The Legend of Amornia

In her bed at home in Bromma, Agnes wakes up with a jerk. Something has awakened her. Cautiously, she sneaks up to the window and peeks out from behind the curtain. The wind is blowing in the tree canopy outside the house and the darkness is compact. Suddenly something yellow gleams out from behind a little lilac bush. What is that? Agnes closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them again. The yellow light has gone.

Agnes sat with tears rolling down her cheeks, cradling her grandmother’s bloody head in her lap. She had managed to stem the flow of blood, but she could barely feel Astrid’s pulse. Beside her lay Knox, brother of the Emir of Thulisia’s late wife. The old mariner was unconscious, but breathing steadily. A dim red light pulsed in the otherwise darkened chamber, fluctuating in brightness as if the thing emitting it was alive. And as it flashed, two formless beings could be glimpsed by the door. They appeared amorphous and seemed to be covered in week-old ash.

With a sense of déjà vu, Agnes packed her things. She was going to be staying with her grandmother in Hova again. She picked up her fully packed suitcase and as she started to go downstairs, the thoughts began running through her head. It was as if something was missing, something she ought to remember. Something hideously black. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what. In the top of the tower on the smaller of the islands that made up the Samloqs sat that night’s watch. He looked up at the starry sky through the opening that was the tower’s only window.