Knight Jobs - Arvi and Turner's Adventures
Some villains and mysteries are too much for a sheriff to deal with. Sometimes we all need help.
When the lawkeepers in the mighty kingdom of Ǽselthŵeś face too many brigands, befuddling circumstances, or evil too strong to eradicate, they send for help. Their call goes straight to the Knights of the €lænğał King. And among the knights Arvimeer Aytenmar, Protector of the King, Chief Courtier, Wielder of Peace, is the best of the lot. There is none as skilled in battle or so stuffed with knowledge within the whole kingdom. Which means, when something comes up the rest of the kingdom can’t deal with, Arvi is shipped off to “see to it.” He’s found in far flung corners of Ǽselthŵeś dealing with do-badders, more often than at the castle as Protector of the King.
When Arvi needs help, he finds it where few would think to look; his scrappy, ill-mannered young friend from the wrong side of the streets, Turner Hitchely.
These books are the most famous and infamous of their adventures.
Wail of the Wyrm
Murder
Mystery
And Mud
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Arvimeer Aytenmar is called away by his knightly duties, again. This job finds him treading the stinking mud of Jaspur as he investigates reports of a monstrous leermackle. A bulbous wyrm, seven feet long, with six feelers that drag a man into its serrated teeth, and a tail that decapitates its prey.
But Arvi knows hunters eradicated leermackles two hundred years ago. So who and what is murdering people in the mud wastes?
Arvi aims to find out. He can only pray Turner Hitchley will be a help in the hunt, and not bumble his way into losing his head.
Volume 1
A Saga of the €lænğał Throne
Yaspur the Hard, Grand High Pumba of the Rocks, has overthrown the world. He rules behind a puppet king who usurped the throne twelve long years ago, murdering the entire royal family. Or did he? Astor Meagan, the last surviving knight, knows Yaspur is looking for something. Could it be a bigger secret than anyone has ever guessed? A chance to right the kingdom and restore a world is handed to Astor Meagan and his knife-wielding daughter. But never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined a dirty, peace-spouting, vegetarian farmer would become the pivotal point in the vast game of politics and intrigue happening on their planet’s surface.
Translated from original Łithŧǽrn by Arthur A. Simpson. Here follows his original descriptions of the separate volumes.
The Stories
Dreaded King: A Son Rises
What happens when a peace loving farmer meets a soldier missionary and his knife wielding daughter?
He finds out he is no farmer.
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There are some stories that are hard to explain, especially when they are told by several people. It is difficult to condense Charlie Biggton’s changes in life (from a small-time dreadlocked farmer, to a homeless wander, and then…well, and then to a place he never wanted) into just a few words. It is even harder to explain Corinth Meagan’s experiences, watching the weak vegetarian farmer becoming a Christian leader. I suppose the only one that is fairly easy to explain is Astor Meagan’s business in the matter. As a practical missionary soldier, his job is keeping Corinth and Charlie alive and their eyes focused on God’s goals as they find themselves racing for their lives across the world. Not our world, you understand, but the planet somewhere off in our wide universe where these texts were written. How they fell into my hands is, of course, another story.
Volume 1 of the Saga
Dreaded King: Reign Falls
Blue dragons
Twisted politics
And the dreaded Grand High Pumba of the Rocks
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Since you have read A Son Rises, you already know about Charlie’s interesting past, and Corinth’s cooking and dagger skills, and Meagan’s determination to get the true king back in place and upset the nasty plans of Yaspur, Grand High Pumba of the Rocks. Very good. Now in this volume, €hærlêm Hartsom is born; you have only sort of met him, and I find him quite an interesting fellow, whom I think you will enjoy learning about. Though not all of this second book is an enjoyable tale, the death of Charlie Biggton is a bit difficult to swallow, and…but I think I’m telling too much. I had better shut up and let you get on with reading. After all, Charlie and the Meagans are better story-tellers than I am. Go read their account, made possible by my brilliant translations into English.
Volume 2 of the Saga
Dreaded King: Knight Duty
Rich soldier and dirty street boy, stuck in the same house indefinitely,
Trying to keep a king alive.
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Arvi
I have been instructed to tell thee of my part in the business of protecting €hærlêm the Third, Dreaded King, during the imperilment of his lineage and the attempted overthrow of his reign. To do so I have had to start my tale earlier in the year, at the time when my tormentor came into my life; which finally resulted in the destruction of all my family hoped and dreamed for since my birth.
Turner
Thanks a lot, Arvi. I guess it don’t matter none to you that I’s done my part of protecting too, eh jailer? It were me that stopped that carriage of murderers running off with Charlie, and me what gave the archer in the woods something else to think about so’s the king could live long enough for you to find him. And I's only ten years yet! Don’t go shovin’ me in the dark like I ain’t around, we’s been in this together. So we’s both telling this tale. It’s a pretty good yarn, too.
Volume 3 of the Saga
Dreaded King: Heir Raising
Assassins on the move again
The Dreaded King ousted from his throne
Questing with a screaming baby
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You would assume a king forced from his throne and in hiding among the lowest dregs of his people would be decidedly depressed about it all. The Dreaded King, however, is delighted with the opportunity to escape his political duties for a time. Corinth is nearly as excited at the prospect as her husband but, what with the wailing going on every night, she is a little too worn from sleeplessness to notice. Thankfully Arvi and Turner are along to protect the exiled king, and help with Aston Hartsom, the heir to the throne, high prince, and the joy and torment of his royal parents. One thing is evident as they settle in the ancient old house on the edge of slums; the new prince has a good pair of lungs. But as the days come and go, the pleasant life in the Old Mereson Place is rudely cut short. Unpleasant plots begin to press in on the Hartsoms and their two companions. The unknown mastermind behind the king’s near murder, and his present dangerous position, is still on the move. A new danger raises its monstrous head, threatening the entire kingdom. And only the Dreaded King is equipped to combat it…with a bit of help from his clever wife and the ill-matched duo of Arvi and Turner.
Volume 4 of the Saga
Dreaded King: Splitting Heirs
The end of so much: the beginning of much more.
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Devastation is suddenly very real. Charlie and Corinth have seen it and felt it since Yaspur the Hard, but never like this. Now “heartbreak” is understood with clarity, and hopelessness invades. But with the God of grace on their side, hope is never actually gone: just delayed.
Two lines to the throne, both heirs missing; one poisoned, the other taken by an evil cult. The Dreaded King and his wife are on their trail, but even as they ride they know they are too late. Only a ten-year-old street boy stands between hope and the complete destruction of a line which has carried on unbroken for over a thousand years. But can the toughened Turner Hitchley do anything against a raging poison and looming plague?
Final Volume of the Saga
What I Learned While Writing Dreaded King
"When you write a book, you always learn something. There is always something to research, and facts you never considered tend to appear. And each year, each book always helps me know myself more, through the process of creating the work..."