Esther's Innocence

In an age of sail and cannon, where airships ply the skies instead of oceans, the newly united Barbarian Kingdoms of Madraus are poised to start a war the likes of which the world has never seen, but they're in for a surprise when they raid 16-year-old Esther's village. While it's a bad day for Esther when she gets captured after helping her family escape, it's worse for the Madrausans, because now they've unwittingly unleashed a force upon the world that just...won't...stop Esther is thrown into the middle of a plot to assassinate a King and she must decide how far she is willing to go to accomplish what she sees as her duty, because when no one believes you, the fate of nations really does ride upon your shoulders. The days of innocence are over. The days of hardship have begun. Retribution will be hers

Esther started shaking uncontrollably, her hands barely able to grip the pistol. Never before had her mind seemed to move so slowly, as if bogged down in molasses. She stood above the dead man, frozen in place, her body quaking. Tears welled up in her eyes. Tears of shame for her actions; tears of sorrow for the fallen man; tears of rage at the universe for what she had been compelled to do. Why couldn't they just have left her alone?