Enjoy this blood-chilling excerpt from The Bones of the Earth
By Scott Bury
An owl hooted, and then another. Javor felt his amulet trembling again as owl after owl screeched from the trees. Fluttering like a hundred wings came from the tops of the huts, and then from under the trees that surrounded the village they saw human forms approaching.
The light was almost gone. Photius stamped his staff on the ground to make it glow. In its bluish light, they could see three women, emaciated, naked and grinning, striding toward them. Their faces were drawn and bones stood out from their shoulders, chests and elbows. They all had red hair and black eyes. Their hands were hideous, bony and cracked with long nails like talons.
“Hello, Photius and Javor, and Princess Danisa,” said the one in the middle in a voice as cracked and horrible as her face. The others grinned and Javor could see their long teeth, pointed like a dog’s. “So nice of you to stay for a meal,” she cackled, and the three stepped even closer.
Javor jabbed his sword into her chest. She looked down at it and laughed as he wrenched it out again. No blood spurted—there was just a hideous, gaping wound in the middle of her chest, beside a sagging, shrunken breast. She snatched at the blade but he managed to pull it away.
“The knife, Javor, the knife!” growled Photius. He waved his glowing staff at the three horrible women, who shrank back from the light. One drooled and spat as she dodged. Javor had just enough time to re-sheath his sword and pull out his great-grandfather’s dagger. He brandished it toward the centre bloodsucker and she shrank back, hissing. The other two howled as he swept the shorter blade toward them.
“To the water, children, hurry!” said Photius. They ran, stumbling over rocks and uneven ground. Javor tried to hold the dagger out behind him, which threw off his balance. The light from Photius’ staff wavered and sputtered. Javor was surprised to see how fast Danisa could run. She reached the stream-bank first.
The villagers and the three strigoi followed at a distance. “Into the water!” Photius cried and jumped in. Danisa and Javor followed, and the cold water was a shock on Javor’s sandaled feet. Photius led them, splashing and stumbling downstream, walking backwards to watch the strigoi and their enthralled villagers.
Danisa waded fastest, intent on escape. She’s strong! Javor realized.
The Bones of the Earth
The Dark Age, eastern Europe: the earth has decided to rid itself of humanity with earthquakes, volcanoes and new plagues. Civilizations, even the mighty Roman Empire, crumble under the pressure of barbarian waves that are fleeing worse terrors.
Rejected by his own people, pursued by a dragon, young Javor heads for Constantinople, the centre of civilization, looking for answers to the puzzle of his great-grandfather’s dagger and the murder of his family.
On the ancient, crumbling Roman highway across haunted, deserted Dacia, Javor rescues the beautiful Danisa from a human sacrifice. He cannot help falling in love with her. But Danisa has her own plans, and when she is kidnapped again, Javor has to wonder: what is the connection between his dagger, his lover and his enemies?
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About the author
Scott Bury can’t stay in one category.
After a 20-year career in journalism, he turned to writing fiction. “Sam, the Strawb Part,” a children’s story, came out in 2011, with all the proceeds going to an autism charity. Next was a paranormal short story for grown-ups, “Dark Clouds.”
The Bones of the Earth, a historical fantasy, came out in 2012. It was followed in 2013 with One Shade of Red, an erotic romance.
The Eastern Front trilogy tells the true story of Maurice Bury, a Canadian drafted into the USSR’s Red Army to face the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Army of Worn Soles, the first volume, was published in 2014, followed by Under the Nazi Heel in 2016 and Walking Out of War in 2017.
Scott Bury was invited to write for three Kindle Worlds by bestsellers Russell Blake, Toby Neal and Emily Kimelman. From 2015 to 2017, he published six novellas and a novel. He has since revised and republished three as the Hawaiian Storm mystery series: Torn Roots, Palm Trees & Snowflakes, and Dead Man Lying.
In between writing books and blog posts, Scott helped found an author’s cooperative publishing venture, Independent Authors International. He is also President of an authors’ professional association, BestSelling Reads.
He lives in Ottawa with his two mighty sons, two pesky cats and a very understanding wife.
You can find more about Scott Bury, and contact him through his website, his blog, Written Words, and on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.
