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Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends. 

The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.

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Huri couldn’t figure out who could have sent the message. Meet him behind the inn at the edge of town? Why? He hurried on through the streets, his robe flapping behind him. Everything seemed to be going so well. The groups they had sent against the Dwarves had worked wonders, leaving the Dwarf King so irate that he had refused to hear the King’s messengers. The palace was in an uproar over the kidnapping of the Prince, and only several unfortunate witnesses had prevented the arrest of the Marshman.

The King was thus forced to take the field in search of these bandits. As only his loyal supporters could go with him, this both provided a power vacuum in the capital city, with the Queen opposed by many of those left, and also got him out, where, in the next part of the plan, he could be killed by those very same ‘bandits’.

So this note was a sour one against all of the sweet melody he had been experiencing. Finally he reached the inn, went off behind it, and saw… the Heroiini?? “What are you doing here?” he burst out.

“He escaped,” the Heroiini responded, stoically. “I felt it my duty to tell you. And besides, you owe me my pay.”

“He escaped? How could that happen?”

“He leapt off the cliff, just past the Small Waterfall.”

Huri’s heart, which had panicked a minute ago, began to calm, and his brain, such as it was, began to calculate. True, Seth's kidnapping was the plan, but his death could serve as well, especially if no one knew of it…

“Very well, you may have what you are owed,” he said.

Bodipot, for such was the Heroiini’s name, was rather surprised. He had expected, rather, that no payment would be forthcoming. He watched suspiciously as the young Lord approached, seeming to fumble with the purse on his hip. It didn’t come as any real surprise when instead a dagger flashed in the night.

But it did surprise the young Lord when, with a flick of his spear, the Heroiini cut short his life. He barely had time to realize what had happened before his consciousness faded. “It is a good thing that he told me I could have my money before he tried that,” Bodipot said, as he got down off his horse. Huri’s purse didn’t quite have the requisite sum, so Bodipot stripped the body. He figured that the clothes, armor, and weapons would make up the difference.

“It is also a very good thing to be relieved of that vow. After I find a Wife or two, which should be easy with all this money, I am going to have to look up that young Farmer, Heroiini, or whatever he is now, and apologize. See if I can’t do something in amends other than just killing this fool.”

Still speaking to himself, the Heroiini rode off.

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