April 14, 2016

From “The Twelve Sisters of Naix” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , |
Leave a Comment 

The Twelvers, or the Twelve Sisters are the cosmopolitan cities of the Dodecopolis, a group of trading cities that dot the coasts and rivers of Naix. The cities are ancient, strategic, and fiercely independent. While they were once under the nominal suzerainty of the Crimson Empire, they exist in a loose confederation after its destruction.

Each of the cities has a name, the origins of which lie with the ancient language of the long-extinct Voyagers who founded them, and a poetic descriptor give to them by the Crimson Emperors who brought them into the Empire, albeit temporarily. They are:

Auida, the First Sister
Huhan, the Impregnable
Bauarn, the Jewel of the River
A’Jinaue, the Learned Sister
N’Raunj, the Martial Sister
H’Naunn, the Spiritual Sister
Gaiza, the Hermit Sister
Ruijaau, the Divine Mystery
Inrauinj, the Sorrow of the Sands
Aud, the Treasure of Naix
Poeb, the Quicksilver
Eaju, the Last Sister

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

April 10, 2016

From “Poem of the Dead Hand” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

In the palm of Nä Ti, the Dead Hand
Lies Rait Tirat, the Tomb of the Rebel
He who rebelled against It
Nyir Rvi, murderer of the Creator
Xon Vty, father of the Goblins
The father awaits his children
To give to them purpose anew
And to anoint them with right
And free them of their sins

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

April 8, 2016

From “Faith of the Old Orcs” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

The Orcs practiced a syncretic religion that was related to the worship of the Creator, as in the Sepulcher of the Creator, but also Muolih the Spreading Darkness, as in the Goblin and Dwarven faiths. Furthermore, many minor spirits were recognized, from ancestors to those posessing trees and streams, though the primary surviving codices note that they all emphasized the paramountcy of the gods of good and evil.

In Orcish, Muolih was called Tirat, the Rebel, while the Creator was called Nyir, which literally means “that which has created.” Their faith was, as a result, sometimes called Nyirtirat, literally “creator-rebel” but more accurately “the rebel and the rebelled against.” It’s important to note, though, that despite commonalities each Orc community and band had its own extremely local interpretation of faith and disagreements up to and including violence were all too common.

Naturally, this changed with the introduction of the Hamurabash by Hamur, which replaced the former religion with a set of ethical and atheistic strictures and emphasizing the memory of departed kin. The bashamalurs who succeeded Hamur were generally successful in eradicating all traces of the former Orcish religion with only a few isolated (and well-fortified) communities harboring so-called taiwa or apostates.

Even as Hamur’s successors agressively spread his message of atheism, equality, ancestral memory, and the militarization of society, there remain significant Orcish ruins in the high desert of the Lrira, predating the Hamurabash, and in many cases even the Sepulcher, deeply carved and embossed with the memory of the old faith.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 28, 2016

From “The Castle Mote” by Elma Escott

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , |
Leave a Comment 

The man, not even a petty king or duke but a farmer, approached the altar and asked for one thing: a point from which to begin, to strike out from strength, as he tried to protect his home and his family from the depredations of the world.

In response, a single mote of dust degan to fall in front of his home, only to stop an inch or so off the ground. No force could move it, even the swing of a pickaxe.

The farmer was not a smart man, but he was a shrewd man. He began, mote by mote, to build upon the foundation that had been franted him. In time, he was able to construct a cone welling up from the immovable point, and upon that build a small home. Over time, as more material was added, the plot grew. The land beneath was carved away, and by the latter days what had once been a mote of dust now supported a vast fortress, impregnible, ruling over the land.

Impenetrable, that is, until the youngster arrived one day whose special gift it was to move the immovable.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 27, 2016

From “The Palm of the Dead Hand” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

The goblin cackled through cracked lips. “The Dead Hand…five long lakes, five thin lakes, but no real water in them. To drink is to die, but one must drink to pass.”

“It is true,” said Tinain. “The fingers of the Dead Hand are saltier than the sea, and there is no fresh water outside of rainstorms, which are so violent as to sweep all before them.”

“It is…barren as a salt cracker,” croaked the goblin. “The Gob Legion carries its water with it, water rightly won in battle and borne by our own willing porters…where will you find such?”

Myn sneered. “If we move fast enough, we won’t need water.”

“I hope so…for your sake, ctonb. But it matters not. When the Gob Legion reaches the Palm of the Dead Hand, what we seek shall be ours.”

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 23, 2016

From “The Second Story of Lwyr” by Sandra Cooke Jameson

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

This is the story of the island of the sparrows.

In the middle of the Greatest Water, over which only the greatest of the great fliers can soar, a land once arose. Completely new to the World Beneath, it was not connected to any other land, and it was too far for any strider or any llew, any predator, to reach. And it was a bountiful land, full of food and good nesting.

Only those with wings could make the trip. So came the segmented scuttlers, the insects; so came the furry gliders, the night-mice; and so too came the sparrows. Though the scuttlers and the night-mice were clever and grew large, the sparrows were far cleverer and grew far larger.

In fact, the nesting and the food was so good that the sparrows grew powerful, almost as large and powerful as the ones who had once upset the Great One. But, knowing as they did the story, they did not make the same mistakes. Instead, they made different ones.

With so many years having passed since llew had feasted upon them, the sparrows grew fat and complacent. They lost their ability to spot llew, to run from llew, to hide from llew, and in direst need to fight llew. So when the striders learned of the great island of birds and swum to it…there was nothing the sparrows there could do.

The striders and the llew they brought killed all but the smallest sparrows on the island of birds and wore their feathers upon their bodies as trophies.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 21, 2016

From “The First Story of Lwyr” by Sandra Cooke Jameson

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

This is the story of the Age of Sparrows.

In ages past, before time was time and the world was the world, sparrows ruled all. They were great and all and proud and took what they would. They were the striders, and the striders were the sparrows: weak, scattered, prey.

Sparrows took llew rather than llew taking sparrows.

But in their hubris, the sparrows decided that they must be bigger still. So they grew larger an more fierce until they were larger and fiercer than any creature which has ever walked the earth. So much so that they could only eat other sparrows, who they slew in great battles.

The Great One saw this and was much saddened. He implored the sparrows to change their ways, but they regarded him not–they were the great ones now, and needed no counsel. So, in his sadness, the Great One hid himself from the world for a whole year. The sparrows, deprived of light and warmth, had to shrink in order to survive. In turn, the striders–free of the sparrows’ predation–grew and they themselves took on the role of llew, predators.

And that is why things are as they are today, why sparrows pay for the transgressions of our ancestors even unto this day, and why even the few of our brothers who are llew, like the hawk or the owl, feed upon us even now.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 17, 2016

From “The Gob Legion” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

“The Gob Legion, all ten thousand of them, deserted their posts and sailed south to Naix. We have come on behalf of the Most Serene Republic of Pexate to learn why.”

The orcish bashamalur stroked his chin. “We have seen your legion,” he said. “They helped us spread the truth of the Hamurabash to the yoxia, the men, in the city of Gaiza. You have heard of it?”

“Heard of it?” said Myn. “I can’t even pronounce it.”

“Mind your tongue,” the bashamalur said. “Hamur has set our nation forth to spread the Hamurabash, the only code for living a truthful life, free of false gods and idols. For too long have the men of the coast and the trade routes defiled these our lands with their nonsense.”

“Yes, yes, but the gobs, what about the gobs,” said Myn. “They helped you?”

“Their leader, a gob named Lodii, promised to help us take the city and to lead her men in taking up the Hamurabash among her people. Long have we sought to capture Gaiza, and longer still have we sought to break the vty, the goblins, out of their superstitions. If they would only come to the Hamurabash, you see, they would be welcomed as equals. This was an opportunity we could not turn down.”

“What happened?” said Myn. “I’m guessing Lodii didn’t keep her word.”

“The vty helped us storm the walls with their dishonorable weapons, and then marched south into the desert, following the great Intermittent River. We hold Gaiza even now, but must now seek the vty and hold them accountable for their betrayal.”

“Yeah,” said Myn. “Good luck with that.”

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

March 16, 2016

From “Tomb of the Rebel” by Lucy Y. Shantell

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

“And why should this one speak to you of anything?” sneered the gob. “You mules could never understand our plight.”

Myn pressed the knife to the gob’s throat. A single drop of blood wept from the tip. “Try me,” she said.

“We gobs are created by, beloved of, and cursed by Muolih, the Spreading Darkness, the Murderer of the Creator,” the Gob squawked through the chokehold.

“Yeah, yeah. I know that. My mother wouldn’t shut up about it. He’s as imaginary as a mule father.”

“No!” cried the gob, with shocking vehemence. “He is real. Lodii, our leader…she learned of a place the orcs call Rait Tirat…the Tomb of the Rebel. There, entombed, is Nyir Rvi, the Murderer of the Creator.”

“Fairy tales,” Myn said. “I didn’t come all this way to hear bedtime stories meant for particularly dumb children.”

“Believe what you want, mule,” said the gob. “Lodii marches the Gob Legion into the heart of the ancient desert to find our creator and master. Lord Eyon may have freed us, but it is Muolih who will save us.”

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

February 19, 2016

From “The Golden Arrow” by Howard Greenlot

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , |
Leave a Comment 

They had arranged, long before the seige began, that the golden arrow that formed one of the hand on the great clock tower would be their signal. Each day, she walked near the high castle walls near a copse that was well within arrow-shot. Each day, he took an arrow and shot it over the battlements for her to find.

If ever it was the golden arrow that had been loosed, things would change.

One day, just after crossing the old stone bridge and in eyeshot of the castle, she found the golden arrow in a field near the trees. It had not flown well, as it was designed to be a timepiece rather than a weapon, but the meaning was clear.

Returning to the village, she roused the people against the occupants of the keep. They had betrayed their charge, the one who they had been meant to protect, and his life was in danger. Forming a makeshift militia, they marched on the works.

The ensuing battle was brief but fierce, and left the keep in ruins with its walls crashing down. In the chaos, she was unable to find her beloved and feared that the citadel had fallen too late to spare his life. It was not until the dead were lined up for burial that she saw him, among those who had been felled by the first charge. He had died in defense of the keep, never knowing that his love had been at the head of those sacking it.

And the golden arrow? No one ever learned who had fired it, but many years later an order for the young lover’s execution was found in the files of a royal magistrate. Aware of the signal, it is likely he had one of his own men fire the fatal shot, knowing full well that the young man would likely perish in the battle to come.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
 

« Previous Page — Next Page »