Showing results by author "D. K. Holmberg" in All Categories

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. The jobs are still dangerous, but at least he can choose. Now an old friend has invited him to the city of Yoran where the work is plentiful. The Roasted Dragon tavern is rough but cozy. The regulars are seedy but welcoming. The owner, Jessica, is fond of him. It's almost too good to be true. 

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working a menial job as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Now that his sister knows of the dragons, Jason doesn't feel as isolated in their small village. The connection to the dragons lets him protect his people along with the existence of the dragons. An attack on his home village forces Jason to go to Lachen and stop Therin for good. To do so, he'll need the help of all the dragon misfits, but can the forest dragon help him master the art of illusion in time for him to save his people?

The northern mountain village offers protection from the threat of dragons, but is a difficult place, especially for a misfit like Jason Dreshen. His days are spent hunting for food for his family, praying for warmth, and trying to hide his strange silver eye that grants him dragon sight. When a stranger visits during the local Freedom Festival searching for a different kind of dragon, everything changes.

After capturing the sorcerer called the Apostle, Gavin decided to remain in the city of Yoran where he’s become comfortable. Work that had been plentiful has dried up and comfort becomes complacency. While new friends help to find jobs, they’re not the kind of jobs an assassin trained to be the Chain Breaker should take. He’s trained to kill, not track down relics in a city that long ago banished magic. 

The powerful draasin - elemental creatures of fire not seen for a thousand years - have returned. Not all are convinced they should have been freed. As Tan struggles to learn earth shaping, he discovers dangerous fire shapers from Incendin have come to Ethea. When the city is attacked by the draasin, Tan must use his connection with them to learn why. Doing so leads him from the city and forces him to once more face the terrible shapers of Incendin, but this time bound to the draasin for help.

An ancient artifact that must be found... Terrifying creatures from dark and dangerous Incendin... And long-forgotten elementals again unleashed on the world. As an earth senser, Tan is tasked with helping guide the king's servant through the dangerous mountain passes in search of the artifact before Incendin can reach it first. But after losing his father to the war, Tan wants nothing to do with the king's demands.

The Inquisitors have been stopped, but the one who leads them remains at large. Tolan discovers a dangerous plot against the Academy - and all of Terndahl - the Inquisitors have planned for far longer than any have suspected. The power involved is unlike anything ever encountered by those within the Academy. Tolan isn’t sure he’s capable of understanding what has happened, but with his connection to the elementals, he might be the only one able. The key to what’s happening is tied to something in Tolan’s past.  

After discovering the Inquisitor’s plot within the Academy, Tolan is offered a chance to go with his father and learn from the Draasin Lord. Doing so not only means turning against the Academy and everything he has come to know, but means the Inquisitors will succeed in their plan. When the Grand Master comes to him asking a dangerous favor, Tolan must make a choice that might bring him into direct contact with the Draasin Lord. Everything he’s been taught about the elementals and the Draasin Lord is wrong.

Jason has secured a tentative peace for Dragon Haven. With his control over illusion, and the Lorach threat thwarted for now, his time is spent preparing for the next attack, knowing the Dragon Souls will not be easily stopped. An old ally to Dragon Haven returns, but Jason questions his motives - along with his techniques. Now, Jason must choose whether to stop the Dragon Souls or save them. Stopping Lorach for good might mean destroying the captured dragons. It's a choice Jason fears to make, but doing otherwise means betraying those who have come to rely upon him.

After killing one of the Elvraeth to save his friends, Rsiran finds a measure of peace, but fears that it will be short lived. When attacked using knives he forged, he is pulled into a struggle that he wants nothing to do with. Worse, friends have secrets they do not share, secrets that could place both he and Jessa in danger. Finding answers sends him Sliding throughout the city and beyond, testing his ability all while trying to understand the secret of the alloy that might be the key to their safety.

Jason spends his time trying to protect Dragon Haven and understand the dragon misfits now that he has prevented Lorach from using them. He searches for more misfits, but quickly learns he won't be able to save them all. When word of an attack on the Dragon Guard suggests Lorach is renewing their attempt to destroy the rebellion, Jason leaves to investigate. What he finds changes everything he knows about the misfits. Saving the dragons means risking everything he's gained. If he fails, the rebellion will fail and Dragon Haven will fall.

Jason has returned to the normalcy of the mountain village, but nothing is as it had been. Now connected to the Ice Dragon and responsible for keeping his presence a secret, it won't be long before the Dragon Souls return. They know the Ice Dragon exists and will stop at nothing to control him. When the Ice Dragon makes a request of Jason to search for other dragons like him, how can he refuse? The search leads Jason away from home and into direct conflict with those searching for another dragon misfit. 

The Disciples of the Draasin Lord have again been defeated, yet a traitor remains within Terndahl. The Inquisitors have come, and their presence has everyone on edge. With the help of the Keystone, Tolan has discovered the ability to shape each of the element bonds. Now that he’s passed testing to the second level at the Academy, he finally feels as if he belongs. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that his shaping is different than others - and tied to the elementals.

Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears. Forbidden from Sliding, he's apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he's banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.

Having passed his first test at the Academy, most believe Tolan has proved he belongs. Only Tolan knows the truth: that his shaping required power from the borrowed bondar — and possibly from the elementals themselves. If he can’t find a way to shape without one, he’ll be expelled from the Academy. When he intervenes to stop another attack on the city, he once again finds himself in the middle of the battle between Terndahl and the Draasin Lord. Worse, because of his continued reliance on the bondars, he begins to fear he might be responsible for releasing elementals. 

In the city of Verdholm, canals separate the highborns in the center sections of the city from the lowborns along the outer sections. The city is isolated, surrounded by a deadly swamp and steam fields which should protect the people of the city from the dangerous outside world. Until it doesn't. For Sam, an orphaned thief who wants only to protect her brother, protection means stealing enough so she can one day buy her way into a better section. She's a skilled thief, and when she's offered a job that can change everything for her, what choice does she have but to take it?

Roelle leads the Magi north to discover the secrets of the northern warriors known as the Antrilii. What she discovers forces her to question the role the Magi play in the world as she begins to realize how far they have drifted from their Founders. Rumors out of the north are much worse than she could ever imagine, and her mage warriors might be key to stopping a threat the world hasn't seen in 1,000 years.

The arrival of the mysterious Magi, along with their near invincible guardians, signals a change. For Jakob, apprentice historian, and son of a priest longing for adventure, it begins an opportunity. When his home is attacked, Jakob starts a journey that will take him far from home and everything he has ever known. Studying with a new swordmaster, he gains surprising skill, but also strange new abilities that make him fear the madness which has claimed so many has come to him.

Chenir has allied with the kingdoms. The great serpent has bonded to the lisincend. And the ancient draasin, Asboel, lies injured. Tan enters the Fire Fortress seeking an alliance with the lisincend. Doing so requires him to attempt a shaping he isn't certain he can control, and this time without his draasin for help. The Par-shon attack has reached the mainland, pushing through Chenir, as the final battle with the unstoppable Utu Tonah approaches. Survival hinges on old friends and a new connection, but can Tan control enough power to defeat him?