Sleep doesn't come easily, and I roll over again, wrapping myself in the blanket. The innkeeper is still moving about downstairs, heavy footsteps scuffing and thumping on the floor, metal and clay pots clicking and clinking together as she prepares the morning meal. There are still a few hours until dawn, and I should rest. My head is a ( Read more... )

The graveyard is crowded, raucous laughter drifting up from the clusters of orcs and trolls that move among the standing stones. They're celebrating. Not death, but life, the connection of one family member to another even when flesh and bone have rotted away. I step past a group of children accompanied by a lone orc man. All different ages--I ( Read more... )