Next month, Tachyon Publications are due to publish the new novel by Dave Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell: The Runes of Engagement. Pitched as “The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft“, it’s a “delirious mashup” that pits the U.S. military against legendary monsters from fantasy novels and roleplaying games. And that sounds very cool indeed! To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share. But first, here’s the synopsis:

No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But the world fought back against the invaders as best it could, with soldiers, tactical weapons, and even some rudimentary magic.

Now a tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side of the portals. The enchanting landscape looks like Middle Earth but — to the dismay of the nerdiest soldiers — is nothing like it. While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a VIP (Very Important Princess) who could broker a strategic alliance between worlds.

*

Barden pressed the field glasses tighter to her face, shifting this way and that, trying to spot faces and clothing on the bodies streaming out of the front door of the tavern. Nothing. No Marines, just a lot of chaos.

Not good.

The exodus from the tavern wrapped up after what seemed to her like a thousand people had rushed out into the market plaza, but still no Marines.

Sunlight glinted off the polished armor of a town guard exiting the tavern. And then another. Behind them, Diaz’s team filed out and fell in smartly behind the two guards.

Two more guards exited the tavern with drawn swords, and they all stepped off.

“Fuck,” she muttered, then let one hand drop from her field glasses to key the mic on her radio. “Cale, this is Overwatch.”

“Go, Overwatch.”

“I think Corporal Diaz and his team just got busted.”

“Fuck.”

“My sentiments exactly. They’re being marched southeast toward the center of town.”

“Alright. We’re through the hedge but we popped into someone’s back yard or something. We’re split up on either side of a wall right now, trying to get into the street.”

“Roger that.”

“No chance that was just an escort?”

“Diaz would have radioed if they had acquired an honor guard.”

“Yeah.” Cale’s voice sounded heavy, even through the radio channel.

A quite deliberate twig snapped behind Barden, and then a soft, almost melodious baritone in an accent that did not belong to anyone she knew said, “That is no honor guard, and your people are in quite a bit of danger.”

Barden twisted around from prone to her back in an instant. Her right hand went to her hip where she had an M17 handgun holstered. She drew it and flicked off the safety in one motion to draw a quick bead on the man standing just below the crest of the hill, maybe just a fucking meter or so from the soles of her boots.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“A friend, to you and your people.” The man raised his hands to show he was unarmed. He did wear a sword at his belt and she spotted at least two “hidden” knives peeping from under his travel-stained clothing.

Shane, by this point, had finally gotten swung around with her rifle, after getting tangled up in the sling trying to whip around like Barden had.

At least Shane was paying attention.

“Jones! Orley! Where the fuck is my rear security?” Barden looked down the hill, past the sudden stranger, for the rest of her team, fearing the worst, but kept her sidearm pointed firmly in his direction and her finger tensed on the trigger.

Two startled squawks from farther down the hill gave her an answer. The visitor had evidently snuck past them, which was some relief. She had worried for a second that they were dead, and she eased the pressure on the trigger ever so slightly. He probably didn’t mean harm to them, then.

Probably.

“Do not blame your soldiers—”

“Marines,” Barden said, and cursed the reflex.

“—but few there are in any realm or land who can mark me when I mean to go undetected.”

“Fantastic.” A creeper, and an arrogant one at that. “What do you know about what’s happened to our people down there?”

“Hilltown is not the friendly oasis you might hope for it to be in these days.”

“Our commanders visited a month ago and met with the town elders, said it was a potential safe haven at need.” She lowered her weapon a fraction, then glanced over at Shane. If he had wanted them dead, so the cliché went, they already would have been. As much as it annoyed her. But now that she could see him, well, she thought her chances against a sword were pretty good. “Scope our people.”

Shane nodded and rolled back over, taking her weapon off the interloper.

“Your leaders were not deceived,” the stranger said, and took a half-step closer, leaning forward with his forearm against his knee. The muzzle of her sidearm remained close to his face, but Barden didn’t move it, just yet. “But the good people of this town were suborned, perhaps by servants of the Dark Lord himself. They were turned against you, not from fickleness or greed, but fear of what evil those servants might bring.”

His accent wavered all over the place, and that was distracting enough. Piercing blue eyes and a smell like he’d been in the field for a year were also distracting, albeit for entirely different reasons.

She dug her heels in and scooted a little farther from him, trying to slide sideways a bit on the crest of the hill.

“Yeah, okay, that’s cool and all. But who the hell are you?”

With a laugh, he dropped down and folded himself into a neat little lotus position, his sword angled out behind him.

“I am a friend, of course. I am known to your forces along the Escarpment, and among many of your camps.” He smiled and threw his head back, shaking greasy, lank locks of hair. “You may call me Peridot, as others of your ilk do. I am a Ranger.”

He let that hang in the air for a moment, and Barden just greeted the silence with a shrug.

“That means nothing to you?” Peridot looked just slightly wounded.

“Nope.”

“So, my renown has not spread quite as far as I had feared, then,” he mused. “Perhaps this is for the best.”

Barden finally lowered her weapon, though she didn’t holster it or safe it yet. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to help. I had heard the land tell tales of your flight from the disaster near the Silvene Forest, and hoped to aid you in your quest. You are traveling with the Lady Wíela. I would lend my sword to you, if your quest is to protect the True Silvene Heir.”

Barden jerked her head back toward the town. “Our quest? We need to know more about this danger our people are in, for starters. But I think Cale would love to talk to you about Wíela. She took off on us.”

“Cale?”

“He’s in charge—”

“Corporal, they got them to the town square,” Shane interrupted. “They’re putting the whole team in the stocks. But there’s a gibbet next to them that looks like it gets a lot of use.”

“Cale won’t be letting any of our Marines hang from a gibbet,” Barden said.

And neither would she, that was for damn sure.

Damn it, Peridot had disappeared from sight in the moment she’d just slightly turned back to Shane and the town. Barden grabbed her mic to update everyone about the situation in Hilltown.

And about their mysterious new guest Ranger.

*

Dave Klecha & Tobias S. Buckell’s The Runes of Engagement is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in North America and in the UK, on June 4th.

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