Travis Starnes

Second Down - Chapter 39

The last week of school before break flew by. I had a bunch of tests to get ready for, and not just the regular end of semester tests everyone had to take. I guess Vice Principal Ford had been paying more attention to my extra work than I’d thought she had, because she’d arranged for all of the teachers who had me on plans to get on level to give me an additional test to see where I was and if I was doing the work to justify the teachers going to effort.

While I appreciated that the...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 11

Port Caolros

Admiral Valdar wished he could have stayed on his ship. At least his quarters there, cramped as they were, had a comfortable chair for him to sit on. The temporary commander’s office, which he had taken over, was a nearly temporary shelter until the buildings of the port itself were in place.

Which wouldn’t happen until the four forts on the peninsula were finished.

Priorities being what they were, they could not waste resources on simple pl...

Second Down - Chapter 38

Update: I somehow had some duplicate text when I copied this over from my writing program. Should be fixed now.

“What if I say something stupid?” Eduardo said, not quite whining, but definitely heading that way.

We were sitting on the bleachers after school, watching Li and the rest of the team practice. Even though I’d celebrated being done with football just before Thanksgiving and having a much wider open schedule, and being able to just go home after sc...

Concept Art: Rough Sketch for next Veilguard book

I got back a rough sketch from my artists who's doing the image that will be the main art for Blackstar Legacy, and I couldn't wait till it's done to show you guys. I'm blown away by how good the heroes look.

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 10

Devnum

“You’re here very early,” Lucan’s voice came from behind him.

Hortensius stood from the small furnace that he’d been adjusting, looking up to see the shipbuilder standing a few steps away, looking tired. Which was to be expected, considering the sun was just now making its way over the horizon, washing out the torchlight the manufacturer had been operating under just a little bit before.

“Lucan! I’m glad you’re up,” he said, pushing ...

Second Down - Chapter 37 (Re-write 2-3-25)

Note: So I clearly missed the mark on the first go around of this, because most people's reads of the chapter where far off from what I was going for. Here is another try at this chapter and hopefully Blake comes off as less of a jerk here.

The rest of the holiday weekend was uncomfortable, with no one talking to anyone else and Josh strutting around when Mom wasn’t looking, acting like he was untouchable.

Which he kind of was. When Mom was around, he went back...

Second Down - Chapter 36

I stumbled down the stairs still squinting from light that was just a little too bright. It was almost noon and I’d slept half the day away, but since this was the first day of vacation, that was fine by me. Football was done and my weekends just got a lot less busy.

What I wanted more than anything at the moment was a glass of water. I’d gotten in super late from our celebration with the guys from varsity after their crushing 32-7 win in their first playoff game.

The fact tha...

Second Down - Chapter 35

I set a glass pitcher on the dining room table and double-checked the place settings. We’d moved a few chairs around to make space, and Dad had insisted we use the “nice” tablecloth, the one my mother usually saved for Easter. I was surprised he didn’t pull out the good plates, but I think there were limits to what Mom was going to allow.

It looked odd next to the chipped everyday plates, but I wasn’t complaining. It wasn’t like Eduardo was going to really notice. At exactly...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 9

Carthage

The city was quiet as it turned to evening. Winter in Africa was a far cry from how it was in Ériu, but even without the thickly packed snow, the pace slowed down this time of year.

Without harvests to sell, most of the markets were a far cry from the bustling centers of commerce they were in midsummer. People still came to the city to sell and trade wares, but as they neared the end of winter, most stayed home, limiting their need for food and supplies ...

Shattered Lands Maps: River Mark & Eastern Kingsheart

Second Down - Chapter 34

My headache and most of the soreness was gone by Monday morning, but Mr. Lassiter still had me come by first thing, even before I started training with Coach Greer, so he could check me out again.

He said I looked good and there was no sign of any lasting damage and cleared me back to practicing, although I found out that afternoon that he told Coach Holloway he didn’t want me getting hit during practice this week.

We only had one more game of the season coming up on Saturday, a...

Second Down - Chapter 33

It was weird, opening my eyes, waking up with the dark sky and stadium lights above me. It took me a second to even remember where I was, let alone why I was lying on the ground.

The world returned in stages, starting with bits of sound that slowly separated into distinct voices. Then feeling. My helmet felt tight, pressing against my temples, like it was trying to squeeze my skull. I’m not sure who, but someone thankfully slipped it off, taking away a little of the pressure.

�...

The Blackstar Legacy - Chapter 6

Osric crouched near a spot of level ground just out of sight of the road, clearing enough rocks and brush to make a good space for his friends to camp.

It had been a difficult day, at least the latter part of it. It seemed like, except for their time in Avendell, his life was destined to be one life or death fight after another. He wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Talia entered the small clearing as he rose, dusting off his hands. She wore a frown that had lingered ever si...

Second Down - Chapter 32

Thankfully, whatever annoyed Melanie wore off by the end of the day, and we talked on the phone that night for almost an hour. The fact that I had to do it sitting on the couch, with the cord wrapped around from the kitchen to the living room, made me miss cell phones from my dream life.

It was one of a dozen subtle reminders I’d get each day about all the stuff dream me had taken for granted, that were missing. Thirty years didn’t seem all that long until you realized all the thing...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 8

Carthage

Another body found floating in the harbor. That made for two so far this month, along with a man stabbed in an alley, a woman whose neck was broken when she inexplicably climbed onto a roof of a small row of homes and then fell off, and another man who just disappeared with no trace anywhere.

That one had seemed promising. Valto, a man of similar means to Geral, but with no connection to her previous agents. He’d indicated knowing some of the very low-l...

Second Down - Chapter 31

Everyone was ecstatic as we got back into the fieldhouse to get changed, roughhousing and joking, sailing high on our victory.

Well, almost everyone.

“Blake! In my office. Now!”

Coach yelled a lot, even when things were going well, so it had taken me some time to adapt to his tone. I was starting to get the hang of it, at least enough to know that this wasn’t his ‘I need to see you a minute’ voice. This was his ‘you’re in deep shit’ voice.

I didn’t re...

Cover Reveal - Second Down

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 7

Illyrian-Macedonian Border

Modius leaned against a dead, twisted juniper and surveyed the slope ahead of them. The ground was covered in a mixture of snow and rock, alternating brown and white, making for an almost serene view, if it wasn't for what lay ahead of them out of sight.

Ahead of him and slightly below him, his men fanned out, scattered along a dry riverbed, with good spacing to allow them to take some cover behind outcrops of stone and the small number ...

Second Down - Chapter 30

The rest of homecoming went well. We all went to dinner, joked and had a good time, and I put the stuff with Kenneth out of my mind. Odds were, if she did have a thing for him, it was one sided. I mean, he was a senior. He wouldn't be chasing freshmen. And it wasn't like I didn't look at girls still, even though I was more or less with Melanie.

Hell, we hadn't even said what we were yet. It was just my insecurities getting to me. After knowing Brandy, who was the first girl I actually "...

The Blackstar Legacy - Chapter 5

After leaving travelers to make their way south as best they could, they turned back north. Thankfully, the days had been uneventful, although the road was indeed nearly empty, as the travelers had described. The small section he’d seen in Farvale had been a near constant flow of people, and Osric had been picturing at least half as much as he’d seen there.

Instead, in three days of travel, they had only passed one other group, also travelers who’d been nervous to pass a heavily a...

Second Down - Chapter 29

Melanie wasn’t exactly cold to me the next day at school, but things after our disastrous study session seemed off all day. It was homecoming day and everything was crazy, so maybe it was just the whole day that felt off. We had no practice that afternoon, even though we had a game the following day, because of all the prep for the dance and for the varsity homecoming game, including a pep rally that took up the last two periods of the day.

Varsity was pumped. Today they were playing ...

Second Down - Chapter 28

I hurried into the gym, rushing enough I nearly slipped on the recently polished floor on my way in. I’d told Li at lunch I didn’t think I could make it to the tryouts because I had practice at the same time it was going on.

I still made a try for it, asking coach if I could be late to practice so I could see my friend try out for the basketball team, explaining that I’d been helping her get ready for it and really wanted to support her. To my shock, coach had said yes, although i...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 6

West African Coast

‘I must be insane to have the whole fleet out in this weather,’ Valdar thought as the deck heaved beneath him as another massive wave crashed against her hull.

Not that he’d had a lot of choice in the matter. The schooner Tiwaz had been on one of the wide patrols that he’d set up to keep an eye out for the eastern reinforcements to their now destroyed fleet that he’d been expecting for some time.

Communication delay was a serious...

Second Down - Chapter 27

Saturday we played L.D. Bell High School. I’d already played their freshman team in an away game early in the season, but this time we were playing at home, which meant we didn’t have to do the four and a half hour bus ride.

It had been my only win on the freshman team, and we repeated it again with a 21-7 win. Weirdly, that was also what we’d won by when I’d played them as a freshman. The only down part was that the hope I’d been holding onto that coach was changing his mind ...

Second Down - Chapter 26

We didn’t actually get the lock on the door until Friday afternoon. Dad wanted to wait until mom was out of the house to ‘not cause an argument,’ which I guess I could see the point of. But it also meant I put stuff I cared about in my backpack and hauled it with me to school on Thursday.

Josh was escalating and I really didn’t trust him not to do anything stupid, even for just the one day.

At least we’d gotten the mattress on Thursday. Mom saw us but was lying down on t...

Ignore that Chapter

I'm reworking the chapter that just sent, ignore it, it wasn't finished yet and shouldn't have gone out because I'm trying to figure out some changes for chapters 27 and 28. You should see Chapter 26 in a few hours.

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 5

Western Coast of Africa

Valdar stood on the beach surrounded by his men, some of whom were still unloading from the longboats pulled up in the sand. The midwinter ocean breeze was biting and cold, and he looked forward to the men getting the temporary shelters built to get in from the chill.

Around him were some of his captains, but also engineers and architects from home, legionnaires for security, and even a collection of men from Chief Ekoko’s tribe.

Th...

Second Down - Chapter 25

“Come on, I’m just trying to understand what happened,” I said as Eduardo and I walked into the cafeteria.

I’d first asked about his cousins the previous night, after we all finished dinner just before I’d gone home, but he’d found a way to keep dodging the question. I really wanted to get a better idea of how Raf had gotten them to make such huge mistakes. His mom would have answered, but kids would never tell parents, or aunts, everything.

They would tell their cousi...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 4

Devnum

Hortensius was bone tired as he hurried toward the main munitions factory. They were already stretched trying to work out the larger screw mechanism on the new ship, which was causing more issues than they had first thought it would, when he’d received an urgent message from one of his assistants. He’d left the young man to oversee getting the final stages of the new cartridges done while he was working on the naval program.

The metal cartridges themsel...

Second Down - Chapter 24

We ended up staying until the diner kicked us all out around eleven-thirty. While that wasn’t all that late, we’d also played a full football game and two hours each way on a bus. I was about dead when one of the juniors dropped me off at home, and slept until almost noon, when a knock at my door woke me up.

I cursed myself for how long I slept. Between giving up time to train with Li and how much of my Saturdays were eaten up by football, I really didn’t have the time to be sleep...