Joseph Orlando

Inducet Noctum

Prologue Charred debris and blackened rubble crackled under the soldier’s heavy boots with each wary step. He couldn’t help but shiver in his thick winter coat, tightening his grip on the spear in his right hand. Whether it be the cold or his own failing nerve, he did not know. What he did know was that he missed the sky, the sun, the moon. How long had it been since he had seen the stars or felt the cold crisp mountain air, not laden with ash and sulfur? The thought of his home atop the mountain formed a sickening knot in his stomach. Better to not focus on it.