Joseph Brassey lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, two children, and two cats. In his spare time he trains in and teaches Historical European Martial Arts in his native Tacoma. He has worked everywhere from a local newspaper to the frame-shop of a crafts store to the smoke-belching interior of a house-siding factory with very questionable safety policies. Josephbrassey.wordpress.com

Skyfarer by Joseph Brassey

The Axiom Diamond is a mythical relic, with the power to show the bearer any truth they desire. Men have sought it across the Endless Sky for many centuries, but in vain.

When trainee sorceress Aimee de Laurent's first ever portal-casting goes awry, she, her mentor, and the entire crew of the skyship Elysium are thrown into the race to find the gem. Opposing them are the infamous magic-wielding knights of the Eternal Orderand their ruthless commander, Lord Azrael, who will destroy everything in his path to acquire the relic.

Surrounded by enemies, and plunged into a small nation's fight for survival, Aimee and her allies must contend with an unthroned prince, a kingdom-destroying superweapon, and a foe whose past hides secrets darker than perhaps all but the most powerful of magics can reveal…

 
 

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Excerpt

A brown-skinned woman in a dirty leather jacket appeared below and sidled up to the helm. She had a shock of blue hair, and the over-the-eyebrow glyph of the pilot's guild tattooed on her face. "Vant says we've got dock clearance."

"That was quick," Vlana said, surprised. "Must be eager to be rid of us." She flashed Harkon a grin.

"There are benefits to being known troublemakers," Harkon mused, and gave Aimee a sideways smile. Aimee paused. This was a different side of her teacher than she'd seen in the school. Outside the walls, in his own vessel, Harkon Bright seemed to breathe easier. There was an energy in the mage's eyes that had always seemed subdued within his academic surroundings. Now it pulsed with a static charge.

"Yeah, yeah," the blue-haired woman shot back. "Are we good to go, Chief?"

Harkon looked at Vlana.

"Everything's battened down," the quartermaster said. "But they won't like this."

"That," Aimee's teacher said with a boyish laugh, "is half the fun." Turning to the blue-haired woman by the helm, he said, "Clutch, tell Vant to gun the metadrive to full power. We're going straight up."

Aimee's eyes widened. "Now?"

"If I wait," Harkon said, "we'll sit in the departure queue for three hours. I don't know about you, Miss Laurent, but I'd rather not."

Clutch grabbed the communication tube. "Vant, Hark says gun it to full. We're cutting the line."

Aimee heard an irritable voice jabber back.

"Oh," Vlana snickered, "this is gonna be fun."

"Hey, remember the time we gave those Kiscadian dreadnoughts the slip near Glimmermere?" the pilot asked over her shoulder. "At least nobody's shooting at us this time."

"It's the little things," Vlana confirmed.