Jason McCammon - The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest

Written and created by

Jason McCammon

The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest

Search for the Ifa Scepter

Brown-Eyed Dreams LLC.

Published by Brown-Eyed Dreams LLC.

Valley Stream, New York, 11580

Copyright 2009 Jason McCammon

Smashwords Edition 2010

Inside artwork by Shawn Alleyne*

*except runes, runes created by JasonMcCammon.

Art copyright 2009

Cover Bomani image by Shawn Alleyne

Cover design by Jason McCammon

Ancient Lands logo by Splash @ ShrapnelStudios

Logo copyright 2009

Other cover art by Jason McCammon

Front cover copyright 2009

Back cover copyright 2009

Back cover design by Jason McCammon

Back cover- mask(family crest) by ShawnAlleyne

Artwork for, The Adventures of Farra andBomani, by James Smith

All artwork owned and copyright by Brown-EyedDreams LLC.

Senior Editor Melissa Randel El

Edited by Yanna Bille

Edited by Geneva Gibson

Edited by Gina Kim

Proofread by Candece Brickler

Proofread by Patricia Brickler

ISBN 978-0-9843120-2-3

For ordering information of current andfuture books please visit:

www.theancientlands.com

- For My Parents, who would always do

everything within theirpower to help.

- For anyone that ever tried to teach me

something. Especially theteachers

PROLOGUE

Madunia. Today, on planet Earth, in alanguage called, Swahili, it means world. I mention Earthbecause in many ways Madunia was just like it. The hearts of thepeople were filled with hopes and dreams, and it is thesefundamental virtues that have often carried them through times ofdespair and chaos.

The known world of Madunia consistedmostly of one large continent and a few small islands off itscoast. To the north were the endless sands; hot, brutal, and onlyinhabited by a few small groups of people. The rest of this largeland mass was surrounded by oceans; also assumed to be endless.

The Madunians knew nothing of the distantplaces in the galaxy. And as for the stars, well, to them, thosemagnificent points of light were the windows through which the godscould look down and observe the world which they had created,Madunia.

Our story takes place during a time whenmuch of Madunia was in turmoil, filled with war and destruction. Itstarted with a man named Montok and continued through his children.After his death, those siblings fought to control all regions ofthe world and split the lands amongst themselves.

Montoks children were fueled by nothingless than absolute greed, a need to rule, and an undying hunger toconquer. They built armies, conquered villages and kingdoms, andsought to destroy the very fabric of humanity. This, of course,resulted in any number of uprisings and resistance. The peopletried their best to thwart Montoks insatiable brood, but thearmies of the siblings, the terrible five, were too large, toobrutal, and too well equipped for the people to prevail.

Besides, these evil ones took everyadvantage of the supernatural powers they had at their disposal.They channeled into the energies of the dead with an uncannyunderstanding of the fluidic connection of the power between thelaws of nature, the power of the spirit, and the life force. Andwhen it fit their needs, they even twisted the gifts that werehanded down from the gods for their own selfish purposes.

For this story, only one of the siblingsneeds introduction, Hatari. While his sister and his brothers wagedwar in the northern regions of Madunia, Hatari was held in place atthe region furthest south, often called The ForbiddenExpanse.

At the northern border of the ForbiddenExpanse lay the Kingdom of Ufalme. This was the last of the greatKingdoms of Madunia that had yet to be conquered; the last thatstill stood strong. Hatari had laid claim to Ufalme and theForbidden Expanse, and it was his job, among his siblings, to ruleover those territories. Unfortunately for him, King Jumbe and hisarmy of warriors had proved to be unconquerable, time and timeagain. In fact, Hataris dignity had taken so many blows fromdefeat that he no longer had any humans under his command. His armynow consisted entirely of ogres, which we will touch upon later inour story.

For now, we wont focus so much on Hatarieither, for this story is not about him at all. For now, we willfocus on the Kingdom of Ufalme. The kingdom that raised a boy whowould change the fate of an empire and eventually the fate of theknown world of Madunia, altogether. This is a story about a boynamed Bomani.

Now, dont ask how I have come to know aboutany of the stories of The Ancient Lands, particularly this one. HowI have come to know anything about this planet is quite a story initself. Lets just say that I am a modern day griot, but nowherenear a real griot, in the real sense of the word. I keep my datastored on computers like everyone else. When I need information, Isend it to my brain and sift through it as I need.

A real griot, on the other hand,works quite differently. For instance, a griot of The Ancient Landswould commit all history to memory, and would then tell the storyas it was passed down to him from previous griots. I am more of ahistorian and archeologist. If you require any sort of credentialsfor proof of validity, keep in mind that I do hold severalhigh-ranking educational degrees.

To learn and understand a civilization isboth my job and my passion. My only regret is that there are fartoo many stories in the universe or even in this one simple galaxy,for that matter, to learn them all. I study them, not only toentertain myself, but also to teach others. There are always greatlessons to be learned. There are millions of stories about millionsof things that have happened in a million different places in TheAncient Lands. This is one of them.

High-pitched screams echoed across theKingdom of Ufalme. Only the sun itself could rival the energy ofthose participating, which were virtually all those that livedwithin the kingdom. A circle of women danced in unison around afire that flickered in the night, giving life to theiraccommodating and oversized shadows, which danced along the stonewalls that surrounded the encampment embellishing the effect bymimicking the dancers precisely. The spectators cheered them onwith tribal yelps and cries that put them in a self-induced,drunken state. It was a celebratory dance. This manner ofsinging and dancing would go on and off and on, untilmorning and then through the night again.

King Jumbe sat next to his Queen, Najila.Both of them were warmed by the light of the fires that blazed inrevelry. He grabbed her hand, smiled, and nodded as she returnedthe gesture. He was, at least for the moment, confident and happy,but his Queen was burdened. During the Night of the Circle everyonetook the time to be consumed with happiness, even those whose sonsparticipated in the games. The purpose of the games was two-fold.First it was to allow the greatest warriors of the village to provetheir readiness to serve their king and be awarded and praised fortheir strength and wit. Secondly, it was to celebrate thecommunity: the families, and the culture of the largest andstrongest kingdom in all of The Ancient Lands, Ufalme.