Sand & Shadow

Prologue

She saw them spilling over the horizon like a dark stain spreading under the orange sunset. Over a thousand had come, too many for her to fight and escape. Not with the wagons and tents and... Her baby boy.

The ache in her chest almost doubled her over and she choked back the sob that began to form in her throat. This left no doubt, Rolf had betrayed them. She quickly wiped away the mistiness that clouded her eyes, not wanting to lose sight of the enemy's approach.

Then with a flick of her hand a small glow moth formed before her and she whispered to it. As soon as she finished it flitted off in the opposite direction of the still distant force. Akur would do what has to be done, and her son would be safe. Without her drawing them, her son would be safe. Sapha would make sure of it.

At the thought of her husband and son the pain returned to her chest. It threatened to fill her with the irresistible tar like hopelessness that had choked her thoughts her more nights than she cared to admit. No force of this size should be able to form within Antis' borders. Even in the desert they should fear being discovered, but they had grown bolder year after year.

Some part of her knew that Sapha's dream of a life hidden in the maze of dunes and craigs that was the Iron Sands would never last. Again and again they had come and she thought that because it had been almost a year, perhaps they could be safe here for a time.

The pit of sorrow in her chest started to churn, the tar bubbling with her outrage at what was being taken from her. Then it ignited.

By Ejlal she was a Fallon! Radiant from birth, and trained to lead the people through darkness. She had tried to burn away the growing corruption at Antis' heart, and they had come for her. Allies had disappeared, and leads had vanished as more and more people fell deaf to her warnings. Antis was dieing slowly, and by the time her enemies came to claim her, they would find only a stooped over old woman, where once a warrior priestess of Ejlal stood!

Her eyes began to shine as if they held the reflection of the noon day son, instead of the one slowly bleeding out on the horizon. The world around her gained crystal clear focus and time seemed to slow. If she wanted to she could count the hairs on the heads of those coming to take her family from her.

Then in a motion smoothed by years of practice, she unslung her bow from her back and removed its cover. It was already shining with the same light erupting from her eyes. Intricate details marked the bow, not that anyone but her could make them out through the burning light.

Iku would see this in the distance and it would be enough for her to know what was happening. She had come here looking for a chance for her people, and she had found it. It was time she acted like she believed what she had seen in the temple.

It was time for the shadow's to grow long in Antis' sunset. From them a change would come, and at the center of that change would be her son.

With a long steadying breath, she pulled the bow up before her and drew back the filament of light that formed between the ends. Then with a slow exhale, she released a blazing arrow that shot like a star towards the enemy, still an hour's walk away.

She had chosen her vantage well, and even as her attack exploded in their midst she saw some of their elites burst into motion, racing towards her faster than a charging horse. She might not live through the night, but neither would any who had come for her. They would think it was finished, that their final opposition had been destroyed.

Her new family would live on, and she would show this filth what it meant to be the greatest Touched Practitioner of her generation. She was Lorah Lightsheild, Desert Steel ranked Master of the Touch of Light. She would protect the secrets Ejlal had entrusted to her, like a torch holding the darkness at bay until in the soft rays of morning's light it smolders to smoke and ash.