Empire Rising - Hardcover

Barone, Sam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060892463 ISBN 13: 9780060892463

Publisher: William Morrow, 2007

Synopsis

It is 3157 B.C.—The beginning of the Bronze Age and the rise of cities—and at the eastern edge of the great southern desert in Mesopotamia, men are at war. Bandits and worse plunder the countryside seeking women, slaves, and gold. Into this unsettled land come the outcast Korthac and the remnants of his mighty desert fighters. They encounter a band of thieves led by Ariamus. The two join forces and set their sights on the biggest prize of all: the burgeoning city of Akkad—the town formerly known as Orak that just a few months earlier defeated a horde of raiding barbarians by building an impenetrable wall. Akkad is known not only for its riches, but also for the courage and wisdom of its leaders, the former barbarian Eskkar and his enchanting wife, Trella. Together they drove off the barbarian horde, and now they face an even more daunting challenge—to preserve their victory.

But it's only by defeating Eskkar, Trella, and the people of Akkad that Korthac and Ariamus can claim Akkad's wealth and enslave its people . . .

Korthac devises a plan to slip his men into Akkad and conquer the city from within. And while Eskkar is roaming the land, winning the trust of other towns and bringing them into his growing empire, Korthac and Ariamus strike, wreaking havoc on the young city.

Told with rich historical detail and set in a time of promise and peril, Sam Barone's thrilling, beautifully rendered tale places him in the ranks of the best historical fiction writers working today. Empire Rising is another marvelous trip into the past with an unforgettable cast of characters.

About this title

About the Author

Sam Barone was born and raised in New York City. He spent thirty years designing and developing software, and began writing seriously after his retirement. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

From the Back Cover

It is 3157 B.C.—The beginning of the Bronze Age and the rise of cities—and at the eastern edge of the great southern desert in Mesopotamia, men are at war. Bandits and worse plunder the countryside seeking women, slaves, and gold. Into this unsettled land come the outcast Korthac and the remnants of his mighty desert fighters. They encounter a band of thieves led by Ariamus. The two join forces and set their sights on the biggest prize of all: the burgeoning city of Akkad—the town formerly known as Orak that just a few months earlier defeated a horde of raiding barbarians by building an impenetrable wall. Akkad is known not only for its riches, but also for the courage and wisdom of its leaders, the former barbarian Eskkar and his enchanting wife, Trella. Together they drove off the barbarian horde, and now they face an even more daunting challenge—to preserve their victory.

But it's only by defeating Eskkar, Trella, and the people of Akkad that Korthac and Ariamus can claim Akkad's wealth and enslave its people . . .

Korthac devises a plan to slip his men into Akkad and conquer the city from within. And while Eskkar is roaming the land, winning the trust of other towns and bringing them into his growing empire, Korthac and Ariamus strike, wreaking havoc on the young city.

Told with rich historical detail and set in a time of promise and peril, Sam Barone's thrilling, beautifully rendered tale places him in the ranks of the best historical fiction writers working today. Empire Rising is another marvelous trip into the past with an unforgettable cast of characters.

Reviews

Barone returns to the cradle of civilization in his sanguinary sequel to Dawn of Empire. Lord Eskkar, a former barbarian who earlier saved the city of Akkad from almost-certain defeat, and Lady Trella, an erstwhile slave and his wife, now rule the biggest city on the Tigris. Hoping to crush the bandits marauding in the countryside and extend Akkadian rule, Eskkar dispatches one band of soldiers south from Akkad and leads another north. In Eskkar's absence, Korthac, a newly arrived Egyptian warrior posing as a trader, schemes to infiltrate the city with his followers and seize power. Korthac sends assassins to track down Eskkar, and bandits south to ambush the returning Akkadian soldiers. Inside the city, his followers attack the soldiers left behind to keep order and take a pregnant Lady Trella prisoner. The ruthless Korthac plans to kill Trella once his rule is established, but, unknown to him, Eskkar survives and is preparing to retake the city. The frenetic action might be predictable, but it's never boring. The setting is convincingly rendered, and the characters—heroes and villains—are sharply drawn. Fans of ancient historical fiction will enjoy this instructive journey to the dawn of civilization. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Empire Rising

By Sam Barone

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2007 Sam Barone
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780060892463

Chapter One

3157 B.C.E.—The City of Akkad (Orak), on the eastern bank of the Tigris River . . .

Lord Eskkar of Akkad pulled down hard on the restive horse, as impatient as its master to begin the long-awaited campaign. He had planned to be on his way soon after sunup. Instead a missing horse, then a broken pack strap, and finally two soldiers still befuddled from too much drinking the night before prevented the early departure. At last his embarrassed subcommanders signaled their readiness.

Eskkar gritted his teeth as he yanked on the halter, turned the horse around, and took the first steps to reclaim the countryside from roving bands of marauders. A few cheers came from the small crowd of Akkadians who bothered to watch his departure, but most just stared in silence. Less than two months ago every one of them had praised his name to the gods, acclaiming him ruler of Akkad for saving their lives and their homes. But already many chaffed at the very restrictions he established to protect them.

As he led his soldiers through the city's gates and out onto the plain, Eskkar knew that, at this moment, he cared more about getting out of Akkad than pacifying the surrounding farmlands. With each step away from the city he felt his responsibilities lessen and he longed to put his horse to the gallop. That would have been unfair to the seventy soldiers, only twenty of them mounted, who marched behind him. Eskkar restrained both himself and the eager horse until he reached the first of the low hills about a mile away from Akkad.

He turned his mount aside from the trail and urged the animal up the steepest part of the slope. At the crest, the horse snorted from the climb, then restlessly pawed the earth, as if to say it wanted to race across the soft grassland, not scramble up rocky and slippery inclines. Eskkar first studied the ragged column of soldiers moving beneath him. A small force for what needed to be done, but all that could be spared to drive off the marauders and bandits who had plagued the land for almost a year, thriving in the chaos caused by the barbarian invasion. The dreaded Alur Meriki horsemen had passed on, but turmoil and anarchy marked their passage throughout the land.

Eskkar shifted his gaze to the river, only a few hundred paces away. The midmorning sun reflected off the slow-moving waters of the Tigris, giving the wide waterway a rare pale blue tint. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the clean air that blew across the water, glad to be rid of the city-smell of too many men and animals living too close together. Eskkar looked back toward Akkad nestling against the great curve of the river. The tall wooden gates remained open, and rising from one of the towers that guarded them, a large banner floated in the breeze. Eskkar could just make out the stalking lion embroidered on it. The lion spirit now protected the new city, the city that had changed him from a mere soldier to captain of the guard to a fighting leader, and nearly killed him in the process.

Another horse scampered up to the hilltop and his bodyguard halted beside him. "Do you miss it already, Captain?" Grond used the old title for his commander.

"Akkad? Do I miss the stink and the noise? Or the whining and scheming? No, the place can fall to the ground for all I care. But I haven't gone a mile yet and already I'm worrying about Trella."

"Lady Trella will be well protected by the soldiers," Grond said patiently.

"I suppose she'll be safe enough for a month or so." All this had been discussed many times in the last few days. Gatus, Eskkar's second in command and the oldest of the soldiers, doted on Trella as if she were his own daughter. Officially, Gatus would command during Eskkar's absence, but everyone knew the real ruler of Akkad would be Lady Trella. Gatus, busy as ever with the training of new recruits, would do nothing without her approval.

Nevertheless, Eskkar stared at the city, with its hastily built walls that had withstood brutal attacks and still showed scars from the recent conflict. This very hilltop had served as a watching post for the five thousand barbarians who laid siege to Akkad for almost two months. A few hundred paces behind him lay the remains of the besiegers' camp. He and his men would pass through it as they journeyed northward.

A tug on the halter, and Eskkar's horse shifted to face northward. He'd seen the remnants of the onslaught, still visible everywhere around him, often enough in the last few weeks. Blackened circles of fire-split stones still contained scattered ashes marking the residue of hundreds of campfires. Animal bones lay everywhere, moved and displaced by dogs, birds, and carrion eaters. The scavengers had gorged themselves for many weeks on the battle-dead.

By now the easy pickings had disappeared, the bones gnawed clean. Human and animal waste would provide less tasty tidbits for several more weeks or until the rains came. The city's inhabitants had gathered anything of value weeks ago. They'd searched through whatever the barbarians left behind, looking for whatever they could use or sell. More than a dozen large mounds marked the burial places of the enemy dead The common burial pits contained those who had survived the battles but died from their wounds, or the dead deemed important enough to be carried back to the barbarian camp and interred in a mass grave before being covered over.

Those barbarians who died assaulting the wall suffered the final indignity—abandoned by their clan and dumped in the river by their enemies, to be carried wherever by the whim of the gods, assigned a bitter fate in the afterlife. Everyone knew that without a proper burial, the spirits of the unburied dead would wander beneath the earth for eternity, prey for the shades and demons who would live off their tormented souls.

Continues...

Excerpted from Empire Risingby Sam Barone Copyright © 2007 by Sam Barone. Excerpted by permission.
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Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060892463
• ISBN 13: 9780060892463
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480