The Twilight Child

AN EBOOK-SINGLE SHORT STORY — A TALE OF THE ENDLANDS

Braell had stood once against the corrupt knight Chursir of the Dainwood, a hulking brute who had fled his prince’s service in madness, folk said. He would attack wains and villages by dusk, naming innocent folk as all manner of monsters and uncouth creatures as he cut them down.

The battle against Chursir had been the closest Noryan had seen Braell come to falling. Like he hadn’t since that very first day, he gave his aid to her fight, sending three arrows into the rogue knight’s back as Braell split him nave to neck with a final devastating strike.

As the corpse hit the ground, Noryan thought he saw a red-black mist rise from its bloody mouth. When he rubbed his eyes, it was gone.

That night, for the first time, Braell saw the twilight child.

• • •

Noryan is the faithful squire of Braell, a knight of the people who wanders the countryside in search of wrongs to right and folk to defend. When a dark curse infects her, Braell begins to remember things that never happened, driven to undertake a quest she cannot name. But the more she must trust in Noryan to lead her, the greater the weight of the dark secret he hopes she never discovers…