Character Interview: Lilly, Flank Hawk’s Scout

AbD's interview with character Lilly from the book Series First Civilization’s Legacy by Terry W. Ervin II

 

AbD:   Welcome to Authors by Design, Lilly. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Lilly:    Well, like the title says, I’m Flank Hawk’s scout. We met when he was running from a bunch of ogres and mud hounds, and I helped him. We hid in my riverside burrow so they lost his trail and didn’t catch him.

AbD:   Your burrow? Could you clarify that?

Lilly:    Usually I don’t talk about it, but I’m a lycanthrope. Flank Hawk calls it my ‘beast’ but really it’s just me, a different part of me that lurks inside and comes out when I allow, or when the moon is full. Somebody in the royal court whispered a rumor that I was a werewolf. That’s not true. My animal is a muskrat. Werewolves are bloodthirsty and vicious and can’t be trusted. I can be trusted. Ask anyone who I’ve scouted for.

AbD:   You’ve scouted for more people than Flank Hawk? 

Lilly:    I have, but only when Flank Hawk is serving them. He’s a mercenary. I’ve scouted for Grand Wizard Seelain, on her mission to retrieve the Blood Sword for King Tobias, and for Supreme Enchantress Thulease, when she was looking for a way to save her daughter.

I can hear and smell better than people like Flank Hawk. He first named me his scout to Belinda the Cursed. She’s the daughter of the Colonel of the West, but that’s not important now.

AbD:   What do you find important?

Lilly:    Being Flank Hawk’s friend, and helping him stay alive. He doesn’t always listen to me, but we’ve saved one another plenty of times. He gets so focused on duty that he misses what’s going on, sometimes even with the people around him. I help him with that.

AbD:   Do you have any other friends?

Lilly:    The only other person that’s been as good of a friend as Flank Hawk is Roos. He was a Crusader, and died saving me and Flank Hawk. An ogre had knocked me down and stomped on my arm. Flank Hawk carried me away while Roos stayed behind so we could escape. I hated Roos at first and he didn’t like me, but that changed. I didn’t know how much until he was gone. I really miss him.

I’m friends with Road Toad. Everyone calls him Major Jadd now, but he’ll always be Road Toad to me. He’s a serpent cavalryman for the king, so he isn’t around much. His aft-guard, Sergeant Drux, is a friend too. I think he likes me—more than I like him. Me and Grand Wizard Seelain sort of became friends, because we spent so much time together on her mission to get the Blood Sword. Lesser Enchanter Jonas was becoming a good friend, but a witch killed him. Flank Hawk killed her for doing it.

AbD:   Do you fear dying, Lilly?

Lilly:    Well, yeah. Who doesn’t? Sometimes I think Flank Hawk might not. He’d rather die than fail in his duty to someone he’s serving. That’s why I have to watch out for him.

AbD:   Who was the most recent person Mercenary Flank Hawk served, where you went along as his scout?

Lilly:    I don’t always travel with Flank Hawk. But, this last time Supreme Enchantress Thulease hired me to go along, scout for her and be part of her team. She needed to find the Sleeping Sage in the Southern Continent’s big desert, and she wanted Flank Hawk to go, because she trusts him. Plus, that creepy Imperial Seer Lochelle said it was a good idea. For there to be any chance of success, the seer said that the captain of the enchantress’s guard needed to go too. He’s an expert swordsman.

See, the problem is that Captain Flayzin blames Flank Hawk for Prince Reveron’s death. Named my friend a coward—which he ain’t. Flank Hawk is good with a spear, and can use a sword, but not all that good. He’s a healer, but not a very good one. Still, killing and healing don’t mix. People that know about magic like Enchantress Thulease and Grand Wizard Seelain and Imperial Seer Lochelle have told him that. The seer even said Flank Hawk could be a good healer if he gave up being a mercenary. He never will. I think it’s because of his sister, who was kidnapped by servants of the healing goddess, because she’d shown the ability to be a healer. Things have changed, but being a healer isn’t who Flank Hawk is. Or what he wants to be, even though it’d be safer.

Anyway, the Enchantress asked me to go because Flank Hawk needed someone he could trust, and I’m a good scout.

AbD: It sounds like you’ve had some harrowing experiences. Which of those stand out the most?

Lilly:    Once I was almost killed by a pack of dire wolves. Flank Hawk and Private Zunnert saved me. Well, they kept most of the wolves off me until Captain Bray on his dragon mount showed up to do the real saving. Going into the lair of a werebat with Flank Hawk was scary too, but the mountain hold of the Svartalfar…those dark elves are just twisted and cruel.

Actually, when Flank Hawk had to draw the Blood Sword to slay a giant that was about to stomp me, him and Roos—and then the evil sword possessed him and he was getting ready to kill me and Roos. Facing the Blood Sword. That’s what anybody with any sense would call harrowing.

AbD:   Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Lilly:    I don’t know. I won’t be working as an assistant gardener in the King’s Palace. I’ll have learned to speak and write the Crusader tongue by then. King Tobias asked me what I wanted for helping Flank Hawk finish his mission, and that’s what I asked for, so I could learn to read Roos’s holy book.

Most don’t know, but lycanthropes get old faster than most other people. In ten years I’ll still be young enough to be Flank Hawk’s scout. Unless me, or him, or we’re both dead, that’s where I’ll be.

AbD:   Thank you for answering our questions, Lilly. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Lilly:    You’re welcome. And I’ll add that anyone reading this interview should read about Flank Hawk’s tales, not only because I’m there to help him through most of what you’d call “Harrowing experiences” but because they’ll learn about my favorite place to eat. The One-Eyed Pelican. Flank Hawk says he hates it. Maybe if he didn’t count the rats in the rafters or always order that greasy fish soup…anyway, he still goes whenever me or Road Toad asks if he wants to join us. So, I don’t think he hates it as much as he says.

About the author: 

Terry W. Ervin II is an English teacher who enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction.

His First Civilization’s Legacy Series includes FLANK HAWK, BLOOD SWORD and SOUL FORGE, his newest release from Gryphonwood Press. Terry’s debut science fiction novel RELIC TECH is the first in the Crax War Chronicles and his short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies and magazines. The genres range from SF and mystery to horror and inspirational. GENRE SHOTGUN is a collection containing all of his previously published short stories.

To contact Terry or learn more about his writing endeavors, visit his website at www.ervin-author.com or his blog, Up Around the Corner at

http://uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com