Shades Of Dark

by Justin Sloan

  “They attacked those I wanted them to attack, with only one purpose. I’d been watching your sister, and had noticed her magic. Well, my man, the one you killed, he could sense such things, and did. He knew she had power, and we meant to make it ours. The Dark Society still will, when they get their hands on her. You can’t stop them.”

  A spear of ice landed nearby. Too close. This couldn’t go on.

  Sidestepping a large, muddy puddle, Alastar tried pulling his magic. He gulped. It was gone. Not only was it gone, but he felt his legs go wobbly, his breath catching in his throat.

  He would have to rely on good old-fashioned skill, and maybe a bit of luck.

  “You only forgot one thing,” Alastar told him, gripping his sword with all his might, worried it might simply slip from his grasp.

  “And what’s that, Alastar?”

  “I’m not going to let you do any of that.” The sun set in that instant, and Alastar shouted for his sister as he stepped back, prepared for anything, hoping she knew what he wanted.

  A veil of darkness fell between him and the High Paladin, whose face was livid. He shouted and lunged, striking into the darkness, but his hubris would be his demise; Alastar had counted on that move. He had sidestepped and now lunged, thrusting the Sword of Light into an opening in Sir Gildon’s armor by the armpit. It sank into flesh, ground against bone, and then stopped.

  Alastar stumbled back, exhausted, and watched as the High Paladin collapsed to his knees, blood gushing.

  “Without me…they can’t…be controlled,” the High Paladin gasped, holding his wound, eyes wide and scared. “Without me…you’re all…screwed.”

  He pitched forward, face landing right in the mud, where he twitched and then stopped. Dead.

  “MOVE IT!” Rhona screamed, grabbing her brother under one shoulder. Lars was at his other side, and Donnon replaced Rhona. Estair came up too, and together they made it to the road again and ran.

  “Keep them off us!” Alastar shouted, though he wasn’t sure if he was ordering or pleading, or who he was directing it to.

  A wall of fire went up behind them, and he glanced back to see Donnon lifting his daughter onto his shoulders and running to catch up. Even as he shouted at her to stay out of it, she moved her hands and flames continued to grow behind them.

  Even from here Alastar could feel the heat, and there was no doubt in his mind that the flames would slow the sorcerers.

  Battle cries filled the air, along with flashes of light and explosions on both sides, more wind and ice and tearing into the earth and knocking down trees. The attack swelled, there were bursts of light, and then the sorceress was there, lifting her hand to strike. For a moment, Alastar wondered if it was over and they were all doomed. She brought her hand down and a wave of light and fire surged…but it went right past him and his friends, burning into open air and incinerating a hill not far off.

  A shout of frustration came from her direction as Alastar kept running, confused until he saw a ripple in the air around the hill and noticed Larick and Volney running at his side.

  “That was you two?” he asked.

  Volney stumbled, but Larick caught him and pulled him along. “That sort of illusion takes some focus. We can’t rely on it working again, not right away, anyhow.”

  They must have made it look like the entire retreating army was in a different position, he thought in amazement. That sort of power could be damn useful, and he wondered what it would be like to fight alongside an entire army of mystics, or all of Arcadia, for that matter.

  For now, he would have to make do with the people he had at his side, and simply appreciate these two for the recent save.

  More spells rose from the other clansmen and, as they retreated, an explosion sounded from behind them when all the spells collided and melded at once. All that was left was a thick cloud of smoke.

  Just enough to hide the retreat, Alastar thought, as his eyes grew heavy and, even as he felt his legs moving beneath him, he drifted to sleep—a running sleep.

  Now he understood how Stone did it.

  He kept on, too, vaguely aware of the ground beneath him and the people around him. He just kept pushing himself onward, eyes closed, totally lost in his dreamlike state.

  ***

  Rhona was the first one to stop running, turning back to see that the sorcerers had given up the chase. She had to imagine their goddess had pulled them back, telling them to focus on the task at hand, which, it seemed, was to prepare to move south and overthrow the king.

  First they would conquer Roneland, then Gulanri. After that, who could tell what? All Rhona knew of the world beyond the Lost Isles were the names she had heard people mention—Kaldfell and Arcadia. Other than that, it was a mystery.

  She was drained, but it was nothing compared to her brother. He had been helped to the ground, where he leaned against a large orange hollow rectangular metallic box with vines growing all over it. She wondered if people had once lived in these things, or if they had served another purpose. Right now it served as a resting place, where they could escape the light drizzle that had begun.

  And since they were out of harm’s way, at least momentarily, all she wanted to do was hold Donnon in her arms. So she did, and he met her with a kiss on the forehead, one arm around her and one around his daughter.

  When Rhona pulled back again, she looked at the two of them and smiled. “You know, I wasn’t sure I would ever see you again.”

  “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been worried,” Donnon admitted.

  “Not me,” Kia replied. “I knew you’d be safe, and I was protecting my dad, so…” She shrugged.

  “Yes, how foolish of me.” Rhona chuckled.

  “And the rest of the clans?” Alastar asked. They turned to see him, still leaning against the box, one eye half-open.

  Donnon shook his head. “Either dead or retreating, scattered to the winds. We failed. I failed.”

  “No!” Kia replied. “We couldn’t have known what was coming.”

  “She’s right,” Rhona agreed. “The best thing we can do is come up with a new strategy to ensure we don’t fail the next time.”

  “It’s settled, then,” Donnon stated. “We take small steps, hitting them when we can. We get the clans back, and we fight.”

  Rhona nodded, taking his hand in hers and kissing it. “And we do it together.”

  “We’re not leaving your side again,” he declared.

  “Not a chance!” Kia beamed.

  Rhona ruffled her hair and nodded. “Nor I yours. Not a chance.”

  Alastar started pushing himself up with great difficulty.

  “What are you doing?” Lars asked. “We must rest.”

  Alastar ignored him, and when he was finally standing, he forced his eyes open, looked around, and said, “We move, now. We have to keep moving. Our survival depends on it. All of Roneland and beyond depends on it, on us. We will not let them down.”

  He took his first wobbly step, then another, and soon he was marching proudly with the others following him.

  Rhona shared a look with Donnon and Kia, and then, together, they joined her brother—off to save the world, or die trying.

  Author Notes - Justin Sloan

  Written 07/08/17

  As you know from reading book 1’s author notes, I love fantasy. I finally finished reading PT Hylton’s (with Michael) STORM RAIDERS, and I thought it was perfection. Books like his Zane Halloway and Will Wight’s Traveler’s Gate trilogy get my blood moving in a way many other genres and books just can’t.

  That’s why it has been such a blast to work on these books.

  We’re telling what basically amounts to a road trip story on this one, but is also typical of the fantasy genre—the quest for the Holy Grail.

  Alastar and Rhona, and the others, go on a fun quest that they think will make a difference, largely because of Alastar’s faith in what the High Paladin told him, but even along the way he starts to lose faith in this
guy.

  By the time he finds the sword and realizes it isn’t everything it was made out to be, he isn’t as surprised as he might have once been.

  Even by the time he finally faces off with his enemy, the revelation isn’t such a big surprise. I wanted to approach it that way (more gradual), because I thought it would be fun to see the gradual realization, and then the inevitable backstab.

  Not that life is always like this, of course. And I hope people don’t draw parallels with all religion here, because I’m certainly not trying to make a commentary or anything like that. In fact, this has nothing to do with modern religion, but is simply a story told about how a cult could rise up in this fantasy land and how people can get totally swept up in it.

  So, yes, there are the inevitable parallels, but more in that it just kind of happens as we draw on real life in stories (Don’t take it as didactic at all!).

  In other news, my fulltime author life has been amazing. I’m loving it—and a big part of the thanks for that goes to Michael and you all. So once again (and I’ll say it over and over, so get used to it), THANK YOU ALL!

  Basically my writing day goes like this: I wake up at about 5:00 am, try to get some work done before my two-year-old son wakes up around 6:00 am, then I get him ready and, after his sister is ready, take them to daycare and drop my wife off at the train to go to work in the city.

  Then I go to my new favorite café—it has Greek art, a Thai statue, and walls covered in vines (outside). Talk about a writer’s paradise! I usually write until lunch time, then come home and work out or go to the gym, eat, and get back to writing until it’s time to pick up the kids. At night, after I’ve put them to sleep, I do editing and marketing.

  I just described my dream life, and the life I’m living. It’s crazy to be able to do this. It really hit me the other day when I was talking to my daughter and she asked me about dreams and what dreams are, and I said mine was to be a writer.

  Then I sat there and said, “Wow, I am a writer!”

  The point of all this is to say I’m going to keep writing. I just finished Reclaiming Honor 5 with Michael, and that will have published a few days before this novel.

  Next I’m going to kick butt on Reclaiming Honor 6, because there are a few Age of Magic authors with books coming out, and I want to give them space to publish their first books in the series before I do my third.

  But don’t worry—by the end of the month, I’m hoping to be back on Shades of Glory, my third book in the Hidden Magic Chronicles. Based on where we’re at, I’ll probably stick with book 4 and bring the first arc to a close.

  Oh, and did you see the new book cover? Of course you did, but I just wanted to draw more attention to them because I love them!

  It looks like book 1 will be updated on or soon after the publication date of this book, and so far we’ve had great feedback from the group.

  So on to more writing, so that you have more of the fiction stuff to read instead of my rambling. Enjoy!

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  July 10th, 2017

  First, and always, thank you for not only reading this book, but reading all of the author notes to the very end where I get to chat with you a moment.

  Or two!

  Some of you enjoy me chatting about the publisher stuff that is going on, so I’m going to bring you some updates.

  Forever Defend, The Kurtherian Gambit #17 was released 10 days ago, and MOST of the time during the last 10 days, you fans have kept it in the top 100 of the store.

  UNFREAKINGBELIEVEABLE!

  Now, I’ve never had any of my books stay in the top 100 for 48 hours, much less 3 to 4 days like this book did. I just looked a moment ago, and the book has sold over 4,400 copies (many many at $0.99) and has 2.3 million pages read. For a couple of days, the book had over 250,000 pages read in that one day.

  A new record for me and frankly, a humbling one.

  I shared in the 20Booksto50k group of my success to remind many of the authors there (that would listen) it didn’t matter what the best advice every other author provided.

  It only matters what you the readers want.

  Case in point - first is the normal accepted rule, then how I (or we) broke it:

  (A) - You should do trilogies. Forever Defend is Book #17.

  (B) - You should have multiple entry points into your series (this rule is a corollary of trilogies.) We have exactly one (1) entry point WAY back at the beginning of TKG.

  (C) - Pace yourself to 4 books a year. I wrote and released my first 4 books in 45 days and released another 12 or more titles in 2016. Justin is on target to put out two (2) books a month in different series.

  (D) - Don’t CURSE!

  (E) - Though shalt pay attention to the Chicago (or other) Manual of Style. I never read it, and frankly can’t stand the idea of some of the rules.

  Now, does my style of writing annoy some readers? Yes, unfortunately. However, there is always a tradeoff in every choice. I try to create a movie in the mind, as best as I can and sometimes the rules get in my way.

  So, I break them.

  But, at the end of the day, these books are read and re-read (for some) over ten times and counting. For this I have to pinch myself because I just find it hard to imagine that I did anything with my writing that has touched people the way I dreamt I wanted to.

  I’m blessed and Justin is blessed as are all of the other writers because of YOU. We hope we keep producing the stories you like. Perhaps some of us authors in the Kurtherian (and soon Oriceran) Universes might write a series that doesn’t catch your attention, we understand.

  Maybe the next author will?

  Either way, you are a reader and for THAT ALONE, you have our gratitude.

  One of the greatest gifts you provide any writer (Indie, Traditional, it doesn’t matter) is a review. For those who take that time, KNOW that we appreciate the effort and whether we float on clouds after reading it, or weep in our cookies and milk, we are grateful for your comments and making the effort to review these stories.

  Right now, we are in the middle of a massive release schedule for July. Our effort is to release eight (8) books. Starting with Forever Defend on July 1st, this is the fourth book out so far.

  Let’s see if we can produce more books that some of you can read in a month, shall we?

  To those who are able to read two books in a day…Well, one day we might be able to take you on, but it won’t be one day soon, I guarantee it!

  That is a level of whale reader ability that is so damned hard for me to imagine, and I thought I read fast.

  Amazed!

  Justin’s books are doing well, as he ramps back up in producing more stories in the Kurtherian Gambit Universe. Born Into Flames - his latest in the Reclaiming Honor Series is here: books2read.com/BornIntoFlames if you haven’t read it, yet.

  ARTWORK

  By far, the hardest part to get right (after writing a book readers care to read) is the cover art. I wish there was a way to test this out before we spend hundreds (or in a couple of cases over a thousand) dollars on the covers artwork.

  In some instances, like the first cover for Shades of Light, you think you did a good job picking the cover, only to find out that the readers, by and large, HATE the cover.

  Think it is old school, not up to the times, etc.

  So, what happened is we ‘boofed’ the launch (you get one shot at that, remember?) And we had to scramble to find the right cover artist(s) to do book two, and get on their schedule to go back to do book 01.

  Soon, we will re-cover book 01 and keep plugging away, hoping that book 03’s launch will capture the attention and when the potential readers go to book 01, they aren’t turned off by the cover art.

  On the personal side, we are about five weeks from our two youngest going to college. Then, we have to divest so much to get this house ready for sale. Talk about two life changing experiences thrown together at the same time.
If I could afford it, I would probably just keep this house to stay away from the pain.

  But, I can’t afford that so through the pain and effort we must go.

  October I am going to be going to two (2) writing events and meeting industry contacts. I’m both excited (and hesitant) about these experiences because it takes me out of my shell that I am now comfortable in. I speak to many of the Kurtherian and Oriceran authors during the week, so I don’t lack for communication.

  Now, I’m going to be potentially speaking to dozens if not hundreds of people during the month and my fear of rejection is going to rear its ugly head.

  So, I have to stomp on the fear and get out each morning, pushing past it to meet the people, learn more about our industry, and possibly find that one contact that could help us achieve more with our book series.

  I’ll get it done, and in the process I’ll beat that fear down one ‘hello’ at a time.

  Talk to you later!

  Michael