The School of Hard Knocks A clamorous din, beset by some forty-odd people, greeted Treena and the girls at the schoolhouse gates. For an island with a population numbering in the hundreds, it was quite the turnout. Men and women shouted to be heard over one another, struggling to rise above the relentless wailing of… Continue reading →

The Road Less Travelled Treena clutched her daughter’s hands tightly to her side as they ran through the deserted streets. The battle lulled sometime after the Devanagari managed to turn the tide of the engagement, thoroughly devolving the battle into a slow-paced, one-sided shooting gallery. The sight gave birth to hope, only for that hope… Continue reading →

The Warring Surf Brogan considered retiring, thinking that putting the life of a seadog behind him was worth weighing. “Dismantle the damn cannon, if you have to!” he shouted over the ruckus on-deck. “It does us no good pointing out at open waters.” Impatience had frayed his nerves, honing his words to a sharpened edge…. Continue reading →

The Shifting Tide “What the hell was that?” Mikhail had barely spoken the words before the enemy opened fire. A cascade of explosions rocked the harbor and, as one, the crew turned to watch the Legothica suffer a series of devastating blows. Gouges were rent open along the hull, then licked by flames, seared at… Continue reading →

Occulum Rising Nester sat on the lip of the Occulum, kicking his leg out in a swing. He had been watching the fleet of ships sailing for almost half an hour now, having been left in the care of two surly looking older mages by his uncle. He recognized his caretakers as elder wizards, real… Continue reading →

A Case of Triage “If that’s the case, then Istan is all but lost. We’ll never make it in time, nor should we expend the effort. We should focus, instead, on defending the main isle at all costs.” Kilgore said, stating his opinion as fact, and as if that fact carried with it the weight… Continue reading →

A Murder of Crows Glissinda sat atop the cliff face, cross-legged on a grassy knoll. The wind rustled her hair, much like it did the leaves atop the imposing tree off to her side. The black feathers in her hair shined as inky as her own raven locks, making them indistinguishable underneath the obscuring shade… Continue reading →

The War Council Ahmet took lunch in the dining room. Always. He and his wife, Calliope, preferred it that way. And as king and queen, they were entitled to their proclivities, benign as they might be at times. Before his tenure, the modest setting had been designated the servant’s dining quarters. They’d since had it… Continue reading →

The Plan Watching the sea freeze was nothing like turning round the hand on a clock and watching the seasons accelerate in tandem. It was an explosion, yet not. Implosive, yet nothing of the sort. Inertness radiated outward from the Devanagari at its epicenter, sapping the life from anything in the path of the detonation…. Continue reading →

The Catch To the eyes of the enemy, the sudden appearance of a flaming carriage onshore was not a subject of import. It was as interesting as any other burning object, of which there were many; which is to say, not at all. Nobody second-guessed its appearance, nor gave it a second look. However, upon… Continue reading →