Eron’s Pulse

The carriage bounced up and down, and wobbled side to side, as the rickety wheels rolled over rocks and debris, and dipped in and out of divots and pot holes. This road was poorly maintained, and the longer the carriage followed this path, the worse the jostling became.   There was a snort from the horse […]

Eron’s Strife

Far below him, the village burned. Eron’s right foot clanged down on the next dusty step, and the rest of his body paused.  He closed his eyes, and with mouth closed, took in a deep breath through his nose. A pungent stench of leather, salty-sweat, and blood, rippled through his nostrils, and the bouquet caused […]

The Waste (XI)

The next morning, the pumping mechanism in the pen was engaged by the villagers, and the inhabitants of the octagonal enclosure were encouraged by immaculate engineering, to revisit the seas from whence they had been captured. It took little time after Allamar’s edict of augmentation, for the unwed fishermen of the village to have docked […]

The Waste (X)

The villagers waited out the impossibly long pause in Allamar’s speech. The sun bore down on patient brows, its insistence drawing beads of perspiration from calm onlookers. After long seconds of intense stillness, breath barely noted among the close-pressed villagers, Allamar reached towards his own chest. The crowd drew in a tiny collective breath, as […]

The Waste (VII)

Before Allamar brought his scaled, water-dwelling colossus to the village, the succession of chieftainship had been passed generationally, from father to son, for as long as any living member of the village could recall.   The passing of time had been so considerable since the last catch-to-chieftainship, that none of the villagers could specifically remember whose […]

The Waste (V)

Lucius and Ignatius were seasoned hands when it came to setting up their camp.  They easily retrieved their tent from what seemed to be a disorganized pile of sacks, bags, and boxes.  Paris regarded the size of the bag with dubious curiosity, but from the too-small-seeming package they unfolded, little by little an unexplainably large piece of […]

The Waste (IV)

“A story?” Paris blurted incredulously. “How, may I ask, is a story payment for transportation?” “It is not a matter of how, but why.” “Why then?” “The intricacies of the transaction may, in time be revealed to you, traveler.  At this point you must simply decide whether this is a cost that you wish to pay.” […]