Sho was sure there had been a storm gathering earlier. When he came out onto his balcony all he was able to see was the bleaching light of the sun shining through the dissipating clouds so bright he could barely glimpse Highland City’s smaller buildings. The Warlord Amoseh’s men were marching through the main street; [...]
Read On No CommentsIn the merciless, early morning Eric woke to the bellowing calls of seagulls above the deck. He rubbed his eyes, rolled over, and tried in vain to drown out their cries and slip away again into as peaceful of a slumber as the crashing waves of a ship on the sea would allow. After a [...]
Jon stared in expectation at the old, gray bearded man, his eyes growing wider as the seconds of silence ticked by. “So, what’s your plan for kicking those soldiers square in the jewels and escaping?” he asked, giving the back of his head a quick, nervous rub. “You know…some tactics you might have thought of [...]
The shade of all the trees in the forest couldn’t stop the sun from glimmering off of Third Grand Despot Solomon’s helmet as he swung his powerful legs over his horse and stepped onto the dirt path. He turned to face the frightened villagers. They stood so close to one another that, beyond the first [...]
Jon pushed aside a messy lock of his wild black hair and narrowed his eyes, locking his focus onto the fuzzy squirrel picking up a nut a few yards away from the stone he hid behind. He climbed soundlessly onto the rock and settled into a deep crouch. His eyes narrowed into slits as [...]
There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Highland City and the areas around it had been experiencing an out of season drought for the past three months. They could all really use some rain. Sho gripped the balcony’s railing until his knuckles were white and numb. On Main Street far below him hordes [...]
Eric leaned against the frigid railing and watched the waves as they barely splashed the iron side of the ship. The moisture hanging in the air tickled his lungs as he breathed in and out and wondered, with his chin in the palm of his hand, just what he thought he was doing with his [...]
Staring at wisps of smoke as they loop through the air above a joss stick is the most calming pastime in the world. Sho shut his eyes, braced himself, and pinched the top of the stick between his thumb and index finger. Burning gave way to gentle smoldering, and the sweet smell of sandlewood filled [...]
The sky was black with storm clouds. The monk stared unblinking at the horizon where the sea met the sky and then down to the jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff, the outlines of which he could barely see in the lightlessness. Was there ever even a sun at all? The wind was [...]