The others chuckled darkly, a sound that was replaced by the wind groaning through the old stone corridors. I take a hit from the cigarette, let the smoke leak out before sucking it back in with a deep inhale. There’s a double door on the far end of the kitchen with a balcony beyond it and the ocean beyond that. Those too young and too old to participate in the coming battle were escorted into the nearby caves – Jorund’s young, pregnant wife, Carmissa, among them.

Something wailed like a banshee’s scream and a torchbearer’s light in the distance was extinguished.Little pixie bugs glow bright yellow amongst the leaves that remain and whenever I see that glow, it reminds me of Tink and it makes me angry all over again. It was a far cry from the sumptuous lifestyle either of them had enjoyed previously and a long way from the city.

He hurriedly stripped off his furs, removed the bone chains and tribal totems from his body and showed them the single leather breastplate bearing a watchtower he wore underneath. Your reputation as a failure will see you go to a poor clan and the time for allocation is almost upon you. The guards beat the old man, dragged him, unshackled, across the stone and out into the blinding white.Each of the men here wore the same clothing, a thick grey tunic that itched all over like a dockyard rash. Get a move on, mongrels,’ one snapped, jabbing for emphasis with his spear at those not moving quickly enough for his taste.

Some men were scrawny, with little meat to their bones, but others had somehow maintained good musculature despite being here.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Our current house is an exhausted Victorian with crumbling plaster walls, worn and nicked hardwood floors, and lots of empty rooms. There is something about these boys that is more potent that any of the boys I’ve hung out with before and I’ve hung out with plenty. Admittedly, I took an elixir before they pressed the iron to my skin,’ Landril said, with half a smile.

Someone had said that the blankets were donations from the nearby monastery; he just hoped they weren’t already infested with fleas. To the west were forested mountains where, at night, she had noticed the occasional crackle of magic, but by daybreak there were no signs of what might have caused it. Yvindris’s words were neither soft nor harsh, just the same emotionless monotone that most of the old matrons used with her.

I tear off a corner of the sandwich and mush the bread between my fingers, flattening it into a pancake. The drugs he had smuggled bought him eyes in darkened corners of the gaol, just as they had done over a year ago whilst he was investigating the murders outside Stravimon’s Court of Sighs. Ahead of Cedius’s First Legion were advancing the finest warriors in the kingdom – the Solar Cohort. He’d sent out scouts in an attempt to see where the northern barbarians were expected to strike first, and they were to report back at the first sign of trouble.