Into the Heart of Evil

Into the

Heart of Evil

A novel by Joel
D. Babbitt

Book Two of the
Immersive New Trilogy

Paladin
of a Hidden God

Visceral Combat, Moral Odyssey, Intrigue,

Coming of Age… and Kobolds.

THANKS!

Thanks first of all to my wife
and children for sparing me the time over the past twelve years to write this
series.  Thanks to all the many friends who have shared this journey—reading
manuscripts, playing the campaigns, and helping with editing.  Most of all,
thanks to you, the reader, for a book without readers is like an empty house—all
echoing walls and no laughter.  Enjoy, and may you find a portion of yourself
inside these pages.

Copyright © 2014 by the author

ISBN:  978-1-940880-03-7 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-940880-08-2
(paperback)

  This book is a work of fiction. 
Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s
imagination or used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.  All rights reserved.  No part
of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, without permission in writing from the author.

Art credits:

Cover Art by Kip
Ayers

Interior Art by Kip
Ayers, Anna Catherine Babbitt,

Casey Stewart, and
Joel Babbitt

Contact info
available at www.authorjoel.com

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Books by
Joel Babbitt

Paladin of
a Hidden God Trilogy:

The Trials
of Caste

Into the
Heart of Evil

The Game of
Fates

Life Sticks
of Razz Serial:

Clan Lord

Hunt Master

More Novels
and Stories:

Trouble on
Camallay (coming 2015)

Ella
Sister-Daughter (coming 2015)

Get a FREE Short Story at
AuthorJoel.com:

     http://www.authorjoel.com/free-short-story-.html

Kobolds of the Kale Gen…

Lord Karthan
, Lord of the Kale Gen.  As
leader of one of the five original kobold gens, he feels the call of ancient
covenants.  He is now positioning his gen to reclaim the ancient powers that
are their right… if he can hold onto power.

Khazak Mail Fist
, Lord Karthan’s
Chamberlain and Honor Guard Warrior Group Leader.  He is the strongest kobold
in the gen, and arguably the best warrior the gen has ever known.  He is loyal
to a fault and would do anything for his lord and master.

Khee-lar Shadow Hand
, Kale Gen leader
caste.  A warrior leader whose desire for power has led him to organize a
secret society bent on overthrowing the Kale Gen.  As a descendant of a nephew
of the last Lord Kale, he claims right of rulership over the gen.

Kiria
, daughter of the Lord of the Gen. 
Wanting to forge her own destiny in the gen, Lord Karthan’s daughter has
studied the deep secrets of the ancient magics.  Though she is no warrior, she
will walk the dangerous path laid before her.

Durik
, Adventurer Class.   Exalted from his
humble beginnings to the leader caste, strange visions and the call of destiny
follow him as he becomes embroiled in the world of political intrigue.  Through
it all, he concerns himself mostly with his companions’ welfare.

Kormach Manebrow
, the Kale Gen’s former
master trainer.  Devoted husband and father, veteran warrior, reluctant
adventurer.  He doesn’t play much in the world of politics or magic, preferring
to focus his efforts on ensuring his warriors are ready for any challenge they
must face.

Gorgon Hammer
, elite warrior and hammer
wielder.  Son of a blacksmith, strongest and most aggressive of the former
yearlings. 

Trallik
, warrior and scout.  Trallik is as
determined as he is unscrupulous.  Son of a fungus farmer, arguably the bottom
of the kobold social structure, he will not stop until he has reached the top. 
He is ready to take the next step.

Jerrig
, warrior and javelin thrower. 
Strange, subtle magical powers are manifesting themselves through Jerrig,
causing those about him to shun him… all except his cousin Durik, and to some
degree the rest of his former yearlings.

Arbelk
, warrior and climber.  Oldest son in
a large family, Arbelk’s greatest aspiration is to be a bridge master for his
warrior group.  The antics of heroes have no place in him, but he will rise to
the occasion… Fates willing.

Keryak
, warrior and spearman.  Durik’s best
friend, in part because he’s courting Durik’s younger sister Darya.  His loss
in the Trials of Caste to Durik, and his friend’s new, exalted status have left
him empty and wanting.  He hides his feelings behind the humor that is his
shield.

Troka
, warrior and two-handed
broadswordman.  Quiet and introverted, the expectations he had in his own mind
were shattered in the Trials of Caste, but he is determined to survive this new
life of a warrior and to prove his worth in the quest that is to come.

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Close-ups of each
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There were two gens in the Southern Valley; the
Kale Gen and the Krall Gen.  They were two of the original five extended kobold
families called gens, descendants of two of the five sons of Kobold, the first
sire.  Though many new gens had been formed by the diaspora of these five
original large families over the ten centuries since Kobold and his first
progeny lived, in the histories of these latter gens, spoken around cooking
fires, in great councils, and in chambers of learning, was always the name of
one of the original five gens; the gen their founder had come from.

A kobold’s ancient heritage, while it gave a sense
of pride and belonging to those of middle age, was of little interest to the
young, and was little more than a thing to ponder for the old.  But for the few
who owned relics from their magical past, bloodline was key. For many of these
gifts, it was the one criterion for access.  Without the right bloodline, these
artifacts that the god-like being called The Sorcerer gifted to their ancestors
and passed down through the generations of time were nothing more than
well-made and magically-preserved relics.

So it was that, through his mixed bloodline, Mynar
the Sorcerer, a kobold touched by the magic of this world called Dharma Kor,
was able to turn the ancient heritage stone of the Krall Gen to his purposes. 
To any who did not have what it took to use the device, it appeared as nothing
but a smooth rock.  But to Mynar, who was of the right bloodline and touched by
magic itself, it was a source of great information, and therefore of great
power.

Mynar had used his magical abilities to gain the
loyalty of many of his fellow kobolds.  He seemed to others to intuitively know
what their greatest desires were, and so had caught several in his subtle
snares.  By promising them their deepest desires, he had gotten many of them to
do his dirty work.  As his ability to subvert the system and to corrupt his
fellow kobolds increased, more information began to flow in, and more of the
kobolds in his employ began to look for ways to further his cause.

One of his most indebted kobolds was Morigar, the
youngest son of Lord Krall from the easternmost gen in the valley.  Mynar had
done many favors for the young princeling, ensuring that the betrothed of a
certain female he had feelings for never came back from a hunt, and ensuring
that the same female disappeared later when she threatened to tell all whose
baby she carried. 

Lord Krall would not have dealt kindly with his
son for such indiscretions.  Of course, it had also served Mynar’s purposes. 
After all, it certainly wouldn’t be beneficial to Mynar’s long-term plans to
have another potential Lord Krall heir, albeit illegitimate, in the way.

But Lord Krall’s youngest son had many more uses
than just information.  In fact, his true usefulness had become apparent when
Mynar had hinted that he might be willing to put Morigar on his father’s throne
if Morigar would do whatever he asked.  Morigar had instantly said yes, with no
thought to what he would be asked to do.

Of course, Mynar had lied.  He had no intention of
putting the fool on Lord Krall’s throne.  No, that prize he wanted for
himself.  But through his puppet Morigar he had acquired the Krall Stone, an artifact
that had significantly enhanced his powers. 

As he had used the stone, mixed with some of his
sorcerous powers, he had been able to discover many important things.  Though
it seemed as if the Krall Stone withheld some greater powers from him, there
were many lesser powers and much awareness that it could not withhold.

One thing it had not withheld well was its own
yearning.  It was through following the patterns of longing that emanated from
the Krall Stone that Mynar had discovered that there were four other stones
just like it.  After much struggle with the stone, it had inadvertently
revealed to him the link between the four other stones and the four other
original kobold gens, all named for one of the other sons of Father Kobold; the
Kobold Gen, the Kale Gen, the Krech Gen, and the Kormir Gen.  Though Mynar did
not understand it, the Krall Stone seemed to yearn to be in their presence.  As
such, Mynar had been able to follow the desires of the Krall Stone as it
stretched its consciousness over the distance to touch the consciousness of the
closest of those stones: the Kale Stone.

Mynar had searched long and hard for lore relating
both to the Krall Stone as well as to this other stone, the Kale Stone,
thinking that perhaps he could use it as a tool to turn the Kale Gen to his
purposes.  Finally, in the library of Lady Karaba, the lifemate of Lord Krall,
Mynar had found a prophecy written on a scroll she had brought with her from
the Kale Gen upon her joining to Lord Krall.

The prophecy was from an infant kobold who was
called Two-Toes and held the title of Oracle of the Kobold Gen, the same gen that
many of Mynar’s ancestors had come from and that carried the name of their
race.  With intense interest, Mynar had read what surely was his destiny.

Hear
now the utterances of the babe called Two-Toes, when his mouth was opened by
the power of the Creator while still an infant in his mother’s arms:

‘To
the Kobold Race was given five stones of power,

One
for the Kobold Gen, descendants of Kobold, the First Son of Kobold our First
Sire, and blessed to gather the stones;

One
for the Kale Gen, descendants of Kale, the Second Son, and blessed to host the
First Son;

One
for the Krall Gen, descendants of Krall, the Third Son, and blessed to harbor
the First Son in his quest to power;

One
for the Krech Gen, descendants of Krech, the Fourth Son, and blessed to stand
with the First Son when that which was divided is united once again.

One
for the Kormir Gen, descendants of Kormir, the Fifth Son, and blessed to come to
the First Son in his hour of need;

Hear
now the sure word of prophecy: I shall not taste of death until the stones
shall call to the rightful heirs of these great gens and they be gathered to
Palacid to claim their inheritance.  Let those who read understand, for one
shall arise who is a stranger among the southern gens, and power shall be given
him to gather the stones and to bring their heirs to his purposes, first by
greed, then by loyalty.’

Excitement greater than any he had ever felt led
Mynar to draw the only logical conclusion he could—because of his northern gen
heritage, yet being half Krall, he was the ‘stranger among the southern gens’
the prophecy mentioned.  Indeed, the fact that he had already ‘gathered’ the
Krall Stone of Power only served to further prove what he already knew. 

The last sentence of the prophecy brought Mynar
the greatest of glee.

I shall have power to bring the heir of the
last Lord Kale and the lords of all the other kobold gens to my purposes.
 
He saw no other way of interpreting that prophecy.  He was sure his destiny was
to gather the stones of power and, through their desire for the power the
stones gave them, to bring the rulers of the five great gens to his purposes,
and thereby to re-forge a greater kobold nation out of the five gens… with him
as its supreme ruler!

Since he had first discovered the prophecy of
Two-Toes, it had given him an almost impenetrable sense of his own importance
in the greater scheme of the universe as a whole, an importance that had been
only momentarily shaken by his setback at the end of the Trials of Caste, and a
surety that was only somewhat challenged by the fact that he now stood in
chains with his fellow conspirators in the dungeons of the Kale Gen.

He would escape, of that he was certain, and he
would then make amends with the kobold he had propped up as the rightful heir
of the last Lord Kale; Khee-lar Shadow Hand, for launching the insurrection
without his blessing, of that he was… almost as certain. 

Would Khee-lar accept his silver-tongued
apologies?  Mynar was confident that he would.  After all, he knew that the key
to Khee-lar’s acceptance among many of the rulers of the Kale Gen was the Kale
Stone, for without it his right to rule would always be challenged.  And only
Mynar knew where the Kale Stone was to be found. 

As time passed, Khee-lar would fulfill Mynar’s
purposes.  After Mynar consolidated power back in the Krall Gen, his loyalists
would bring the Kale Stone back from the place it had lain for this past
century or so.  Then, once Khee-lar received the stone, he would be able to
claim the right to rule the Kale Gen, and the coup would ensue in earnest.  And
then Khee-lar Shadow Hand would be caught willingly in Mynar’s trap.

Of this Mynar was sure, he would dominate Khee-lar
Shadow Hand with his sorcerous powers, magnified through the stones of power,
and Khee-lar would learn to serve him as a puppet ruler of a dominated gen… a
gen that had much to give to the kobold who could control it...

And Mynar knew, with an infernal certainty that
burned within him like a dark fire, that the Fates had selected him to be that
very kobold.