In the Shadow of Swords (42 page)

Sarn rolled onto his back. His head began to swim. He saw something else in the dimming light: a flutter of indigo cloth, the color of a deep ocean. “I’m hallucinating,” he gasped. He could not tell if his eyes were open or shut. But he could see nonetheless.

The air was full of chants whispered in an unknown language. Was it real? Or had he fallen into a mirage of dreams brought about by exposure and thirst? Against the contrast of a bright, washed-out sky, Sarn looked up at the shadowed face of a jackal.

He closed his eyes again.

About the Author

VAL GUNN, as his wife enjoys saying, is a jock-nerd. Both sports and prose seemed to come natural for him–though he wrote off the writing for a time to pursue a playing and coaching career. He has been fortunate to travel and live in many exotic places around the globe. As an on-again, off-again expat; Val is cursed with a perpetual case of wanderlust. This was tempered a bit in 2003 with the birth of their triplets. For the moment he and his family live in northwest Florida–
but don’t hold your breath
.