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    Outlaw Mountain
    Outlaw Mountain
    Outlaw Mountain
    Ebook52 pages37 minutes

    Outlaw Mountain

    By G R Matthews

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    About this ebook

    In the south of the Empire, Outlaws plague a small village. Gang, master of the hammer, and Liu, master of the axe, are sent to their aid, but word of a Dragon in the mountains might mean it is more than even they can handle.

    Outlaw Mountain is a short story set in the world of The Forbidden List - The Stone Road, The Blue Mountain, The Red Plains.

    Fantasy-Faction Book Club - The Stone Road, Book of the Month, June 2016
    "G.R. Matthews has taken two of the best things ever created: fantasy novels & Kung Fu movies, thrown them together into a blender and left us with something wonderful."
    Marc Aplin (Fantasy-Faction.com)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherG R Matthews
    Release dateJun 28, 2017
    ISBN9781370933433
    Outlaw Mountain
    Author

    G R Matthews

    Geoff Matthews began reading in the cot. His mother, at her wits end with the constant noise and unceasing activity, would plop him down on the soft mattress with an encyclopaedia full of pictures then quietly slip from the room. His father, ever the pragmatist, declared, that they should, “throw the noisy bugger out of the window.” Happily this event never came to pass (or if it did Geoff bounced well). Growing up, he spent Sunday afternoons on the sofa watching westerns and Bond movies with the self-same parent who had once wished to defenestrate him. When not watching the six-gun heroes or spies being out-acted by their own eyebrows he devoured books like a hungry wolf in the dead of winter. Beginning with Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke he soon moved on to Isaac Asimov. However, one wet afternoon in a book shop in his home town, not far from the standing stones of Avebury, he came across a book by David Eddings – and soon Sci-Fi gave way to Fantasy. Many years later, Geoff finally realised a dream and published his own fantasy novel, The Stone Road, in the hopes that other hungry wolves out there would find a hearty meal. You can follow him on twitter @G_R_Matthews or visit his website at www.grmatthews.com

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      Book preview

      Outlaw Mountain - G R Matthews

      Outlaw Mountain

      By

      G R Matthews

      Copyright © 2017 G R Matthews

      All rights reserved

      IN THE SOUTH OF THE EMPIRE

      You know the problem with outlaws, Liu? Gang twirled the great hammer above his head and brought it down upon the leather armoured skull of his current opponent.

      There are always more of them? Liu dropped under the wild slash of a Dao and hooked an axe blade behind another outlaw’s knee, dragging him forward, off balance. A kick to the downed man’s head sent him into oblivion.

      No, that’s not it. Gang swept his hammer left to right, crushing another’s ribs.

      Liu stepped forward, one axe rising high to deflect the sword blow aimed at his head, the other axe burying itself in the attacker’s unprotected neck. Their lack of skill?

      Keep guessing. Gang reversed his swing forcing the three who faced him to stumble backwards in panic. The large man jumped into the gap and swung again.

      Gang, Liu began, twisting around the stab of a tasselled spear and chopping at the hands that held it. I’m not one for these games.

      I have to have something to entertain me in these fights, Liu. Gang’s hammer clattered into an upraised sabre, snapping the blade and the arm that held it.

      Battle is not entertainment, Gang. Liu’s axes rose and fell, chopping down another life. We came here to help the village. Not to enjoy ourselves.

      Why can’t we do both? Gang drove another thief to his knees with a blow from the studded hammer and grabbed the last in meaty hands, lifting the man from his feet with ease.

      Keep that one alive, Gang. We need information. Liu cautioned as he wrenched his axe blade from the collar bone of the last attacker. It came free with a crack and a wet, sucking squelch and the smaller man looked at the blood with a disappointed expression. Bring him with us.

      If you don’t like blood, don’t use axes, Gang growled as he dragged the outlaw by the hair towards Liu. The outlaw’s legs scrabbled and kicked at the ground. Stop your moaning or I’ll forget my friend said to keep you alive.

      So what is the problem with outlaws? Liu said, taking a rag from inside his plain robes and wiping the last of the blood from the blades of his axes.

      They steal things, Liu. I thought you knew that. You should have got that one easily. Gang guffawed as he finished and shook the outlaw in his grasp.

      The village, Cuandixia, was set at the bottom of a snaking valley that ran northwest towards the frontier. To the west, a series of low ridges and dry valleys and, to the east, the mountains rose into the mist of the early morning. Gang, Liu and the captured outlaw followed the narrow path of the valley floor around another spur of land.

      Been here before? Liu asked, pulling the scarf tight about his throat.

      "Never understood why

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