Now Available for Pre-Order: Death Comes in Bone

Death Comes in Bone is the second short story release for December 2024, and it's now available on pre-order. Releasing on December 12, 2024, this dark fantasy short story is a tale of betrayal, vengeance, and a brother's promise.

What's it About?

Death Comes in Bone is a dark fantasy short story concerning an undead prince bound to life by an oath. A treacherous best friend suborned by a succubus. And a sister in peril. Can Tanag rescue his sister from Arrin’s clutches before the rage of undeath overtakes him?

How Does it Start?

Tanag woke as light broke into his resting place. He didn’t know how long he’d been dead, only that he’d been murdered and was still angry about it. His best friend had betrayed him, had chosen his family’s ambitions over loyalty and friendship, after all.

Tanag had made a serious misjudgment of character, and he worried that it had cost his family their lives.

Careful, lest he should be destroyed before he’d woken, Tanag lay still. His sword lay in its sheath—Arrin had given him no time to draw it, plunging the weapon he’d taken from the yellowthorn thicket deep into Tanag’s kidney and holding his friend, his prince, while he made sure Tanag died of the injury and the poison in the yellow thorn’s sting.

Tanag remembered the pain, so great he hadn’t been able to make a sound, but not as great as the pain in his heart. Arrin had gone to great lengths to ensure Tanag’s murder remained undiscovered, bringing down the cave roof with a magical ability Tanag had not suspected.

The wielding had brought about a distinctive stench, and the prince wondered just how long Arrin had consorted with demons, or when he’d found the time. Arrin had spent his off-hours, and many stolen moments, in the arms of dark-eyed, dark haired Lannara.

Rocks tumbled, metal gauntlets scraped against stone and the light grew stronger. Tanag tried to resist the urge to squint against the light, and registered that he had no eyes…and no eyelids. He started to raise a hand to feel his face, but the first twitch of his fingers brought a startled shout to ears that were no longer there.

Retribution was swift, even though he’d stilled his hand. A sword was driven through his ribs. There was pain, but not the kind of pain Tanag expected. This time it was no effort to keep himself still.

Magic bound him together… Why would magic bind his bones together when his flesh was clearly gone? He had known he was dead, but this? Why?

Laughter interrupted his thoughts.

“The great knight Devas, frightened by a pile of empty bones.” Mockery.

“I swear I saw it move.”

“Well, it’s not moving now. Who was it, do you think?”

Tanag listened to them try to work out who he’d been. Not a single word was close. He did not protest when they took the sword, well-preserved by its sheath, nor did he make a sound when they rifled through the trinkets and coins that had fallen into his remains when his pockets had rotted away.

He did not try to stop them scattering his bones when they noted the glint of gold that had once adorned his fingers, or the entwined gold and solid medallion that he’d worn around his throat. None of that mattered.

What mattered to him now, was to work out why he lived beyond death—a death unfairly given, certainly, but an ending none-the-less. As the big man in plate mail and his trio of less well-protected companions made their way further into the cavern complex, Tanag wished them luck.

He’d lain here long enough to know there were creatures roaming the complex depths that no-one should disturb. The same creatures had feasted on his still cooling flesh, long after he could form the words to protest. If Tanag still possessed a stomach, the thought would have made him ill.

Turning his mind as to why he might still live, Tanag thought on all the reasons one might carry on after death, instead of crossing to whatever existence lay ahead. Unfinished business was one, but all who died had a degree of that, and the truth was that he had left nothing undone that would tie him to this realm.

Vengeance—well, he could see how he might feel vengeful, but getting back at Arrin wasn’t strong enough to drive him. After all, Arrin had only taken him; his friend had not harmed his family, at least, not that he knew of.

Arrin had loved the princesses, and almost lost his life saving Chelea, jokingly swearing he would gladly bear the burden of two wives so that he didn’t have to choose between Lannara and honey-eyed Maietta, Tanag’s nearest sibling and a year their junior.

Maietta!

Tanag’s soul resonated with anxiety for her. It quivered with rage and outrage. And now, Tanag remembered.

Where Can You Find It?

You can find Death Comes in Bone available at a number of locations, listed at this Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/u/m212VO

OR

You can find it as part of A Collection of Death and the Undead, a collection of short fiction and poetry found at one of the locations listed at this Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/u/47gVYg

OR

You can access it as part of the Wanderers and above subscriptions on my ReamStories page, here: https://reamstories.com/cmsimpsonwriter