The clock struck midnight. It rang flat in the darkened cottage. Tired, arhythmic. Shockingly loud in the still night. On the fourth strike, something stirred. In a nest of woolens, curled close to the dark and fireless hearth, Leif lurched aright. Eyes yet shut, he listened for the twelfth strike. It came, soft and weak. Barely […]
A breath went through the pines. Uncounted millions of gold-green needles quavered, heaved; pressed by a mild and resinous sigh. The air thickened, yellowed with cloying dust shed from boughs' young cones. Great beards of hoary moss wavered, licked their trailing ends to the forest floor, stilled. The breath passed. In the ensuing hush, not one beast […]