THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY, A Medieval Fantasy Epic by Jon F. Baxley

THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY

***A Brief Synopsis***

Kruzurk Makshare, as a young magician's apprentice, first encountered the villain, Seed of Cerberus, who was studying with Kruzurk under the master magician, Merlin. While trying to stop the Seed from stealing Merlin's tools of making, Kruzurk is cursed for life by the vindictive Seed.

As a boon to the spirit of Merlin, Kruzurk enacts a clever ruse to bring down the Seed. The plan involves a young highlander, Daynin McKinnon, who is unaware of his role in the great deception. Daynin is torn between his desire to seek riches to rebuild his ancestral home and his duty to his grandfather Ean. Desire wins out, temporarily, leading Daynin on a hair-raising adventure where he meets and falls in love with the beautiful and cunning Sabritha Kilcullen. Together, they are dragged into Kruzurk's plot to destroy the Seed. Along the way, others join them in the campaign, also unaware of the part they are to play in a nightmare of whirlwind escapades many will not survive.

Ultimately, the Seed is bested, leaving Daynin, Sabritha and Kruzurk to divide the spoils left in the ruins of Blackgloom. Daynin must then overcome a host of almost insurmountable enemies, objects and circumstances to return the Blackgloom bounty and Sabritha to his clan's ancestral home on the island of Rhum. There, he hopes to rebuild the family keep, kindle a romance with Sabritha and hold his ground against all comers.

But first, a great chase, an even greater escape and a tremendous running battle ensues, stretching across most of Scotland and the high seas and ending at the walls of Kinloch Keep. At every turn, Daynin is threatened with the loss of the bounty, his dreams and the future of his clan. He must use every ounce of wit and guile to outthink, outfight or outrun a litany of mortal and mystical adversaries and indeed, eventually change the future of the highlands forever.