#lloyd montgomery and the four silver fangblades of ouroboros

[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter Six

Lloyd fits right on in

"Rise and shine," Pythor said in a sing-song voice. "Time to go retrieve the map."

Lloyd rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his joints and muscles protesting every movement. His head pounded, making tingles of pain trickle down the sides of his skull with each beat of his heart. Even blinking hurt.

"Now?" he asked, his throat feeling dry and raw.

"Sadly, we must leave our nests. Don't worry, we'll return soon and you can go back to resting."

Lloyd sighed and got to his feet. The world tilted slightly but evened out after a moment. He followed after Pythor slithering through the crowd of hissing Serpentine.

He needed more sleep, Lloyd decided. This was all feeling too normal. He hoped that they could get the map quickly so he could go back to sleep.

He nearly tripped over Pythor's tail when he halted. Lloyd stuttered to a stop, blinking up at an open hatch that led out into the world. The light was almost blinding.

"This way, little one," Pythor said, climbing up out of the hatch.

Lloyd opened his mouth to ask how he was going to get up there, when Pythor's tail wrapped around his abdomen and pulled him up.

He was deposited on soft earth that smelled of dirt and grass and rainwater. It was a welcoming change from below. He greedily drank it in.

"Now that we're all here," Skales said, watching as Lloyd got to his feet with an unblinking gaze. "Do you mind telling us where we're going?"

"All in due time," Pythor hissed. "We don't need our… new friend to give away any details, if he is caught."

"Having some information would be beneficial to the rest of us."

Pythor simply hummed and slithered away. Leaving Skales, Lloyd, and a handful of other Serpentine to follow after him.

The walk to… well, Lloyd wasn't sure where they were going, but wherever it was, it was through the forest and out into a valley.

The hill leading down into the valley wasn't steep, but it was at a harsher angle than some of the other hills rolling down into the valley below. As far as the eye could see, there were rice paddies. There were more reflections of the cold, blue sky than the green of growing rice.

At the far end, hugging closer to the nearby mountains and on other hills, was a village. The houses were high enough from the fields that, should they flood, the homes would be untouched. A bit farther away was a much larger house — if Lloyd had to guess, it was the house of some high ranking official. Even from their perch at the edge of the forest, Lloyd could see the specks of people move around.

"This is where the map is?" Skales asked, looking around.

"You are correct," Pythor said, pointing to the larger house with a talon-like finger. "It is hidden in the daimyo's residence."

"Do you know where?" Lloyd asked, fixing his eyes on the building. It looked much smaller than most daimyo's houses that he's seen. But that meant very little. He wasn't sure how far away they were from a big city, but some places could have underground rooms or places for hiding things. At least, that was what he remembered from the one he'd been to.

"Unfortunately, no. My, ahem, scouts, could only gather so much information."

"He has scouts?" one of the Serpentine close to Lloyd quietly hissed to another.

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[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter Five

Red light changes the color of things

They untied Lloyd after that and more lights were brought out, making him blink rapidly and rub his eyes.

There were so many Serpentine all around him, flicking their tongues and staring unblinkingly at him.

“Are we sure this is a smart idea?” a blue Serpentine hissed, looking Lloyd up and down. His red eyes were nothing compared to Pythor.

Pythor, a vibrant purple color, gave a wide smile. In the array of blues, reds, greens, oranges, and blackish-grays, he stood apart. Something about how his unblinking pinkish eyes watched him from an arrow-shaped head connected to a rather long neck.

“Look at him, Skales,” he said. “He’s… not like the other surface dwellers. You can taste it on him.”

Lloyd caught the other Serpentine flicking their tongue at him — tasting the air. He dug his nails into his palms. The Serpentine, Skales, tilted their head as their eyebrows rose. The hood around its head fluttered for the briefest moment before inflating fully.

“That is surprising,” Skales said. “You don’t think…?”

“No, not him. The other one.”

“Are you sure?” a green one asked. The multiple fangs around his face made up for the lack of a neck. “He could be —”

“I don’t taste it on him,” the black and orange one said, tongue flicking back out in Lloyd’s direction.

“I don’t think that’s something —”

“We would know,” Pythor said, turning his eyes away from Lloyd to look at the green one. “That isn’t something surface dwellers can hide easily, Acidius.”“He doesn’t taste surface dweller,” Skales said. “He tastes like them.”

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[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter Two

Volleyballs can actually hurt when you get hit in the face

“Rock, paper, scissors to see who serves?” she said, meeting Gene by the net. Her grin was wide and easy, overly friendly in the way that preppy girls in movies were. She was pretty in the same way as those preppy girls in movies, though in a much more normal, pretty way and not the exaggerated Hollywood actress who was in her late 20s playing a teenager way. 

Lloyd felt a knife twist in his stomach at the thought of what Gene and the others were planning. He was half tempted to warn them, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it without tipping off Gene and his cohorts.

A few fumbled attempts at rock, paper, scissors, Sandra’s team was serving first. 

The game wasn’t terrible. Almost everyone was able to volley the ball back and forth before the ball went out of their court. And, thankfully, it went back and forth before anything happened.

Gene and the others started to used the discussed weaknesses to their advantage. It was subtle at first, but then Sandra’s team began to struggle. Excessively.

Lloyd could almost see the steam coming out of their ears. When he’d cycled around to the front, he made eye contact with Sandra. The furious look on her face faltered for a brief moment.

He opened his mouth to say something when there was the slapping sound of a ball being served and the volleys went back and forth.

And then Gene went to spike the ball. Hard.

And the only reason Lloyd knew how hard the spike was was really only because Gene’s target was Lloyd. Specifically, Lloyd’s face.

The air and all coherent thought was knocked out of him, sending him back against the glossy wood of the gymnasium floor. His head cracked against it, making him see stars — no, making him see the branches of a tree with newly budding leaves against a clear, blue sky. 

And then he was back on the gym floor. The worried faces of Sandra and her team and the sneering faces of Gene and his cohorts looking down at him.

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[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter One

An absolutely mundane start to the story

“I also wanted to make sure you were settling into the school,” she said in a quiet voice. “No trouble or anything?”

“No, just another school.” He adjusted the bag strap on his shoulder. He eyed the dry erase board behind her. Color marks from their lesson were still visible if he concentrated on them.

“With how much moving around you’ve done, I can imagine.”

“I learned a lot of practical knowledge on the dig sites.”

“Must have been interesting, being the only child on an archaeological expedition.”

Lloyd shrugged.

“They’re all kind of the same after a while. But I got some good history and language lessons from people. Things you won’t learn in a classroom.”

Ms Harada peeked at the clock and frowned.

“Do you need a hall pass for your next class?” she asked.

“No. I just have lunch.”

“Still.” She drew out a stack of passes and quickly filled one out for him, ripping it off and handing it over. “Don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“Trouble’s not a word where I come from,” he said, taking the pass.

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[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter Four

Keep calm and slither on

His head landed against the stone with a crack, and the air left his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t focus. Everything was choking him and fogging his mind. And the rushing, roaring screaming drowned out any other sense he had.

He was aware that he was being pulled somewhere and falling, and his mother was crying out. But he didn’t know what was going on.

His skin arched, as if he’d been sunburned. He didn’t repress the shudder that slipped through him, a strange cold humming from his insides.

He was aware enough that he’d landed on hard ground. It made his aching skin and bones worse.

When his lungs could finally drag in a good gasp of air, he could see nothing but a cloudless blue sky overhead.

Had he fallen asleep outside? He hadn’t done that since he was little.

At least, he thought he hadn’t.

It took him some time, but eventually he was able to sit up and look around him. 

He was in a forest, that much was evident. And it wasn’t a new forest, either. There were old and new trees intermingled, with no sign of any other human to disturb the place. The heights of all the trees varied — some reaching high, while others reached higher. He could spot one felled tree, pressing down on another. 

Early morning bird song trilled out in the bare branches above. That struck him as odd. It had been early autumn. The leaves were turning brilliant oranges and yellows and reds. But here? Here it was as if winter was ending and spring was creeping in.

The smell of green and earth mixed with the cold bite of frost. It should have smelled more of rot and burning wood.

Just where was he?

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[icy-writes]

Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros

Chapter Three

This is why we don’t play with antiques

“So, how was school today?”

“It was school. Nothing too crazy. No more volleyballs to the face. I’m excused from playing for the rest of the month.”

“We didn’t get into trouble, did we?”

Lloyd shook his head, taking a bite of his slice.

“Haven’t gotten in trouble yet.”

“I don’t like that 'yet'.”

“It’s fine, mom. Really.”

“Lloyd.”

“It’s… it’s fine, mom.” He finished off that slice and grabbed another. 

“Lloyd –”

“Mom, really.”

“Honey, You know that you can tell me anything, right? I know a lot of things are out of your control but —”

Lloyd wrinkled his nose.

“A lot of things are always out of my control. The weather, homework, the bus schedule, you picking up our lives to chase after your dream. All out of my control.”

She set her slice of pizza back down in the box and didn’t hesitate to pull him into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she said to the top of his head. “I’m… I’ve been selfish.”

“Mom, it’s okay,” he said, wrapping his own arms around her.

“No, it’s not okay, Lloyd.” She pulled back to look into his eyes. “You deserve to be a kid and make friends, and kiss boys and girls or whatever, and flunk out of your classes, and be the cool kid in school. Just like everybody else.”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” he said, “I’m not a cool kid. I don’t think I’ll ever be the cool kid.”

“Well, I think you’re cool.”

He gave her a smile, feeling the urge to give her a hug. He finished his pizza instead.

“Thanks, mom.”

They allowed the quiet to pass between them again. Only when the pizza was all gone did she speak.

“Well, I need to get back to work,” she said. “And you’ve got homework to complete. Want to work in here? I’ll let you use my computer. No playing games though. I don’t need you beating my high score in Spider Solitaire.”

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[icy-writes]

Just writer things

[icy-writes]

I don't know how many people read the chapter summaries on Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros, but I'm funny in them:

[icy-writes]

Rereading bits of Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades and realizing how many clues I've put about a plot twist in these next few chapters. A plot twist that won't be revealed for a while.

[icy-writes]

Had a lovely person point out something I missed during my editing for Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades of Ouroboros a week or so ago. And finally fixed it.

If you get a notification for that, that's why.

Also, I need to work on finding either a shorter name for that or something, bc that is a mouthful.

[icy-writes]

The first chapter of Lloyd Montgomery and the Four Silver Fangblades is now available on Wattpad!

[icy-writes]

LLOYD MONTGOMERY AND THE FOUR SILVER FANGBLADES OF OUROBOROS

Book 1 of Lloyd Montgomery and the Legend of the Green Ninja

“Mom, are you —” he started to ask, only to be cut out.

“Lloyd,” she said, her eyes trained on Mr. Krunk, “what did you do?”

He looked over to the man. There was an odd light emanating from the plate. It grew brighter and brighter still.

“Mom?”

“Not him,” he heard his mother mutter. “Please, anyone but him.”

“What,” Mr. Krunk said, getting back to his feet, “did your son do, Koko?”

“Not him anyone but — Wait, what did you call me? Who are you?”

And then the light engulfed them and Lloyd felt weightless. And then, he was falling.

Synopsis

Lloyd is transported to another world and finds himself entangled in an ancient battle to stop the darkness from rising and taking control.

Summary

Lloyd just wants a permanent home. Which goes against his mother’s plans to travel around the world in search of strange, ancient pottery. Really, is it too much to ask for? Apparently it is, because on an otherwise ordinary day, he is attacked at her job and brought to Ninjago – an unusual land where there are snake people, ninjas with superpowers, and dragons. Very different from his normal life. Lloyd has traded in school and homework for helping the Serpentine stop the ninja from resurrecting the Golden Master and bringing this world, and his own, to its destruction.  Will he be able to do it? And what greater secrets are being kept from him?

Genres

Action/adventure, fantasy, fantastical history, portal fantasy/isekai

Themes

Coming of age, family, fate, identity

POV

Third person limited

Coming 31 July 2024

[icy-writes]

Spent the last 4 hours plotting something 😙