Teaser for the month of August
I’m working on ‘The Gateless Gate’ which is the spiritual successor of ‘The Shade of the Soul’ and will include some of the same characters. I will perhaps reveal some more details later, suffice to say I’m having as much fun writing this as I did writing the first one!
Excerpt (first draft)
The boat slid through the dark, choppy waters of the lake. The island towards which the boatman steered was no more than a craggy, fractured lump, where nothing stirred; not even sea birds. He pulled the oars in great swathes, propelling the boat along, and it slid through the water with silence as pure as that on an airless world.
His features were hidden within his robes of darkest red, his hands gloved, his movements tireless. Not a sound was uttered from his lips, not even a breath. The sky shone red as the sun set behind the isle, but the ocean did not reflect an ounce of the light – nothing could cast the lake in anything other than the darkest tones, a reminder of the ancient curses placed upon it by witches and warlocks, demons and sorcerers.
The sun was consumed by the horizon and the scene turned to night. Never did the cloaked figure give pause, even when his destination was enveloped by the blackness. It was then that the lake began to glow, silvery green, shining like an ethereal mirror, and the isle was lit once again. Not a cloud touched the sky, and the single star shone bright at the zenith. A myriad of moons, in their thousands, tiny and cratered, shone like the stars of a more conventional world, and they circled the single star.
Still the boatman rowed.
Still not a sound could be heard.
