For fans of the story so far, the following takes place immediately after the events concerning Serrion, Vishan and Sophia at the end of ‘The Beltheron Select’...

THE BELTHERON DARKNESS

CHAPTER 1

Vishan awoke with a sharp stabbing pain in his lungs. It felt as though his chest was being squeezed by a giant hand. He coughed, and felt water surge up out of his throat and into his mouth. Vishan gasped, trying to catch his breath. Coughing again, he spat to get rid of the vile tasting water. He swallowed and a harsh rasping pain at the back of his throat made him wince with shock.

He opened his eyes but he was surrounded by darkness. Vishan shook his head to clear it and tried to recall what had happened to him. He remembered struggling underwater. Someone had been holding onto his hair, forcing his head back under the surface. Another hand had been gripped tightly around his throat. He remembered being spun around, this way and that, by the strong force of the current. He had opened his mouth in panic, but water flooded in, choking him. No matter how hard he had struggled, he could not get his head out of the water. Just as he thought he must pass out there was a flash of brilliant white light. Then nothing. Just darkness.

Like the darkness that surrounded him now.

As his senses began to come back to him, Vishan realised he was sitting in a hard chair. His spine was forced upright against the wooden back of the chair by a heavy rope. His arms were bent around behind him. They were twisted at a painful angle and he felt tight cords around his wrists and ankles. They were biting into his skin and he felt the wet slickness of blood running between his fingers. Tentatively he moved his hands. The pain increased with a sudden shock. Similarly, when he tried to adjust the position of his feet he found that they were bound so tightly against the legs of the chair that he couldn’t move at all. Instinctively he struggled more violently, trying to twist his body out of the cords. The chair did not even scrape across the floor. ‘It must be bolted down,’ he thought to himself.

He tried to get himself to relax and focus his mind. This was not as desperate as it might be. His skills were not just limited to the training he had received as a pulver soldier and spy. He had discovered when he was still a young boy that he possessed another talent. He knew that this particular skill was rare. So rare in fact, that Vishan had only ever heard of one other person who shared this ability. He knew that this talent, this rare power, could help him to escape now.

Centring all of his attention on the cords around his wrists he moved his fingers so that they were twisted back towards the knots.

He concentrated until a glowing green light began to appear around the tips of his fingers. It grew and shone brightly in the darkness as he waited for the ropes around his wrists to fall away and free his hands.

Nothing happened.

By now the ropes should have untied themselves and fallen into a heap on the ground. That was what usually happened when he summoned this power. But he remained tied as tightly as before.

He rested for a moment and tried again.

Once more the green light shone - once more he felt the surge of energy - and once more the ropes remained exactly as they were.

Vishan sat quietly for a few moments, thinking about his predicament. It seemed completely hopeless. His ability to untie cords and chains, or open locks with just a flick of his hands, had never deserted him before. It had always helped him in his spy trade and as a pulver soldier in the past. He had used it to escape from many a dungeon, or break into an enemy lair to steal information on several occasions. Why was his skill not working now?

Fear started to rise again in his breast. His heart began to hammer faster as panic started to take over. He bucked in the chair desperately, this way and that, trying to rock the chair over. But it was useless. It remained firmly bolted to the floor. All he had succeeded in doing was to bruise his arms and shoulders on the sides of the chair.

‘Stop it!’ he told himself under his breath.

He allowed his pulver training to calm him once more. There was no good to come from panic. That led to certain defeat. He steadied his breathing and felt his racing heartbeat begin to slow down. He had to think.

Again he cast his mind back and tried to remember all that had happened to him before he had blacked out.

Water, swirling around him, filling his mouth; the hand clutching his throat, holding him under.

But what had happened before that? How had he fallen into the water? Who had been fighting with him? And how had he ended up here in this room?

Then there was a sound. It was so loud in the darkness that it startled him. The click of a key being turned in a lock. The next instant the room was flooded with light. Vishan closed his eyes tightly as he was blinded by the sudden brightness. Squinting, he peered towards the doorway. Images came to him slowly through a swirl of colour.

Two figures were standing in front of him, just inside the doorway.

The first was a tall man dressed in a black cloak that reached all the way down to the floor. His hair was cropped close to his hard, angular head and his sharp features were cruel and unforgiving.

The second figure was a woman. She was dressed in deep purples and blues and her dark eyes were alive with malicious glee as she stared at him.

He recognised both of them instantly. Piotre and Sophia Andresen, the new Lords of Atros. He groaned to himself but tried not to let his despair show on his face.

‘You are awake at last,’ Piotre Andresen said. ‘Good. Now we can begin to make you talk.’

Vishan’s mind was racing. He had spent many years as a double agent on Atros, convincing the two people in front of him that he was their ally. Surely he could work that to his advantage now. As the two Andresens walked slowly towards him he tried to piece together the last things he could remember before he had blacked out and woken up strapped to this chair.

The swirl of water, the gasping for breath.

No, before that. Think!

Something else now followed the Andresens into the room. It closed the door and stood in front of it impassively. It was a large, scaly creature, almost two metres high, with four long arms and an oversized, egg-shaped head.

It was one of the rish. One of Piotre Andresen’s vile army of soldiers and servants.

Immediately the sight of the rish caused Vishan to remember what had happened to him.

He had been fighting a group of these creatures. He was in the silver city of Maraglar. The boy, Serrion Melgardes, was in front of him, on a narrow bridge over the river. Sophia was standing next to him.

But why had he been there? Why had he gone to the city of Maraglar in the first place?

‘Force your mind back,’ Vishan told himself. ‘You have to remember. Any detail might help.’

Think!

And then it came to him.

He had been sent to Maraglar to rescue Serrion. The group of rish had arrived and attacked them. He had successfully fought them off but then Sophia had appeared. He had raced up onto the bridge, knocking Serrion to one side, before forcing Sophia off the bridge and plunging into the waters with her before she could harm the boy.

But in the back of his mind, Vishan knew there was more to it than that.

He hadn’t just been trying to protect Serrion, he had also been trying to stop Sophia saying something to him.

Sophia had been about to speak when he had hit her with the full force of his weight and carried her over the edge of the bridge.

But what was it? What was she about to say? Why had it been so important for him to stop her talking to Serrion?

There was no further time to consider this. Sophia herself, the dark Queen of Atros, was standing directly in front of him. His most pressing need now was to come up with a reasonable explanation to tell her why he had forced her into a roaring river.

Vishan was used to this though. Like an experienced, accomplished actor he could improvise around any part that he was playing. He could rapidly invent a story even while he was telling it and think several lines ahead to create a convincing performance. This was the element of his spy work he found the most thrilling.

With every moment that passed he felt more of his senses coming back to him. Ideas of a story, his invented excuse, began to form in his mind. Perhaps he could still turn this desperate situation to his advantage.

But the Andresens had already crossed the room. They were standing close to his chair. There was no more time for him to think.

Piotre gestured to Sophia, and she stepped forwards. As she moved towards the powerless Vishan her hand reached inside her purple cloak. She brought out a long, slim wand. Yellow fire flickered at its tip. Vishan twisted his head away from it. He could already feel the heat spreading across his cheek as she pointed it at him.

‘About time you woke up,’ Sophia hissed. ‘Now we can have some fun...’

Vishan interrupted her immediately.

‘Thank goodness you are here,’ he spoke rapidly, his mind racing ahead. ‘And the Three Worlds be praised that you are safe, My Lady.’

‘No thanks to you,’ she spat. ‘If it hadn’t been for you, the boy Melgardes would have been in my clutches by now.’

‘I know, and I am sorry My Lady,’ Vishan knew this would have to be the performance of his life. ‘I made a grave error and I regret it deeply. I misjudged the moment. I thought you were in danger, I saw something flash in the boy’s hand. Knowing how much reason he had to hate you, I feared he would kill you on the spot. I rescued you, My Lady!’

He beamed proudly at both of them, like a worthy servant who expects a reward. Did they believe him? Could he trick them into thinking that he was really on their side?

For just a moment there was a flicker of doubt in Sophia’s eyes. She was considering all that Vishan had told them over the years. He had given such valuable information time and time again... or had he? How much of that information had really been useful? And how much could have been just a ruse, an enemy plan to confuse her and her husband?

There was only one sure way to find out. Sophia raised the yellow tip of her wand and pointed it at Vishan’s face...

...I hope that whets your appetite for now. I’m afraid that you might have to wait some time yet for the whole book, as it is still in the early stages of writing. Do keep checking this website though, as I will post more teasers and extracts in the coming months. And do contact me if you want to send pictures, or your thoughts about the books.

Many thanks and happy reading!

Chris Connaughton