LIVES OF GETHRA

Vaenuth 9

The day after her ordeal with the Slithers, Vaenuth slept. Early the third morning, she climbed out of bed at last. When she finally dressed in her sand robe, covering her torso of tattoos, and left her tent, Tagg was sitting outside her tent polishing his iron sword with an oily cloth. “Banno?” she asked, quietly. She wiped her eyes. She was sore. Her whole body was sore.

“Vae? You’re awake!” Tagg’s sword vanished into its sheath, and he stood up, deftly. “Uh, yes, he’s asleep too. Or, still, I guess. And, Vae?” Continue reading Vaenuth 9

Aralim 5

“So what next?” Aralim asked. They sat on a broken wooden bench that had been dragged into the public garden area near the sewer entrance. It was a small area where the homeless gathered; sometimes the local inns and shops left food here, so there was almost always a group of bearded, tattered men here. There were one or two women, but not many, and no other children that Miresh.

“I don’t know,” she replied. She was playing with a nearby fern, pulling at the leaves until one stalk had nothing left. “I want to know more about my gift.” Continue reading Aralim 5

Vaenuth 8

Banno and Vae crested another dune and looked around them, a full circle of the sandy horizon. To the south, the distant peaks of the Yurna Mountains were a dark cloud against the horizon, just a looming shadow that scraped the sky. Dawn was slow to arrive, a golden glow far behind them. The sky above was still dim.

They crested another dune. Banno tossed away the apple core he had been gnawing on, and looked at Vaenuth. “You getting tired yet?” Continue reading Vaenuth 8

Vaenuth 7

The caravan rolled onward, toward Logren, in silence. After the eight deaths—the three scouts and the five sacrifices—no one had much to talk about. When they reached Logren, they would need to find some relief, some rest. Some fun. It seemed like such a bizarre, unworldly thought, to Vaenuth. She lived in a kill or be killed world, and fun wasn’t a luxury she could afford. Because she was not the blasted Eternal Emperor.

Banno wouldn’t leave her alone. “You have to eat something, Vae,” he would say. She had eaten almost nothing for days. She ignored his pleas.

As sudden as that first bloody demand had been, so too did the second one arrive. It was the religious hunter, Orsot. Or rather, it was just his head, lying in the sand, with a cactus page next to it. Blood was splattered all around, lowering the sand like it had melted. Continue reading Vaenuth 7

Lerran 2

Gharo was adamant as ever, and Lerran had to drag the permission out of his father word by word. When at last Gharo relented, Lerran strode briskly from his father’s office. He had no interest in delaying. His brother had been gone for too long, too long for his father’s bitter patience, too long for the winds to carry Lerran south, too long for another restless day. They were a family. They had to watch out for one another. And Gadra, one of Lerran’s sisters, would get her chance to shine in Lerran’s absence. Continue reading Lerran 2

Aralim 4

It was a painfully long voyage from Lantern Town to Bellasa. Aralim had sailed as long before, but never past leagues upon leagues of forested coast. There were no mountains, only the occasional soft hill, rolling up and down in the far distance. They put in toward the land from time to time and Captain Angal sent hunters to find them food and foragers to find fruits growing from the trees. Aralim had never tasted the such things, clusters of small red berries concealed within a tough outer skin. Miresh laughed and showed him how it was done. Continue reading Aralim 4

Dago 7

Dago spent two days in a boarded-up alleyway, scrounging for food. He got stronger each day, wandering around in search of food. He hadn’t yet needed the brass sword he kept at his waist, but it provided comfort when he slept with it clutched in his hands. Over the course of those days, he only slept six hours, in two stints of three. He’d always been able to wake himself on command; it wasn’t incredibly accurate, but in a warzone like Elpan, it was likely the difference between life and death.

Three times, he hid from people, hobbling down an alleyway on his crutches or laying in the bushes where they grew near sewer entrances or citizen’s gardens. Though he frequently saw people in the windows, no one offered him shelter. Continue reading Dago 7

Vaenuth 6

It was about two hours after noon when Vaenuth and her caravan came upon the bloody sign in the sand. They had already eaten, and a few members of the caravan emptied their lunch onto the desert dunes at the sight of three men, half-eaten, and their horses, in the same state. One of the men was completely unrecognizable, while the other two still had faces. An arm was missing here, a leg there. All three had been gutted. The horses were even scantier, most of their meat torn right from the bones. Flies and vultures had already begun to set in, tearing at the carcasses like the feast they had been made.

These three men had been scouts for Vaenuth, riding the dunes to warn of impending dangers or relieving sights of safety where they might be found. The Logren rivers were under ten days away, but these men had been killed without ever seeing them. Continue reading Vaenuth 6

Dago 6

Day four. Dago thought this when he awoke, that morning. He lay awake thinking about what it meant. Four days, in a smoky port, only a few days sail from the coast near Yarik, or less than fifteen to almost any useful port. He had been in this room, on board the Steadfast Star, for much longer than he had been able to keep track of, but he had made sure to count these days. These four days were critical.

Miss Puzzle had not yet returned. Continue reading Dago 6

Lerran 1

The city of Sheld was a visibly bleak place, shadowed by mountains on either side and built out of a steely grey rock. Its inhabitants wore dark wool or leather hunted in the mountain valleys. They navigated the cold stone streets to work in the cold stone buildings until they were little more than gaunt skeletons. In the centre of Sheld was an enormous dome made out of stone, with hundreds of steps rising up each of the four sides of it to a set of pillars on top. It was there that the leaders of the Sheld, the Lord Employers, met to discuss matters for their respective businesses. Continue reading Lerran 1