Shadows Over Innocence (an Emperor's Edge short story)

Sicarius, the emperor’s personal assassin, returns from a successful mission only to discover that the enemy is retaliating by sending an assassin of their own. The target? Five-year-old Prince Sespian. Shadows over Innocence is a 4,500-word short story set fourteen years before the first Emperor’s Edge novel.This collection consists of two short stories.Urban ExplorationAn abandoned Victorian mental asylum, derelict for decades, sits in the middle of the English countryside. Three University graduates decide to explore the decaying ruin one summer day. A week later, one of them returns for a second visit. Will this trip go as planned?The Curse of Chillingham CastleChillingham Castle is one of the most haunted places in England, with a long and bloody past. Over from America on their first European holiday, tourists Mark and Susie take a detour to the atmospheric castle. It was a decision that they would later regret. Life for them will never be quite the same again.Together, the stories come to about 15000 words long. Just long enough to fit nicely in to a couple of lunch breaks!