The crowd and guards drew back in fear. Marfoul, seemingly coming unhinged by the fast approaching storm, screamed at the guards, “Kill them now, you carrion swine!”The guards, coming out of their daze, moved back towards the Kurt family, who hadn’t moved the whole time nor ceased from praying. The guards, now more afraid of Marfoul than the approaching storm, rushed to do their assigned task with swords lifted high. The storm hit the cliff top and out of it materialized beings clothed in flame. They strode purposefully from the storm towards the cliff top. Each fiery being intercepted one of the guards headed for the Kurt family.Their appearance was fierce and terrible, and as they approached they lifted one hand and withdrew swords that seemed to be made of light itself from behind their backs. In one fluid overhand, downward motion, they ended the lives of the stunned guards. As the guards hit the ground, the warriors of the storm turned towards the crowd and advanced purposefully

His big hand resting on my shoulder had squeezed hesitantly and then, after a long moment, he had said, “We’ll start in the morning.”I never again looked at my father in the same way after that experience. He was more than just a father that cared for my needs, now he was also a force to be reckoned with. He was dangerous. I had wanted to be dangerous like him.Coming out of my reflections of the past, I eased Flin towards a small brook up ahead of us that ran along the base of an upthrust of rock. It was dark in the shadow of the cliff that I had chosen to make my camp under, which was good because it would obscure my plans from any prying eyes.Normally, I would never make a camp in a spot like this and I was hoping that whoever was stalking me did not know me well. My reasons for not liking the camping spot would have been quite obvious to an experienced traveler. I had been on the run from the authorities for years and I’d picked up some tips on what not to do during that time.Bu

There must be tunnels behind the gates that led through the mountains on either side of the wall in order to access the city beyond. It was a smart way of resolving the inherent tactical weakness of a gateway. Gates are typically the weakest points in a fortification; get enough ramming, bombardment, and a heavy enough massing of troops and any gate can fall; except maybe these gates. The angle they were at put them out of range of being directly fired upon by projectiles. The massing of troops in the narrow tunnels would create a bottleneck that could prove catastrophic, if they had death holes through which boiling oil could be poured down onto the attacking troops and the tunnels themselves could likely be caved in, if need be, to stop an invasion. If there was any weakness to be found in the defenses before me, it was probably the overconfidence of the soldiers defending it, thinking that the wall could never fail, which is a very dangerous weakness to have as overconfidence breeds

“Oh, no!” exclaimed Krista.She had seen that look of pale stillness before. Frantically, she put her hand on the baby’s chest, but she could feel no movement there and the skin was cold. Big tears welled up in her eyes and then spilled down her cheeks as she gently rocked the still baby in her arms.Later, she got up as dawn’s first rays started to brighten up the gloomy morning and made her way towards the wharf which was nearby. Making her way down to the shore of the river, she lowered the baby into the murky waters. For a moment the baby’s face was visible and then it was gone.She had been making her way past the guards last night, intent on escaping the holding pens and the short, hard life of being a slave, when out of the dark a hand had feebly grabbed her. Gasping in surprise, she had spun towards the unseen hand to see a thin woman with dark shadows under her eyes standing there in the gloom.“Please! Please take my baby with you!”“ I…. I…. I can’t! I wouldn’t know how to c

*****I walked through the corridors of the castle headed for the hall to which I had been summoned by my grandfather. The clothes I wore had been delivered to my quarters early this morning and had been accompanied by a note that stated that I needed to come to the chamber that I was headed toward now. As I made my way past servants and guards alike, I was the recipient of overly reverent displays of respect. I had to admit that I did feel rather lordly, as I strode through the timeworn halls of my forefathers.The orange tunic I wore, on which was the family crest of arms, was trimmed on the fringes and arms with tanned deer hide. The crest of arms itself was unlike any I had ever seen before. The crest was of a doubled edged sword shining brightly, its point thrust down into a field of azure blue from which lighting strikes of a fiery gold color radiated out into the surrounding azure blue sea. The crest was surrounded by a burnt orange backdrop with the words, ‘Keepers of the Word’