Aftermath

by Terry Brooks

Published in 2021

You can find Aftermath in this book, which also contains other short stories from The Shannara Saga.

Aftermath is a new Shannara story that was published in the short story collection, Small Magic that was released in 2021. Aftermath takes place after The Elfstones of Shannara, after the Demon invasion of the Elven Westlands. One of the hero’s of this Elven/Demon War was Stee Jans, a commander of the Legion Free Corps that played a major role in keeping the Demon Army at bay so that Amberle and Wil could complete their mission of restoring The Forbidding which keeps the Demons at bay in a sort of Phantom Zone and prevents them from being unleashed on the Four Lands.

Stee Jans is a great fighter and commander and when this story begins he is semi retired in that he is done fighting but is training new recruits for the Border Legion army. In one of the groups he is training, he notices a new recruit and that he probably is not old enough to be a recruit, but Stee Jans sees something in this new recruit and gives him a chance.

Over the next few weeks Stee Jans trains him and prepares him to become a soldier. On the small side, the new recruit, Twelve (they go by numbers and not names in the training) has a lot to prove and works harder than the rest to continually impress Stee Jans and the other leaders. Twelve is quick and smart and learns to fight through his disadvantages against the other recruits who are bigger and stronger than him. Twelve is relentless and never gives up. Jans ends up giving Twelve private lessons as Jans believes Twelve can be a great fighter and asset to the Border Legion.

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On the final day of the training, in a fight to determine if the recruits are good enough to pass, the recruits fight one on one duels until the last man standing. Twelve ends up fighting One, who is the strongest and the overall favorite of the training group. As the fight goes on, Twelve does well but is eventually overpowered. As One has Twelve pinned, One yells at Twelve to yield, but Twelve is able to use his brain to end up beating One and Twelve is declared the winner.

In the graduation ceremony the next day all the recruits show up except for Twelve. Stee Jans goes and searches him out and finds Twelve in his tent packing up his things to leave. Twelve tells him that the Border Legion isn’t for him, that he learned a lot and wants to continue to learn, but not with the Legion. Twelve tells Jans that he wants to

“…master not only your fighting skills, but your ability to project both self-confidence and humility in equal measure. And I want to know about myself what I think you know about yourself—that I can overcome all doubts and fears that confront me.”

Jans is impressed and tells Twelve to not be like him, but to be better than he is. As Twelve is leaving, Jans asks Twelve his name. The boy then tells Stee Jans his name for the first time, “Garet Jax”.

So for those that are reading this in chronological story order, this is the first introduction of the character Garet Jax. This could be considered his origin story and the next two Shannara stories in the Saga, involve Garet Jax. In publication order, Garet Jax is first introduced in the upcoming Wishsong of Shannara and is a fan favorite due to how good of a fighter and person that he is. So to have this origin story finally come out is a great addition to the Saga and to have him paired up with Stee Jans in this story, and learn how Jans trains Garet Jax in his youth was a lot of fun to read.

Overall, this short story does add more character depth and connections between books and characters to the Shannara Saga and is a great addition to the overall story. I give it a 5 out of 5 and am glad to have it be a part of the Saga.

Next up is The Weapons Master’s Choice, another short story featuring Garet Jax!