"Dragonslayer," by: Jules Cory —Series Tour & Giveaway!
- Katie Jenkins-Merical
- Apr 7
- 11 min read
Hi everyone. Today I am featuring the Dragonslayer Series by: Jules Cory. Check out the sneak peeks below along with details on all three books in the series. Dive in today and purchase your copies now. Happy reading :).
The discovery of a sword confirms the Gods are once again readying for war, forcing their chosen heroine to decide between loyalty or betrayal and face daemons of her making.
The Bard
Dragonslayer Book One
by: Jules Cory
Genre: Epic Fantasy Adventure, Swords and Sorcery
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Since entering the building, I had felt the soft touch of something brushing my mind. It fled whenever I tried to grasp it but returned as soon as my attention turned elsewhere. It was like the feeling of someone being in the room when you can’t see anybody there. The feeling increased in intensity as I approached this plain door. I looked at Drey and saw a frown of confusion.
‘My skin is positively crawling with tiny creatures at the amount of magick in this room,’ he whispered. ‘I’ve never encountered such blatant use before.’
He placed his hand close to the door while taking care not to touch the wood. A faint green light glowed from his palm as he moved it over the door. The colour darkened when he hovered over the latch.
‘This door is warded,’ he said as his frown deepened. ‘Nobody is walking through here without getting a mighty headache.’
He brought his other hand up to cover the back of the one hovering over the latch. He closed his eyes for several heartbeats before taking a deep breath.
‘Fuasgail,’ he breathed.
He opened his eyes as the green light faded and then dissolved into a thin mist. Drey turned to me and winked as he opened the door. The air smelt stale as I entered the narrow passageway that led away from the door. Further rooms could be seen as darker areas along the corridor. Drey led towards some stone steps leading downwards. As we stepped onto the first of them, small crystals resting in cavities on both sides glowed a pale orange. The lights illuminated the steps leading to the right and seemed to extend below the main house. My head was starting to ache with the tension behind my eyes. I suspected it had more to do with the magick that was so obvious here, than with me straining my eyes due to the low lighting.
I counted fifty steps down into an atrium. This space seemed to be more frequently used. The air was fresher and there was a woollen rug in the centre of the floor. More orange lights cast dim illumination over the room, allowing us to see several passages radiating from the atrium.
‘It’s hard to tell if anyone is around,’ said Drey, making me jump. ‘There is so much noise from the protections and the lights. It’s hard to filter the important markers from the trivial. I can’t feel any presence nearby.’
‘Which way do we go?’
Drey spun round, looking at all the options. ‘I don’t know. The whole place feels like a trap. I feel like I’ve fallen into a pit full of insects, all crawling over my skin.’ He smiled reassuringly at my horrified expression. ‘It makes it hard to concentrate.’
He hesitated a few more heartbeats before walking confidently towards a tunnel. ‘This way.’ He paused at the entrance to bow enthusiastically. ‘Ladies first.’
‘Thanks very much,’ I said sarcastically, fully realising that I would spring any trap first.
I had not walked more than ten paces when there seemed to be a momentary lack of sound, as if the air had been sucked out of the tunnel. Then a sharp crack sounded behind me. I spun around with my heart pounding almost through my chest wall and was paralysed by what I saw; by the fear of something so powerful.
The entrance to the tunnel had been sealed by a large boulder of what looked like ice. I could feel the heat radiating from it curl my eyebrows and make my eyes water. I could get no closer than five paces from the rock. Trapped inside, Drey was frozen in a posture of torment. His face was contorted into a scream of agony, his eyes tightly closed. Small blue veins radiated from his neck, wrists, waist and ankles. They looked like miniature lightning bolts frozen into the ice. His hands had convulsed into claws halfway to shielding his head. The tendons in his neck stood out like small cords of rope.
I sank to my knees. Drey had been right. It was a trap. If Drey had been beaten by the magickal protections of this house, there was no hope for me. I felt crushed by the weight of failure.
BLURB:
A thrilling fantasy novel of magic and ancient pagan beliefs.
The first volume in an epic trilogy set in a land of dragons and sorcery.
Character-led fiction which explores the bonds of friendship and how they can be broken.
The discovery of a sword that had been lost for generations confirms that the Gods are readying for war once again. The sword holds the secrets to powers thought lost forever. It heralds the return of a Dragonslayer, capable of protecting humankind from the wrath of the ancient deities. But there is a problem. The sword-bearer is a seven year old girl.
Tallen learns quickly how to negotiate the politics of the royal court as she tries to find a place for herself in the capital city. She discovers a talent for being invisible in crowded places. Infiltrating restricted areas. And stealing precious items. But when her skills are commandeered by the King, she finds herself in a world of magick where her latent talents are being fought over. Unaware of her magickal ancestry, she is unprepared for the secret plots to control her and her powers. Schemes, by both friend and foe, that send her into danger.
The discovery of the Empathy Crystal forces Tallen to confront her ancient blood-line and the powers lying within her. She finds herself caught in the middle as the fault-line between the old pantheon of Gods and the new monotheistic religion cracks open. The war between neighbouring kingdoms covers the underlying battle for the power locked within the land they are fighting over. And the souls of the people living there.
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The Seer
Dragonslayer Book Two
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The storm seemed to come towards us at an unnatural speed. Every time I looked up it appeared that the clouds were closer, so that they soon covered the whole horizon and turned the sky dark. Flashes of lightning could be seen ripping across the sky and aiming to strike at the water. Sheets of rain connected the imposing clouds and the angry sea, turning the storm into an apocalyptic vision of Mobis’s charging hordes.
‘May the Fates take pity on us,’ I said quietly. ‘Do you think Villermir has discovered we are missing?’
Kade turned to find the storm had closed the distance to the horizon by half since the morning. ‘If so, it looks like he doesn’t know which direction we have taken, so is ripping up the entire ocean to get at us.’
Iced water ran down my spine. I sat watching the tempest race towards us, unable to move, unable to think clearly. Thoughts of rowing or channelling the wind were gone. I could think of nothing except our impending doom.
A blast of cold wind and the first splatters of rain nudged my mind back into focus. I stored the oars and lashed them down tightly to the floor of the boat, tucked under the curve of the side so no stray wave could dislodge them. Next was the sail. The wind threatened to rip the canvas from my grip one moment, then pull me overboard the next. I struggled with the heavy weight while the rain started pelting me, stinging any exposed skin. I squinted against the onslaught, the gloom as the clouds gathered overhead making it difficult to see.
Kade tried to help but was finding it difficult to rise in the wildly rocking boat. I shouted at him to stay where he was, gesturing to convey my message over the sound of the rain and wind which muffled my voice. The last thing I needed was for him to go overboard, and he soon came to the same conclusion. Frowning in frustration, he could do nothing but sit and watch me struggle. Eventually, I had removed the sail from the mast and dragged the canvas over to Kade.
‘Wrap yourself in this,’ I shouted into his ear. ‘It will keep the worst of the rain off you, and you can stop it being blown into the sea.’
He nodded sadly, silently pleading with me to stay under the canvas with him, but there was still work to do. The waves were now high enough to wash over the sides of the boat. I grabbed a couple of mugs and gave one to Kade. We worked as hard as we could at bailing out the water. The mugs were ridiculously inadequate and there was soon a finger-length’s depth of water in the bottom of the sloop.
The storm hit us with its full fury. Lightning crackled overhead, followed immediately by a boom of thunder that rattled the boat and had me cowering at the bottom of the craft. Rain as hard as hailstones pounded against flesh and wood, bouncing in the puddles that were forming everywhere, making movement around the boat slippery and potentially lethal. The waves grew higher, towering above the mast and lifting us high into the sky, before dropping us down again with a heart-stopping lurch. We gripped the flimsy wooden frame to stop ourselves being thrown around or tossed overboard. My nails tore into the timber as I closed my eyes tight against the horrors of the storm. My wits were about to leave me. I froze, waiting for the mountains of water to tear us apart.
The storm left as quickly as it arrived, racing across the ocean in all directions. The waves rocked the boat violently, but they no longer swept over the sides. Easing my cramped hands from the boat wall, I started bailing out the water from the bottom of the boat and this time it stayed out, the rain slowing to a steady downpour. The gloom remained and I could barely see Kade at the stern. We stared at each other for a long time, neither of us really believing that we had survived. That the little fishing sloop had stayed afloat and in one piece. That neither of us had suffered any more harm than being whipped by the wind and rain.
My nerve finally broke. I stumbled over to Kade and collapsed under his arm as he lifted up the canvas for me to crawl under. I hugged him so tightly that I thought I would crush his ribs, but could not loosen my grip. My whole body shook as I laid my head against his chest, allowing his fever heat to warm me and letting my tears soak into his tunic.
‘I can’t do this anymore,’ I sobbed. ‘I just can’t.’
‘Oh, Magpie,’ he whispered into my sodden hair.
The tears flowed harder at his use of my pet name that he hadn’t uttered for so long. He said no more, just stroked my back in long, soothing sweeps until I fell into an exhausted sleep.
BLURB:
After leaving the royal court, Tallen finds herself drawn back to the politics of a kingdom increasingly beset by war. The return of her father’s sword comes at the price of reclaiming her heritage as a Dragonslayer, while the stakes for both her personal and her prince’s freedom are becoming increasing costly.
Sent on a covert mission from her king, Tallen travels to obtain information regarding the stolen Empathy Crystal. However, Tallen soon discovers that there are other plans for her that involve her bloodline and her claim to a potentially lethal weapon. The journey becomes increasingly dangerous as others scheme to control the destructive potential of her Dragonslayer ancestry, resulting in battles with pirates and northern raiders. Her personal enemy, Villermir, is also never far from causing trouble as he learns to control the Empathy Crystal, harnessing its devastating force to crush her.
While the monotheistic patriarchy of Baila extends its tendrils into the souls of new believers, daemons and the old Gods start to take a more active role in the lives of men. Tallen finds wonders and miracles hidden in her Empathy bloodline, and a strength and resilience in her Dragonslayer blood. But dark shadows are now gathering that will require further exploration of her magical inheritance.
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The Druid
Dragonslayer Book Three
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I screeched in delight when I saw them. The ships had landed on a long, shingle beach where gently rolling dunes created a border against the moor. The invaders had not been able to travel far from their vessels, an army had waited in ambush and the two now clashed close to the dunes. I screamed again on seeing the number of daemons present. All five shamans had raised their monsters to wreak destruction. There were so many for me to play with. So many for me to destroy. I turned and banked towards the moor, releasing a torrent of fire to incinerate the four bird-daemons that dared to confront me.
I ripped. I bit. I slashed. I tore. I flew through clouds of daemon blood. My fire smothered the abhorrent ghost-army. My talons sliced into daemon flesh. My teeth grasped and my jaws crushed. I chased after a pair of horse daemons that stampeded through the humans. I swiped at the haunch of the nearest, flipping it so it crashed into the ground and twisted its neck into an unnatural position. I swept in before it had the chance to repair itself and emerald mist surrounded me. I turned towards the second daemon. It foolishly thought to challenge me, ungracefully kicking out with its thick forelimbs. I extended my rear talons and descended, striking into the beast like an eagle pinning a hare. Its horn grazed my belly when it thrashed its head. I slammed down to crush its chest.
The shamans continued to prance in the dunes. I rumbled in contempt at their juvenile antics. Insignificant humans pretending to be Gods. I spat a globule of fire at them, already rising into the air as they burned. Only one had been aware enough to run from me. He had avoided the worst of the flames but his back had still blustered from the heat and he had collapsed from the pain, scrabbling into the coarse grasses in his attempts to drag himself away from the carnage. It was pathetic. I swooped down and grasped his head, shaking him like a terrier with a rat. His neck was already broken before I dropped him. A discarded, broken toy.
I soared over the battlefield. The daemons and the wraiths had dissolved. A few humans wandered amongst the many dead. I dismissed them as unimportant, climbing high into the air to pirouette in smug satisfaction following the destruction of so many daemons.
BLURB:
Faulknar is losing the war against Lindvane, with Gallowgla and Hilman joining the fight against the kingdom. Villermir has gained mastery of the Empathy Crystal and is using it to corrupt and despoil the land. Monsters that the Dragonslayer and her dragon were created to destroy have returned to rampage across the Three Kingdoms.
Having been exiled from Faulknar as a traitor, Tallen tries to hide from her responsibilities and recover from the betrayal of those she trusted. The events within the Three Kingdoms, however, will force her to return to those she rejected and the kingdom she turned her back on. As her powers grow, dark forces swirl around her to claim those powers for themselves with enemies from her past, as well as her Goddess, seeking to use her to realise their own ambitions.
Tallen must learn to trust those who would help her and embrace her powers, knowing her greatest challenge may come from the darkness that lies within herself.
The Druid brings Tallen’s story to a violent conclusion, forcing her to face her fears as she fights to protect those she loves.
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Jules Cory
As a veterinary nurse, Jules has often eased the stresses of her canine and feline patients with stories of myth and magic, wizards and dragons. She had published chapters in academic textbooks and professional journals, but has traded the scientific formula and Harvard referencing for the creative freedom of writing fantasy novels.
The Dragonslayer series follows Tallen as she discovers what it means to be a Dragonslayer, pawn of her king and the Gods, having to navigate between friendship and betrayal, power and corruption, life and death.
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