RULES FOR A MAGIC SWORD, by Mary Soon Lee, art by Simon Walpole Maintain a proper appearance: no rust, no cracks, no notches. No unauthorized engravings, no costume jewelry, no dye jobs. When wielded by the rightful, slay enemies without question. (Drinking the blood and soul of the enemy is permitted.) All law-abiding members of […]

MERCY AND THE MERCENARY, by A.J. Dalton     Silent hisses of sellsword! assail him as he takes his measure from the tankard and watches them through hooded lids, though none dares look in his direction save the newly arrived holy man Are you proud, my forbidding fellow, of what you have done? Pride does nothing to […]

FORTUNE, by Scott T. Hutchison, art by Miguel Santos     Revered Old Ones tossed bones to read the ominous certainty of futures and dark change; the man regards signs in the rawness and rarity of his circumstances. A long life, in the modest, remote village of Utterby–that’s never known war. Not in his time. […]

SCAPEGOAT, by Bryn Hammond I stuck a finger in his eye, The human I first took to eat. I hummed to him a lullaby And nibbled on his hands and feet.   **   They live by music, in the hall. Glad hymns celebratory Of every creature, great and small, But they have forgotten me. […]

UNDER THE ICICLES, by Devan Barlow, artwork by Simon Walpole   I wait underneath the icicles encrusting the roof’s edge, catching droplets in an old goblet I found in the back of the cellar where a mouse made a nest, dragged in a length of pale green ribbon   As the icicles die, my hands […]