The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 42. The Shadows Have Eyes

Tamer stood outside the floating palace, watching, waiting. The moon was a curved slice of light, thin and fragile. It looked lost. He felt the wind stir, a somber whimper that rustled his cloak. He pulled the tip of his hood lower, burying his face in the shadows. Closing his mind from the whispers in his thoughts, Tamer listened. He heard the stamping of feet as guards did their frequent patrols on the ground level, the whooshing of water from hosepipes in the hanging gardens and the swish of brooms sweeping the servant quarters' clean. He listened again, drawing out a trickle of his power, amplifying his hearing and concentrating on only what he needed to hear.

On the thirteenth floor of the castle, beneath stained glass and bent metal, Tamer heard his laughter. There were others too, laughing and clinking glasses, singing and talking in all their merry. His nails dug half-moon crescents on his palms. They would not be laughing once they found out Ashura Deadlands was open to all, its secrets revealed. It was he who destroyed the barrier. 

Tamer channelled another trickle of his power, pulling it down his feet, letting it pour into the soft ground. The whispers stirred in his mind, awakening.

In the space between a blink and a heartbeat, all the shadows came alive and bowed under his power. It was not in the literal sense, no. They fell under his command, twisting, turning, bending to his will. And in each shadow, whether partial and starved by the light or full and bulging from the darkness, there were eyes through which he could see what lay hidden and unhidden.

On the thirteenth floor of the castle, Tamer saw a crowd of courtiers in half masks and fine clothes, swept in the thrill of a festival. There were dancers with gold tinkling from their wrists and ankles and servants balancing trays topped with food and drinks. There were entertainers breathing fire and swallowing knives and mages dazzling the crowd with their power. And there was a king sitting on his throne, laughing at a joke made by his grand master.

The shadows slithered up the foot of his throne. Nobody noticed. They slid up the king's shoulders, curled around his neck like fingers mean to smother. It was easy how life could be stolen in a matter of seconds. His father had no idea that his life now dangled at his fingertips. Tamer ordered the shadows to retreat, to sink back into their inky pools and watch the courtiers in silence. 

He did not come to end a life. He came to save one. He turned his back on the king and let the shadows show him what he'd come looking for. There, on the tallest spire, above hundreds of spiralling steps, in a room lit by a single sconce was his destination.

The whispers quieted. Even the wind paused. He knelt down on a knee, placed a hand on the ground and let himself become a shadow. And in the space between a blink and a heartbeat, Tamer vanished from the ground and reappeared in the room. 

He had found his mother.

The End

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Final Author's Note

As I write this, my heart is beating so fast. I can't express how excited I am (I just completed my first novel whoo!) and how humbled I feel from all of your support. Out of all my stories, you have been the most supportive readers I have ever come across. You stuck with me through the years so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Will there be a book 2? Eventually, yes! The Crescent Hour was meant to be a duology. I have plans for the second book but for now, I want to focus on polishing this first draft. You might have noticed, at the beginning, I was stumbling with the setting. I wasn't sure what I wanted. It started with world-travelling but I enjoyed the fantasy world a whole lot more than the Victorian era. So I thought: A medieval setting? Too overdone. A historical Asian setting? Pretty cool but the characters wouldn't fit. It took me several chapters to realize what I truly wanted was a Middle-Eastern setting. 

Think of One Thousand and One Nights. Prince of Persia. Layla and Majnun.  The Crescent Hour is loosely based on a Middle-Eastern setting but there's so much more I want to explore so that you readers can have a more wonderful reading experience. The plot will stay relatively the same with the exception of the world-travelling part. Clara will be in Tamer's world right from the beginning and she'll have to undergo a name change and a different background ;) I promise all the good parts that you liked will stay the same!

 Other than that, if you enjoyed reading the novel, please remember to vote and add it to your reading lists. It really helps spread the exposure. I would also love to hear your final thoughts regarding the end (I know I'm evil with the cliffhangers) and well, my plans for editing this book. And once again, thank you for your patience and unwavering support.