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    In the Shadow of the Demon Gate
    In the Shadow of the Demon Gate
    In the Shadow of the Demon Gate
    Ebook28 pages25 minutes

    In the Shadow of the Demon Gate

    By Sylvia Volk

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    When her mother dies, young Amyke is sold into slavery, forced to toil in the beer-shop she should have inherited.
    She hides her face when Muru--the handsomest woodcutter in their city of Alalalk--comes by. If she could, she'd welcome Muru's kisses, but she's only a slave. If free, she could open her own beer-shop, smile upon Muru, and count herself the luckiest girl in Alalakh.
    Worse, she's now of age, and must offer her virginity up in the temple, as is the law of the city. She's always dreaded the thought of temple service, but what choice does she have?
    All her troubles become small, though, when a werewolf chooses her as its prey.
    It stalks her at every turn. Her attempts to flee lead to the death of her mistress at its teeth, and Amyke is inherited by an even worse mistress. Disaster follows disaster.
    When the day of her temple service comes, she finds herself in the perfect trap: she must wait in the temple courtyard until a stranger chooses her, but the only one who will come for her is the werewolf.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSylvia Volk
    Release dateNov 28, 2011
    ISBN9780987767912
    In the Shadow of the Demon Gate
    Author

    Sylvia Volk

    Sylvia Volk was born in western Canada to a family of readers; fiction followed. First she read it, and then (starting in elementary school) began making up her own. Somewhere along the way she ran out of available fiction and started reading nonfiction as well, and ended up learning about esoteric things - Arab horses, fractal structure of story, ancient-world military history, the mythology of beekeeping, the vanished kingdoms of the Himalayas and other such trivia. She writes esoteric books, and is beginning to suspect she's wrecked her eyes with too much reading.

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      Book preview

      In the Shadow of the Demon Gate - Sylvia Volk

      In the Shadow of the Demon Gate

      By Sylvia Volk

      Published by Unexpected Books at Smashwords

      Copyright Sylvia Volk 2011

      License notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be re-sold or given away. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      AMYKE, WHERE are you hiding?

      Amyke crouched behind the mud-brick bread-oven, in the kitchen courtyard. The other slave-girls, Wardu and Saggim, huddled against her. Saggim whispered into Amyke’s ear, The gate-guards say there’s a monster loose on the mountain. A wild spirit, maybe a ghost—they found a traveler with his throat chewed out—and maybe it’s come into the city, maybe it’s calling you, Amyke—

      A beast named Beltu? Amyke whispered back.

      They all giggled behind their hands.

      Amyke, good-for-nothing! Come out or my curse on you, lazy slave!

      Don’t go, Wardu hissed. Don’t. The beast will eat you.

      Amyke patted Wardu’s knee, and slid around the side of the oven. Here I am. The mistress waited at the courtyard doorway, face like stone. Yes, mistress Beltu?

      What were you doing back there? Sleeping?

      No, mistress Beltu. I needed to kaka.

      You can’t do that in the street where the pigs will clean up, like a civilized girl? The customers already complain of the stink. Is the barley steeped, is it ready to brew?

      Almost—

      Not that they don’t complain of the beer too. We have been cursed, the gods don’t love us anymore.

      Had Wardu and Saggim been quick enough to escape over the wall? They were supposed to be in the shed, grinding grain. When I brew the beer, they like it, Amyke said, head down.

      The mistress caught her arm, fingers digging in

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