![]() Predictably Stelinger blocked the attack, but Cid felt him falter. Seeing his opponent stagger Cid burst into motion, spacing his hands inches apart on the one end and swinging the staff full force at Stelinger’s stronger right-side. This time Stelinger could not react and took the hit on the shoulder. Retreating a pace, Cid dodged the follow-up and lunged for another serpent strike. Cid blocked and was driven back by the impact, his wrists in fiery pain at the shock of the collision. ![]() Stelinger rotated his staff to parry again and instantly used his momentum to drive an overhead strike. Cid risked ducking rather than a block and it freed him to lash at Stelinger’s ribs. Stelinger parried skilfully, spun on the spot and retaliated with a high sweeping strike. Like the namesake of his stance Cid lunged to strike, the point of the staff lashing unerringly at Stelinger’s head. The respite was brief and by design forced both men, however tired, to stand poised in order to start the silent count.ġ0 counts and 10 paces between the two men facing off, and a low murmur of anticipation grew amongst the crowd again.ĥ counts Cid snapped into a stance of serpent discipline, Stelinger lazily drawing the staff across his chest, choosing an unconvincing pose of defence given his tenacity in combat. The two men held each other’s gaze until Stelinger finally stood up, the tension between them tangible, Cid taking another step back.įrom the side the booming voice of the Commander called the duel in Cid’s favour and announced round 12. Back in the centre the man on his knee looked up in pain Stelinger’s devious smile belied his anger.Ĭid took a step back, his own flare of rage dissipating, yet his white-knuckled fists remained painfully clenched on the staff. Silence was instant and kept in check by two dozen surrounding onlookers, their faces taut and their staring intent on the duellists. ![]() Shuffling feet sailed through the sand, followed by a threesome clash of wood and punctuated by a dull thud of flesh, ending it all with a man driven to one knee. If you do find one, you might be able pick it up for a steal, and claim to your friends to have version of the book written way back when the author was still trying to piece everything together.ĭusk was upon them, the hue of an orange sky looming into the courtyard. On a last note, somewhere out there in world, might also be a few copies of the original printed Spearhead, lying forgotten in a shop or subway, and even the digital version might still be out there on some sites. To the few souls out there that had read the original Spearhead, I offer gratitude and a thank you, and hope that this new version would carry your approval as the first one did. Some changes ended up being very subtle, while others are obviously on the other side of the spectrum by necessity. This way, I get to deliver to deliver a vast amount of characters and their background stories like I always wanted to, without compromising the backbone of the greater plot. I would admit that some of the changes applied to Spearhead were a little hard to let go, but I do so knowing it was for the greater good. In essence this version of Spearhead is rewritten to make it compatible with the books that will compose the Road to Exodus series, simply because the characters and storylines complement each other greatly once I had settled on a formula. ![]() Remnant Pages would now be both a series name and a very important plot component. Many years later I decided to re-look the Remnant Pages series, and instead of discarding Spearhead completely, I decided that on the other side of the Starwall I would revive the tale of Cid and his battle with the Fallen. I had barely completed Spearhead when a much bigger plot took my fancy, and I knew I would not be satisfied if I didn't come to write Dream of Embers, to which I was willing to allocate all my resources I had used before. My excitement to create a unified story helped me make this decision, as Dream of Embers became the overarching story where once Remnant Pages was supposed to be a lone vehicle for my characters and plots. Given that their feedback was always been positive, it was with ultimate reluctance that I tackled redoing bits of the story, or rather, working over some of the detail that would make it the book I needed it to be. There are a few folks out there that read the very first edition of Spearhead. ![]()
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