Part 1 His leather boots descended the steps with such control that his footsteps were light, and somehow still made a deep thudding noise. Quiet, but enough to send fear through the ship. He had descended from the main deck, passed through the sleeping quarters of his crew, and further until he was below the supplies deck. His ship creaked and rocked gentl...
This was to be my night - my special night. You had asked me to book this suite for us and now I sat on an easy chair waiting for you. I could look out of the circular windows to see the lights of the city sparkling in the cold February air or to see the silvery reflections of the moon in the river, but my eyes were now drawn irresistibly towards the stairs....
The night was not that cold, but there was a slight mist in the air, not unusual for this area. Away from the town the mist thickened to moist fog, its drifting form filling the dips in the low-lying fields. From the tops of the low hills the fog in the distance appeared to be moving slowly through the bottom of the valleys flowing like liquid, enveloping an...
It was around 5pm on my midweek day off, and I was sitting by myself in a three quarters full cinema. Just before the film was about to start two women came shuffling, as you do in a cinema, down the row, they squeezed passed my knees, took their coats off and sat down with the second one in the seat next to me. I can't remember what the film was but it wa...
It was a vague impression that left precise memories. The smell of sweat was everywhere. Jonathan found himself walking in a completely alien place. The ground under his feet felt like rigid stretched rubber. This landscape was made up of large, dark, house-sized discs, piled up and completely entangled in one another like a squashed mound of autumn leaves....
"I think everybody is passed out sleeping." "Shhh...you know they aren't. I can hear Harry bellowing about his latest stock market conquest. He can't be more than twenty feet away." I lifted slightly in the hot tub and swivelled, seeing our neighbour on a lounge chair just as my wife had guessed. Some blonde I could not recognize was sprawled on the lounge...
"I wish to challenge for my place in the elite core." All motion in the training yard stopped. Grogek pulled his axe. "What is your name newcomer?" "My name is Stephen, and I don't want to challenge you, I wish to challenge her." He pointed to Elunara. "Why?" Elunara dropped off of the platform and grabbed the tossed staff out of the air. "Because I...
Nearly two months had passed since the day Gen skipped out on dinner to have a sexual rendezvous with our old friends Josh and Todd. With both of us working now our lives were getting busier and time together was not taken for granted. We had enjoyed nights out together recently, going out to dinner and seeing movies and even though the eventfulness of our l...
There was no news from princess Else during Saviorday. Jarl refused to go out. He spent all his time sulking in bed. Sigrid brought him some food and drink, of which he ate or drank nothing. Mirja came calling on Saviorday evening but Jarl just chased her away. Sigrid shrugged when the Kelivese woman asked what was wrong. She was not going to tell her, the f...
The residential area known as Cherry Grove passed quickly by outside the window as Roger and Ellen drove into the fading light of the evening. The couple had moved there some four months ago when Ellen had been offered a very lucrative position with a newly minted energy contractor, it was a dream job for Ellen but a tough decision to move away from family a...