SOMETHING IN THE DARK . . .
Between the dim light of the parlor and the no-light of the chamber beyond, a thing sat silent and watchful atop the cupboard just behind the open door.
"Steady on," Bartholomew Bright said quietly, "I b'lieve it's found us. Dan, was that shadow there earlier?"
Without a stir in his face or tone the tinker answered, "no, neffer saw it afore."
Stealthily Bartholomew Bright took up his blade and rose from his seat. "Come out of there," he said.
Nothing came, not at first. Then of a sudden the thing took flight and came winging towards them -- a hellish, foul-faced, evil-eyed abomination, with fearsome jaws and teeth, raking talons, and an ugly horn up-curving from its snout. At almost the same instant was heard a sharp twang! as of an arrow loosed, and a speeding shaft went whistlng past and buried itself in he monster's heart. Down the thing dropped with a thud to the parlor floor.
Bartholomew Bright prodded the weighty lump with the toe of his boot. "Gargoyle. Riff-raff. Stone-dead, as it were."
"By goles, Bartholomew," said Dan, looking around, "where did the arrow come from...?"
ROSE OF PICARDY
T H E N E W W E S T E R N L I G H T S B O O K
by Jeffrey E. Barlough
A Gresham & Doyle Trade Paperback
ISBN 979-8-9960154-0-5
272 pages / $14.95 U.S.
Coming in 2027!
PRAISE FOR JEFFREY E. BARLOUGH AND THE WESTERN LIGHTS SERIES
"A combination of Victorian ambiance, fabulous monsters, and Dickensian humor." -- Asimov's
"A deftly crafted and narrative driven story that will hold the reader's total and rapt attention from first page to last...unreservedly recommended." -- Midwest Book Review
Featured image: Detail from The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818 (oil on canvas), by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany / Bridgeman Images)
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