THE PALADIN OF GOLOTA, by Djeli Clark   Small clouds of dust kicked up to shouts and cheers as the latest struggle played out on the plain of Golota. Teffe could just make out bits and pieces, restrained as he was with an arm firm around his head. There was only a stifling darkness, the […]

THE FOREST OF BONES, by Christopher Chupik   The day was already waning when Lucan rode through the Forest of Bones. Trees loomed all around him, oak and ash, moss draped over their branches like beards. He saw no animals amidst the green shadows and the only birdsong Lucan heard was the cawing of crows. […]

THE BLITZ OF DIN BARHAM, by Cameron Johnston   When the dragon came, the love songs of nightingales ceased and the moon hid her face from the slumbering spires of Din Barham. From within black clouds an ominous whoomph whoomph whoomph of immense wings, then a heartbeat of dreadful silence, followed by the whistle of […]

WHAT CLEV YUN WOULD WANT TO TELL, by Adrian Simmons   In the hostage house of Soviran– the man who called himself king of the Tamoncol tribe– lived a foreigner. A one-time ally from a land so far away that most of the Tamoncol believe it to be merely legend.   The one-time ally is now […]

THREADS OF GOLD, by Adele Gardner     Ariadne, robed in threads of gold, picks at her hem while in her father’s court. Unnoted, gold pools at her feet, a glittering stain speckled with blood as she tears her fingers on metal mesh. Each year it’s the same: young men who argue, arrogant, believing their […]