Excerpt One
Eryx jerked the cell door keys from the cold, stone wall and unlocked
the iron gate. He stared at his father lying on the floor, shivering and trying to keep warm in the damp, urine soaked straw
strewn about the cell. He grabbed his wrist and coughed from the stench. The smell was nauseating. Erebos's pale skin felt
like fire. He was running a fever. Eryx choked back tears but had no choice in what he was about to do.
"Get up old man! It is time you made yourself useful. Bree will
not come unless you call to her." He pulled Erebos to his feet; he had to support the whole of his weight which had
diminished significantly. Erebos wagged his head as Eryx pulled him through the doorway and sat him precariously onto a nearby
stool. "Call to her. She will not respond to me."
"Do you expect her to my son...after this?" He asked weakly, his
eyes brimming with tears. Eryx ignored him.
"Do it. Or I will have to hurt you. Don't make me. She will feel
your pain and then she will come whether you call to her or not."
Fear collected in Erebos's eyes. He had never had anything to fear
from his son before this.. He shook his head frantically. He tried to squirm away but the massive Thrakan soldier held him
into place.
Eryx picked up a sharp axe laying on the table; its edge gleamed
in the torchlight. He jerked Erebos's sword hand to the dirty surface of the table. Terror sketched itself across his filthy
face as he struggled, his efforts wasted, to get away.
Calyce smiled maliciously from her front row view two feet in front
of them.
Erebos braced himself for the pain that was to inevitably follow
his unwillingness to call to Bree. He would try with all of his might to block the sensation of pain from reaching Bree's
senses, no matter how excrutiating it may be.
The axe came down swiftly, chopping through flesh, chipping into
bone, then meeting wood. Erebos fought the urge to scream, blocking, blocking the pain as the axe came down again and again.
His index finger lay seperate from his hand on the dirty table followed by his middle finger. In sucession his fingers were
removed, one by one until there were none remaining on his right hand. He felt faint, vomit rising in his throat. He could
taste the only meal of the day that he had eaten in his mouth again. He let his head thud to the table into the puddle of
blood drip, drip, dripping to the floor.
Calyce tittered hauntingly to herself then sauntered from the room.
Eryx turned from his father and whispered to one of the guards
then left his father in a bloody, sticky mess.
Message from author:
I wanted to add the preface from Kael; the sequel to Bree here
on my site. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions! I will add another excerpt from Bree & Kael soon!
Melissa S Diaz
Preface
Bree had never given much thought as to how she would die,
or where. And she had never thought it would be at such a young age; especially at the hands of someone she trusted more than
anyone else in all of Thrae.
She felt numb now as the soft soil beneath her face soaked
up the warm blood spilling from her lips. She felt no surge of anger, no urge to fight back as she looked upon the face of
her attacker, now recognizing him as the faceless phantom from her dreams. He knelt beside her, cocked his head lightly to
one side and softly stroked her cheek, listening closely as Bree breathed her last and smiled.
