There was not much of him left anymore, only a mess of skin and organs and pipes and systems and gears welded into a metal suit. Faintly, very faintly, he thought he remembered himself- he was positive that his eyes had been blue, even if he was not sure whether or not he even had eyes still attached to him. His mind clung to that ( Read more... )

They were not making love. What they were doing could barely even be called sex, not with the way Alfred was gripping Arthur’s throat just tight enough to make it hard for him to speak, the way the fingers of Arthur’s sole hand were white-knuckled where they clenched in the rough sheets, the way they both grunted as if in pain instead of pleasure. ( Read more... )

            He must have fallen asleep, Alfred thought wildly, staring up at the open gash in the ceiling of his prison, which had been previously filled with sunlight. Now there was nothing but darkness, the crevice connecting him to the outside world barely a faint line in the cloying black. He curled himself back against the jagged rock wall, ( Read more... )

            Every morning at eight fourteen, sharp, the little bells over the door of the café would tinkle a cheerful welcome. The man who had just pushed through the door would smile faintly up at them, the crows feet beside his eyes crinkling, before making his way leisurely over to the tiny table set beside the front window. He would lay his ( Read more... )

Chapter 6-

The priest’s long teeth glimmered and sparked in the light of the torches, but the rest of the library seemed to darken even as Arthur watched. Those violet eyes burned into his skin, as though searching for his deepest secrets, though Arthur could not help but think that the priest already knew them all.  “You’re one of them ( Read more... )

Chapter 5-

As the sun rose to the peak of its journey across the sky, Alfred halted his stride. Arthur stopped beside him. Clouds shielded much of the vibrancy of the sky, swathing the ground in muted grays. The cool air was still, silent, unmoved by even the slightest of breezes. Even the birds and insects were quiet. The world seemed ( Read more... )

Chapter 4:

“You said before that Almsloch was five days journey through the forest,” Arthur said as he kicked loose dirt over the remains of their fire. The sun was rising in the distance, only a few hours past the breaking of dawn over the Anhael peaks. “What about now? Have we lost time?”
( Read more... )

Chapter 3:

The sun climbed steadily across the sky, its rays casting speckled patterns through the thick boughs of the trees. The forest, though still sheltering swaths of shadow in its most impenetrable nooks, seemed almost to glow in the light. As Arthur lifted his leg to step over a moss-covered log, he found his gaze drawn to the ( Read more... )

Chapter 2:

For one long moment, Arthur sat unmoving, his gaze locked on the man at his back. The ever-changing glow of the flames cast strange shadows across his body and face, over the curved wooden bow in his hands and the quiver strung across his back. But the memory of those dark, dark eyes flashed through Arthur’s mind again, and he ( Read more... )

Chapter 1:

“Damn it!” The door to the chapel slammed open, and out stormed a furious young priest. His sandals clunked against the solid wood floor, echoing down the hallway. As he went, he viciously pulled off the golden chain wrapped around his neck, scowling down at the sun pendant dangling from the end.
( Read more... )