Shadows Under The Sun

The story of Ambria Merial's raid into Shadow controlled lands to rescue captured Meis Relai and others in the days after The Drahkin's strike. The daring rescue helped turned the tide of the war and marked a rebirth of hope.

Shadows Under The Sun

 

 

    Ambria stared at the blood that dripped from her hands before her eyes met those of the now dead Darceyn-Lord. She would never get use to the killing, she realized with a shudder. Closing her eyes she forced herself to take a deep breath. This was not the time to give in to the shaking and exhaustion. Tars Andracar's destructive act had reshaped the world in a twisted way, but it had provided the chaos that had led to this raid.

    "Ambria, we need you. Snap out of it."

    Ambria raised her eyes and flashed them. "I am aware of that, Akarius." She looked down once more at the dead man to memorize his face. She did not recognize him, but wanted it committed to her memory. It was the face of a traitor. The face of someone who spit upon what it was to be Meis Relai and chose to kneel before a creature from their nightmares.

    "Follow me," she said. With a flick of her hand a ball of light winked into existence as she descended into the dark tunnel. She didn't turn to see if they would follow. There was no choice involved. This was a suicide mission with no room for second guessing.

    Making her way slowly down the tunnel, she focused her sight down it and looked for signs of traps or glimmerveils that could alert the enemy. She tried fighting to keep out thoughts of what Tars had done and the cost of his sacrafice. She held no illusions that he had done it with any thought to the consequences or as a selfless act. He was egotistical and self-serving long before the fall had thrust him into a position of absolute authority. He was to blame for how far civilization had fallen and even in death he was affecting the world.

    "Careful, Marhasia," Akarius hissed, grabbing Ambria's arm. "Listen. Don't be so hasty to rush to your end time. We have more than glimmerveils and mundane traps to think of."

    Ambria shook his hand off with anger. "Don't you dare call me that. There is not one of us left who is worthy of that title. Not one." She watched as Akarius took a cautious step back and the others watched her. She closed her eyes briefly to reign in her anger. "I am aware of why we are here. I will do nothing reckless to endanger the rescue of the council members and others. Is that satisfactory to you, Second?"

    Akarius nodded, holding back his own anger.

 

[To be continued]

Author's Note

Haven't finished this yet. Pretty much doing a series of short stories around the world contained in the novel 'Chaos Reborn'. They feature the past and the present leading up to the beginning of the first chapter of the novel.

Reviews

[Michael X]

perfect, i felt it to be perfect in concept albert, because of the way the last line, or more so the ending scene leaves the reader wondering what is going to happen, having read through this twice, in saying is very easy to understand and the flow depicts the environment with specific, dare i say, midevil fantasy era,
i am picturing an almost dungeons and dragons type place, but more to my taste, getting ready for the battle,
the reader can feel the anticipation building, can't wait to see where you go with this
adventure, very well written, only wish i could've read more, so post soon, the title
"shadows under the sun" almost gives it a samuari warrior type feeling, excelent job, i really enjoyed