spinning yarns from heartstrings
“How many is this for them? Eight? Nine?” “Eleven,” Ecor sighed. “Eleven. It’s… a travesty. No one can take care of eleven children, not even the richest of men.” Niss stared down at the hovel, spying two of older children huddled together and shivering beneath a moth-eaten burlap sack they were using to keep warm. […]
Two years of skipping lunches, clipping coupons, skrimping and saving every penny he could get his hands on, and it’d been entirely worth it just to see her smile as the dragons of Candlour began their deci-annual migration. It was their ten year anniversary, too, which made it the perfect celebration. Just before the […]
She didn’t want to marry any of the kings who came to the palace from far and wide to ask her father for her hand. They were all old, many of them fat and smelly, and the way they ogled her as they sized up their future prize made Jezzen’s stomach feel heavy and full […]
The masons worked quickly, layering thick slabs of stone across the barbed fence while the guardsman patrolled the eastern quadrant. They monitored their progress for three days straight, one of them always watching until they knew every step of their routine. It would only take another four days, five at the most, before the […]
Mother Patrice warned them all not to venture into the crypts on the day they took their vows, refusing to answer questions as to why. For years, the darkness taunted them all, but none were brave enough to test the very steadfast protection of God by going against the reverend mother. Sister Janice had always […]
We gathered in the valley on the Twilight of Souls, anxious as our stomachs roiled in anticipation. Everyone we lost that year stood patiently in line. Amira, the baker’s daughter. The old cobbler, Leth Sorensen. The Harthlet twins, Seve and Kronin. Those were the only ones I’d known personally, but among them stood a host […]
“Of course, we all wear masks,” the master of strings said without ceremony or pretense. “Every single one of us dons two faces at once, sometimes three or four or even more. A different face for each of our moods, for every occasion, if you will. But what most people fail to realize as they […]
Underneath her skin she is so much more then the good girl she pretends to be. Not patient, not sweet, not gentle like Mother taught her. Underneath her skin there is fire, simmering her blood, bubbling the chemicals in her brain, crackling her fat, making rage plume like smoke from her ears and her nostrils. […]
Each year on Endcallers Eve, the priesthood sent three of their finest to the Hell Gates to reinforce the seals. Brother Mulvor no longer took the task seriously. He’d been Brother Dalos’ age his first trip, and remembered how eager he’d been. How he trembled as old Brother Somnali sent him forward to pronounce the […]
Ni’rikun felt calm for the first time in ages, the greatest part of her centered as the djinn whirled like smoke across the desert sands. Whispers and promises tickled her ears while the threads of their souls lashed at her skin like angry snakes, whipping open wounds inside her until they began to fester and […]