Nyght & Daie

Paul W. Gibbs

Description

Ever since their creation, Sun and Moon have been battling, with neither of them able to claim victory over the other. Now, each has chosen a human to fight for them; a mortal warrior who can die. They will battle one another and the one to survive will claim victory for Sun or Moon. Unfortunately, being warriors for the two guardians may cost the humans all they have, and all they will ever be. Hanna: chosen to be the warrior for Sun. A girl: who does not have a name yet chosen to be the warrior for Moon. They live on opposite sides of the world and live completely different lives. No matter what they go through, their destinies are to meet. Nyght & Daie: The Girl and Hanna is the beginning of their story—Only the beginning.

Sujets

• Fantastique
• Epic Fantasy
• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• General officer
• Epic
• General
• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: SonWright Books
• Date de parution: 23 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977265074
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Nyght & Daie Part 1: The Girl and Hanna All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 Paul W. Gibbs v5.0
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
SonWright Books
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904162
Cover illustrated by Victor Guiza Illustrations © 2023 Outskirts Press, Inc. All rights reserved - used with permission.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Glossary

Sun-cycle: One day
Moon-cycle: One month
Sun-mark/mark: One hour
Moon-mark: One week
Season: One year
Land-mark: One mile
Blessed Day: Birthday
Handbreadth: Three inches
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
ONE
The small village of Lorraine lies in a remote area in the wilderness, far from any well-traveled roads. Every now and then, merchants will arrive to sell their wares, or someone who has become lost in the woods might stumble upon it, and the citizens are more than happy to put them up for a day or so until the new arrivals are ready to be on their way. Even though the citizens give hospitality to anyone who finds themselves at the front gate, the village does not receive many outsiders, which is the way they prefer it.
The citizens chose to live in the isolated village because they favor it over the larger cities. Life may be more difficult, and everyone must pull together so the entire settlement will survive, but not a single man, woman, or child would trade what he or she has. That is until now.
Mountain Raiders were approaching the village. Their campfires were sighted two nights ago, and the adults of Lorraine all knew, they might not survive for much longer.
The Mountain Raiders live six sun-cycles from Lorraine, at a walking pace, in the mountain ranges to the north. Now, with the coming of spring, they have left their lands to restock provisions and other items they need to survive. It takes six cycles of the sun to walk from the edge of the mountains to Lorraine, but the Raiders would make the journey in three.
That gave the villagers of Lorraine just one more sun-cycle to prepare themselves, but they all knew that when the Mountain Raiders came, they left nothing behind when they returned to the lands where they dwell. They did not farm, they did not raise cattle of their own, and they did not barter for what they needed. They came, they took, and they killed.
Anything of usefulness, to allow them to live, the Mountain Raiders would take with them. Food, blankets, cows, chickens; they would even take as much wood, as they could carry, which made up the wall surrounding Lorraine. They would strip the village clean and even that was not the worst they would be leaving with when they were through. There was one more item the Mountain Raiders came for; it was what they needed to help increase their numbers. They would take any child, ten seasons or younger.
They would take the young boys and raise them to become warriors in the Mountain Raider’s culture. Forced, usually by brutal beatings, to forget about all they left behind. The boys had their previous lives beaten out of them, and if they would not break, beaten to death.
Young girls taken had one purpose, to mate with the strongest Mountain Raiders. As soon as the girls were of the age of breeding, where they could conceive a child, they would produce children for the Mountain Raiders, and if they were not able, then the Raiders had no use for them; and anything the Mountain Raiders had no use for, was a waste, and removed.
The Raiders were only interested in the children ten seasons or younger because they knew that a child who is older, is more defiant and is too much trouble to break. The Raiders take the children when they are young, then make them into exactly what the Raiders need. More of their kind, to spread terror and death throughout the region.
With spring’s arrival, the villagers of Lorraine thought they would be able to spend time in their fields preparing for a good harvest at the end of the season. Now, they were spending time preparing what little defenses they had; in hopes, they will survive the attack, one which they knew was coming.
After seeing the campfires, six brave men of Lorraine volunteered to make their way as close as they could to the Mountain Raiders’ camp. Six men went out, not to try to stop the approaching horde, for each of them knew that was an impossible task. The men went out to obtain a better understanding of just how many of the Raiders there were, and when they would attack. All six knew that if caught, they would not be returning to Lorraine. If that were to happen, the only good thing was that none of the six had families left in the village, so even though their deaths would weigh heavily on the shoulders of the other citizens, at least they would not be affecting any loved ones they would have left behind. The six men, as well as all the other people of Lorraine, knew, that if all six make it back, it would not be long before they will have to defend the village, and any defense against the Mountain Raiders was only a delay from the inevitable destruction they would bring with them.
The six men left Lorraine before the sun was in the sky on the second day, from the time the villagers spotted the fires. They would have to move swiftly if they were going to reach the encampment before the sun rose on the third. Not just because the Raiders had a better chance at seeing them with the sun’s light, but because the Raiders would once again be on the march.
Each man carried two crucial items. One was a weapon. Of course, out of the six, only two had swords. Two others had axes; axes normally used for cutting down trees, not ones that have ever tasted the blood of a human.
The last two men had bows, which they used for hunting animals in the woods surrounding their home. The people of Lorraine would hunt deer, rabbits, and other types of animals allowing them to survive in the wilderness. The two men carrying bows knew that soon, they might be aiming for something that would also be aiming for them. The men hunted animals, and when they did, they could take their time, track their prey, and ease into the kill. They would not have that opportunity with the Raiders. They would not wait for the men of Lorraine to steady themselves to release their arrows. No, the Raiders would not let them have the needed time.
The other item each man carried was a horn, made from the horns of the mountain rams in the region. Even these were from animals that had come down out of the mountains and died. For no man would go to the mountains to hunt, it was the home of the Raiders.
The men traveled fast and far until they came to be one land-mark, away from the Mountain Raiders’ camp and time for them to separate. Two remained at the location, while the other four continued on. When the four were a half of a land-mark away from the Raiders, two stayed and took up positions, while the last two went the rest of the way to the camp to see if they could find out just how much of a threat would be coming down on their village.
It was dark, but the moon was almost full which allowed more light to shine than what the two men would have liked, but they had no time to waste. The Raiders would be at their village by the end of the next sun-cycle. The men had to return home with as much information as they could. Anything that might help the people of Lorraine defend themselves.
Even though they did not have much time, they could not move too fast; now that they were close to the Raiders’ camp. If caught, they would not be able to find out how many warriors were on the march, nor would they be able to return to the village with the information they came for. They needed to move with haste, but stealth was just as important.
When they were near the encampment and could not risk moving any closer, one of the men climbed a tree to take a better look. He had lived in Lorraine his entire life, and since the village was in the middle of the woods, climbing trees was something he has done since he was a child, just like every child in the village. He climbed up enough to where he would have the best view of the camp. It was a view he was not happy to see.
Mountain Raiders live in the cold harshness of the mountains where temperatures are so low water does not run freely until the summer comes; and only then does it run but a brief time. The Raiders are humans, yet not affected by the conditions of their environment. Even though their land is cold, in the camp below, they do not need the abundance of clothing they would normally wear. This allows them to carry more supplies when they return to their own lands, along with the young children.
In the lands near Lorraine, an item the Raiders did not need were tents. The season’s weather was comfortable, and since the cold did not affect the Raiders, the cool breeze was no bother to the warriors. Without tents, the man from Lorraine could see the size of the force he was observing. He knew his village did not stand a chance against the sight before his eyes.
It took him a while,