This close to the capital, I knew it couldn’t be foreign troops or demons. It could only be one thing. I needed to drop off my sack. Looking around quickly, I spotted a watchtower along the road leading to the road I had been following, and quickly descended to it. After dodging an arbalest bolt while letting out a very …
Chapter 6 – Parting Ways
. The folk belief was that a sharpened piece of ash through the heart would kill my kind. Well, if you could manage it, most anything driven through someone’s heart would kill them, right? We learned that a pair of village kids had followed us when we went out to face the beast on the hilltop it had chosen for …
Chapter 5 – Morning in the new world
“If you continue doing this, we’ll have to stop letting you sleep without a chemise,” Melione scolded as she dug for my clothing. “Honestly! I knew we should have put one on you last night!” The girl was exactly like the writer’s description of her. She was the youngest member of the party, having just turned fifteen at the beginning …
Chapter 4 – Follow-up
They had tucked me in on a cot near the hearth in the village elder’s house, covered once again with Arken’s blanket. After Melione hand-fed me a simple meal which Tiana’s tastebuds told me was barley gruel, the girl kept watch until I fell asleep. I woke to find something feeling odd. It was still some time during the night, …
Chapter 3 – Revival
. Voices forced my awareness to return. “Tiana!” “Tiana!“ They were annoying, so I shut them out. I felt too tired and too cold to care about them for some reason. “MELIONE! Get over here!” I cracked my eyes open to see two men, one heavily bearded and muscled, the other slender and clean-shaven, staring down at me with worried …
Chapter 2 – Bon Voyage
She looked exactly like an interviewer studying my resume. “Based upon your character and actions, the admissions staff has identified you as a hero.” I snorted. I couldn’t help it. “Hero? I fry chicken for a living.” “Robert Stewart,” she read out loud. “25 years old. Graduated from university at age 22 with an English Lit degree. Manager of a …
Chapter 1 – HR Department
Dear Readers, a quick author’s note before you begin: I began this novel as a writing exercise while recuperating from severe illness and major surgery, so I simply took a highly cliché scenario and set off from there. However, I soon found myself writing the underlying story seriously (although I admit, in the spirit of the beginning, I have continued …