THE DYING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS, by Dennis Conrad, art by Andrea Alamanno The globe-eyed thing screams and a thousand knives pierce the Crusader’s brain. He grits his teeth and tries to grunt through the agony. Tears flow down grime-caked cheeks and he wonders dimly if this thing’s psychic scream is turning his brain to […]

MELKART AND THE MONKEY MEN, by Mark Mellon, artwork by Miguel Santos   Paltibaal straightened up after milking a goat. Outside the pen, he saw a hunter. The old farmer shielded his eyes with a palm to better see him in the bright sunlight as he strode up the trail. He was big, armed with […]

ERASE THE SLATE, by Jonathan Olfert, art by Miguel Santos A proper funeral was not about the deceased. Sermons were to focus on gratitude for the eternal strategy of the Five On High. Ander Carmora — somehow the ranking Churchman in town tonight, senior to his partner by bare weeks of ordination — stumbled through […]

THE PALIMPSEST OF MEMORY, by Deborah Davitt Brother Thomas bent over his desk in the scriptorium. The quill in his big fingers looked frail and delicate, in marked contrast to the worn and calloused palms. He still couldn’t read—the monks had yet to teach him, in the year since he’d come to the monastery—but the […]

THE HALF-ORC’S TRUE IDENTITY, by Christian Emecheta   he pompously wears his injuries like blood on a battlefield, each scar extending like a city founded on agony and endurance. the sword remembers the violence his mind is fighting to forget, he acts like an angry viper, but his heart knows his true intention, his blade […]