myworldinwordsandpages

Royce and Hadrian are wandering around the caves carved by a dwarf. A dwarf jester to be exact. They are looking for a way out, but were hired by the woman with them to find the treasure. Myra and Wilmer have the map pieces, but this place is a labyrinth full of puzzles, and choices that are life or death making.

I was thrilled to be back with Royce and Hadrian again. They are my favorite fantasy duo.

Tim is a wonderful voice for fantasy. He portrayed the personality of the characters well. He also did voice differences in tone to differentiate the characters. He was an enjoyable listen as my attention went to the story and not his voice, a great combination!

With this being a short story we don't get all the details of all the trials they've crossed; traps, wolves, and more. We do get the major gist of the events they went through by the injuries they've all endured, although Myra and Royce seem to be fairing better than Hadrian and Wilmer.

We are on the run though, from a huge monster of some kind. We hear the constant drum of it's feet as it nears them. They end up locked in a room with three options and water rising. What choice will they make? What choice would you make?

We do get some Royce and Hadrian banter, there personalities are the same as ever. Hadrian aways wanting to help, and Royce, well Royce is Royce. But what I did pick up on was they didn't feel the center of the story. Other characters felt to take over more, Myra and her sense of humor. She was a strong character here. And the banter between her and all the others is strong. She's even pushy to get her way. This story was more of the craftiness of a dwarf jester and tribulations they need to go through on this mission.

My favorite part is the ending where Royce has one comment for Hadrian.

Do you have to read others to read/listen to this one? No. There are drops of their first job and how long they've been working together at this point, but nothing you need to know before this story. Michael Sullivan has created this to be a stand alone short story, and it is that.