The moment I finished Invited Seat and Westward Trail, I turned my attention to the final story of the month for my patrons—a thriller. While I’ve created characters more naturally suited to lead this genre, I wanted to continue Samuel’s journey. Originally, I planned to pick things up further down the line, but a last-minute change to Westward Trail opened the door to a more satisfying thriller payoff, at least in my eyes. Since I only possessed a skeletal outline, I shelved the story to focus on projects with more pressing deadlines.
Once I finished or mostly completed them, I returned to this tale. While the core concept came together quickly with a bit of help from ChatGPT, it didn’t take long for me to crack that shell open and shape it into a richer, more suspenseful story. Samuel and Anna begin this leg of their journey, hoping for a simple exchange of information. But when Pearl notices something unusual beneath her wings, everything shifts. The sky still holds the golden glow of sunset, but the forest below distorts itself, revealing something they were never meant to see.
What begins as a straightforward mission quickly becomes something else. Samuel trusts his instincts and Anna trusts him. But neither trusts the old wizard who steps out from the depths, already smiling like he knows exactly how their visit will end. This standalone short drops you into a hunt turned sideways. It features dragons, enchanted bullets, and creeping tension at every turn.
Find a comfortable seat and join me as Samuel and Anna seek answers in their search for Tobias.
As Pearl notices something odd beneath her, Samuel prompts Anna to land as he redirects their search for her outlaw…
As the sun dipped toward the western horizon, Samuel guided Pearl into formation beside Anna’s dragon. He whistled and gestured toward the earth. She gave a curt nod before they guided their dragons into a dive. A second later, the air hummed as they landed about three hundred yards away from Old Man Maddock’s home.
Samuel grabbed his Winchester, slid down Pearl’s back, and gave her a reassuring pat before she returned to the sky. His gaze drifted toward Anna as he cycled five rounds out of his rifle. “You should send Bruce up too,” Samuel said, nodding skyward. “We might need backup fast.”
With a groan, Anna returned her attention to her dragon. As she gave the directions to Bruce, Samuel pulled five bullets from his belt and loaded them into his Winchester. The moment Bruce leapt into the sky, Samuel ejected the chambered round before loading one last one.
“Why are we walking the last couple hundred yards?”
“Something about this feels odd,” Samuel said as he retrieved the six ejected bullets from the ground.
Anna walked forward and tapped his rifle. “What’s so special about those bullets?”
“Preparation only helps if it’s done before everything falls apart.” He thrust his rifle toward the crooked cabin, perched at the water’s edge like a predator ready to pounce. “Or did your skin not crawl when you saw that building?”
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