I should have known better. I wondered if this was the line he used on every weak-willed fool he tried to lure into his cult. It didn’t matter, but it confirmed my fears. What had Pelban tangled himself in this time? “Ha! I highly doubt that,” I said. “Your god considers me an idolater.” “Don’t [...]

2 Comments »

The orange light of the campfire glinted off the spear tips thrust in our faces. I held my hands up to show I posed no threat. “We are arrows in the dark,” Pelban said. I saw him hold up his silver pin from the corner of my eye. The sharp metal point inches from my [...]

No Comments »

I ran until my lungs burned and moving my legs felt like pushing boulders uphill. The buildings on the outskirts of town had long since faded into the night. I wanted to stop, to fall to the ground, my chest heaving as it sucked in air with the urgency of a parched man lying on [...]

4 Comments »

I stood with my back to the wall around the corner from the top of the stairs and listened to the thump and click of heavy, clawed feet climbing toward us. Pelban waited behind the doorway across from the stairs. I let the first lyzar walk past. Pelban charged from his hiding place and thrust [...]

No Comments »

Pelban grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward the nearest exit. We shouldered our way through the throng and found ourselves emptying out of the tunnel into a warehouse. And the waiting arms of the dragons’ enforcers. Squads of lyzar slithered through the makeshift aisles between stacked crates and piled sacks. They tossed [...]

No Comments »