by Christopher Kellen
"D’Arden Tal is an Arbiter — given up at birth to the secretive Council of Masters, to be raised and trained in the light of the manna. Only the Arbiters can withstand the toxic power of the world’s lifeblood, and purify it when it has been corrupted. For more than eight decades, D’Arden has been a champion against the darkness. There are many shadows in the world, but the azure light from his crystalline sword burns them away.
A veil of crimson death has settled over the city of Calessa. Evil rages within it, the land is frozen and bleak, and the dead once more walk among the living, consuming all in their path. The few who stand firm against the darkness grow more desperate with each passing day, and despair takes root in the hearts of the good.
His mission is simple: D’Arden must root out and destroy the source of the evil before it overwhelms the meager remains of innocent life within Calessa’s walls. This is what he was born to, what he has trained for. One more day in the perilous and deadly life of the Arbiter.
This time, though, something is waiting for him. It has been expecting him. And it knows exactly how to destroy him…"
http://www.amazon.com/Elegy-The-Arbi.../dp/B005ESFMMY
The Corpse King (Tales of Eisengoth)
"After years of nothing but grueling training and the desperate dance of death that is the life of an acolyte Arbiter, D’Arden Tal has been named an apprentice. He has been assigned to learn from Havox Khaine, one of the greatest Masters in living memory.
For two years they have traveled across the known world, and now they enter a tiny kingdom on the edge of nowhere. Rumors abound that the monarch of this kingdom is insane, and has created a demented puppet court… of the dead.
D’Arden must learn what it truly means to be an Arbiter, as he makes his first real confrontation with the horrors of corruption. Something much worse lurks within the shadows of the king’s mind than simple madness, and D’Arden will find reason to call him…
The Corpse King.
With this novelette, welcome to the world of Eisengoth: a dark fantasy realm ruled by insane gods, and the setting for ELEGY: Book One of the Arbiter Codex. Heroic fantasy for fans of Conan (Robert E. Howard), Kane (Karl Edward Wagner) or Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski) with a Lovecraftian-horror flair."
http://www.amazon.com/Corpse-King-Ta.../dp/B005MDD0PC
i'm a big fan of these books and highly recommend them to anyone looking for some current conan-style sword and sorcery. there's also a 3rd short story, Sorcerer's Code, available for 99 cents.