The following is a scene I recently added to Bloodlust: The Blades of Khazak Khrim, the upcoming novel in my Domains of the Chosen Series. It is still fairly raw, although I did fix one sentence where I used the word enough three times.
“Candidates!” the prince’s voice carried clear and strong over the sound of the waters. “This is the final obstacle between you and your destiny. If you survive these waters you will join The Blood. You will be elevated to the status of Nobility and all of the rights and privileges of your station. You will be blessed in the eyes of the Forge Father and your offspring will have the right to train to join the Blood. Your clan will be honoured as well. I am often told to emphasize the harshness of the cold waters and the difficulty you will face holding your breath for the long minutes required to claw your way across. But I would rather tell you of what wait you on the other side. The warmth of fire and feast, women to serve you, and above all the honour of standing with me as we defend these sacred halls and earn our place at the Forge Father’s right hand!”
Durekk cheered.
The first dwarf lowered into the river was Herlin of Stonebreaker. The fast-flowing waters of the channel were so deep that only the tip of Herlin`s back-banner stood out, yet they were clear enough that he could see the other man’s form well.
Herlin began to push against the waters. He made it a about halfway paces before he paused. After a breathless moment, the banner began to move again, more slowly this time. Then less than two paces from the ramp, it shuddered to a halt once more. Several voices, led by the prince shouted encouragement. The banner twitched for a moment. Then stopped. The cheers slowly grew silent. They hooked Herlin’s banner and pulled his body out of the water to return the armour and the corpse to his clan. They treated his body like that of a warrior, despite his death. At this stage in the testing, even failure was an honour.
Durekk is a new character, one that I felt compelled to add after I finished the first draft of Blades.I tend to have minor characters here and there in the books, mostly to flesh out the world and avoid exposition without action. A minor character allows me to show the reader a part of the world that the major players don’t get to see. When possible I like to draw these characters from previous works, someone familiar for the reader to latch onto. In this case, however, there are very few familiar faces among the Vvath, with only Twin-Swords being familiar to readers.
Minor characters also have potential for larger roles later on, like many of the fighters in the Bloodlust: Red Glory. Blue Hornet is a good example of this, having become a big part of the series after being a rival fighter in Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s tale.
Durekk is one of The Blood, the warrior-nobility of Khazak Khrim. I wanted to show the reader the aspects of some of that warrior cult, which, like historical warrior cults is very admirable and heroic in many ways, and yet alien and grotesque in others. Durekk allows me to show you what The Blood are like from the inside, which is far more interesting than a clinical analysis.
Bloodlust: Domains of the Chosen 