by Mike Shel
In the morning, they ate dry biscuits and hard cheese from their packs for breakfast and saddled their mounts. Agnes offered to carry Ruben’s body on her horse with her that day, but Kennah refused, stating that he would take his friend all the way to Daurhim and back. She found no reason to argue with him.
As the ambush and aftermath had slowed their progress on the first day, the two decided to ride through the next night so they might reach her father’s village by the following morning. It was a cool summer night, after all, with a clear, star-blanketed sky, and the highway rolled over hills lacking forest to hide bandits or beasts. She slept in her saddle for an hour and Kennah later did the same. As the sun shone on their shoulders, peaking up from horizon behind them, they caught first sight of the keep towers of the local aristocrat—Lady Hannah Dyre, Baroness of Daurhim and her father’s lover. She governed the little town from the small castle crowning the settlement’s tallest hill.
“Looks like there’s been some sort of fire,” observed Kennah, pointing to the hazy gray sky in the west and a heavier column of smoke illuminated by the rising sun.
Agnes stood up in her saddle and strained to see. “Too much smoke to be a funeral pyre.”
“And no one’s burning leaves and brush in midsummer,” offered Kennah.
Agnes spurred her horse into a gallop, leaving Kennah with his heavier burden behind, anxiety rising in her breast. As she crested the next hill, she saw the source of the smoke: a large stone house set across from Dyrekeep was a smoky ruin, its wooden roof consumed, the brickwork about its windows stained black with soot. The place must have burned down that very night. She had visited Daurhim with her father after the resolution of the plague last year and she recognized the place. She kicked her mount in the ribs to hurry it forward.
The fire-scarred manse was her father’s home.
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Aching God is the first novel in a planned trilogy entitled Iconoclasts. Books II & III, in development, are entitled Sin Eater and Idols Fall.
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Lost Lore, a free digital collection of short stories written by fifteen indie fantasy authors, is available across platforms. Included is a tale by Mike Shel, set in the world of Iconoclasts entitled “Barrowlands.”
About the Author
Mike was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in the suburb of Dearborn. He has practiced as a psychotherapist for over 20 years and is a freelance adventure designer for Paizo Publishing and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Aching God is his first novel. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife Tracy and has three children, Haylee, Trinity, and Leo. And two dogs, Neko and Elsie. Let’s not forget the dogs.