Short Piece #2 – Gathering Storms

Standard

To get things kicking off, I’m gonna be posting things pretty regularly for the next few days. This next piece is from a novel I wrote years ago and never did anything with. Enjoy!

            A thunderstorm raged. Winds howled through the trees along the beach, and waves lashed the shore. Lightning streaked across the black sky, briefly illuminating dark clouds. The tempest threw small fishing boats ashore, sometimes on the sandy beach but more often on the sharp rocks of Alaran Point.

            Kira Rejai stared out from behind the glass of a window at the base of Alaran Tower. The stone outpost withstood the mighty storm roaring in from the Sea of Winds.

            Is this how Pentra saw the sky on his last night? Did he die staring at a black sky, bereft of any sign of hope?

            Kira sighed. The whole journey had been pointless. There was nothing here except dark memories and cobwebs.

            The thought of Pentra brought back a wave of grief. He was like a father to me, not just a teacher. I always thought that he would outlive us all, like a stone weathering time.

            Kira sighed again. It was over and done with. He was dead, and there would be no bringing him back. All that was left was revenge—revenge on the murderers to the north. The so-called “Beast Lords” would pay. They could not know what was coming for them.

            Kira chuckled darkly as he turned from the window. With determined strides, he walked back to the entrance of the tower. He stared out across the thousands upon thousands of campfires that dotted the plain, stretching all the way from the coast to the distant forests of Lesari.

            Kira laughed out loud. “No, they do not know what is coming for them.”

Hello, literary world!

Standard

Welcome to Drew McCaffrey’s personal writing page. I will be posting tidbits (and occasionally more than tidbits!) of my stories/novels. Feel free to comment on the excerpts as they pop up; let me know what you think!

Short piece #1 – Children of the Night

Standard

A man stumbled as I watched. He fell to the dirt, scraping his hands and knees on the twigs and roots and rocks that littered the forest floor. He hurriedly pushed himself back to his feet, his breaths coming in shallow, fast paced spurts. Terror painted his face when he glanced back over his shoulder.

                From my vantage point in the tree above, I could see his pursuers. And I knew why he was so scared. I felt his fear.

                He sprinted again, the sound of breaking branches and laughter flogging him onward, toward his vain hope of a civilized town. I knew he would never make it, and vainly tried to block out thoughts of what was going to happen to him.

                When he passed below me, the shapes behind him were a scant twenty feet back. They laughed and called out to him as they leapt over roots and bushes, somehow finding their way despite the falling darkness. Wild smiles lit their filthy faces, and their eyes gleamed with an inner light. I didn’t move when they too passed beneath me. Terror held me still.

                After a minute or so all of them passed beyond my sight, but I could hear the ruckus they made, crashing through the forest undergrowth.

                Then a louder crash filtered its way through the trees up to me, accompanied by a cry of despair. The man had fallen again. The giggles and shrieks of the followers grew louder, and the man began screaming.

                It lasted for almost an hour, while I cowered in the upper branches of my oak. I couldn’t control my shaking until the last screams faded away.

                Just in time. The pursuers came back, even dirtier, with blood splattered across their faces and chests. Their hands shone in the pale moonlight, glinting wetly as they walked back beneath me. I held my breath as long as I could, fear of drawing their ire paralyzing me.

                They disappeared back the way they came, and my breath became ragged. Blood pounded through my body. I sat in the tree until morning. Only then did I know it was safe.

                The Children of the Night do not come out after dawn.