THE THUNDER DANCE

In the land of Yanakhon, a code was once written that unlocked a latent power within the mind: a force capable of bending wills and drawing lightning from a blade. But when that knowledge spread, it brought an empire to ruin. In the chaos of the Last Stand, the only copy vanished.

Sagiron, a scrawny hunter from the Silwoods, never expected more from life than survival. But when he discovers a hidden scroll, something awakens deep inside him. Suddenly the boy who could barely hold a sword can match seasoned fighters, and Sagiron begins to believe he might finally avenge his father’s death.

But the scroll is no ordinary relic. It is the Prime Code to the Secret itself: the most dangerous knowledge ever written, for anyone can learn it. And the colonial empire’s knight-detectives are already hunting for it.

Now Sagiron must choose: claim the legacy of Yanakhon, or destroy the code forever before it falls into the wrong hands again.

Book details:

U.S Edition (103 000 words)

Third Edition | January 2025 | Helsinki

Cover art: Eagle Arts

Editing and formatting: P. Paul

Publisher: Highwater International Publishing House

Warning: spoilers ahead

Short synopsis

The last heirs of the lone survivor have taken matters into their own hands and recover their heirloom, the Prime Code: a cipher that lets anyone learn the Secret, the world’s only form of magic. Hunted by colonial knight-detectives, the heirs hide their discovery before they are run down.

Sagiron stumbles upon the scroll, only to lose his father to bandits soon after. Bent on vengeance, he trains under a local Skill Games master, but once the scroll’s significance becomes clear, the quest for justice turns into something far larger.

He and his mentor travel to the Brethren to reveal the find, who rally their order for war to reclaim their homeland. Yet the colonial empire moves first. Sagiron survives the siege that follows, learning that another copy of the Code exists.

But the enemy is closing in and driven into an ambush, he watches the cipher fall into enemy hands. With the help of an unlikely ally, he must reclaim it before the empire deciphers its power, gathering his own forces for a desperate strike on their stronghold.

Chapters

Notes. 3

Chapters. 4

Maps. 6

Of Thunder and Fire. 10

The Arkman. 12

1. Leap of Fate. 20

2. Hilltop. 28

3. Marks. 33

4. Bandits. 46

5. Alone. 56

6. Herbmaster 67

7. Baggat Deal 76

8. Skill Games. 80

9. Intruders in the Night 88

10. Lessons. 97

11. Confessions. 109

12. Tempered. 114

13. Way of the Warrior 119

14. Branding Day. 129

15. Initiation. 135

16. Practicing. 142

17. Worst Swordfighter 153

18. Thunder Dance. 161

19. Travelers. 171

20. Legacy Unveiled. 180

21. Trial of Skill 193

22. Anointed and Initiated. 204

23. Doomsday. 210

24. School of Shadows. 221

25. Crossroads. 230

26. Dead End. 233

27. Two Halves. 239

28. The Great Leader 249

29. Wagonmen. 256

30. Bethrat Walks. 264

31. Journal 270

32. Bard. 280

33. Yellow and Black. 290

34. Last Argument 296

35. Collectors. 305

36. Whistler 310

37. X-bow Squad. 317

38. Chieftain. 325

39. Past Things. 336

40. Locked in the Tower 343

41. Furious Warrioress. 354

42. Ravenstone. 365

43. Perillimoon Plot 378

44. Lightning Warrior 387

45. Empire for the Journal 403

46. Flight to Bearhill 420

Appendices. 431