Five Stories: Volume Two

By Shaun Kilgore

Five Stories: Volume Two is a collection of short stories by author Shaun Kilgore. Stories included: "Land Of Broken Dreams," "The Fall Of The Witch-King," "Agent Of Change," "The Swordsmen Of Calabray," and "Ghosts Of America."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Founders House Publishing LLC
• Release date: Feb 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465900609

Shaun Kilgore

Shaun Kilgore is the author of various works of fantasy, science fiction, and a number of nonfiction works. His books appear in both print and ebook editions. He has also published numerous short stories and collections. Shaun is the editor of MYTHIC: A Quarterly Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine. He lives in eastern Illinois.

Book preview

FIVE STORIES

Volume Two

Shaun Kilgore

Copyright © 2012 Shaun Kilgore

Published by Founders House Publishing, LLC

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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For more information about author, Shaun Kilgore, please go to: ShaunKilgore.com

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Land Of Broken Dreams

The Fall Of The Witch-King

Agent Of Change

The Swordsmen Of Calabray

Ghosts Of America

About The Author

Introduction

I can't get over the fact that this is my second collection of stories. With the first volume of Five Stories, I knew I wanted to plan for several future volumes that collected pretty much every story I will be writing and publishing this year. This is an assortment of speculative fiction, some set in a version of our world and others dipped into the epic fantasy adventure realm. I've included some stories that begin and end in themselves with no planned additions. Of course, I'm pretty excited to include two stories that introduce series characters that will be making appearance in up coming works. I love fantasy series and will be launching several of those over the coming months. With that said, I'll be experimenting with other aspects of fantasy and even sci-fi so I hope those of you following along with check out my offerings as they become available. Without further ado, let's move on to the stories.

Shaun Kilgore

Danville, IL 2012

Land of Broken Dreams

April 20th, 2017, 5:12 a.m.

Urbana, Illinois.

I couldn’t sleep. After three hours of tossing and turning, I sat up in bed, reached for the remote control in the dark, and let the glow of the television fill the room. I flipped through the channels for a while until I came to CNN. It was more of the same looped footage that showed throughout the day on the twenty-four hour news network. More of the same: President Richards making assurances that the last of the U.S. troops would be leaving Islamabad by September, a resurgence of riots across random sectors of Jerusalem and a deadly series of coordinated car bomb attacks across the Gaza Strip, and German scientists unveiling new genetic research that may have found a cure for HIV.

Just as I was about to turn the box off, a special news report filled the screen. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. For past few years, tensions surrounding the border and immigration disputes with Mexico had been escalating more and more. Demonstrations were becoming regular across the western states, with southern California being the media center for the outpouring of radical Hispanic sentiments. Now, sitting in my bed, I watched Del Rio, Texas burning. A radical group calling themselves the MexAmerican Army had claimed responsibility for the devastation but no arrests had been made. Further bulletins started pouring in, breaking through even the newscaster’s practiced composure. Within a matter of minutes, the horrible scene was repeated in El Paso, Laredo, and Brownsville, though on different scales of destruction.

I got dressed but remained transfixed by the almost frantic news reports that were coming in. Explosions rocked El Paso—the source of the blasts still uncertain.

By 8:00 a.m., the broadcasts were merely replays of earlier recorded events. Camera crews from all of the major networks were vying for the space to cover the destruction of over half of Laredo, Texas. Thousands were reported dead in the fire and explosions.

I had to get away from the box now. My growling stomach gave me a reason. In the kitchen, I filled a bowl with Cheerios and ate in numb silence. I was nervous and apprehensive. It was same way I felt during 9/11. America had been attacked. But who was the MexAmerican Army?

It was this same question that dominated the press for the next several weeks. Speculation abounded at first. What made matters worse was the outbreak of race riots in El Paso. Gangs of young Mexican Americans squared off against the overtaxed El Paso police force, leaving scores dead or injured on both sides. Acting swiftly, President Richards sent National Guard troops into the border cities in order to keep peace. The responses varied among different segments of the populace. Both liberals and conservatives in both parties found themselves in agreement about something: They both condemned the use of military on American civilians, but comments by a shrewd congressman named Allan Davis stuck out among the sound bites. Talking to Bill O’Reilly on the Fox News Network, Davis defended the president’s actions by saying that to let the war on terror rage on our soil again was an outrage.

While the rest of the nations watched the news develop in southern Texas, I tried to carry on life as normal. But, things weren’t normal anymore. Unrest in Urbana’s Latin community was taking its toll on my daily life. By trade, I was a computer technician. I worked out of shop that I owned in Champaign. I had built a good business from the ground up. But the largest portion of my customer base was Hispanic. As racial tensions mounted across the entire country, I found myself losing customers. People I had known for years suddenly took their business elsewhere. On the fifth of June, protest parades marched through the city and many Mexican storeowners closed up shop to show their solidarity to the cause. I went and watched the protestors, as did many others; Mexican flags filled the streets with a comparatively small number of American flags represented. A couple of occasions, American flags were deliberately hung upside down, showing such a blatant disrespect for the Stars and Stripes that even I felt a swell of patriotic anger.

A week later, the Internet was circulating similar events from every city in the United States. A deep, yet undefined, fear took hold of me. Yet, what could truly happen, I tried to assure myself. We are the greatest power in the world. A ragtag militant terrorist group was no match for us. To confirm that my fears were unfounded, the weeks and months rolled by and the turbulence of Hispanic community subsided--at least in the public eye. New, juicier sound bites replaced the state of affairs along the Rio Grande. Most were saying that it had been a problem that had fizzled itself out before any real harm was done. But, this wasn’t true. I wasn’t getting any of my customers back. By reading less mainstream sources off the Internet, I was able to piece together a better picture of what was happening in the south. Remembering that major network merely stated it as a side note I was rather surprised to find out that over half of the more than 20,000 National Guardsmen were still on duty in the affected cities along the border, adding their numbers to the border patrols.

Tijuana came up in small bulletins as well; reports from local papers favored the propaganda of the MexAmerican Army strongly. Everything was at a low simmer, yet it could boil over again if sufficient heat was applied.

The big story that dominated the mainstream press was coming of the President’s deadline regarding Pakistan. The Middle Eastern nation was embroiled in full-blown civil war. Continued U.S. presence only exacerbated the situation. President Richards was under harsh scrutiny as was his whole administration and his approval rating had dipped very low since the