A Very Short Excerpt from Thrall of Chaos (WIP fantasy novel)

A hovel leaned against a tree whose unripened fruit hung covered in frost. A thin ribbon of translucent smoke twisted above the opening in the roof. A draft beast stood stomping grumpy stomps on the leeward side of the structure, random gusts tossing the ball of hair that hung over his eyes.


Gartisix, four of his men, and two young priests brought their horses to a halt near the entrance where a thin blade of light cut through the leather flap. One of the clerics led an additional pony, the saddle small and vacant. A stout bearded man, sickle in hand, appeared in the gap and stood for a time while Gartisix and his party approached. The priests spoke with him for a long time while the general and his guards listened. This farmer, whose stance was at first defiant and aggressive, eventually slunk at the shoulders and allowed the clerics into his abode.


When the priests emerged again, they escorted a girl, teenager. They had wrapped her in a wooly hide. As they moved past Gartisix toward the horses, her young face turned back at the family that had stepped out as a globule of arms, legs, tattered clothes, and soiled faces of various ages. Tears dripped. Audible sorrows.


Gartisix went to the farmer and handed him a gold chain. The runes and symbols on the ovoid pendant attached to the chain declared this man and his family now members of the Durancerot, the cherished and exalted providers of sacrificial virgins to the lord of gods, Hartem. The treasure in the farmer’s hand would forever ensure that his children and their children and on and on would be cared for by royal decree. They who gave a life would never suffer for food or home. And yet as most members of the Durancerot came to understand, no amount of royal generosity could buy back the guilt one gained following the yield of innocents for slaughter.