A story preview featuring Mavren Gourdgrave, the Gloaming King and Lord of the Last Lantern.
Before the Campaign
The Voices Beyond the Road takes place before the events of Holiday: The Shattered Cheer, offering a glimpse into an earlier chapter of Mavren Gourdgrave's life.
This is one of four short stories exploring the rulers of Holiday's kingdoms. Each stands on its own and can be enjoyed without knowing the campaign's story. The complete story will be released separately. For now, here's a preview.
Mavren Gourdgrave chuckled to himself as he finished the contents of his cup and watched the children chase each other between wagons and under the long, crooked tables, each wearing a mask that they had refused to remove during their fun. It had been a good celebration; he walked over to one of the poles that had several autumnal ribbons of cloth hanging from it. Remembrance ribbons each carried the names of absent loved ones. As the musicians packed up their instruments and various people started to blow out the lit lanterns, Mavren made sure to read the names written on the ribbons to make sure they were not forgotten. He turned towards the road and was the first to notice an unnatural fog had come in and was obscuring many of the wagons parked nearby and horses that had been tethered beside them.
“Well, Mavren, I must say that—” Alfred began but before he could get any further, he noticed the thick fog that reduced everything more than thirty feet away from them nothing but a white silvery mist. Fog itself was not unusual this late in the year, but fog thick enough to erase the road in the span of a breath was another matter. Somewhere farther down the hill, a loud crash sounded and Mavren was on the move before the first voices started to yell in pain or terror. By the time he reached the road, he found six people gathered at its edge. A wagon had fallen into a ditch and pitched over sideways, and the driver was unhooking his mule and trying to soothe it with soft words. Mera, a woman in the group that helped organize the celebration, lit a torch and held it out before her, but the light did not extend very far. It was more of a yellow smear in the fog than any actual light.
“Wait, where is Pell?”
No answer came. Then someone from the fog yelled, “Here! Help me!”
Three people started toward the voice, but Mavren caught one of them by the shoulder and said, “Wait. Something isn’t right.”
“Help, please. My shoulder…it hurts.”
The woman holding the torch said, “That is Pell. He needs help! Why can’t we go and help him?”
“Just wait.” Mavren stepped close to the road’s edge. “Pell! What did you spill on my boots not an hour ago?”
Only silence answered. Then same voice came from a different part of the fog. “Help me! Please, come help me!”
End of Preview
Thanks for reading this preview of The Voices Beyond the Road. The complete story will be released separately.
