The folk of Caer Lunan had been planning their moment of insurrection long enough to cast maces, steal crossbows, and fit handles to hatchets in preparation for some theoretical uprising where the town could pick their moment. But this had been more than a riot. The sort of thing that would be terrifying to the […]
The crowd surged forward, bodies crushing in around me. The other penitent-priest, the Inquisitor’s hand-picked hunting hound, sprang onto the steps of the chapel and drew his sword in turn. “Loyal soldiers of the Church, to me!” he shouted. “Get fucking back, you pack of idiots,” Blake snarled, at the same time. “Run! Tell the […]
Late golden light spilled through the clouds over Caer Lunan, long shafts cutting lines in the fog and gloom overhead. Off to the east, the sky was not quite dark, but the specter of night was hiding there under the storm, waiting like a hungry wolf for the sun to drop lower to the horizon, […]
Wasn’t much by the way of seating. I sat with half my arse on a piece of unsplit firewood, used a larger log as a table. Sergeant Blake sat off to my left, as did all the rest of his lads, where I could keep an eye on them, and they could keep an eye […]
The lass in my head shivered and shut Her eyes, still as a statue. I felt Her reaching, stretching out for something. Had the wild urge to raise my hands. Held back from it. Instead I let Her stand stark and unreal against the harsh background, the edge of a rough wooden cottage, the pig […]
At the outer ring of the group of guards sat a bald man, wide and squat like a toad with stubble. He wore a Sergeant’s tunic over a shirt with no collar—but white, barbed chains were tattooed about his neck, like the chains of a seven-year Penitent. He heaved himself to his feet with a […]
“Fucking hell–” I jumped back a pace, and a too-sharp knife hissed in the air, nearly opening me up like a pig. “Easy! I didn’t lay a hand on your fucking wee prince!” How does she know? What kind of fucking witch– “Then who are you? And why do you have his sword?” Oh. “That’s […]
Scarlet soldiers in the square behind her were moving in our direction, led by one of the Inquisitor’s white riders. I couldn’t pick out the stupid shape of Sergeant Cooper without risking a closer look, but in the corner of my eye, the Inquisitor’s white shape drifted away out of sight, taking with him that […]
Mud squished up under my feet as I stared, hands on her shoulders. Damp air was cold on my newly-bare face, and the skin felt too tight, taut, like a skull. The Inquisitor rode a white horse. Everything he and his horse wore was white, splashed with mud from the road north, tack and harness […]
Steel sang back and forth, hissing over leather with each stroke, up and down. Broth rumbled and cast iron grated on the far side of the wall while I stood staring at steam rising from a basin of hot water, passing a long razor back and forth along its strop. The air was thick with […]
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