Felix the Fallen: Order of Ghosts Saga Book 1

When the mad Duke raged, Felix’s world changed.

Felix the Swift is the best thief in the city and the pimple on the Duke’s rear end. When his last, grandest job goes wrong, it costs him a steep price – his entire family, including himself are sold into slavery to pay for his crimes.

Felix is dragged across the globe, from slave owner to owner, and thrown into a world of magic. He must face High-Princes, assassins, traitorous brothers, Gods, and the scorching heat of the desert. With more at stake than Felix is aware of, he must overcome obstacles laid against him; to find a way back to his homeland and free his family.

If you thirst for painful magic, grueling fights, and revenge, then you will love this action-packed story written by Nathan Pedde.

Grab a copy of Felix the Fallen today and see the wonder.

Chapter One Preview

Dawn sluggishly broke over the ancient city of Draada. Gathered around the eastern gate were citizens, workers, tradesmen, and merchants. They all waited for the gates to open for the sole purpose of leaving the city. Some headed to the outer city, while others were headed father away in the Empire of Aurre.
The Aurrians weren’t waiting for the same reason as Felix the Swift. He stood at the gate of the city waiting for it open with the morning sun. Being awake this early wasn’t a typical activity for someone who made a living prowling rooftops for easy pulls.
Felix was not only a thief, but he considered himself an exceptional thief for a sixteen-year-old. Among the thieves of Draada, who Felix called his competition, sixteen was considered an old veteran. Most thieves in the city started as children, some would say sixteen was passed prime. Most thieves either ended up as slaves or in the Legions as punishment for their crimes.
Felix was tall and skinny, weighing only eight stones. He was dressed in the dirty, rough sewn clothes of the working class. Felix’s preference was to dress in dark trousers and long tunics, as it was easier to work in the shadows of the night.
The gate was rock-hard oak with a bronze alloy sheathing, which protected the wood from fire. The gatehouse and city walls were hundreds of years old with the walls built at a time of the last Aurrian civil war. The walls were as thick as three men lying in a line and as tall as seven men standing on each other’s shoulders — withstanding attacks from unwelcome people.
A couple guards looking bored on either side of the gate. They were dressed in bronze armor with the tabard of Draada over top. They held spears and carried sizable curved tower shields on their backs. All of it was in disrepair.
Felix stood to the side and studied the crowd. It was something he did without any thought. He could tell which merchant or tradesman was armed or if they had anything that could be stolen. Packs and packages were strapped to backs of slaves or piled high onto handcarts.
A figure in a dark corner caught his eye. The young woman wore a long dark cloak with a hood and watched the crowd like Felix. At least Felix guessed she was a woman. Felix could make out the shape of her hips and breasts underneath the cloak.
Felix wasn’t even sure why his eyes caught the woman. There were bound to be more important things to study. A light flashed in the corner, and then the woman was gone. Felix scanned the crowd and couldn’t find her.
Across the street Effie, his apprentice, weaved through the crowd. He watched her pick a pocket of a plump merchant as she sauntered her way across the road.
Effie was fourteen years old. She stood up to his chest, and Felix was sure he could pick her up one-handed to throw her across the street without any real effort on his part.
Not that he had ever tried. She always kept knives on her. He has seen the result of any male encounter with them, they were usually left behind in a gutter, in a pool of their own blood.
“You’re up early,” Effie said.
“You’re up late,” Felix replied. “Busy night?”
“Not bad. I’m waiting for a couple contacts to get in on a nice pull. You?”
“I’m working on a big one,” Felix replied. “I’ll need you in on this.”
“What’s the cut?” Effie said. “I want a fair share.”
“Eighty-twenty is not fair?”
“I’m not twelve anymore.”
Felix looked down at Effie, who had her hands on her hips. “Fine. Sixty-forty. Your part’s to be a distraction. Forty’s good, considering the pull.”
Effie groaned. “Not the Duke. Anything but the duke.”
“I’ll tell you later. Now, why are you up so late?”
“I’ve got some information that may interest you.”
“Please tell.”
Effie looked at Felix and then the gate. “Wait. Your brother’s coming to town, right?”
“That’s what his letter said, according to father.”
“That complicates things and confirms it too,” Effie said. “The Duke has it out for you. He wants your name in stone.”
“What does that even mean? Name in stone?”
“You’re such a moron sometimes. Gravestone. I thought it was clever.”
Felix grunted in response and let the subject drop, returning his attention to the large gate in the distance.
He hoped the sun took its sweet time rising today. He didn’t want the gate to open. On the other side of the gate was his older brother, whom Felix had no intention of seeing ever again.
Felix’s father had other plans. The old man had demanded Felix make sure his brother arrived, then to let him know where they were living. Felix’s large family moved around a lot, as his father was poor and continuously behind on rent.
It didn’t bother Felix. He had a small flat which he rented on his own. He only pretended to live at his father’s house, and no one asked how a young man his age could afford a flat by himself.
“I said you’re not listening,” Effie said.
“Sorry,” Felix said. “You were telling me that the Duke wants me gone. I heard you. He has a nice fat bounty on my head.”
“For a while at that, but that’s beside the point.”
Movement by the gate stole Felix’s attention from his apprentice. The two city guards looked at a sun signal, a device from olden times. It glowed blue when the day had started, which unlocked the massive gate.
Felix heard it used magic to glow, and the first Duke of Draada, an Arch-Mage, built the device himself. He thought the idea of magic being real was idiocy. It didn’t exist. Magic was something belonging to charlatans and liars. Yet as the sun peeked over the horizon, the sun signal glowed blue.
From the street, a Priest of Reaur walked around up to the wall in a slow, stately march. The man was dressed in dark blue robes with a hood covering his face. He chanted words Felix didn’t understand in a low grumble.
The priest reached the sun signal and stretched out his right hand, touching it. The magical device stopped glowing, and a loud click echoed around the city gate.
The city guards marched over to the city gate and unlatched it. As the gate was unlatched, it slowly cranked backward. The bottom of the gate lifting into the air away from Felix and the city. When the gate reached horizontal, a long wood post locked the gate in place.