Sword and Shadow

By Mary Catelli

A short story of magic and reunions.

At long, long last. . . .

For five long years, Sanchia has held the lands of her husband alone, while he fought in the desperate war against malign shades.  Much will change when he returns.

Especially because he brings the magical sword, found in the mountains, with him.  And, it turns out, other things follow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wizard's Wood Press
• Release date: Nov 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781942564034

Mary Catelli

Mary Catelli is an avid reader of fantasy, science fiction, history, fairy tales, philosophy, folklore and a lot of other things. (Including the backs of cereal boxes.) Which, in due course, overflowed into writing fantasy (and some science fiction).

Book preview

Sword and Shadow

Mary Catelli

Published by Wizard's Wood Press, 2014.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

SWORD AND SHADOW

First edition. November 29, 2014.

Copyright © 2014 Mary Catelli.

ISBN: 978-1942564034

Written by Mary Catelli.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Sword and Shadow

Also By Mary Catelli

Sword and Shadow

Flor combed Sanchia's black hair with unusual jerkiness.  I do not like it, I do not like it one bit, though he's your lord husband.  Bringing magic back—too dangerous.  Leave it in the mountains.  With the shades. . . .

Sanchia, still despite the tugs on her hair, stared at the distant, purple mountains.  Flor presumed on her place and talked nonsense.  The shades had slithered from the mountains to kill babes in the cradle and waylay travelers for gold—

They say your lord won't even tell where he got it!

The comb hit a tangle, and Flor's voice lowered to mutters as she picked at it.

On the other hand, Flor was not singing praises of the great war, fought in the mountains the last five years, or of the marvelous sword that Lord Alessandro wielded—though its marvels were never the same from one story to the next—and Sanchia had grown weary of that.  She breathed deeply.  The summer air smelled of horses, of crops in the field, and dust.

I fought a war, she thought.  When Sir Adrian defied me, I raised the vassals—those that Alessandro had left me—and forced his obedience, though I was a woman, untrained in war and without magic to aid me.  No one sang songs of me.

Her mouth twisted.  She had to fight not only in her husband's absence, but because of that absence.  Had Alessandro held his own lands, Sir Adrian would never