To say thanks to everyone who has read my book Dernketh the Broken Island so far I will be sharing the first few chapters here plus some behind the scenes and extra bits. You can read the entire book right now on Amazon either as a paperback or eboo...
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Last time - The evil island of Dernketh has forced Finn to play it's sick games for years. It tries to get him to save people and when he fails he is left more broken than before. He swears he will never play the game again. He meets a girl but when she seems to ask him to save her - to give a reason to live. But he can't find the reason to live himself, so he turns his back.
I turned to run back to my cabin but the wind slammed into me so hard I spun halfway down the beach and landed on my face. What felt like a fully grown dune dog leapt on my back. I coughed a mouthful of sand out. At least a dune dog would have ended it quickly.
"You missed all the fun," I muttered. The wind pushed my face into the sand. I guessed it had been off tormenting one of the villagers. At least it didn't know about the girl yet. Even as I was rolled and thumped I tensed, waiting for her cry to split the sunny day. If I ran to my cabin the island would know.
I staggered from the sand's grip towards the village, keeping my head down. Seaweed and shells crunched like bones under my feet. Was she at the top of the tower? Any moment –
A long shadow touched my feet.
I'd reached the outcast's cabin – a lonely wooden cabin squatting in the sand, the sea on one side and the kindling village metres away on the other. The wooden shutters twitched like sewn eyes. Was he in there? Watching me? Even the new castaways knew not to mess with the outcast. Everyone ignored him and he ignored them. I almost envied him.
The wind smashed me against the cabin, smearing my face against the shutters like a swatted fly. For a moment I saw a cold dark room, a floor choked with bottles and a blanketed mound stirring on the couch. Then the wind dragged me off my feet by my collar, garroting me for a few happy moments before it dropped me, doused me in sand and took off screaming back up the beach.
I lay there gasping, my burning lungs choking up sand. Why had it let up? It wasn't usually so kind and it had days of torment to catch up on. Sand fleas burst around me as I slapped my ears free of the sand, blinking the grit from my eyes.
But there was a new sound. Ragged, discordant bells. It faded, then surged back stronger. Singing. Notes and words. A voice choked with fear.
My fists slipped in the sand as the sound sharpened. Her voice. The wind had sent the girl's voice across the beach and into my head. My chest jerked with angry spasms.
Come on, Finn, play the game.
My lip jerked like I was being tortured. The waves watched me, innocently sucking the edge of the sand like a child with a lollipop.
You couldn't save her either.
I didn't realise I was running until the tower's wooden door swelled before me. My feet froze as I saw the carving in the wooden door.
This way to heaven
My eye twitched, the handle biting into my skin. Throwing yourself off a tower felt more like hell to me. But wasn't the whole island?
