Dragon For Hire

By Steven Michael Parker

King Leonard Kohen paced the floor of the map-room. It was after midnight. Taking another look at the map, he followed the lines of troops where Polemarch Marx's forces were gathering two turns march from the southern border of the Pale Kingdom, yet again. It had been twenty years since the last war with Darvon had taken the lives of thousands upon thousands of young men and women from his small kingdom. There had to be another way. There were barely enough soldiers to man the guard that was left. The Pale Kingdom would not survive another war with that barbaric kingdom. He racked his brain for an answer...

The answer came as a desperate plan against long odds. He sat down and hastily constructed the basic outline, developing a working idea before dawn. Refining it, he could think of only one being in all the six kingdoms, including the fae, that had a chance of pulling it off. A mercenary with no political ties and an absolute moral code. He had never failed to keep a contract. Dragon Baraxus.

Baraxus wasn't your normal fire-breathing reptile that raised hell on his surroundings when disturbed or in retribution for some perceived slight by another. He wasn't a killing, self-serving machine with an ego the size of many small nations. He was a dragon with a purpose. That purpose was the prevention of threats that could undermine the peace and cause loss of life on a massive scale. Like any dragon, he liked shiny objects of gold, silver, and jewels, but didn't hoard his riches or take payment for his services without completing a contract that he had accepted. The rulers of the kingdoms on Gysel knew him for his equanimity in dealing with them. They also knew better than to try to cheat the mercenary once he was under contract.

This is one story from many of the legendary tales that surrounded the mighty being known simply as Baraxus, told from his viewpoint in his storied career.

BARAXUS The dragon of legend

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F91M5W9G
• ISBN13: 9798283744117
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"