Matthew Maine—The Voidwalker Saga

The room was silent as the revelation sank in. Furstin smiled thinly and folded her shackled hands. Tanzik, Allena, and Lura knew that she was planning on sending a courier to surrender but didn’t think she had done it so quickly. King Hárkast sighed. “When?” “Oh,” she said as she looked up in mock thought. “You know, I must say, in all the excitement, I seem to have forgotten.” “Daughter, you’ve already lost. Don’t make this any harder than it already is.” “But I do wish to make it difficult, father. Because when we surrender, the Empire will have a safe and direct line straight to Stormhall. And your honor prevents you from reneging on that agreement. And if you did, they’d lay siege to the city and win. And you’d show everyone in Cyfandir how little your promises mean.” The king looked furious but kept calm. “Then I’ll send someone to stop them.” “Oh, but who? Who could you trust enough to send? How do you know who’s still loyal to you and not to me?” Hárkast turned away so Furstin ...

Lura looked up at the castle dungeon’s ceiling. It was cold and damp. The bed she was lying on was stiff and uncomfortable. Her hands were behind her head since there was no pillow. She had been relieved of all of her possessions and given threadbare rags to wear, which made the cold unbearable. She was beaten upon arrival to make her too weak to fight back. Her coin was gone and there was a tightness in her chest that hadn’t loosened in the two days she had been in the dungeon. Meanwhile, the Katavy Empire’s army was marching through Serevar.  She choked down her anger as her mind focused on one question. What could I have done differently to avoid this? She asked all day, running through scenarios in her head. Allena was held two doors down, sitting on her bed and holding her knees close to her chest. She took deep breaths, trying to relax her mind. She accepted her fate easily, but couldn’t accept the fate of everyone in Serevar suffering under the oppression of the Empire. She ...