Fireside (27 page)

To be continued in
Dark Embers,
Book 3 of
The Path of Ashes

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan war, Brian Parker was born and raised as an Army brat. He’s currently an Active Duty Army soldier who enjoys spending time with his family in Texas, hiking, obstacle course racing, writing and Texas Longhorns football. His wife is also an Active Duty soldier and the pairing brings its own unique set of circumstances that keep both of them on their toes. He's an unashamed Star Wars fan, but prefers to disregard the entire Episode I and II debacle.

Brian self-published four books before signing a 4-book contract with Permuted Press. His novels
GNASH
and
Enduring Armageddon
were previously self-published and will be re-released by Permuted along with two previously unpublished works,
REND
and
SEVER
. The three-book series,
Washington, Dead City
, will be released in February, March and April 2016.

Besides the growing collection of sci-fi and horror works, he is also the author of several non-horror works, including the children’s picture book
Zombie in the Basement
which is written to help children overcome the perceived stigma of being different than others and Brian is the founder of Muddy Boots Press, an independent publishing company that focuses on quality genre fiction over mass-produced books.

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Enjoy this exciting free preview of
Dark Embers,
Book 3 of
The Path of Ashes

The keep’s hallways were cold and dark.
It shouldn’t be this cold
, Tanya thought, pulling her robe tighter around her small frame. In her hand, she clutched the hilt of the dagger that rested in its sheath inside her pocket. She always had it with her and had found that the small knife was especially useful if she had to fight in close quarters, like the building’s hallway.

She walked from her private chambers toward the nursery where her baby, Michael, slept. The heavy steel door was closed, as it should have been, and she tried the handle.
Locked
.

A slight sigh of relief passed over her lips. The baby was still secure inside. She tapped gently on the doorframe and was rewarded with the sounds of the nursemaid stirring inside.

Clarissa followed the protocols and asked, “Who is it? The prince is sleeping.” She sounded annoyed at the late intrusion on her own sleep.

“Clarissa, it’s Tanya. Something felt wrong, so I wanted to check on Michael.”

“He’s sleeping, my lady. You’re the only visitor that we’ve had tonight.”

“No one has come to see you? Not even his brother or sister?” she clarified.

“No. Once we locked the door for the evening, there have been no disturbances. Do you want me to remove the locks?”

“No, thank you. Go back to sleep, my mind is just playing tricks on me.”

“Yes, my lady,” Clarissa responded.

Tanya waited for a few more seconds and then turned down the hallway to go to the twins’ room. They were six, which meant that they were loud at night as they protested their bedtime. They’d been moved from the nursery once Michael was born, otherwise the baby would have never slept.

She peeked around the corner and saw the two Guards sitting attentively beside the door to the adjoining bedchambers. Tanya contemplated not disturbing her children since the guard was in place, but the feeling that something was not right wouldn’t leave her.

The princess knew that her imagination ran into overdrive this time of year. It had been twenty years since her cousins, Caleb and Varan, had been abducted in the middle of the night from the old Traxx compound by slavers and one of her uncles was killed by a demonbroc.

They’d searched for weeks for any sign of them with no luck. Before the end of the year, the family had moved further north once again, taking up residence in an abandoned hotel along an overgrown highway. Her parents said that even in the old world, the hotel had been in the middle of nowhere, more of a pit-stop for road-weary travelers. In the summer, the fields surrounding the hotel were fertile, apparently having avoided the worst of the acid rain that plagued the country after the war.

Over time, the hotel had been converted into a legitimate stronghold and others began to flock to the area to make use of the crop land, building a small community around the keep. Her father was the eldest of the Traxx family alive and the people voted the title of king to him. Tanya thought the whole thing was silly since her father still worked in the fields and fought off raiding parties, so he wasn’t a real king like they used to have in the books that she read.

One advantage of being in the “royal” family was the added protection of the Traxx Guard. The Traxx Guard were men and women who’d dedicated their lives to the martial arts and to the protection of the royal family. They were the officers of the militia during training or when it was mobilized to fight. Service in the militia was compulsory; the Traxx Guard was only for those who volunteered.

“My lady!” the younger of the two Guards whispered, jumping to his feet when he noticed her.

“Please, sit down, Frederick,” she replied. “You know all this formality bothers me... Especially from you.”

“Yes, my lady,” he replied as he sat hesitantly.

“I had a strange feeling so I wanted to check on our babies.”

“They are secure inside. I would never let anything happen to them.”

Tanya placed a hand gently on his cheek, “I know,” she stated sadly. She and Frederick had been lovers since they were teenagers and the three royal grandchildren were the result of their affections.

While it was forbidden for members of the Traxx Guard to be married, they were allowed to have relationships both within and outside of the Guard. As children, Tanya had always assumed that she and Frederick would marry. When he’d announced his intention to join the Guard, she’d been devastated. His yearlong training regimen only intensified their desire to be together and once he’d become a full-fledged Guard, they’d continued their relationship. The twins were born ten months later.

“I wish to check on them,” she announced after a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course, my lady,” Frederick replied, standing once more. “James, can you watch the doorway? Secure it behind us.”

“Sure. Tap the code when you’re ready to leave.” Tanya nodded her approval of the Guard’s protocol. Security of the family was of the utmost importance to them and they took every interaction seriously, regardless of the circumstances.

Once the door was secure behind them, Tanya grasped Frederick’s hand and they walked side-by-side through the entryway to the twins’ bedchambers. “What do you think is wrong, Tanya?” Frederick asked.

“I don’t know. I still have a feeling that something is wrong.”

He squeezed her hand lightly. “It’s been twenty years—to the day, right?”

She nodded and wrinkled her nose. She’d have to have the maintenance man examine their bathroom. The toilets in the building were still operational, flushed by pouring water into the reservoir behind the seat, but it was far from a perfect system. The refuse went into a gigantic underground tank far from the keep that had overflowed before, causing a disgusting, smelly mess inside the building and out in the field. It had taken a crew of ten men several weeks to clean the filth out of the tank, using buckets and hauling the night soil off in carts to be used as fertilizer. Once the area dried, the grasses around the container had turned a deep green and stayed that way all season.

“Yes,” she acknowledged, making a note to have the septic tank examined. “Twenty years ago today, my cousins were abducted and we’ve never heard anything from them.”

“Then it’s probably just your mind playing tricks on you. The keep is secure. See?” he gestured to the bricked-over window in Jensen’s room. The small space at the top that wasn’t sealed to allow in fresh air was firmly locked for the night. The boy slept soundly on the old mattress, small noises escaping his lips when he breathed out.

She nodded in the darkness. Frederick couldn’t see her, of course. “Looks like you’re right. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic.”

“It’s okay, you’re allowed to, my lady.”

Tanya bumped her shoulder into him, “We’re alone. You don’t have to call me that.”

“Mmm…hmm,” he murmured, turning towards Jade’s room “What’s that smell?”

“I noticed it too,” she answered, relieved that at least one of her senses wasn’t going crazy.
Maybe I’m pregnant again
, she thought in a panic. Michael was only three months old. It was much too soon for her to have another child.

Frederick slowly drew his sword so as not to make more noise than absolutely necessary. “What is it?” she asked.

“Stay here,” he ordered, taking charge of the situation as a trained Traxx Guard.

“I’m not staying here if something’s the matter with my daughter,” she hissed back at him.

He sighed and his shadow moved away from her. She pulled her own dagger from its sheath and trailed behind him.

Tanya gagged when he opened the door that led through the shared bathroom into Jade’s room. The smell of shit was overpowering in the small space. Frederick glanced back at her and motioned for her to stay once again. He shook her head furiously at his suggestion.

He pushed open the door into the second bedroom and charged, sword lifted above his head. Tanya didn’t understand why he’d done that until she heard the sound of metal hitting against something hard, like wood and then a loud crash.

She rushed into the room and stopped. The room was much too bright, moonlight shone through the open window. Frederick lay bleeding from a wound to his head amongst the bricks that had once sealed the room. Some kind of large creature stood with one leg on the windowsill. It turned towards her and hissed.

The thing was covered in scales or some type of armor that clung closely to its body. The vertical slits inside its green eyes reminded her of a snake as it stared at her. The creature held Jade’s limp form in its arms. Tanya screamed as it pulled itself up into the window and leapt into the night.

She rushed to the windowsill. They were six floors up; the fall would surely kill them. Far below, a set of triangular wings appeared above the creature’s back and it caught the wind current, lifting higher into the air.

The princess watched helplessly as her daughter disappeared into the night.