The sun had softened away westward and the last rays of day were setting the horizon to licks of flame along the under-edges of those heavy clouds that had blown in. It was prematurely dark on the trail now. In those places where trees were thicker, the air itself was a blackness, and all that…
The King Who Sings in Winter #001 (working title)
After a week of travel by foot, Caewen was growing suspicious of her shadow. Not the shadow gliding beside her, stretched against grassy slope or dirt-trod path. That shadow was as soft and reassuring as it ever had been, a fellow traveller, the two of them alone on the road. No, rather, she was increasingly…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #138
Farewells were said, and a hug was had between Keezer and Ode, and at that Caewen and Ode climbed up atop Dapplegrim, and he mustered his speed. They were soon passing whole trains of refugee wagons, and crowds of trudging, weary folks–if still at a distance. The canter continued until, at last, a great gaping…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #137
It was impossible to know exactly when they had slipped past the bulk of the northern armies. So carefully had they kept to the cover of dense woodlands, that it was something of a surprise to break into an open field and find that there were no coils of smoke from burning cottage, tower-house or…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #136
They soon left the mountains, and travelled stealthily among the scrub and treed slopes that ran along the south-reaching spine of the Shaelfells. They had to hide from passing columns of soldiers several times, and once spent the whole day sheltered in a thicket of leaves because of draig-riding knights sweeping low over the forest-tops….
A Charm for the Nameless Child #135
They left the she-boggart sitting by her fire, musing over her thoughts. As a last departing farewell, the old witch had told them how to find a secret path that twisted its way above the ivy-dens so that they would not need to trespass into her tribal lands again. “And if you ever return, permission…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #134
Gloranthorgth tightened the muscles of her eyelids, straining her gaze, and at the same time stretching her neck out until her throat bobbed and snatched with each word. “We met before. In the boggart-holes.” A gentle wave of claws. “With these others.” He nodded. “I didn’t see it then. And yet, and here, I see…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #133
She dug around in the various sacks and satchels, bags, gourds and little wooden lockboxes that hung from her person. “No,” she muttered. “Not that…” pulling a softly glowing stone orb from one bag, putting it away again. “No. No. No.” A piece of soapstone with scratched snake-shapes all over. A lifelike little mouse that…
Update
Hi there. Just another quick post to let you know that I haven’t given up or stopped. The contract work I took on keeps getting extended. It was supposed to finish mid-2022, and is now running through to the end of March 2023. I’ve been very clear though that I can’t keep pushing on with…
Just a quick update
There aren’t many readers checking in at the moment, but for those who are: I haven’t given up. I’m inundated with work as part of a short-term contract I’ve agreed to. It has another 3 months to run. However, the pay is good enough that I’ll be able to take time away from work for…