And so it begins.

Here is a teaser from the first chapter of my book.  Feel free to read, enjoy, & send suggestions!

Chapter 1- Terror in the East

The smell of ash hung heavy in the air as the night grew deeper.  Darkness crept over everything slithering its tentacles into any place not lit by a candle or fire.  Clouds hung low threatening to dump their contents onto the placid thatched roof of the inn that stood alone in the woods.  A single glowing light from the inn flickered in the windows indicating the existence of someone within, but not casting a warm or welcoming glow on the dirt road outside. 

For a passing traveler this inn was not one that they would pull over and enter into for a casual drink of grog.  In fact this inn was the type where one would stop only out of necessity.  Thus the inn was aptly named Last Hope. 

The inn had not always borne this name, it had once been a thriving center for travelers and traders.  The town the inn had been in was once called Briley. Once a booming market town the economy of trade had begun to collapse as bandits and other thieves began to terrorize the merchants and travelers of the town.  The town was the carcass and the thieves vultures feeding upon the decay but the inn always remained safe.  As the town around the inn died away and the buildings and people of the lost city had begun to scatter and fall the inn was the last hope for many.  Some came to the inn to drown their sorrows in the strongest brew the innkeeper could find.  Others came for the gambling, betting their last hope on a game of chance and more often than not losing to lady luck.   The inn soon became a home to vagrants and homeless giving the once savory inn a decrepit and homely look.  It stayed that way for many years until rumors of horror came from the east.  War, bloodshed, and an unknown terror burning through the countryside devouring everything it could find.  One night as the vagabonds sat in their inn gambling the loaf of bread they had stolen or even the very clothes on their back a woman stumbled through the door.  Half of her face had been burned so horribly that many diverted their eyes to avoid the sight of her.  Her leg was broken and dried blood made her shirt stick to her rail thin body.  After collapsing on the floor the innkeeper took her to a bed to let her rest but her injuries were so far beyond aid that all the innkeeper could do was keep her comfortable until she died.