![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fortune-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Revered Old Ones tossed bones to read the ominous
\ncertainty of futures and dark change; the man regards signs
\nin the rawness and rarity of his circumstances. A long life,
\nin the modest, remote village of Utterby–that\u2019s never known war.
\nNot in his time. Fifty-four years that he’s gently shared his breath<\/p>\n
with hearth embers, raised them to their fulfillment: consuming
\nbranches and the hearts of tree. He\u2019s felt
\nthe warmth of fulfillment blanket his own needs.
\nGood water sings lightly nearby in the night.
\nDrink and ceremony flavored with red-flowered bog myrtle.
\nEnough nearby game. Endurable insects in summers,
\nno hordes of locusts, no spirals of birds
\nconsuming the crops of peas, oats, millet, linseed.<\/p>\n
There are neighbors who have always brought care
\nwhen anyone took sick or fevered or came home broken.
\nNeighbors who whelped and lost children and, sometimes, lost
\nwives like everyone else. Shared faith, aging, remembrances.<\/p>\n
Daily practice with blade and spear\u2014fifty-years of block and
\nwhirling slice, chest-throws aimed to rupture another man\u2019s
\nrib-trunk and all its treasures. If this is the time, then let it come
\nbefore a younger, less-ready man must defend his own decline; Gods,
\nallow his arms and heart a steady beat, protecting all fires and ash. When
\nwounds drip upon the ruins, his vowed reverence will not go to waste.<\/p>\n
The woman, fine daughters, one son taken beneath the churn
\nof waterfall. Grandchildren. The man shakes his head\u2014
\nhe has patted more good dogs than they ever will, combined.
\nYears. A good and patient woman. Thirteen daughters and a boy
\nwho ventured beyond the village to discover and reap his fortune.
\nForty-two more children brought to sunshine from their loins.
\nThe village growing with laughter from all corners. Ever more homes
\nfor offspring and children\u2019s children of the other smiling men,
\nthe community practicing their martial arts each morning.
\nA life with twenty-two dogs choosing his side for night warmth.<\/p>\n
It is coming. This tragedy they\u2019ve all heard in their bones,
\nringing in their shared stories. When it bursts through the trees,
\nscreams across the fields they have planted, he smiles
\nin his whirling dance. He knows his blood is costly, and rich.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n Scott T. Hutchison\u2019s work appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Vestal Review, and NBAP Literary.\u00a0 New work is forthcoming in Baltimore Gothic and Bristol Noir.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Miguel Santos is a freelance illustrator and maker of Comics living in Portugal.\u00a0 His artwork has appeared in numerous issues of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, as well as in the Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of Volume 2.\u00a0 More of his work can be seen at his online\u00a0portfolio\u00a0<\/a>and his\u00a0instagram<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019s never known war. Not in his time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-63-archive","category-main","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4393,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}