Scorpio Ablaze

Dray PrescotDray Prescot tells us in muted tones of remembered horror of the time he spent as a slave of the Shanks and Katakis in the port town of Taranjin. Taranjin is the capital of Tarankar, a country on the west coast of South Loh. Here, Prescot has been sent by the Star Lords to drive the Shanks out. He has been forced to leave his new Companions from Loh — Mevancy nal Chardaz, a most spirited young lady, and Trylon Kuong, a young nobleman of honorable and romantic notions, and Llodi, a loyal fighting man and ex caravan guard. These folk are trying to follow Prescot, whom they know as Drajak the Sudden. Prescot has had limited success in organizing the guerilla gangs in Tarankar, and his hopes are centered on a coalition of forces from allied Hamal, from his home, Vallia, and from Tsungfaril. Tsungfaril, a country across the desert to the east, has a new queen, Queen Kirsty with her consort Rodders. The Star Lords ordered Kirsty to be made queen of Tsungfaril. Now Prescot in Taranjin, employed to clean a Shank lord’s armor aboard his flagship, is beginning to sense that he faces utter failure. He tries a last throw and places incendiary devices aboard Shank ships, and then is told to clean weapons — including a great Krozair longsword. Prescot has been described as a man above middle height, with brown hair and level brown eyes, oddly brooding and dominating, with enormously broad shoulders and powerful physique. He has an unmistakable aura about him, a charisma known in Kregish as the yrium. He moves like a savage hunting animal, swift, quiet and lethal. Under the twin sun, Antares, the planet Kregen is a world of wonder and terror, of beauty and horror. Now, in the streaming mingled lights of the Suns of Scorpio, Prescot takes up the Krozair brand. He hears a commotion on the deck outside and sees Pazzian slaves about to be killed by the Shank lord using his trident. He looks along the deck hearing the shrieks of pain and fear and sees the totally unexpected. He acts at once. Alan Burt Akers