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Ogive meets the man of the midnight hour

Published January 19, 2010 09:24 PM

She gasped and drew back her hand.

“Yes?”

Ogive gasped and drew back her hand. She had scarcely finished rapping.

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Alred does no dignity to the word

Published January 13, 2010 08:44 PM

'It's from Eirik, isn't it?'

“It’s from Eirik, isn’t it?”

Sigefrith stopped, open-mouthed, in the middle of his word. He had not even said the letter had come from overseas. He had scarcely had the time to say “letter.”

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Yusuf trusts his doubts

Published January 9, 2010 07:09 PM

Leila was surprised.

Leila was surprised, but after her first sharp gasp she managed not to show it. Yusuf was too flustered to notice even that.

“Sister!” He sat up on the bed. “Is it time?”

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Malcolm keeps to himself

Published January 5, 2010 04:43 PM

The dog wheeled and dashed back to him.

Colban called out, and the dog wheeled and dashed back to him in a spray of sand. The mutt had been tagging along with them since Hexham, and Malcolm had let him, because the dog was someone Colban could play with and talk to. That meant Malcolm could keep to himself.

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Flann looks into the mirror

Published January 2, 2010 06:51 PM

Flann tossed back the blanket and sat up.

Flann tossed back the blanket and sat up. She was not the sort of woman who used sex to bend her husband to her will, but if the Good Lord had made the female body so attractive to the male eye, it was surely no sin to use it to attract male attention.

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Cearball learns the conditions

Published December 30, 2009 06:26 AM

Stay back when he growls.

Don’t wake him when he’s sleeping. Don’t bother him when he’s drinking or eating. Stay back when he growls. Cearball wondered whether Malcolm had realized how much his warnings made his father sound like a vicious dog.

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Lasrua awaits her time to dance

Published December 11, 2009 07:34 PM

'Rua?'

“Rua? Are you feeling ill?”

Lasrua was not listening. She paid no attention to any of the voices in the room until she noticed they had all fallen silent, and then – what had Edris said? Was she ill? She shoved her tingling arm off her lap and looked up.

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Egelric becomes the big man on the bed

Published December 2, 2009 09:57 PM

Egelric blinked against the light.

Egelric blinked against the light. He was cold and wet and naked, and aside from a sense-memory of a whistling sound, like falling through air, he did not remember any gradual return of consciousness worthy of the name of waking. He could not recall so much as the last five seconds. At some instant he had simply become aware.

Seconds passed – five and ten and thirty – and remained in his mind. This was good. Then he turned his head.

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Gunnilda meets the so-called King

Published November 30, 2009 08:41 PM

It had been worth it.

Gunnilda had failed to reckon how exhausted a brisk march up the hill slope would leave her, but it had been worth it: the “fine men” were still in the square.

The laughter of the blue one carried as far as a shout: clear and loud without the grating edge of a guffaw. Bertie laughed to hear it. Gunnilda grit her teeth. If they laughed because they had spied Alwy’s blond head bobbing up the hill, then their piece would be garnished with an extra ladle of sour Gunnilda sauce.