The Voice

A TALE OF THE ENDLANDS -- A KINDLE-SINGLE SHORT STORY

"The spirits of the dead have no life to return to, and so drink of the power of the arcane that corrupts the force of life and the way of return." The haze of incense twists in with the seer's breath, frozen fast on the air. "The dark spirits now watch over those who channel the light," she whispers.

In the distance, Arda sees Silla watching him. Across a crowd huddling close to the warmth of a spell-fire furnace, one momentary meeting of eyes pulls her out from the anonymous mass, locking Arda to her gaze.

"Their eyes live beyond the darkness, and those eyes watch jealously to see the light despoiled."

Behind him, Arda hears a scuttling laugh. Faint shiftings through the shadow where patched canvas flaps, dark mutterings through closed lips. But when he turns, quicker this time, he sees only the boy still scribbling the blank face in its sightless scream.

When he looks back, the seer's white eyes are closed...

* * *

The desolate settlement known only as the Fastness is home to ten thousand Human refugees fleeing the slave camps of the Ilvani -- a place of despair and shadow; of the last stand of Human sorcery and a secret that threatens the very nature of magic itself. Arda and Silla have made their lives here, struggling to survive within the darkness of a world gone mad. But when the voice of that darkness calls them, neither will emerge unscathed...

THE VOICE is a 6,800 word short story, and part of the collection THE VOICES OF THE DEAD -- DARK TALES & LOST SOULS -- AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE ENDLANDS