by Greg James
“No, Jedda. You don’t serve Him. You can’t take the sword for Him.”
They stood facing one another, darkness and light, one burning and flickering, the other smouldering and rotting. Jedda’s eyes met Sarah’s. Their limbs hardened and loosened, tensed and relaxed. Then, they clashed, coming together like thunderheads. Lightning smote the mountain as their blades struck and struck again. Pacing around, eyes locked, they parried, feinted, stabbed, and swung as they sought for a weakness in each other’s defences. Their swords ground against one another; one night-forged, the other singing with fire and light.
“I do this because I have to, Sarah. Venna. My baby sister. For my blood and kin, I will serve Him forever. I will sit upon Highmount’s throne and spill Ianna’s blood down its steps.”
“You will be His puppet for the rest of your days. Never dying, living on and on in His Shadow.”
The storm screamed around them. Sarah stared at Jedda and at the crossed swords between them.
She’s just another bad guy. Isn’t she, right?
Bang-dead!
Sarah felt sick inside at the thought.
Her hands shook around the hilt of the sword. The words of its whispers were carried to her by the night’s winds. The tears in her eyes felt like ice, and her heart pounded in time with the thunder. Sarah broke away from Jedda. She threw the Sword of Sighs down, its blade of flames hissing and spitting in the snow.
“I will not kill you. You can kill me, Jedda. Go ahead. Do it. Then take the sword away to Him if you must. I won’t end this by taking your life.”
Jedda sprang forward and snatched up the discarded sword. For a moment, she held it and held Sarah’s gaze. Then, she let its burning blade flow forward into Sarah’s chest, cutting through bone, flesh, and heart. Blood seeped from the wound and Sarah gasped, her eyes opening wide and then closing tight against the deep pain.
The night became suddenly quiet.
The skies overhead thinned as clouds retreated away to the east, revealing stars and the moon once more. They shone down upon the impaled girl atop the mountain and on the young woman robed in darkness before her.
Sarah opened her eyes, no longer in pain, and looked into Jedda’s.
Jedda’s lips formed the ghost of a smile.
She too understood.
“Thank you, Sarah …”
Jedda closed her eyes. The Flame ran up her arm, it enveloped her in a silent inferno until all of the darkness about her was burned away. She fell to the ground, and she was as she had been before. Sarah slumped to her knees. Her hands flew to the place where the sword had impaled her. The wound was gone, evaporated like so much mist.
It still hurt, though.
Jedda’s lips had turned a dark blue and her eyes were becoming glassy, unseeing. Her hand reached out for Sarah’s. She grasped it tight, holding it against the bare flesh where the wound had been made. There were tears in Jedda’s dying eyes. “So long in the dark, Sarah, and He was my only comfort there. All I had was the shadow of His darkness. So few of those who love the Mother and Light understand what it means to be that alone, that lost to the world. Venna, my sister, save her. For me. Please. And kill Ianna. For me. Set Highmount ... free …”
Ianna, another bad guy.
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Jedda stopped her with four words, “We will… meet again…”
Jedda lay dead in her arms.
Bang-dead!
Sarah set her down to sleep in the snow. Then she got to her feet and gazed back across the Western Wastes, the Mountains of Mourning, Grah’na and the Grassland Plains to Highmount and beyond. To the shadows of the Nightlands where E’blis dwelled and the Fallen One was entombed beneath the Shadowhorn.
Highmount was the last bastion against the Fallen One. Its people, and those of the Three Kingdoms. They all needed the Flame. They all needed her.
She was their one Hope.
But there was something she needed too.
More than anything.
Sarah raised the Sword of Sighs high. She slashed at the open air with it. The air opened up, a tear in the skin of it, into some other place from which fingers of a pale fog trailed out. Sarah lowered the sword, looked at it, and looked back at Jedda, who was steadily being buried by snow. Her eyes turned again to the opening in the air before her; it would not stay open for long.
She had to decide now.
“What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?”
Her only answer was in the forlorn whistling of the night’s wind.
She stepped through the hole in the air and it closed behind her.
~End of Book One~
Book Two of The Age of the Flame
~The Sceptre of Storms~
Is OUT NOW!
Thank you for reading The Sword of Sighs. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to receive updates regarding new and upcoming releases by Greg James, please sign up to my mailing list: https://eepurl.com/vfYf9
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people for their help, support and contributions to this, the beginning of the Age of the Flame;
Lora Kaleva – for introducing me to one of the key inspirations, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, talking me through my first tentative steps into the Fantasy genre and for shining a light into my life.
Christine DeMaio-Rice – for creating a superb cover that encapsulates the vibe and mood I wanted for this novel. Size is what matters, right? Here’s to making the next one even bigger and better!
Karin Cox – for making the editing process an educational and informative experience as well as doing wonders for my confidence on my first Fantasy effort. Here’s hoping my craft will have thus improved the next time around!
Sarah Buchheit – author of the Galoria Hunter series who planted the idea of writing something for the Young Adult audience in my head a few years ago. Thank you for the inspiration!
J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis & Robert Jordan – without their work, this book would not be here.
My fellow self-publishers, all of whom are awesome; Shea Macleod, M. Edward McNally, Jack Wallen, Cheryl Bradshaw, Jessica Meigs, David Gaughran, Jolea M. Harrison, Alisa Tangredi, Heather Marie Adkins, Mike Cooley, Cheryl Shireman, Lin Welch, Athanasios Galanis, Danielle Blanchard, Stephanie Abbott, Michelle Muto, Red Tash, P.J. Jones, Tara West, Julia Crane, Sarah Billington, J. Carson Black, Lizzy Ford, Graeme Reynolds, James Everington, Autumn Christian, Tony Rabig, Sean McLachlan, Tony Slater, Mandy White, Sarah Woodbury, Arshad Ahsanuddin, Laura Yirak, Matt Conrad & Ben White – the Word Lovah!
My friends are my family and this book could not have been done without them, as ever; Ruth Latchford, Jez Joubinaux, Evie Joubinaux, Kris Dyer, Jason Brawn, Dolores Harrington, Mark & Tori Waddington, Sandra Norval, Adrian Chamberlin, Dean M. Drinkel, Nyki Blatchley, Chris Hall, Jean Hatton, Jim McLeod, Libby Cummings, Kiley Owens, Robin Jennifer, Kacey Stewart, Misty Jo Hughes & Ann Giardina Magee.
About the Author
Greg James is a Fantasy author based in London, England. He has been writing stories since he was a child. He enjoys taking long walks around his home city of London as well as reading, writing (of course) and thinking up new imaginary worlds to entertain readers with. He has previously taught English abroad as a foreign language and travelled extensively around China. He has also written critically-acclaimed horror novels and short stories under the pen name, G.R. Yeates.
Glossary
A’aron (AH-aron)
The Creator of Women. Known also as the Mother. Her soul now resides in the Sword of Sighs. Her body has degenerated as a result of the Fallen One’s poison and she is now known as Yagga.
Atosha (Aa-TOH-sha)
One of the Three Kingdoms.
Barra (BAH-rah)
Woran Bean’s small but fearless mongrel dog.
Bean, Sarah
An American teenage girl who discovers she is the Living Flame – a scion of A’aron and prophesied saviour of Seythe. A daughter of two worlds, torn between her responsibility to Seythe and her love of Earth, her birth-world.
Bean, Woran (BEAN, WOH-run)
Adoptive grandfather to Sarah Bean. He lives on a hill in the Norn valley with his mongrel dog, Barra.
Brindan (brin-DUNN)
One of the Three Kingdoms.
Cag’kh (KHAG-kuh)
One of the Phages.
Daughters of Yagga, The
Descendants of the Daughters of the Flame – a sacred order that once wielded the Living Flame against the Fallen One. They dwell in a temple that has been glimpsed in the swamps of Grah’na by wanderers and travellers.
Deep Forges, The
The Deep Forges are the birthplace of the Iron Gods beneath the city of E’phah in the Mountains of Mourning. This is where they were sealed by the first of the Wayfarers until Sarah Bean unwittingly awoke Kaomos.
Della (Del-UH)
A member of the Highmount Council.
Dionin (DIE-oh-NYNN)
Creations of the Fallen One. A fusion of Fellfolk ‘volunteers’ and giant carnivorous invertebrates.
D’nai (duh-NYE)
A legendary patron of love whose memory is honoured by the Eve of D’nai.
Drujja (droo-YAH)
Also known as The Storm that Walks. Creations of the Fallen One. Solitary hunter/assassins that can pass through solid objects. They are visible only as a slight vapour in the air, until they scent their prey and emerge in their true form - a raging supernatural tempest.
Earlmen, Earlwomen
Feudal lords and ladies of the Three Kingdoms. Each has their own Keep and no differentiation is made between men and women in terms of rank and respect.
E’blis (EH-bliss)
The Creator of Men. Also known as the Father of Pain. His divinity lost after he fell from grace, he has become the avatar of the Fallen One in Seythe.
E’phah (EH-farr)
A Molloi city in the Mountains of Mourning.
Fallen One, The
A malevolent being from a Space and Time outside of the Thirteen Worlds. It is known as the Darkness that is not Darkness and the Black Lord Under the Mountain. It is believed that it could destroy all of the Thirteen Worlds once freed from its tomb under the Shadowhorn.
Fallen-born, The
Scions of the Fallen One itself that escaped from its tomb under the Shadowhorn mountain in the Nightlands. Relentless and fearless, the only weapon on Seythe that can harm them is the Sword of Sighs.
Fellhorn
A colossal mountain in the Western Wastes where the Sword of Sighs rested before it was drawn from the stone by Sarah Bean.
Fellhounds
Undead hunting animals that serve the Fallen-born.
Ferra (feh-RA)
Father to Venna and Jedda. Suspected to have been murdered by Ianna.
Golem (GOH-lemm)
A magickal construct that can be an exact copy of a human being including some trace elements of memory, personality and speech patterns.
Gorra (GOH-rah)
Gorra is the Father of Leaves and the spirit of the Wood Beneath the Worlds. He tends to the roots of all Thirteen Worlds and cares for them at the behest of an unnamed higher power.
Grah’na (GRA-narrh)
An area of swampland that must be crossed to reach the Mountains of Mourning. Molloi tribes reside here and there are reports of worse creatures residing in this part of the world.
Grassland Plains, The
A wilderness that was formally the shared land of humanity and the Kay’lo.
H’Aoa (HUH-eh-OH-ah)
The healer for a Kay’lo enclave.
Herb-Sisters, The
An order of healers and carers in the Three Kingdoms. No man can become a healer because they were created by E’blis, the Father of Pain.
Highmount
The city-province situated in the one pass through the Northway Mountains. It has protected the Three Kingdoms of humanity since the last great war against the Fallen One.
Highmount Council
The advisors to the ruling family of Highmount.
Hillshine
A high-proof liquor distilled by the Saltwine family in the Norn Valley.
Ianna (EYE-anna)
Step-mother to Jedda and Venna. Self-appointed Lady Warden to the throne of Highmount.
Iron Gods, The
The Iron Gods were created by the Molloi as guardians for their cities in the Mountains of Mourning. They were infected by an unknown taint that drove them to conquer their own masters and begin a war that devastated the land surrounding the mountains. The first of the Wayfarers awoke from his sleep in the Lost Tower to defeat them but the Iron Gods could not be slain, so he buried them beneath the mountains they once guarded.
Jedda (jed-DAH)
Heir to the throne of Highmount, usurped by her step-mother, Ianna. She vowed revenge and swore allegiance to the Fallen One to achieve this when she thought herself to have been abandoned by all others. She died by her own hand atop the Fellhorn.
Jez, Master
Innkeeper of The Water Mark and a former Highmount soldier.
Kaomos (KAY-oh-MOSS)
Kaomos was one of the most feared of the Iron Gods. His temper matched the design given to his form by the Molloi. He was awoken by the life-giving Living Flame of Sarah Bean as it passed by. His fate is unknown after plunging into the abyss beneath E’phah with Ossen the Wayfarer.
Kay’lo (kay-LOW)
A race who once inhabited the Grassland Plains in harmony with humanity. The early stages of the last war against the Fallen One saw humans committing genocide against the Kay’lo to take their land. There has been enmity between them ever since. The Kay’lo now dwell in forest enclaves, the ruins of their cities and in underground burrow-towns.
Lo’a’Pan (LOW-ah-PAN)
The secret underground city of the Kay’lo. No human has ever visited the city and come back alive.
Marra (MAH-ra)
A member of the Highmount Council.
M’Eoa (MUH-eh-OH-ah)
Commander of a Kay’lo enclave with a more liberal outlook than her fellow Kay’lo.
Molloi (MUH-loy)
Once a proud race of engineers and architects, they built the Iron Gods to guard their cities. Following the war with their creations, they were made homeless and destitute, and subsequently degenerated into the savages known today in the lands around the Mountains of Mourning. Differing Molloi tribes can be identified by the coloured woad that they daub their hair and bodies with.
Mountains of Mourning, The
A range of mountains separating the Grassland Plains and the swamps of Grah’na from the Western Wastes. They were fashioned into great cities by the First Wayfarer and the Molloi. Now, those cities are tombs after so many died in the war against the Iron Gods, which earned the mountains their title.
Nightlands, The
A cold and desolate wasteland in the east of Seythe where perpetual night reigns. This is the domain of the Fallen One and those who follow Him.
Norn Valley, The
A valley between Highmount and the Three Kingdoms where farmers and peasantry reside.
Northway Mountains, The
The range of mountains that acts as a protective barrier between the Three Kingdoms and the Grassland Plains. The only clear path through is the Northway Pass, which is guarded by the city-province of Highmount.
Northway Pass,
The
The one clear way through the Northway Mountains.
Ossen (OH-sun)
Ossen was a Wayfarer well-known in the Three Kingdoms as a champion of humanity and a bringer of hope. He was a consort of Gorra and it is believed that he may have fought the Fallen One before in other forms and on the other Worlds. His fate is unknown after falling into the abyss beneath E’phah with Kaomos.
Phages (FEYE-gizz)
Soldiers thought to have been created by the civilisation that once existed in the Western Wastes. They are flesh-eaters and have also been known to use the body parts of their victims to replace their own rotting limbs.
Plainstown
The ‘poor’ half of Highmount that faces out onto the Grassland Plains. None of the nobility or Earlfolk live in this part of Highmount.
Ruth, Mistress
A Herb-Sister and close friend of Ossen.
Saltwine, Miria (SALT-why-nuh, Mih-RHEE-ah)
Head of the Saltwine family.
Saltwines, The
A family of brewers and distillers in the Norn Valley.
Seythe (SAY-thuh)
The Seventh of the Thirteen Worlds that make up the cosmos.
Shadowhorn
A colossal mountain in the Nightlands that is the source of the Fallen One’s presence in Seythe.
Summernight
The main summer festival in the Three Kingdoms. Rules of propriety are waived in favour of merry-making, drinking and dancing.
Sword of Sighs, The
Also known as the Sword Without a Blade. It bears the soul of A’aron and uses the Living Flame itself as its blade. It is the only weapon known that can slay the Fallen-born and, it is thought (or hoped), E’blis and the Fallen One as well.
Sworn, The
A secretive order of trained warriors often hired for assassinations, mercenary duties and to protect travellers in the wildernesses of Seythe. Little is known of their practices and rituals, but all Sworn warriors abandon their former identity upon joining – including name, sex and gender.