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    Initiation Rites: The Dark Age, #0.5
    Initiation Rites: The Dark Age, #0.5
    Initiation Rites: The Dark Age, #0.5
    Ebook98 pages1 hourThe Dark Age

    Initiation Rites: The Dark Age, #0.5

    By Scott Bury

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    About this ebook

    The Dark Age. The Earth has turned on humanity with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and a new plague that kills the Roman Emperor himself. Barbarian invasions shatter civilizations.

    In this chaos, Javor comes of age in a poor, remote village. Try as he might, though, he never fits in with his own people. There is just something about him that keeps him apart from the others.

    When barbarian raiders kidnap the girl he loves, he takes a mysterious dagger handed down from his great-grandfather and tries to rescue her. But while he's away, a horror that Javor could never believe existed murders his parents and devastates his village.

    Javor begins his quest for revenge, not realizing that he is entering a war against forces bent on eliminating humanity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Written Word Publishing Company
    Release dateNov 30, 2023
    ISBN9781987846409
    Initiation Rites: The Dark Age, #0.5
    Author

    Scott Bury

    Scott Bury can’t stay in one genre. After a 20-year career in journalism, he turned to writing fiction. “Sam, the Strawb Part,” a children’s story, came out in 2011, with all the proceeds going to an autism charity. Next was a paranormal short story for grown-ups, “Dark Clouds.” The Bones of the Earth, a historical fantasy, came out in 2012. It was followed in 2013 with One Shade of Red, an erotic romance. He has several mysteries and thrillers in the former Kindle Worlds program: Torn Roots, Palm Trees & Snowflakes, Dead Man Lying, Echoes, Stealth The Wife Line and The Three-Way. With the cancellation of the Kindle Worlds, Scott is re-writing these titles. The new, expanded Torn Roots and Palm Trees & Snowflakes are now available. He then wrote a military memoir trilogy: Army of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel and Walking Out of War, the true story of a Canadian-born man drafted into the Soviet Red Army in World War II. Since then, he has launched a new Wine Country Mystery series, with the first title, Wildfire. Scott’s articles have been published in newspapers and magazines in Canada, the US, UK and Australia. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He holds a BA from Carleton University’s School of Journalism. He has two mighty sons, two pesky cats and a loving wife who puts up with a lot. He is a recipient of Maclean Hunter’s Top 6 Award and a member of a team that won a Neal Award for business reporting.

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      Book preview

      Initiation Rites - Scott Bury

      Chapter 1: Mystery and ecstasy

      Wait. Wait. Wait.

      Wait until the full moon is high, Vorona chanted. Wait until magic fills the night.

      They waited as Vorona’s steady drumbeat pulled the full moon over the trees.

      Mysyach, she repeated with every drum beat. No one else spoke or even moved. They waited as Mysyach, the moon goddess, slowly revealed her face. On this warm night, they felt a promise being fulfilled: A full moon the night before the summer solstice is a very rare event, Vorona had said one full moon ago in this same clearing. It is the time for young men and women to worship, to celebrate their own fertility.  They had danced naked to Vorona’s beating drum and returned home, exhausted and expectant.

      Now, one month later, the night before the summer solstice, they gathered again in the clearing. Vorona’s moonlight ceremonies were irresistible, and open only to the unmarried young adults—no children or married people allowed. Twenty such came to the clearing just before moonrise, speaking low and fast in small groups. In the middle were the most popular couple, Mrost the bully and his girlfriend Grat; the others laughed at all their jokes and never dared interrupt them.

      As always, Javor was the last to arrive and stood a little apart, wondering what to do. What if they tell me to leave? he thought. He shifted his weight from foot to foot until he spotted Hrech, his only friend. Then he saw Elli talking with her two girlfriends at the side of the clearing. She is prettier than Grat, and nicer, too, he thought as usual. Why does everyone like Grat better? He wondered whether he should go to Hrech or Elli.

      No one noticed Vorona arrive; she seemed to appear in the centre of the clearing. Vorona had set herself up as the village’s witch: the woman who knew about herbs and remedies, who knew who was too closely related to marry, who dispensed potions and advice about finding a lover or getting a baby. But she was no crone. Perhaps twenty years old, she had long, rich brown hair and curves that Javor had started to notice when he had turned 13. She had big, widely spaced eyes that she accented by painting dark outlines around them, and they flashed green in daylight and strangely silver by firelight. She had high cheekbones, a delicate face, wide lips and a delicate dimple like a tiny furrow in the end of her nose.

      Tonight, she wore a metal necklace and a silvery bracelet. A single piece of amber hung in the centre of her forehead, suspended from a leather band around her head. A long robe of yellow and red, woven in a fiery pattern, hung from her shoulders. The front was cut very low and Javor took a good look at the curve of her breasts in the moonlight. As she turned he could see that the robe’s skirts parted at the side, revealing not only her leg but her whole hip. His heart started to beat faster.

      The moon’s lower edge cleared the tallest tree and Vorona startled them all by crying Worship, young people! She lifted her hands. Mistress of the night, Mysyach, bless us tonight as we pay homage to thee. A pyramid of wood at her feet burst into flame all at once, quickly building into a bonfire. How did she do that?

      It is time, young worshippers. Join hands in a circle around the fire and begin the ceremony, Vorona commanded, then bent her head down and crooned words Javor didn’t understand.

      What’s she saying? someone whispered.

      She does this every gathering, Hrech whispered back. It’s some ancient language for speaking to the gods and spirits.

      Javor suspected she made it up as she went along.

      The young people joined hands around Vorona and the fire. And now came that familiar fear, that empty space below his ribs as Javor wondered whether the others would let him into the circle. Hrech had already taken the hand of Elli’s friend, Teshla. Teshla’s other hand held Elli’s, but Javor pulled them apart and stepped between them. Elli looked startled, but then smiled nervously as her eyes met Javor’s.

      Teshla clicked her tongue—she didn’t like Javor.

      But tonight, they could not exclude him. Vorona had commanded them all to dance beneath the full moon. They had to obey their village shaman, even if she was a woman.

      They started an awkward, slow dance around the fire as Vorona continued her keening chant. Suddenly, she threw her hands skyward. Dance, young lovers, dance! Tonight Mysyach, goddess of the moon is full and ripe! This night is filled with power, with the energy of youth, of life, of strength! She beat on her small drum, crooning wordlessly. The beat went on and on, faster and faster. The dancers moved frantically to keep up but Vorona was relentless, beating and singing faster and faster.

      With a final beat, she stopped. The dancers stopped, too, puffing. Sit, my children, said Vorona. So now we’re her children, are we? The dancers dropped onto the grass. Javor made certain he was lying on his elbows close to Elli. He noticed she didn’t move away.

      Tonight, the moon goddess reaches the height of her power. Tonight is a night for youth, for new lives to begin. Tonight the moon goddess breathes life into our crops, begins transforming flowers into fruit. Tonight babies are conceived. The girls giggled nervously.

      It’s been a long time since a baby was born alive in our village, Javor thought.

      Tonight, my children, the moon goddess’s power reaches into our bodies and souls and kindles a fire, an irresistible hunger that can only be satisfied in one way ...

      How’s that, Vorona? It was Mrost, leering from across the fire.

      Vorona glared at Mrost until he lost his smile and looked down. She passed around two wineskins. Javor had drunk sweet, thick undiluted wine before, but this stuff was different. One sip made every sense hard-edged. Javor could hear Elli whispering to Teshla: ... kiss him ... He could see the fire bright and hot against the black night, could see each of the young people in the ring around it. But the forest beyond vanished, the stars faded. Even the crickets and owls fell silent.

      Vorona sang again in her weird language, and Javor thought he could understand her in some roundabout way. All the young people understood. They rose to their feet, joined hands and danced again. Vorona’s drum drove them. She threw her head back and sang, voice rising and falling. The dance went on and on, around and around the fire until there was nothing else but the motion and the fire and Vorona’s voice.

      All at once, the dancers pulled off their rough tunics. Javor felt a moment’s panic when Elli let go of his hand to pull her tunic off, and he gasped at the sight of her long neck, her breasts, her belly and hips and thighs in the firelight. He pulled off his own tunic and dropped his trousers, stumbling over them. He and Elli grasped hands again and Elli looked at him with wide eyes, her mouth slightly open, hair over her face as they danced.

      He breathed fast and could feel sweat coming between his hand and Elli’s. On and on they went, naked before the fire that jumped higher and higher. How does it keep growing if no one is adding fuel? Javor wondered once, and then the beat of the drum and Vorona’s voice and the motion of dancing filled his mind and Javor didn’t think anymore.

      And then Elli’s hands were on

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