In the Night

By Steven Arthur

The story revolves around the mythical world of the Borderlands where an evil entity is trying to overrun the peaceful residence of the Kingdom. The plot centres on a young girl who escapes the destruction of her parents’ farm, by terrible monsters. The girl is saved by one of the heroes of the novel who then takes her to safety. However the evil enemies of the Borderlands begin to attack the villages and hamlets of the region and the defence of the townships and cities falls on a small group of characters that must discover the source of the undead powers before all of the people of the land are killed or worse. The hero must find the reason for this invasion and somehow find the heroine so that the Kingdom can be saved from the horror of the attacking demons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669886556

Steven Arthur

The author grew up all around Australia and learnt to appreciate fantasy and science fiction writings from J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S.Lewis and Isaac Asimov. This first novel was written in Australia, Britain and Romania and is one of many titles that revolve around characters built upon his travels around Australia and the world.

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Copyright © 2022 by Steven Arthur.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/09/2022

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Prologue

Rider carefully drew on the reins pulling his horse up short from a canter. He saw to his surprise great billows of smoke rising up to the north. It looked close to the township he planned to stable at for the night. He was making good time on his mission to attend his master to the North. It was past sunset and his cloak wrapped around him as the wind picked up with the onset of nightfall and sent a shiver down his spine.

A reddish glow lit the horizon far ruddier than any simple fireplace or campfire could release as the smoke rose above the trees. At first he thought of ignoring this and continuing for he had many leagues to travel to reach his senior. However against the protests of his horse he approached the glow to investigate.

His stomach tightened and his mare became flighty as he heard guttural voices barking and the roar of flames. He secured the reins of his chestnut to a tree and dismounted. His soft riding boots made little noise as he tread closer seeking to oversee any threat. Strangely perplexed he hid; he smelt burning flesh and heard screams. Watching the dark beast men silhouetted by the fire that was engulfing the small farmstead. Rider was not prepared to fight them and the sight of their terrible armour and devices nearly drove him to panic.

Embers billowed into the night sky and the roof of the farmhouse creaked and moaned and gave in with a horrible crash. Rider was shocked for the evil warriors had taken prisoners. The beast men conferred in their harsh tongue then as a unit the group rode off to the depths of the forest in the north driving their captives before them. The hideous expressions and with the sight of their undead war steads fixed in his mind, Rider oathed a quick prayer so his nerves would settle.

His thoughts turned to flight but his instinct to investigate was paramount. Drawing his sword into his gloved hand and forsaking his horse for the moment, Rider hastily searched the area surrounding the collapsing farmhouse that was still burning. The farmhouse and outbuilding had been looted and set alight. There were slain animals and dead bodies strewn all about the place He thought to leave afraid of the warriors returning when reason overcame him and he burst into action sheathing his sword and taking a post hammer from the foot of one of the fiery storehouses he ran back to the farmhouse and smashed at the doorway. Once, twice, three times and the doorway gave way. He could not see inside and had to wrap his cloak about his face, smoke and flames spewed from the