Tale

Pierce Rosethorn glanced up at Jacyntha but if he was surprised she had crashed his liaison with her best friend Ocllo he certainly didn’t look it. “Pardon me?” “You heard me, you scum!” Jacyntha snarled an instant before slapping his smarmy face. Except the palm of her hand only met air. The damned…

Cassandra Thordwall watched her team go through their warm-up. The Sangers was filling up and the Militantes’ fans were cheering every practice pass. “Got an ‘up-and-under’ or something else ready for thwarting the Dwarves?” she asked, referring to the day’s opponents, the Stonecarvers. Beside her,…

Pierce Rosethorn cut a thin slice of his food and inspected it closely, eying it on the end of his fork as though it might suddenly leap away. “I avoid eating flesh as a rule, but these eels … well, I sometimes allow myself the opportunity to discover the taste of things.” He popped the slice of…

“I thought we were supposed to drink it?” Jacyntha said, looking at the flagon Coach Karsgaard had passed around. “Yes, take a deep draught as well. But Rosethorn said if drool gets on you, Dew of Dreamvine will prevent the skin absorbing anything nasty.” “Would that we could spit toxins onto them,”…

“Within lands as much as between them, armed conflict raged and the only thing that spread quicker than war was suffering. The twisted races were born, each one more savage than the last and ever more keen to impale the other on the ends of their spears. And spears were now common because the…

Karsgaard Neuvil slumped down onto the stool in front of Cassandra Thordwall’s desk. “Am I? Pardon me, I did not know your time was so precious as to preclude a mateo getting stuck in the throngs of people crossing the Bridge of a Hundred Arches. Next time I shall cancel the city’s Festival of Night…

Anahuark leapt at Karolyse, who ducked but didn’t succeed in stopping Anahuark from driving a knee into the face. Karolyse flew backwards and slammed into the groundkeeper’s stone veranda. Karsgaard Neuvil’s old footy reflexes kicked-in and he pounced onto Anahuark, grabbing her in a bear hug.…

Cassandra Thordwall couldn’t imagine what Karsgaard Neuvil was fussing about. “How hard can it be to beat a few clowns?” Neuvil’s jaw dropped open so far it almost slammed onto the floor of the groundskeeper’s cottage they were using as their team headquarters. “I thought you were a footy fan.” “I…