The mask is slipping. I have put up with the cabal of dissenters who try to undermine the rule of law in favor of the military regime. They place their own agendas above the welfare of the people whom they claimed to represent.

My task was to slip in and reconnoiter the situation, but that changed when I made my report. The king instructed me to stay in cover and continue to monitor the progress...

Steph walked through the forest, ducking under some low branches as she made her way to Buckley. ‘Why,’ she wondered, ‘are there no roads in better condition leading to Buckley?’ An invisible spider web hit her face and she lost her composure for a moment, waving her arms around in a futile attempt to escape the unseen net.

“Are you alright, lady?” A voice reached her ears and Steph whirled around...

The old lady passed across the street, the customary scarlet ribbon still tied around her wrist as she shuffled her feet in her slow progression down the road. “Miss Gerry!” Elaine called, waving from the other side.

She paused and looked over at Elaine. “Oh, hello,” came her quiet reply as a smile spread across her face, adding more wrinkles to her already wrinkled face. Elaine waited for a ca...

Too long have I lived here, isolated from the world by my own choice. My tower lays in the middle of a lake, surrounded by towering pines and shielded from prying eyes. An old friend brings me supplies once per month and I pay him handsomely for his effort, but he has not arrived this month.

I grow impatient as my stores begin to dwindle. Where is Haru?

My focus shifts toward my training, my pas...

Cygnus lay at my feet, the blood pooling around him as it leaked from his wounds. I thought he was the heart of darkness, but it was more a matter of perspective.

His blood dripped from my fingertips as I looked down on his prone form as I contemplated my actions leading up to this moment.

I had spent years hating Cygnus as he worked against everything I accomplished, when he was truly only t...

I ran down the alleyway, ducking between piles of debris to try and evade my pursuers. This assignment was one of importance, I knew, but there was no reason to send a duke to do the job of a captain. As unequipped as I was, I could not help but think that a captain would perform better than I anyway, which led me to question why, exactly, I was here. The information I was sent to obtain was ne...

As the hazy light filtered through the trees, Brenden realized he was not alone. The air still clung to its morning fog and the trees shrouded the bog in mystery. He tried to look around himself, but he could not penetrate the mist which hung about him. Still the feeling of being watched was ever present with the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. He slowly, quietly put oars to the w...

Isaac grabbed his various belongings and stuffed them haphazardly into his satchel. His sundry survival tools fit well within the pack and allowed him to stow some stable food to fuel him in the road. He turned, slinging his pack as he did, and lay a hand on the door latch.

A firm touch made him pause and he looked around to look at Mary as she wrapped her arms around him. “Be careful out there,...

The cascading curtain of cold water fell before me, hiding my refuge behind its hidden current. Many desire to live where I live, but this water is mine. The Wars of the Waters have raged for many years, bringing only more desolation to the land and drying up more water sources in its wake as the embittered defeated bombed the headwaters of the rivers, scattering them and often stopping the spri...

I scramble up the hillside, panicked that I may be followed. As the bits of dirt and fallen leaves become dislodged under my feet, I slip momentarily before I gain the top, grasping the roots and saplings which protrude from the steep embankment. I cannot hear anything, but my mind continues to race as I scan the wooded landscape for any pursuers.

I can’t believe they’re all dead.

We came into t...