The Starbender Cycle 2: Book 4 - Bone Hoops of the Dark Abbey

[Excerpt from The Starbender Saga - Cycle 2: The Chronus Chronicle - Book 4 - “Bone Hoops of the Dark Abbey”, by Fetcher McMarvin]

Trevor’s body was propelled through the air, his spine curved in a balletic arc. His hide-clad foot landed on the bridge of the nose of one of the Sacred Thtong Monks with a sickening crunch. The man folded under the impact like a bird’s wing as Trevor used him to gain a height advantage over the other priests. As he slammed the lizardskin sphere into the bone-hoop suspended several feet above the arena, the gathering crowd emitted growls of confusion and disarray.

Days earlier, Trevor found himself at the curious settlement, hunched between the crag-hills of Scar Mountain like a frightened child.

“The Thtong Priests keep the be-chained the final dragon!” He remembered the voice of Throk’mag, his trusty guide, dopplering into a screech as his hulking figure slid off of one of the gavel fjords of Vol-Monar and into the black churning waters below.

Trevor approached the settlement and struck a deal with the Monks. They told him to challenge them in any physical ability that he could conceive. They weren’t prepared for basketball.

Back in the present, Trevor held aloft the sphere as the Monks groaned at his feet. The Head Monk reluctantly pulled a chain from his robes and extended it to Trevor. A single, massive black key dangled ominously from it.