Atharo the Lich (special preview)

Storms were common in your childhood home. In fact, if you were asked, you couldn’t recall a day without one. If it wasn’t thunder and lightning, it was howling winds and ice. Your father had chosen this place as his keep just for that very reason.

Having grown up with these sounds, you would have considered yourself able to sleep through anything. But you had been gifted with amazing hearing, and anything out of the ordinary would stir you. Mostly it was just your cat, Alice.

“If you don’t sleep, I can’t sleep,” you fussed at her. She was darting around your room, going to the corners and swatting at something.

You huffed and watched her, unamused as you were so tired. “How is it you only have energy when it’s night? How can you even tell the hours of the day?”

Alice bounded from one corner to the next, her eyes as wide as saucers.

You sighed heavily and flopped back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. You held your book back up over your head, reading between flashes of lightning. You had read these books a million times over, but your father had refused to bring in new ones. So you filled the blanks from childhood until now with your own thoughts and ramblings.

“I bet being a bride would be fun,” you thought to yourself. “Getting all dressed up, having a feast, then going off with a groom to wherever you desired.”

Alice mewed and yowled, flopping over before running across the room again at breakneck speed before she slammed into the foot of the doors.

You sat up in shock to see her laying there limp against the floor as if she had broken her neck. Then she started twitching and kicking the door with her back legs while trying to reach out with her front paws.

“You’re insane!” You got up out of bed and put on your robe. “I’ll show you.” You opened your door into the dark hallway  for Alice to see.

Alice twisted around, making a yowling purr sound, then shot off into the hallway. You huffed and followed after her. She would black the baseboards for a moment then move over to the next wall, doing the exact same thing.

“You’ve been like this ever since I found you,” you scolded her. “If Father were to catch us out here, he’d toss you out.”

Alice had been discovered in the castle, which was strange as many living creatures didn’t appear around the castle. Your father was going to chuck her from the window, but you insisted on keeping her. Your father has made threats everyday since, but he’s not gone through with any of them.

Alice’s tail swished back and forth as she smacked at the wall. She scurried off again, racing down the hall.

“Wait!” You scooped up the hem of your nightgown and robe and chased after her.

The cat was stopped outside the study where she sat tensed up and her tail dusting back and forth along the floor. You plucked her up from the ground.

“Naughty thing!” You whispered to her. “Have you worked off that excess energy now?” You glanced back to the door, hearing hushed voices from within. Light gathered at the edges of the door, partially illuminating the hallway so only the gold filigree of the frames showed.

“...perhaps if we go further into the village this time, we’ll find them.”

“No, no Daniels,” your father’s voice hissed. “It’s not the village we need to concern ourselves with.”

“But the children they are hiding are needed!” Daniels urged.

Your father slammed his fist down. “I’m not touching the village again for that reason, Daniels! They have to grow complacent.”

You stepped closer to the door, peering in through the crack to see your father and his right hand man, Daniels, arguing by his desk. Your father is hunched over and Daniels is pacing back and forth.

Daniel’s stops and you duck down, fearing he might see you. Daniels approaches the desk again. “We need blood for the stone, or else Atharo’s will-”

Your father stood up his full height, a terrifying spectacle. He reached out his dark, crooked hand towards Daniels who stepped back.

“We have the girl for a reason, sir.” Daniels huffed. “She’s of age, and she’s not wine. The longer you wait-”

Your father reeled back his hand into his dark cloak. “The girl provides.”

“Once a month!” Daniels scoffed. “And it isn’t enough. We need more from her. Or we need to take from the village again.”

You never liked Daniels, he was creepy and his gaze lingered on you far too long. But every hair on your body stood on end. You're frozen to the spot even though you knew you should return back to your room. But what they were saying kept you stuck there.