Fantasy Readers Wanted--Apply Within

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About Fantasy Readers Wanted--Apply Within

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. From The Divine Spark By Frank Fradella Fei Shang still limped a little, though the source of his injuries were now months behind him. His left arm had regained most of its mobility, and even his speech didn't require the same effort as it once had. Still ... fire was fire, and burns didn't heal. He wore a hooded robe now, and it silenced most of the gasps and whispers of those they passed. Wei Lo had thickened a bit in the intervening months, and with a full belly, he had all the boundless energy that one might expect from a boy his age. Fei Shang's pace was a bit too tedious for him, and he would often go into the forest on little excursions, always returning before dusk. He carried a makeshift wooden spear with him, and in the fading light of the evening, Fei Shang had begun to teach him the fundamentals of using it properly. They weren't exactly family, but they were both phoenixes, rising from the flames and ashes of a former life. For the time being, their path went in the same direction, and that was enough. "I'm hungry," Wei Lo said, bounding out of the forest. "Then go pick some berries." "I don't want berries! I want something else." "Well, what do you want then?" "I don't know." Fei Shang rolled his eyes and continued to limp down the wide, trampled pathway. It was a conversation they'd had daily. Up ahead, beyond the rise in the hill, two men blocked their path. The larger of the two was nearly a mountain unto himself, and his head was neatly shaved. The other was lanky, but muscular, and his chin had an odd collection of straggly hairs. Fei Shang continued to limp forward, but he took hold of Wei Lo and directed the boy behind him. "Greetings, Brother," the leaner man said. "And to you," Fei Shang said, pulling his hood back away from his face. "Gods! What happened to you?" "I had a small disagreement with a large dragon. I lost the argument." The two ruffians didn't laugh. They didn't mock. And Fei Shang's scars suddenly told a very different story. The mention of a dragon was nothing at which to scoff. They were rarer than ever, and only the occasional dropped scale or damaged tooth proved that they still existed at all. "You met a dragon?" Wei Lo exclaimed breathlessly. "You never said!" "You never asked." "Well, I didn't want to be rude," the boy said, and Fei Shang smiled. "Umm ... listen," the larger man said, "things being what they are and all, I feel bad, but we still gotta rob you." "I'm sorry?" "My friend is right, I'm afraid," the lean man said. "You're the first people to come walking this path in days, and we're flat broke. We can't let you by without emptying your purse." "Hey!" Wei Lo shouted, coming to the fore, and Fei Shang yanked him back again. "No, no," Fei Shang said. "I understand completely." "Umm ... really?" "Of course. You will understand if I don't give it up without a fight though, won't you?" "But there're two of them!" Wei Lo said. "Wei ..." "Listen to the boy," Lean said. "No sense in getting yourself killed over a few paltry coins and the contents of those bundles." "If that's all I have, then it hardly seems worth your trouble to kill me for it." "Be that as it may," the larger man said, "we have to eat." "And this is what we do," Lean said. "Nothing personal." Fei Shang nodded thoughtfully and handled his bundles over to Wei Lo. The boy made some threatening motion with his spear, and the two ruffians laughed. Fei Shang smiled, too, and turned to face his adversaries. "Kids," he said, smiling. The two men laughed good-naturedly, and it began. The two men closed in simultaneously, and Fei Shang jabbed his thumb into the larger man's eye while he drove the blunt end of the spear into the top of the other man's foot. The larger man's hands flew to his face, tears already springing from the damaged orb, and a short, sharp kick to the hollow beneath his ribs relieved him of his breath for the next few minutes. The leaner m

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