The Bewitching Hour (Death's Dragon Book 1) E-Book

Mac Flynn

• Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

One wrong turn on a deserted forest road leads Adelaide to a fantastical new world of wondrous magic and horrifying shadows. Her unwilling guide on her journey to understanding her situation is the handsome Duncan, the guardian of the realm and a recluse pushed into a position of leadership.

Trouble starts the moment she stumbles into the woodland realm. Her first acquaintance turns out to be a troll, and the legends of their prickly nature are understated as it tries to kill her. Her rescuer is none other than the silent Duncan, a man who wields a scythe and a heavy atmosphere of intrigue.

Complications force him to lead her to the heart of the realm, a pentagram which stretches out over ten miles, where trouble brews. Literally. A witch resides at one of the five points, and the blame for the troll trouble falls on her shoulders. Adi watches tensions rise between the two factions as Duncan attempts to mitigate the disaster only for things to get worse.

Knowing she’s trapped in the dilemma, Adi realizes she needs to lend a helping hand to the situation before they’re swamped by even greater danger. She only hopes she can broker peace before they’re overrun by monsters.

Leseprobe

THE BEWITCHING HOUR

DEATH’S DRAGON BOOK 1

MAC FLYNN

CONTENTS

Copyright

Author’s Note

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Sneak Peek: The Phantom Feud

A Small Favor

When’s the Next Book?

Series by Mac Flynn

About Mac Flynn

COPYRIGHT

The Bewitching Hour (Death’s Dragon Book 1). Copyright © 2023 by Mac Flynn.

Published by Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, disseminated, or transmitted in any form or by any or for any use, including recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the author and/or artist. The only except ions shirt excerpts or the cover image in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel or on the cover are either products of the author’s or artist’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author or artist.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for joining me on a journey through my imagination. If you’re looking for romance and adventure with a guaranteed Happily Ever After, then you’ve come to the right place. My books contain paranormal plotting and fantastical action, and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

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You can keep in touch with me by joining my newsletter or checking out my website for the latest updates.

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Thank you for giving my book a chance, and Happy Reading!

- Mac Flynn

CHAPTERONE

Wow, was I lost.

I wasn’t speaking metaphorically. I found myself on a lonely road in the middle of the woods, and of course, per horror movie union rules, I was alone and had no idea where I was. And it wasn’t the kind of lost where I could turn around and go back the way I came. I wasn’t even sure which direction that was because of the thick mess of fog that had surrounded me. Every turn of the road was another chance for my truck to hug a tree.

“You just had to take a shortcut home…” I muttered to myself as I bumped my way along the unfamiliar dirt road.

Night had fallen an hour ago and I had ventured on this little unscheduled trek just slightly before then. I leaned forward and squinted through the dirty windshield.

“Really should have cleaned that a week ago. Maybe a month.”

My inane yammering was to keep the creeping fear in the back of my mind from forcing my foot to the floor, along with the gas pedal. The little farm where I worked lay far behind me, and in front of me was the great ghostly specter of Morse Woods.

“Try not to think about the stories,” I advised myself as my mind did exactly that.

Stupid me.

My thoughts wandered to the old farm hand who had been showing me the ropes, sometimes literally. Billy was his name and farming was his game.

“Didn’t anybody teach you to tie a rope?” he snapped as he snatched the rope from my hands.

My shoulders slumped. “No, I was too busy learning to tie some algebra letters together.”

He scoffed as he made a knot five times stronger than mine in a tenth of the time. “No letters out here except what’s branded on the cows.” One of the said cows gave a discomforted ‘moo’ from its corral. He handed the rope back to me. “Now learn from that so you can close the bags.” The bags to which he referred were the grain sacks for the perturbed bovine. They stood about us like pudgy soldiers awaiting their turn to be emptied into the full grain bin.

I hefted one of the fifty-pound sacks close to me and gave the knot a try. A bit of fumbling and I got a shadow of the old codger’s knot. Better, but he wrinkled his nose. “That’ll have to do, and I suppose it’s not bad for a bean counter.”

I snorted at the reminder. I’d been hired by the farm not to feed the livestock, but to count them, and their feed supply, and everything else that needed accounting. Then Billy had come into the house asking for help in moving the grain bags to the mouth of the bin, and my accounting day had ended.

I leaned back and wiped the sweat from my brow. All of a sudden, a flock of birds flew out from a wilderness of trees on the far side of the large feed lot. They were black ravens, and their caws filled the air as they took to the skies and sailed overhead. Their cries spooked a few hens who roamed free in the yard.

“I wonder what scared them,” I mused, more to myself than to the old hand in front of me as I snatched up a broom to sweep up the corn debris from the bags.

He frowned at their retreating tail feathers. “Death.”

I blinked at him. “But they’re carrions. They should love something that’s dead.”

Billy shook his head. “Nobody’d dare lay a beak on Lady Death.”

I swept a few times, creating a nice pile that the chickens noticed. The feathery fiends scurried over and began pecking at the ground. A couple of them began a heated argument with one another. “Hey!” I scolded the pair.

Billy scoffed at me. “Never mind them. Chickens are always fighting.”

“I don’t like fighting,” I argued as I plopped my broom square between the pair, stopping the fight. “Especially when it’s a couple who’s supposed to get along.”

“They’re the least to worry about around here,” Billy mused as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the forest. “More to worry about a cow wandering there and meeting her.”

I paused in my peacemaking and raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean the Grim Reaper?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know as she’s that one, but she’s the one around here.” He nodded at the mess of woods that stretched for a hundred miles to the west. “That’s her place there. Sometimes, if yer stupid enough to go in there at night, you can see her parading around inspecting everything. Some folks say she’s got a nice bit of treasure stored away in one of them trees, and she sticks around to protect it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re just pulling my leg.”

He cast a side look at me and his eyes didn’t have the expected twinkle, but rather a stern seriousness that caught me off guard. “I don’t joke about them woods, Miss Griffin. My pa saw something in there when he was a boy that stayed with him till his dying day. He saw the woman in black himself, and she spared him that day so he could tell other folks about her and tell them to stay away when the fog was thick. ‘No good would be had by any who ventures into my domain when the fog is thick.’ Those are her words exactly, just as my pa told me.” He grimaced and rubbed his chest with the palm of one hand.

A slight bit of panic touched me, and I took a step toward him. “Are you okay?”

Billy dropped his hand and nodded. “Just the old ticker. It’s telling me there’s change in the air. Smells like fog tonight, too. Better get the cows close to the barn.”

“Wish I was close to the barn,” I muttered as I eased around a bend in the road that loomed out of the mist.

Now here I was several hours later bouncing up and down the rough road with no chance to turn around and no idea where I was headed. Worse still, that hideous fog that floated just on the other side of the truck door made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

“Just a few more miles,” I assured myself as I readjusted my sweaty palms on the steering wheel. “And then you’ll see the crest of the hill and then town will be just down that sledding slope.” Memories of those wintry times gave me a bittersweet smile. Those were the days before my mother passed away, leaving me an orphan.

It was at that moment that a huge shadow darted across the road. I slammed my foot on the break and the truck skidded to a stop just a few yards further. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked in the rearview mirror. There was nothing but drifting fog.

I fell back against my seat and pressed a hand against my chest over my furiously beating heart. “Easy there, old boy. Probably nothing but an owl.”

That’s when I heard it. A long, low howl somewhere near the road. I shot up and nearly cracked my head against the sunshade. My eyes darted over my misty surroundings. Every instinct of mine told me one thing.

“Time to get out of here.”

I put my foot on the gas pedal and the truck lurched forward only to die. Panic gripped me as I turned the key back and forth, but the starter wouldn’t even turn over. There was only the ominous click of failure as the fog around me seemed to grow thicker and thicker.

I froze as a shadow came up to the passenger side window. A hideous face pressed itself against the glass. The thing was covered in fur, and two large yellow eyes stared at me from the darkness. Clawed hands fumbled for the door handle, and I realized too late that I had forgotten to lock it.

I let out a scream and scrambled out my door just as the creature entered from the passenger side. My foot caught on the step, and I stumbled to the leaf-covered ground. I flipped onto my butt and beheld the creature crawl slowly across the seat. It easily moved on all fours, and its hands were more like claws. The thing’s entire body was covered in thick gray hair, and it had a large mane down its back that resembled a hump.

The creature had a long snout which it curled back and revealed two rows of long, sharp fangs. Drool dripped from its lips as it curled its long fingers over the edge of the driver’s seat.

I stumbled to my feet and darted into the foggy woods. The creature gave chase as I heard it land on the ground and lope after me. I risked a look over my shoulder, but the mist blinded me. I could still hear it, though, as its panting breath came closer and closer.

I pumped my arms as my heart thumped hard against my chest. My feet stumbled over the uneven forest ground, and the toe of one of my treasonous shoes caught a root. I slammed against the hard dirt and the air was knocked from my lungs.

My harsh wheezing cut through the eerie silence that surrounded me. The quiet captured my attention. I lifted my head and looked about me. The heavy steps of the creature no longer stalked me, but an old problem with a new twist reared its ugly head.

I was lost again, and now I was lost in the woods.

I eased myself to my feet and wrapped my arms around myself. The chill of the fog had sunk into my bones and my strained nerves were still prepared for a surprise attack by the wolf creature. I turned in a circle in search of my footprints, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Judging the direction I had come, I eased myself through the thick fog, ever watchful for my pursuer. After a while the creeping suspicion of going the wrong way entered my mind, and my old friend panic followed on its heels. Still, I stumbled through the woods, my clothes catching on branches and the damp dirt showing as stains on my pants and butt.

As I ventured over a small and completely unfamiliar hill I paused on the top and looked around. The mist had lifted enough for me to see some thirty yards ahead of me. A flat area of swampy land spread out for some twenty feet until it met a mess of flat rocks embedded in the grassy earth.

None of this looked even vaguely familiar.

I took a deep breath and put one foot on the downward side of the hill. My foot shook the earth.

I paused and frowned. Surely, I hadn’t gained that much weight hiking. Then it happened again, and I knew it hadn’t been from me.

The steady rhythm of heavy feet shook the earth with each step, and they were coming straight toward me. My eyes grew as wide as saucers as the owner of those feet stomped out of the mist.

It was a huge troll, and it saw me.

CHAPTERTWO

My breath caught in my throat as I met the intense evil in those plain brown eyes. The creature hefted a large club over one bare shoulder as it sneered at me. I spun around and stumbled back over the hill, but those crashing footsteps followed me. The troll creature crossed the distance between us in seconds and easily stepped over the low mound by the time I had reached the bottom.

The troll brought the club down behind me, and the tip just barely missed my heel as I tumbled down the gentle slope and into the trees. I rolled across the leaf-covered ground and slammed my side into the trunk of a tree. The bellow of the horrible monster rang in my ears as I scrambled to my feet and stumbled through the woods. Its heavy footsteps followed, shaking the ground and pounding almost as hard as my heart.

I leapt over a fallen log and discovered that the half I stared at had rotted out. A quick look back showed the monster’s high view was blocked by the canopy. I scrambled into the little cranny and held my breath. The troll stomped over me and continued on his way.

His footsteps stopped just out of sight, and I could hear his nostrils sniff the air. I slipped out of my hiding hole and crept across the ground as quickly as I could manage. A loud snort and roar warned me that the troll had caught my scent and sprinted through the woods.

The low hill I had found earlier seemed to snake for miles through the trees, and I found myself climbing over it again. I slipped onto the downhill side, and I tumbled to the bottom of a deep depression. My mind screamed at me to get up, but I was too dazed to do anything more than lay there panting.

“Adi. Adi.”

My name. Someone’s saying my name.

My eyes flickered open, but they couldn’t focus. A blurry face of a woman floated over me. I couldn’t quite see it, but I could feel that she was smiling down at me.

“Eat this, Adi.”

She slipped something small and round through my parted lips. The taste was sweet, like a berry, and I had no problem swallowing it. A cold chill chased the berry down my throat and into my stomach, and the strange sensation flowed across my whole body until even my fingertips felt numb. The coldest spot, however, focused around my left eye, so much so that I felt a throbbing pain.

The noise of the troll came from the woods and the figure disappeared. The starry sky twinkled above me as focus returned to my eyes. I blinked a few times just as the troll came over the top of the hill some fifty feet above me.

My heart skipped a beat before I scrambled to my feet and sprinted across a flat plain some half mile wide. Trees lined the entire area and dried field grass crunched beneath my feet. The troll had the advantage over bare ground and quickly caught up to me. I felt the strong whoosh of his club as he aimed the hefty wood at my side. I threw myself to the ground to avoid the devastating blow and I skidded to the filthy ground. The small tree whooshed over my head, and I rolled over in time to watch the troll grasp the handle in both hands and raise it above his head for a killer swing.

A dark shadow flew over me and a shine of metal glimmered in the starlight. The next moment the troll stumbled backward with a loud roar and his club crashed to the ground. One of his arms went with it.

My rescuer dropped to the ground between me and the creature. The figure wore a black cloak and hood, but the height and build told me it was a man. What most caught my attention, however, was the large scythe he held in one hand. The stinging blade of his weapon shimmered in the dim light.

I lifted myself up on my arms and gaped at the sliced-off limb that lay on the ground some ten feet from me. The next moment the arm exploded into a black mist, leaving only the club.

The one-armed troll swung his remaining limb at my rescuer, and the cloaked man leapt out of the way. The troll’s fist slammed into the ground, leaving a half-foot depression in the earth. The stranger darted around the troll and leapt impossibly high into the air. He grasped the scythe in both hands as he came down, and he swung the weapon in movements too swift for me to follow.

The stranger dropped to the ground behind the troll. The creature’s wide eyes rolled back in his head and his mouth hung agape as his body collapsed into a heap of dismembered limbs. Like the arm, the rest of it exploded into black mist before disappearing altogether.

The cloaked figure strode toward me and removed his hood. I had never seen such a handsome man as the one that now stood before me. His hair was as black as night and his eyes were a brilliant green. His chiseled features matched the strength behind the scythe he held.

He stopped a few feet from me and studied me with a curious look. “You’re far into these woods.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, but still, I could only nod. He swept his eyes over the area. “Are there any others?” I shook my head. He leaned down and offered me his hand. There was a small smile on his lips, but the expression didn’t reach his bright eyes. “Then allow me to point you in the right direction.”

My eyes flickered between his face and his hand, and I finally managed to find my voice. “This… this isn’t a nightmare?”

He shook his head. “Only if you remain here too long, now come with me.”

I contemplated his offer a moment longer before I accepted his hand. He helped me to my feet as if he was lifting a cardboard cutout, and then the stranger hurried me across the field toward the embankment. The man helped me up the slope and to the top of the hill where he pointed ahead of us.

“The road you seek is some three miles in that direction,” he instructed me as he caught my eye. “You mustn’t turn a foot from that direction, otherwise you’ll find yourself back here. Do you understand?” I dumbly nodded, and he set his hand on my lower back. “Then I will bid you farewell-”

The man guided me forward with his hand, but I took one step off the top of the mound and found my face squished against an invisible wall. Even my nose became flattened, and his insistent hand only made things flatter.

“Stop!” I cried out as I pressed my hands against that ethereal barrier. “Something’s stopping me from going any further!”

The man drew his hand back, and his eyebrows crashed down as a look of ire and confusion crossed over his face. He set his hand atop one of mine that leaned against the wall and tried a gentler push. My hand remained where it was, pressed between a palm and a hard place.

I yanked away my hand before he imprinted on me. He hardly seemed to notice as he scowled at the air. The next moment he whipped his head to me. “Have you eaten anything in here?”

I blinked at him. “Do you think I had time to eat?” My words froze in my mouth as I recalled the hazy hallucination I’d had after hitting my head. “I… I may have swallowed a berry.”

A strange expression traveled across his eyes. Was it pity? Anger? Or a combination of the two? Before I could analyze it further it vanished, leaving only the stoic look. He turned to face the meadow and swept his arm in that direction. “I see. Then you’ll have to come with me.”

I took a step back and shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on. Where am I? Who are you? What was that… that thing?”

He stared at me a moment before he returned his attention to the clearing. “My name is Duncan.” He didn’t wait for an answer but proceeded down the hill.

“That doesn’t answer all of my questions!” I shouted at him as I planted my feet firmly on top of the hill.

Duncan paused at the bottom of the slope and half-turned to me. “You’re in the Land of Shadows, and that thing you saw was a troll.”

That soothed some of my ire, but not all of the questions bouncing around in my head. “And what’s this,” I slammed my palm against the invisible wall, “and why can’t I go any farther?”

“That is the Veil of Death, and you passed beyond it.”

He turned and proceeded across the meadow. The color drained from my face as my hand planted on the veil shook a little. I balled it into a fist against my chest as my frantic mind tried to make sense of this. It… it just couldn’t be true.

And if it wasn’t, all my answers were quickly walking away from me.

“Hey!” I shouted as I stumbled down the slope. “Wait a minute!”