Release date: February 4, 2019
Subgenre: Sword and Sorcery
About The Tomb of the Undead Slaves:
The sellsword Thurvok and his friend and companion Meldom, thief,
cutpurse and occasional assassin, venture into the Rusted Desert to seek
the tomb of the ancient king Chagurdai and the legendary treasure
supposedly hidden there.
But once Thurvok and Meldom venture into the tomb, they find that a treasure is not all that's buried there.
This is a short story of 4100 words or 13 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.
But once Thurvok and Meldom venture into the tomb, they find that a treasure is not all that's buried there.
This is a short story of 4100 words or 13 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.
Excerpt:
Thurvok the sellsword and his friend and companion Meldom — cutpurse, thief and occasional assassin — had been trudging through the Rusted Desert for three days, when the Tomb of Chagurdai finally loomed before them.
Thurvok and Meldom came from Krysh, the wealthy oasis city, where the walls were studded with diamonds and the streets were paved with gold — or so the story went. For the truth was that Krysh was a city like any other with a criminal underbelly like any other and plenty of unscrupulous people willing to pay even more unscrupulous people to do the few things they had scruples about.
For two men of flexible morals like Thurvok and Meldom, Krysh was heaven. And so they’d earned a pretty coin doing the sort of jobs others would not do and spent it all in the taverns and whorehouses of Krysh. And now they were looking to earn even more coins to spend.
It was in one of those taverns that they’d first heard of the Tomb of Chagurdai, the mystery shrouded burial place of an ancient king that supposedly lay in the middle of the desert that stretched out from Krysh in all directions. The tomb was said to be bristling with traps and infested by monsters and demons, but if you managed to brave its myriad dangers, a great treasure was yours for the taking.
An aged adventurer had told the story to Thurvok and Meldom like he had probably told it to many others before them, if they bought him a jug of wine or a tankard of ale. And quite possibly, the story contained the same amount of truth that stories told by drunkards in taverns usually did, namely little to none.
Nonetheless, Meldom had been intrigued by the old man’s story.
“So what do you say?” he’d said to Thurvok after the old man had fallen asleep, his head dropping to the table, only narrowly missing a half-empty tankard of ale, “Do you want to give it a go?”
“Give what a go?” Thurvok, who’d been distracted by a buxom barmaid, asked.
“The tomb,” Meldom said, “Do you think we should give it a go and try to find the lost Tomb of Chagurdai?”
Thurvok took a swig of ale. “The tomb can’t be that lost, if even some old drunkard in a tavern knows where it is,” he pointed out.
Meldom rolled his eyes. “Okay, so maybe the tomb is not lost. But it’s still just lying there in the desert full of treasure for the taking. And I for one mean to grab my some of that treasure.”
“Don’t forget the monsters and demons,” Thurvok remarked, “The old man said the tomb was infested with monsters and demons.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in monsters and demons,” Meldom countered.
“I don’t,” Thurvok said, “But I also don’t believe that there is a tomb full of treasure just lying there in the desert.”
Meldom threw up his hands. “All right, all right. So maybe you’re satisfied with the meagre few coins we can earn as mercenaries, but I’m not. I’m gonna find that tomb and I’m gonna grab that treasure.” He looked straight at Thurvok. “So, are you in or out?”
“In,” Thurvok had grunted, “After all, it’s not as if I have anything better to do.”
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About Richard Blakemore:
Richard Blakemore (1900 – 1994) was a prolific writer of pulp
fiction. Nowadays, he is best remembered for creating the Silencer, a masked
vigilante in the vein of the Shadow or the Spider, during the hero pulp boom of
the 1930s. But Richard Blakemore also wrote in many other genres, including an
early sword and sorcery series about the adventures of a sellsword named
Thurvok and his companions.
Richard Blakemore's private life was almost as exciting as his fiction.
He was a veteran of World War I and II as well as a skilled sportsman and
adventurer who travelled the world during the 1920s. He may also have been the
person behind the mask of the real life Silencer who prowled New York City
between 1933 and 1942, fighting crime, protecting the innocent and punishing
the guilty, though nothing has ever been proven.
Richard Blakemore was married for more than fifty years to Constance
Allen Blakemore and the couple had four children.
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About Cora Buhlert:
Cora Buhlert was
born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time
spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA
degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently
working towards her PhD.
Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. She is the author of the Silencer series of pulp style thrillers, the Shattered Empire space opera series, the In Love and War science fiction romance series, the Helen Shepherd Mysteries and plenty of standalone stories in multiple genres.
When Cora is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. She also runs the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene and contributes to the Hugo-nominated fanzine Galactic Journey.
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