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The tinnabulum chimes cascaded overhead, marking the hour of Belannos’s ascension and the alignment of the heavenly bodies. Vienne stood at the center of an old magister’s tower, stripped of all its furnishings to bare black bones of basalt and granite.
Everything was as she had...
Short story written in September 2016 for ThinkerX's Top Scribe VI Challenge.
6100 words
THE INNER ABYSS
Vienne woke to blackness where there should have been moonlight. A great shape crouched over her bed. She could not breathe under its numb weight, nor could she move, for none of...
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Crickets sang. A breeze stirred the languid vines and night-drawn flowers around her. Dusk lay in blue-green shadows over the courtyard.
She stood where she had awoken: in Lord Haroun's garden, panting as though she were pursued. Niryah's Light shone white and brilliant in her cupped...
Short story written in March 2016 for ThinkerX's Top Scribe I Challenge.
5000 words
In the Shade of the Cypress Tree
"They call Dhar Jinan an offal pit," Lord Haroun wrote. "But in this judgment, they do not consider that refuse makes the most fertile soil, and from it may arise a...
Short story written in October 2015 for Legendary Sidekick's Jerk MC Challenge.
1800 words
Llynellul
She was born into a deep green pool, born with the hunger of the Kin and the knowledge of the Riverdaughter. The world below the water-veil was silent and dim, and the world above...
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Evening fell soft and clear. The nighttime creatures began their thrumming chorus beyond the circle of our bonfire. We were deep in less painful reminiscence when I caught Iseult pouring brandy in her coconut wine. “The house and all your baubles are very fine, but your fermenting needs...
Short story written in March 2015 for Phil Overby's Diversity Challenge.
5000 words
EARTHFIRE, SOULFIRE
My twelve-month solitude was broken by a flash of fire on the sea. Not at dawn but at midnight, when the waves rose and fell like a dark breathing beast and the sky was speckled with...
Short story written February 2015 for T.Allen.Smith's Paint a Thousand Words Challenge (edited to add content & clarity)
1800 words
STAR MAP
"I know what I saw," she told Ahmed.
"The ancestors’ minds are dead," he said slowly. "The archive was destroyed in the evacuation of Demeter...
Short story written in December 2014 for T.Allen.Smith's Paint a Thousand Words Challenge.
1000 words
THE BLACK KNIFE
"Death walks the earth in a pale cloak.
He can be seen only in darkness,
And those who see him must follow and obey."
-Hinterland proverb
A drop of blood remained in...
An echoing crack came from below, shivering the stones of the tower. Vivaine’s fingers tightened on the wreath she was weaving, and a strand of holyvine snapped in her hands. The pattern frayed; vine, juniper, and white ribbon came loose. She could feel the power leach from it, and the...