Dannevirke
by Sean J. Lachlan
eBook ISBN: 9781615720620
Price: $ 2.50
Genre: Horror
Sub Genre: Fantasy
Short Story of 4974 words
Sex rating: 1
Violence rating: 3
Edited by Lea Schizas
Cover Artwork by Julie D Arcy
About the book:
It is the winter of 1864, and the Danish army prepares to defend their homeland against a Prussian onslaught by fortifying the
Dannevirke, an old Viking earthwork on the border of Denmark and Prussia. A unit of militia—farmers and fishermen who have never fought a battle—dig in and prepare to face the elite Prussian army. The Danes think their position is hopeless until a strange old couple offer them a way to save themselves and their country. On the night of the
gibbous moon they must dowse for a certain spot near the old Viking fort, and they must bring a prisoner and a blade.
Quotes:
Excerpt:
They had returned.
My heart turned to ice. The old man and woman wore only thin jackets over tattered clothing, but they didn’t seem to notice the chill of the night. They stood tall and rigid as they looked down on us, the diffuse moonlight giving their pale skin a waxy, dead look. The man, who never spoke, looked so thin his cheek bones jutted out as if they would cut through his taut, papery skin. He had a hot gleam in his eye that I could not bear to look upon. The woman held a rod of oak in one hand, split at the end to make a “y.”
“We have found them,” she announced.
I wrapped my overcoat closer about me and shivered. The couple had come to us two days before. At first we thought they lived on one of the nearby farms, but the locals told us they had never seen them before. The couple claimed they had a way to defeat the Prussians, and the solution they proposed was so outlandish, so unbelievable, no one dared laugh. One look at them and we knew they meant what they said. They were either mad or very, very dangerous. Despite protests from some of the men, the captain agreed, saying we needed every chance. But now, now that they stood in front of us ready to start the ritual, my heart quailed and I doubted I could go through with it. Looking at the others, I could see they felt the same.
External Reviews:
| ChrisChat Reviews Chris Speakman | Mr. Lachlan’s writing placed me inside his tale, beside his characters. My reading moved with the tension of their worries and fears. So |
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