Thorn Valley awaits the eager adventurer in search of treasure, but only disaster awaits in the land of wraiths and malevolent spirits.
In the dark recess of a cold cave, a glittering assortment of stones sparkled in the nearly imperceptible light. The adventurer stared into the shining diamonds, wondering if he dared take them out of the cave and into the light of Thorn Valley.
A desperate short by author Heath L. Buckmaster takes us to a valley full of sadness and despair, where adventurers seek fame and fortune but find only folly and fate.
Excerpt
Thorn Valley is a desolate place – or perhaps more accurately described, a dead place. A place where no plant, no animal, no anything could last for more than a few hours – maybe a day. Even the winds and rains avoided Thorn Valley, as if their essence would be smote if they remained too long.
Scattered across the land, the foolhardy adventurer would find clothing remnants, gold and silver jewelry, and numerous artifacts left by previous travelers. Well, not left exactly – more so they were all that remained of those previous travelers whose lives had ended here, and whose bodies and bones had long ago turned to dust. It seemed that despite their foreknowledge of this desolate and deadly place, once they entered the valley they found it impossible to escape. While true that the valley held no life, it was the hunting ground for the dead – wraiths, spirits, melancholy and malevolent ghosts from years so ancient as to be uncountable. They hovered silently over the sands of time which blanketed the valley in a sparkling and awe inspiring blindness. The sun had no fear of this place – likely due only to its distance – and it sent its glowing warmth to beat upon the rocks and sand.
Outcroppings of boulders and smaller rocks were scattered across the floor of the valley. Had this been a living place, those areas would have made perfect hiding spots for numerous predators seeking to snare the unaware adventurer. Alas, what hid there now was much worse – a terror of shadow and void that sat quietly in wait for the next curious soul to venture across the threshold.
Most treasure seekers felt confident that they alone could overcome the valley to steal the riches of years past and return to fame and fortune. And likewise, the valley had seen to it to destroy each of them in devious and terrifying ways, slowly adding to its treasure.
Yolanda Carter dreams of owning her own bakery. Employed at a cat shelter, she stumbles across a scheme that threatens to close it down. Will her delicious brownies save them?
