” Melynda said, covering the distance in a few quick steps. “Down!” The boy continued to climb higher, heedless of his mother.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Twenty One

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
The doors of the three remaining ships were still down, just as they had been earlier when Adar had encouraged the captives to flee right after the tower had killed the Hunwei. That didn’t mean Hunwei hadn’t already gone aboard and were waiting for some of the stragglers to join them. At any moment, another of the doors might shut.
How insane is this little plan of mine? Adar wondered. Waiting until the last ship? All three doors could close at once and where would I be then?
There was hardly a movement on the grounds in front of the town hall other than gusts of wind that moved leaves and grass. The stench of the dead Hunwei was still as strong as ever. Melyah, it could be weeks before it got any better. 
He was alarmed when he saw a trail of smoke coming from the ruins of the governor's mansion but after careful observation realized it was just coming from one of the smaller fires of burning Hunwei armor. The breeze was dragging the smoke, so it looked as though it was coming from the mansion.  
“Are we going to do this or what?” Barc asked with a small tremor in his voice. “I’m getting tired of waiting.”
Adar snorted. You were out cold for much of it. “Have patience,” he said instead. “We only need one ship.”
He was uncertain about what to do next. Should they go now? At least five ships had crashed, but more than that had already lifted off. They might be down to one or two groups of Hunwei, but there was no way to know. If they were to wait it out, they could get a ship without any fighting at all. 
No, he thought after he mulled it over. That’s wrong. Not only could they not afford to wait much longer because he still had Isak and his men to contend with, he knew there were tactical flaws in his logic.
 
 

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Twenty

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
The ship door closed and Adar lowered his blaster, wondering what kind of damage a blast would do to the hull of the ship. He wasn’t willing to risk taking a shot just to see what happened, but it was difficult to watch another ship slip through his grasp even though it was part of his plan to let exactly that happen. Once two more ships were gone, it would be time to make his move, but as each one disappeared, he would become more anxious about their chances.
Adar’s mouth formed a thin line when he took in the wounded man who had died within a step or two of the door. As Adar had thought, his hand and lower forearm had been taken off by a blast as well. If only the man would have ducked down. He would have blended in with the other bodies, and the Hunwei would have walked right past him.
Adar examined the distance from the man to the house.
Just that much further and we would have had a real mess on our hands, Adar thought. He wasn’t glad for the man’s death, but he was happy he hadn’t had to fight the Hunwei. The shooting would have drawn the attention of the others, and with only Barc for support, Adar didn’t think that they would have survived. He was glad he didn’t have to find out what would have happened.
It is a dangerous game I play, and so far I’m not winning it either. If I had returned directly to the Arches, I could have handled Tere and had the tablet in my hands to take care of the Hunwei. He pushed away the thought to calm his nerves. There were always ways to have done things differently. 
The whine of the engines disappeared as their volume increased to a roar. The ship lifted up into the air, hovering a few feet off the ground. After a minute or so, it gained altitude at an ever-increasing rate. The sound of its departure was loud enough to make him wonder if they were at risk of hearing loss.
A grim smile crossed Adar’s face. Maybe I’m getting too used to all this. It isn’t any louder than what I experienced outside the entrance of the Arches. If anything, that was worse because it was a much larger ship. He slung his blaster over his shoulder and covered his ears with his hands still the same, trusting his eyes to warn him of any approaching danger.
 

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Nineteen

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
The front of the town hall was all but destroyed. Adar was relieved to see that the back of the structure near where the archives were located still stood firm. He intended to go back into the archives to poke around if he got a chance, there hadn’t been time to explore during any of his previous visits. The rest of the building was on its last legs. It looked weak enough that the smallest of breezes should be enough to topple it.
It must be sturdier than it looks, Adar thought when the wind picked up, and the remaining part of the destroyed structure didn’t move.
A Hunwei ship had crashed into the field before the town hall and slammed into the building. The small side door Adar had used when leaving the town hall earlier in the day was still standing, but the great double doors were not, they had been shattered by the impact. 
A large piece of the great door lay on the ground not far from where Adar knelt, peeking out of the open door of an empty home. The great doors had been works of art. It saddened him to see them lying in pieces.
The same could be said for the town hall itself. It was a relic of the ages past. It was a shame it had made it through the invasion only to be taken out now. It may have taken more than a decade to build, but it had been destroyed in the blink of an eye.
The domed roof over the great meeting hall had caved in. Adar had noted it had suffered a lot of damage when he had passed through the large room earlier in the day, right after the tower had been activated. At least something had still been there. Now the whole of it was gone. It had stood for more than a thousand years and was gone in an instant.
Smoke still rose from the pile of burning Hunwei bodies that had blocked his path earlier. The flames had died down, and it was possible to see bits of the armor pointing out here and there, but much of it had melted as it slowly formed into a single mass.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Eighteen

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
It was difficult for Kura to avoid growling as she stormed away from Adar and the other man. She’d teamed up with Adar because he seemed to have common sense in addition to an ability to fight the Hunwei. It had been a good idea at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t be better off on her own.
Let him wait around outside the gate wondering if I’m okay, she thought. Maybe then he would appreciate the anxiety she’d experienced about whether or not he was coming back.
The very idea that Adar was going to try to take on the Hunwei to capture one of their ships was laughable, not to mention suicidal. I was wrong about him having a good head on his shoulders if he’s going to try to pull a fool stunt like that. Very wrong.
Adar hadn’t abandoned her, but he might as well have done exactly that because the consequences would be the same when the Hunwei ended up killing him.
Lars bounced on her side and reached back towards Adar, babbling away in his baby talk. The rain didn’t seem to bother him at the moment. His happy mode wasn’t going to last forever, at some point, he was going to get cold and then she’d have to deal with that as well.
Melyah be cursed if she didn’t have a dry roof over her head before that happened. If she hadn't known Lars’ mother, she would have forced Adar to take him.
Bleeding Melyah send me to the nine bleeding burning fires.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Seventeen, Part Two

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
“I need your help,” Adar said, shaking his shoulder. “We need to capture a Hunwei ship. Come, we don't have much time. After that, I’ll take you to Soret.”
Barc snorted as he looked up. “Always wanting something from me, aren’t you? Barc do this, Barc do that. Your daughter’s alive! When she clearly is not.” His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips formed a sneer. “Can’t you just give it a rest? They’re gone I tell you, gone! Saw it with my own eyes. That’s something a man shouldn’t have to see, the death of his only child.”
“Soret lives and I'll take you to her if you help me.”
“You can drop the charade,” Barc said, baring his teeth. “Why are you trying to motivate me with a lie? I know what kind of man you are. Heard it from Neare and Erro. They told me the truth about you. You're wanted for murder. I might not have believed it so readily if I hadn't witnessed Jorad killing my friends so easily. But I saw what I saw. Murderers can't love. You don’t care. About her or anyone else.”
Adar stared into the man’s eyes, wondering if he was wasting time. Melyah! Enough Hunwei had come from the crash that all of the ships could be preparing to leave. Not to mention any other turncoats left in the city or any Hunwei from the second ship he’d seen go down. He scanned the sky, but it was clear. That didn’t mean much, though, there were a lot of smoke and clouds in the sky.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Seventeen, Part One

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show:
Fire was all Adar could see. It filled his vision wherever he looked. Flames climbed the walls of the buildings and danced at the top. In many places, those walls had started to crumble. It was becoming more difficult to tell where the alley—and his path to freedom—was located.
It even seemed as if fire burned in the sky above him, though there wasn’t anything up there to burn. The thought crossed his mind that it might be a weapon of the Hunwei with which he wasn’t yet familiar, but he pushed it away. He told himself it was just the wind moving the flames and he hoped to the gods he was right.
A pool of water that had been much larger when he’d first entered the alley was now minutes away from being completely turned into steam. The flames reflected off the remnant of the pool as he splashed through it. The water that splashed onto his legs was warm. When he’d first entered the alley he’d been soaked to the bone, now his clothes were almost dry. It was a mercy he’d been thoroughly drenched by the rain when all this had started.
Wasn’t the pool on the far side, nearest where the ship went down? He shook his head as he ran without changing direction. It wasn’t the first time he’d wondered if he was turned around and running the wrong way.
Wouldn’t that just be my luck? He held his breath hoping to avoid taking in more of the smoke. Melyah knew he’d already inhaled enough of the stuff already. He’d been so focused on fighting the Hunwei he hadn’t even thought about the fact he was breathing in the heady stuff. At first, he had bent over every few steps to take a breath, but it hadn’t helped so he’d given up and pushed all the faster.
It wasn’t until he almost passed out that he tried again and lost precious time sucking in whatever air he could before his fears overcame him and propelled him forward again.
Each second that passed made it that much harder to keep from taking in the smoke. I may be headed into the belly of the beast, but at least I’ll die on my own terms, refusing to breathe of my own accord rather than choking on the smoke. He let out a snort of derision that turned into a fit for breath.
His body rebelled, and smoke was pulled into his mouth. He coughed and pushed out the breath of air he’d been holding, dying to inhale again, but knowing he shouldn’t.
The heat was unbearable. The air was poison. It was impossible to see.
Through it all, he didn’t stop moving.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Sixteen

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
Nine bleeding burning fires! Adar thought as he watched the smoke spread into the room, Hunwei outside and a fire inside. All I need now is for Tere to show up as well. Why not Isak and Erro too, so I can fight everybody at once? With his luck, Kura would show up in the middle of it all, demanding to know what was taking him so long.
Sweat trickled down Adar’s neck and onto his back as he walked over to the kitchen. When he walked in, he was relieved to see it wasn't on fire, though the ceiling was covered with smoke.
On the left side of the room was a window that looked out into the alley, but there was too much smoke outside to see through it.
A wood burning oven under the window had three loaves of fresh baked bread resting on the top that were still in the pans. Various pots hung from hooks on the ceiling, and a large wooden bowl that had been covered with a towel had formed into a domed shape.
He immediately went to another partially ajar door directly across from the one that he'd just used to enter the kitchen. Smoke came over the top and around the sides.
Adar covered the distance in three steps and swung it open. Billows of smoke and a wave of heat assaulted him, so he went to his knees and crawled forward into the room. It was bathed in a reddish orange flickering glow that came from the fires outside the building.
The smoke came through a small broken window and an open door that was tossed by the firestorm outside. The shattered pane of glass was a twin of another several feet over from the first. This window was still intact.
As his eyes adjusted to the garish light, he looked around the room, surprised there didn't appear to be any signs of fire in here. The building still held for now.