Havermouth, Present Time“Okay,” Aislen said once August trotted down the stairs to the other level. “I hate him, he’s an arsehole, and I’m pretty sure that I am going to kick him in the balls at some stage in the future so hard he’ll vomit up his f-king next of kin.”“Yeah, Stella says that he’s a piece of work,” Bianca said under her breath. “Be careful, though, M. He’s a dangerous man. Stella says that there is a fine line between a king and a tyrant, and powerful men grow confused about what side of that line they stand on.”Aislen thought of Talen, and his quiet declaration in Rhett’s snug seemingly so long ago now: “Rank means little to me. I have been a king, and I have been a slave. I find that neither situation is to my liking. As the years pass, values change, and the first thing that is discarded is ambition. It adds little value. It does not keep a person warm at night, it does not make a castle a home, it does not give back those that have been lost…”“Not all powerful me
Havermouth, Present TimeHow the twin werewolf girls ran hand-in-hand, Rhett didn’t know, but he had to admire the co-ordination. He was far less co-ordinated with one hand on the arse of the boy riding him piggy-back and the other gripping the wrist of the wild-one that he didn’t trust not to run in the wrong direction because the lunatic had already done so once.How the f-k the seriousness of the situation escaped the blonde nutter Rhett didn’t know, but he’d only just managed to stop the idiot from running out in front of a pair of Van Helsings doing a patrol. The crazy kid thought the whole exercise was a great joke, an advanced game of hide and go seek, and Rhett was just a grown-up playmate who wasn’t really much fun.Rhett was drenched in sweat, and his heart was racing by the time he shoved his personal demon over the fence into Mr Claymont’s yard. He was not taking four in one go again, he told himself as he followed them over the fence. For a moment he braced one hand on th
Havermouth, Present Time“Hey,” Cameron started awake as Rhett lay down next him, coming out of a confusing dream of fog and darkness, into a space he didn’t remember, and grabbing hold of the one thing that he would know anywhere – one of his mates.It took him a moment to remember where they were, the shapes of the shelves and janitorial equipment in the darkness confusing. After Rhett’s last trip, Cameron had claimed a gym mat and carried it through the bathroom into the janitor’s closet. It was getting late, and Rhett had refused to leave without Cameron. As Cameron couldn’t leave with his hand intact, that meant Rhett would be spending the night in the gym too, so Cameron had reasoned that if they slept in the closet, and the Van Helsings did something, Cameron at least had a chance to shove his mate through the vent to safety.“I fell asleep, sorry,” Cameron was contrite for falling asleep in the middle of an emergency. He’d put the mattress in and sat down to wait for Rhett’s r
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte sat cross legged in the centre of the bed, her eyes locked with the blonde woman. The blonde was nervous, twisting the tail of her braid and raising it to her mouth to chew its end frequently. The first thing that she had done upon her arrival was draw a line across the floor and etch runes in chalk into the carpet. A ward between her and Meguitte.The fear should have been empowering. It was normal, Meguitte thought, for the person who was feared to feel strong and powerful. Except she was the one in chains. She only just had enough give to sit cross legged and doing so restricted her movements significantly. She might be feared, but she possessed no power or strength.“I have a daughter,” the blonde answered Meguitte’s question. Meguitte had been prodding her with questions since her arrival, but this was the first time the woman had answered her.“How nice.” Meguitte replied warmly. “What is her name?”“I… Ibis,” the woman whispered around the tail
The Coast of Alden, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe ocean sparkled in the bright afternoon sun, the glare making it hard for Thaelen to make out the fishing ships that bobbed gently on the waves. He squinted, watching as a woman, basket on her hip, made her way from the beach up the sand dunes to where his hut was.“Ettel is coming,” he said.“Stay still,” Delwyn scolded, placing her fingers under his chin in order to change the angle of his head.Thaelen hummed his sigh wearily.“Looking very pretty, Thaelen,” Ettel smirked as she approached and set her basket down on the floor, taking the stool that Besafora had recently abandoned, and drawing it closer. “What is the occasion?”“He needed a haircut,” Besafora left the hut, holding a small wooden bowl and stirring its contents with the stylus that she had fashioned from the feather of a large seabird. “And Delwyn needed to practice her skills. This is the traditional way that a man of our people wears his hair and beard.”“It
The Coast of Alden, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe sound of the army arriving woke Thaelen from a sound sleep. He lifted his head, frowning at the rumble of approaching horses, the clank of armour, and men’s voices. There was a crash, followed by a scream, and he shot out of the bed to the window, leaning out of the open frame, the wind catching his hair.The night glowed with hand-held torches. Soldiers moved between the houses, kicking in doors, causing the occupants to shriek and yell their protest. A bang drew his eyes down, to where the door to the widow’s house had been kicked in by two soldiers.“F-k!” He exclaimed and pulled on his still-damp clothing.“What is it?” Lisselt exclaimed, sitting up in the bed and clutching the covers to her chest.The bedroom door flew open, striking the wall, and a man laughed. “Well, well.”“What the f-k are you doing?” Thaelen demanded, moving to stand between the men and the widow.“How dare you!” Lisselt added. “I am a respectable w
The Coast of Alden, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe ships’ holds were crowded and uncomfortable, but the villagers were not secured or restrained within and had access to both barrels of water and to the top deck for bodily eliminations. Many of the men and the young boys chose to remain above deck and helped the sailors with the ropes and sails, making themselves useful in the fresh air rather than remaining in the stuffiness of the hold.Most of the women chose to remain below and, as the ship left the mouth of the river and entered the ocean, Thaelen hovered at the stairs, waiting for the inevitable trouble that would arise. It was just a matter of time, he predicted grimly.Sure enough, as Etrait and Concordia became a dark shadow on the horizon, some of the soldiers decided to seek “comfort,” laughing as they nudged the youngest amongst them, joking that he should get some experience before battle and whilst the women were “fresh.”Thaelen had positioned himself with a cr
Etrait, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe training camp was much like any army camp, Thaelen observed as he led the villagers forward, following the soldiers from their ship. There was a chaos of tents and camp fires with women and young children moving between preparing food, carrying clothing and linen, their faces bruised and eyes haunted, whilst the menfolk sat before their tents maintaining their weapons and armour, looking up at the new arrivals with derisive sneers.They were taken to the largest tent, where several priests worked as scribes. Their ship name, the village they were taken from, and their personal names were written down, and then they were escorted to be out-fitted with clothing, boots, and basic, padded armour before being allocated tents and blankets in a section of the camp set aside for the spearmen.Johil, the Sentinel, or captain, of their regiment, signalled for the village men to follow his soldiers to the training field – an area which had been so