FREE FICTION | Peter Orullian's Sacrifice of the First Sheason

Tor.com has been on quite a roll late with its short fiction program. This week brings us a (longish) short story by Peter Orullian. Some of you may remember me gushing on about the cover by Kekai Kotaki for his debut The Unremembered. "Sacrifice of the First Sheason" also features art by Kotaki and is the first of three stories that Tor.com will publish placed in the world of The Unremembered with Orullian doing another nine on his on site all of which are supposed to stand on their own, but lead into some of the mysteries revealed in the series. Many of the stories will take place before the events of The Unremembered as "Sacrifice of the First Sheason" does. Here is the first part:

Deep in the Divide Mountains, wind and thunder shook conifers that towered a hundred strides tall. Rain fell hard, battering the village of Estem Salo and leaving it awash in the sound of rushing waters. Lightning struck every few moments, flashing the world beyond Palamon Dal Solaas’ window in stark, momentary relief before darkness reclaimed the heights around his home. Beside him, Solera slept soundly, nestled into the crook of his arm. But he could not sleep, finding the tempest in the heavens too disquieting. So, when Palamon first heard the pounding at his door over the tumult of the storm, he had a sense of foreboding about the late night caller. Who would brave these storms at this hour?

The heavy beating at his door came again, faster this time, more insistent. Quickly but carefully he freed his arm from beneath his slumbering companion and hurried to the door. He could imagine only a member of the council coming to him at this hour. He’d seen them in private chambers often lately; perhaps this visit was related to these new secrets. His visitor would likely be Dossolum, the Voice of the Council, who’d been struggling to maintain balance as the Founders labored to complete their formation of this world.

The rest of the story can be read here or heard here. The story shows promise for the world and I'll definitely check out the others to see how everything progresses.

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