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Sanctum of the Archmage: The End of the Beginning, the fourth book in Dawn of Chaos: Hell Gate, is now available from all major e-book retailers!

The previous books, including Episode III, The Massacre of Lannamon, are also available from all major e-book retailers. Click here to find them!

The road ahead suddenly took a sharp turn. Randia sprinted around the rocky corner and found herself at the edge of a cliff. To her right, she saw the winding stair that led down toward the Silver Star. And beyond the stair and several hundred feet below, she could finally see the eastern end of Lannamon.

The scene that met her gaze seemed as though taken from a nightmare. Fires raged, uncontrolled, throughout the city. Bands of demons, dragons, and Hellmen were everywhere, pillaging and killing at will. The Carlissan fleet had been burned or sunk, and the army base on the north shore of the firth was little more than a ruin.

She barely noticed it all. She stared instead, wide eyed, at the Silver Star Adventurer’s Academy. It stood just ahead of her, at the bottom of the stair and the base of the cliff.

It was burning.

The main gates had been shattered and great gaping holes had been torn in its walls. Demons surged in and around them, invading the grounds. Loud reports of magic boomed as blasts of fire and lightning tore through the few defenders who were left. The adamant and bluesteel spire of the great tower, once the pride of the academy and her grandfather’s home, was a solid column of flame.

The Star had fallen.

She stumbled forward to stand at the brink of the cliff and stared at the vista of destruction. Her one hope had been to reach the academy, to bring the ring to her grandfather. That hope was now gone.

I’ve failed them, she thought numbly. I’ve failed them all. I’m too late, and now the world will pay the price.

From Sanctum of the Archmage: The End of the Beginning by Tony Andarian

The Massacre of Lannamon is the third episode in Dawn of Chaos: Hell Gate, and the fourth installment in the Sanctum of the Archmage saga. And it’s now available for purchase from all major e-book retailers!

The first three books, including Episode II, The Ring of the Killravens, are also already available from all major e-book retailers. Click here to find them!

“I admire your determination to set the course of your own life,” Diana said at last. “I’ve always had a streak of independence, but I’ve never even thought of resisting my family’s expectations of me.”

“That sort of thing isn’t exactly encouraged in Dorian society,” he offered.

“No, it’s not. But you’ve had remarkable support for it here. From professors at the academy, even the Archmage himself. I guess that’s what’s always fascinated me about Carlissa. Even the princess, allowed to become a bard. That would be unheard of in my homeland.”

Without warning, she walked to the window and pulled aside the valence. Orion came to stand by her side, an inquisitive expression on his face. They looked out on the city together.

The Carlissan resistance was broken. Fires raged everywhere, and columns of smoke rose like orange pillars into the reddening sky. The walls and towers of the army base had been shattered and were being consumed in a raging inferno. The only soldiers they could see lay dead. Hellmen, demons, giants, and dragons roamed or flew over the streets, destroying, killing, and taking prisoners at will.

They turned to the west. An enormous force of battle demons was surging against the palace. The outer gates lay in ruins. Explosions and reports of magic echoed through the valley as the defenders fought a losing battle to hold the fortifications. Shadows were reaching across the city as the sun moved down toward the shoulder of Mount Cascade.

“All that is gone now,” she said bitterly. “Even if the people survive, and the demons don’t just slaughter us all. That budding spirit of independence will end.”

She turned to look at Orion, face haunted. “It’s going to be lost forever, isn’t it?”

He shook his head. Diana was surprised to see that defiance still burned in his eyes.

“There’s one last hope,” he said quietly.

“What?”

Orion pointed across the firth to the Silver Star Adventurer’s Academy. Another brigade of battle demons swarmed around it, but its tower still stood, gleaming proudly against the afternoon sky.

“The Archmage,” he said. “He would never surrender the city without a fight. I don’t know what he’s waiting for, or what his plan is. But he has one.” His eyes hardened. “And this battle won’t be over until he’s played his hand.”

From Sanctum of the Archmage: The Massacre of Lannamon by Tony Andarian.