More so than any other character in the series, Rutejìmo is afraid of the dark. This started with the events in Sand and Blood when he finds out that a giant snake was about to eat him to being abandoned in the desert with no light or shelter. It was continued in Sand and Ash and well into this book. He is terrified of it, to the point that he searches for any light to push back the dark even in his own bedroom.

Now, there are assassins after him and he can't use light. Even the smallest flicker would alert others to his presence. Instead, he has to sit in the dark and hope that others can't find it. He also knows that many of the night clan warriors can see in the dark which means any moment one might be sneaking up behind him to cut his throat.

I love this chapter because of it. The rawness and fear boiling together as he struggles with the other overwhelming emotions, sorrow. I wanted this to be an emotional chapter, mainly because of the action of the previous one. When Rutejìmo runs, he can sink into the euphoria of doing magic (most magic brings pleasure/endorphines in my world) but it crashes when he stops running.

It was that moment that I wanted to focus on, when he no longer had the shield of magic buffeting his thoughts or the drive to keep running. Silence is a terrible thing and this is the first of many nights that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Sand and Bone 19: Nightmares

One of the common themes in the entire series is that Rutejìmo terrified of the dark. But what happens when unknown assassins are looking for him and he is left with the sorrow of losing his brother?

Read the chapter at https://fedran.com/sand-and-bone/chapter-19/. I decided to make all of my books free downloads at https://fedran.com/. Please read and enjoy them, maybe talk about them or throw a review my direction. If you want to read more, consider becoming a patron on my site or at Patreon.