Lisa Shearin | Exit Strategy

Don't miss the latest in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series: ALL SPELL BREAKS LOOSE. Here's a little taste...

All Spell Breaks Loose
Chapter 1

I was going to Hell and had no clue what to pack.

Regor was the goblin capital, home to my friend Tam and thousands of other goblins. Their home. My Hell.

I'm Raine Benares. An elven seeker whose job used to be finding lost things and missing people, usually in nice, safe places like prisons and war zones. Now, thanks to a run-in with a soul- sucking rock looking for someone to call home, the entire world was about to turn into a war zone, and yours truly was the epicenter.

Yesterday the world- ending stone known as the Saghred had been stolen. I called it several other names not repeatable in public. The thing had attached itself to me and magnified my magic; and even now that it was thousands of miles away, we were still bonded. The goblin who had ordered it stolen needed me dead to break that bond and transfer control of the rock and all of its power to himself. To stand a snowball's chance in hell (excuse me, Tam's home) of destroying the rock, I needed to stay very much alive.

Hence my dilemma— save the world or die a slow and painful death. Though I couldn't exactly call my situation a dilemma. A dilemma implied you had a choice. If it was up to me, somebody else could save the world; I'd just rather keep breathing. However, if I managed by some major miracle to do both, I wanted to be properly dressed for it. Head-to-toe steel surrounded by a platoon of Conclave Guardians should do the trick. Some people would call that paranoid; I called it barely adequate accessorizing.

But I wouldn't have a platoon, and head-to-toe steel would make running away more of a challenge than I was up for. I was armored, both leather and steel, enough for protection, but without impeding any sudden need to retreat. Less than a dozen of us would be sneaking into Regor, stealing the Saghred, destroying it in a way that would hopefully not do the same to me, and getting back to Mid with the same pieces and parts that we left with.

A handful of us against the might of the goblin king, the goblin army, and probably some absurdly huge demons who owed them all favors. Oh yeah, and one soul- hungry rock. And how could I forget an all- powerful, fledgling goblin demigod by the name of Sarad Nukpana?

Survival would take a miracle.

Especially since I didn't have a lick of magic to my name. The Saghred had stolen my magic, then the goblins had stolen the stone.

It sucked to be me right now.

ABOUT ALL SPELL BREAKS LOOSE

Even on a suicide mission, you need an exit strategy.

My name is Raine Benares—and it sucks to be me right now. I'm a seeker who managed to "find" the Saghred, a soul-stealing stone that gave me unlimited power I never asked for or wanted. Now I've managed to lose the rock—and the magic it gave me—to a power-hungry goblin dark mage whose main goals are my death and world domination.

I'm still bonded to the Saghred, and the dark mage can't use the stone as long as I'm alive. If he kills me and gains control of the Saghred, he'll become an evil demigod with the seven kingdoms at his mercy. This is more than enough incentive to plan a little trip to the goblin capital of Regor with a small band of good friends, not-so-good friends, and one outright enemy. Don't ask.

All we need to do is destroy the Saghred, kill the mage, and put a renegade goblin prince on the throne. Did I mention I'll be doing that with no magic

Lisa Shearin

@lisashearin * Facebook