spinning yarns from heartstrings
He was supposed to be tutoring the boy, teaching him the fundamentals of rulership and government, about the provinces surrounding his kingdom, and the art of managing the crown’s finances because it was important that a ruler never allow someone else to do all the work. It was how mischief was made, how greedy fools […]
He threw her body in the well and thought that was the end of her, of the harm she would have brought him. He would go back to his life, forget his mistake, honor his wife the way he was supposed to. In time, he became an honest man, save for the dark secret he […]
For too long, the song lingered on the wind, a chorus of certainty warning those who never listened: “Winter is coming.” And though the wise never say it, they know what the words really mean: ice in their bones, in their eyes, in their hearts, in their souls. The whole world frosting over as his […]
Captain’s log; Stardate 4198, Year of the Goatrab Bit: It never fails to surprise me how far cultural similarities travel through the cosmos. Out here on the cusp of the Myceneaen Cluster, millions of light years away from Earth, we discovered an entire planetary system, three habitable worlds teeming with life dancing to the tune […]
They were absolutely hideous to look at, and Martinique could smell the cloying sweetness even through the wrapper. Their tiny faces, eyes unopened to the world, lips puckered, noses blunt… To be fair, they looked like wrinkled old men, more than babies, but the confectiomancer promised the souls were young. The magic would work; she […]
Drunye had no idea how long she’d been traveling through the forest. She hadn’t noticed when the weather shifted, if it had been subtle or outright because being lost had a way with messing with one’s mind, and she hadn’t been thinking clearly for hours… for about as long as she’d been lost, now that […]
E’ku was just a child when she gave up her own eyes to let the birds guide her along her path, into battle. They’d never steered her wrong, and she was a greater warrior for the sacrifice. *This image and flash fiction coincides with February 8, 2019’s Flashy Friday piece: Blind. I imagined this to […]
The sisters three made a sport of watching escaped riders race through Drottning’s domain, anticipating their attempts at freedom despite knowing it to be futile. Sometimes they even took bets on how close the riders might actually come to reaching the very edge of Förbjudna. The sisters rarely interfered, fearing Drottning’s wrath, though they took […]
She’d never seen anything through that glass before, believed there was nothing out there because Papa said so. He said the world was dead and gone. Looking out through the splintered glass at the chaos while Papa bled behind her on the floor, Charlotte understood why he lied to her, but he shouldn’t have. He’d […]
Drawn to the light, the servant clung to the ledge and listened. It’d been a long time since a sacrifice had come if its own volition, and the mistress had become more distant the hungrier she grew. The servant reached out, a single leg perching at the edge, and bid herself not to tremble. She would […]