Writing Lyam's Awakening

Time for a little background about Lyam's Awakening....

I started writing the book shortly after a stint of unemployment, it's strange I would start writing after finding a job.  It was something to do on my lunch break every day, so I started writing in a notebook.  Soon it was three college ruled notebooks of handwritten story, and when I was done it was 3.5 hand written notebooks.  

When I realized I was writing a book length tale, I bought a laptop (not a very expensive one) and transcribed the story over to the laptop.  Funny thing is it continued to grow, tripling in word count as I entered it into the laptop.  After about nine months the story was complete, so I printed it out and edited it, and then went back and expanded it even further as I was making editorial changes. 

After about a year and several revisions later, it was done, and I had the story of Lyam Draken, or so I thought.  While I was waiting for the proof copy from the publisher I got to thinking about it and decided it wasn't done, so picking up pen and paper again I started writing.  It was kind of strange to be working on a second book, while waiting for the first one to be in stores, but I still had a story to be told.

Well now both book one and two are available, and I am starting on book three in the series, even I have to wonder where Lyam will travel and who he will meet with.

another snippet Lyam's Awakening

Here is a bit more from book one of the Draken trilogy.  Book 2, "The Heart of The Forest" is now available through Amazon.com.

The next couple of days passed quickly.  They ate whatever Lyam caught in his snares, often having plenty left over to eat on the trail, the following day.  Towards the middle of the third day, there appeared to be a break in the forest ahead of them.  “Strange,” Lyam said, “we are at least another couple of days from the hills.”  Looking at Rose for a second, he shrugged and started forward; when suddenly she growled and leapt ahead of him.

            Running to keep up, Lyam pulled his bow from his back, a notched an arrow to the string.  Coming into the clearing he saw a Hill Cat, without thinking Lyam drew back and fired over Roses racing form, grazing the Hill Cats’ flank.

            Rose raced straight towards the bigger cat, and suddenly leapt sideways dodging a swipe from a large grey paw; quickly Lyam drew and released another arrow, this one striking the cat in the chest.  The beast didn’t even notice the arrow, but instead focused its attention on Rose.

            Shaking his head, he drew and fired a third arrow, this time hitting it directly behind the shoulder, and once again it ignored the attack.  In amazement, Lyam drew his short sword, and charged the cat from behind and to one side of it, as it circled Rose.

            This time the cat took notice of him, as his sword dug into its side, and spun around quickly for something that big.  The cat swung a paw at him, catching him squarely in the chest, and knocking him backwards a good five feet.

            Struggling to stand, Lyam saw the beast start to pounce towards him, only to have Rose throw herself onto its back and grab hold with her claws.  As the beast bore down on him, he drew his second sword, and thrust it upward into the cats face as hard as he could.  He immediately found his face was just inches from the cats snapping jaws for several seconds, before it stopped moving and fell over onto its side, his blade buried to the hilt in its neck.

            When he finally dragged himself out from under it, he decided it was a shared kill; as he could see where Roses teeth had dug into the back of the cats’ neck directly opposite from where his sword had entered.  If it hadn’t had such tough skin, he might have accidentally killed Rose while trying to kill it.

            Slowly he got to his feet, and retrieved the gear that he had discarded during the fight, and then proceeded over to a nearby stream to wash up.  Upon the painful removal of his leather armor, he found it had five cuts completely across the front, which matched the five deep cuts across his chest.  After cleaning and binding the wounds, he put his armor back on and proceeded to follow the stream in a north easterly direction, Rose padding along next to him, occasionally looking up at him as if she were worried.

            Unknown to him, Rose was worried, she just couldn’t tell him so, those cuts where deep, anybody else would have found their ribs severed, and even though he had washed the wounds, she could smell the infection already spreading.  Well, for now all she could do was keep an eye on him, and try to find some way to help him heal.

Introducing Lyam Draken

I have decided to start this blog, so as to share parts of the story of Lyam Draken with other folks, so let's take a random look into what is in store for him in his first adventure....

Lyam left the building thinking how nice it would be to get back to the forests. He quickly returned to the inn, retrieved his gear, and headed off towards the forest. First things first. He would check the deeper woods, and then head into the foothills, in order to see what might be pushing the animals from the forest. After that, who knows, where this might lead him.


Upon entering the forest, the first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. Looking between the trees, he drew an arrow, notched it to his bow string, and cautiously proceeded. “The forest isn’t usually this quiet,” he thought to himself as he ducked under a low branch. Carefully scanning his surroundings, he froze as he saw a young Forest Cat prowling along a branch about ten feet in front of him. Keeping one eye on the young cat, he quickly scanned the area around it for its mother. With scarcely a sound, she suddenly leapt from above and behind him. Knowing he didn’t have time to draw and fire, Lyam spun, striking her in the side with his bow, and diverting her lunge. Upon seeing her on the ground, he knew three things, one she was hungry, two she was protecting her young, and three he had fought her at the farm outside the village. Immediately he knew he would have to kill her, because she couldn’t afford to pass up the meal he resembled.

She seemed to recognize him as well; she laid her ears back and slowly started to circle to his left. Her cub was already moving towards his right, he had always assumed these animals were smart, but Lyam didn’t need to die to prove it.

Calmly he drew his short sword with his right hand, while holding his bow in his left. Suddenly she rushed. Without knowing why, Lyam stepped into her rush, and swung his bow into her mouth forcing her to the side once again. The cub charged in from behind him, and instinctively he swung back-hand striking the cub across its head with the flat of his blade, dazing it. As the cub rolled across the ground, the mother lunged again, this time Lyam leapt up in the air, and landed astride her back. Quickly she rolled over and tried to claw and bite at him, but he managed to grab the back of her neck with his left hand while stabbing her with his right.

As she died, he looked over at the cub wondering what he should do with it. He didn’t like the idea of killing it, yet wasn’t sure if he could tame it.

The cub, by now was shaking its head and slowly backing away from him.

He watched it, and slowly pulled some salted pork from his pouch. Gently he tossed it in front of the cub, causing it to start slightly, and then, smelling the meat it came forward a step to eat it.

Well, Lyam thought, at least the stuff wouldn’t go to waste, as he gently tossed another piece towards the cub. After a bit of playing ‘catch the meat’, the cub got close enough to touch. Very cautiously he stretched out his hand with a piece of meat in it.

Gently, the cub took the piece of meat, and sat down to stare at him as it chewed it.

Now that the cub was somewhat used to him, Lyam picked up his bow and started through the forest once more. He offered the cub some more meat every so often, so it would continue to follow. An hour of travel brought him to a stream where he decided to rest for the night, and to do some fishing

....well there you have it, a small piece of the book.