Books have shippeeeed!!!!
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 05:20:28 PM
Hi!
Just wanted to let you know that the books shipped today! If you are set to receive a book, then you should have received a tracking number through Backerkit to your Kickstarter email. If not, you should receive one soon so you should track your package.
I'm sorry these are a week or so late, but I got them out in December :)
This is my 19th campaign that I have fulfilled, and I'm so happy that you have joined me for this journey. I honestly could not have done it without you. You are the fuel that keeps my creativity going.
If you've listened to the audio drama or read the book, I would love to know what you thought either through my email @ [email protected], or through the comments below.
I hope you loved it, or will if you're waiting to listen for a while.
Just one more thing, if you're so inclined, I'm starting a new campaign on Tuesday featuring dragons!
Today, I will die.
This wasn’t a surprise to me. I had been preparing for it my whole life, but I never thought it would come until it crashed upon me this morning like a suffocating wave. Fifteen years on this Earth seemed like so much time, but now I realized how little of my life as a ceremonial sacrifice afforded me.
I was always an early bird. I woke with the sun, ready for the start of a new day. However, when the tender kiss of light touched my eyes on my final morning alive, I shut them tighter and pulled my sheets over my head. If I didn’t face the day, then perhaps my death would never come.
I trained for this since I was a small child, but there is no amount of preparation that readied you for being swallowed by a dragon; its horrible, jagged teeth ripping through the white dress Sister Milka sewed special for the occasion and tearing your flesh as it gnashed against your virgin body.
Somebody softly knocked on the door to my room. “Gilda, we need to get started. Today is a big day.”
Sacrifices were given every privilege. We wanted for nothing in our short lives, and after our deaths, those we loved were taken care of for the rest of their days. It was what the villagers bestowed upon us to assuage their guilt, and it was a small price to pay compared to the one we paid.
We were the salvation of the village, after all. It was only because of our noble sacrifice that the great dragon lord Ewig stayed satiated in his cave inside the volcano that loomed above us and didn’t sweep down to destroy us.
That was the pact, cemented in blood a hundred years ago. Every five years, one of us must willingly walk to our deaths, and in return, the great dragon would watch over our village, and prevent the great volcano that loomed over us from erupting, burying our village under its magma.
It was a great honor to be chosen as the sacrificial lamb. That was what the line they told me at least, but today it certainly didn’t seem like an honor. It seemed like I was raised like a lamb for slaughter, provided every luxury to die at the right moment.
“Coming!” I said after a long pause. Sister Milka was a harsh and unforgiving mistress, and would not accept anything but perfection today, on my last day of life. Every day of my life she watched over me, training me to die well. Even now, at the end, she would not take her foot off my neck. Especially now, with so much on the line, with the prosperity of our town riding on the spillage of my blood before the clock struck midnight tonight.
I slipped my sandals on my feet and rose to stand. Before I answered the door, I spun and made my bed, as I was trained to do; the first sign of an uncluttered mind was a perfectly made bed. It was the least we could do to show how much we appreciated all we were given.
As I pulled the corner of the bed taut, I thought about not tucking in the final edge as a little sign of rebellion. However, when I tried to leave it mussed, pangs of guilt washed over me, until they were so overwhelming that, with shaking hands, I forced the last edge of my blanket in tightly.
Once I was dead, my house would become a museum, and my room a shrine, preserved exactly how I left it, and I didn’t want my mother to have to explain that her perfect daughter died a slob. Why do I care what people think of me after my death?
With the bed made, I walked to the door and placed my hand on the knob. The minute I opened it, the machinations of my last hours, those that I trained for my whole life, would wash over me one after another.
“It’s time to open this door, missy.”
I closed my eyes and felt my breath against my chest, rising and lowering in slow, rhythmic time with the beating of my heart. They were small gestures, in the grand scheme, but right now, they were everything, and soon, much too soon, they would fall fallow and motionless forever.
What would happen after I took my final breath? According to the church, I would rise up into the sky and take my place among the stars, but what did they know? The gods were long dead, and the dragons that remained had none of their love of humanity.
Banging came from the other side of the door, and Sister Milka’s shrill voice cut through the air. “That’s quite enough of this dawdling, Gilda! Open the door this instant.”
Her shouting pulled me out of my calm, and I turned the doorknob. She exploded into the room, her trim frame and long face cutting an imposing image against the harsh light that fell into the room. She was not a big woman, but her presence filled my small room like none other.
“Good morning, mistress,” I said, bowing my head to avoid her gaze. You never looked the nuns in the eyes.
She didn’t answer for a long moment, busying herself with checking my room, inspecting my bed, and running her fingers across the top of my dresser, looking for dust. She rubbed her fingers together and gave a small nod. “I see your mother took this cleaning seriously.”
I nodded to her, keeping my eyes turned to the ground. “Of course, mistress. She scrubbed all day and into the evening.”
Sister Milka not only ran the monastery and school in town, but personally looked over all of us chosen for sacrifice, of which there were three at any time. It was a job she took seriously and had since taking her vows fifty years ago.
“Well, let me get a look at you,” she said. “Stand up straight.”
It was crucial that I not have a flaw or imperfection on my naked body, and for fifteen years I can’t remember a time when I lifted a finger in manual labor. My mother made all my meals, or a member of the community would deliver it, and everything else was taken care of so I could keep myself flawless for my date with Ewig.
I dropped my nightgown to the floor and endured the intense gaze of Sister Milka as she examined every inch of me. Two years ago, I judged a livestock competition, and she looked at me like the other judges looked at the cattle on display, trying to decide which one would give the best meat.
“You need to shave every inch of you, except your hair,” she said. “We do not want the great dragon lord to get a hairball now, do we?”
I shook my head. “No, mistress.”
“Good, good.” She placed her hands under my breasts, and then pinched the sides of my waist. “You have put on decent weight in the past year, my dear. Yes, I think the dragon lord will be most impressed with you.” Then she moved her
hand to my face, and brushed her hand along my cheek. “You are truly one of my greatest girls. I am so proud of what you have become.”
A compliment? She never gave me a compliment before. She had nothing but bitter, terse words for me, that stuck into my gut with pain and tore at my mind.
“T-thank you, mistress.”
She moved her hand to my chin and pulled it up to meet her eyes, a great honor she afforded very few. “No, thank you, my dear. The sacrifice you make tonight is a greater burden than any child should bear.”
Tears filled my eyes as I stared into Sister Milka’s face. Her eyes were a cold, dark brown, and even though her words were kind, her face was sharp, and her voice terse, taking much of the tenderness from them.
“No need for that.” Sister Milka pulled her hand from my face and slid a white handkerchief from her pocket. “This is a happy occasion, after all. Your sacrifice will save us all. There is no greater gift. Now, clean yourself up, and I will draw your bath.”
That's just the beginning of the story. I hope you'll join us on Tuesday for the launch of the series, and you can read a few more chapters by clicking here.
Plus, if you back in the first week you'll get a ton of awesome extra books.
Everyone who backs in the first week of the campaign will receive digital copies of Born of Magic by Jack Holder, Of Dreams and Dragons by Karpov Kincade, The Herebey Dragons by Simon Birks, Eda Cagil Caglarirmak, and Lyndon White, and Wildskies book 1 by Melissa Hudson.
If you liked that, you can sign up to get notified at launch right here.
Hope you enjoyed the audio drama, and the book, and look forward to seeing you behind the backer wall again in the future. :)
Happy new year!
Russell
