In the wake of the storm

Before I disappear off the face of the Earth for the next two weeks, I thought I’d treat you to a very short excerpt from the prologue of Old Blood, the first part in my WIP epic fantasy series. Enjoy, and I will be back in late November!

A hooded figure watched from the tree line as the wagon disappeared into the night. The twinkling golden light of the lantern grew dimmer and dimmer the further it got, until it was at last swallowed by the inky darkness. With it, the light took away the most precious thing in the world.

The man leaned back against the nearest tree, its bark still slightly damp, and gazed beseechingly up at the night sky. It was black as pitch, the moon and stars that had littered its endless expanse before the storm now conspicuously absent.

The storm had been the sign he was waiting for. For ten long years he had waited. Towards the end he had begun to doubt that the sign would ever come, and he’d hoped. He’d hoped he had been wrong, all those years ago.

But he wasn’t wrong.

Kael would be safe with Galen O’Dair. He would be loved. The hooded man had done what he could for the boy, and the rest was up to the Maker now.

He pushed away from the tree and tightened the cloak around his shoulders. With one last, wistful look at the road, he turned and pressed deeper into the shadows of the forest, heading back the way he came. Heading west.

His work was not yet done.

Rebecca Alasdair