The City of Ghosts and Shadows 2: Season of the Long Shadows

By Nathan Ward

Jasper Moorelock was born in the City of the Silent Rain and is now an assassin in the City of Ghosts and Shadows. The City of Ghosts and Shadows is a fascinating place and there is some speculation that the inhabitants of the city may be ghosts themselves. Everyone in the city wears a mask and many of the people in the city have more than one mask and more than one persona.

The Elder Gentleman of the City of the Silent Rain commissions Jasper Moorelock to assassinate Count Germaine Le’ Misère Rouge of the City of Ghosts and Shadows. The Count is well protected and has an estate outside the City of Ghosts and Shadows. The only way Jasper can enter the Count’s Gray Divide Estate is to bribe his way onto a ferry carrying servants to a party at the estate. However, his task will not be easy. Only Lords and Ladies will be present at the Count’s ballroom so Jasper must first take the place of a minor Lord. Moving around the Count’s estate as a servant is easy but by the time Jasper has become a minor Lord there is already a trail of death behind him and he still has to find the Count. Before the night is over the Count’s Estate will be on fire and half the guests will have perished as Jasper searches for his target.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nathan Ward
• Release date: Aug 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370725595

Nathan Ward

Nathan Ward grew up in England and Alaska. He now resides in Florida. Nathan is a science fiction and fantasy author and also a travel writer.Follow Nathan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NathanWardAutho

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The City of Ghosts and Shadows 2 - Season of the Long Shadows

by Nathan Ward

(Author of The City of the Silent Rain series)

Copyright 2016 Nathan Ward

Published by Nathan Ward at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

The City of Ghosts and Shadows 2 - Season of the Long Shadows

Excerpt from The City of the Silent Rain 1 - The Secrets of the City of the Silent Rain

About Nathan Ward

Other books by Nathan Ward

Connect with Nathan Ward

The City of Ghosts and Shadows 2 - Season of the Long Shadows

The sun hung low in the sky for the time of year. The sun was warm and inviting. It was almost too hot. There was not a cloud in the empty cobalt blue sky most days this season. This made it unusually hot and dry for this latitude. A dry air drifted up off of the plains that bordered either side of the Great River making the City of Ghost and Shadows an arid and scorching hot place. Each of the plains east and west of the river were bordered themselves by the Cratered Mountain Chain. The chain rounded the northern edge of the island. As the sun rose past its midday zenith it would heat the plains either side of the Great River.

This season was called The Season of the Long Shadows in the City of Ghosts and Shadows. The City of Ghosts and Shadows was characterized by two seasons; the Season of Ghosts in the Fog and the Season of the Long Shadows. Over the many hundreds of centuries the city had existed there had arisen all manner of reasons, myths and fables as to the existence of only two seasons.

The Season of Ghosts in the Fog was named as such because of the fog that came down the river from the lake. The fog was so thick that at times one could see not even the few feet in front of one needed to navigate the city’s streets. In this season the local superstition was that the ghosts of the dead would wander the fog. They were calling out to the ones they loved trying to draw them into the netherworld of the dead. It was a custom to never leave home when there was fog or mist in the streets.

Mirrors were also covered for fear that the dead might reach out of them. They were believed to have been used by witches in the early age to travel about from place to place. While no one knew how to use the spells anymore, the magic was still there just waiting to be activated by an unintended accident. There were stories told by old women of children that vanished into puddles. They vanished while cutting down unfamiliar back alleys. Even in the Season of the Long Shadows it was considered ill luck to step in or near a puddle for the witches’ ghosts may be watching.

The Season of the Long Shadows was named for a similar tradition as the Season of Ghosts in the Fog. As the sun moved across the sky throughout the day the shadows changed. This was not the way shadows moved in other places in the world just in the City of Ghosts and Shadows. Here a shadow would stretch at odd angles and shadows appeared in places where there was nothing that could cast them. When you looked away they tended to move. You could walk into a street and glance away. When you looked back shadows that were not there would suddenly appear. You could walk into a shadowy back alley and watch as the shadows would move around you, changing positions the moment you glanced away.

The City of Ghosts and Shadows was a city at war with itself. The city was more several smaller cities that rivaled each other than one large city. It was considered a city for the Duke and his guard that watched over the city from on high in the palace at the High Hill District. The several districts of the city were each ruled by a noble who answered to the Duke of the City. The one way the city had of revealing the social pressures that built up was through the festivals. The festivals were each district’s way of showing off. Each district would have several festivals each year. However some district’s festivals were bloodier than their counterparts.

The knives District was home to the insane self-styled King of Knives and his Court of Blades. While he was not in fact a king, or as some people questioned, even a noble. His large army of thugs and sword wielding vagrants were nothing to be trifled with however. Most feared was the Festival of the Sharps when the vagrant army of thugs would pour out into neighboring districts and butcher any poor soul who happened to be about. It seemed to the outside perspective that the city was constantly at war with itself or at least each district was at the eves of such with its neighboring district and these silly little festivals were the only way of blowing off steam without the city itself tearing apart.

Most interesting was the Festival of the Golden Women in which the women of each district competed with each other. This festival had been through many different incarnations. What had started out as a simple festival to honor women in the early days of the city had over time, changed quite drastically. It had become inordinately expensive as women from the different districts tried to out compete each other with who could wear the finest clothing. Limits then would be put on when expenditures got out of hand. The women would go back to simple clothing and then slowly over time it would