Many hundreds of ribbons fluttered in the summer air. Ribbons, tied to the spikes of a hundred soldiers’ helms. Armored men and women grumbled, queued under the swelter. Rough hands fanned sweated necks, tugged clinging metal collars. “Butter me up and call me a beef, Suse. This is an oven,” said a freckly lass to […]
The consortium doors banged open. Noses lifted from oaken counters, distracted from their paper-stamping and coin counting. Three pairs of boots stamped in, trailed mud and snow. They clicked, hobnailed, on the stone tile. The leading pair belonged to a cutter in a leather duster. A considerable amount of something red and drying clung to his […]
Chips of sticky bark scattered on the snow. Hod wrenched his axe from the fir trunk, hoisted it. His shoulders knotted, lifted under furs and wool. Steel bit deep again into white wood. Hod levered the axe away, swung again. He huffed and puffed, breathed deep the winter air. A musk of pine and frozen […]